Free!

Widely known as "Shingeki no Shitstorm" before it even aired, Free! was a show that made a huge splash on the anime community during the summer of 2013. It sparked a lot of controversy over whether or not the show was a juicy bait waiting for rabid fujoshi to pounce on. Thus, this show has isolated itself from a significant portion of the male anime viewers who just happens to be people who are not confident enough in their masculinity.

Do not be deceived.

Free! is by no means an anime for homos. If one could simply look past the amazingly proportioned as well as scantily clad ... exterior and dig into the actual content of the anime, they would realize that Free! is a heartwarming story about the pure friendship between members of the same sex. Another recurring element in the story is the sense of fulfillment one gets from doing things they life, no matter the results; which I personally feel like is lacking amongst young people these days.

Unfortunately, though the overall message of the series is sent, the execution is lacking. So much emphasis is focused on Haruka and Rin, the rest of the characters are overshadowed and feel flat. Various episodes could also be cut down and lose some irrelevant content such as the moments of obvious sexual tension between characters that leads to misconceptions about this show.

Overall, Free! Iwatobi Swim Club was a delightful treat to the eyes and soul and I would definitely recommend it to people who need a break from the Linkin Park pseudo darkness shows plaguing the industry nowadays.

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!

Here's a quick breakdown of my rating: Story = 4; Art = 7; Sound = 8; Character = 4; Enjoyment = 4.

There are so many things wrong with this anime but in this review I'll only touch on the most obvious criticisms:

1) The ridiculous amount of fan service in this anime is nauseating. I admit that the characters and their very hot bodies were initially a treat to the eyes, but even sweet things taste bitter if you overindulge. Seriously was it really necessary to give flashes of abs, deltoids, triceps, and the V line every 5-10 minutes? At this point the guys should've ... just gone full on naked and even then I bet the viewers wouldn't be the slightest bit shocked or impressed. The writers and the producers of Free! deserve a huge slap in the face. These high school boys are swimmers NOT strippers!!!

2) There is ZERO knowledge about the sport of competitive swimming in this anime. Lets get this straight, freestyle is a type of swimming stroke NOT a type of swimming style. In other words, a swimmer can incorporate certain techniques with strokes to achieve a type or "style" of swimming, but the strokes in themselves don't describe a swimming style. It really frustrated me that the writers didn't understand this basic concept. Like in episode 3 when Rey Ryugazaki confessed "I want that kind of freedom" and Haruka Nanase responded "It's not freedom. It's freestyle." I wanted to smack my head on the table until it bled of 'cuz of the sheer stupidity and cheesiness of that line. Also in every team relay one swimmer MUST swim freestyle so the fact that the MC, Nanase, refuses to swim in relays because he "only swims freestyle" MAKES NO FREAKIN' SENSE WHATSOEVER!!!

3) Now let's talk about content. Oh wait, what content? There was NO content worthy of discussion in this anime. It's a shame because speaking from prior experience competitive swimming is a brutal yet fascinating sport. There are so many intricacies involved in competitive swimming (like learning how to hold your breath for an extended period, mastering flip turns, cutting down time, toning your muscles, swimming long distance vs. short distance) that could've have been incorporated in this anime. If the writers focused on the actual sport of competitive swimming Free! could've been a great shonen anime, but for some reason the writers chose to focus on the aesthetics and lame high school drama. Yeah, the writers and producers really deserve a slap in the face for wasting the anime's potential.

First thing, Free! is a sports anime, about swimming. It creates a lot of hype, moreover there's quite a number of cosplayers I saw doing the characters from this anime. I got introduced to Free! by my friend who is a fujoshi. Well at first I didn't really want to watch since I don't like yaoi.

