What did you think of this episode?
5Loved it!
53.6%
118
4Liked it!
27.3%
60
3It was OK
12.7%
28
2Disliked it
4.5%
10
1Hated it
1.8%
4
Average 4.3
220 votes
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| THIS IS AN ANIME ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS THE MANGA BEYOND THIS EPISODE. ---------------------------------------- Cool, it looks like this episode focused on the intense swimming competition that people were waiting for. The support for the Japanese team has been overwhelming. This episode reunited all the support and confidence of the swimmers. Felt like they captured the magic of the plot coming together for this episode finale. Personally, I think this season was pretty enjoyable wiith the pacing. |
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| No OP. Showing young main guy and his mother?! Highschoolers surprised to hear about how main guy swam without learning before kindergarten. Breakfast eating happening at same time again. Mamo's character hearing about main guy's coach. Everyone gathering up. Wow, Ikuya brothers battle?! Older brother is faster at the beginning, but younger one caught up. Both are first and second places. Shark senpai didn't get in. Red hair guy vs. that guy from the OP? He's like a crazy guy. Mamo's character vs. 3 finalists. Fortunately, he got 2nd. Main character didn't win. There's still more the next day. w. Uchiyama-san's character, Mamo's character, main character. Saying goodbye to everyone. The three talking, and so main guy does worry. Two coaches talking about their students. Special ED when final swim begins. "Blue Destination" by STYLE FIVE members + the two from High Speed. Sequel on 2020 (doesn't say if TV series or movie). So the two's swim continues 2020. (Thought so, they doesn't seem to want to end the story with this season) |
tsubasaloverSep 28, 2018 4:58 AM
I ♥ Two Syaorans from Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE and TRC!!! |
| News of a Sequel is great to know! Overall, a fine end to a fine series really! Ikuya and his brother got involved in a heated matchup though, I must say. Both getting the top places wasn’t surprising but the buildup to it was rather fascinating. Sad to see Haru not make it, but at least he hasn’t lost his motivations and all just yet. Haru beating Albert for a split second there though seems very unrealistic to say the least, but interesting nonetheless. Another highlight of the Episode for me goes to the first encounter between the two coaches, lol. It was pleasing to see all the cast of characters, of the Season rather, get together and it really leave off a sweet finale feeling. Moreover, Sound Department of this finale episode delivered as well, although there was no Op this time around. All in all, I’ll be awarding this show a well-deserved 6/10. Started off fine, followed up poorly and then ended fine, no biggies. I’m looking forward to seeing what the sequel project soon to come is all about. |
_MushiRock11_Sep 27, 2018 1:10 AM
#Anime4Life be my Life Motto! #PrayForKyoAni  |
Loved this season so much! I'm so proud of Natsuya and Ikuya, they really do need more love! Natsuya became my favourite character, next to Rin, the moment he appeared in High Speed!. And I really enjoyed how much they focused on Ikuya this season. The scene at the beach was so beautiful! It was so nice to see the three of them together. And when Haru yelled!!! So unexpected and so satisfying!!! I really want to know how the 100m match went! I wonder if they're going to release the trailer in the event they announced today~. But this season was so great! Sure, there were too many characters, but most of them were already introduced in the previous seasons and movies. I love all of them so I enjoyed every scene! New content in 2020 is definitely going to be amazing as well! |
| Overall a fine season, some episodes I really enjoyed, like the ones focused on Iwatobi swim club or Rin, some were just frustrating. I think the season would be much better without the Ikuya melodrama, that arc made this season weaker than the previous ones for me. |
| Didn't see Kinjou Kaede until the very last episode, the man is a literal monster. I don't think he's got anything on Swedish Phelps. The animation quality is so good throughout the series, KyoAni are excellent. My only gripe is that the character designs for newer characters are too similar that I get them muddled up some times but that's just me. The drama between Ikuya's faction and Haru's group was overblown in my opinion and dragged out too much. The actual swimming is the meat of the series is what I come for. We got more characterization for Haru as well as learning about his middle school past self. Not a bad takeaway I guess. It's consistent in quality with the other seasons. 6/10. |
 All credit goes to Sacred. |
| I'm being kind with my final 5 points...To be honest I'm glad it is over :( Leaving the nice animation aside I just didn't enjoy the initial drama and then the episodes and characters went all over the place and everybit of focus was lost along the lines |
