[Blue Lock] Ash Shrike

Updates whenever inspiration strikes.

The bandwagon effect is when people are influenced by the behavior of those around them, causing their perceptions, judgments, and understanding to conform to public opinion or the majority’s behavior.

Gustave Le Bon once said: Once people become part of a crowd, their intelligence drops dramatically. To gain acceptance, individuals are willing to abandon right and wrong, trading their intelligence for that deeply reassuring sense of belonging.

In an intense, charged atmosphere, once someone makes a choice, most of those still hesitating will be influenced by the “leading sheep.”

In short, I’m the “leading sheep” chosen to guide the mood.

As soon as the boss finishes his recruitment pitch, I’ll charge in.

But someone beat me to it.

Boss Ego, did you buy Blue Lock two plants? Why didn’t you give me a heads-up about this?!

Birds work for capitalists.*

So it’s not weird that the shrike works for Ego Jinpachi, right?

…

I’m not the least bit interested in becoming the world’s number one striker.

The reason I’m standing here is curiosity.

I’m curious what kind of colors he’ll evolve into after swallowing up my talent here.

Using up everyone’s talent to nourish one person sounds so ridiculously fun. (Laughs)

The protagonist, a little shrike, is a laid-back cynic with absurdly good talent. It’s so good that when Ego sees him slacking off on the field, he wants to grab him by the collar and yell: “If I had your talent and played like that, I’d want to die!” That’s the kind of genius he is. But he just can’t be bothered.

Hanlu is a local nickname for the shrike in some places. They’re very cute, but they’re carnivorous birds of prey.

He only came to Blue Lock for the paycheck and because he was curious what kind of pie Ego was going to serve up.

No motivation, just putting on a show. The boss is paying him, after all.

*This comes from an American joke. The gist is that capitalists killed all the birds, and the birds people see now aren’t real animals at all. They’re mechanical birds made by capitalists to serve them.

The blurb looks very cultured, but the author is actually very uncultured. Laughs.

Writing this is awful and exhausting. This third-rate writer has a disease where they’ll die if they don’t write nonsense. (Certain.)

Haven’t decided on the pairing yet. We’ll see.

Theme: A laid-back protagonist decides to play soccer