After I give it a try, I got hypnotized by the animation of the water and fell in love instantly. Dear God, it is so freaking smooth and fluid. Being a swimmer myself, I just can't help myself to swoon. And don't worry, it is not yaoi at all. ... Guaranteed. Well, the bromance is quite strong but it's really not yaoi ^^

The story is about 4 guys Haruka, Makoto, Nagisa, and Rin who loves swimming and were good friends. Rin went off to a different school, while the rest decided to revive their school's swimming club. It is quite simple. The characters are mostly male and the main characters have girlish names (giggles). Even though most of the characters have likable personalities (and nice body *.*), I feel they are not explored enough. Their personalities can very much be summed up in a word and lacking depth. Aside from Makoto and Rin, their background stories, their family, etc. we don't know much of them yet.
However, the relationship between them grew to my liking, since there was 1 more guy aside from the 3 friends, Rei joining the swimming club. His struggle trying to fit in to the circle is quite interesting to watch.

Despite its minuses, you won't feel bored watching it thanks to the jokes and light humor. The pace is not slow, complimented with nice animation and bright colors to keep your eyes glued to the show. The opening and endings must be praised. It is very catchy and memorable, I never skip the opening and ending when watching the show. I also want to applaud the voice actors for singing so well for the ending song.

If you like light and funny series like K-On!, you might try this one. They have similar character personalities (just K-On! the characters are girls and for Free! boys) and art style. You can watch this to pass the time, it's only 12 episodes anyway.

Free! in a word: Abs

Be honest with yourselves. There's no real story. There's more story in the end credits than there is in the actual, factual show. The depth of the characters is lingering in the shallow end of pool (get it? get it?? cuz swimming.) If you don't get it, I'm saying the characters are flat. One....maybe Two dimensional. They aren't people. They are swimming pieces of paper. I gave character a 2, because paper is better than nothing.

The only reason any one would wanna watch this is to watch beautiful men swim. People go to aquariums to watch beautiful fish swim. People ... watch Free to watch beautiful men swim.

That's pretty much this whole anime. Enjoy.

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.

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 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.

This anime about swimming with homoerotic undertones is aight, I guess.

I guess I should write a bit more about it, the animation is great, if that's your thing you really oughta check it out. As far as the rest goes it's slightly above average. Some nice friendship moments and stuff, but as I said in the beginning, it's aight.

Appearantly that's not long enough for MAL so I'll continue, the anime is about swimming, there are swimmers in the anime and they do a lot of swimming. And then they enter some tournaments where they also swim.

What more do you want from me MAL?

I am a girl and I am not a pervert and I do not watch this anime because of the beautiful characters swimming their bodies and showing the beauty of working out etcetera, etcetera...
Guilty much?

But Seriously, I hate bulky muscular men as much as I hate large and unrealistic breasts. I'm not really the fanservice loving type.

Which brings us to my review:

To be frank, I've seen the story before. It is much alike to the KNB series and they are both in the sports genre. But I wouldn't want to compare because when I do, things would get a little bit rusty.( Don't worry, ... no magic and superstitions are applied in this show.) I think the plot is mediocre because it isn't original and the scenes were pretty much predictable and so on and so forth. Some jokes feel flat and some aren't entertaining. A lot of people would say that this show is gay, well, it is. I am quite feeling uneasy while watching this anime. Muscles, water and some expected scenes are showing up. The only unique part of this show is that it used "Swimming" as the main theme. On the other hand, the points and conflicts were too simple, I usually ended up comparing it to other Sport related anime like, Slam Dunk and Kuroko no Basket. I am getting tired of childhood friends seeing one another in the future. Anyway, I watched the whole thing and it was just okay. The great news for fans is that this series will have a new season this coming July. In my opinion, I think the ending is just fine and it went smoothly. There isn't any empty feeling around here. Nevertheless, they don't make hilarious comedic acts that feels awkward all the time in the second season, I don't see any reason why they would not make another season. I just wish they would make the plot more complicated and execute funny moments properly without making it corny. Some jokes are a bit off and becoming repetitive. But then again, all in all it was just okay for me.

