Free!

About two weeks ago, I went into Gaia’s AMC forum to post a poll, asking the community what 2013 anime I should watch next. I expected Silver Spoon or Gatchaman Crowds to win, and they received 7 and 10 votes, respectively placing in second and third place. The winner, with 24 votes, was Free! Iwatobi Swimming Club, the notorious #SwimmingAnime that came into existence thanks to a viral animation sample, and an almost revolutionary ‘give us this show’ petition.

So, with almost half of that poll’s 60 voters daring me to dive head first into manservice oblivion, what was I supposed to do? Was I supposed ... to turn my head, and avoid making eye contact with that glistening banana-hammock of a show? Or was I supposed to test my mettle as a critic against one of the most manhood threatening shows to be aired last year? Well, let’s think about that. I love Princess Tutu and Ouran High School Host Club, and I was a motherf(yay)ing brony for two years. So bring it on, you rabid hords of Fujoshi! I watched your #Swimminganime, and now, I’m going to review the crap out of it!

The story of Free! begins with four ten year old boys. They consist of Haruka, a quiet boy who only feels at home in the water; Makoto, a laid back best friend character who’s afraid of the ocean; Nagisa, an excitable little moppet who should, by all conceivable logic, be voiced in English by Greg Ayres; And Rin, an outgoing boy whose connection to his friends can only be trumped by his much much larger ambitions. They were brought together by their love of swimming, although they quickly adopt an inside joke that ‘fate threw them together for having girly names.’ In any case, after their first big relay tournament triumph, Rin leaves the group to go to a middle school in Australia to train so he can become an olympic swimmer. Nagisa also winds up going to a different school, and the fellowship is disbanded.

That is, until the first year of high school, when Haruka, Makoto, and Nagisa are finally reunited, and Nagisa convinces them to start the long-defunct Iwatobi Swim club back up again! Because, as we all know, “High school club” has been it’s own ubiquitous genre ever since Haruhi Suzumiya started grabbing up all the money in the world. With Rin’s little sister as their manager, a shy teacher for their faculty adviser, and a brand new team mate in the meticulous beauty-obsessed Rei, and the sudden reappearance of Rin as their new rival from another school, their swim club has only just begun to tread water!

Before we go any further, I should probably address the pink elephant in the room... People refuse to watch this show because it looks gay. Now, I don’t feel like turning this review into a gay rights rant, nor do I want to make any statements about whether or not I consider homosexuality(or lack thereof) an indicator of quality. Maybe there are some good yaoi shows out there... I don’t know. The ones I’ve seen so far sucked. So instead, I’m only going to address whether or not Free is, in a literal sense, gay. Like Hakkenden was.

About a year ago, I was dared by a friend to rent and watch Magic Mike. At the end of it, I said the exact same thing that I said in regards to Free. “Wait a second... That wasn’t that gay at all.” Yes, both shows feature plenty of scantily clad men to thrill and chill the straight women and gay men of the audience, but both stories take place in a setting where wearing next to nothing makes perfect sense in context... Stripping in one, swimming in the other. I can understand some guys not wanting to watch a show about male strippers, but if the sight of guys taking their shirts off to swim makes you uncomfortable, then buddy, you’ve got issues.

And the show isn’t even a yaoi. There’s barely any romantic content in the first place, save for one side character’s crush on Kou, but when you really pay attention, Free! is nothing more than a gender swap of Kyoto Animation’s many female-centric slife-of-life shows. Yes, the guys use cutesy honorifics and nicknames, and they seem to have an uncommonly close relationship, but nobody throws around the word “Gay” while watching Lucky Star, K-ON! or Tamako Market... Well, maybe in the pejorative sense... But in any case, while there may be some shounen-ai elements floating around in this pool, they’re subtle, and too subtextual to really effect the story in any way.

And speaking of the story... Okay, a few paragraphs ago, I briefly compared this show to Magic Mike, but unfortunately, the comparison shall go no further. Magic Mike was an awesome movie, and Free! is just kind of... Okay. I hate to be mean to it, because the characters are likeable, and I *was* constantly clicking the next episode button, so it was able to hold my attention pretty well... Free! is Kyoto Animation’s first ever sports based anime, which automatically means it has more plot than half of the work they’ve put out thus far, but even with that to boast about, Free! is still just a little too passive for it’s own good. They go to a few swimming competitions, but the stakes of these events are never more than just “We wanna swim together and get a higher budget for our club.” The only time this story has any gravity to it is when our heroes are stuck in the ocean during a storm, and they never seen to desire anything other than “Let’s be friends and strengthen our bond.” That makes for a very pleasant tone, but it doesn’t make for a very engaging series.

The only thing in this story that really develops is the relationship between the five leading males. Their growth as individuals is negligible, aside from Rin, although I can’t really complain, because they’re all really likeable characters. Their occasional coach is only ever used when he’s convenient, and their faculty adviser makes little to no effort to distinguish herself as anything other than a recycled K-ON! trope. Kou, the group’s manager, is not used nearly enough, considering how much potential she has. If she actually had some character arc, even for a single episode, we could have learned something about her as a person... We could have learned why she cares so much about the swim club, and hey, we could have learned why she never swims a single stroke despite being an official member. Seriously, I get that she’s non-athletic and is too female to compete alongside her team mates, but they visit a beach for crying out loud! She brings a swimsuit, and then just hangs around with the teacher! Why?!

As I said before, it’s a decent, pleasant show, and while I didn’t find the plot particularly engaging, I still enjoyed watching it. The chemistry of the characters more than made up for their lack of depth. I’m monolingual, but the japanese dub sounded really good, and I had no problems at all with the actual dialogue. I didn’t find all of the humor effective, but it had enough good jokes to not be boring at any point. In a lot of ways, it’s a happy little distraction, just like K-ON!. Normally, I’d give this kind of show a 7/10, but there’s one more aspect of this show that I forgot to mention. And that aspect is...

The artwork and animation. Dear God in heaven, this is one of the top ten best looking animes I’ve ever seen. Kyoto Animation may not be known for having stellar stories... Haruhi, Clannad and Chuunbiyoh being the exceptions... but it always brings great animation to the table, and from that perspective alone, this is the best looking show they’ve ever released. The backgrounds and character designs are outstanding, the attention to detail is mind blowing, the characters are capable of a full range of graceful, fluid motion, and the water... Oh my God.

From what I understand, the animation demo that this show was originally based on was released so Kyoto Animation could boast about how well it could animate water. But in the words of Kid Rock, it ain’t bragging if you back it up. If you’re not taking a simplistic approach, water can be one of the most notoriously difficult things to animate. There are some CGI movies where they have to treat every drop of it like a blue grain of sand just to realistically portray the movement of a wave. While there are a few notable exceptions, like the stellar art design of The Little Mermaid, most examples of animated water range from ‘adequate animation that you’re not supposed to pay any attention to’ to ‘horribly awkward CGI texture that you can’t help paying attention to.’ I’m looking at you, Gantz.

But I have never seen animated water that looks as good as it does in Free. They used a seamless blend of 2D and 3D techniques to make the water look not only natural, but alive. Every reflection, every ripple, every bubble and every distortion is captured with the power of a force of nature, and yet with the subtlety of a facial expression. And that’s saying nothing about the water as a character. Yes, I just called the water a character, and maybe even my favorite one in the show. I find the relationship between Makoto and the water to be fascinating, and I actually want to see the show again somewhere down the road just to see if I understand it a little better!

All in all, Free! Iwatobi Swim club may not have very good writing behind it, but what it does have is a charismatic energy that will grab you right from episode one and not let you go until long after it’s finished. The amount of love and enthusiasm that went into this show is like night and day when compared to some of Kyoto Animation’s more phoned in projects, and if that’s not enough, it’s a visual feast for the eyes of both yaoi fans and normal people alike. It hasn’t been licensed for an English release just yet, but with free fansubs available in all the usual places, I can definitely recommend this for streaming. It’s a solid 8/10, and the water’s great, so leave all doubts in your locker and dive right in!

