The official X account for the television anime adaptation of Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yūsuke Nomura’s BLUELOCK soccer manga dropped some exciting news on Monday: the series’ second season is slated to hit screens this October.
To celebrate the announcement, Nomura treated fans to a special illustration marking the premiere date of the highly anticipated season two.
The anime’s first season, consisting of 24 episodes, kicked off in Japan back in October 2022 on TV Asahi and its affiliated networks as part of the NUMAnimation programming block. Crunchyroll also streamed the series simultaneously as it aired, offering an English dub for fans to enjoy.
In addition to the anime series, fans were treated to the premiere of the BLUELOCK -Episode Nagi- anime film, based on Kōta Sannomiya’s spinoff manga, on April 19 in Japan.
The film made a splash at the box office, selling an impressive 337,000 tickets and earning approximately 463 million yen (about US$2.99 million) in its opening weekend, securing the #2 spot in the Japanese box office rankings. North American fans can catch the film’s premiere on June 28.
The spinoff manga, which talks about Seishirō Nagi’s story before his time at the Blue Lock facility, caught the attention of Kodansha USA Publishing, who announced plans to release it in print starting in fall 2024.
Originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Magazine in August 2018, the main BLUELOCK manga has garnered critical acclaim, earning the prestigious Best Shōnen Manga award at Kodansha’s 45th annual Manga Awards in 2021.
With the 29th compiled volume set for release on May 16, BLUELOCK continues to grip audiences with its intense soccer action and compelling characters.