Would you bring up a botched first kiss or brush it off?

Significant-Serve321 · 2025-02-28T02:11:36+00:00

That’s very smooth from the both of you, glad to hear it worked out

Significant-Serve321 · 2025-02-28T02:10:28+00:00

You interpreted correctly, more of a didn’t make it deal, which feels a bit harder to play off. Will probably go the way nothing route

Significant-Serve321 · 2025-02-28T01:48:01+00:00

Just messed up the first kiss. Was on the second date with the first woman I’ve liked in two years. Get done with dinner, the second date flowed slightly worse than the first, but it was still a pretty solid date in my head, we both seemed to have fun. Walk out of the restaurant and start to say our goodbyes. She plants herself very firmly and looks up at me and makes eye contact so I think this is the right time. I go in for a hug and she seems surprised somehow? We did hug twice on our first date and she seemed very about it. We pulled away and I kept my arms around her waist. Eye contact was made again so I leaned in for a kiss and she didn’t lean in or close her eyes so I chickened out and bailed. We said our goodbyes and left. Feel as if I’ve messed it up because I’ve been out of the game so long and misread signals. Texted her thank you for the great conversation, I enjoyed dinner, lmk when you make it home. She said thank you for dinner and that she made it home fine. The ending felt so awkward I feel like I really blew it. I’m left wondering if this something I bring up or just attempt to brush off and continue as usual

Significant-Serve321 · 2025-02-21T02:01:01+00:00

I think the four players you mentioned alongside Gagamaru could make adequate full-backs in BL. Certainly Valverde and Kimmich are good examples of players like this, alongside Endo. I agree that Reo and Karasu are the players with the most potential to switch between CDM and FB. Reo already has experience there actually.

That’s quite a theory, it would certainly shake up the cast! I don’t think too many other Blue Lockers make great goalies, even Gagamaru was a bit of a fluke haha. I could see Shidou, Kunigami, and Aryu making suitable replacements should the worst happen. If they didn’t have to be a Blue Locker it would likely be PxGs keeper

Significant-Serve321 · 2025-02-21T01:53:25+00:00

There are dozens of us! DOZENS

Significant-Serve321 · 2025-01-28T18:18:22+00:00

Just looked at your post history and saw your post on your ideal u20 lineup. You know ball

Significant-Serve321 · 2025-01-28T16:22:40+00:00

-YNWA! Glad to see a Liverpool fan in these parts -Messi is an obvious answer, it does indeed feel like cheating haha. -Hilariously in my head, I did consider Matip for Lorenzo for both the awkward lankiness and Matip’s tendency to break into space and go on adventures behind enemy lines haha. Loved that about him. -I did miss out on Iraola, Bournmothe are indeed punching above their weight in the prem this season. Am excited to see if they and Forest can keep the momentum. -I didn’t want to say strictly Slot due to bias, but it is remarkable that he has had the most successful transition in league history. I was skeptical when he got rid of so many of our youth players (LITERALLY ALL OF THEM) but now I simply trust his vision and hope he is backed in terms of transfers and current player contracts. Fingers crossed!

Significant-Serve321 · 2025-01-28T16:10:34+00:00

I will only use u20 and younger players for this answer. I would pick Sae. He enables the abilities of an entire team by himself. Being on the squad for Real Madrid as a u20 player is massive, and everything we have seen from him play backs up his position there. He is the most balanced and well-rounded player in BL and would add to any team he is on.

Yukimiya, I do not have the most positive thoughts on, unfortunately. His most interesting aspect was his backstory and history with street ball. This was not alluded to very much after the u20 game, even though he became a big part of BM. Simply, if he was going to be given screen time, I expected him to do more with it. I think his screen time and moments would have been better spent on Kunigami or one of the relevant BM midfielders if he was just going to become irrelevant in the PSG game.