Kyoto Animation have been animating great shoujo animes like Clannad and Air and now, Free!, a shiny anime with vibrant particles in many shapes and sizes. The animation is as always modern and fantastic. Who knew water can be so beautiful when animated? The greatness of the characters' eyes were just like Hyouka's. I feel a bit suspicious. The uniforms look tangy and colorful. The swimsuit kinda ruined it for me. But I like the art. It's not the ordinary cartoonic style.

A bit complex and jumpy tones were delivered in all episodes of Free! The opening and the ending were just fine and exquisite to hear. A mix of rock and pop with a bit of athletic speed tempo were present in both songs. There is also a sad piano background music which is for dramatic moments. Others, well not really that outstanding.

Here we go, Characters (5). I personally hate yellow-haired jolly guys so Nagisa isn't one of my favorites. Makoto has a very calm and friendly personality, gentleman of some sort. Rei is practically Narcissistic. Rin has a transition of personalities from grade school to high school and then there's a tsundere guy, Haruka. I do not like tsundere boys and girls but Haruka made the exception. I think he is adorable despite the fact being like Kuroko Tetsuya(but I like Haruka more), and possess some kind of innocent voice and attitude. However I dislike the fact that he and Makoto always hang out and talk about personal and deep stuff and then after ten seconds their faces almost touched and not to mention their lips, I just feel like their hacing yaoi and I really hate yaoi themed animes. Oh, and I feel weird because Makoto's seiyuu is the same seiyuu of Yoshida HARU which is kind of unusual when he calls Haruka, "Haru" when he became Haru. (confused.)

I liked it but not all of it. It is a slice of life kind of anime so it has a friendly approach and a sweet aura. Fillers were seen in a lot of episodes that shouldn't be there. 12 episodes and a lot of fillers? No can do. The jokes were really off and undoubtedly stupid. Gay scenes, Gay scenes everywhere. This is a fanservice for females I think who love gorgeous bodies of men floating and swimming in water with their vibrant hair colors and big bulky muscles. Oh my God, it chills through the spine. I hate fanservice so much!

Overall, I didn't want to drop the whole thing and if I have time, I might sneak a peek at the second season this coming July. I liked the ending, it is happy not a tragic and not a fugging open ending. Honestly speaking, if you are a straight guy and you feel awkward about watching other guys' beautiful body then don't see this because it has a lot of it. For girls, I think you'll love and hate this series. I think I'll forget this anime someday to the point that it just take up my time but I will recommend it to sports writers and people who can't swim because you will learn something from this anime. At least, you learned something... right?

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.

I actually wanted to give this a 9, but that would mean giving this show the same rating I gave to the first two Rebuild of Evangelion movies and the second season of Ghost in the Shell: SAC. Maybe even an 8 seems absurd, but this anime is exactly what I think a fanservice series targeted towards girls should be: lighthearted, sweet, funny, and loaded with characters that are attractive and easy to fall in love with.

If this was really just a sports anime, I wouldn't give it such a high score, but honestly...Free! is as much about the muscles and the boys who ... have them than it is about the swimming. This anime only happened because people saw KyoAni's mock trailer, which was supposed to be a joke, and literally petitioned for it to be an actual series. In other words, this is made for people who want to watch cute shirtless boys do cute shirtless things with homoerotic subtext, and it fulfills that purpose very well.

Story: 6
I wasn't actually expecting this to have much of a story, but it's there, and it's fun. It's not amazing, but Free! is not something you should be watching for the story. Just ditch it now if you're looking for something sophisticated. Free! isn't complex and it's not supposed to be. It's just fun. Corny, silly, simple, half-naked swimming fun. Unexpectedly, Free! is actually such a funny anime (on purpose). This show really never fails to make me laugh.
Art: 9
Nothing less than what would be expected from KyoAni. The entire thing is gorgeous, and I'm not just talking about the boys. The animation is super fluid (there we go again with the unintentional water puns), bright, colorful, and overall just great.

