High☆Speed! Movie: Free! Starting Days (Free! Starting Days)

Haruka Nanase and Makoto Tachibana have started middle school and must adjust to the changes that come along with growing up. While Makoto fits in with his classmates and remains positive about swimming, Haruka struggles to befriend others or join his school's swim club, as his previous issues with swimming trouble him. Distancing himself from his lively classmates and the swimming club, he has difficulty deciding which club to join instead. The rest of his classmates, including Makoto, are also hesitant as to which clubs to participate in. After an argument leads them to join the swimming club anyway, the boys strive to hone their skills, harmonize their swimming styles, and refine their conflicting feelings toward swimming and each other.

As determination and talent run high, Haruka and Makoto—along with their classmates—discover themselves and improve their talents during their starting days.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Adaptation:	High☆Speed!
Sequel:	Free!

Nojima, Kenji
Japanese

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Cook, Justin

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Nakamura, Shinichi

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Saitou, Shigeru

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Nishide, Masayuki

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"Aching Horns" by OLDCODEX

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Jan 24, 2016

_Launi_

Recommended

Story:
High Speed gives a closer look into the lifes of Haru and Makoto before they go to Iwatobi High (Anime Series), so it's not necessary to see the anime before, but can be also seen as an addition to it. At the start of the movie the story goes on rather slowly, but with a lot of funny scenes, that made me laugh more than once. The watcher gets to know the new characters Ikuya and Asahi and also can recognize the ones, already shown in the anime like Kisumi or of course the main characters Makoto and Haru. After this the stoy goes on ... with a faster pace, but for me it didn't feel rushed at any time and the time went by like nothing. The fanservice strongly focused on the relationship between Haru and Makoto in this movie, which is amazing for a fangirl like me but could be rather annoying for someone, who is not into it that much. But it's Free so I guess we gotta live with it .(It's not like I would complain about it anyway) Towards the end of the movie the story gets a lot more emotional and really moved me to tears sometimes. Sadly the ending was a bit disappointing since it felt abrupt for me and for a moment I wasn't even sure if it was over already. I kept wondering why Asahi and Ikuya didn't appeared a single time in the anime (f. e. in a flashback) even though they built a strong friendship with Makoto and Haru in the movie.
All in all I will give the Story a solid 8!

Art:
The Art will forever be one of the things I love most about Free! The Art is just incredibly outstanding! The backgrounds f. e. the cherry blossoms are really detailed. Also in scenes, where the watcher sees with Harus eyes, when he swims, or when a pool is shown, the water is also drawn with a lot of effort and looks truly beautiful. The beautiful art style also applies to the characters. The character design is amazing and also matches with their personalities a lot. Every single character looks stunning in his own way and had his own unique appearance. There were no characters (excluding supernumerarys) that looked much like each other, except the ones where it was logical because they're related (-> Ikuya and Natsuya (brothers) have the same eyes).
I think this text shows clearly that I can't give the Art anyhing less than 10 points, it's just absolutely amazing!

Sound:
Okay, first about the seiyuus (japanese voice actors): I’m really glad that they decided to keep the seiyuus for Haru, Makoto, Rin, Sousuke and Kisumi, with the reason that their voices start to deepen at that age. I’m really in love with the Free! Cast and even though the voices sometimes seemed a bit too dark for such small boys, their voices brought something well-known in the movie and connected it to the anime series, which I really liked. Also the voices for the new characters fitted their personality. Sadly the „their-voices-start-to-change-at-that-age“ – theory didn’t work on Nagisa, so they casted a woman to synchronize him. In my opinion his voice was a bit too high and annoying at some time… Another thing I have to highlight about the seiyuus is the amazing work of Tatsuhisa Suzuki as the voice of Makoto. I always think that Makoto is one of his best roles ever, because he managed to adapt his voice without sounding odd, even though Makotos voice distinguishes a lot from Tatsuhisas „normal“ voice.
Talking about Suzuki-san , this leads to the second topic: the music. Some of you maybe know that the Theme Song „Aching Horns“ was performed by Tatsuhisas band „Oldcodex“ with him as a singer. Of course it’s a matter of taste and if you like J-Rock, but in my opinion the song is really amazing and will always remember me of the movie!
The soundtrack playing during the movie was good and really beautiful sometimes but sadly I don’t remember most of the tracks and had to look them up again before writing this review…what I noticed however was that they took some soundtracks from the anime and revised them. (For example the well-known track „Words that changed my Life“ got a new version called „Precious Words“ in High Speed)
After all I will give 9 out of 10 points for the sound!

