Blue Lock Fastest Growing Manga Series According to Bookscan

By Ben Gritz | February 16 2024 | Manga, Manhwa, Manhua

At a recent ComicsPro presentation, Kristen McLean of Circana (which owns BookScan) discussed trends in the manga category.  She declared that the fastest growing series in 2023 is BLUE LOCK from Kodansha!  This one-part sports drama, one-part elimination-game survival series has strongly connected with readers, and became turbocharged after a popular anime launch too.

Now is a great time to be sure you are carrying this title deep enough for your shelves (volume 11 releases 2/27/24!), and comic retailers should also take advantage of our Blue Lock 1 (Direct/Anime Market Exclusive Edition) cover before we run out of inventory.

Feel free to read McLean’s full manga thoughts at the below ICV2 article, and you also don’t want to miss a recent interview with Kodansha’s PRHPS manga editorial director, Ben Applegate, which covered Blue Lock and other manga industry subjects.

https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/56250/circana-bookscan-fastest-growing-manga-series

https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/56238/icv2-interview-ben-applegate-kodansha

9798888772294
A mad young coach gathers soccer players from across the country to compete in a series of bizarre challenges in a high-tech colosseum he calls Blue Lock. It's a no-balls-barred battle to become Japan's next top striker, in this Squid Game–meets–World Cup manga, now available in print! Are you the world's top egoist? After a disastrous defeat at the 2018 World Cup, Japan's team struggles to regroup. But what's mising? An absolute ace striker. The Football Union is hell-bent on creating a striker who hungers for goals and thirsts for victory, so Blue Lock -- a rigorous training ground for 300 of Japan's best and brightest youth players -- is created. To survive this battle royale, the last striker standing will have to out-muscle and out-ego everyone who stands in his way!
On sale Nov 14, 2023
FOC Oct 16, 2023
Paperback
208 Pages
Kodansha Comics

9781646516544
A mad young coach gathers soccer players from across the country to compete in a series of bizarre challenges in a high-tech colosseum he calls Blue Lock. It's a no-balls-barred battle to become Japan's next top striker, in this Squid Game–meets–World Cup manga, now available in print! Anime coming soon!
On sale Jun 21, 2022
FOC May 23, 2022
Paperback
208 Pages
Kodansha Comics

9781646516551
A mad young coach gathers soccer players from across the country to compete in a series of bizarre challenges in a high-tech colosseum he calls Blue Lock. It's a no-balls-barred battle to become Japan's next top striker, in this Squid Game–meets–World Cup manga, now available in print!Anime airing now!
On sale Aug 30, 2022
FOC May 02, 2022
Paperback
208 Pages
Kodansha Comics

9781646516568
A mad young coach gathers soccer players from across the country to compete in a series of bizarre challenges in a high-tech colosseum he calls Blue Lock. It's a no-balls-barred battle to become Japan's next top striker, in this Squid Game–meets–World Cup manga, now available in print!Anime airing now!
On sale Oct 25, 2022
FOC May 02, 2022
Paperback
208 Pages
Kodansha Comics

9781646516575
A mad young coach gathers soccer players from across the country to compete in a series of bizarre challenges in a high-tech colosseum he calls Blue Lock. It's a no-balls-barred battle to become Japan's next top striker, in this Squid Game–meets–World Cup manga, now available in print!Anime airing now!
On sale Dec 20, 2022
FOC Aug 08, 2022
Paperback
208 Pages
Kodansha Comics

9781646516629
A mad young coach gathers soccer players from across the country to compete in a series of bizarre challenges in a high-tech colosseum he calls Blue Lock. It's a no-balls-barred battle to become Japan's next top striker, in this Squid Game–meets–World Cup manga, now available in print!Anime airing now!
On sale Feb 21, 2023
FOC Oct 03, 2022
Paperback
208 Pages
Kodansha Comics

9781646516636
A mad young coach gathers soccer players from across the country to compete in a series of bizarre challenges in a high-tech colosseum he calls Blue Lock. It's a no-balls-barred battle to become Japan's next top striker, in this Squid Game–meets–World Cup manga, now available in print!Anime airing now!
On sale Apr 18, 2023
FOC Dec 05, 2022
Paperback
208 Pages
Kodansha Comics

9781646516643
A mad young coach gathers soccer players from across the country to compete in a series of bizarre challenges in a high-tech colosseum he calls Blue Lock. It's a no-balls-barred battle to become Japan's next top striker, in this Squid Game–meets–World Cup manga, now available in print!Anime airing now!
On sale Jun 27, 2023
FOC May 02, 2022
Paperback
192 Pages
Kodansha Comics

9781646516650
A mad young coach gathers soccer players from across the country to compete in a series of bizarre challenges in a high-tech colosseum he calls Blue Lock. It's a no-balls-barred battle to become Japan's next top striker, in this Squid Game–meets–World Cup manga, now available in print! Anime airing now!
On sale Aug 29, 2023
FOC Jul 31, 2023
Paperback
208 Pages
Kodansha Comics

9781646516667
A mad young coach gathers soccer players from across the country to compete in a series of bizarre challenges in a high-tech colosseum he calls Blue Lock. It's a no-balls-barred battle to become Japan's next top striker, in this Squid Game–meets–World Cup manga, now available in print! Anime airing now!
On sale Oct 17, 2023
FOC Sep 18, 2023
Paperback
208 Pages
Kodansha Comics

