I don’t know why people keep obsessing over restrictive and freedom styles in an identity sense. It’s like looking out the outer shell when they should be looking at the source of the players which is their Ego anchors. The main key takeaway from the whole France and Japan game was to show how a team full of players playing like a Functional No.1 and No.1 identity play against higher level opponents. It’s essentially Ego running an experiment on Japan. I also think people are forgetting Ego has also seen other tactics of past Japanese team playing exactly like France’s system hence why he tells blue lock to not play for the suitability theory like Hugo wants. A players Ego anchor is essentially their core belief or desire that drives their decision on the field. It affects how every player defines how they play football, this is what influence their philosphy, ideology they hold.
For Isagi it’s he wants to be the one who decides the game as a striker
For Sae he wants to define what world class football looks like hence why he plays perfect soccer
For Shidou he exists to score explosive goals (using the fertilization analogy).
Based on their ego anchor the byproduct would look different for different players since it’s the foundation that influences their philosophy, mentality and identity. It’s not the same as their dream. The whole game is kaneshiro testing that foundation that Isagi has to see if it’s good enough for the world stage.
Earlier I mentioned he wants to be the one who decides the game as a striker and so far in blue lock he’s been playing like a Functional No.1 thinking he's a pure No.1. The by product of that is what we've seen so far from Isagi. The way he’s played by using metavision, his puzzle solving to reconstruct plays, off the ball, directshot and his ball interception. Everything is a result of his ego anchor and how he believes football should be played making him identify as No.1 through intelligence.
Now playing against Hugo not only exposed Isagi’s identity as a No.1 but also his dependency on existing structures. In a team like France where everyone’s role is aligned, plays are optimized and decision are pre structured it removes chaos or plays to exploit which is was Isagi thrives on. We know Isagi anchor is him wanting to decide the game as a striker but vs France he wasn’t creating plays from nothing but all he was during is trying to intercept and redirect existing plays since most game till now he has always played like this. He only ever played amongst the blue lockers and NEL (basically chaotic environments) meaning in a perfectly optimized environment it exposes his flaws since so far his No.1 wasn’t fully independent. Unlike Rin who can create and finish alone or barou who can force his own path Isagi needs a flaw in the system to exploit or someone to help.
I'm not here to argue whether Ego or Hugo's system or strategy is better or not. It’s not about whether which is better it’s about if a player can fully execute being a No.1 or No.2 whether you are it identity wise or playing as one functionally. A lot of the players in blue lock play like a functional No.1 meaning not everyone can live as a pure No.1 with the exception of a few like Barou, Rin and Shidou. The same too goes for France I reckon some of their players might not even be a No.2 identity wise but okay playing as a functional No.2 for their own purpose. With the exception of Hugo who is the embodiment of a fully pure No.2 player.
I will first address the issue with the point of restrictive and freedom styles. The point I want to get to is similar to the Kaiser situation in the NEL. Before the PXG game where he broke down his ego anchor was:
I will be a No.1 and dominate everything as an emperor but in reality shifted to a fragile state where he needs to prove his superiority over Isagi. It showed how it corrupted his playstyle because due to that he started to narrowly focus on Isagi and not the game. His control essentially became beating Isagi instead of deciding the game. While Isagi’s ego anchor is to be the one to decide the game as a striker although he was competing with Kaiser he did it in a position where he was chasing after the No.1 meaning he played and didn’t care how it looked since he only cared about the outcome meaning Isagi could cooperate, adapt and use other players freely while Kaiser tried to force plays, fixated on his superiority making him predictable as we see from his backstory.
When Kaiser reverted back to 0 he had to purify his Ego anchor which allowed him to adopt a new mentality and philosophy which is similar to what we see Isagi doing. When Isagi was explaining he’s wasn't giving a permanent label but describing the conditions that maximize how a player’s ego expresses itself. People need to understand Isagi just we all are figuring things as he goes so he can state a theory but refine it as he keeps playing before it's fully solidified.