"For the team..." - from the director of Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, K-On, Clannad and Lucky Star comes a show about swimming. And you know, I like it. The story follows 5 swimmers, four from middle school to the present (Nanase, Hazuki, Tachibana, Rin), the other a track and field club member who eventually gets won overbfrom Hazuki (Rei) and Rin's little sister, who is also the coach/support for Nanase, Hazuki, Tachibana and Rei. Without spoilers, Rin... Moves on in life without Nanase, Hazuki or Tachibana and this is of course fully explained, and I like how the story shows the guys experiences from both ... sides. Nanase is our main character, so we see the experience from his side and how he misses swimming with Rin and sometimes doesn't see the point if he can't swim with his former teammate, and from Rin's side we see how he gets disc...ouraged, and wishes he... could swim with his former teammate... Oh. To be honest the story is fairly weak, but what makes it bearable is the ending, it's really heartwarming and for anyone who's read my Love Live review, you'll understand why four life long friends coming together after a long stint of not seeing each other is heartwarming to moi.

The other characters are pretty much there just for support and to flesh out the story, though of course the ending again makes them redeeming. They are all likable at least, but you can tell the story and character is focused on this rivalry between Nanase and Rin.

Must admit, there are pros of course. As well as the ending I keep going on about, and this will be personal, I love swimming IRL. So the premise for the show drew me in, but it's disheartening to know it's kind of just another string to the main ploy of the show, Nanase and Rin. The other is the art - we're talking Clannad or above. It's quite beautiful, BUT - it's really wierd. Because you can't speak of Free! without the male fan service - well, I mean it's for females to enjoy, but all the guys are male... OK, OK. LOTS OF RIPPED HIGH SCHOOL LADS, AND A GIDDY FEMALE TEEN. It just seems jarring to the almost serious relationship between Nanase and Rin. What really took me out of it, and I kid you not, Rin turned his head slowly as his hair was being windswept and cherry blossoms blew in front of his face...

OK, quick rap up. Pros:-
(IMO) premise (as in swimming)
Art
Relationship between characters (mainly ending)

Cons:-
Weak story
Jarring plot threads
Lack of real need for support characters

And this anime comes with a recommendation to stream, if it seems interesting to you, but not to feel bad if you can't watch it all the way through. 6/10.

(This is a review for all of the Free! series, including Free! Eternal
... Summer, but spoiling neither of them, it is too generic so feel free
to read it)

Mizu wa ikitteiru
Hito tabi tobikomeba, soichu wa tachimachi kiba wo muki osoi kakate kuru
Dakedo, osoreru koto wa nai...

Watching Free! gives you a feeling different from the usual you get when watching anime...like when you're playing a game with storyline and plot-forget Dota 2, remember Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts-and you enter that world. Not necessarily being consumed by it at the point where you can't sense your surroundings or remain ignorant towards the time and place, but willingly letting yourself be absorbed in it, welcoming the reality you're going to enter. Same way Death Note is an anime but also something more, Free! also has a specific like that, although in case it doesn't hit a soft spot in you, it is pretty much an average piece of work. Half of the reason why that happens can be explained, the other half is the combination of infinite factors that are unlikely to be recorded or described, much like not knowing why a hug feels the way it does, a piece of music, a picture.
So, Free! is set in a seaside town, a town approachable and familiar like one's neighborhood, like the town in a game, seeming impossible to navigate yourself through it at first, but ending up knowing every street and narrow. You know it's not Tokyo or some existent Japanese city...it is the known world you'll find yourself every time you open the episode. It is the Iwatobi highschool, the ocean, the swimming school, the hills and the swimsuit shop...another Konoha, another Hollow Bastion. A good reason to justify that notion would be because of the town's structure and the way the houses are lined up, not wanting to say welcome to a city, a street, but welcome to Free!
And inside there a story starts unfolding and characters to act. A story realistic from the aspect of six boys hooked on their hobby and confronting real-life problems, however lacking in realism when it comes to the actual dialogues or extravagant kindness and pure way of thinking, attitude...You can't say that Free! is more of a slice of life genre than it is about sports. It is purely sports genre, only a different kind of it. For it is not presenting the story of some geniuses that could exist somewhere-unlikely-, it shows the story of some gifted people that do exist somewhere. As an anime, it will not make the impossible possible or fire you up to death with the unbelievable result of a game or the unearthly effort of an athlete, and that is exactly why you can relate to it, and perhaps share some of the happiness they feel at times,but also the reason why you will forget it more easily. Kuroko no Basket does inflict strong emotions at you, deluging you with awe and excitement in every game, but it utterly shatters every prospect of you taking up something such as basketball. Free! focuses more at the concept of athletics, emphasizing on the general atmosphere around the world of sports and ultimately stimulating your desire for attaining that kind of life and the perks that come with it...the friends, the friendly antagonism, the quality consumption of time and the healthy fortifying of body and soul.
As far I am concerned, I consider the unjustified and unrealistic disputes among the characters to be the opposite of a drawback, but the fact that they are foolish remains. Human relationships in Free! as well as the core of the plot is a bit childish, although contributing in the fact that watching Free! feels like entering a fairy tail. At long last, deviation from reality is the only reason we play games or watch anime, to provide ourselves with the extraordinary real life can not provide us with. Moreover, Free! is fun to watch because in each episode things that divert from the usual range of things an anime plot includes happen. The anime won't be filled with scenes of the school, them training, them competing, and them eating...but with the variety and flow of scenes that caused people to call it a slice of life anime.

The relationship of sympathy, friendship and rivalry between the boys is noteworthy...at the largest part the positive or negative feelings between them will seem unreasonable, unjustified and illogical, however when it comes down it, the one think it struggles to emphasize through all these, while using swimming to narrate it, is how people mourn childish, pure feelings when they reach an age where they soon will have to grow up. Those feelings that once you remember them you realize that by now, they are merely a shadow of what they used to be, and still you don't want to let them fade...you know you will never experience them the same way you once did, but still, you want to preserve the shadow of them, because you are scared to let them wear completely off...let a part of yourself completely wear off...a part that is important because you liked it...Same way, they obsess over the relay, because they want to remember that important thing they once had, in an effort to find the measures in order to sew it in their current age.

Now for the real drawback, none of the seiyuus' voices matched the characters' appearance or personality, at a point where at times they sounded utterly unreal, yu-gi-oh like. Of course, their lines supported that style but it still ruined the scene in case you noticed it. The background music however, totally makes up for it. Favorite part is when they toss their clothes or hair aside to challenge each other in swimming and there's promptly dubstep to contribute in the tension. All of the background music in general will catch your attention, every important scene will be enhanced with rock music, violin, piano, rap or whatever the respective mood demands. The openings are rock pieces, aiming to pump you up, while the endings pop with cheerful and funny visuals.

Free! is the first anime I have watched where the background art was amazing but inferior to the character drawings. Each one has like a thousand details on him, from the visible muscles in their bodies to their perfect shaped hair and uniquely bright eyes. Haru's eyes are more blue and clear than any form of water and the arrangement of outfits in each episode might make you feel bad for your sense of fashion. The rest is like all well made art nowadays, the colors only might be a little brighter to be in harmony with the anime's cheery nature.

Therefore, if you do not mind the easy-going pace, lack of suspense and excessive drama at times, Free! is a notably pleasant break from the enthralling, heart beat enhancing usual anime...


Parenthesis...

I do not understand what people mean about manservice, I just watched a really pleasant story, full of summer, water and optimism with characters that were a bit too emotional at times. When a girl moans and rubs her thighs together while tasting Soma's food, yeah I can say fanservice. But, I won't sweat for hidden meaning just because a guy in swimming suit helped another guy in swimming suit out of the pool. We are fortunate enough to have the authority of commenting on another person's serious work, as well as to have hundreds of people read what is us judging a professional's work from our seat in front of the pc. More or less, that person's means of living can be marked as good or bad because of us, so the least we can do is respect that privilege. Nobody grabbed the other's ass, they just showed naked belly, when down to it they have to because it's a swimming themed anime, how do you want it to show swimmers, with snow equipment or maybe focus on their toes...

I can't believe I'm writing my first review for a series that I don't like, but I will, and here is why:
1) There is this overwhelming misconception/misunderstanding that all (or most) women/girls/females like this show. And this, is very misleading and (slightly) offending.
2) I cannot understand how some people can compliment the show because of its *developed* characters and *interesting* plot. If you enjoy the animation and fanservice, that's 100% fine. Please just don't slip in misleading points by labeling show to be some kind of deep, well-thought plot or overly complex characters that is mostly non-existent.