Sound: 8
The openings and endings are really enjoyable, especially the first ending song, "Splash Free". The quality of the music is consistent throughout. What bugged me was that during more intense parts of the show (...as intense as the swimming anime can get), there'd be this aggressive dubstep-reminiscent electronic nonsense playing and it was so ridiculous it was funny. It's as if KyoAni was like, "oh, let's pretend this is a serious sports anime for a minute while Rin is gazing into Haru's eyes" and threw in serious music. Still, it didn't sound bad, and when the music is thematically appropriate, it's always good.

Character: 10
The characters are the best part. They all have their strengths, their weaknesses, and their quirks; they're actually very well-rounded, and most experience very satisfying development, especially Rin. They're all very charming characters, and the character that seems to be the simplest out of all of them proves to be more than he seemed in the second season. The boys and Kou are all easy to get attached to and feel for. Also, there's more than a little homoerotic subtext. If you don't think they're gay, you're wrong. KyoAni made a genius business decision in deciding not to have any official couples, but having certain pairs show more-than-friends affection to each other at times. That keeps all the fujoshi ensnared, regardless of who they ship. I see what you're doing, KyoAni. And I don't mind. Keep going.

Enjoyment: 10
When this anime first aired, it was truly the highlight of my week. I'm not exactly a happy person -- I have health issues that keep me down rather consistently -- but my mood was always significantly better on Wednesdays (at least, I think water time was Wednesday). I was just as thrilled with the second season. I watch mostly very dark anime, so Free! was a breath of fresh air. I thought I would forget about this anime after it was done, since it's not exactly intellectual, but I was wrong. This is my go-to when I need something that I can genuinely enjoy at any time. It just doesn't get old for me; it's so full of sweetness, love, and friendship that I can't help but feel happy when I think about it. In fact, I enjoyed Free! more than I enjoyed anime that I rated 10/10.

Take Free! for what it is, a fan service sports anime, and you will not be disappointed.

This isn't to say that men can't enjoy this show, but just don't expect it to be something it's not. It's a sports show aimed at a female audience. Instead of the sports matches being dynamic and action packed, they are visually stunning to watch. The sports scenes have amazing artistic detail and flow, coupled with the realistic water sound effects and dramatic music (to enhance the emotions of a scene). I re-watched this purely for how breathtakingly beautiful the art is.

The main story is ... nothing to write home about, it's simple male competitive tension with an underlying hint of sexual frustration. What drives this anime is the emotional aspect; a lot of the story is told through loaded gestures and the hidden meaning in actions. It's friendship full of longing, anger, jealously, nostalgia, support, love, etc. The emotional aspect is what keeps an otherwise simple story, pretty interesting.

This is one anime where the music is really successful. Because of how they set up scenes and how they pair certain soundtracks with emotionally charged incidents from the very beginning, just hearing the same music that will set up a scene is very successful in evoking emotions in the viewer.

In sports anime I feel I always have to touch on the realism of the athleticism in the show. The level in this anime is one of the most believable that I have seen. Some characters are ridiculously good yes, but it is because they competitively swam (and thus appropriately trained at a high level at proper institutions) since childhood.

This is a sports anime that has a different take on sports anime, which is why I think it's so successful.

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.

For a woman like me, watching an anime like this felt like eating candy. A bunch of really really good looking guys who happen to form a swimming club…that are perfect ingredients for many nosebleeds! Kyoto Animation is well known for series like Clannad, Air and Kanon. I’ve yet to see the last title, but the fanservice in these shows are mainly aimed at men. Nothing wrong with that and I loved Clannad and Air simply because they have great stories and art, but there’s nothing wrong with fanservice aimed at girls either. Up until now, I haven’t seen such series yet, except for otome ... game anime, but there should be something better than that! And finally, I found something better. Much better!

In fact, I’m not into sports anime either, but after seeing the ads for Free!, I just couldn’t let this one pass by unnoticed. The art is fantastic and colorful, and the animated water was gorgeous! The character designs were great as well, making every boy look handsome as hell and seeing them in their swimmingsuits was enough to make me excited. I’m a girl after all. The soundtrack of this show was good too. I don’t like dubstep very much, but it fits the show very well, giving it this ‘cool’ feel. The opening from OLDCODEX is one of my favorites this season.

