Why Blue Lock sidelined Nagi as Isagi's rival, explained

Modified Nov 23, 2024 07:37 GMT

Why Blue Lock sidelined Nagi as Isagi — Seishiro Nagi and Yoichi Isagi as seen in Blue Lock anime (Image via 8bit)

As fans may remember, following Blue Lock's First Selection Arc, the manga saw Seishiro Nagi become interested in Yoichi Isagi. While his primary goal was to win the World Cup with Reo Mikage, momentarily, his goal switched to observing Isagi and defeating him one day. This development saw Nagi become one of Isagi's rivals.

However, as the story progressed further, Nagi stopped being Isagi's rival. In fact, Isagi's only rivals were Rin Itoshi and Michael Kaiser. So, why did Blue Lock manga sideline Seishiro Nagi as Yoichi Isagi's rival? Did he accomplish his goal of defeating Isagi or did he give up?

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

Manshine City's defeat to Bastard Munchen in Blue Lock saw Nagi give up on his rivalry with Isagi

Nagi and Reo as seen in the manga (Image via Kodansha)

As fans may remember, Seishiro Nagi only started playing football due to Reo Mikage's persistence. Hence, his goal was the same as his partner's, to win the World Cup. From that point forward, the duo played together, winning every match in their way. However, this winning streak ended when they were faced against Yoichi Isagi's Team Z in Blue Lock's First Selection.

This match saw Seishiro Nagi become interested in football himself. Hence, he wanted to learn more about the player who defeated him, Yoichi Isagi. Thus, Nagi temporarily abandoned his partnership with Reo Mikage and joined Isagi in the Second Selection. During this, he hoped to observe Isagi and learn how he could defeat him in the future

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

Unfortunately, Seishiro Nagi wasn't able to bring this goal to fruition. As fans may remember, Seishiro Nagi's Manshine City faced Yoichi Isagi's Bastard Munchen in the Neo Egoist League. With this match, Nagi wished to make his mark on the footballing world and defeat Isagi. Unfortunately, despite his super goal and best efforts, he lost to his rival.

Following that, Seishiro Nagi gave up on his rivalry with Yoichi Isagi. This is because he could no longer imagine himself becoming the world's best like Isagi was determined to be. Hence, given that his goal seemed too difficult, Reo suggested that he forge a new goal for himself. As explained by Ego Jinpachi, a player can only attain the Flow state if they have a realistic goal they can achieve.

Reo Mikage as seen in the manga (Image via Kodansha)

Considering that Nagi's initial goal was to laze around and do nothing, Reo suggested to him that he earn a valuation of 300 million yen. According to him, this amount was the total sum an average Japanese citizen can save up during their lifetime.

Hence, both Nagi and Reo changed their new goal to earning a bid valuation of 300 million yen. Following that development, the duo has only been trying to increase their valuation through their performances. Unfortunately, they have been facing failure while trying to achieve this goal as well.