The Personal Interpretation of Football and Its Influence on Characters’ Playstyles in Blue Lock (2018)

Authors

  • Nathaniel Tantono Universitas Kristen Petra
  • Jenny Mochtar

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.9744/katakita.14.3.%25p

Keywords:

football, hermeneutics, personal interpretation, playstyle, representation

Abstract

This study analyzes how characters in Blue Lock (2018) construct personal interpretations of football and how these interpretations influence their playstyles. Focusing on Isagi Yoichi, Rin Itoshi, and Bachira Meguru, this study applies Hans-Georg Gadamer’s Hermeneutics theory supported by Paul Ricoeur’s narrative theory and Ronkainen and Ryba’s narrative perspective to examine how the characters interpret football based on their experiences and motivations. Stuart Hall’s Theory of Representation is also used to analyze how these meanings are represented through language, symbolic actions, and visual signs, while Achievement Goal Theory by John G. Nicholls is used to explain how personal meaning influences playstyle and the characters’ understanding of success. The findings show that each character develops a different meaning of football shaped by personal background, which later influences the way they approach football and perform on the field.

References

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Hall, S. (1997). Representation: Cultural representations and signifying practices. Sage Publications.

Nicholls, J. G. (1984). Achievement motivation: Conceptions of ability, subjective experience, task choice, and performance. Psychological Review, 91(3), 328–346. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.91.3.328

Raihan, M., Hizbullah, N., & Ghany, S. Z. A. (2025). Deictic dimensions in translation: Analysis of personal deixis in the Indonesian and Arabic versions of Blue Lock comics. International Journal of Arabic Language Teaching, 7(1), 73–90.

Ricoeur, P. (1984). Time and narrative (Vol. 1, K. McLaughlin & D. Pellauer, Trans.). University of Chicago Press.

Ronkainen, N., & Ryba, T. (2019). Developing narrative identities in youth pre-elite sport: Bridging the present and the future. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 12, 548 - 562. https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676x.2019.1642238.

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Published

2026-09-30 — Updated on 2026-09-30

Versions

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 3 (2026)

Section

Articles

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Copyright (c) 2026 Nathaniel Tantono, Jenny Mochtar

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