Aside from good appearances, I found the story pretty good as well. Free! is about Haru who loves water so much that he wants to jump in it as soon as he sees it. Together with three childhood friends they formed a swimming club when they were in elementary school. Everything changed when one of them, Rin moved to Australia to follow his deceased father’s dream to become an Olympic swimmer. The swimming club falls apart, since Haru stopped swimming and all of them went to different schools. When Haru enters high school Nagisa and Makoto happen to be in the same school and they persuade him to reestablish the old swimming club of Iwatobi Highschool. One day, they meet Rin but find out he’s changed greatly. The story about friendship isn’t new, but the show told it really well with lighthearted, funny moments but also intense scenes during the swimming tournaments and confrontations with Rin.

Surprisingly, the handsome boys seemed quite natural to me. Their emotions and feelings towards eachother were portrayed really well and especially the character development of Haru and Rin is worth pointing out. Haru started of as a bit cold and quiet boy, but as the show progressed he seemed to become more open and talked more. Only in the end Rin’s breakdown seemed a bit too expected and too sudden. There were some moments that felt a bit BL-ish and could be easily misunderstood for that, but isn’t it just true friendship? You want to be with your closest friends too, right? And hug your great teammates when you reach the first place?

Overall, I found this a really entertaining show. It’s easy to say as a girl to whom this series is aimed at, but in the end I actually loved it. On that point dear KyoAni succeeded. But I’m not so shallow minded as it seems. Good looks are important, but if I found this series boring or the story was really bad, I wouldn’t enjoy this as much as I did.

Free! is a great show for girls (and maybe boys too?) who want to look at some handsome men, and in the mean time enjoy a good story too. The story is not great and pretty simple, but enjoyable. If you expected KyoAni to make anime just for men and are ticked off because this is aimed ad girls, you might be really disappointed. But then again; appearances are not the most important thing. If you enjoyed the story, then it’s not important to who it’s aimed at!

Free! Iwatobi Swim Club is the first anime that I watched the full series of. Therefore, going into this I was a bit skeptical. Would I really like anime? Why was there so much hype over this? Would my love of swimming be able to save me from the vortex of the Free!dom? Was the ED song even possible to play on the piano?

To my surprise, I ended up enjoying this quite a bit. It's probably not the anime that most people would agree should be a first anime to watch, but that's what I ended up doing.

[ This is the first review ... I've ever written, so I don't know if this is good or not... ]

Story :: 8
To an outsider ( i.e. me, the anime noob ), Free! looked like something about an excess of muscles and very beautifully animated water. I wasn't expecting much of a plot because everyone who had seen it already could only talk about the muscles. However, fear not, there is a plot in behind all the fanservice, and it's not a unique one, but it's nevertheless interesting. I found myself earnestly anticipating what would happen in each episode.

Art :: 9
Ah, the main focus of most people would most certainly be the art in this anime. Fanservice aside, everything was wonderfully drawn and it most certainly raised my standards for art in anime that I watched in the future! I can't give this a 10, though, because while the character designs are attractive, now that I've watched more anime, I find that they aren't extraordinarily unique. But I suppose that's to be expected. This isn't a science fiction or fantasy anime, after all. The one thing that bothered me on occasion is that the side profiles of the people can look a bit strange sometimes, but it didn't really stand out.

Sound :: 9
I had an unhealthy obsession with the ED, Splash Free, probably because I was trying to play it on the piano and the sheet music I had required some work because of the octave-jumping, and I spent a long time trying to learn them. The OP and ED are both very catchy, the background music sets a nice ambiance [ though it can be lost and unnoticed much of the time ], and the character songs are wonderful.

Character :: 8
This anime did a good job of introducing me to the basic character tropes of anime- megane, tsundere, shota, whatever you use to refer to them- and I liked the personalities of all the characters. I do think that their personalities could have been given more facets, however, which would have made for a much more interesting story.

