Nagi might become the next Kunigami Rensuke in Blue Lock

Modified Apr 13, 2025 01:30 GMT

Nagi might become the next Kunigami Rensuke in Blue Lock — Seishiro Nagi and Kunigami Rensuke as seen in the Blue Lock anime (Image via 8bit)

As seen in Blue Lock's latest chapter, the manga finally revealed the Final Auction Rankings for the Neo Egoist League. These rankings not only determined the players' rankings within the training program but also acted as a selection process for Japan's U-20 World Cup squad.

Shockingly, as seen in the manga, Seishiro Nagi was ranked 24th and was effectively disqualified from the training program, missing out on his chance to represent Japan in the U-20 World Cup. While the developments themselves aren't so favorable for Seishiro Nagi, there is still a chance that he could become the series' next Kunigami Rensuke.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers from the Blue Lock manga.

How can Blue Lock's Seishiro Nagi become the next Kunigami Rensuke?

Seishiro Nagi as seen in the manga (Image via Kodansha)

Fans always knew that Seishiro Nagi was never interested in playing football before he met Reo Mikage and lacked the individuality and creativity possessed by the other players. Given the circumstances, compared to the players ranked above him, there is a decent argument that Nagi never deserved to be part of the U-20 Japan squad.

Nevertheless, fans were livid at finding out that many lesser-known players were ranked higher than him in the Final Auction Rankings. Hence, as one could expect, they wished for Seishiro Nagi to return to Blue Lock.

Kunigami Rensuke as seen in the manga (Image via Kodansha)

Many fans do not believe that the player could return to Blue Lock again. However, the evidence provided by the anime suggests otherwise. While Ego Jinpachi painted Blue Lock as a high-contention training program where disqualification meant "death," not all players who got "disqualified" were truly out of the training program. The biggest example of this was Kunigami Rensuke.

As fans may remember, the only players eliminated from Blue Lock the moment they were "locked off" were the ones who got disqualified during the training program's first selection.

Ego Jinpachi as seen in the anime (Image via 8bit)

As for the players disqualified in the second selection, they received the unique chance to participate in the Wild Card, a unique training program from which only one player would survive. Kunigami Rensuke used this path to return to the series during the Neo Egoist League.

Since then, no players have been eliminated from the training program. Thus, there is a chance that the manga might again provide the "disqualified" players a chance to redeem themselves. The only question is how?

Seishiro Nagi as seen in the anime (Image via 8bit)

As evident from the series, Seishiro Nagi is not only a character who plays an important role in the main story but also has his own spinoff manga called Blue Lock: EPISODE Nagi. Therefore, the chances of manga author Muneyuki Kaneshiro entirely removing him from the story are low.

With that, there is a good chance that the story might see Ego Jinpachi train the "disqualified" players, hoping to use them as backup in case of injuries or illness during the U-20 World Cup. This would not only allow him to nurture players oozing with talent but also provide healthy competition for the qualified players to avoid them from getting complacent over their squad selection. Nevertheless, it is to be seen how Kaneshiro would execute this development.