Free does not spend that type of time explaining the sport. It's all kept to a minimum only explaining about the different swimming styles and strokes. Nope, the true attention to details is spent on the muscles of the swimmers. This is fanservice for the ladies. And I enjoyed that sparkling flowers and over the top body scanning scenes weren't used. Most of the time. Instead we get to see them on display through swimming, stretching, and working out. So it felt a little more natural. Which I appreciate. It's true I watched for the fanservice.
The characters were all stereotypical, but I do appreciate that the writing attempts to flesh them out. I won't claim it's great, but enough that I could tell them apart from their other stereotype partners.
The story basically evolves around why the swimmers swim and the mystery to what happened to Rin and Haruka. Not to mention the meaning of swimming free. For swimming for the team and not for selfish reasons. So there was that attempt.
If you want super Yaoi it's actually really tame. There's some veiled meaning behind water metaphors and such. As someone who is not Yoai fan I did enjoy it. AND I secretly want the next season to go there. Especially with things between Rin and Haruka. These to guys have serious chemistry. Many others do together, but Rin and Haruka are amazing to watch together.
To be honest though the writing and plot is all at a bare minimum. So while I enjoyed myself I know I'll never come back for a reviewing. There wasn't much there to require that. This is fanservice. From guys wearing swim trunks under their close to strip at a moment. The overly dramatic swim scenes where their breathing underwater and spanning the sexy bodies. Yeah. Fanservice. Not only that but I felt like the one really interesting character gets benched and underappreciated by his new friends. Here's to next season delivering more character development.
In the end this one is for those who like to look at the male form. You don't have to feel to guilty because there is some attempt to make it's man candy have personalities. The story is engaging enough that I genuinely wanted to know what happened in the past, and see these characters pull through to the future. Though I am happy it's streaming on Crunchyroll. This isn't one that I'd actually add to my collection, or rewatch in the future.