Enjoyment :: 9
Free! Iwatobi Swim Club is kind of my guilty anime pleasure now. It's not my favourite anime, but it's possibly the one that I follow and talk about the most because it's so popular and well-known.

Overall :: 9
Free! is not the best anime out there. However, I found myself enjoying it quite a bit [ and somewhat jealous of the swimming. Why isn't my butterfly beautiful? ] and it appealed to me in many ways. Oh, and I did accomplish playing the ED ;) all's well that ends well.

So I'm no pro at anime, but Free! was the first anime I watched. My friend got me into it and I watched it and I thought it was okay. I liked to idea of a sports cartoon so that's how I've gotten an obsession with sports animes.

Free! is alright and I'd like to say why. (that rhymed)

I'm a straight female and I do appreciate the shirtlessness in this anime but there's more than that. There is a story and stuff, and though it's not the best, it's not too terrible.

Free! is a good time killer. ...

That's it.

There are lots of other good anime but even though this is a generic story plus fanservice, it's an okay sports anime.

The art is cool and stuff, but then again there's better. They make the water look really beautiful and you kinda understand why Haru is in love with it.

I like the sound effects and the ending music is meh.

The characters are very bland and boring... but hot.

People generally attracted to males will probs enjoy this, thus I rated it a 7.

And that's my amateur review of this shitake mushroom

I have to say, this is one of the best anime I have ever watched. I know, a lot of comments say ‘fan service’, but I have to disagree. Now, I know there are different opinions than mine, I’m not saying mine is the best or theirs should be invalidated, but I will say all these people who fail to realize that others have opinions and won’t always agree on things with them should not be allowed to call this show ‘shit’.

First, I can understand how some may see this as fan service, though I have to say that isn’t all the show is. ... Yes, there is some in there, I cannot deny that, but it is not purely a ‘show for girls to fan over’. The show is not meant to be too in depth but the plot is one that will leave you thinking. The theme of this show is friendship and growing up, as you watch it you follow Haruka Nanase and the rest of the Iwatobi gang as they bond over their love for swimming and try to reconnect with an old friend, Rin Matsuoka.

So, first, let me get this out of the way: Swimming guys are going to be half naked. That in no way can be called fan service. Yes, maybe they didn’t need those prolonged scenes of Haruka getting out of his tub (He has jammers on so calm down anyone who thinks otherwise), but they’re going to be shirtless, they’re going to have muscles. Another thing to point out is the fact that the characters are close, everything they do can be interpreted as you like, so that means you can see it as friendship or as pure yaoi. Again, it’s up to you. In no way does that mean that this is fan service, it’s all up to interpretation.

Next, I would like to say that the characters did develop during the show, it wasn’t some great life changing development, it was rather more realistic which may be why so many people have a problem with it. Haruka Nanase begins to appreciate his friends more, learning they are all he needs to swim freely, and he also realizes he needs to leave behind his bad memories in order to move forward. Rin Matsuoka learns to let go of his past, instead embracing a warmer future where he can swim happily and reconnect with his old friends. The gang learns teamwork and all become closer during the show, with there being both ups and downs in their friendships. Fears are explored, acceptance is given, and the characters all grow as they learn new values and morals to live by. It is subtle but still there, still present as it would be in our lives. We don’t rapidly change over the course of a couple months, it is a gradual process, so in this way you can see the show is even more realistic.

If you don’t agree with me, that is fine, but please do not be the asshole who writes that it shouldn’t have the score it has. Do not put women under the bus stating that this isn’t fair because men can’t have high scoring fan service anime. Especially, do not say that ‘any respectable women needs to give this a 2 or 3’. IT IS NOT FAIR TO PUSH YOUR OPINIONS ON OTHERS. Realize that while I have this opinion, the next person reading this may differ, and the person after that, that makes them no less of a person, but when you shame them and imply that they would be disrespectable if they liked this show then you should get no kindness here. I’m sorry you may not like this show, I really am. I wish you could see this the way I do, but again realize that everyone has opinions and your opinion is no better than anyone else’s. By shaming other people who like this show you are becoming a bully and if you are one of these people, please realize this. You would not like it if someone made you feel dumb, upset, hurt, or angry for your opinion and I for one, as a respectable woman who liked the show Free!, do not like feeling this way by you.

