| There is something that has been bothering me with this season for quite some time now. During the first four episodes, I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but it was clear to me that something was off. Not only because it reminded me too much of season two (which basically had Haru going through a mid-life crisis); there was something more, something which laid like a thicccc moldy blanket over the whole season and left a bad taste in my mouth. Then came episode five, which focused almost completely on Nagisa and Rei and the new swimming club members. I thought "Hey, this was a pretty good episode!". It reminded me of the good old season one days and yet brought something new to the table thanks to the new members. Then came episode six AND THAT'S WHEN IT HIT ME AND I SUDDENLY UNDERSTOOD WHAT WAS SO WRONG WITH THIS SEASON Ladies and the few gentlemen watching this season, allow me to present you the two most destructive forces of season three:   Ever since Ikuya and his possessive boyfriend Hiyori first appeared in this season they have been doing nothing but ruining everything and what makes it worse is the fact that they are the center of the show. The creators expect me to care about Ikuya and Hiyori but why would I care about the troubles of these two whiners when they have not given me any reason to care about them? Ikuya is just kind of depressed all the time and Hiyori is an insecure, overly protective, OVER-THE-TOP-FUCKING-ANNOYING little bitch (I say this with sorrow in my heart, because I'm not used to hating the characters Ryouhei Kimura voices). What the hell is his problem? Meanwhile the other characters, AKA the ones that actually used to be the main characters, have been forced to take a backseat (especially Nagisa, Rei and Rin). Sorry but I'm watching this season because I want more of the Iwatobi gang, not because I care about the two new nuisances (seriously, I didn't even care about this fujoshi bait scene): Fuck you Ikuya and Hiyori and fuck you MoeAni for getting my hopes up with episode five! Also, an obligatory fuck you to FUCKERYmation for also dubbing this season and turning the main characters into annoying bro surfer dudes from LA. It's not world class badass! |
Comic_SansOct 30, 2018 6:46 PM
 Nico- said: Conversations with people pinging/quoting me to argue about some old post I wrote years ago will not be entertained@Comic_Sans oh no y arnt ppl dieing i need more ppl dieing rly gud plot avansement jus liek tokyo ghoul if erbudy dies amirite |
| The story was obviously done by S2. This is pretty much a sad attempt to get some more money before they move to the next fujo franchise (Tsurune next season). Sadly Kyoani's writers are what they are and Free's drama always kinda sucked. It doesn't help that they don't take big risks so the relationships between the characters are still pretty much the same despite the super-baity scenes (like the one at the end of this episode). The Yanhomo is pretty funny if you don't take him seriously though. tl;dr version enjoy the cute boys and don't expect good writing |
Jin_uzukiAug 15, 2018 4:51 PM
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| A fujoshi complaining about a manservice ? Like whaaat ? Who are you and what did you do to @Comic_Sans |
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| @Swagernator Being a fujoshi doesn't mean I will just accept anything. I have standards |
Nico- said: Conversations with people pinging/quoting me to argue about some old post I wrote years ago will not be entertained@Comic_Sans oh no y arnt ppl dieing i need more ppl dieing rly gud plot avansement jus liek tokyo ghoul if erbudy dies amirite |
| I think they would have been decent additions to the cast if the anime didn't choose the melodrama storyline for them. Or if at least their drama wasn't the main focus of the season. At this point I just hope it will be resolved before episodes 11-12, but chances of that are slim I feel like. |
| i agree. hiyori and ikuya are legit killing every ounce of hype i've had for this season it's tragic |
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silverwalls said: all i wanted this season was the boys coming back together and swimming together again or something like that ;_; i didnt sign up for this shit with characters that came from the moviesi agree. hiyori and ikuya are legit killing every ounce of hype i've had for this season it's tragic |
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| I hate it, but I have to agree. This Ikuya drama feels forced (sort of like those scenes in TV/movies where the main characters look for each other but don’t see the other as they walk by on the opposite side of the street or something)... it’s just frustrating for no reason and has no place in reality. The other issue is that with such a large cast, there is no cohesive plot line that could bring them all together. Instead we just sort of skip around, not really getting to know any of the characters at all, because there just isn’t enough time to develop them all in a 12 episode show that is divided into different storylines. Also, there is practically no swimming this season! Before, the common interest of swimming and competing is what brought the characters together and gave them their driving motivation for the season. Now it’s just some random backdrop to loosely tie the characters together. I miss the competitive spirit; I miss the fun and humor (which are almost completely absent this season); I miss characters having realistic motivations, setbacks, and goals. Even though parts of Season 2 were a bit overly melodramatic at times, at least Haru’s internal struggle was realistic, even if it was frustrating and not as fun to watch. Free used to be like Yuri!!! On Ice. Sure, you had fujoshi bait, but there was more to the show than just that. This season lacks the charm, fun, and competitive spirit that was present in its predecessors. It isn’t a good sign that we are now half way through the season, and there is no real plot line, suspense, or basically anything presented to look forward to. Unless they are counting on a 4th season or a 2nd part to this 3rd season, I can’t see how they can tell a cohesive story when they’ve barely even touched on most of the characters and are still in the process of even introducing some. |
killbethyAug 16, 2018 10:42 PM
kon said: silverwalls said: all i wanted this season was the boys coming back together and swimming together again or something like that ;_; i didnt sign up for this shit with characters that came from the moviesi agree. hiyori and ikuya are legit killing every ounce of hype i've had for this season it's tragic exactly! i was so excited to see the boys again and curious how they'd handle the college setting but it seems like they actually have no idea what to do with it so we ended up with college students reviving middle school drama and a bunch of new characters that no one cares about. |
