Free! Eternal Summer

Even though it has been a year since the Iwatobi High School Swim Club has been created, new members have yet to join the club. Now that Haruka Nanase and Makoto Tachibana are senior students, along with their younger friends Nagisa Hazuki and Rei Ryuugazaki, they have to find a way to attract new members. If not, the club will be forced to close the following year due to a lack of membership.

Meanwhile, with impending graduation, it is also time for the seniors to decide their plans for the future. Unlike their friend Rin Matsuoka, the new captain of Samezuka Academy Swim Club who is determined to fulfill his dream of being a professional swimmer, Haruka and Makoto are unsure about what career path they want to take.

Further problems arise when an old friend of Rin's, Sousuke Yamazaki, comes to the city to study at Samezuka Academy; the recently scouted swimmer's arrival causes tension in the relationship among him, Rin, and Haruka.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

The series won the 2014 Animage's Anime Grand Prix Award.

Episode Videos

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Related Anime

Prequel:	Free!
Side story:	Free! Eternal Summer: Kindan no All Hard!
Alternative version:	Free! Movie 2: Timeless Medley - Yakusoku
Sequel:	Free! Take Your Marks, Free! Dive to the Future

Miyata, Kouki
Japanese

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Staff

Cook, Justin

Producer

Utsumi, Hiroko

Director

Tsuruoka, Youta

Sound Director

Yamada, Naoko

Episode Director, Storyboard, Assistant Director, Animation Director

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Opening Theme

"Dried Up Youthful Fame" by OLDCODEX (eps 1-12)

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Ending Theme

	Hosoya), Aiichirou Nitori (Kouki Miyata), Momotarou Mikoshiba (Kenichi Suzumura) (ep 13)
	1: "FUTURE FISH" by STYLE FIVE (Nobunaga Shimazaki, Tatsuhisa Suzuki, Mamoru Miyano, Tsubasa Yonaga, Daisuke Hirakawa) (eps 1-12)
	2: "Clear Blue Departure" by Haruka Nanase (Nobunaga Shimazaki), Makoto Tachibana (Tatsuhisa Suzuki), Nagisa Hazuki (Tsubasa Yonaga), Rei Ryuugazaki (Daisuke Hirakawa), Rin Matsuoka (Mamoru Miyano), Sousuke Yamazaki (Yoshimasa Hosoya), Aiichirou Nitori (Kouki Miyata), Momotarou Mikoshiba (Kenichi Suzumura)

Reviews

Sep 29, 2014

Veronin

Recommended

I guess there's a bit more to Free than 'shirtless bishounens jump in water'.

For a series that began with a crescendo of confusion, Free has come a long way in carving its identity as a genuinely decent, though largely forgettable sports anime. While I don't think it will convert anyone who detested the first season (and there were indubitably more than a few of them), those who enjoyed or were indifferent towards Free's first offering will find a large improvement in quality. And yes, heterosexual dudes can now watch it without feeling uncomfortable.

That's not to say that Free has forgotten its primary audience (teenage ... girls and Tumblr fujoshi who squeal at the slightest homoerotic undertone), but at least now KyoAni has tried to justify the anime's existence by creating a story of value. It is less about clothes being thrown around and close-up butt shots and more about the boys growing up and finding their place through the love of sport. And each other... just, no, not in that way.

Free's second season shines largely due to its focus on Rin and his close friend and rival, Sousuke. Rin's character development continues throughout the second season with much more detail than previously, taking him from 'antagonistic jackass' to a genuinely believable and complex person. His goals and reasons for swimming swimming are clear and sensible, and so it is easy empathise with him when things take a turn for the dramatic. On the other hand, Sousuke's motivations are purposely made unclear until his secret is revealed in the final episodes. There's nothing complex or excessively grim about his secret-- just that he makes mistakes as all teenagers do and wants to alleviate his regret by competing against his friend. Sousuke's goals are nothing so grand and cliché as being the best in the world, and that's precisely what makes it feel authentic.

Furthermore, the two interact with each other as friends in the real world would in their situation. They aren't characterised by archetypes, catchphrases or 'moe' appeal as many of the others are, and the purity of their friendship is not dragged down by cheap fanservice and fujoshi appeal. They fight, disagree and have each other's back just as real friends do. I just can't say the same for the Iwatobi four.

The Iwatobi four are far less interesting. Haru represents one of my largest issues with the series; by the end of the story, I did not understand him any more than I did at the very beginning. He swims and sweats for himself and then casts aside years of effort for absolutely no reason at all (unless you consider "I'm bored" to be valid characterisation), only to be fired up again when Rin pats him on the shoulder. Uh-huh. Much like the first season, he is blander than a piece of cardboard.

