Blue Lock

## Blue Lock *Blue Lock* by Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yusuke Nomura is one of the most inventive sports manga of the past decade — a tournament arc dressed as a philosophical treatise on ego, ambition, and what separates elite athletes from the rest. Since its debut in Weekly Shonen Magazine in 2018, it has become a sports manga phenomenon with 346 chapters, inspiring a successful anime adaptation, a live-action film, and multiple spin-offs. **Anime Season 3 (Neo Egoist League arc) is confirmed and in production, with a live-action film arriving in Japanese theaters in Summer 2026** to coincide with the FIFA World Cup. After Japan's national soccer team is eliminated from the World Cup, the Japanese Football Union takes drastic action: they hire eccentric genius Jinpachi Ego to run Blue Lock, an experimental facility housing 300 of Japan's best high school strikers. The premise is brutal — the players compete in a series of elimination matches, and the last man standing will become Japan's greatest striker. Those eliminated are banned from ever playing for the national team. Isagi Yoichi, a selfless playmaker who recently cost his high school team a shot at nationals by passing instead of shooting, is one of the 300 recruits. Blue Lock forces him to confront a terrifying question: does he have what it takes to become the world's best egoist striker? The manga currently sits at Chapter 347 (as of May 2026) in the Neo Egoist League arc, where Isagi faces professional-level competition on the global stage. The manga is serialized in Weekly Shonen Magazine; English chapters and volumes are available through Kodansha USA.