When you think of soccer manga, typically you would imagine a story with team work, friendship and comradery as its main themes, but have you heard of a manga called Blue Lock which overturns all of your expectations?

In this manga, at a facility called Blue Lock, 300 high school athletes fight it out in a series of survival tests to see who can become the world’s best striker. For example, in the first test, they are forced to participate in a game of “tag.” The game area is the same size as the penalty area and the players had to try and hit each other with the ball over the course of 136 seconds. The last person to get hit by the ball gets eliminated and gets a lifetime ban on representing Japan in international football.

The focus on the egos of the players over teamwork is a unique take on the soccer manga genre and netted Blue Lock the 45th Kodansha Manga Award in the shōnen category in 2021. The original author 金城宗幸 Muneshiro Kaneyuki is also known for his work on a movie adaptation of a death game manga called 神様の言う通り (Kamisama no iutōri | As the Gods Will).

There have been 20 volumes released so far in Japanese and 14 volumes in English. In Japan, this manga is already hugely popular because of how thrilling and exciting it is. If you haven’t read it yet, I encourage you to give it a chance. Moreover, an anime adaptation is set to premiere on October 9th, 2022, and has been licensed by Crunchyroll.


Blue Lock event at Fuji-Q Highland

I'd like to introduce a new collaboration between this popular manga and the famous Japanese amusement park, Fuji-Q Highland. This event is from September 23rd to November 13th.

Original Day Pass Collaboration Envelope Case

If you buy a collaboration day pass, you will get this original case as well. For this special occasion, the design features the main characters in their casual clothes, which you don’t often see in the manga.

The pass is available for pre-purchase or same-day purchase. Lucky buyers of the pass will also get the opportunity to hear special lines from the various characters.

Attraction Collaborations

During this campaign, guests can buy original merchandise and collaboration food. However, shopping isn’t the only special experience. The park’s announcements have also been recorded in the voices of the various characters.

The voice actors (minus the secret character) for each character are:

  • 國神 錬介 Rensuke Kunigami by 小野 友樹 Yūki Ono
  • 千切 豹馬 Hyōma Chigiri by 斉藤 壮馬 Sōma Saitō
  • 蜂楽 廻 Meguru Bachira by 海渡 翼 Tasuku Kaito
  • 潔 世一 Yoichi Isagi by 浦 和希 Kazuki Ura
  • 凪 誠士郎 Seishirō Nagi by 島﨑 信長 Nobunaga Shimazaki
  • 御 影玲王 Reo Mikage by 内田 雄馬 Yūma Uchida

Other special events include a stamp rally!


Collaboration Room

There is a capsule hotel neighboring Fuji-Q Highland called キャビン&ラウンジハイランドステーション イン Cabin & Lounge Highland Station Inn, and they are also participating in this collaboration. On the women's floor, seven collaboration rooms have been set up. These rooms will be decorated with one of the characters, so you can spend some quality time with your fave. There are also collaboration plans with goods but no decorations inside on both the women's and men's floors.

Life-size panels of each of the characters have also been set up in the lounge for some fun photo time! Guests who stay at the hotel with the collaboration plans will get a special original A4 clear file with a secret message inside!


Information


By - Mochijapa (Ayano Irizuki).