Nagisa continues to exist largely as a vehicle for shota appeal and yaoi doujins, behaving so effeminately that even girls would find themselves feeling boyish in comparison. Rei on the other hand is much more interesting, fulfilling a sort of outsider role that the other three do not, but his presence feels a little bit on the uncanny side when you consider that he is a gender-swapped clone of Azusa from K-ON, right down to the inflections in his voice. And then there's Makoto who is just... there, neither offensive nor any great asset to the story. He's characterised more by his friendship with Haru than he is as his own person.

Some of the side characters, like Rin's sister, Gou, add plenty of colour to the cast... but then you have Nitori who exists only to remind us what the show was originally created for. Nitori (who I have personally dubbed as 'That Fucking Guy' and found myself rushing towards the mute button whenever he appeared) is pure, shameless pandering for the fujoshi crowd. There is no reason for him to exist in the story. All he does throughout the series is follow Rin around like a stray kitten, blush and cry repeatedly, and ruin important moments by jumping into arguments that have nothing to do with him. He destroys half of Rin's scenes with his "d-don't fight!" and "y-you can do it!" and for that I despise him.

The ending of Free certainly carries its share of emotional weight, and those who like the Iwatobi four more than I do will probably find themselves tearing up once or twice in the final episode. I just wish there was a bit more to it, something with more complexity than the typical "power of friendship" fare. It feels like that's all we ever see in sports anime these days.

It's also worth nothing that the penultimate episode, set in Australia, actually has western people speaking proper English instead of the incomprehensible Engrish common in anime. Wow! There's still the "all foreigners are blonde" stereotype, but at least KyoAni shows they're willing to put effort into the smaller things.

It should not come as any surprise given KyoAni's seemingly infinite budget, but Free looks amazing. The swimming matches are rendered with finesse and the backgrounds with incredible detail, resulting in a predominant feeling of awe when the characters find themselves in the massive national stadium for the first time. I also wouldn't be surprised if members of KyoAni travelled to Australia to gather research for the episode, given how alive and real the scenery feels. It certainly does more than just look nice. Had Free been drawn by almost any other studio, I'm not sure the characters and story would be anywhere near as effective.

The music of Free is so great that it does not even need good writing in order to draw emotion from its audience. All that's needed is to listen and the scene will come alive. Even when it was a situation I would not normally give a rat's ass about, the background music grabbed and held my interest in what was going on. To be fair, though, there's no big, memorable track that defines a moment in the story and the ending theme does kinda ruin the moment in the later episodes as it transitions from drama to some upbeat pop song.

Is Free a worthy sequel? It sure is, and I don't think there's any sane individual who could possibly think that the second season is a step back from the first. It improves upon its predecessor in virtually every regard, elevating itself from "fun garbage" into something that's consistently decent, occasionally even verging on the point of being 'good'.

But that doesn't change the fact that it's Free and that Free has a very specific audience in mind. It certainly tries to increase its appeal by toning down the fanservice, but with Nitori's increased screen-time and various questionable scenes (like Rin and Haru sharing a bed in one episode), I still don't think KyoAni has any qualms about alienating those outside its primary demographic. And I guess that's how it's always been and always will be.

KyoAni still has a long ways to go in order to redeem themselves, but the second season of Free is at least a step in the right direction.

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Sep 25, 2014

Manumento

Mixed Feelings

There is a limit to how much weight can a single shark lift.

Free!: Eternal Summer is a sports comedy slice of life show and a direct sequel to the first season, Free!. It is a reverse moe trope anime, with moe tropes found in girls given to the guys instead. Usually dubbed as a fanservice show for girls with swimming as a backdrop, does it have anything more in it? The answer is yes, it does, but not so much.

Plot:

Another summer comes and the swimmers of Iwatobi and Samezuka High School swimming clubs are once again in a rivalry. It is the last school year ...

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Gift

Oct 23, 2014

animimosa

Not Recommended

this got really bad.

the torturted animista can only suspect who actually were the culprits pressed the studio in this way to deliver a sequel, but do in no way anything like the first run. whoever it seems it was someone pritty fat and humourless but with a lot of influence to actually insist in the second season, for contract reasons only of course (!), but could force the makers to iron the whole thing flat. as flat they just could get it. really flat i mean.

they removed all elements which created not a spectacular but still entertaining anime in season one, as the sense ...

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