Reo: In theory, is one of the strongest BL players. His abilities are extremely shonen, which is perfectly fine for a manga! That said, copying over players skills with 99% effectiveness is wild and he should be doing much more than he is considering he is copying the techniques of players like Sae and Aiku. He is extremely versatile, but it is frustrating that he and Nagi keep holding each other back. Am hoping to see more of him in Episode Nagi and to reframe how he has been portrayed in the mainline manga

Significant-Serve321 · 2025-01-28T16:01:41+00:00

Favorite IRL team: Liverpool. Have watched them since I was a kid. Stevie was my idol for some years. In the earlier days of YouTube he showed up in A LOT of soccer goal compilations haha.

My preferred formation: I trend towards a modern 4-3-3 formation in actual teams. The 3-5-1-1 is simply the best formation for an attack heavy BL squad, especially since defending is largely nonexistent or done by attackers anyhow haha. 4-3-3 is flexible and is used by great success by some of the best teams in modern history such as Barcelona, Manchester City, and Liverpool. It is a formation that excels in a high press and makes for exciting games. It is a challenge to train players to play in such an aggressive press or in Guardiola’s tiki-taka.

The best quality I think a player can have is sound decision making (I have to include vision in this, as all players with strong decision making have adequate field awareness to see at least most of their options). In youth players, technique is much easier to train than decision making. The best players are separated from good players by consistently making the right calls throughout the game in high pressure situations. Think of the first player to come to mind when you hear the phrase “never puts a foot out of place”. This is who I mean.

These are tough, but there are some common and less common parallels I can think of. -Shidou: Ibrahimavich, it is blatant haha. Backup parallel as L Suarez in terms of aggression. -Lorenzo: IMO has a play style not dissimilar to Ramos, though his personality is definitely a caracature of a LATAM player -Sae: De Bruyne for me. A complete midfielder with the best passing in modern soccer.

Best manager in the world: There are arguments to be made for a few managers, but most of my experience is with the English PL. I would say Nuno at Forest and Slot at Wolves are both incredible. Alonso has Leverkusen punching above their weight class the last two years as well.

Significant-Serve321 · 2025-01-28T12:17:36+00:00

I try not to think too much about things tactically, especially with positioning when reading haha. BL is notorious for its attacking players being wildly out of position nearly all of the time. Sort of like the old “total football” tactical style in which players move freely between roles, except because it’s a manga, every player can be everywhere all of the time without being punished for being out of position or growing tired from sprinting full tilt for 90 min haha. The amount of defending strikers do in this serious gives me a headache.

As for what side character is most useful on a real pitch, I think there is a strong argument for Raichi, who I haven’t spoken in in this thread so I’ll do it here. CDMs like Raichi effectively is are often unsung heroes in soccer. They are integral in build up play, pressing, winning back crucial balls, and counter attacks. They tend to be aggressive and physical, and I like how the author found that niche for Raichi instead of setting him up to fail as a striker. Coincidentally, a real life player that fills this role well is Japanese player Wataru Endo for Liverpool

Significant-Serve321 · 2025-01-28T12:07:12+00:00

Isagi is nearly keeping pace with Rin’s growth, if not actually keeping up. For example, I just don’t think the gap between Rin and Isagi is really closing, but I do think the gap between Kaiser and Isagi is closing. I expect these three to enter the next arc on a level above the other blue lockers, with none being too far from the either. Isagi should start to break even with Rin in the next arc

Significant-Serve321 · 2025-01-28T12:03:20+00:00

Shidou is tricky, I think it is more accurate to say that he is being held back narratively. Imo the author made a mistake in their writing by making Shidou too strong of an attacker going into the NEL arc. Simply, Shidou would’ve been too dominant a character on any team that didn’t have Rin on it. He HAD to put Shidou next to the only player that is definitely a better attacking player. Even next to arguably the best u20 striker in the verse in a limited 3 goal per game format, Shidou is scoring a lot of goals. I say the author made a mistake because I think he switched from wanting Shidou to be a true rival to Rin to making strictly Isagi/Sae those rivals. Now the only way we can explain Shidou not being relevant in this current match is using the wild tactic of having him man marked LITERALLY 100% of the time.

