to explain how exactly both awakenings are linked to each other and specifically, the blue lock philosophy, let's first analyze, what exactly is kaiser's awakening ? what exactly is "awakened" and how does his psyche change during said "awakening"

while i've already explained it in a past thread, the core of kaiser's awakening is about awareness of his desire and identity, the timeline of kaiser's life is that kaiser was birthed and lived throughout his entire life as a "worthless piece of shit" an identity that was beaten

into him not only psychologically but also physically, but as with any being, kaiser wanted to flee from this pain and worthlessness, which is where his core desire to play football and by extension join bm were, a desire to "flee" what he was and had been his entire life

but as he managed to flee bit by bit from all those negative feelings and most importantly, this "piece of shit" identity, his drive to better himself at football also slowly faded away, for what he was chasing, to flee from the feeling of being a piece of shit, had been obtained

and this is where the pivotal aspect of his "awakening" comes, kaiser's awakening is a change that's directly anchored in both a change of identity and a change in desire as a consequence, for kaiser to keep on reaching higher, he had to let go of what he had gained up until now

but that also comes with a twist, for him to give it all up, would mean for him to go back to what he once was, a piece of shit, yet he wants to feel alive, basically forcing himself in a constant "fight for survival" by accepting his "piece of shit" identity

and while this has many, many consequences for kaiser's character along with all those affecting him, consequences which i already analyzed in this thread below https://x.com/wisetraveler27/s...

the important part i want to highlight is that kaiser's desires, drive, ego or however you might want to call it, were all dictated directly by his identity, when kaiser felt "human" to a certain degree, his desires were simply about staying as such, yet when he accepted himself

as a piece of shit, his drive tapped into almost "survival" urges, like he was putting his whole life on the line for every single shot, for that's what it truly was, and here we get to the important point that this thread wants to highlight the core of blue lock philosophy

is all about this specific aspect, the idea of redefining a person's identity and desire to their core and basic aspects, to leave away all the cluster that has been created by things like society, links to others and to let the individual redefine themselves by their priority

the entirety of chapter 1 of blue lock is all about this, from first showing us that the idea of football is that it's a soccer played by 11 people, all connected, to then tell us that football at its CORE is all about scoring more goals than the opponent, that and only that

and to continue on that aspect, the first selection is similarly about this, to go back to the barebones of the sport and its objective, to see that all that comes, tactics, positions, all of it, are simply a means to fulfill the goal but that none are inherently better

as long as they work, they are valid, now of course reproducibility and other factors are important but moreso in the context of "creating the best" but if the objective is purely to win, then whatever works, works and now with this in mind we can finally analyze rin's awakening

as i've said a lot of times, to me rin's awakening is THE PEAK of blue lock as a story not only because of the stakes that it had setup but most importantly because it is the moment in the story where blue lock's philosophy is best shown and used

rin's story had been all about "labels" from his very first introduction "the brother of itoshi sae" "the number one of blue lock" and even in his backstory, rin is always compared to others, to sae, and he falls himself into this comparaison to the point of trying to replace sae

and his awakening is all about discarding all of those things, about the ultimate act of freedom, to truly erase everything that could tie him down, blue lock, his brother, his rivalries to not just "fight" against them like how kaiser fights against being a piece of shit

but to utterly discard the entire idea of being one, to discard the entire identity instead of trying to fight against it just like how ego jinpachi asked to the players "what is football" and gave the most barebones of answers, rin gave the answer to the question "who are you"

with the most barebones and free of everything answer, "i am me", he defined himself by the desire raging inside of him that was totally free from everything else, a desire that comes from the core of his being and that wasn't chained down by anything, the desire to destroy

and so with all this we can see how exactly rin and kaiser's awakenings parrallel each other, at the core of it, both are about self acceptance and how said acceptance affects their desires but the way they differ comes in the form of what exactly do they accept

kaiser's decision was to chase after a feeling created from his upbringing and identity, to keep on chasing his obsession that was birthed from his treatment and ironically enough, doom himself in the process to never being able to reach fully the feeling he's looking for

meanwhile rin's decision was about discarding all of that he had been, all of that he was, to dive into his desires free of any identity but the one his core gave him, the identity of a destroyer, one totally free and all powerful, which is why sae notes

that "rin can still make that face" because this is rin returning to an urge, to a core desire that he had when he was a child, one that was also, free from any identity by then so now all this to say, when you're living through your life, remember that the identity you accept

for yourself will always naturally impact your actions and desires, yet it might not be said identity and the desires created from that said identity that will necessarily fulfill you some people will deem themselves as "made to be X" or "i'm Y" to protect themselves or to uphold

an ideal, but all of that, it can be a curse just like it can be a gift, the truth is that we all must define ourselves the way we TRULY want and not the way we feel we must or that others tell us, for those identities will always be nothing but an obstacle to our true desires

but for that, one must know, what is it that they TRULY desire, kaiser's desire sure as hell is to be alive, but beyond that, it was to be "worth something" simply that because of how the human mind works and from all the abuse set upon him, he could never find it in him to break

that "truth" of his life so to truly find the right identity for one's self, one must first know, what is it you TRULY desire, from the most barebones and core of it, not tarnished by anything, by any idea of "money" "connections" "legacy" what is it you truly desire

@wisetraveler27 ohh. My peak. This might be the first blue lock thread ive seen that isnt ass 😭😭

@rinscheesecake You haven't seen all my threads then

@wisetraveler27 Peak thread as usual, thank you

@mxfrlll09 had to do my best for the last one

@wisetraveler27 THIS IS SO GOOD

@SnVisitor Glad you enjoyed, i got other threads out there if you're up to read

@wisetraveler27 Another great thread. Hope you’re doing alright btw. There’s something I’ll also add to Rin’s awakening is how Rin essentially becomes an avatar of fire during his awakening and how that also further relates to his mindset and the Blue Lock’s philosophy.