Rensuke Kunigami (2024)

Rensuke Kunigami (國 (くに) 神 (がみ) 練 (れん) 介 (すけ) Kunigami Rensuke^?) is a contender of Blue Lock who currently plays as a forward for Germany's Bastard München.

He is a hotblooded forward whose main goal is to become the best striker in the world, and in turn, a football superhero. When first arriving at Blue Lock, he was member of Team Z during the First Selection. He was eliminated from Blue Lock's main route during the final games of Second Selection, but instead of leaving the facility, he walked into a mysterious "Wild Card" door that was open to him.

After the U-20 match ended, Kunigami finally returned from the "Wild Card" door and rejoined the other contenders during the Neo Egoist League.

Appearance[]

Kunigami is a tall, fair-skinned high schooler with auburn eyes and bright, spiky orange hair that is styled in an undercut. He appears to be very muscular and broad in the shoulders. At Blue Lock, Kunigami wears the standard-issued body suit (black with gray stripes) and tracksuit. During the First Selection, he wore Team Z's blue #9 jersey and Team Z's gray-capped cleats. During Second Selection, he wore Team Red's #50 jersey. Once he was selected as a regular for Bastard München during the Neo Egoist League, he donned their #50 club uniform. After the U-20 match, Kunigami's hair has grown out more, he is noticeably more muscular, and he looks gloomier and serious overall.

Personality[]

Kunigami has a very moral personality. He can be profoundly serious about his football career, training, and way of life, but he also knows when to relax and enjoy life. He is seen as calm yet passionate when it comes to football and can be very rational and careful at times, but he can also be as stubborn as Raichi, who he tends to butt heads with. Kunigami will not let troublemakers and people who play unfair get their way when he is around; he almost comes off as a big brother. Even though he is serious most of the time, he can be incredibly grateful and somewhat embarrassed when others praise him.

Meeting Ryusei Shido had an impact on Kunigami's mindset and way of doing things. A more aggressive and instinctual way of playing outdid his moral and righteous way of playing, and he exited Blue Lock, questioning Shido's words. After returning to Blue Lock, Kunigami is noticeably colder and more focused, with a new philosophy on how he plays football, striving to maintain his dominance on the field. Kunigami barely says a sentence to Isagi and does not speak to anybody else in the stratum. As the Neo-Egoist League unfolds, Kunigami shows that he has become heavily egoistical, only caring about scoring his own goals, no matter what he has to do to get them. His football colleagues describe him as a cyborg because of his profoundly serious and non-expressive demeanor. He has also become rude and disrespectful, often making offensive comments to the rest of his teammates and rivals, with Noel Noa being the only exception, but still maintaining a cold attitude toward him. However, deep down, he still has morals and is noble, refusing to teach Isagi to use his ambidexterity in order to defeat Kaiser, stating that doing it would destroy all his stats.

Abilities[]

Archetype[]

• Clinical Finisher: Clinical finishers are forwards that specialize in their accurate shooting ability. They are "clinical", in that they need few opportunities to score a goal to be able to strike and place the ball exactly where it will beat the goalkeeper. Their high goal-to-shot ratio identifies them. Clinical strikers usually play as center forwards, though other attacking players can often be said to be clinical finishers.

Being a high-powered left-footed shooter, Kunigami is a rare type of striker. Kunigami was tied for top scorer on Team Z during the First Selection, but only because another teammate cheated to get their goals to tie with him. When left unmarked, he is guaranteed to make an easy goal. After emerging from his time in Wild Card, Kunigami's physical abilities have been noted to have skyrocketed since his last appearance in Second Selection, and his ability to finish has become unquestionable when inside the box, being able to dribble and score with both feet now. Since the second game of the Neo Egoist League, Kunigami now aims to create his own chances with his high-level physique and ambidexterity.

Skills[]

• Superior Physicality: Kunigami is one of the handful of forwards in Blue Lock who has an extraordinarily strong and muscular physique, and he uses this to his advantage when driving the ball down the field or marking players to defend. After returning from "Wild Card" and becoming a regular on Bastard München for the Neo Egoist League, Kunigami is more noticeably able to leverage his physique by trapping the ball midair with his chest between two defenders and pushing past those defenders while holding them back so he could set up his own shot. Kunigami also has better control of his center and upper body reflexes, as seen when he was able to keep up with Bachira's improved dribbling ability for a few moments during the Barcha game. Anri also noted that kunigami’s physical specs are almost the same as Noel Noa’s something she calls an amazing feat for his age. Specifically his cardio pulmonary function, muscle mass and overall fitness all approach Noel Noa’s.