| Oh god really? Really? I was already quite mad with this season. Don't get me wrong, I looove Free series. But this season... too many characters, drama, but yeah, I could live with that And now, the last ep, the one thing everyone was looking forward to - Haru vs Rin in a big tournament - and it was cut. Let's dive into the future my butt. 2020. New season, or a movie maybe. Anyway, it will be about Haruka, getting stronger, more drama and all that. This time it will be Haru helping himself/getting help and not about him helping his childhood friends. I will still watch it, but at this point I'm just watching it for Makoto. I mean, I watched this season in hopes of getting a few minutes of Mako-screen time. Yeah, that's a 7/10 from me (Mind you, previous seasons were 10/10) Cannot wait until 2020 to see another 50 more new characters, and getting 2 seconds of screen time for each of them. Oh I'm so salty after this ep. And it was so good until last few minutes. I considered giving the series an 8 or a 9, but oh well. |
| I like pancakes. |
| hmm... it's great that season 4 is confirmed for 2020, but the ending for this season made me speechless and confused. Who won the tornament and moved on to the awaiting future, that's the big question. Very unfair :( I was hopping for a better final than this one, so I'll give 7/10... |
 [*]My Completed List [*]♪Listen ► [/list][/left] |
| They didn't had to wait for Tokyo Olympics, they could have come to Brazil as well. XD |
| Ending was awesome as expected. Although I wish I could have seen Haru and Rin race again. And what's with the new guy Kinjou I think? The soundtrack that sounded when he was racing sounded like the Stranger Things theme song playing. XD |
| "Those that break the rules and regulations are scum. But those who abandon their friends are even worse than scum." -Obito Uchiha |
| it was garbage. they focused too much on useless, boring, unrelatable characters with a literal rip off of the drama we'd already seen with rin and haru in season 1 and 2 nothing new was added, there was little to no excitement or hype over anything during the entire season and what was supposed to be the REUNION of the century was handled so incredibly poorly it almost makes me laugh hopefully with this ikuya and hiyori bullshit finally out of the way season 4 might actually strictly focus on the original season 1 cast... we'll just have to wait for 2 whole years... |
| Personally I liked this episode and the entire season. While the first two were focused more on tournaments, this one is almost all dedicated to character development. Although Ikuya drama could be shortened in couple episodes and not halfway the season, I still give it 8/10. I didn´t even mind the cut in the middle of Haru swimming since Mikhail and the Dark Guy conversation (sorry cant remember his name, if it ever was mentioned) is clearly suggesting Haru has everything what is needed to qualify to the Olympics. Not to mention that beautiful animation, music, and overal very pleasantly drawn characters. Looking forward to 2020 ;) |
| “You are not alone, Ash. I am with you. My soul is with you.” - Eiji Okumura. |
| Worst season for this series so far. Also, that cliffhanger of saying Nanase could potentially set a new record at his current pace is such a trash move because now we gotta wait til 2020 to find out. 5/10. |
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| I really enjoyed the season. Personally, I quite like drama. Drama related to sport is even better. Ikuya is a complex character, it's hard to understand. This caught my attention in the film and also this season. I like it. However, Hyori is an annoying character. I think it would be better to have focused on Ikuya's relationship with Natsuya. I think it would have been a lot nicer to go with. The excess of characters also caught my attention this season. They are very characters for a short screen time. It bothered me countless times. I hope that the sequence deepens some characters, like the trainers and the new rivals. In fact, the sequence will come in 2020, the same year of the next Olympics. This is perfect. I'm already in the hype! For me, this season was 9/10 because of the little screen time that had to be distributed to many characters. Some unnecessary characters. Except for that, I really enjoyed this season. I love episode 2. |
Gimme more character development and/or romance. Probally a shotacon. |
| I didn't enjoy this season as much the previous ones, but solid final with top notch animation. Also a lot of teasing for the next season, looking forward to that one and the competition on an international level. |
One Piece episode 914 & 915 & 1027 were a mistake and 957 brought the salvation - FMmatron |
| I'm surprised they ended it with cliffhanger |
