The staff for the television anime based on Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yūsuke Nomura’s BLUE LOCK soccer manga revealed on Tuesday, June 9, BLUE LOCK Day (a pun on how 6/9 can be pronounced like “lock” in Japanese), the third season’s title BLUE LOCK: Neo Egoist League and visual:
Image via Blue Lock anime’s website
© ©Muneyuki Kaneshiro, Yusuke Nomura, Kodansha / “Blue Lock” Production Committee
The staff also unveiled new character visuals for Yoichi Isagi and Michael Kaiser:
Yoichi Isagi
Image via Blue Lock anime’s website
© ©Muneyuki Kaneshiro, Yusuke Nomura, Kodansha / “Blue Lock” Production Committee
Michael Kaiser
Image via Blue Lock anime’s website
© ©Muneyuki Kaneshiro, Yusuke Nomura, Kodansha / “Blue Lock” Production Committee
The staff streamed a special video about the franchise’s various adaptations to commemorate BLUE LOCK Day:
The new season will adapt the “Shin Eiyū Taisen” (New Hero Wars) story.
Image via BLUELOCK anime’s website
©金城宗幸・三宮宏太・ノ村優介・講談社／「劇場版ブルーロック」製作委員会
The anime series premiered in Japan in October 2022 on TV Asahi and its affiliates in the NUMAnimation programming block. The anime ran for 24 episodes. Crunchyroll streamed the series as it aired, and is also streaming an English dub.
BLUE LOCK vs. U-20 JAPAN, the second television anime season, debuted in October 2024, and aired for 14 episodes. Crunchyroll streamed the anime as it aired in North America, Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, Oceania, the Middle East, and CIS.
Kōta Sannomiya’s BLUELOCK -Episode Nagi- manga spinoff focuses on Seishirō Nagi before he enters the titular BLUE LOCK facility. The manga launched in June 2022 in Kodansha’s Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine and ended in July 2025. Kodansha USA Publishing is releasing the spinoff manga in print.
The spinoff inspired an anime film that premiered in Japan in April 2024. The film sold 337,000 tickets to earn 463 million yen (about US$2.99 million) in its first three days, and ranked at #2 in the Japanese box office in its opening weekend. The film opened in North America in June 2024. Crunchyroll is streaming the film with subtitles and with several dubs.
Kodansha USA Publishing is releasing the manga in English digitally, and is also releasing it in print. The company describes the story:
After a disastrous defeat at the 2018 World Cup, Japan’s team struggles to regroup. But what’s missing? An absolute Ace Striker, who can guide them to the win. The Japan Football Union is hell-bent on creating a striker who hungers for goals and thirsts for victory, and who can be the decisive instrument in turning around a losing match…and to do so, they’ve gathered 300 of Japan’s best and brightest youth players. Who will emerge to lead the team…and will they be able to out-muscle and out-ego everyone who stands in their way?
Kaneshiro and Nomura launched the manga in Kodansha’s Weekly Shōnen Magazine in August 2018. Kodansha published the manga’s 38th compiled book volume on April 16. The manga won the Best Shōnen Manga award in Kodansha’s 45th annual Manga Awards in 2021.
A live-action film will open on August 7.
Source: Email correspondence
