Manga's Next Sports Hit Is Here, And It's Come For Blue Lock's Mantle
The next big sports manga is on the horizon, and it might give Blue Locka run for its money. Following the back-to-back finales of Mission: Yozakura Family and Undead Unluck, Weekly Shonen Jump will be debuting two new manga, the first of which will be Embers, a new sports manga about a delinquent who starts playing soccer.
With how popular Blue Lock has become, Weekly Shonen Jump having its own soccer manga is exciting to think about, but the excitement for Embers goes well beyond that. Soutarou Nishii, the artist for Shonen Jump’s Embers, was a former assistant of Blue Lock artist Yusuke Nomura, and in the lead-up to its debut, Blue Lock artist Yusuke Nomura has both told people to read Embers and joked that its creators are out to completely crush Blue Lock. How well that will go is too soon to tell, but it’s easy to see where the sentiment is coming from, regardless.
Why The Artist Of Shonen Jump’s Next Big Manga Can Keep Up With Blue Lock
If there’s one area where Embers might be able to compete with Blue Lock, it’s in its artwork. Soutarou Nishii doesn’t have a big career as an artist, mostly just doing a few one-shots, but as seen with his one-shots Heat Condition and Freerun Freaks, Embers artist Soutarou Nishii understands paneling, scene composition, and general art in a way that’s on par with the incredible work that’s gone into Blue Lock from day one. Embers will surely have all that same dynamism to its art, and if so, it will be just as fun to read, if not more so.
Naturally, Soutarou Nishii’s work on Blue Lock is also why Embers is so exciting. According to Yusuke Nomura, Nishii was responsible for Blue Lock’s dynamic and sharp backgrounds, and with how great the art in Blue Lock always looks, Soutarou Nishii’s past contributions to the stellar artwork of Blue Lock are the biggest reason why Embers is worth looking forward to. The series will surely excel at least visually, and just from what little is known about the artist, it seriously could give Blue Lock a run for its money.
Will Shonen Jump’s New Soccer Manga Be Even Bigger Than Blue Lock?
Is Embers Going To Be The Next Big Thing?
There’s plenty of reason to be excited about Embers, but whether it will be bigger than Blue Lock is another story, entirely. While Embers’ artwork will undoubtedly be great, Blue Lock is one of the most popular manga in the world right now, and it’s not showing any signs of decline, so even with its great artwork, Embers might not be able to surpass Blue Lock’s popularity, at least not right away.
That being said, it’s still too soon to say anything definitive. It’s always hard to predict which manga will take off, and with so little known about the story, it’s far too early to make a statement about Embers’ success, or lack of it, before it makes its proper debut in Weekly Shonen Jump. Whatever the case, Embers will surely be a great addition to the Shonen Jump lineup, and anyone who’s a fan of Blue Lock would be remiss to pass it up.
Source: @nomnii on X.
Blue Lock
- Release Date
- 2022 - 2024
- Directors
- Tetsuaki Watanabe, Shunsuke Ishikawa
- Writers
- Taku Kishimoto
Cast
Ricco Fajardo- Drew Breedlove
- Number of Episodes
- 24 Episodes (Season 1); 14 Episodes (Season 2)
- Studio
- 8bit
- Creator
- Muneyuki Kaneshiro
- Streaming Service(s)
- Crunchyroll
- Based On
- Manga
- MyAnimeList Score
- 8.22 (Season 1)
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