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!

(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...

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?

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.

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.

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.

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

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?!

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!"

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

SPLASH FREE!!

Soo, "Free!", huh? My first thought when I saw the poster were "What the....I NEED TO WATCH THIS!". So I did. Did I enjoy it? Hell yeah. Do I think this is a good anime? Well...in comparison to....well....there's not much to compare it to since there are barely any other pure "manservice" anime out there, but I'd say yes. Should you watch this? Well as long as you're no homophobic douchebag then yes, it's hilarious.
Anyways, since many people aren't giving this anime a lot of credit (mainly homophobic douchebags), I thought I'd write a review of "Free! Iwatobi swim club".


Story:

Without spoiling too much ... (I think I never said this before since I mainly do rants), Free is about a group of "nippleless Calvin Kline models" (Thanks gigguk) who start a swim club at their school and compete in tournaments and stuff. They grow closer as a team and as friends over the course of the anime, showing that friendship is the most important thing in the world. Kinda like K-ON, except that music is replaced by water and cute girls doing cute things are replaced by "cute" guys doing "cute" things (I put that into quotations because I, as a straight dude, don't think that they're cute but hilarious, but I was told that they're "soo adorable").
Many people say they're disappointed by the fact that the storyline isn't that ellaborate and deep, but what do you expect from a Moe anime? You don't watch Moe anime for the same reason you watch Drama for example. It's supposed to be fun and mindless entertainment and Free delivers such in a perfect manner.

7/10

Art:

Free looks gorgeous. Seriously. The Water looks amazing (Though not as amazing as in "Garden of Words"), the guys look...well....they look pretty good, I'm jealous actually
The whole anime has the typical Kyoto animation stamp all over it and honestly, I did not think that they could pull guys looking...well...moe off. They look like typical moe characters, but more about that later.
The backrounds are reallly detailed, especially the pools and there are a few eastereggs here and there. As always I guess.

8/10

Sound:

Welcome to the Free music shop! We've got everything what your heart desires: Dubstep? Check! Orchestral pieces? Check! Rock/Punk songs? Check! Catchy J-pop openings? Check! Really catchy endings with superdisturbing lyrics? CHECK! All for an efficient price of 9.99! Order now and you'll get the....
Ahem, sorry 'bout that, but it's basically what listening to free for me felt like. The music feels old but not dated, fresh but not hipster. I really must say, free has some of the best soundtracks I have heard in a while. And seriously, I can't stop listening to the ending even though the lyrics are indeed really disturbing!
The voiceacting is on point and you can really hear that the voiceactors were having fun doing their jobs. Great performance!

9/10

Character:

You know, "Character" is always the point where I'm too lazy to write a lot, so I'll keep this tradition up!

The characters are your typical moe/harem characters...only in a male version. There's the Silent but passionate one that's sometimes tsundere (I'll just name them after other moe characters since I don't remember their names: Shiori Shiomiya), the supernice scaredycat giant (Akyama Mio), the supergenki friendshiplover (Ayumi Takahara), the one who doesn't fit in because he's a total weirdo but in the end does (Ichinose Kotomi) and the supertsundere who's also (for some fangirls) the love interest of the maincharacter (insert anyone you like, I'll go for Taiga).
They are nothing special since they behave like any other moe character of their type, except for the fact that they are guys. Nothing exceptional but not boring either.

PS: Some credit towards the two female leads (Though they are only sidecharacters), they really stand out. That's all.

7/10

Enjoyment:

I really enjoyed this far more than I expected. Every episode is fun, you can laugh a lot about the ridiculous fanservice and the storyline is not halfbad. And if anyone says that they don't watch this because it's gay, just slap them and tell them that they're pussies because they judge a book by it's cover and don't even give different things a chance. Free is superfun to watch and you can make a good drinkinggame out of it. Seriously. Just drink a shot every time there is a crotch on screen. I call it "Crotch Shots". I know I'm a genius.