So, the choice is up to you. This show is interpretation only. Feel any way you want about it, please be respectful, and I hope you enjoy.

-Cassie ( A friend who feels the same kind of passion I do towards Free!, although she lacks a MAL account. )

Story: 1
Art: 10
Sound: 5
Character: 1
Enjoyment: 3
Overall: 4

Now, if you're trying to decide whether you should watch this show or not, I'll tell you something: "I only swim free".

That's the whole series.
...
To class this as a 'sports' or 'comedy' anime would be blasphemy. I can tell you now, there are probably FUNERALS that are funnier than this piece of shit anime. All they do is whine and bitch and then there's the running gag of Haru stripping his clothes off whenever someone mentions the word "pool". IT'S NOT FUNNY. It wasn't funny the first time, nor was it funny the 103th time. And if this show DOES manage to come up with a funny moment, they'll milk it to the point that it's no longer funny. The only funny moment I can think of is one scene where Haru's trying on swimming shorts that look identical and Nagisa's like "I don't see the difference". I remember having a genuine chuckle when I saw that scene. I'm going to stress one point though, THIS DOES NOT MAKE IT COMEDY. honestly, what even is this anime? It's just muscular guys taking off their shirts and bitching about things and-- sorry, excuse me. Time to say some positive things.

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Sorry, I've got nothing nice to say. (Well, there's the art which I gave a ten. It's a shitty series, but the art is 12/10. Kyoto Animation never disappoints.)
But, honestly. Free! is a series which gets overhyped by countless fujoshi and fangirls when it's really nothing that special. As far as I'm concerned, it's the only swimming anime out there, but it feels more like swimming's an 'accessory'. For sport anime fans out there, I'll use a comparison. Kuroko no Basket suffers from not enough character development outside of the court. Haikyuu is an all-rounder -- we get character development on AND off the court. And then, we have Free. You get convoluted attempts at developing the characters outside of the pool, and there IS some character development skills-wise. But, it's not quite enough to make me love the series. I kept watching, hoping that they'd expand on this foundation they'd built. I was incredibly intrigued by the opening, my breath was taken away by the art, but I was let down more and more as I went through the whole series. I've said this like twice already, but ALL THE CHARACTERS DO IS BITCH. This anime gets way too tied up with all these friendships and problems that aren't really problems (to give you an example, there's a whole arc dedicated to a character deciding to run away from home when his parents tell him that he's not allowed to swim anymore. Yup. He RUNS AWAY. Packs his bags and leaves, just because his parents wanted him to quit the swim club and improve his grades). This is meant to be a swimming anime, but we barely get to witness the magic of swimming. Not to mention, the actual swimming scenes... they're kind of boring? Don't get me wrong. The art is amazing. But, the actual swimming... I don't know. I was expecting more, I guess?

As for the sound, I have nothing to say about it. It wasn't memorable.

Okay, okay. On a serious note, this anime DOES do some things well. I said earlier on that there were some attempts at character development. There's a certain arc where two characters travel to a different country (keeping it vague so as not to give spoilers) and in this country, we actually get to see some character development. Those episodes weren't too bad, actually. I quite enjoyed those. (That's in Season 2.) Oh, yeah. They also have English-speaking characters in there, and much to my surprise, I didn't hear the 'engrish' I'm so accustomed to hearing in anime. The VAs they used for the characters were actually English speakers! (Or at least, they sounded like English speakers.) It's a little detail, but I liked that. Actually, now that I think of it, some of the rare moments I liked about this anime were all in Season 2. So, I guess all I can say is that this is a rare occurrence where the second season is actually BETTER than the first. This season was ass, but the second season redeems itself SLIGHTLY. And heavy emphasis on SLIGHTLY. Free! is not a masterpiece by any means. It's far from being a masterpiece. And while the characters are sweet, they're not what you'd call memorable. Too many people gas up this anime and call it the best thing ever, the "gayest show ever" (Honestly, I feel like I'm the only one who doesn't ship anyone on the show?? I just saw them all as really close friends. And no, I'm not a 'yaoi hater'. I have so many favourite pairings in anime like Haikyuu! and KnB, but for some reason, I just didn't really find any couples worth shipping in this show?? idk) and of course, there's the people who dub it as "fanservice".

