The Blue lock: Episode Nagi is actually a spin-off adaptation of the anime and manga of the name Blue lock which was released on the 19th of April 2024. The movie tells the story of the side character Nagi Seishiro, his life before becoming a member of the blue lock program and within up on till the beginning of the final selection.
The show focuses on Nagi Seishiro, a young boy who possesses incredible talent and gift for sports but prefers to play video games all day as he views life as a drag and is too stressful when he takes things seriously. However his whole life soon changes when he eventually encounters Reo Mikage- a young boy from wealthy family who is very good at every sport and goes to the same school as Nagi.
Reo bumps into Nagi who was completely engrossed playing video games on his capsule/ phone at the top of the school stairs and paying no attention to his surroundings. The gaming capsule slips out of Nagi's hands and in a desperate attempt to save it from being smashed, Nagi displays superb athletic abilities trapping it with his legs mid air. Surprised and fascinated by what he just witnessed, Reo holds on to Nagi tightly screaming that he must play soccer to him which Nagi describes as too much work. Reo promises Nagi comfort and a stressful life if he agrees to play with him as they will become very famous, make the money and then eventually retire early. Nagi eventually agrees to play soccer with Reo and the duo becomes an unstoppable force winning every football competition they are involved in either interschool or a match amongst youth teams. Their winning streak continues for a while with trophies to show up for it until they are both invited to the Blue lock program .
Project Blue lock is actually an intense training program created by the Japan football union in an attempt to create a world class striker. The project is headed by Ego Jinpachi- a calculative radicalist who is hellbent on producing a striker capable of leading Japan to a world cup by being a completely egocentric and a goal scoring monster. The program recruits about 300 candidates but stipulates that only one individual will emerge as Japan's striking leading the youth team to victory while the rest of the 299 candidates will have to give up on their footballing career forever.
After the participants are grouped in the first selection, Nagi and Reo wound up on the same team- Team V the strongest on wing 5 completely dominating every other team until they finally encounter team Z where Isagi Yoichi plays for and is apparently the weakest. The match between both teams was a really heated competition which forces Nagi to put his 100% into the game just so he doesnt lose. The game ends with a 4-5 with team Z emerging victories. Shocked by the outcome Nagi vows to give it his all just so he doesn't experience another loss and finally starts to truly enjoy football.
The movie ends with Nagi abandoning Reo to join Isagi's team to understand his ego as well as play with the very person that caused his team absolute victory in the first selection.
Episode Nagi is a movie created to offer more insight to Nagi as a character, his story before blue lock and his evolution as a player.
