So, the lovely people at crunchyroll uk have sent us a early copy of Blue Lock The Movie -Episode Nagi to review before its UK release on the 3rd of July, Bule lock the movie- Episode Nagi is the movie version of popular anime series blue lock, which was released in October 2022, so we want to know if blue lock the movie is like the joys of a Jude Bellingham overhead kick or more terrifying than a Slovenia penalty?

The start of the blue lock movie takes place a bit before the blue lock project begins with rich kid Reo finding another student call Nagi who is a secret soccer(football) genius after he saved his beloved phone from falling down the stairs. After seen this Reo makes its his life goal to get Nagi to join the school team, but Nagi just wants to game on his phone. Reo been a rich kid thanks to his father owning a big company and been able to fund all Reo wild soccer dreams to build the best school side Japan had ever seen eventually Nagi is won over and joins the team with him and Reo forming a strike partnership to the level of Cole and York and taking them to the school championship. This meaning that both Reo and Nagi are both prime candidates for the blue lock project where the top 300 strikers at school level are invited to join a squid game type game where the top 5 will go on to play for the Japan under 20s while all the losing candidates will be bar from ever playing for the national team so the Ben white treatment then.

This is where the story starts to tie into with the blue lock anime where we get to see Yoichi Isagi the protagonist of the anime for the first time but now we are seeing the events of the anime throw Nagi and Reo eyes who are both a lot more doubtful than Isgai mostly Nagi who still cares more about gamming on his phone than soccer but are eventually the last 2 to join the blue lock project.

We get to see Nagi and Reo take on the entrance exam where they play ball tag in a room with 12 players this for me was one of the best part of blue lock for me and really feels like the show making the most of its squid games with soccer premise and is super exciting to get to see how Nagi and Reo entrance exam when we also meet Zantetsu Tsurugi who is a bit of a idiot but super lovable and make up team V.

We now get to see First Selection: Round-robin Group League Match from the point of view of team V all is going well as Nagi is now finding more love for the beautiful game and is becoming a better striker game by game all is going well until he has to play team Z that been Isagi team and this is where we link back up to the main anime where team Z is the only team V can not beat and Nagi finding new respect Isgai been the only player he cannot beat.

This is where we hit the second round of blue lock and where the movie and anime fully link up after Nagi finding out that Isgai only has one place in his team for round 2, This is where Nagi joins the plot of the main anime so at this point we just get a quick montage of all the events of round 2 before we treated to a quick teaser to how season 2 will start and get the blue lock season 2 hype train going.

So, what did I think of blue lock the movie episode Nagi? I fill blue lock was in an odd place, if they wanted to make a movie where the plot was oh no here a super strong team we never seen before we got to play before we can continue the plot would make this movie fill like a bad filler arc so meaning the only option been a recap movie while in Japan recap movies are a lot more well received (I mean it what saved the original gundam anime) over in the west recap movies seem to get a lot more lukewarm reception.

I fill going the recap route but basing it around a other fan favourite character was bluelock making the best change of formation to succeed that Mr Southgate should take note of, I like the idea that everyone is the protagonist of there own story and getting to see the events of blue lock throw Nagi eyes getting to see Nagi grow as a player and a person was a lot of fun and getting to see more of team V and there hopes and dreams was also super cool it also makes blue lock world a lot more lived in that there are many story to be told when the main crew of team Z is not around. But sadly this new formation dose have its weakness when the plot links up with the main anime at the end of round 1 the movie dose fill like its now in fast forward mode and the fact we know what Nagi was going to do for the rest of the plot until the end of round 2 making the last 10 minutes of the movie not as exciting as the rest of the movie until we hit the season 2 hype train where things pick back up I will say the animation and music is very well done in this movie and is to a very high standard if you are a fan of blue lock I say you will definitely enjoy this movie, If your someone who want to give blue lock a try I say this a fun way to try out this franchise it has most of the exciting parts of the first season and is a great showcase for blue lock, but make sure you go back and watch round 2 in the anime as the movie dose a poor job showcasing that part of the anime. Overall blue lock the movie did its job it got me hyped for season 2 over all I give it a 7 out 10 it would of got a 8 or 9 if they had done something more interesting with the round two stuff but I respect the production team really when above and beyond to make something truly interesting and add to the blue lock lore.

Blue lock the movie is out now In UK cinemas make sure to check it out and you and catch season 1 on crunchyroll