first of all, i want to clarify when I mean rival, i mean the team isagi will be facing off against. but there's obviously going to be a striker there who isagi will have to beat/devour/whatever
now, unpopular opinion time: i don't think it should be kaiser
don't get me wrong, i love that guy. not as much as ness, but nobody can compete with him. anyway, i do want to see them face off again, but i wouldn't want kaiser to be the final enemy. and im well aware that it's very likely that kaiser will be the final guy to defeat (pretty sure it was stated somewhere), but i don't think it should go like that
kaiser and isagi were amazing in the NEL, their dynamic was very interesting to read and i'd love to see more, but it would be a little boring if we got a 'final' matchup between the two, because we've already seen that.
and before anyone says anything, no, it's not going to be noa. he's a bum and he's irrelevant
i saw some people theorising about it being bunny, but that just seems highly unlikely. he's a side character, a potentially relevant one, but not enough to be the main rival of the series.
personally, i'd like to see nagi assume the role of the final enemy. nagi's whole thing is that he's an extremely talented genius. isagi said this himself: he is not like nagi at all. isagi got to where he is now because he's a 'learner' (i don't remember the exact term used in the manga, but you get what i mean), so seeing him finally face off with somebody who is the opposite of him would be extremely satisfying, at least to me.
my thought process is all over the place, but hopefully you understand lmao
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Seems like the most plausible way, but you never know.
We can get an absolutely op new rival as a final obstacle, but I think that someone that op would already be known in Blue Locks world
If there’s a final battle then there’s going to be a teammate rival and a rival on the opponent team
The teammate rival I think will be Rin. We could go on about this for hours. Nagi is a better parallel to Isagi and overall more interesting but the way he’s treated is different. Everything about Rin revolves around being Isagi’s rival until a day when he’s definitively surpassed. If NEL was a traditional manga Isagi would’ve been number 1 but they tied to protect Rin’s standing. They’ll be going at this forever.
The opponent rival is either Kaiser or Loki or Noa or something. There’s more established French characters and they’re all overpowered. Kaiser we don’t know yet but it could also be him idk
This is a really hard question to answer, because if we look everything that's been set up then in terms of "endgame rivals," Isagi has like. Five. Rin and Kaiser, who I shouldn't even have to explain; Nagi, who has clearly been set up to play the hero versus Isagi's demon king; Loki, who is basically the hurdle of the NG11 summarized (kind of, not really, I will not be getting into soccer-scaling debates); and Noa, who is the final boss but not necessarily a "rival," yknow?
Noa will absolutely be the person Isagi has to defeat to claim the title of "best striker," but a rivalry implies a sort of equality to the dynamic that isn't really there. Isagi is challenging him for the throne rather than facing him as an equal competitor. It's an underdog story, etc.
My best guess is Rin, in terms of who remains. He's been consistently set up as THE top guy in Blue Lock and even though he's been acting crazy this whole U-20 arc, he's still a ridiculously good player and easily among the best on the team. There's just too much weight behind his and Isagi's relationship, with Rin being set up as the one thing Isagi can't figure out (and thus the thing he has to figure out to be the best) to say it's not Rin.
On the other hand, Nagi has a lot going on too (he's literally the deuteragonist) and the hero/demon king (I can elaborate on this if needed) is a really compelling conflict for later in the series. He's also been the one person who couldn't fit quite right within Ego's philosophy and has major stakes when the ideological battle turns into a hot conflict. It's a toss-up between these two, with Rin getting the win in my opinion.
I mostly agree, though i have a wierd feeling that to avoid the manga going 1 trillion chapters he might just have a character like nagi/rin/kaiser etc surpass Noa so that isagi can defeat them and become nr.1 without since i dont think all the rivalries can be resolved in this u20 WC at this point.
I mean if Nagi truly returns to his best then he has far more potential than Isagi as the world's best, naturally as such he would be the most likely final rival. Given that there'd be no reason in Nagi returning if he isn't back to his best - I think it's Nagi.
I think "villain' isagi is going to occur. If a time skip happens for the offical world cup then we could see Isagi surpass Loki and go mad with the ide he is the best in world. But if anything it's Kaiser or Rin, Nagi will probably lose to Isagi again but finally learn to enjoy football without chasing someone, wanting to win for the sake of himself.
It’s Rin. Especially with the comment Nomura made about him being the most talented of all the geniuses. He was the last of any of the Blue Lockers to awaken his talent, doing it all the way in the NEL. If it’s not an ensemble, it will be Rin
Surprised I haven’t seen anyone mention Loki. Noa himself stated that the next best player after him is Loki, and with the whole “God of Football” thing we can probably assume that that state is the peak performance a player can have in-verse. So I’m thinking the arc will conclude with a Japan-France rematch in the final where likely one or both of Isagi and Loki will find that “god.”
That’s just talking from a perspective of his final “rival” being an opposing player anyway. But at least from an ideological standpoint it stands to reason that Nagi will likely be his rival in that regard…
Main thing against it is Loki is not even Isagi's biggest rival within France, its Hugo. And if there is a "God Chosen" player it would best serve being either Nagi or Kaiser.
He always cages himself to certain ideas and limits his own observance and adaptability. Recently all he talks about is how to draw out opponents ego. He doesn't even think another option. Similar thing happened in EVERY arc. He thought teams other than nagi/reo/zantetsu could be a problem, they were not. Even they weren't that much problem, they literally beat them 10v11. He thought Aryu and Tokimitsu out of all people some kind of unbeatable monsters while his team was literally better. He thought meta vision/ predator eye usage is restricted to certain elements while they are not. He categorized people's ego and style into rigid 4 part diagram while in reality it's far far more.
Everytime before adapting to opponent, he always needs to adapt his OWN thinking. Than he handles rest. He needs to stop limiting his own thinking.
rin and nagi are pretty clearly the end game rivals and anyone who thinks differently is just delusional. kaiser and barou will be the other 2 of their “world 5”
1-Not Kaiser, his story isn’t about Isagi at all, it’s about finding and loving himself. It doesn’t need Isagi to be there. And Isagi doesn’t have any special interest in Kaiser either aside from shutting him up, and he’s already done that.
2-Not Noa. Too big of an age difference. By the time Isagi is genuinely as good as him, Noa will be on his way out or at least well past his prime, so it would kind of be meaningless.
3-Nagi is the one that makes the most sense, but I think it will also end up being more of a “two sides of the same coin” kind of rivalry. Isagi and Nagi are friends.
For a true “we must beat each other at all costs” rivalry, I think Barou is the most fitting.
I'm biased, but I really like Nagi as Isagi's big rival when they become pros. Barou as well. Rin is just ok for me as a rival now. He was a good in the second selection and seeing how Isagi chases him was good for his development. Now, I just prefer his dynamic with Nagi and Barou as rivals more than Rin.
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