Blue Lock: Why Did Isagi Pass to Kunigami Instead of Shooting?

Blue Lock’s initial selection places five teams into a single round-robin group, but only the teams that finish in first and second place advance.

As a result, three teams in each stratum are doomed to elimination. However, there is one striking exception to this ruthless rule: the top scorer from each of the three eliminated teams earns the right to survive and advance to Blue Lock’s Second Selection.

Here is a breakdown of the three key insights behind Yoichi Isagi’s decisive pass to Rensuke Kunigami:

1. An Individual Battle for Top Scorer

When the match between Team X and Team Z kicked off, players from both sides fought with overwhelming fervor. They violently stole the ball from opponents and teammates alike, driven by a single, burning desire: securing a ticket to the Second Selection as their team’s top scorer.

Teamwork was non-existent. Every player succumbed to pure ego, desperate to score alone. It was as if the objective was to achieve individual glory rather than to win the match as a cohesive unit.

Shoei Barou, Team X’s undisputed star, delivered a brilliant performance. He seized a contested ball from a chaotic scrum of Team X and Team Z players. Showcasing incredible individual skill, Barou utilized a heel flick and a devastating nutmeg to shatter Team Z’s defense. “King” Barou capped the play with a stunning goal, putting Team X ahead 1-0.

While Team Z’s players continued their disjointed, selfish scrambles for the top scorer title, Team X miraculously transformed into a unified front. They willingly became servants to their monarch, King Barou. This newfound harmony allowed Team X to utterly dominate Team Z, pushing the score to a crushing 5-0.

2. Isagi’s Hesitation: Passing Over Shooting

In the dying, desperate moments of the second half, Meguru Bachira and Isagi linked up to salvage a single goal for Team Z. Bachira correctly deduced that a 5-0 lead would make Team X’s defense complacent. Despite being tightly marked by three defenders at midfield, Bachira managed to launch a pinpoint long pass to Isagi, who was sprinting aggressively just outside Team X’s penalty box.

However, just as Isagi primed himself to shoot against the goalkeeper, Barou materialized out of nowhere, swiftly blocking his path. Forced to abandon his shot, Isagi weighed his rapidly shrinking options. Nearby, a heavily marked Kunigami demanded a pass, while an unmarked Jingo Raichi, running freely alongside Isagi, fiercely called for the ball as well.

Though momentarily tempted to take on the towering Barou and score the goal himself, Isagi was struck by a powerful premonition: a spectacular goal was about to be born from Kunigami’s foot. Yielding to this sharp instinct, Isagi passed the ball to Kunigami.

Team X’s defenders doubted Kunigami’s ability to score from outside the penalty box, completely unaware that long-range shooting was his exact specialty. With a brilliant, explosive strike, Kunigami smashed the ball into the back of the net. The match ultimately concluded with a 5-1 scoreline, cementing Team X as the undisputed victors.

In the aftermath, a furious Raichi grabbed Isagi by the collar. He demanded to know why Isagi chose Kunigami over him, arguing that his positioning was far superior and much closer than Kunigami, who was actively being pressed by an opposing center-back.

Isagi honestly admitted that he was just as confused by his own decision. His body had simply moved on its own to pass to Kunigami, even though he had desperately wanted to take the shot himself. This “stupid” answer only fueled Raichi’s rage; he was infuriated that a striker wanting to shoot would unconsciously choose to pass.

3. Kunigami’s Reward for Isagi’s Assist

Later, while Yoichi Isagi was eating dinner in the Blue Lock cafeteria, Kunigami approached him to express his gratitude. Kunigami deeply appreciated the assist that allowed him to score his first goal. Furthermore, Kunigami felt a twinge of concern seeing Isagi subsisting solely on standard natto due to his incredibly low rank in the facility.

As a token of appreciation, Kunigami used the points he earned from scoring to buy a premium steak, slicing off half and offering it to Isagi as a special reward.

During their meal, Kunigami admitted he was deeply curious about Isagi’s split-second decision. Why pass to a marked man when Raichi was sprinting completely uncontested and closer to the ball?

Isagi explained that the pass was a subconscious reflex. He reasoned that if he had passed to Raichi, there was still a high probability that Barou—who was already positioned to block Isagi—would have easily shifted to intercept or shut down Raichi’s advance.

More importantly, Isagi revealed the true underlying instinct behind the play: he simply felt that Kunigami’s long-range shot would find the net. This premonition stemmed from their very first day at Blue Lock during the brutal game of tag, where Isagi had witnessed firsthand the sheer, terrifying power of Kunigami’s kick when he launched the ball at his target.