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kon said: silverwalls said: all i wanted this season was the boys coming back together and swimming together again or something like that ;_; i didnt sign up for this shit with characters that came from the moviesi agree. hiyori and ikuya are legit killing every ounce of hype i've had for this season it's tragic Agreed! I thought that I was the only one who felt this way. I love the ''Free!''series for Rei, Nagisa, Haru and Makoto. I don't care for these new characters. I still enjoy the animation of the series, but I just want the focus to be on the main boys. Nagisa and Rei already get left out a lot and this season just keeps pushing them away. |
| Help the industry and buy Blu-rays and DVD's. Noragami is the best anime ever.  |
killbethy said: That's what it was! I was reflecting earlier about this season and why so far it hasn't really sparked anything in me like what the previous 2 seasons had. It's definitely that! Just the lack of real fun in it. Free used to be like Yuri!!! On Ice. Sure, you had fujoshi bait, but there was more to the show than just that. This season lacks the charm, fun, and competitive spirit that was present in its predecessors. Yeah, season 1 and 2 had stuff about Rin and Haru that they're just essentially repeating again for this 3rd season w/ Ikuya, but then we'd see the rest of the characters bond in different ways - cleaning up the pool, going through what happened on the island while training, and then finally all coming together to swim at the finale. When I think of Free! 1 and 2 I just get those moments in my head and how much of a blast it was, mainly because it felt as if the viewers were having as much fun as everybody else when it was happening. We still have the comedic moments with Nagisa and even Asahi's goofiness but overall in tone it just seems more serious than before with how Hiyori's behavior goes towards the others. |
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| I dont want to write too much (edit: too late) but you wanna know whats rly sad? I actually have enjoyed every ep so far (kind of?) I am not one of the salty people who complain about everything they dont care about. Actually I really cared for the Ikuya drama until recently. Btw I also originally really like Ikuya but hear me out. Ep six was not bad, it was stronger than episode four. BUT, I am getting reeeally tired of their bullshit now. Especially Hiyori's bs. I disliked him since ep2 when I realized he was a shady brat who apparently have some friendship issues Anyways, this episode really gave it away for me; realizing that I dont really want kyoani to fuck up my favorite franchise by making the entire season about one drama that we knew nothing about from before. People have already pointed out that the Ikuya drama was never really mentioned until this season, which is understandable because Ikuya was not an existing character until 2015 with the Starting Days movie. So it's understandable that they are trying to give him more of a character arc and something that we can root for. In terms of the main characters we have always been used to: Now, Haru has always been the main character since day one, but whyyy is Ikuya's name being mentioned like 50 times every minute meanwhile it feels like Haru barely gets any screentime? And whenever he does he is seen sitting around with either Makoto or Asahi, which is fine but they are only sitting at Asahi's sisters cafe talking about the issue with Ikuya and Hiyori. I really hope episode seven will make up for the drama and finish it all (I'm begging) and we can move onto what the anime should be about.. I mean it's in the title ''Dive to the Future'' but so far we have only been diving into a lot of unecessary drama that happened in the past. (yikes) Give me more rin and rinharu moments please because we all know that they are the characters that will end up going for gold. Actually I was really interested before s3 came out, I thought that Ikuya would end up being a buddy with Haru again and have Haru, Rin and Ikuya all go for the national stage buuuuut, when will that actually happen? /Shrugs |
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| I agree, the focus on Ikuya and OVER THE TOP FUCKING little bitch hiyori (as u said lol) is the reason I decided to drop this season. Like Ikuya isn’t that bad but omg hiyori is just ... TOO MUCH. And then not seeing enough of the main characters was the last straw for me. |
| I am not yet watching the third season but after reading that the third season is NOT really about Haru, Maku and Rin but some new characters no one likes - eh -_- |
| I honestly prefer free! without too much drama |
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| It's terrible and seems to be becoming gayer by the series. |
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| I finished the season a few days ago and my opinion hasn't changed one bit |
Nico- said: Conversations with people pinging/quoting me to argue about some old post I wrote years ago will not be entertained@Comic_Sans oh no y arnt ppl dieing i need more ppl dieing rly gud plot avansement jus liek tokyo ghoul if erbudy dies amirite |
| you're allowed to have your opinion, but as a fan of dramas, ikuya's story arc didn't bother me. he's probably the most complex character in the entire series. season 3 just helped cement him as one of my favourite anime boys of the year, and my second favourite character in the series. |
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| I think that without Hiyori, the Ikuya arc could have been better and much shorter too. Also, they should have spent more time on the Iwatobi SC and the new characters there - I fear they will abandon them when Nagisa and Rei will graduate and leave, and its not okay to create new characters, make us care for them and than just abandon them. If possible I would like a separated season just for the high school clubs, with Rei and Nagisa (the efforts to find new members, the efforts to build a new team). It could have been better than one episode and a few moments dedicated to them in this season (which is not enough). |
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| I don't really mind the focus on Hiiyori and Ikuya, but I do think they were giving too much emphasis/screentime. It would had been better if they had only spent like 3-4 episodes on them |
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