Freedom - you can choose anything
Restriction - the situation narrows your options
Saying Kaiser thrives under restriction which suits his style is shallow. For Kaiser restriction removes the ego noise since before he was fixated on Isagi and needed to prove his superiority which led to forced and inefficient decisions. The only thing it affects is what your decision are aligned to. Kaiser is not a restriction type player he only needed it because his ego became corrupted due to excess freedom so think about it like this when you compare him to Isagi back in the NEL.
Isagi with freedom- he chose the optimal paths for him to win
Kaiser with freedom(pre PXG match)- he chose ego driven path
Restriction makes Kaiser stronger in not the answer but restriction made Kaiser realign his ego anchor back to outcome based control which made him stronger. Meaning he was focused back on winning. Yes Isagi focuses on devouring the best player and thriving under pressure and constraints making him look like an Individualistic restriction behavior resembling Rin and barou. This is where I think people are mistaken because they’re assuming behavior = identity. I tie this back to my argument when I mentioned how players can be a pure No.1 or 2 identity wise or functional wise, because people obsess about the behaviors and equate it to their identity and not what their control serves.
Freedom vs Restriction is a surface lens and not the foundation. When people tunnel vision on it they start misreading characters because they’re analyzing how someone plays, and not why they play that way.
Just like how people assumed Sae was a No.2 because he plays midfield. They associate behavior with identity. A quick example would be looking at what control sae and Hugo serves to understand them. We know Hugo ego anchor is being able to produce the system that gives him victory through a system, because of that that we see how it influences his mindset and philosophy because to produce that system it’s no wonder he’s someone who believes in suitability theory and aligns with players being able to play into their optimized roles seeing as he wants to win the World Cup 4 times. Both Sae and Hugo can control tempo and create play but the key to understand it is to see what kind of control they serve. For Hugo it’s minimizing Individual dominance while trying to optimize a system based play while Sae control serves as an authority, he doesn’t care about a system meaning everything flow through his will. The flip side would be assuming No.2 means being passive or only supporting which is an example of equating behavior to identity because people would assume a No.2 shouldn’t score right? No but Hugo also scores to show Isagi that him scoring can also be the result of an optimized play in his system and still has Ego. People immediately assume that midfielder is a No.2 because midfielder help others = No.2. It’s essentially equating your position to ego types
I revert back to Ego anchor when you want to truly understand a player. Ego anchor influences everything about a player once you know that you understand their mentality, philosophy.
I think of it like a pyramid with Ego Anchor being at the top and the rest follow.
EGO ANCHOR
NO.1/No.2 Orientation
Philosophy-mentality-Ideology
Condition (Freedom vs Restriction)
Weapon/Playstyle
Behavior
Isagi current ego anchor is to be the decisive one to decide the game as a striker. Devouring is a tool for Isagi just like how every other player in BL uses it. It’s a tool to maximize his ability to reach a decisive outcome he wants. External factors can be an amplifier as to why a player wants to devour. It’s not an emotional desire or self fulfilling kinda obsession nor does it have anything to do with identity.
Some define freedom as too many options and restriction as fewer options which is a shallow definition. The real distinction is as a freedom type you can choose the best option available while restrictive type you choose based on your internal compulsion or fixations. Him saying I can only shine by devouring a No.1 means now:
He performs the best under that condition meaning his performance is conditional and not completely free flowing. I don’t agree he went from wholistic freedom to individualistic restriction because that’s confusing the conditions for your peak performance with your ego anchor or identity. The old Isagi which he himself admitted was he was forcing himself to be a pure No.1 which ties my point back to how BL players can play like a No.1 identity wise or as a functional No.1 meaning you use it as a tool not an identity. For Isagi he was trying to identify and live as a pure one which was the problem since it’s not his natural aptitude unlike someone like Rin, barou and Shidou. He was trying to be independent like them.
The new Isagi saying I’ll shine by devouring the No.1 means his ego is not independent but relational because now we know he’s not a pure No.1 like Rin or a No.2 like Hugo and not a restriction type since restriction types are driven by internal compulsion. He’s not saying I must devour the strongest because he’s driven by compulsion but because that’s the optimal path for him to become decisive which ties back to his ego anchor. That’s a freedom based decision making because he’s choosing the best option available to him. It’s highlighting that he misunderstood his ego as being an independent No.1 like Rin and the rest because it’s a mismatch for his strengths. He has to have solo creations to be an independent No.1 because he can’t dribble or force plays unlike Rin and barou. He did not become Rin nor did he become a restriction type. He becomes a No.1 that requires another No.1 to reach his peak. Which makes sense seeing how Isagi plays. Because everytime he’s leveled up he has always been a position chasing after the No.1 on the field.
