Blue Lock season 2 episode 9 review: 8bit does justice to Rin and Sae's past

Blue Lock season 2 episode 9, titled Snow Night, premiered on Sunday, November 30, 2024, at 12 am JST. While fans may have lost hope in the adaptation due to the drop in production quality, the latest anime episode was an exception. This is because animation studio 8bit did justice to the Itoshi siblings' past.

As fans must have known already, the Itoshi siblings' past is crucial to the plot. Hence, 8bit needed to get this part right. Fortunately, the flashbacks did not feature a lot of football action, allowing the animation studio to focus on the drawings rather than the animation.

Blue Lock season 2 episode 9 review: 8bit beautifully depicts Rin and Sae's past

Rin Itoshi as seen in Blue Lock season 2 episode 9 (Image via 8bit)

As seen in Blue Lock season 2 episode 9, the anime episode majorly focused on Rin and Sae's past. Surprisingly, unlike the previous episodes, the scenes featured good drawings all around, doing justice to an important plot point. While it is very possible that 8bit only succeeded at this due to a lack of action scenes, given what fans have received till now, one cannot complain.

All the scenes pertaining to the past were animated really well, using proper lighting and shadows based on the time of the day. Besides that, the anime also properly adapted the characters' moods. This was especially evident from the difference between Sae Itoshi's face before going to Spain and after returning to Japan. Hence, one can say with absolute certainty that 8bit did well at depicting the Itoshi siblings' past.

Sae Itoshi as seen in Blue Lock season 2 episode 9 (Image via 8bit)

On top of that, if fans remember, the scene where Sae Itoshi reunited with Rin was depicted in the first episode. However, instead of keeping the scene as it is, the anime changed its visuals to fit more into the episode's title "Snow Night." This proves that the animators weren't lazy while adapting the anime but were forced to cut down on costs due to production-related issues.

Ryusei Shidou's introduction into the match needed some work

While the scenes involving Rin and Sae's past were animated beautifully, the anime lacked some production quality when it came to Ryusei Shidou. Firstly, the anime did not animate the scene that fans looked forward to the most. The manga had a scene that depicted Shidou with wings. However, this visual was omitted in the anime.

Ryusei Shidou as seen in Blue Lock season 2 episode 9 (Image via 8bit)

Even the drawing of Shidou's face was not up to the mark as his face seemed out of proportion at times. While some fans could interpret that as a nod toward his nature, that truly isn't the case.

Final thoughts on Blue Lock season 2 episode 9

With Blue Lock season 2 episode 9 ending with Yoichi Isagi and Rin Itoshi learning about Ryusei Shidou's introduction into the match, the next episode could majorly focus on the striker's partnership with Sae Itoshi. Evidently, Sae was interested in Shidou, thus, their partnership could possibly raise some eyebrows in the next episode.