Japanese football is excited about the dawn of what is called ‘egoism’. A 4-0 win over Tunisia was evidence of a tectonic shift.
Muneyuki Kaneshiro, creator of the hit anime series Blue Lock, said last month, “We’re looking forward to serious egos aiming to win the World Cup.” Yusuke Nomura, the artist who portrayed him, went a step further. “I’m the best striker in the world!’ We are waiting for applications from all the arrogant people who believe this!”
It is clear that a striker must be obsessed with scoring goals. That’s the operative currency – the neo-egos of Japan’s anime and manga worlds believe.
Against Tunisia on Saturday, Japan made history by becoming the first Asian team to score four goals in a World Cup match. And this came from a confident, unflappable move into the box. When Daiichi Kamada needed to turn Keto Nakamura’s ball towards goal in the fourth minute, it was the poster boy of the new era, striker Ayase Ueda, who didn’t think twice from the edge of the box, sending a drive through the legs of defender Montsar Talbi to make it 2-0.
Ueda, Japan’s top scorer in qualifying, doubled his tally in the 86th when he leaped into the air to meet Keishu Sano’s flick and headed over a towering defender. Earlier, designated poaching-forward Junya Eto’o had scored a solo run and collected a pass from Uida to coolly shoot home. It was another flurry of embarrassment that held Japan back in front of goal.
The country that gave the world captain Tsubasa – who also features on Lionel Messi’s tattoo sleeve – has been rethinking its football heroes for a few years now: does the Japanese psyche need to be reprogrammed to produce a striker who doesn’t apologize for taking a shot?
Ueda, Japan’s top scorer in qualifying, doubled his tally in the 86th when he leapt into the air and headed in Kaishu Sano’s flick. (AP Photo)
Zeyad Football YouTube channel explores the cultural concept of Waa – where a culture of harmony and extreme teamwork breeds loyalty but “destroys the selfish instincts that a true striker needs to fulfill.”
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Blue Lock was an intense, dark anime in which the protagonist, Yoichi Isaagi, is a striker who learns to be ruthless and “has a huge ego in front of goal.” In other words, being selfish.
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The Japanese Football Association (JFA), in fact, has collaborated with the blue lock makers from 2024 to change the deep cultural shame in their psyche, as the team tries to break the round of 16 ceiling. As artist Nomura would recently explain, “The egos we imagine can exist in this real world too. No, I’m sure they do!” The occasion was the formal announcement of Blue Lock Scheme’s collaboration with JFA for the ‘Future Camp’ project.
Along with entering the Blue Locks’ reach in the USA, South America, CONCACAF and Liverpool in England, and acting as talent scouts for Japanese-heritage players overseas, the series aims to spread the cartoon’s theme of “personal enlightenment and the passion to be the best in the world”.
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investigation
The World Cup just needs to end and the JFA will be scouting for players born between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2011 at Great Park, Orange County, California.
It’s a wild synthesis of reed-meets-real, as Blue Lock’s plotline begins at a very real turning point in Japanese football history: a last-second loss to Belgium after leading 2-0 at the 2018 World Cup.
Kodansha Publishing USA describes the story: “As Japan’s team struggles to regroup, what is missing? A perfect ace striker, who can guide them to victory. The Japan Football Union is ready to produce a striker who is thirsty for goals and victories and who will turn the tide of the match…”
In this team, Ueda is seen as a ruthless number 9 – physical, aggressive and clinical in the air. Having done all the right things in the development of football since beating Brazil in the 1984 Olympics, holding back and allowing Tsububasa to work his slow charm, Japan was ready for the next phase.
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The 2018 defeat came as a terrible shock. Belgium scored twice in six minutes and Thibaut Courtois converted a Kevin De Bruyne turnover. It came from Japan’s nervy corner kick and has since received the Rashomon treatment from Japan, in the form of the NHK documentary ’14 Seconds of Rostov’, which premiered on December 8, 2018, six months after the loss.
Done on A Budget Costing 500,000 euros, the documentary spoke to more than 50 people – Japanese and Belgian players, as well as former coaches – to analyze what possibly went wrong. It was a visceral dissection, where players volunteered to go back in those 14 seconds and bare their hearts about the harrowing moments that led to a 2-3 loss.
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In addition to coach Noshino, all characters including Maya, Makoto, Nishino, Renki, Yuto, Hiroki, Courtois, Romelu Lukaku, De Bruyne, Thomas Meunier, Shazli, Roberto Martinez and Fabio Capello were interviewed by four filming units, Min.news wrote.
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Whether it’s Makoto Hasebe wondering if he’s lost his composure because he’s too relaxed, or ex-coaches pointing out a lack of confidence in Japanese, dreading the inevitability of the Belgians’ scoring, the documentary zooms in split-seconds to tease out perspectives from inside and outside. Did Japan not believe in holding out for more than 90 minutes? Are De Bruyne’s markers distracting? Did Belgium see a spot on the field that Japan didn’t? How important was De Bruyne running at 30.1 kmph? Every detail is in the past – not to vilify, but see what was overlooked.
The film features a slow, gloomy sunset and a 14-second timer. How Japan does football — break down and reflect on what went wrong and then reveal it through manga — for a playing mentality that can come out of the dark day of July 2, 2018.