9/10


That leaves Free with an overall score of....

8/10

Trust me, it's worth watching.


Peace out I'm Toastyy!

This is an anime I feel like no one really calls an amazing anime. With that in mind I feel like I have to give it an ego boost because it does hit on a lot of key points I think a lot of people missed.

Story 7/10
For a sports, SoL anime what more could you expect to emerge from it. While it may be pretty straight forward where team trains to reach amazing results in competition I really like the pace they took it in. They did try too hard to bore you with ludicrous training montages or anything to major but they alsoa dded ... in nice character background to add in more feeling to it which was good in the sense they didn't try to hard about that either. If therew as one word I used to describe it all it would be smooth.

Art 9/10
The art style was very modern but also very beautifully detailed. Character design was very nice as well as they didn't try to take things over the top like some animes do to get you to remember them. Vibrant color scheme almost the whole way through so solid job on that note.

Sound 10/10
If theres one thing about this anime I wish I could have it would be the sound. The OST for this anime surprised me in the fact most of the background songs were all dubstep orinated which is a plus plus on my end. I also really enjoyed the OP and ED. Never skipped them once just because how awesome they sounded.

Character 8/10
The characters stood out to me as being a very diverse cast. It felt really different than what I was used to such as Haru. I expected an MC such as him to be rather cocky or energetic but no very quiet but intelligent feel. Though the only thing wrong with the characters was how most dwelled on the past too much. I really thought with the way the anime was going to could be done with there past a little earlier on.

Overall 9/10
I really enjoyed myself with this one. I usually don't pick up on Sports anime but dang this was pretty amazing. The show did have some scenes where I was just like WTF, and the abridged series definietly picked up on but itw as still a great experience. Even if your not into Sports or SoF this is something you should definitely check out and I'd reccomend it anyday of the week.

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

I honestly had zero expectations on this anime. As always, I just sit back and let the series entertain me and surprise me. And it's quite nice that the series itself managed to change my opinions while it lasted, in a very subtle way.

The first episode didn't give me too much of a good impression, actually. To be honest, I should say it left me with the worst first impression ever. But in the second episode, where the fanservice went down a lot (thank you) and the story started developing, it felt pretty interesting. And then you reach the ending, without realizing it. And everything ... has been a very pleasant, smooth ride.

The story isn't something to be quite deep about-- But it's very well written and nicely told. We follow the everyday of the teenagers that decide to swim together once again, like they did when they were kids. And, as the teenagers they are, they tend to overreact a lot. Bothered by it? Not a single bit! It's the part of the story where I feel comfortable at. Even if I'm way too old as to feel like a teenager (I'm like... ten years older than the main characters, lmao), there are values and lessons that are worth to be learned at any age.

The characters are just wonderful. They grow up a lot, in a very realistic way, during the story. I want to focus on two of them: Rin and Rei. While Makoto is a sweetheart who doesn't have too much to think about, Nagisa is that annoying yet lovable kid that sometimes you can't stand and others you just have to let him be. Gou/Kou is a respectable young lady, in all matters; Ama-chan is just perfect and Haruka begins to be human in the exact moment when you're about to give up on him. And he was the character I disliked from the very beginning, but it was pretty nice to see him grow like this.

As for Rei and Rin. Rei is a very, very kind boy. A hardworking boy. A person that gives his best in everything he does. He deserves to have his precious friends and the happy times with them and the bright future that awaits him. He's just-- A darling. A complete darling.
Rin, on the other hand, is a boy that has to grow in a very painful way. He has to face his own anger and disappointment and, at first, he blames such things on others. But when he starts seeing the truth, when he finally realizes why he's so confused and angry, he just brings tears to your eyes. The whole process this character goes through is simply amazing, realistic-- Very, very human.

As for the rest of the characters, they're all cool in their own way, especially Captain Mikoshiba. (I don't have to say that Samezuka is my school, yo'.) Nitori can be annoying at times, but he's just a kid, he's got his reasons. And Goro-sensei is simply hilarious.