So with that long-winded introduction, here is the ... actual review

Now, I have mentioned before the word "fanservice." I'm trying VERY hard not to be biased, that is why I'm giving this show a score of 5 and not lower. Why? Because most expectedly, I started watching the show for entertainment, you know, a typical light-hearted sporty anime with eye-catching characters. Yes, I DID watch the show for entertainment. And that is why I do NOT mind all the fanservice whatsoever in this series.
That being said, I did not find much enjoyment from Free!, perhaps except there are bunch of *hotties* getting (unnecessarily) half-naked most of the time and some (poorly-written) humor.

STORY - 5/10
Does Free! have no or absolutely garbage plot? No, it does have a plot, it's just a really linear, silly, and boring story where nothing really happens.
I will (shamefully) admit that I watched Haikyuu, Ace of Diamond and a few others sport series, so I (slightly) hoped to see some sporty element to it. But of course I was wrong, because guess what? the story IS NOT the focus of this anime. I mean c'mon "look at the poster and the trailer of this show, nothing really screams sports doesn't it?" (Shame on myself - should have known that better!)

So yes, the story IS poor, but that is much anticipated. But even when I try to look past all its obvious flaws, I cannot comprehend how silly, disconnected the story goes. Every now and then, we are introduced to new *interesting* characters with some problematic/traumatic past that do...not really mean anything. Even the *peak* (though in all reality virtually non-existent) tension got solved in... 2 episodes. Just what "amazing plot" and "friendship" are we even talking about?

ART - 8/10 & SOUND - 7/10
Haters, let's be honest, no matter how much you dislike the show, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the animation. So let's give it a deserving (and encouraging) score of 8, shall we?

CHARACTERS - 3/10
This is what kills the enjoyment of the show, at least - for me.
I understand, this show is supposed to be entertaining. No deep, breath-taking or complex story. And I totally agree that simple, light-hearted, entertaining shows can be very captivating as well. However, you at least need CHARACTERS to keep the show going. And this series' cast has very little CHARACTER. No kidding.

Haru is hardly interesting with his stripping habit (which I get it - is supposed to be funny) nor his (supposedly complex) personality - being stuck/hung up in the past with Rin. He just seems like a very empty person to be honest.

Rin - oh boy, where do I even start... Everyone has different opinions, and here is mine. I will describe Rin to you in my most honest language. Rin is your typical character who got butthurt because he lost in some competition and decided to come back "strong." Now, there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with this cliche. Just because a plot device falls into a pre-established trend doesn't make it bad. What makes it bad is the facilitation/development of the character in the show. We are talking about a guy who holds a strong type of emotion namely jealousy/inferiority complex for his childhood friend. He lost to his friend in grade school (yes, grade school) and he's bottled up that emotion all the way to high school. Then BOOM, after some competition, he's just ...opened his eyes to see something completely different, something absolutely amazing and inspiring. Yup, that's how complex his emotion (and the plot) is.

As for the other boys, I honestly feel like they are added out of convenience, because the show just needs ....some more characters. The dudes hardly do anything meaningful other than ...being there and adding to that whole fanservice thing, WHICH, mind you, I get it.

OVERALL ENJOYMENT - 4/10
Bottom line, if you look for fanservice, look no further, there is a bunch of half-naked men frequently showing off their abs and jumping in the pool for you. But if you really want to enjoy that aspect, you will still have to watch the show disregard everything else. Because if you actually care to know/hope to understand where the story is going, or how certain characters to actually develop personalities.... you will just be very disappointed.

And NO, this is NOT a sport anime. Just because it's about swimming doesn't make it a sport anime.

Let me start off by saying this anime was an abomination. A sadistic tease to any and all romantic anime connoisseurs. And the very reasons this anime made me so utterly livid, was for two simple facts:

Firstly, the aesthetic was simply phenomenal. The artists in charge were undoubtedly meticulously planning these sketches. A swimming anime where the main setting is water. The character's trapeziums flexed with elegant ease, droplets of water acquainting themselves with the crevices of their bodies. Their builds—particularly Makoto Tachibana's, were impeccable. Not overly sculpted, but the perfect amount of chisel. Haruka Nanase's slim, but not overly thin, supple body which danced ... with suave movements throughout the water. Nagisa's lolita appeal which contrasts with his subtle dominance and Rei's awkwardly charming butterfly-like essence. The appeal was perfect! Which served as its biggest downfall in my scoring due its staunch contrast with the lack of ANY remote plot besides the shallow childhood conflict over "free swimming".

Romantic anime is not simply having angelic characters with the bodies of Greek Gods. The only female suitor who had any chance of penetrating the tightly woven bond of these friends was Gou, but she understood better than anyone who the real romantic interests were...

EACH OTHER. Which leads me to my second biggest issue with the anime. Intentional or not, how could the creators produce these four flowery boys, and neglect to provide the audience with any relief?? No kiss, no bodily fluid exchange, nothing. The closest they came to intimacy was friendly shoulder touching, or the rare occasion of a hug.

Maybe romance was not the big focus, which I can respect. But the plot was so stupidly uneventful. It would be more fitting to categorize it as slice of life rather than sports, because the majority of each episode was monopolized by pointless banter. At this point all the audience can think is "F**** KISS HIM ALREADY!", which as you can imagine, is extremely frustrating.

I do not recommend this anime for anyone looking for resolve or substance. It was as pointless as a male prostitute with erectile dysfunction.

So as you might expect I had pretty low expectations going into this show. I mean a swimming anime? A MALE swimming anime? I thought i was gonna get nothing but manservice (male fanservice) , engorged crotches, unnecessary stripping, stupid illogical characters who jump at any opportunity to take off their tops (or maybe even bottoms) and show off some SKIN! Oh boy was I surprised.

Believe it or not, unlike other of Kyo-ani's works (K-on) which is anime about nothing but being cute, this one is about something. There is indeed a universal message that is substantial. Sure, the fanservice is there but, it's no ... where near the equivalent we would get from another show. For example, in a show like Eiken, women are degraded and have ridiculous bodies which you can never naturally achieve. Free!, on the other hand has bodies that any normal swimmers would have, no exaggerations here.

The characters in this show are all given their time to shine, they don't stray from what's important and their past's don't distract us from the show. We watch them grow in front of our eyes and they all give us reasons to cheer for them! The chemistry between these well-written characters s believable and helps the plot move forward. Sure, the show doesn't take itself seriously ALL THE TIME, there is some camp here and there and there but the comic relief doesn't ever sidetrack the audience from what is really going on.OH YEAH, THERE'S A PLOT! Behold! Okay, don't go in expecting a deep, thought provoking but hey, what do you expect?

On the technical side, the animation is crazy good! They replicate olympic swimming and the soundtrack complements the mood very well be it intense, or emotional. As for enjoyment, you will be on the edge of your seat! The music in the start and end are a real treat too! (for both eyes and ears)

All in all, Free! is a decent surprise. The result is a show that is pleasing for the eyes, and the ears. It's got solid animation, a great soundtrack and, well-written characters. Who would have known that a SWIMMING anime anime by Kyoto animation (responsible for K-On) could be this much fun?

I remember when the internet was a-buzz about turning Kyoto Animation's little commercial into a full-fledged animation series. Eventually, fans got their "Swimming Anime": Free! And while some aspects of this show I liked, overall it lacks depth. Add on a heaping amount of difficult-to-believe melodrama to the shallowness, and well, it leads to some disappointment. Despite these criticisms though, the show still proved to entertain.

I really appreciated that the show catered to predominantly female-minded fanservice. It's about time that this happened! Anime has had a large abundance of predominantly male-minded fanservice, so this was exciting and refreshing. The animation is also for the most ... part very attractive and fluid.

When it comes to the plot and the characters that is where things start to become difficult to believe. I've been watching anime for years, so I understand that to enjoy a show sometimes you have to suspend disbelief. However, the characters and relationships presented for the most part feel so unplausible... after not hearing from or seeing a friend for years, most kids drift apart, and it's anything but uncommon. So seeing this unusual obsession that every single member of the swim club has with their rival and old friend Rin is confusing, especially since Rin does not treat them kindly in return. The melodrama present between the characters also felt unnecessarily over-the-top, adding to the unnatural interactions amongst themselves. I often found myself laughing during scenes that were intended to be serious and dramatic. It just does not feel real or make any significant emotional impact.

