Warning: Contains spoilers for Blue Lock chapter #260

Blue Lock isn’t the kind of manga that has villains in the traditional sense, but the biggest example of one has undoubtedly been Michael Kaiser. Kaiser has been nothing but antagonistic towards Isagi since his introduction, as he repeatedly tries to be the only important person in Bastard Munchen, and Kaiser has even been trying to use Isagi to get transferred to another team and stand out all the more.

Kaiser is definitely Blue Lock’s biggest villain, and oddly enough, he’s just become one of its most tragic characters. After suffering a massive fall from grace in the match against Paris X Gen, the manga began telling a flashback of Kaiser’s life, and in doing so, Blue Lock revealed Kaiser to be the most tragic figure in the entirety of the story.

It creates a striking dichotomy between how Kaiser acts and what he’s gone through to get to that point, and overall, it makes for the darkest story in the manga, proving again that Blue Lock is a revolutionary shonen that can flip the script at any given time.

Kaiser’s Backstory In Blue Lock Explained

Blue Lock chapter #260 opened with a young Kaiser being strangled by his father, a perfect way of setting the mood. Kaiser’s father was a small-time director who fell into poverty after his wife left him following her big break as an actress, and he took his anger out on Kaiser. Kaiser’s father would physically beat him, forcing him to steal, and never even once called him by his name. The only comfort Kaiser ever found was in a worn-out soccer ball he saw as a metaphor for himself.

One day, one of Kaiser’s acquaintances named him as an accomplice in a robbery, and when the police found a safe of money Kaiser was keeping from his father, he was immediately arrested. Kaiser was content with the idea that he could bounce back from that, but when his father tried to destroy his soccer ball, Kaiser went ballistic and attacked his father and the police. Kaiser would have rotted in jail were it not for the intervention of PIFA agent Ray Dark, and it all comes together for the darkest story in the Blue Lock manga.

How Kaiser’s Backstory Explains His Character In Blue Lock

Kaiser’s backstory is easily the darkest story to come out of Muneyuki Kaneshiro’s Blue Lock, and it also does a great job of explaining why he acts the way he does. Not only does the physical abuse explain why Kaiser once strangled himself to help himself think, but Kaiser growing up always being made to feel worthless explains why he’s such an egocentric bully towards Isagi. It’s unfortunately realistic for abuse victims to subject others to the same abuse they suffered, so it makes sense why Kaiser ended up like this.

There’s now also a tragic explanation behind Kaiser’s signature blue rose tattoo. Not only does it reference the rose Kaiser’s mother left behind when she walked out on his father, but since blue roses are special due to not naturally existing, Kaiser’s blue rose tattoo symbolizes his need to feel like he’s worth anything after everything he went through.

Blue Lock‘s focus on individuality over teamwork is unusual for a sports shonen, but it creates the chance for great character development. Overall, Kaiser’s backstory perfectly explains his antagonistic nature without trying to justify it, and it will be great to see how Blue Lock continues to develop his character, going forward.