The music was one point I didn't find enjoyable. From opening to ending, and then the BGM, nothing seemed to fit for me.

The animation by itself is just AMAZING. Nothing more to say about this. It's out of the question.

KyoAni is not my favourite animation studio-- I'd rather say it's one of those that I strongly dislike, mostly because of the kind of products they offer. But this time I have to give the guys a standing ovation. Free! it's not an anime for girls only. It's filled with lots of nice feelings: friendship and self-improvement are the best lessons we can take from this series and, personally, these are the values I appreciate the most in a story. The fact of it having handsome boys doesn't make it less worthy to be watched-- On the contrary, it reinforces the fact that you must not judge a book by its cover, because whenever anybody wants to rant about Free!, there's nothing to rant about. You can like it or not, yet the series has something to give.

I am a guy watching hotties swim. And I would watch it again.

An anime about swimming... how interesting can it really get? Well yes, the story can be a little simple and sometimes I felt like the series dragged on for longer than it really should have. But for me, the art of this series coupled with the genuine sensitivity behind the story trumps almost everything else (and not just because I'm fangirling over the hot bodies lol!), which is why I believe that Free! is still a unique anime and worth my time watching.

Let's start with the storyline. I thought Free! had a decent story with a relatively rich emotional setting. Three (Makoto, Nagisa and Haru) ... out of four boys from a childhood swim team are reunited in high school and decide to start a local swim club once more upon discovering that one of their teammates has returned from Australia. The story progresses when we realise there is some conflict between Haru (a somewhat swimming prodigy who is completely obsessed with water) and Rin (portrayed as a super competitive guy) which creates unease amongst the team members of the new swim club, especially with the new member Rei (who is almost like a replacement for Rin). The plot then continues to unravel the mystery behind this tumultuous relationship between Rin and the other boys, and what it means to be part of a team in the past and in the present.

Of course, the key themes here are friendship and sportsmanship, which I didn't think would appeal to me as a committed shoujou fan. However, the story did somehow draw me in, especially when I learnt about the motivations of the characters (particularly Haru and Rin) and how they've come to be the type of person that they are. Yes there is a huge sports element to it, but sports is not really the point of the story, it's merely a means of communicating the themes of camaraderie and friendship. In that way, even if you're reading this review with the mindset that you're not into sports and this kind of anime wouldn't appeal to you, I would reconsider because swimming is just the setting, and the story of Free! operates within that setting.

Having said that, I feel like there was a lot lacking in terms of the development of the other characters apart from Rin and Haru. You somewhat get to see a deeper side of Makoto and Rei throughout the series, but barely. It feels like the story almost over-focuses on Rin, upto a point where I didn't really see the point of focusing so much on one character when there's a whole cast of other interesting characters as well. And given that the series had a relatively simple storyline, I didn't see how it dragged on to 12 episodes. There were a few fillers in the middle that didn't really add any value to the plot or to the viewer's understanding of the characters, which made me feel like those one or two episodes were almost a waste considering the direction of the whole series. I mean, fillers are fine, but in a 12 episode anime, you would wonder why there is a need to put in fillers when you could put in one or two episodes about the other characters. But eh, it's not that much of a problem in the grand scheme of things, I guess I just get a little frustrated when an anime isn't efficient in terms of using episodes wisely for viewer benefit.

So now on to my favourite part: the art and sound. I simply can't believe how beautiful this anime is! When I watch real life swimming, it has to be one of the most boring and ugliest sports out there (sorry to all those dedicated swimmers, I used to swim a lot too, maybe I just got over it way too quickly). But wow, Free! has really blown my mind in terms of water effects and displaying the fluidity of swimming. I literally feel like I'm relaxing next to a serene pool when I watch this, the art is such a treat to my eyes. And not just because the guys have hot bodies (but no complaints about that, it only adds to the viewing value for girls like me haha!). If there was ever a situation where I could give more than 10/10 for art, this is it. Also, in terms of sound, I found both the opening and ending themes really nice, they fit well with the simultaneously competitive but fun element of the anime.