While this was an entertaining and fun series to watch this past summer every week and it had some great new ideas, the execution was in my opinion was very flawed.

First of all, I am a boy, and I love girls.

This anime came from Kyoto Animation, studio that already made Clannad, Lucky Star, K-On, Kyoukai no Kanata and Hyouka. Like it's predecessor, Free! has great quality of art. Nice opening and ending, dynamic movement, cute character, and perfect triceps. I just can't forgot the last one, because it was repeated so fuckin many times in this series. And here we go, my review!

Story: 7/10

Sport. One thing I can say about this genre is, competitive. If it isn't competitive, than it isn't sport anime. But, this one word doesn't fit our main character, Nanase Haruka. He ... doesn't care about competition or personal record. One thing inside his head just feel the water. But, after his friend, Matsuoka Rin, invite him to a relay, everythings change. He and his friends make swimming club, join a competition, even training to get faster!

It has a nice beginning, isn't it? I watch six episode in marathon because of this. But, this beginning also the one who mess up the story. The beginning about Haruka and Rin makes other character unnecessary. In first six episode, I love Rei and way he thinks. But the way story develop just make him act for the sake of plot. It happens to other character such as Nagisa and Makoto. The bond between Haruka and Rin makes the other main character look like supporting character.

Beside, this series has great side story. There's a lot of drama worth watched. And, oh yeah, I can't miss fanservice. If you're a girl and looking for some nice-looking man with muscular muscle, then this is your show. If you're a straight man, get a life bro, let's watch some ecchi.

Character: 6/10

I strongly believed that characters in Free have pretty common personality. Just say that, easily got scared, too concerned about someone, or answer every question with one word. They don't have unique personality, or rather time to develop their personality. For me, this kind of personality is too two dimentional.

For supporting character, KyoAni do what they like. They love to make one-line tagline. Something like Chitanda's Watashi, Kininarimasu or Mirai's Fuyukai Desu. They do the same to our supporthing character, Gou! ...Oops i mean, Kou!

One thing I can't stand from this series is... a weird fetish that Kou has. Man, it's my first time knowing someone with muscle fetish!

Art: 9/10

It's KyoAni, so we have a clear answer. Perfect Art, either backgrounds or characters. I can tell they spend a lot of money to make this art. The water, it really looks like living. The way it moves, the way it bursts, and the way it floats. I just can't get enough of it. Hey KyoAni, you did an awesome job!

Enough water, this series also has one questionable thing. Yeah, we talk about swim, and we can't swim using jacket. So, I'm talking about muscle. There's a ton of muscle here. I can understand this is for the sake of fan service, but they make it way too good. I personally think that it will be better if they don't exaggerate the muscle at some scene. Trust me, they'll still look cute with normal muscle

Music: 8/10

Music, I think this series does it good. It doesn't amazing, and it doesn't bad. So, it just that, fit the anime but has the potential to be better. For the opening, typical sport anime, it looks cool and catchy. The ending quite normal as well. One thing that unique is the voice actors sing the ending themselves.

Finally, this is the end of my review. Free! is an anime with perfect art and worth your time. It feels nice and refreshing to watch this. Ok, see you in my next review!

Given the fact that I'm not really into school/slice of life anime, Free! turned out be one of the best anime of this kind I've ever watched.

Story: 9
The story is just awesome. The plot has many twists, but what I really really like is that the past is strongly connected to the present. The 4 main characters: Haruka, Rin, Nagisa and Makoto (excluding Rei) are childhood friends who share the same passion: swimming. Life had a funny way of gathering them, tearing them apart and then gathering them back together. I will say more about the characters when I get to that point. Although ... the action might get a little boring sometimes there is a lot of comedy and me, who doesn't laugh so easily, I find this anime way too funny.

Art: 10
The art is beautiful. The characters are designed very elaborately, with lots of details especially when it comes to their bodies, hair and facial expression. I really need to mention that the underwater scenes are amazing, again, made with such meticulousity that it almost makes you feel like you're there, swimming alongside them.

Sound: 10
I've heard a lot of people complaining about the background music but you know what? I truly like it. Even the dubstep music in the background of tense situations... it's fine. It fits. There's nothing to complain about. And now, the sound of water, combined with the art...well this creates such a pleasant atmosphere..it's beautiful, not to mention that I didn't encounter any flaws in the musical part of the series so this is great.

Character: 10
This is finally what I wanted to talk about. The main characters may seem a little stereotypical. Haruka - the silent one, who everyone admires and excels at everything he does. Rei - the obessed-with-laws-of-physics one, who is always calculated and tries to be the best. Makoto - the good friend, who is always there for everyone. Nagisa - the funny and sweet, childish one, who is always joking and doesn't take anything seriously. And then, here's Rin, the most intriguing character I've seen. Unlike Haruka, Rin doesn't have natural talent at swimming so he has to work his ass off to be the best. He always felt inferior to Haruka so he dedicated most of his training hoping he would beat him. At the beginning, Rin was angry with Haruka but then he realised Haruka never meant to hurt him and always supported him, just like a true friend. Many others despise Rin for his stubborness and selfishness but me, on the other hand.. I kind of understand him. I know what is like to try so hard to be number one and there is always one person who is always better than you no matter what you do. I guess I like Rin so much because I found some parts of myself in him.
Another thing.. despite the fact that the anime has only 12 episodes, there's a huge character development and I apperciate that. That is how you can tell the difference between a good anime and a bad one.

Enjoyment: 9
I enjoyed Free! as much as I could. Like I said, there are boring parts and since I don't want to be subjective, and give this anime a proper score, I have to admit that there are also flaws. However, if it hadn't been for Rin and the strong conflict he created, I would've rated this lower.

Overall: 9
If I had to use a single word to describe Free!, that would be "beautiful". Everything is beautiful: the idea of true friendship and how friends stay forever, the complex characterisation and not to mention the art and the sound, which are almost perfect.

I recommend Free! to everyone. No matter if you're a girl or a guy, trust me, this anime is not about a bunch of handsome guys and fan-service. You should really give it a try if you haven't yet.

SPOILER-FREE™

The bleak winter that gave us Tamako
Was gloomy cold for anime aficionados.
But KA showed us a clip
Of male swimmers stripped
And the fujoshi all schlicked on their tacos.

But after the ovaries cooled
It became clear that we must have been fooled ... There was simply no way
“Manly men just won’t pay”
They’d suffer from endless ridicule.

But KyoAni’s buget was already obscene
So in the summer of 2013
To the moe lovers’ fright
“Swimbros” got the green light
And ultimately graced us as “Free.”

First impressions may cause you to presume
That Free! is just shots of the locker room.
Or homosexual crap
To which ladies can fap
Watching the love between young men bloom.

The gayness is only implied
Although muscle shots are liberally supplied
It’s mostly just sports
And slice of life shorts
But a swimsuit or two does get untied.

Therein lies the main issue:
This is the studio that wrote the how-to
Of the slice of life genre.
But they ignored their own dogma
As the necessary cute girls are eschewed.

Original stories are not KyoAni’s forte
Sure, they can manage the display.
But it’s all for naught.
Cause the result is the plot,
Just like the characters is lame and it’s gay.

Now I wouldn’t quite go so far
As to say this anime is sub-par
The animation is peak
The soundtrack is…unique
Visually, as expected, it’s a star.

Animation eye-candy is aplenty
Thanks to KyoAni’s dump trucks full of of money.
It stands apart from the herd,
But I would have preferred
They spent that effort to make it actually funny.

But if you can ignore all the smut
And don’t try to catch a glimpse of nut
You’ll sometimes see
In the background of Free!
The occasional corner is cut.

The characters left me quite pissed
Not much to say about their midst
Nagisa’s a whore
Makoto’s a bore
And Haruka’s a bumbling autist.

The characters really all barely
Could be considered passable and not dreary
I suppose as well they should
Even if they were good
In this show they’d be hard to take seriously

The exception to this is Gou
Best girl of the season fo’ sho
Unlike all the men
She’s a 10/10
They should really just stick with girls at Kyoto

Now let me tell you right here son
That fun things are not always fun
This fucking sausage party
The whole time kept me angrily
Wishing for the moment when it was done.

