Free! Movie 4: The Final Stroke - Zenpen

Haruka Nanase's new stage is Sydney, the place of his dreams that he once visited. One day while taking a short break before his departure, Haru has a chance confrontation with a fellow athlete from the All-Japan Invitational. Carrying all the feelings from those he's swam with in his heart, Haru takes his first step forward into a new world.

Waiting for him there is the unmistakable champion, Albert Volandel.

In the lead up to the Sydney tournament, all the competitors attempt to boost their morale. What is each competitor feeling, and what do they swim for, as they attempt to compete at the top of the world?

Their passionate struggle against the water begins from here――！

(Source: Free! website, Translated)

Matsuoka, Rin Main

Miyano, Mamoru Japanese

Nanase, Haruka Main

Shimazaki, Nobunaga Japanese

Kirishima, Ikuya Main

Uchiyama, Kouki Japanese

Tachibana, Makoto Supporting

Suzuki, Tatsuhisa 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

Mikoshiba, Momotarou Supporting

Suzumura, Kenichi Japanese

Nakamura, Shinichi Producer

Saitou, Shigeru Producer

Suzuki, Megumi Producer

Nishide, Masayuki Producer

Reviews

Dec 27, 2024

MidniteAndBeyond

Recommended

This is a review of parts 1 and 2

Another finale in which I can't believe it took me this long to finally watch. I've been locked into the Free hype train since Day 1. I love Kyoto Ani and hope to one day see everything they've ever created, so it was a no brainer I'd end up going on this journey, one way or another. I truly, sincerely loved every single part of this series. Some may think Free stuck around for longer than necessary, but I was never at a point where I wanted to say goodbye. I'm so happy with the note that ... they're ending on, but I'd also happily return to this world and these characters if the opportunity ever presents itself again. Its really uplifting to watch a series all about unwavering passion for the things and the people that mean the absolute most to you in this world. That's what I got out of this series and what I think everyone could get out of it if you're willing to look for it. If you brushed off this series when it was at its peak popularity, I urge you to give it a fair chance. I really do think it'll surprise you in the end. Thanks for all the memories, Kyoto Ani. Until Next Water Time...

9.5/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Feb 18, 2023

No-Life-101

Recommended

The animation is absolutely amazing! The sheer amount of detail they add to each character, background, lighting and environment is beautiful, the reflections and textures look realistic and they act like they would if it were real life and it's pretty impressive. The music is powerful but doesn't overpower the scenes, it goes nicely with the storytelling and helps us get a deeper understanding of how the scene is being played out.

It was nice seeing the characters again after some time, and I still love them all. I love how they all know each other and we get to see different relationships instead ... of it just being from the main character's POV, it's a nice change throughout the movie. Some relationships changed throughout the movie, they got strong or some were tested and that was cool to see as it made the story progress. Speaking of the storyline, it was really interesting! I thought it was going to be similar to previous seasons of the show but it made itself unique. Before I knew it the credits were rolling and I was in shock from the plot twist at the end!

The VAs and development team clearly poured a lot of time and effort into this and it shows, the animation is fluid (no pun intended) and overall it is visually pleasing, with no harsh colours or loud audio, everything works well together!

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Sep 10, 2024

TheCompletionist

Mixed Feelings

When it comes to writing this review I unfortunately made the mistake of making the second last entry of this entire storyline my first time experiencing this story but despite not having much knowledge about the overall story since it spans a period of 9 years over three seasons and 7 films I can recognize what the biggest weakness of this entire film. It's a set-up film for bigger and grander things that personally I don't think it should really exist or a lot of the fluff throughout this entire film could be eliminated and the necessary/important things could be added to the final storyline ... film of this entire series because nothing is worse than trying to get people to watch a film without offering a proper conclusion until the reach the next and final film. It ultimately teases the audience, keeps them waiting, when this story could easily be resolved in a much shorter timeframe instead of needlessly trying to tell it in two films.

Free! Movie 4 - The Final Stroke is a competitive swimming anime that focuses around the characters Haru, Rin and Ikuya as they take their skills as accomplished swimmers in Japan to the world stage by travelling to Sydney. Australia to see how they match up with the best in the world while dealing with their own insecurities and interpersonal conflicts before and after the Sydney competition. Each of the main swimmers throughout this film have different ambitions with regards to what they want to accomplish and what swimming style they want to adopt and excel at in order to become the best in the world. Even if your a fan of the series or this film is the first film you watch in the series you'll definitely have your favorite swimmer you want to cheer for by the time the film ends. We also see their rivals and what they want to accomplish in the world of competitive swimming as well. Let's just say without spoiling too much, that each of the main swimmers throughout this film didn't ultimately accomplish what they wanted to achieve on the world stage and there is a lot of time spent trying to figure out what each of the swimmers need to do in order to excel in the world of competitive swimming even if it means permanently damaging friendships or adopting a new and harsh work ethic in the process.

I think one of the biggest problems with this film is there is way too many characters and it's hard to find enough time to address the most important characters throughout this films story and I almost feel there is a lot of time wasted on needless and pointless dialogue. It also doesn't help that for a competitive sports anime there is actually not a lot of swimming throughout this film and even the swimming that happens in this film feels incredibly lackluster without any significant build-up or tension every time each of main characters is in a race. I think it's often hard to make a sport such as competitive swimming incredibly engaging since most races can finish between the one and two minute mark and it's hard to have any significant build up for a sporting event that ends just as fast as it starts. With team sports that last a lot longer you often have the luxury of making things incredibly back and forth and even more engaging through each period, quarter or inning.

By the time the film ends many of the attitudes of the characters have changed as they prepare for the next competition and it gives you something to look forward to as you wait to watch the final film in the entire storyline. In a way, maybe it's good that the second last film was incredibly lackluster so it gives you something much more epic and fulfilling to get into.

I think one of the biggest positives going for the film is that it is beautifully animated. There is plenty of 3D mixed with the 2D animation style and I really have to give a lot of credit with regards to how the water was animated. The way that the water was animated throughout the film is incredibly beautiful and very addictive to look at especially in the racing scenes. The competitive swimming scenes for as brief as they were, still were wonderful to watch and beautiful to behold despite how short they were. There was a lot of detail put into how the characters were animated but sometimes some of the characters look very similar to each other. The music was incredibly fitting throughout the entire anime with not one musical track feeling weak. The music matched each scene it was showcased in and I do enjoy the abundance of very ambient melody style tracks throughout some of the stories much emotional moments. I did watch the film subtitled since I think it's the only way to watch the film, but one character in the film actually spoke english in the film and unfortunately it didn't sound very professional and in fact it was incredibly jarring which took me out of the film.

Ultimately set-up films can be both a blessing and a curse. They have the ability to tease you and to get you excited for the actual conclusion for a long and detailed story, but in this case it's at the cost of making the second last film of a dedicated storyline incredibly mundane and lackluster so that the final film will hopefully blow you away which is ultimately what this film suffers from and what it probably aims to do. It does get me excited to watch the final concluding chapter of this entire film but I truly wish there was more competitive swimming and a much more dedicated approach to specific character development instead of jumping around to as many characters as humanly possible in the second last film of this franchise. At the end of the day, the film isn't good but it's not bad either. I'm just hoping that this lackluster appetizer leads to a very satisfying main course of a final film for this series.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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