Dear Rin and Sousuke, please get married already.
Bwahaha, I'm just kidding. I mean, yes, this anime is pretty gay, but that isn't really want I want to talk about here. [ and I don't know if I even ship Rinsuke ]
I was so surprised to learn that Sousuke fabricated the entire story about him being scouted. And now, I feel terribly sorry for him. He sacrificed so much just to be able to swim with Rin again. As someone who swims and participates in other sports, I know that any injury, if overworked to the point of which Sousuke did, can be debilitating and also can be a disability that will affect him for not only a year or two, but for the rest of his life. Considering that even after the two years of rehabilitation, his shoulder didn't quite heal, and he was still training in swimming when he joined Samezuka's team, I have my doubts as to whether Sousuke will ever recuperate from the injury. But that makes the impact of what he did just that much more meaningful. He gave up so much, maybe even the proper use of his shoulder for the rest of his life, just to swim with Rin. Once. Only once. And he would be content. I'm so happy to see that he finally was able to pull himself out of the darkness, and understand the meaning of swimming a relay. When he was a child, his words about a relay being too much responsibility to bear is only a half-truth. With that responsibility comes three people who will support you in whatever you do. Even if you mess up in the relay, your team will most likely never hold a grudge. Even though Sousuke was injured, as many of you probably saw, the rest of his relay team still supported him. They encouraged him to swim, and didn't scream at him even though he faltered in the relay. That, I think, is the most significant part of Samezuka's relay team. When you are on a relay team, none of the members of your team are your rivals. You are best friends, maybe acquaintances, but after those fleeting minutes of the race, you're closer than you ever were before.
When somebody cries in a movie or a book, I start crying too. I don't know how much more my little kokoro can take. At the end of this season, I'm pretty sure my kokoro will be brokoro into millions of little pieces. See, it's possible that Rin was upset because Sousuke had lied to him, but I think the realization of how much work Sousuke put into training so that he might be able to meet Rin again someday really hit home. It probably would be the same for any of us. Imagine if your friend had constantly been studying, working to the point where it started to have permanent affects on their health, just so you could meet in college one day again. I would never want anyone to sacrifice their well-being for me. Sousuke's devotion is something that really needs to be observed, because I doubt few people would continue working past the point of injury to reach a goal that might not even be attainable.
A big congratulations to Iwatobi for their win! Holy animation, that race scene was just perfectly coordinated, focused on just the right parts and I actually felt my heart pounding when I was watching it, not only out of anticipation to see who won, but also because the camera angles and shots managed to create a very intense feeling of drama. I'm lame, I guess. I get worked up over an anime.
I believe that something from Rin and Sousuke's conversation must have affected Haru. Maybe he's realized how much other people are sacrificing to be able to swim with him. Even though he doesn't like the attention, I believe Haruka needs to acknowledge the idea. There's clearly something going on in the next episode, though I can't say for sure what that will be. It appears as though we'll be having another fireworks/ nighttime scene with Haru and Makoto? I wonder what will come of the conversation this time. |