Hopefully next time these schmucks
Will make something that doesn’t totally suck
I’d say unless your clit
Severely needs the dick
Free! is boring and stupid as fuck.

But if you’re into guy’s musclebound phannies
Or, like me, just watch anything from Kyoani
Just squint your eyes
Ignore the flaws that arise
And you might find you like Free! plenty.

From the minds of the zany, wacky folks at Kyoto Animation (who, as you may recall, brought us K-ON, Clannad, Chunibyou demo koi ga shitai, and Tamako Market) comes Free, a swimming sports anime that can be described as many things.

Free is the secret love story between a boy and his water. Free is also the story about the manly trials and tribulations of being an adolescent male. Free is about the bonding brofest that is high school team sports; it is a testament to the payoff of hard work. But most of all, Free is the story of love and friendship with the ... fires of youth blazing in the background.

Glistening muscles, dramatic hair flips, wet bodies, gorgeous backdrops, and immensely attractive character designs practically burst out at the viewer, probably to draw our attention away from the other areas where Free is lacking. You see, Free can pretty much be classified as a fanservice anime. Only this time instead of panty shots, jiggling breasts, and I’m-gonna-walk-in-on-you-in-the-shower-and-you’ll-slap-me scenes, we get half naked teenage boys in swimsuits, perfect muscles, flowy hair, and rock hard abs. Yes that’s right, fanservice for the ladies this time. But guess what? It’s still selling sex.

Free is a pretty enjoyable and lighthearted slice of life show. However, it falls short for several reasons. The first problem with Free that you’ll notice is its characters. They’re very cute, but their personalities can pretty much be summed up in a few words. They’re almost lifeless, never really doing much to break out of their generic character archetypes. This hurts the show severely, seeing as in a slice of life anime, characters make or break the show.

Haruka Nanase is a stoic young man who’s passionate about swimming and not much else. His deadpan delivery and expressionless face sometimes serves as fodder for comedic moments. Ironically, Nanase is boring and uninteresting for the same reasons. Hazuki Nagisa is the energetic and mischievous one of the group. Rei Ryuugazaki is the braniac who comically attempts to treat everything like an equation. Makoto Tachibana is the kindhearted and gentle one of the group. Rin Matsuoka is the Tsundere-chan who acts aggressive and rude towards the other four but secretly wants to be their friend deep down inside. Aw, how cute.

The connection between the boys is explained to us right away. Nagisa, Makoto, Rin, and Haruka all used to swim together when they were kids. They were the best of friends as well, until Rin moved to Australia. Now Rin is back in Japan to swim for a rival high school, and the other boys team up with Rei to form their own swim club to compete against Rin. Aside from this, we don’t learn much about the other character’s pasts. Rin and Makoto are the only two who really get some kind of backstory. It’s not much, but it at least tells us a bit about how an important experience in their past shaped the characters we see now. The side characters are hardly even worth mentioning, aside from the hilarious Gou who is probably the manifestation of every fangirl watching the show.

In addition to being poor characters, it’s just not that much fun to see them interact. In many a great slice of life anime you can tell the characters play well off each other and interact in fun and interesting ways, much like the playful jabs, laughter, and fun we’d experience with our own real life friends. But in Free, it’s pretty hit or miss, with most of the character’s interactions feeling overdramatic or empty. There’s almost no chemistry between the characters. Haruka seems especially cold and unwilling to interact with the other characters. Only in the very last episode do we see the characters show some heartwarming affection towards each other, but of course not before KyoAni forces a healthy dose of melodrama down our throats. Oh boy does KyoAni love their melodrama. It’s there, it’s in full blast, and it’s as cringeworthy as it has ever been.

The overall story was another missed opportunity. What could have been a strong story about friendship and teamwork turns out to be a directionless anime that sometimes seems like it doesn’t know what it wants to do with itself. In that regard, Free is much like KyoAni’s previous work Tamako Market. It’s a fun and enjoyable watch but deteriorates as the plot and characters zigzag this way and that a way before finally ending with a whimper.

The art and animation are excellent, much like all of KyoAni’s work. Backgrounds are bright, detailed and gorgeous. The character designs are sexy and attractive and the animation is very fluid. You almost feel every breast stroke, every butterfly stroke, and every movement when a character is swimming. And that water, dear gosh, have we ever seen such gorgeous water!? This anime is an absolute treat to look at. The sound is pretty standard mellow and calm slice of life tunes. Though there is one terribad dubstep track that appears a few times throughout the anime.

Overall, Free is a highly polished anime that is mostly just for fun and giggles and not much else. It is an enjoyable anime but it’s very hard to deny its faults. Free attempts to sell you with its character’s physical attractions and animation, not with its substance, story, or with great character development. KyoAni’s grand scheme this time was to hook in the ladies with hot guys, and it’s commendable that they’d try to appeal to women for once. But no matter how you paint it, Free is, once again, still selling you sex. It’s the same old broken down car with a new paint job.

And there’s nothing wrong with a little sexiness and fanservice, regardless of if it involves men or women. But using sexiness as a crutch while neglecting story and characters doesn’t make for a good anime…well…unless of course it’s a hentai. Unfortunately (and I really do mean that) Free is not a hentai. It’s recommendable to anyone who just wants a feel good and lighthearted anime, but not exactly for anyone who’s looking for something more.

I can't tell you how much I enjoy reading sports manga and watching sports related shows. I was also a competitive swimmer way back in highschool, so when I saw that an anime was coming out about SWIMMING?! Oh yeah, I just had to watch it. Right from the get go I was mortified, the first episode was pretty much showing off the 'eye candy' cast and establishing the background that sets up the premise of Free! It was a major struggle to get through most of it, but I made it through and here I am to tell the world about it.

Story: 6/10

Man, if ... people think watching competitive swimming is boring, then most of the anime fits right in along with the sport. It's a sport anime in the sense that the boys actually swim in a couple of meets and train for said meets, but it's not quite like other sports anime.

For one, the characters grow outside of training and competitions unlike in other series where much of the game time is focused on inward self reflection or coming up with strategies. Now there's nothing wrong with this, in fact it makes sense. Swimming is a rather quick sport, with the longest single event lasting only 15 minutes max (relatively). There's not much time for reflection, not much time to think, and no way to strategize. So it's perfectly fine that the boys will be spending down time together outside of the sport to build up their characters and progress through the story.

That being said, it doesn't really feel like the characters grew that much. They stay pretty much the same as when they started except for the main conflict in the story, which had been resolved by the end of the series. Most of the episodes gave tidbits on Haru's and Rin's relationship and why they grew apart, but to me it felt like time wasting filler and I believe that the show could have yielded the same results with a shorter amount of episodes.

The second thing was, there was a lot of drama. So much so that I actually laughed at the climax, where all the emotions and baggage were on the table. Again, this is understandable since the target audience is supposed to be teen females. Not to stereotype and whatnot, but girls tend to enjoy stories that enrich character backgrounds, makes a deeper and more emotional connection to the characters, and a storyline that emphasizes friendship or a relationship through events. However, once again I felt most of the drama was so unnecessary and exaggerated that it turned me away.

What I did appreciate though was the fact that the sport was explained in depth. This isn’t unusual in sports anime, because it’s assumed that the audience doesn’t know the rules or the terms of the sport. Perhaps I enjoyed it more because I knew what they were talking about.

Art: 10/10

If there's one thing that this anime did right it was the art and animation. Oh boy did they know how to animate water. Considering that this is a swimming anime, to would be expected that the water would look pretty. However, you can tell from the quality that the animation budget mostly went to the water. I also appreciate the time they spent on the actual swimming itself, the movements were fluid and the boys had good form. This is where the show truly shines.

Sound: 7/10

Unfortunately the sound wasn’t as great as the animation, which is pretty disappointing because the sound can make the animation truly outstanding. Most of the soundtrack was pretty average which nothing much in particular standing out. The one bit I liked was the dub step/techno used during the meet, which I thought was a nice touch considering dubstep was and is still pretty popular. The opening theme song is pretty typical as well, which makes the sport look edgy and cool while at the same time dramatizing the relationship between Haruka and Rin. The ending theme is catchy and refreshing, with the voice actors for the characters singing it themselves. I’ll admit, I was really into it for awhile, listening to it on the 4 hour loop on youtube back this last summer.

