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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.