9781646516674
A mad young coach gathers soccer players from across the country to compete in a series of bizarre challenges in a high-tech colosseum he calls Blue Lock. It's a no-balls-barred battle to become Japan's next top striker, in this Squid Game–meets–World Cup manga, now available in print! Anime airing now!
On sale Dec 26, 2023
FOC Nov 27, 2023
Paperback
208 Pages
Kodansha Comics

9781646516681
A mad young coach gathers soccer players from across the country to compete in a series of bizarre challenges in a high-tech colosseum he calls Blue Lock. It's a no-balls-barred battle to become Japan's next top striker, in this Squid Game–meets–World Cup manga, now available in print! Anime airing now!
On sale Feb 27, 2024
FOC Jan 29, 2024
Paperback
208 Pages
Kodansha Comics

9781646516698
A mad young coach gathers soccer players from across the country to compete in a series of bizarre challenges in a high-tech colosseum he calls Blue Lock. It's a no-balls-barred battle to become Japan's next top striker, in this Squid Game–meets–World Cup manga, now available in print! Anime airing now!
On sale Apr 30, 2024
FOC Apr 01, 2024
Paperback
208 Pages
Kodansha Comics

9781646516704
A mad young coach gathers soccer players from across the country to compete in a series of bizarre challenges in a high-tech colosseum he calls Blue Lock. It's a no-balls-barred battle to become Japan's next top striker, in this Squid Game–meets–World Cup manga, now available in print! Anime airing now!
On sale Jul 23, 2024
FOC May 27, 2024
Paperback
208 Pages
Kodansha Comics

9781646516711
A mad young coach gathers soccer players from across the country to compete in a series of bizarre challenges in a high-tech colosseum he calls Blue Lock. It's a no-balls-barred battle to become Japan's next top striker, in this Squid Game–meets–World Cup manga, now available in print! Anime airing now!
On sale Aug 27, 2024
FOC Jul 29, 2024
Paperback
208 Pages
Kodansha Comics

9781646516728
A mad young coach gathers soccer players from across the country to compete in a series of bizarre challenges in a high-tech colosseum he calls Blue Lock. It's a no-balls-barred battle to become Japan's next top striker, in this Squid Game–meets–World Cup manga, now available in print! Anime airing now!
On sale Oct 29, 2024
FOC Sep 30, 2024
Paperback
224 Pages
Kodansha Comics

9781646516735
A mad young coach gathers soccer players from across the country to compete in a series of bizarre challenges in a high-tech colosseum he calls Blue Lock. It's a no-balls-barred battle to become Japan's next top striker, in this Squid Game–meets–World Cup manga, now available in print! Anime airing now!
On sale Dec 31, 2024
FOC Dec 02, 2024
Paperback
208 Pages
Kodansha Comics

9781646516742
A mad young coach gathers soccer players from across the country to compete in a series of bizarre challenges in a high-tech colosseum he calls Blue Lock. It's a no-balls-barred battle to become Japan's next top striker, in this Squid Game–meets–World Cup manga, now available in print! Anime airing now!
On sale Feb 25, 2025
FOC Jan 27, 2025
Paperback
208 Pages
Kodansha Comics

9781646517558
A mad young coach gathers soccer players from across the country to compete in a series of bizarre challenges in a high-tech colosseum he calls Blue Lock. It's a no-balls-barred battle to become Japan's next top striker, in this Squid Game–meets–World Cup manga, now available in print! Anime airing now!
On sale Apr 29, 2025
Paperback
208 Pages
Kodansha Comics

9781646517985
A mad young coach gathers soccer players from across the country to compete in a series of bizarre challenges in a high-tech colosseum he calls Blue Lock. It's a no-balls-barred battle to become Japan's next top striker, in this Squid Game–meets–World Cup manga, now available in print! Anime airing now!
On sale Jun 24, 2025
Paperback
Kodansha Comics

9781646518265
On sale Jul 22, 2025
Paperback
Kodansha Comics

9781646519446
On sale Aug 26, 2025
Paperback
Kodansha Comics

9798888771754
The new prequel manga to the smash-hit soccer action series Blue Lock! How does a listless slacker who thinks everything's a huge pain turn into one of Japan's top scorers? Find out, as high schooler Reo Mikage sets out to fan the flames of ambition in future soccer prodigy Seishiro Nagi, in Blue Lock: Episode Nagi.Anime movie coming soon!
On sale Oct 15, 2024
FOC Sep 16, 2024
Paperback
208 Pages
Kodansha Comics

9798888771761
The new prequel manga to the smash-hit soccer action series Blue Lock! How does a listless slacker who thinks everything's a huge pain turn into one of Japan's top scorers? Find out, as high schooler Reo Mikage sets out to fan the flames of ambition in future soccer prodigy Seishiro Nagi, in Blue Lock: Episode Nagi.Anime movie coming soon!
On sale Jan 14, 2025
FOC Dec 16, 2024
Paperback
208 Pages
Kodansha Comics

9798888772409
The new prequel manga to the smash-hit soccer action series Blue Lock! How does a listless slacker who thinks everything's a huge pain turn into one of Japan's top scorers? Find out, as high schooler Reo Mikage sets out to fan the flames of ambition in future soccer prodigy Seishiro Nagi, in Blue Lock: Episode Nagi.Anime movie coming soon!
On sale Apr 08, 2025
Paperback
208 Pages
Kodansha Comics