Characters: 6/10

On top of the lack of character growth, I believe the characters didn’t have much personality to grow on in the first place. In Free! we see some pretty common character tropes with a little quirk added to them to make them more comical. Haru is your ‘tsundere’ who seems to have a romantic love for water; Makoto is the ‘big brother’ who’s actually easily frightened; Nagisa is the ‘shouta’ who’s pretty dense; Rin is the ‘cool guy’ until he talks; and Rin is the ‘Sporty’ guy who gets discouraged easily. I’ll admit the troupes worked well with each other and they served as perfect fuel for a good chuckle here and there. But in my opinion all of them were pretty two dimensional that relied on their quirk to keep the ball moving.

Overall: 6/10

Now even though my rating and my comments might sound harsh, I actually had a good time with the show -- after I got past the hump and made myself watch it. It gave me a good laugh nearly every episode, and it was a bit heartwarming to see the level of friendship that existed between everyone. It’s just I could have done without the filler esque episodes as well as all the drama. If it were up to me it would have been more about the swimming, but I suppose it does well as an introduction to sports anime for those who find that watching an anime on a sport would be boring.

That being said I don’t think I’ll rewatch the series, as it has been licensed in North America and the dub is currently in production. Nor do I foresee myself watching the second season or the OVA. For me, I stop here and that’s fine by me.

WARNING: may contain some spoilers and some grammatical mistakes.

Free!... The first show from Kyoto Animation that apparently is fanservice and fanservice only for the ladies. But is that truly right?

No, it isn't.

Before you go and say there are naked cute boys going around hugging for the whole show, I want to explain my point of view and why I scored this with a 9.

Story (9/10)
It's not a complicated spot or anything completely special, but it's refreshing, it's about friendship, loyalty, being able to move forward with the help of others and follow YOUR own dream instead of living a lie. Haru, the main character, only ... cared about feeling the water since he first started swimming as a kid. He thought that was all that mattered, until Rin shows up and gets him to swim on a relay with him and their other 2 teammates, Makoto and Nagisa. After the amazing experience of swimming with the best teammates you could ask for, Haru, Rin and the others felt something they've never felt before - swimming together in a relay was the best feeling for them. However, they were not completely aware of this, so when Rin goes to Australia to follow his dad's dream and become an Olympic Swimmer , his confidence is shaken when he realizes that something isn't right. Swimming isn't as important for him if he doesn't do it with his best friends, so he assumes he's just weak and gives up on swimming, and so does Haru.

When later he races against Haru and wins, he thought he'd be free from the feeling of weekness that surrounded him, but it didn't work. Beating Haru wasn't what he needed to become "free". He needed to swim with him again. So, seeing his old teammates forming a swimming club all over again, he feels lonely and doesn't know how to move on. However, in the last episode (the best one of the whole show), friendship saves Rin from the dark hole he was stuck in, and in the process, Haru finally feels complete again.

Art/Animation (10/10)
I don't give a damn if this design is way too cute or anything, or if the characters have too many muscles--the animation is FLAWLESS. Half assed anime to please the fans, you say? I'd like to see you stuck in a studio and make the animation as realistic as possible. The swimming styles, when they swim and turn in the water, when they dive in... Everything is realistic, and they took the work to animate it the best they could. The movements of the swimming styles follow the real sport rules, and everything is carefully taken care of.

Sount (10/10)
The opening song is by OLDCODEX and it's a really good catchy song, and so is the opening. The ending is sang by the main character's voice actors - it's also catchy and i loved it, so I've got nothing to say about this one.

Character (8/10)
A cool type guy, a silent one, a prince, a shota boy and a glasses dude. It's predictable, yet the development makes up for it. Every character evolves with the help of one another, and if you compare the first episode to the last one, you'll easily realize that.

Enjoyment (10/10)
I really did enjoy these series, it always made my Wednesdays. It was refreshing from all the stress i was going through, and not a SINGLE episode was boring/rushed, in my opinion. This anime made me cry in some episodes and laugh my ass off in some others.

Overall (9/10)
As I said above, I enjoyed these series a lot. It's a really big change of work from KyoAni and I think they did an excellent work. They saved the bomb for the final episode, and it worked. I will never forget this anime, and I look forward to next summer so I can see season 2 and hopefully have a really great time with it as I did with this season.

Don't judge this series by what you hear around. Give it a try yourself.

So, I wanted a light-hearted anime to get me back into the medium after finishing my Game of Thrones-marathon. I had previously watched some of Ergo Proxy, but it felt a bit dark to hop into after GoT's overbearing nature. I'm not sure what I expected out of it when I started watching, but
Free! is a good anime.

And there's really not too much more to say about it. KyoAni basically made K-ON (just going by what I've seen and impressions, as I haven't actually seen K-ON!)but with dudes in tight clothing and swimming.

The story of Free! is about as simple as it gets, seeing as ... this is a sports anime in a school setting. There's a group of people who like a sport. The sport happens to be competitive swimming. They start a club at their school (Do Japanese people not have local or regional clubs on youth levels? It seems like there's always in-school clubs that are the go-to places to train. Then again, maybe I'm one of the minority of people here.) They go through some stuff to be able to start the club and get members, and then it's off to the races (literally) after a training arc. The writing us usually pretty good, and there was some intrigue about the characters' common past, but it wasn't executed particularly well when actually revealed and the writing in general took a nosedive from there. Not to the extent of tearing the show down, but it feels like the show is kind of treading water until the second season, and just wanted to get all the story out of the way so it could focus on the team in the future. I understand that philosophy, but I don't agree with it. There needed to be a better mix between the story and sport, seeing as some of the scenes towards the end felt extremely redundant.

As with most sports series that aren't hyper-specific in the mechanisms of the sport, Free! is a character-focused show. It's got a pretty decent sized cast (7 central characters) and most are given ample screen-time. Do note that they are extremely generic for the type of series this is. If you've seen a sports series, you will have stumbled into more than a few of these.

Haru is the resident sports fanatic. The twist on this in Free! is that he's kind of indifferent when it comes to actually competing (though I assume it will change in the future, since I just found out there's a sequel airing right now), and just wants to be in the water - so much that he tends to soak in his bathtub when he's not in school. From what I can tell, he lives alone, or at least very independently. Only time he shows some actual motivation is when his rival is involved. Always swims freestyle (front crawl), which is where the title stems from.
And that rival is Rin. A member for what seemed like a short time of the same swimming club as Haru when they were kids (they're currently 17), he later left for Australia to chase his dream of becoming an Olympic swimmer, which he chases to fulfil it for his father, who never got to reach it. While acting hostile and/or indifferent to Haru and the rest, he's clearly no antagonist and still wants something from them, but whether that's just competitive rivalry or friendship is yet to be seen. Said to be very good at butterfly stroke, but is shown to be proficient at others as well.
Makoto is the reliable guy, and obviously also team captain (with Haru taking the supposedly superfluous position of vice-captain), keeping the group together. He's got a deep-rooted problem that makes his life in the swimming club a bit odd when it's time for a training camp of just vacation - he's afraid of the ocean. I'll get more into that later. Swims backstroke for the club.
Nagisa is the energy bunny and relentless optimist of the group. He also fulfils what I suppose is the moe-role, but for guys (I'm sure there's even a fucking term for it). Breaststroke-specialist (heh) for the club.
Rei is the guy they picked up to fill final spot on the team. He's the brains of the squad, and only joins after thinking that Haru's swimming looks beautiful (he only likes beautiful things, apparently, so the clichés won't stop on the Rei-train any time soon). However, as he joins the club, a problem of his might throw a spanner in the works - he can't swim. This is used for comic relief until it's not funny, but to the series' credit, they do get away from it rather quickly after.
To the sort of expendable charters then. First is Gou (but she likes to be called Kou), the younger sister of Rin. She steps into the position of club manager to help the club initially get started and is the one to plan training sessions and the like. She's pretty obsessed with muscles, which is used to some comedic effect at times.
And finally there's Miss Ame, the class' home-room teacher, and then club advisor (you basically need one to be legitimate, is my understanding after my years of watching anime). It's hinted she's had a job that's related to swimsuits, and it's strongly hinted that is was as a swimsuit model.