All in all, because I was so impressed by the art, and because the story and characters were worth getting attached to, I would definitely rewatch this anime sometime in the future. The experience of watching something so beautiful and exquisite really gave me something to look forward to every week. Maybe it's because I'm the type of person who is very picky about art, but Free! really surpassed my expectations in terms of viewing pleasure whilst also providing a sound storyline.

Free! is an anime about swimming. (DUH) but I have noticed guys pointing out the fact that they believe its a show for fan service. well if you are a guy then it would probably stand out like that because the guys are shirtless like 90% of the time. im not saying they don't have the right to think that, but as a girl I am happy to have found this anime.

1) there are no awkward boob scenes !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GOD FORBIN THERE BE AN ANIME WITHOUT BOOBS

2) Yes the guys are shirtless and overly detailed in the muscle department, but what matters to me ... the most is character development. I don't watch this show for the shirtless guys. I watch it because its a good show about friends and the struggles you deal with in your day to day life.

3) no one has magical powers. just training and determination.

4) makoto

5) to elaborate on #4, Makoto is the best friend of Haru. he's hard working, cares for his friends and family, and he looks great in glasses.

6) this is the most realistic anime I have ever watched and its cool that you can relate to characters on a personal level.

7) GOD FORRBID THERE BE A SHOW WITH SHIRTLESS GUYS. its not like they are naked like girls in all the other anime.

The plot line is very simple. like most sport anime you can pretty much tell that the outcome is going to be that they win. and hey if they don't, they cry as a team and move on. nobody dies, they are just sometimes defeated.

So if you are tired of watching all your favorite characters die or suffer, this is a great show to watch! if you don't want to watch it, there is a great parody of this on YouTube called 50% off. the parody is nothing like the show but its really funny!

Please watch, its really good!

I don't know about you guys, but what brought me to this anime was that youtube promo (you know, back when it was called "swimming anime" and had an epic sound track?). I must confess, I was incredibly anticipating this anime. I mean come on, I'm a girl, I've got my bishie-needs. Safe to say. The anime was no let down.

The story is a bit stereotypical of sport animes. I'm giving it a 7. Very simplistic. A guy who loves his sport, has a rival, your typical used-to-be-friends-but-after-some-major-event-we-hate-each-other. However, whats wrong with stereotypes right? This anime has a rather engaging plot. It kept me ... seated for a good few hours. Classics are sometimes the best.

The art is rather stunning, if I may say so myself. It has originality, its own style. It's not grandma-safe, but then again, if you are drawn to this anime, you wouldn't be the grandma kind anyway. Not to mention, the guys in swimsuits don't leave much to the imagination (And here I was beginning to think that only guys got the butt in bikinis fanservice). But yes, as we all had guessed, this anime has a lot of wet pecs and triceps on display, not that too many of us are complaining. The art deserves a 9.

Music is not the kind that causes your inner musician to awaken and inspire you to pick up your dusty violin to play crappy internet downloaded sheet music in the desperate attempt to recreate the awe-inspiring sound. But no, there is no cringe and you don't feel the soul-deep itch to skip the intro. But, then again, I kinda expected more from the music, considering how the promo I mentioned earlier has sound that is still in my head 5 months after I watched it.

The characters are stereotypical; the rival with anger management issues, the guy nest door best friend, the cutie who looks like a grade schooler, the glasses-interlect, the tsundere main yeah yeah. It's what we know and love. But one thing that has compelled me to give this an 8 is the fact that all the characters are somehow relate-able. The antagonist is not the kind that uses underhanded tricks to pull down the protagonist. They are honorable and compete fairly. That is rare in an anime that includes competition, producers seem to think that we love to see the antagonist use dirty tricks, only to lose.

