I haven’t seen a series that handles major injuries and deconstructing stereotypes the way this one does, particularly the former. Yes, it’s cliche, but it treats Minato’s injury and recovery in a way you don’t really see that often. At least not since “Yuri on Ice!” or “Fullmetal Alchemist”. It also really focuses on how self-centered most everyone is around Minato’s injury, and how hard it is for junior high and high school athletes to excel, and the many pressures they have. There is a time crunch at that age, and people can break at the smallest losses, because the pressure is that bad. The show doesn’t present a solution for the problem (not that it has to), but it does point out that it’s not just one factor in the whole area of sports that creates the problem overall. It’s everything, whether it’s unsympathetic coaches, toxic masculinity, distant family members, the issues of growing up as a child of separated or divorced parents, particularly with a sibling involved, class status, simply time and effort… It’s just a lot. And the story also focuses on the fact that it is effort, not talent, that gets people ahead. That’s typical of sports shows, of course, but it’s emphasized in really unique ways.
The show also deals with little oddities you might write off as bad research or narrative shortcuts via anime cliches, but later brings it up “oh yeah, no, this is something that is a sign of inexperience/lack of knowledge on the characters part” and it’s really brilliant world-building that you just discount until you’re like “ohhhh”, though if you’ve been paying attention, you already took in the details and could have figured it out on your own. For instance, when they eat before a match (I used to be a competitive swimmer, this one bugged me). The pay-off isn’t typically immediate, but when it shows up, it makes perfect sense. Not as I guess a plot hole filler, but in a way you realize why it hasn’t been addressed prior to this. There’s a brief moment in episode 11 that was honestly perfect for this, and that’s littered throughout the story.
In a way there’s narrative frustration between “I want a story with a typical anime underdog” and also “I want to see the characters do well at the sport”, and the show favors the injury and character relationship plotlines more than the sport itself, which leads for an odd ending pair of episodes that at once feels a bit overwhelming but also puts you in the mindset of a bunch of players who have been practicing water polo for what sounds like around three months, versus players who have been practicing for literal years. Also, the latter has been practicing matches, not individual skillsets. And it’s kind of frustrating that the message is “friendship and having fun is what matters”, when a lot of the messaging is “we want to do well at this team sport in competitions”. “Free!” worked because they only had one underdog, and the guys mostly all knew each other, and a central message was about how rivalry is toxic. “Re-Main” tries to convince you that bonding with your teammates will make up for years of discipline and varied practice… but also that it literally won’t, and if you expected it to um… What is wrong with you? And then tries to sell you on the idea that it’s a satisfying story.
And that CAN work, in a way. If you’re happy with the parts that aren’t necessarily water polo. I personally enjoy most of the rest of the stuff, and even a lot of the water polo specific stuff is still enjoyable, even if it’s honestly painful to watch how predictably bad these newbie and untrained players are. And the fact that honestly, reminding us that your life shouldn’t be about medals but about enjoying what little time you have on this earth, particularly if you have good friends and something fun to do (a la “Sk8 the Infinity”), isn’t a bad message either, which is probably why so very many of these shows have that as a message. It just gets a bit muddled here. This gets closer to managing it better than other shows do, though.
If you want a story about a neat group of guys with interesting backstories and characters who don’t abandon their personalities for cliches (well… except in two cases, but it’s fun angst, anyway), and follows through on those things, and has a lot of really sweet heart-to-hearts between characters and supportive friendships, and episodes that just make you smile (and also hot guys), this is for you. It also honestly made me start tearing up around episode 7 on the regular, so there’s that for it. It’s not the easiest watch, but it’s enjoyable. And it honestly has an amazing set-up for season 2 if there is one, unlike a lot of other series that just continue to continue.
