[ryusae Meta/analysis]

[ryusae meta/analysis]

This post is a bit of a journey since it was a struggle getting my thoughts together lol, but please bear with me as I explain how I've noticed that Sae consistently allows Shidou past his iron-clad emotional barriers, as evidenced by how frequently we're shown Shidou managing to elicit reactions from him. Let's go!

When Sae is introduced to the U20 team, we get a close-up of his face and a full-body shot. His face is blank, devoid of any emotion, back rod-straight and hands glued to his pockets. He maintains this pose throughout the entirety of the meeting.

From his introductory speech, to his exchange with Sendou, and even after the whole scuffle between Aiku and Shidou, where Aiku ends up body slamming Shidou into the ground, Sae locked in the same pose, unbothered. Any words and actions from anyone fail to elicit the slightest change in his demeanor.

There are only two points where this changes and Sae allows a reaction.

A Guide to Sae's Reactions: Intentional Intimidation vs Genuine Exasperation

First is when he gives everyone a glimpse into his one desire as a player - becoming the best in the world. Through a terrifyingly cold expression, he conveys the vastness of the difference in their ambitions and why he deems everyone before him worthless in comparison. Although it didn't hurt him by any means, Sendou's remarks did illicit a reaction out of him. Therefore, questions about his calibre as a player does affect him. Not in a way that weakens or stirs any insecurity - Sae has a very strong sense of self as a player.

Sae's entire life revolves around football. Day in, day out, he spends time practising and analysing football data to hone his skills and advance in the path to becoming the best in the world. So naturally, he'd have something to say when he encounters someone not on his level ability-wise, clinging to titles like 'regular forward in the best team in Japan' to assert their dominance over on this subject.

On Sae's part, this reaction is intentional and purposeful. He intends to strike Sendou where it hurts and humiliate him before his fellow teammates to demonstrate the consequences for anyone that dares challenge him as a player. He deliberately utilises his facial expression here to drive the point home and intimidate Sendou into silence.

This is an act in-line with his characterisation as a icy cold genius unafraid of speaking his mind and calmy tearing apart those he deems unworthy.

The second time is when Shidou defends him.

It's an expression of mild exasperation and resignation at Shidou's antics. The little speech bubble is used to convey how he's totally speechless.

This is an indication that Shidou's actions and the intentions behind them were received by Sae. You don't react to something that doesn't affect you. Especially Sae, as evidenced by his characterisation as a whole and specifically, during this whole chapter.

Except, unlike with his first reaction, this one lacks intentionality. Sae's not trying to convey any message, it's purely his raw reaction.

Let's take a moment to look at Shidou's reasoning behind attacking Sendou's and break it into two pieces:

1) He has a very strong sense of self as a person and a player, and that extends to his expectations of his fellow players. We see this in his conflict with Kunigami as well, where he severely dislikes Kunigami's playstyle and philosophy to the point of taking immense pride and glee in eliminating him during the second selection. Sendou also simply doesn't fit the bill lol (for the same reasons Sae listed earlier) so he has zero respect for him and therefore has no problem enacting his own personalised form of justice, for the crime of being an uninspiring player hung up on titles rather than actual ability, by slamming his head into a table LMAO

2) At this point, Shidou has never seen Sae play. However, if Sae is someone predominantly characterised by a calm, cool, and logical playstyle, then Shidou is a master of instinct. He doesn't need to physically observe someone to get a feel for their essence as a player; to sense their explosive potential.

Shidou could feel what kind of player he was the moment they met, felt the aura radiating off him. Hence the huge grin. This scene started with him raging at Ego and initially being utterly unimpressed and irritated at Sae's presence, only for a few words from Sae to completely change his mind.

He gained immediate respect for Sae here and that's why he couldn't let Sendou's remarks slide. Just as he won't tolerate mediocrity, he won't allow insolence against someone he deems is a worthwhile player. He can't stand that Sendou would dare challenge Sae, so he's the only one in the entire room to jump to his defence.

[NOTE: To be clear, I'm not expecting anyone else to do this after Sae said all that stuff to them LMAO this is more about what's transpiring between ryusae here]

If you really think about it, it's quite sweet lol

Sae walked into a room full of people who are already teammates and therefore have each other's backs and intentionally created a storm by insulting everyone and humiliating their ace. He never expects any defense on his behalf. He's this solitary genius, who does everything by himself and for himself.

Yet here he is, being faced with this guy, who's barely an acquaintance, offering such a passionate defence. Something I doubt he's received from someone in a long time.

Based on the clues we've gotten thus far regarding his time in Spain, which was the turning point in his career, attitude towards football as a whole, and immeasurably damaged his close relationship with his brother - Sae has evidently been on the receiving end of casual cruelty at the hands of his peers there. Which undoubtedly shaped the completely closed-off, icy cold, and cruel persona he's now embraced.

He's fashioned himself an immpenetrable barrier against any and all attempts at connection from others. The degradation of his bond with Rin being a prime example. To the point where Kaneshiro revealed in an interview/fan event that he doesn't even consider their fight, the one that changed Rin's life, to be a fight at all. He's evidently emotionally stunted. Trauma will lead to the development of such concrete, even destructive, emotional defense mechanisms.

We get a small glimpse at the kind of people Sae's had to deal from Luna's introduction. Where he cruelly ridicules the Japanese players with a cheery smile on his face and the following panels show how badly received it was by the Blue Lock players. To the point where Loki has to step in and apologise on his behalf.

So it can be inferred that Sae has not been in the company of camraderie for a very long time. Therefore, this moment initiated by Shidou holds quiet but clear significance to him.

A reaction breaking through his otherwise continuous blank demeanor, signifies that he definitely registered what Shidou was doing, why he was doing it, and his subsequent speechlessness shows it resonated with him but he doesn't know how to process it. So he resorts to pulling a face.

Sae Regularly Allows Shidou Through His Defenses

In fact, Shidou is shown to affect him regularly. He frequently manages to drive emotions out of Sae. For example during his big bang drive, we see Sae express genuine awe.

When Shidou jumps on his back and captures him in a hug (something Sae intentionally allows, btw!!) and Sae can feel Shidou's...excitement, we see him break his usual impassivity to express disgust. Despite this being a negative reaction, Sae compensates by still promising his touch as long as the conditions of scoring a hattrick are met. So his initial repulsion appears to be quite shallow and momentary, more of a knee-jerk reaction (understandably lol) than a total rejection.

Notice the zero pushback on Shidou's counter offer of scoring ten more goals to move in with him too. These subtleties on Sae's end, formed by his deliberate lack of denial to Shidou's direct romantic and/or sexual offers, are demonstration of how he's allowing space for and accepting Shidou's feelings. The same Sae who slapped his other teammate's hands away and denied Aiku's handshake, is shown permitting Shidou's physical and verbal attempts at connection and reciprocating in full.

Throughout their brief but intense union, both on and off the pitch, Sae continuously allows Shidou to cross his tightly maintained barriers, to occupy spaces where he's actively and cruelly denied others access to.

I never made this link prior to making this post, but Shidou so emphatically and boldly jumping to his defence, during their second time ever meeting, definitely has something to do with why Sae is willing to do that. On top of genuinely considering Shidou a worthy striker, and as I've outlined in a previous post (here), truly liking and feeling comfortable him. Sae so clearly has a soft spot for him :')