Characters:
At the beginning some of the characters may not seem understandable to the watcher since their reactions to some situations don’t really make sense to them. However later most characters get at least one scene of the movie focusing on them and revealing their backstory, which makes them more understandable for the watcher and feel sorry for them. Some of their storys really made me cry. But it was not only for the new characters like Ikuya and his brother but also with characters, some of you already know from the anime! High Speed showed especially Makotos flaws more exactly than the anime did and made me feel really sad for him. Also I can understand Sousukes character even more now after watching the movie. Concerning the side characters I’m really happy they included some already known characters like Nagisa and even Rei, even though they were not important for the plot at that time. I also like the new side characters, like Nao and Natsuya!
All in all 9 points for the characters~

Enjoyment:
For me as a huuuge Free! Fan the movie was just the best movie ever! (I did my best to be objective though~) I think people, that are interested in anime about sport but also about friendship will love this movie, especially if they enjoyed the anime series too! The movie has funny as well as emotional scenes in it and for someone who likes this combinaton, it’s definitely a good recommendation!
I would totally watch it again and again so 10 points for me!

Thanks for reading I hope I stayed more or less objective ^^’

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Jul 30, 2016

Sir-up

Recommended

Oh my god, you have no idea how long I've been waiting for this. Honestly, I was actually very worried about this movie. I didn't think that Free! really needed a prequel since there are so many flashbacks from elementary school in the anime show (which is taking place during high school), so we already knew a good amount backstory for Free!, but it was actually very interesting to see what was going on between elementary and high school.

Man, the story. I did keep my expectations low. Or, I didn't really expect anything at all (neither positive nor negative stuff) and I ended up being ... blown away.
It starts off by introducing all of the characters very well, one by one. About the first half of the movie, we're getting to know them and the setting. And then the emotional drama starts happening. Haruka, Makoto, Ikuya and Asahi go through mental challenges, Makoto is questioning his choices, Haruka isn't too sure about himself or his friends either. They're all facing struggles thats effects them as a team.
It's easy to keep up with this movie, the main aspects aren't too complicated and we only focus on one big thing at a time.

Kyoto Animation did an amazing job with the art, style, animation, background details and usage of colors. Everything goes so well with each other and this movie is just stunning to watch.
Same applies to the music. Free! wouldn't have been Free! without this music.

I was worried about the new characters, mainly Ikuya and Asahi. I'm sure that I wasn't the only one that got reminded of Haruka and Momotarou when I took my first glance at them. But High Speed suprised me! Yes, Ikuya's facial expressions are similar to Haru's, but he's still very different as a character. Asahi is energetic like Momo, but he's still different from him. What I'm trying to say is that all of the characters ended up being different and likable.
Haruka and Makoto are.. Well, pretty much just like how you would expect. Their strong bond is very known, and you can clearly see it in this movie. Haru knows when something is off about Makoto and same goes for Makoto. In the flashbacks from the actual show, their bond didn't seem that strong, so I'm glad that we got to see how close they actually were as kids/pre-teens. Makoto also shows a deeper side of himself.
I would say that Ikuya had the hardest time. He was a quiet boy, but he would still talk whenever he could and add a bunch of comments. I respect Ikuya as a character because he had so much more pressure on him than the others. As his bonds with the boys got stronger, he would open up more, and share more about his life. He's also a very cute character, almost being shy in the beginning.
Asahi would be more of a stereotypical character in anime, but there's still something special about him. The way that he interacts with the others makes him seem like an idiot, but being his confident self, it doesn't bother him. However, he's still facing other types of struggles.
All of the characters end up being very strong, and they have great developments.
I loved how Nagisa, Rei, Sousuke and Rin would pop up once in a while, I mean, they were still involved with the main characters' lives. Plus, it was so nice to see what /they/ were doing in the meanwhile. Don't get me wrong, they only showed up at occasions where it fit, when they were useful to the plot.
(During the dramatic, moments near the end, I WAS SO SCARED AND WORRIED FOR ALL OF THEM, I GOT EMOTIONALLY ATTACHED TO THEM SUPER QUICKLY. They went through so much ohh lord)

