Free! Dive to the Future

With the seniors having graduated from high school, the determined swimmers eagerly take on their futures with a dream to fulfill.

Now attending Hidaka University in Tokyo, Haruka Nanase unexpectedly runs into Shiina Asahi, an old teammate and friend from his middle school days. Consequently, the troubling memories regarding his middle school swim team resurface, as it was a time when Haruka's views on swimming became negative and led him to quit the team. Haruka later reconnects with his other middle school classmates; all except for Ikuya Kirishima, who still resents Haruka for quitting the team, resulting in its disbandment. Aware of the issues between them, Haruka resolves to improve his friendship with Ikuya. However, he quickly realizes that making amends with an old friend isn't his only obstacle.

Facing the reality and challenges of encountering higher calibre swimmers, Haruka must work hard to establish himself if he dreams of competing on an international level.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Matsuoka, Rin Main

Miyano, Mamoru Japanese

Tachibana, Makoto Main

Suzuki, Tatsuhisa Japanese

Nanase, Haruka Main

Shimazaki, Nobunaga Japanese

Kirishima, Ikuya Main

Uchiyama, Kouki Japanese

Shiina, Asahi Main

Toyonaga, Toshiyuki Japanese

Hazuki, Nagisa Supporting

Yonaga, Tsubasa Japanese

Ryuugazaki, Rei Supporting

Hirakawa, Daisuke Japanese

Yamazaki, Sousuke Supporting

Hosoya, Yoshimasa Japanese

Matsuoka, Gou Supporting

Watanabe, Akeno Japanese

Shigino, Kisumi Supporting

Suzuki, Chihiro Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Kawanami, Eisaku Director, Episode Director, Storyboard, Key Animation

Tsuruoka, Youta Sound Director

Yamada, Naoko Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Apr 5, 2024

Valentine07

Recommended

(Spanish review below).

Dive to the future is my favorite season of Free. There are too many things happening at the same time and they all excite me in the same way. The characters from the first two seasons, the OVAs, Take your marks and High Speed all come together in the same season and the connections between them intertwine and come to life.

Even having seen it so many times, it never bores me, especially the first chapters, which focus on Ikuya. Ikuya is my favorite character on Free and one of my favorite characters overall and I really like how his dilemmas come to life ... in this season and also how they're resolved. Little by little, the rest of the conflicts of each of the characters are resolved or they find a solution in the future, as is the case of Natsuya or Sosuke (a character that I didn't like at all in the previous season, but that I liked a lot in this season).

I was very happy to meet Mikoshiba Izusu, the only female character in Free who is also a swimmer. You could say that Izusu is a tomboy and I think she refreshes the series a lot. Also, I really like her friendship with Gou and Ayumu, mainly because the three of them are very different from each other and complement each other very well.

The only character I didn't like (and that no one likes) is Hiyori. He is a Sosuke 2, but even more unbearable. And this is my problem with the season: that, despite the fact that I love it and everything I already mentioned, it recycles the same plot of the first and second seasons, but together: an old friend of Haru returns to the scene (Rin /Ikuya), and they have their conflicts to see if they swim together, if they're friends again, why they swim, and so on; and, that old friend, also has a possessive best friend who only wants the best for him (Sosuke / Hiyori) and that is, from his point of view, getting away from Haru, with whom Rin and Ikuya are a little obsessed.

Around all of that there are incredible characters like Makoto (who is living his new adventure very well), Asahi (a character that I love and I really like to see again), Natsuya (the love of my life, although a little silly at times, luckily there is Nao to make him see it), Nao (very much in the chill vibe of Makoto), Kisumi (another character that I love and the only one who isn't a swimmer. Also, his friendship with Asahi is very cute) and the rest of the characters of Free that we already know.

Towards the end, the season introduces us to two "enemies" that Haru must face in the movies.

KyoAni's animation is wonderful, as always. You could even say that this season it shines even more.

As I have already said in other reviews, I love Free for its slice of life and dramatic content, more than for its spokon content (which is secondary in the series), and there is a lot of that in this third season.

Recommended? 100%. I am constantly quoting and thinking about this season.

...

