Warning: Contains spoilers for Blue Lock chapter #260

Blue Lock stands out because of its premise of individuality and selfishness instead of promoting teamwork like most sports anime. This made Blue Lock redefine the shōnen genre. Author Muneyuki Kaneshiro’s previous work was a battle royale manga, which, along with his football fanaticism, motivated him to create a survival sports story where, when the characters lose, they don’t lose their lives but their dreams. Kaneshiro has also admitted being inspired by mixing his favorite mangas, Kaiji and Eyeshield 21. However, in the latest manga chapter, an antagonist reveals the biggest influence behind Blue Lock.

In Blue Lock chapter #248, Hirotoshi Buratsuta, the president of the Japan Football Association, shows the ratings of the broadcast of the Neo Egoist League’s broadcast to the board of the World Football Association (PIFA), and the President is introduced as a new antagonist in the story. His motivations are currently unknown, but his conversation with Buratsuta suggests that PIFA is an organization that only cares about revenue.

PIFA’s president’s name and appearance weren’t revealed until chapter #260, which shed light on the new antagonist and revealed a big reference that confirms that Blue Lock‘s biggest influence is another football series, Inazuma Eleven.

PIFA’s President Ray Dark is Based on Inazuma Eleven

PIFA’s President’s Name and Appearance Are a Reference to the Main Antagonist of Inazuma Eleven

Blue Lock‘s chapter #260 shows the past of the character Kaiser, who was wrongly sent to prison and was visited by a PIFA-licensed agent. This agent was the current president of PIFA, and his name was revealed to be Ray Dark. The name is a reference to the football series Inazuma Eleven, where Ray Dark was the English-localized name of the main antagonist, Reiji Kageyama. Reiji Kageyama was a Royal Academy coach, a power-seeking and ruthless villain who only cared about winning and would do anything from sabotage to playing dirty to manipulating and harming others.

Blue Lock‘s Ray Dark’s design is very similar to Reiji Kageyama’s other identity, Astero Black from Inazuma Eleven Go Galaxy, with both characters being old men with long white hair, a prominent nose, and a beard. Another similarity between the characters is that Ray Dark helped get Kaiser out of prison because of his ability to play football, and he probably became his tutor due to Kaiser’s broken home. In Inazuma Eleven, Reiji Kageyama helped Jude Sharp, who had lost his parents, get out of the orphanage and made him his protégée.

Inazuma Eleven’s Influence on Blue Lock

Blue Lock‘s Chapter #150 and Chapter #153 Include Easter Eggs of Inazuma Eleven

Ray Dark’s reference shows that the authors wanted to honor Inazuma Eleven, and use the English-localized name of the character instead of the Japanese name, Reiji Kageyama, as a reference for international fans. Also, there are Easter eggs of Inazuma Eleven in Blue Lock, like in chapter #150, when Barou is bowling, the bowling ball he uses has a logo that says “Inazuma” with a lightning figure. The lighting is the signature logo of Inazuma Eleven. Also, at the beginning of chapter #153, the same logo is shown on Barou’s sports bag.

Despite Blue Lock being more realistic than Inazuma Eleven, which mixes football and science fiction, neither series follows the traditional norms of sports anime, as every character has special moves that feel more like superpowers from an action series. Inazuma Eleven was the pioneer battle shōnen series disguised as a sports anime, which surely inspired Blue Lock‘s particular approach to football. This and Ray Dark’s reference proves that Inazuma Eleven was one of Kaneshiro’s inspirations to make Blue Lock unique and is one of the series’ biggest influences.