I just dislike what they whole Freedm vs restriction has become. They're just peak performance conditions and not permanent identities. The key isnt that a player can only function only one way but they can intentionally restrict themsleves and seek freedom depending on their opponent, game state or mental state. Just like how people are saying Isagi became restrictive when he really figured out his peak trigger is through challenging and devouring the No.1 player making it a restrictive condition but his decision making is still highly free and adaptive so I'd say he operates through both. Although players can gravitate towards one or the other due to their ego anchor they are not fixed Identities.
Isagi himself said “I’m not a No.1 or No.2” highlighting that he doesn’t fit the fixed archetype since they’re not complete descriptions of him anyways. Just keep in mind there are functional No.1 and No.1 as an identity. What I’m going to explain has do with a player living with the No.1 identity. Your stereotypical Pure No.1 striker is someone that can creates and finishes the decisive outcome by their own will. The core for a No.1 in what their control serves is for them to be the one to be the decisive figure, then the only difference is how they reach the outcome. I’ll explain
Your default Pure No.1
Independent creation + finish
No conditions
They can basically do it all themselves. E.g Rin, Loki who just solos everyone because they can.
To basically know if a No.1 striker is a fully pure No.1 is if they check everything:
Can they create a chance from nothing?
Can they beat multiple players on their own?
Can they finish the play themselves ?
Can they do it without a specific partner/system?
Then you have other sub-archetypes of specialized or conditional No.1s that are partially independent unlike the fully independent No.1 A.k.a Barou who heavily relies on forcing situation like a force type No.1 while Shidou is a Finisher type No.1 that needs someone to create a scoring chance aka Like Sae did in the U-20.
I like to think of it like 3 steps for strikers (create, setup, and finish)
A pure No.1 completely independent can do all three while the other specialized No.1 partially independent specializes in 1 or 2 areas. Like shidou who specializes in finishing but needs someone else to create and setup and barou who create by forcing and sometimes finishing himself.
Everyone one of them understands this instinctually and have been playing according except Isagi trying to play like as a pure No.1 which was the problem because if you check the requirements to to do that he doesn’t check out. He can’t play like a No.1 force type like Barou and not a finisher type like Shidou. He finally figured what kind of No.1 he is which is a Devour type No.1 after realizing he’s not independent and requires another center to reach his peak. Going back to him saying I can only shine by devouring a No.1 means since Hugo believe in the system that produces the optimal play will give him victory. All Isagi needs to do is steal the optimal play at its peak and devour it by scoring because that would be a huge blow to Hugo since it proves that his system isn’t effective against Isagi, because now Isagi is operating at a different level which is find the No.1 on the pitch and make them the center, devour them and become the one that decides the game which might be his new model.
He has always been playing like this but didn't realize that was the condition he needed to reach his peak just like how talented learner and genius mutually spur each other. So when he finally became the No.1 on the team centering the game around him playing against high level players like Hugo he was exposed. Isagi has already been playing the same way in BL, the NEL too against Kaiser. He found the No.1 on the pitch (Kaiser) made him the center and devoured him. My guess is this will be the way he operates now until he reaches another opponent that will help level him up or find another theory to improve the way he plays. The only difference now would be he now understand the conditions he needs to achieve his peak state also he can now evaluate the way he has been using his weapons against opponents on this level because I still think the way he uses metavision and spatial awareness isn't enough against players like Hugo. Also more than just simply winning being the one to personally be the one to decide the game is what Isagi craves as a striker along with all the other strikers in BL which is the core characteristics of a No.1 player which is why I find it funny because people would argue why they don't want to prioritize winning through team despite knowing BL's main goal is to create a Striker. Sure winning is good but the way they win also matters. I'm curious to what you guys think about this.