Dive to the future es mi temporada favorita de Free. Hay demasiadas cosas pasando al mismo tiempo y todas me emocionan de la misma manera. Los personajes de las dos primeras temporadas, de las OVAS, Take your marks y High Speed se reúnen todos en una misma temporada y los vínculos entre ellos se entrelazan y cobran vida.

Incluso habiéndola visto tantas veces, nunca me aburre, sobre todos los primeros capítulos, que se centran en Ikuya. Ikuya es mi personaje favorito de Free y uno de mis personajes favoritos en general y me gusta mucho cómo sus dilemas toman vida en esta temporada y también cómo se resuelven. Poco a poco, el resto de conflictos de cada uno de los personajes se resuelven o estos encuentran una solución a futuro, como es el caso de Natsuya o Sosuke (personaje que no me gustaba nada en la temporada anterior, pero que me gustó mucho en esta temporada).

Me dio mucho gusto conocer a Mikoshiba Izusu, el único personaje femenino de Free que también es una nadadora. Se podría decir que Izusu es una tomboy y creo que refresca mucho la serie. Además, su amistad con Gou y Ayumu me gusta mucho, principalmente porque las tres son muy diferentes entre sí y se complementan muy bien.

El único personaje que no me gustó (y que a nadie le gusta) es Hiyori. Es un Sosuke 2, pero más insoportable aún. Y este es mi problema con la temporada: que, a pesar de que me encanta y de todo lo que ya comenté, recicla el mismo argumento de la primera y segunda temporada, pero juntas: un viejo amigo de Haru vuelve a la escena (Rin/Ikuya), y tienen sus tiras y aflojas para ver si nadan juntos, si vuelven a ser amigos, por qué es que nadan, y demás; y, ese viejo amigo, tiene además un mejor amigo posesivo que sólo quiere lo mejor para él (Sosuke/Hiyori) y eso es, desde su punto de vista, alejarse de Haru, con quien Rin e Ikuya están un poquito obsesionados.

Alrededor de todo eso hay personajes increíbles como Makoto (quien está viviendo su nueva aventura muy bien), Asahi (un personaje que amo y me gusta mucho volver a ver), Natsuya (el amor de mi vida, aunque un poco tonto a veces, por suerte está Nao para hacérselo ver), Nao (muy en la onda chill de Makoto), Kisumi (otro personaje que me encanta y el único que no es nadador. Además, su amistad con Asahi es muy linda) y el resto de personajes de Free que ya conocemos.

Hacia el final, la temporada nos presenta dos "enemigos" a los que Haru deberá enfrentarse en las películas.

La animación de KyoAni es maravillosa, como siempre. Incluso podría decirse que en esta temporada brilla aún más.

Como ya he dicho en otras reviews, Free me encanta por su contenido slice of life y dramático, más que por su contenido spokon (que es algo secundario en la serie), y de eso hay mucho en esta tercera temporada.

¿Recomendado? 100%. Estoy constantemente citando y pensando en esta temporada.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jun 1, 2025

SuperAdventure

Mixed Feelings

The first season of Free! was a surprise discovery for me and I said a lot of nice things about it, together with the first movie Early Days. Since then I can't get enough of the show and have watched almost everything the series put out; up to this season... Where I feel like the fun waterpark ride has come to a stop. This isn't bad anime by any means, it's not even a bad installment of Free, but compared to how it started it's simply not as strong as before.
The events of this season carry on where it left off with the Take ... Your Marks specials, with Haru, Makoto and Rin heading to university and the beginning of their adult lives. Gou, Nagisa and Rei are still in high school- they were underclassmen so this is obvious- but is where the problems begin. Then we have a whole new bunch of characters introduced from the different universities, setting up new rivalries for Haru and Rin to compete with in national competitions- the tournaments on the path toward international competition. THEN the show decides to reintroduce a couple of characters from the Early Days movie- Ikuya and Asahi- plus another- Hiyori (oh yes, I'll get to him in a minute!) ... AND THEN! They introduce some personal trainers who find their way toward Haru and Makoto who have their own backstories- and we still revisit Sousuke who is planning to head to Tokyo for surgery on his shoulder (busted rotator cup- ouch!!) but wait there's more- the Iwatobi Swim Club is still going but now headed by Rei & Nagisa who recruit a couple of new members (including a really cute girl I thought was a boy at first but still am not sure) OKAY HAVE YOU KEPT TRACK OF ALL THAT????