The cast is pretty alright, but it's, as said earlier, very generic. The gimmick that brings the boys together is that they all have girly names, and Gou has a manly one. All the characters have a role to play, and it's made more important than them actually having characters (even though they clearly do, but they're moulded to fit the part).

Free!'s strength is probably how damned easy it is to watch. It's incredibly easy-going, even in it's few serious scenes and you can follow the story (the little there is to be followed anyhow) with ease. You could probably watch without subs and still have a good idea about what's going on. I suppose that's actually a pretty big achievement in itself, now that I think about it.

Adding to the delight of watching is the absolutely superb animation. The character designs are excellent and very well animated. I think they mix normal animation and CG during some of the in-water scenes, but I could be mistaken. In any case, it's gorgeous. It's easily the best animated show in Kyoani's portfolio.

Voice acting is good in general, although some of the actors kind of flub the emotional dialogue at times, just reverting to the normal style of voice-cracking screaming/shouting, or just not sounding like they care.

There is some fan-service in the series, but to discuss it I would have to bring up gender roles and sexuality in media in general, which would be tedious and stuff. It's very bearable, and you might in fact like it.

In closing, if you like watching good-looking anime boys do things, you'll enjoy the series. If you enjoy sports stories, you'll enjoy this. Free! is an amalgamation of the two and does its thing very by-the-book, so you get what's on the cover. It's good, but not more, and that's okay.

first, this is my first review that i'm writing here, sorry for spelling mistakes if you see any!!

i couldn't not write a review for this anime. it's not the type of anime i actually like, and i mean who would think a swimming anime could actually be this good.
every one of the 12 episodes were so enjoyable, and that's the main reason why i gave it a 10. i mean, the story is maybe not the most, well, developed same as the characters, but while watching it just felt so warm and beautiful. about characters and the story. it was just beautiful.

so what is ... free! actually about. it's about this 4 really hot guys who swim and therefore don't wear shirts most of the time. so this anime i recommend to girls, believe me you will fall in love!

i'm really looking forward to seeing if there will be more. i really want that second season i want to see more now that it all ended the way it ended, and i'm really excited. but yes, loved this anime. 10/10

There are various types of sports anime such as basketball, baseball, tennis, football, etc. Now this anime focuses on a different sport called swimming and how it's presented in 'shounen-style'.

Story: 5 - Its about a guy named Haruka Nanase who loves swimming though he quit for a while since his childhood but recently is motivated to swim again so that he'll be able to defeat his childhood friend Rin Matsuoka with the Free Iwatobi Swimming club members. The story is more or less really unoriginal and has nothing new to show us except that it's about swimming. One thing I really hated about free was ... how unclear it was if it was a shounen or shoujo anime because I think it should've just stuck to one side as it was really irritating the way they presented the swimming like a typical sport-shounen yet had some fangirling moments suited for a shoujo anime. Either way the only good thing about the story was the use of an unused sport as swimming hasn't been explored in an anime before (though in some mangas it has been explored as the main topic).

Art: 7 - The the art was decent as it had a refreshing feeling to it which is needed for a anime like this so its satisfactory.

Sound: 6 - I more or less don't remember any of the soundtack, opening or endings which probably means that there was nothing memorable but the voice actors carried out the characters nicely so efforts are applauded.

Character: 6 - Too many stereotypical and shallow characters but it's satisfactory as the characters did complete their roles well. Though I think a lot of things could have been improved about the characters such as their depth or backgrounds etc but it can't be helped now.

Enjoyment: 5 - If you're dead bored then you will be able to watch this series but overall it doesn't have much of a impact and isn't that enjoyable but that's my opinion and I think i'm being a bit biased as I was kind of ticked of by this series but its suitable for those people who are patient.

People Who Liked: Tsuritama, Kuroko No Basuke. Hetalia Axis Powers, Kimi To Boku., Meganebu and Prince of Tennis will enjoy this series as they have a bit of a similar feel to these animes.

Overall: 6 - Overall, it has its shounen moments howerever, I'd rather recommend this series to people who like shoujo-based anime.

First of all, I must say that this is my first venture into Sports anime. I'm a sucker for a good slice-of-life anime because I like the realism and the usual pace. I decided to watch this even though I do not like sports. Why? Because swimming isn't like the sports I immensely dislike that require humans to chuck or run around with spherical or oblate objects.

I notice many people talking about fan service, and I was there watching the entire anime in one day wondering where the so called fan service was? I mean, they are swimmers, there are supposed to be half ... naked throughout the whole thing. There we few instances that may have been seen as fan service but really, I've watched anime with fan service and what I saw didn't really feel like fan service. It felt natural. I am a guy and it didn't make me feel awkward one bit because it didn't feel like frikin' fan service. But that's just how I saw it.

I didn't expect to rate this anime as Very Good. But I ended up enjoying it a bit more than I should have. Why? I'm a sucker for friendships like these. These aren't just guys who just exist and are friends. These are friends who share a bond, and mutual goals and ambitions and I can relate a bit because I have such a friend. I like friends like these that don't waste time pretending to be bad ass and give in to peer pressure and stupid sheet like that.

Sure the plot could have been a bit better and have more of a purpose than it did, but it was still enjoyable nonetheless, and it did feel like a slice-of-life anime. I enjoyed watching the life of the Iwatobi Swim Club. I look forward to binge-watching the second season.

Seriously though, WHAT FAN SERVICE?!

Competition is a part of sports and friendship that will never disappear. We want to impress the crowds of people that attend official sporting events and then we want show off to our own special circles. But has our society taken the need of competition and a display of superiority to levels not needed? Or is it something that is a part of our own natural behavior? Whether or not it is natural to us, Free! is the story of when this competition has torn friends apart.

I shall forewarn you, this is a review with spoilers. The story centers around Haruka Nanase who is a ... talented swimmer and has a genuine love for water. So much that in public he finds it necessary to strip down to the swimming trunks he always wears and bathe in fish tanks. As we see him throughout most of the series, he looks apathetic and indifferent, but he is always said to be smiling on the inside. Since middle school he has never swam competitively, only ever swimming freestyle.

He quit swimming because of his friend and rival Rin Matsuoka. After returning from foreign lands he challenges Haruka to a race and loses. He sees that after a year so he has had little progress and says that he will quit swimming because of disappointment in himself. However, Haruka blames himself for making Rin quit swimming and vows never to swim competitively again.

The story takes off from there as the once former team reunites and challenges Rin and the school he has joined. By the end we see that all Haruka wants to do is to swim with his friends, nothing else matters. Rin finds that to push himself further he needs the companionship of his friends. Without them, he hits a wall with nobody to push him forward. I think it is wonderful that this sports oriented story has capitalized on the dangers of competition. Making a truly heart grabbing story.

However this point is lost to most people because they focus too much on the fantastic muscles each character has. I think it is embarrassing that the male anime viewers are complaining about this. Honestly, have we all not seen how ridiculous the male oriented fanservice gets? Granted, I doubt a high school swimmer would have a body like this, but it is somewhat obtainable through hard work. Not the size of a breast which is determined through genetics. I think it is understandable that there can be female oriented fanservice and I am not going to complain about it. It is just a taste of our own medicine.

Kyoto Animation outdid themselves with the animation here. I loved the intro and all the special effects they added in with water. The ending, however, left me with some mixed feelings. I liked it, then it would throw me for a loop. The animation was well down and nothing more can be said about it.

The sound had me intrigued as well. The opening song was great, I found myself watching it every time instead of skipping it like I do for most anime. The ending was just as unique, again, it threw me for a loop. I must also congratulate Kyoto for using dubstep. I did not see that coming and while I feel it is out of place, it works. I found the voices to work as well. They fit, so I can’t complain.

This is a slice of life anime and it is understandable that a moving plot is not always present. However they presented a conflict well and wrapped up that conflict with little distracting from it. Everything had a purpose and it served well.

