After the anime adaptation’s roaring success, there is actually enough source material for work to start on Blue Lock season 2 right now.
When considering all of the outstanding anime that we have enjoyed over the past six months, no series has experienced the breakthrough into the mainstream that Blue Lock has.
In partial thanks to the FIFA World Cup, Blue Lock’s popularity has exploded since its cour one premiere back in October 2022 – and is arguably now amongst the very best sports anime of all time.
Whilst Blue Lock season 2 has not yet been officially confirmed to be in production; fans of the hit anime series can celebrate knowing that it should only be a matter of time before the renewal is announced – here’s why.
Blue Lock season 2 renewal status explored
As previously noted, Blue Lock has not yet been publicly renewed for season 2 by Studio 8bit, the production team behind the hit sports anime series. That being said, it should only be a matter of time before a second season is confirmed to be in early development.
Modern anime renewals typically depend on two main factors; the availability of source material from an original light novel or manga series, and the popularity of the wider franchise – both of which are currently working in the favor of Blue Lock season 2.
Season 1 episode 24 is expected to adapt up until volume 11 chapter 94 of the original manga series, which marks the start of the ‘Third Selection Arc’ – previewed by the Fandom page as:
“The remaining 35 players have to participate on either team ‘A’, ‘B’, or ‘C’ to prove their skills and ability to coexist with the top six Blue Lock players: Rin, Shidou, Karasu, Otoya, Yukimiya, and Nagi. The best eleven players will be chosen to form the Blue Lock Eleven to challenge Japan’s U-20 team.”
The good news is that ahead of the season 1 finale, 203 chapters across 23 complete manga volumes have been published in Japan – meaning that there is indeed enough source material for Studio 8bit to start production on season 2 straight away.
Similarly, the Blue Lock anime should easily prove popular enough to merit a second season going into early development. At the time of writing, the series is scoring an outstanding 8.4/10 on IMDB, 81% on Anilist, 4.3/5 on Anime Planet, and 8.3/10 on MyAnimeList.
This makes Blue Lock the second-highest-scoring anime from Studio 8bit on MAL, only behind That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime. Moreover, the anime has led to an incredible boost in manga sales since its premiere:
- August 2020 – 1.9 million copies sold
- January 2021 – 3 million copies sold
- August 2021 – 5 million copies sold
- August 2022 – 10 million copies sold
- December 2022 – 16 million copies sold (Anime premiered October 2022)
- January 2023 – 21.5 million copies sold
- March 2023 – 24 million copies sold
Coupling the success of the TV adaptation for 8bit, the availability of source material, and the remarkable boost to the manga sales that the anime has given the franchise; it should only be a matter of time before season 2 is officially confirmed.
Season 1 of Blue Lock was revealed in August 2021 and premiered in October 2022. Assuming that Studio 8bit will aim to maintain both this 12-month production cycle and a 24-episode format, fans can expect Blue Lock season 2 to premiere in April 2024 on the Spring slate.
If you can’t possibly wait for season 2 of the Blue Lock anime, why not check out the original manga?
18 of the 23 available manga volumes have been published in English by Kodansha USA. The series is available in physical form via Amazon, Barnes & Noble, BAM, Penguin Random House, and Target; whilst digital copies can be found on Kindle, Apple iBooks, Google Play, Kobo, and MyAnimeList.
By Tom Llewellyn – [email protected]
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