hiori uncertain whether he wants isagi to love him (attaching himself to isagi), or whether he wants to be loved the way isagi is loved (replacing isagi), either wanting to be with isagi or be isagi and eventually settling on wanting to give birth to isagi, wanting to be the flesh that makes isagi into isagi. it's yuri

rin is bad at being loved but he wants to be loved and he won't forgive it when someone else is loved instead of him but (based off his vibes) he'd probably reject love if it came his way. he must be a pain to deal with, it's charming

good at being loved—> shonen protagonist

bad at being loved—> shonen rival

kaiser's goal is to make the world miserable so he's probably bad at being loved, which i think means he was never loved. rin's goal is also to make the people he cares about miserable but i know that he was loved at one point, except he lost that love so he can't take being loved for granted which also makes him bad at being loved

whatever though. many types of shonen protag exist but i think there's at least one type that (as a result of receiving unconditional love as a child?) approaches life with the unconscious thought, "it's natural for me to be loved," so they don't doubt love when it comes their way, or they're allowed to expect others to love them. isagi demanding hiori join the match may be this as well, he doesn't doubt that hiori would help(love) him or that he should receive help(love) because he's probably never been denied love. his happy childhood made him strong

manshine isagi's final piece—> "protagonism", a recognition that everyone is their protagonist and a respect for this fact

ubers isagi's final piece—> "hiori", a weapon he uses to make himself the protagonist

in the first everyone vies for the role of protagonist, in the second the protagonist is predetermined. this shift was calamitous but it was only allowed to happen because isagi has been from the start blue lock's predetermined protagonist, from the start isagi's existence has always jeopardized "everyone is their own protagonist" so maybe there was nothing blue lock could do to prevent this shift

the more a character is accustomed to being loved the better they are at accepting love and this is a powerful weapon, hiori on barou "an ego that can be loved" as an explanation for why charas like barou or isagi gain followers. i can't ignore how this is from hiori's perspective and hiori's role as a blue lock replacement/alternative, he's like blue lock's stand-in explaining why certain characters are protagonists and others aren't, and hiori was someone attracted by isagi's protagonist power who became important to the story by connecting himself to a predetermined protagonist. in every way the yukki opposite, hiori probably made this choice because he was never loved which made him bad at being loved, which meant he couldn't see himself a real candidate for number 1 striker (protagonist). (that or becoming the number 1 striker was to hiori only proof of a twisted love that was forced onto him, but either way the point remains that in this manga a genuinely loving upbringing gives characters the security they need to accept love and this translates directly into protagonist points)

in a way the number 1 quality of a shonen protagonist is that they can be loved, while a shonen protagonist's biggest strength is that they can take this love for granted

it's like blue lock characters can be separated into two camps, either a character is good at being loved or bad at being loved

Gintama (銀魂) // Hideaki Sorachi

it's tough for me because i'm done with volume 5 and i really like kuon, but i know he doesn't make it which means somewhere along the line his story disappeared and that's how it must have been for many where blue lock wrote characters who care and dream and hope and dropped them from the main story quietly where no one could see them die, and according to blue lock's worldview such characters were dropped because they couldn't prove themselves worthwhile. anyway i think that blue lock is the type of manga that knows love exists, that has its characters love things, that knows how to imitate love or pretend to love, that even understands love to some degree but at its core it doesn't feel love. it may be part of blue lock's charm that it doesn't truly love anyone

blue lock characters can be ranked by how much they value love?

some characters seem unaware that love even exists... isagi is such a character, but arguably he's like that because he grew up with unconditional love, whereas hiori who was never given love is intimately attuned to it. or maybe isagi is the way he is because blue lock as a manga doesn't feel love, like it knows how to imitate love and understands that love exists but it doesn't feel love towards anyone. blue lock values love without loving anything so its protagonist cares deeply without loving anyone

Chilly swim❄️

stageplay kappas