Rensuke Kunigami

* Manga
* Anime

**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 wears 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 dons their #50 club uniform. After the U-20 match, Kunigami's hair has grown out more, he is noticeably more muscular and he looks more gloomy and serious overall.

Colored AppearanceBlue Lock joggersTeam Z uniformTeam Red UniformBlue Lock player icon
## Personality

Kunigami has a very moral personality. He can be very serious about his football career, training, and way of living but 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 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 the time he can be very grateful and somewhat embarrassed when praised by others.

Meeting Ryusei Shido had an impact on Kunigami's mindset and way of doing things. His moral and righteous way of playing was outdone by a more aggressive and instinctual way of play and he exited Blue Lock questioning Shido's words. After returning to Blue Lock, Kunigami is noticeably more cold and 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. He is described by his football colleagues as a cyborg because of his very 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 being able to strike and place the ball exactly where it will beat the goalkeeper. They can be identified by their high goal to shots ratio. 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, and 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 a very 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.

* **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.
	+ **Mid-Range 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, almost scoring an effortless shot.
	+ **Jumping Volley Shot**: 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 the 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 short period of time due to his physical attributes. While he can use both feet to shoot and to dribble, Kunigami's left side is still by far more powerful and efficient though he has so far chosen to use his right for almost all his shots in the Neo Egoist League.

## Etymology

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

## Quotes

* (To Team Z) *My greatest weapon is my left foot's shooting power.*
* (To Isagi) *Because I'm going to be a football hero*.
* (To Isagi) *I will fulfill this dream of mine, and fight against the world for it, fair and square. I don't think there's anything embarrassing about that.*
* (To Junichi) *Enough. Don't lay your hands on my team.*

## 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 subject is Modern Japanese and Classics (he doesn't understand why he has to learn it).
	+ 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 16th 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 7th in the first popularity poll with 748 votes.

## References

*Blue Lock* Manga: Chapter 9.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Character profile from *Egoist Bible*
*Blue Lock* Manga: Chapter 246.
*Blue Lock* Manga: Chapter 204.
*Blue Lock* Manga: Chapter 170.
*Blue Lock* Manga: Chapter 58.
*Blue Lock* Manga: Chapter 24.
*Blue Lock* Manga: Chapter 15.
*Blue Lock* Anime: Episode 2.
*Blue Lock* Manga: Chapter 158.
*Blue Lock* Manga: Chapter 2.
*Blue Lock* Manga: Chapter 22.