The characters also have a strong sense of team spirit and group loyalty. its what we expect in a sports anime, but nice all the same. They each do a bit of individual soul searching, and thankfully, they do come to a satisfying conclusion.

The anime is certainly very enjoyable. Great characters, pretty art, compelling slice of life, perfect for a lazy afternoon. So long as your intention is not to NIT PICK the anime apart and look into the "DEEP MEANINGS" and "social implications" of the depiction of young peoples or what ever, you will find this anime enjoyable. Just don't go all English-analysis-mode.

And of course, I think its worth mentioning, this anime teeters on the edge of being shounen-ai. I seriously doubt these boys are heterosexual. There's just some kind of sexual tension that underlies this anime. I don't know. If the anime is a BL, like Junjou, then you don't get this strange nervousness when watching it. But free! is supposed to be slice of life. Hard to explain, but this anime is certainly going to inspire some squeals from yaoi fain girls.

Free! is an interesting anime that is worth watching, the key is not to walk into it with all your hate for fanservice and sexual undertones. After all, we are here for enjoyment, not for tearing our beloved anime apart and criticizing every piece.

I liked how fluent and beautiful animation was and how the characters facial expressions were done. I loved the characters eyes.
What I disliked was the character development of everyone except Rei's because it seemed to me like the 3 main characters developed before the show is set. And as for the red head it doesn't really explain why he became so bastardy really...

However, with the story I couldn't help but think "this has got to be more than bromances." And found myself saying "They are so gay for each other" more than once per episode. On a side note I have nothing against homosexuals or ... lesbians.

I found Free to be a surprisingly fascinating watch - whether it be because of the lush animation, or the characters themselves, the ultimate result was an enjoyable anime that really managed to capture my attention.

Starting with the art direction, most the scenes in Free! are a pleasure to look at - this is down to the beautiful animation which builds on a clean palette of colours to create a sleek effect that runs throughout the show. As many people have noticed, the way water is animated in the program really stands out as something special. There's a sense of depth to it that I'd ... imagine is very difficult to produce. In addition to this, the characters themselves are well designed, their movements fluid and their images well defined. Personally, I feel that some shows fall into the trap of making their characters look a little too similar. Here, there's no such problem. The five boys that make up the principle cast do borderline on being colour-coded, which does almost add up to being a little too obvious, but they manage to pull back from the brink. Praise should also go to the design of the women in the show - Gou especially, who is almost our, the viewer's, avatar in the world of Free! Nothing in particularly stands out in her design as something great, but I find that there's something pleasing about her look.

The soundtrack was okay, but I ultimately feel that it was nothing to write home about. It's never something that really stands out to me, which I guess to some might be a good thing in that it never feels intrusive. It complements what's going on plot-wise and scenery-wise well, so it's hard to knock it as being bad.

Plot-wise, the show has one clear goal in mind from the outset, and it generally stick with this theme throughout the series. What I personally love so much about the story is how character driven it is. Considering this could be seen as a sports anime, where often the main goal is simply to win a trophy, the goals here seem to be much more driven by the characters' relationships with each other. Often in anime, men's bonds aren't really discussed in the way they are here. Some see this as borderline yaoi bait (there are a lot of pretty healthy shipping communities in the Free! fandom) but I find it refreshing to see a group of adolescent boys talking so openly about their feelings. So many anime go for the angst ridden young male that they almost seem to forget there are others as well (of course there is a character in the show who does follow that stereotype, but I felt that Rin, along with Nagisa, who plays the naive role, to be the weakest character.). As you can probably guess by my username there is one character who really stood out in my book - Makoto Tachibana. I found that his personality so wonderfully permeated all the scenes he took part in, which was wonderful to see. There was a strong sense of character development there which I loved.

Overall, Free! is in my book, an underrated anime. Too many people are willing to write it off as 'that swimming anime with the scantily clad men', but ultimately, the tale it tells is a heartwarming one of friendship and honesty. I highly recommend you check it out.