I truly enjoyed this movie to the fullest. I'm already very interested in swimming, and the messages that Free! is trying to bring about friendship, the future and freedom, are also important to me. Starting Days does bring up a lot of the same stuff from the actual show, but I would say that first and foremost; this movie is about acceptance, of oneself and of others (the key to happiness). It's all about these boys being willing to work together as a team. And It's so beautiful.
I recommend this movie to people that value these aspects in life, or just want to have a good time.

I'm going to go and rewatch this now.

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Apr 28, 2016

imjusthungry

Recommended

High☆Speed!: Free! Starting Days is a solid movie that will likely be enjoyable to fans of the TV anime, and potentially even those unfamiliar to the franchise as a standalone coming-of-age film.

The story, while nothing exceptional, is solid. There is a degree of repetitiveness among the two seasons of the anime and this movie in terms of main themes and sources of conflict, and if this movie's other elements weren't so well-done I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much as I did. Fortunately, that's not the case. The movie had uncertainty about the future, family drama, and, as this is Free!, friendship being its main ... drivers, and while it did get a bit too melodramatic sometimes, overall I feel that the story was handled well and made for a movie that had some substance instead of having it be an hour of fanservice, which was a route they could have easily gone down.

There are some moments in the film that feel a bit awkward or shoehorned in (for example, Sousuke had more interaction with the gang than I'd previously thought from the way they act towards each other in the future, and I did question Haruka's future attitude towards competing.) but I don't think they detracted from my enjoyment of the film in a major way.

Where I feel this movie did an exceptional job is its characters. I was worried, at first, with such a large number of the main cast (especially since there is already an established universe) being original characters (not counting the novels). I was pleasantly surprised that all of them received some amount of development and had good, believable dynamics with each other. Overall, both new and familiar characters were likeable in their own ways, and I found myself emotionally invested in them.

One other thing that the movie did excellently is developing the relationship between Makoto and Haruka. For characters whose relationship in the future is already so well-known, their interaction in the movie never felt unimportant and are, in fact, what I believe are some of the strongest points of the movie, whether or not the larger franchise is considered. I left the theatre with a greater appreciation of their friendship, and I believe a better understanding of the relationship between the characters' older selves.

This being a KyoAni production, it was definitely a visual treat. While
I do think their style can be rather bland, the movie is undeniably very pretty, with fluid animation, great backgrounds, and good use of colour when it counts. There is one particular scene between Makoto and Haruka that was animated beautifully (more so than the rest if the film,) which I feel really emphasised it as a pivotal moment.

The sound and music were also fine, and served their purpose well. The music will sound familiar to those who have seen the series. It's not a soundtrack that will merit multiple replays on its own, but it was definitely effective in the context of the movie.

Overall, this is a movie I can recommend without reservations to a fan of the series. While I can see how it might be less interesting to someone not already interested in Free!, I think it still merits a watch for anyone who wants to see a beautifully animated but sometimes slow-moving coming-of-age film.

Note: I saw this movie in Japanese with no English subtitles. I am currently a Japanese language student, and while I'm confident that I understood almost everything in the movie, there may have been some things I missed. I will update this review if my opinions change after I see it again once the DVD comes out.

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