Chapter 1
As children, these two were the closest of brothers, until one day, Sae left for four years. Chapters 123–125 explain their past, in which Sae was a kind older brother to Rin. But by the end of this backstory, Sae becomes his greatest enemy, and for some fans, the worst brother. I completely disagree with this, and I want to point out a few points that may have gone unnoticed by some fans. First, Sae is far less to blame than Rin for justifying the situation surrounding his broken relationship with Rin. When I watched the second season, I saw those flashbacks. (My journey into this title began with the anime. I only started reading the manga a month ago.) Looking at the broken Sae, whose dreams of becoming the best forward were shattered by someone, a player unknown to me at the time, I recalled the situation of Aomine from Kuroko no Basuke and Oikawa from Volleyball, although the comparison is almost closer. Aomine was such an invincible player to his opponents that they completely lost faith in their ability to defeat him. Because of this, he, disillusioned in this regard, began to consider himself invincible, and this thought firmly ingrained himself in his mind. Whereas Oikawa is similar to Sae in that a strong opponent appeared on his path to achieving his dream, trampling him into the dirt, crushing his dream, and this experience became Oikawa’s goal: defeating Ushijima and then qualifying for nationals. There’s also a bit of a reminder of Akashi from Kuroko no basket. So, Sae is like a mix of Aomine and Oikawa, so I understand what happened to him. After all, it’s not his fault that he met Bunny and broke him to the point that he decided to become a midfielder. Immediately upon returning to Japan, the new Sae goes to Rin’s place first, not home. Have you ever wondered why he did that? I have! While watching, I didn’t pay much attention to it, because at the time, neither of them particularly interested me. Rin’s arrogance irritated me from the first season, but there were moments when I liked him a little. For me, Sae was, so to speak, a neutral character; he didn’t evoke any negative feelings, yet he was also a positive one. However, now, he’s become one of my favorite characters. It was only while rereading the chapters with their backstories that I began to think about the topic I want to bring to your attention. I think Sae wanted Rin’s support to defeat Bunny, and that’s why he came to him! Remember what he said when he showed up at his brother’s training session? He told Rin he hadn’t learned how to punch properly. Having voiced his new goals and plans, Sae also wanted Rin’s support as a brother, but in the end, the opposite happened. Rin—who lived by their shared dreams, by his title as Sae’s younger brother—refused to accept his new goals, which is very sad. Perhaps everyone has noticed, but I’ll say it anyway… in the frames, in Rin’s words that Sae wasn’t the brother with whom he shared a common dream, you can see how those words hurt Sae. This reaction meant that despite everything he had been through, he was still the Sae Rin knew. I’ll also point out the moments during the Blue Lock and National Team match when Rin abandoned everything and awakened his true self. Sae directly implied that Rin should have stayed home and lived a quiet life, so as not to experience the bitterness, resentment, and humiliation of defeat. This suggests that Sae truly is intentionally saying all those hurtful things to Rin so that he can continue to develop not as his younger brother, but as Rin Itoshi. And also out of a hidden concern… in case Rin can’t achieve the progress he needs. So, those who think Sae is a bad older brother are wrong! Yes, he’s also wrong in his treatment of Rin, but that doesn’t make him guilty. After all, from Sae’s perspective, Rin is also wrong and just as guilty as his brother, refusing to support Sae in his new goal and not even trying to find out the reasons for his change. That’s exactly how I see and understand those moments. I hope you like this work.