The characters I found to be forgettable. I anticipated that I would have loved Rei’s character, but found him annoying. I could sympathize with him later on, but he is still not that great. Nagisa, as well, I found a bit annoying. In my opinion, the best designed character in this series is Rin. He has greatest show of emotion by anyone and is completely understandable. I can understand why people like Haruka and that I do treasure the emotion I see change in him during the last few episodes. In fact, in the last two episodes I am sure he showed more emotion than the rest of the entire series. But do we have to make a person dead straight jaded to show this kind of significant change? Makoto brought this kind of realistic emotion change to the table, but often I felt it was just a copy of what was going on before. Smiling, closing his eyes, and tilting his head slightly to the left. I enjoyed Makoto’s gentle nature at the beginning, but it got to a point where I wanted something more and his trouble with the ocean brought that until we fell into the pattern once again. I can’t say these are something other than cookies from the cookie cutter.

I also think it is necessary to mention the actions and familiarity these characters act in. I am not going to criticize it for being seen as just more fanservice, but actually going to uphold what they have done. I don’t know how it works in Japan, but I am a senior in an American high school and some of the interaction I have seen in Free! is similar to how people in my school act. Hugging and jumping on people happen all the time in my gym class, people are just being friends and it doesn’t have to be anything more than that.

Free! has been a ride that I decided to stick to for twelve episodes. Animation was great and one of the reasons I felt myself returning to it. The plot and characters, what really counts, has made it less than acceptable for me. This show is worth your time if you can stick to it and see past the flaws I have mentioned. I will admit that I was almost moved to tears during the last episode, a true and noteworthy statement about any show I will watch. If you enjoy a nice and relaxing slice of life show, I am sure Free! is for you.

Story: 7/10
Animation: 9/10
Sound: 8/10
Characters: 6/10
Enjoyment: 6/10

Rounded Total: 7/10

The loud hubbub regarding the announcement of Free! is quite understandable. Here is the animation studio, KyoAni best known for creating and specializing moe for anime fanboys, producing an anime that is aimed at girls and fujoshi! The particular outcry by the male otaku population is funny, in my part. The male fanboys attacking KyoAni for betraying them and jumping the shark by producing an anime that is "outside" of their territory.The attacks including labels as the "gay swimming anime", 'Kuroko's swimming" and threats of boycott. Thousands of manly tears were cried, loud shouts of angry fanboys could be heard at forums and across ... the internet. But at the end of that fanboy tunnel, a loud sound could be heard, the frantic screaming of fangirls and fujoshi around the globe. So Free!, become the battleground between KyoAni/Fangirls and their core audience, the male otaku population.

But at the end, it seems that there is a winner.. KyoAni won the hard fought war.. And their reward: swimming at the pools of money that Free! merchandises and DVD's sold. Fun Fact: Free! DVD's average sold is about 27k, which is their best sale in previous years and sold infinitely better than its 2013 counterpart, Kyoukai no Kanata (in KyoAni sales, it is considered a flop and a disappointment).

But enough of this intro, here is my review for Free!, the surprising hit anime of 2013.

Story:

As a sport anime, Free! did not particularly stand out. There are many masterpieces on this genre, but Free! won't be among them. The story is your typical generic one that is: boys swimming+ team rivalry + friendship. Not so original, in fact Kuroko's Basketball is the same, just change the sport.

In fact, there are many fleeting similarities between Free! and KuroBas. Both of them being called as fujoshi fan bait, cast of full of pretty boys and homoerotic subtext between characters. What KuroBas lack and Free! advantage is of course, muscles.. lots of muscles. And those muscles and pretty boys made fangirls nosebleed to death in Tumblr.

So, the story is generic one.. (Where am I?).. The first few episodes introduced us to the characters back-story and the creation of their swimming club. Then the middle episodes were the training and the final ones, for the competition. Free! progresses nicely on the story, but its progress is its main weakness.. The characters were revealed, but the swimming part suffered. If you want to see the show because you were a swimming fan, then you will be disappointed because there is a lack of it. Instead, you were treated by ridiculous amount of fanservice including boys trying their swimsuits, attending a festival and showing their muscles.

This criticism should be lethal one.. But one thing that Free!had done right is the fanservice part weaved on the story. How much fan.. ugghh.. manservice it is? Not telling, but the fact that my nose is bleeding at the end of Episode 6 is very telling. And that is only in Episode 6.

Characters:

Someone said that you can replace Free! characters with the main characters of K!On, but it is not clear cut as that.

Haruka - the stoic, serious one
Makoto - the nice best friend
Nagisa - the cute one
Rei - the meganneko
Rin - the rival

All of them were generic, cut pasted cardboard characters in anime. But they showed development on the series, with the main exception of Nagisa who has never character development on the anime. (I wish he could have one in the Season 2). The core conflict of the characters is their childhood friendship and the resolved tensions with each other. In the end, I think they have grown up..a little.

I particularly like the fan favorite, Makoto who is very nice (and cute) . He is the best friend of Haruka, and their interactions is a sweet part of the story. They were like an old married couple. Less successful is Rin, because his motivations is not clear cut.. But in the end, it resolves nicely. Rei, is a very adorkable character that is growing in my heart. He is very funny, too. The supporting charcetrs were more or less in the background with the exception of Gou, Rin's sister.

Art

KyoAni could animate a trash dump and it will still be amazing as usual. KyoAni' reputation for top notch technical quality is present here. From the animation of water rippling to the backgrounds that screams "scenery porn", all of them is fantastic. KyoAni is ace on this department.

Also, the character design should be mentioned. Oh man.. Looking at them, you would surely fall in love with the faces and the muscles, ripped muscles at that. Every main character is the extremely good looking, with bishounen sparkles all over them. the only complaint is the design of Nagisa which is fairly generic ( think Honey of Ouran High School Host Club when he grows up).

Sound

Sound is fairly good with the particular standout, the ED song, Splash Free! It is an energetic, full of danceable tunes sung by the seiyuu. The OP song, Rage On, is good too, with its rocking rhythm. The background music consists pf calming electronic beats which you can found in KyoAni anime.

For the voice acting, everything is good.. Shout out to Mamoru Miyano for his another great performance as Rin.

Enjoyment

The enjoyment of Free! depend on few things:

1. You like KyoAni for their outstanding animation and technical quality.

2. You like a slice of life and sports comedy drama.

3. You like muscles and lots of manservice/homoerotic subtext.

If you check 1, you will just opine that it is another KyoAni anime that has outstanding technical quality. If you checked 1 and 2, you will like it and will likely find it good. If you check all of the three, you will probably say that Free! is the best thing since sliced bread. If none of them, I think Free! is not for you.


Conclusion:

I really really like Free! and I am looking forward for the season 2 this summer. But Free! is an anime that divides opinion. It is up to you whether you will like it or not, as I do. For me, it does not scale to heights as some of the best animes produced by KyoAni or sports anime like Slam Dunk. Instead, what Free! did to the animation industry is opening/tapping the mainstream fangirl/fujoshi market by having an anime that is well designed, well crafted and very memorable. I am hoping that it will give trends to anime that caters to vastly different demographic market.

Actual Objective Score: 6.5

My Biased Score: 8

Difference: 1.5 points

I remember when everyone had just started talking about Free, and they were all hyping about watching it "for fun", for the "rare" female fan-service, and of course the shipping that would most definitely ensue. When I started to watch it, I totally thought that was all it was going to be, too.

Well, if you ever are going to watch Free! because of those very reasons, guess again. The story started to get deeper and deeper. It was about 3 episodes in when they had started introducing sad backstories, which actually were very interesting. They added quite a lot of character to these swimmers who ... everyone was just going to use as their shipping boy toys. Things got deeper and deeper, and instead of cliche sport animes where the "good team" gains validation by beating the other team, when one team beat the other, they did not feel that validation at all.

At that moment, it became excessively apparent that this was no cliche sports anime. The swimming started to become a sort of back drop to help the plot move along, but the plot really advanced as the boys started to grow in terms with their feelings, and confront them. It became a whole outstanding coming of age story, that was really heartfelt.

I never thought I'd cry over swimming, much less sports. But the wonderful story, beautiful art (I will tell you, I've seen professional swimmers say the art is spot-on), and outstanding character development left me in tears on the final episode. Where instead of at the bottom where it usually read, "See you next Water Day!" it, instead, said "See you next Summer!"