There are so many spinning plates in this act- that if you hadn't been paying really close attention to the first couple seasons and already know the main cast, you could never keep track of all the names. Not to mention there are some international swimmers who show up- in addition to Rin's Aussie friends... to put it another way, a new bishonen shows up every episode and they're getting harder to tell apart.
Of course, the stakes have shifted completely from the first season of Free that was really about the four boys Nagisa, Haru, Rei and Makoto (and Rin) discovering themselves and trying to understand why they want to swim and what is the meaning of teamwork. But in Dive To the Future, it's about so many different characters going their own way on different paths toward adulthood- and the teamwork dynamic is no longer a thing. Now it's all about the INDIVIDUAL. What do YOU want to do? Why do YOU want to compete? What's it mean to YOU?
And this is fine with Sousuke and Makoto- especially Makoto who has a very strong reason for wanting to contribute something to the next generation. But Haruka was never a well defined character- he spent 3 seasons staring into the blue and not saying much; and shouting at his friends when they tried to get him to just consider where he could go and who he should be. Now, he's making a decision- but it's never clear in the show if he has fully made it or not. He never seemed to care about winning before- "I just swim free" and probably because he always easily won. Now suddenly he has to care- and that transition hasn't fully matured.
And then we have HIYORI who is by far the biggest problem.
He isn't just a jerk who says nasty things to people; and naturally he's really good in the water- making him a difficult antagonist- but he's preventing Haru and Makoto and even Ahase from even seeing Ikuya, and acts as a barrier between Ikuya and every other character in the show. This is not a good thing. And his reasons for doing it only make him scary. His manipulative, possessive, passive aggressive demeanor that tries to shift a fake smile depending on who he is talking to- just gave me the creeps.

But the show's biggest sin is simply the huge cast has forced it to prioritize some characters over others- and that meant Nagisa and Rei (and Gou even) get relegated to background roles and are hardly seen or heard from. And every other character in this is fighting his own personal battle, so it never feels like a cohesive unit the way Season 1 and Early Days did. And if you ask MOST fans of Free I think they would mention the teamwork aspect; or how they all felt like a family, as one of the strongest features of the anime. So as a result it feels like something is missing- everything above is what's missing.
As anime it's just as good looking and well animated as previous seasons. I would say there wasn't quite as much movement in the water as before, and it doesn't try to do anything really special.
For all these reasons I can't give Free! Dive To The Future nearly as high a score. It's only good if you have watched everything that came before, and those previous seasons and movies were better than this. So it's an extremely well made anime, that left me feeling somewhat disappointed.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Sep 5, 2022

RetroLizard

Not Recommended

Since Utsumi left, the franchise has not been worth watching. They are milking a cash cow without a single iota of understanding of what made the series successful or what the fans liked about it. Everything that it has going for it now comes down to sound and visuals, and even though the animation continues to be impressive it isn't enough to make this season worth suffering through.

This was twelve episodes of obnoxious melodrama punctuated with only a few short cute moments with characters I've grown attached to. Humor is gone. Fun is gone. Having coherent character arcs with motivations that make sense and ... that have satisfying resolutions: Gone.

I also have to express how absolutely bonkers it drives me that a bunch of college age young men are still angsting over drama they experienced in MIDDLE SCHOOL. It's completely laughable. Or it would be, if this series was still funny.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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	Poll: Free!: Dive to the Future Episode 4 Discussion Stark700 - Aug 8, 2018	20 replies	by 3alawiii »» Jul 25, 1:48 PM
	Poll: Free!: Dive to the Future Episode 9 Discussion Stark700 - Sep 5, 2018	36 replies	by BlaizeV »» Jul 18, 9:43 AM
	Poll: Free!: Dive to the Future Episode 8 Discussion Stark700 - Aug 29, 2018	40 replies	by SuperAdventure »» May 27, 5:06 PM
	Poll: Free!: Dive to the Future Episode 7 Discussion Stark700 - Aug 22, 2018	33 replies	by SuperAdventure »» May 27, 3:58 PM
	Poll: Free!: Dive to the Future Episode 6 Discussion Stark700 - Aug 15, 2018	45 replies	by SuperAdventure »» May 26, 5:40 PM

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