Now, I don't think this show is fanservice. Granted, Kou has a very prominent muscle fetish, but I don't think this show can be classed as 'fanservice'. It's about swimming (or at least, it is when they're not bitching and whining) so of course they're going to take their shirts off to swim. If you're so prudish that you can't stand the idea of muscular men taking their shirts off to get in the pool, then it's not that you can't stand fanservice. You've got something wrong with you. I mean, in my experience, the muscles were kind of just... there? I didn't care about the muscles, lol.

To conclude, I'll make like Haru and tell you one thing:
"I only swim free (because I get no character development whatsoever and basically act as an emotionless bobblehead who serves to do nothing but make Rin an angsty little teen who spends years working towards trying to beat me only for me to not give two shits because, you guessed it, I ONLY SWIM FREE)".

Free! is the continuing story of four friends who are joined by just two things: their love of swimming, and their status as "boys who have girly names," following the events of the light novel High☆Speed! That said, reading the High☆Speed! is absolutely not essential to understanding and appreciating Free!, though it may add to the experience; I, personally, enjoyed the series just fine without it, though I don't doubt I'll read the novel in the future.

Story: 8/10

As previous reviews have already stated, the plot is not the strongest point of the show- four boys reunited by chance get back into their old hobby of ... swimming- however, this is a story driven more by characters than plot, anyway. While Free! might not fit in nicely with other sports anime, where the sport is always on the forefront of each character's mind, in Free! swimming is merely a vehicle to serve the story's main purpose: main character Haruka's emotional growth throughout the series. The series demonstrates Haruka's social and emotional withdrawal in the beginning of the series, then uses his involvement in the swim team to help him reconnect to the world. Often, however, the show will divert from even that plot to give fanservice moments and cute antics, which gives it an 8/10.

Art: 10/10

Easily one of the highest points of Free!, the show is absolutely beautifully drawn and animated. The visuals are clear and appealing, the colors pop pleasantly; all in all, the art is amazing.

Sound: 9/10

The sound for this series was also great. Though the opening theme might not seem to fit, it does work nicely with the rest of the sounds, which featured a wide range of styles from "muffled rap music in the distance" to "was that dubstep I just heard?" to the stereotypically cute town melody. It's not often I even recognize sound in anime, but watching the series, it does add to the overall enjoyment of the series. The end theme, sung by the main five voice actors, was cute and tied the show up nicely.

Character: 9/10

It's true: the characters are somewhat typical. I would, however, counter that with their overall likability. They play off each other nicely, and it's easy to tell the series really revolves around them and their emotional connections to each other. It's because of their interactions that I give them 9/10; if they didn't work together nearly as well, I'd rate them 8 or even 7/10 for being, frankly, a bit flat. As they play off each other, though, they drive each other-and the plot- forward, and are, again, fun to watch.

Enjoyment: 10/10

I've said this many times already, but Free! is just an enjoyable show. It's not a dark psychological analysis of the human condition, or an epic journey across time and space; it's just a few guys who like swimming and hanging out with their buds. Plain and simple. They swim, they make jokes, they get up to some wacky hijinks; there's the show. And it's absolute fun, especially when the series was running concurrent to such a dark show as Attack on Titan. It's a breath of fresh air from all the "darker and edgier" nonsense that's been going on. Just absolute fun.

Overall, I give the series a 9/10 in review; however, I feel it deserves a high 9, for whatever that's worth. If you're expecting something deep and meaningful, you'll have to work to find it in Free!- but if you're looking to watch a short series and relax, Free! is second to none.