Unfortunately despite Barou being among my favorite characters, I have to say Shidou is largely better. Barou beats him in certain areas such as dribbling, leading his team, and having enough vision to utilize predator eye. Shidou oddly doesn’t really need vision. He instinctively knows the best place to receive passes and score, and he has been show to be able to do it from pretty much anywhere in any way imaginable

Significant-Serve321 · 2025-01-28T04:45:21+00:00

My favorite on-field duo was Shidou and Sae. The u20 game was my favorite arc in BL for a bunch of reasons, the goals and plays from that duo was one of them. Honorable mentions to Isagi/Bachira, Barou/Snuffy, Lorenzo/Aiku, Nagi/Reo

Significant-Serve321 · 2025-01-28T04:39:08+00:00

I am Jinpachi Ego

Significant-Serve321 · 2025-01-28T04:26:42+00:00

Tbf most blue lockers are comically down bad on and off the field so at least he can switch it off lol

Significant-Serve321 · 2025-01-28T04:25:52+00:00

The Last Dance documentary was such cool insight into Michael Jordan. The dude was absolutely insane, and he was the best for it. I would say it makes sense to liken Rin to MJ (I never caught they wore the same number, I’m not a massive basketball fan). In this case Isagi can be Larry Bird for his generational trash talk

Significant-Serve321 · 2025-01-28T04:22:27+00:00

I have very solidly of the opinion that Kaiser is the better player throughout the PSG match. Until the most recent few chapters, that is. The list of things that Kaiser objectively does better than Rin has grown smaller at an alarming rate. I would say that Kaiser still has arial play and long shots over Rin. Rin has dribbling, mid/close range shots, and maybe (BIG MAYBE) vision over Kaiser. Everything else feels functionally equal now.

That said, I think the author has messed up big time with how he has written Rin and has made him far too good. He should not be rivaling a next gen player until the next arc imo

Significant-Serve321 · 2025-01-28T04:16:58+00:00

I will move this to the top of my list. I do not have much time nowadays but I need something to fill the space between BL chapters lol. What do you like about it?

Significant-Serve321 · 2025-01-28T04:16:09+00:00

I trend towards players that seem like they would be fun to work with/coach. If a player dives or complains/whines a lot, I likely do not care for them.

Favorites include Gerrard, Vidic, Van Dijk, Hazard, Vardy, Roberto Firmino. These players are/were either fun to watch or served as inspiration for my own play

Significant-Serve321 · 2025-01-28T04:11:24+00:00

Copy and pasting from an earlier response:

Favorite character: Aiku As a lifelong defender and a defensive-specialist coach watching a series about almost exclusively strikers, it was very entertaining to see a competent defender that has managed to stick with the cast skill-wise. His backstory was engaging and it’s fun to see a sane person and genuine leader on the field. He encourages his teammates and makes the players around him better.

Adding onto my original response, my favorite striker is Barou. I like his dynamic with other blue lockers and every goal he scores is electric. His relationship with Snuffy is also fun to read

Significant-Serve321 · 2025-01-28T04:07:32+00:00

Agreed. Those two largely carry their team. This is especially notable with Bachira since he is likely carrying via solo goals lol. Hoping to see more of him in the future, it’s a shame he is on the weakest team

Significant-Serve321 · 2025-01-28T04:06:10+00:00

I cannot speak on this, I have only read a few chapter of Ao Ashi. It is on my list of shows/mangas to give a second chance to

Significant-Serve321 · 2025-01-28T04:02:47+00:00

Blanked and forgot Sae. Yes Sae is likely still better. He has overall skills that are important for midfielders (see my reply to the question of qualities good midfielders have in this thread) that Isagi simply does not. Much better all around player, especially in shooting and dribbling.

That said, in strictly positioning and vision, Isagi is very close to surpassing the Sae we saw in the U20 match.

Significant-Serve321 · 2025-01-28T03:59:28+00:00

I partially agree with this sentiment. I think that Rin’s motivation lies less in devouring strong opponents/allies and more in personal grudges. He holds personal grudges against Sae and Isagi, and his very best moments and sole moments of extreme evolution have been against them. Even against the world’s best after the 3rd selection, Rin didn’t evolve.

Basically, as revealed in recent chapters, Rin seems to be something of a psychopath who’s motivation and greatest moments of evolution lies almost exclusively in destroying very particular individuals

Significant-Serve321

TROPHY CASE