• Finesse Shot: Kunigami has a near pinpoint power shot, specifically from his left leg, that he uses to score incredibly powerful shots, with his standard range for shooting being within 28 meters.
  • Knuckle Shot: From almost 40 meters away from the net, Kunigami shoots with such intense force that he kills the spin of the ball, allowing for the shot to curve.
  • Charging Power Shot: When in possession of the ball and holding off two defenders, Kunigami is able to push past his defenders while opening up space for himself and shooting a high powered shot with his right foot.
  • Rush Volley: Kunigami jumps using his physical strength and performs a volley shot while in the air. This shot was performed after Isagi took a bad shot against Manshine City, where the angle of the ball went off-course, and Kunigami instinctively threw himself into the path of the shot and jumped to send a volley shot into the net.

• Ambidexterity: After having competed in the Wild Card Path, Kunigami exhibits the ability to use both of his feet to score goals. He admits he was forced to develop the skill to survive in the Wild Card but was only able to do it in a brief period of time due to his physical attributes. While he can use both feet to shoot and to dribble, Kunigami has so far chosen to use his right for almost all his shots in the Neo-Egoist League. Niko even commented his right leg is now his stronger leg. Isagi also commented how this ability has led to Kunigami being a constant threat to the defense making it easier for his team to operate. He also called Kunigami a “perfect striker with no weak spots”.
  • Dribbling: Kunigami is now able to dribble with both feet and cut through defenders by making them think he will shoot with either foot. This danger forces defenders to press him, allowing Kunigami to dribble through.
    • Shot Fake - Cut in: Kunigami fakes a shot with either leg, forcing defenders to attempt to block him and then taps the ball to his other foot and cuts past them to set up a real shot.
• Man-Marking: Kunigami is able to effectively man-mark another player using his physicality and presence to prevent them from playing the way they want to. He was able to use this to great effect to prevent Barou from scoring for a while in their match at the Second Selection. Kunigami constantly forced Barou out of his golden zone and prevented him from shooting. After his Wildcard training improved his physique even further, Kunigami is able to completely shut down someone as physically capable as Shido, preventing him from even touching the ball, while in their last match, Kunigami was unable to understand nor stop Shido at all.
• Flow State: Flow, as described by Ego, is the state of "total immersion" or "being in the zone." It is the mental state in which a person performing some activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. Kunigami was not present for Ego’s explanation on flow and as such has not consciously entered it but he has done it unconsciously several times. Isagi recalls Kunigami entering flow during the Team Z matches twice. Isagi and Kunigami’s chemical reaction to score against Barcha also led Kunigami to flow. Most recently, Kunigami entered flow to completely shut down Shido in their game and assist Isagi’s goal.

Etymology[]

• His given name, Rensuke (練 (れん) 介 (すけ) ^?), means "training shellfish".
• His surname, Kunigami (國 (くに) 神 (がみ) ^?), means "country god".

Quotes[]

• (To Team Z) "My greatest weapon is my left foot's shooting power."^[1]

• (To Isagi) "Because I'm going to be a football hero."^[1]

• (To Junichi) "Enough. Don't lay your hands on my team."^[12]

Trivia[]

• Majority of this information is from the official Egoist Bible.
  • He started playing football at the age of 6.
  • His hometown is Akita.
  • His foot size is 28cm.
  • His favorite players are Didier Drogba and Olivier Giroud.
  • His sleeping time is 8 hours.
  • He mentioned that his weakness is his inability to handle compliments and unfriendliness.
  • His favorite food is seaweed soup. His disliked food is milk-soaked cereal.
  • His favorite subject is PE. His worst subjects are Modern Japanese and Classics (he doesn't understand why he has to learn them).
  • He spends his holidays working out and running on the beach.
  • His favorite animal is a polar bear.
  • His fetish is the nape of the neck, and he looks at both men and women there.
  • His ideal type is someone who is gentle and cute.
  • When he bathes, he washes his neck first.
  • The last time he cried was when he was watching E.T.
  • If he impulsively bought something from a convenience store, it would be batteries.
  • He received 7 Valentine chocolates this year.
  • His favorite anime is One Piece, also mentioning that he likes the relationship between Zoro and Luffy.
  • His favorite season is spring.
  • His favorite song is Silhouette by KANA-BOON (This song is used for Naruto's 16^th opening).
  • His older sister stopped receiving Christmas gifts when he was 9, and since he didn't want her to feel left out, he didn't accept receiving any anymore.
  • When asked what he would do if he received 100 million yen (around $700k), he said he'd spend 30 million on soccer, save another 30 million, and donate 40 million to charity.
  • His favorite motto is "Fair and square."
  • His favorite movie is Iron Man.

• Kunigami ranked 7^th in the first popularity poll with 748 votes.

References[]

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