Be Blues!

Be Blues! – Ao ni Nare (Japanese: BE BLUES!〜青になれ〜, Hepburn: Bī Burūzu! Ao ni Nare) is a Japanese association football manga series written and illustrated by Motoyuki Tanaka [ja]. It was serialized in Shogakukan's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Sunday from January 2011 to October 2022, with its chapters collected into 49 tankōbon volumes.

Be Blues! – Ao ni Nare
First tankōbon volume cover, featuring Ryū Ichijō
BE BLUES!〜青になれ〜 (Bī Burūzu! Ao ni Nare)
Genre	Sports
Manga
Written by	Motoyuki Tanaka [ja]
Published by	Shogakukan
Imprint	Shōnen Sunday Comics
Magazine	Weekly Shōnen Sunday
Demographic	Shōnen
Original run	January 26, 2011 – October 12, 2022
Volumes	49

In 2015, Be Blues! won the 60th Shogakukan Manga Award in the shōnen category.

Plot

Ryū Ichijō is a prodigy football player who dreams of becoming a professional player and member of the Japan national team (the "Blues" of the title) by the age of 18. He excels as he proceeds through his schooling, but just as he prepares to start his junior high school he suffers a fall leading to really serious injuries, and has to go through a long period of rehabilitation. Two years after his accident, he is able to play again and starts working to get his skills up again, and to improve so as to achieve his dreams of making it to the national team.

Characters

Ryū Ichijō (一条 龍, Ichijō Ryū)

Yūto Oume (青梅 優人, Oume Yūto)

Tatsuhiko Kuze (久世 立彦, Kuze Tatsuhiko)

Takumi Sakuraba (桜庭 巧美, Sakuraba Takumi)

Publication

Written and illustrated by Motoyuki Tanaka [ja], Be Blues! – Ao ni Nare was serialized for eleven years in Shogakukan's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Sunday from January 26, 2011,^[1] to October 12, 2022.^[2][3] Shogakukan collected its chapters in 49 tankōbon volumes, released from June 17, 2011,^[4] to November 18, 2022.^[5]

Volumes

No.	Release date	ISBN
1	June 17, 2011[4]	978-4-09-123005-8
2	September 16, 2011[6]	978-4-09-123248-9
3	November 18, 2011[7]	978-4-09-123370-7
4	February 17, 2012[8]	978-4-09-123545-9
5	May 18, 2012[9]	978-4-09-123658-6
6	July 18, 2012[10]	978-4-09-123773-6
7	October 18, 2012[11]	978-4-09-123895-5
8	December 18, 2012[12]	978-4-09-123895-5
9	March 18, 2013[13]	978-4-09-124199-3
10	June 18, 2013[14]	978-4-09-124317-1
11	September 18, 2013[15]	978-4-09-124380-5
12	November 18, 2013[16]	978-4-09-124492-5
13	February 18, 2014[17]	978-4-09-124560-1
14	May 16, 2014[18]	978-4-09-124641-7
15	June 18, 2014[19]	978-4-09-124739-1
16	September 18, 2014[20]	978-4-09-125100-8
17	December 18, 2014[21]	978-4-09-125395-8
18	March 18, 2015[22]	978-4-09-125630-0
19	May 18, 2015[23]	978-4-09-125834-2
20	August 18, 2015[24]	978-4-09-126205-9
21	November 18, 2015[25]	978-4-09-126491-6
22	February 18, 2016[26]	978-4-09-126779-5
23	May 18, 2016[27]	978-4-09-127138-9
24	August 18, 2016[28]	978-4-09-127327-7
25	November 18, 2016[29]	978-4-09-127416-8
26	February 17, 2017[30]	978-4-09-127500-4
27	May 18, 2017[31]	978-4-09-127569-1
28	August 18, 2017[32]	978-4-09-127678-0
29	November 17, 2017[33]	978-4-09-127869-2
30	February 16, 2018[34]	978-4-09-128084-8
31	May 18, 2018[35]	978-4-09-128248-4
32	August 17, 2018[36]	978-4-09-128350-4
33	November 16, 2018[37]	978-4-09-128576-8
34	February 18, 2019[38]	978-4-09-128878-3
35	May 17, 2019[39]	978-4-09-129150-9
36	August 16, 2019[40]	978-4-09-129319-0
37	November 18, 2019[41]	978-4-09-129444-9
38	February 18, 2020[42]	978-4-09-129559-0
39	May 18, 2020[43]	978-4-09-850076-5
40	July 17, 2020[44]	978-4-09-128084-8
41	September 18, 2020[45]	978-4-09-850175-5
42	January 18, 2021[46]	978-4-09-850381-0
43	April 16, 2021[47]	978-4-09-850516-6
44	July 16, 2021[48]	978-4-09-850632-3
45	October 18, 2021[49]	978-4-09-850721-4
46	January 18, 2022[50]	978-4-09-850862-4
47	April 18, 2022[51]	978-4-09-851060-3
48	August 18, 2022[52]	978-4-09-851186-0
49	November 18, 2022[5]	978-4-09-851391-8

Reception

Be Blues! won the 60th Shogakukan Manga Award in the shōnen category in 2015.^[53]

See also

• Saikyō! Toritsu Aoizaka Kōkō Yakyūbu, another manga series by the same author