| Hah, I knew there would be a 4th season. Especially when we got like 75% of the ep in and there was no way they were finishing even the qualifiers. Well season was pretty solid overall. Ikuya drama was kinda meh, but tbh I'd be lying if I said I wasn't really excited for the next season. I really hope we focus more on actually racing and working towards being professional swimmers and such in the next season. They have introduced so many strong swimmers that are capable of swimming at the top level, so I just wanna see that stuff. No more melodrama plz. |
| For people who haven't watched the film, this season is probably disappointing cause so many new characters from the film are the main focus of the first half of the show. Plus that first half was very slow in pace. But for people who have watched it, I think it's still as enjoyable as ever |
| Just make it a 2 cour for god's sake. T^T |
TriZen said: For people who haven't watched the film, this season is probably disappointing cause so many new characters from the film are the main focus of the first half of the show. Plus that first half was very slow in pace. But for people who have watched it, I think it's still as enjoyable as ever I agree. In my opinion, the movie High ☆ Speed !: Free! Starting Days and also the movie Free!: Take Your Marks are prerequisites for this third season, in addition to the previous two seasons, obviously. The experience is certainly more enjoyable if you have watched the movies. |
| Gimme more character development and/or romance. Probally a shotacon. |
| the last 3-4 episodes of the season ended up being just as good the previous seasons, but the other episodes were so disappointing i can't really give this a higher rating. i just hope the sequel in 2020 improves on that again. they spent too much time on the awful hiyori+ikuya drama and introduced a lot of new characters that barely got any screentime. it was just too much. i just wanted to see more of the iwatobi + samezuka boys and not all of the other shit. but i've got to say, this was a decent finale (could have done without seeing ikuya and hiyori again but you know....) |
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| Omg yes yes yes!! Fourth season confirmed!! This made my day!!! They left us with a cliffhanger, but I bet it's worth the wait! |
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| Haru showing that many emotions at the end were rare lmao |
 "Please stop talking about math when I'm eating." |
| The story is too repetitive. In season 1, the art, drama, animation, and soundtracks, all created this sense of excitement. Now, I am just used to all of them. Actually, it was rather boring. There are way too many coincidences in this anime. I know that stories are filled with coincidences. However, this anime has gone too far to the point that I can't suspend my disbelief anymore. They are seriously making another sequel. It's like they have no respect for this story. Sometimes, the best thing you can do with a story is to end it. We know the characters' lives continue even after the anime, but we don't need to see everything! When Haru stood up and went near the ocean, I understood he was about to scream. I skipped it so I won't have to hear it, but I heard a little anyway! I slapped my face and my palm could feel my face cringing. I loved all of them in season 1, but now I really dislike most of them. The new characters look like they are from some crappy shounen series. I feel like that one of the junior students, in Nagisa's school, is also there in Kuroko no Basuke. (Though, the latter is not bad as it ended when it was time to end.) |
| Nanase lost again, ay! this is too much how can you lose again. I was also surprised by his sudden shouting by the sea, he's usually conservative and serious. Rin is the man the story should be focused on, he's the one that inspiring and far ahead. Nanase is always placed as this great character by other characters but damn does he lose, there is nothing inspiring about him. Also this season was the weakest of all with less focus on swimming and more on over kumbaya moments instead. The animation is still eye candy but damn was the plot so weak. Lamest season ever, but I will be gentle because its free after all. 6/10. |
How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb --- Dr Strangelove  |
| I might be in the minority but I did not care for any of the new/reocurring characters' arcs sans the Iwatobi guys. Ikuya, his brother, Souske and Rin . .. nothing. I've seen the movie and Ikuya felt ok there but I feel like they're trying wayy too hard to give the side characters some importance that we get sidetracked from the main plot. The entire season felt like a pointless farce to keep Haru emotionally distressed so he can't get to his full potential just yet - KyoAni is milking this boy for all he's worth and stunting him in the process. This season proved Haru is so emotionally fragile, as well. Tell that guy he ruined your life and he'll think about it for years to come despite only meeting you for like three minutes lmao In the end I'm really disappointed. I realize this is 100% a series made for fanservice but c'mon. . . 6/10 only because my man Makoto got screen time, animation, and I'm still a fan of this goddang series. Here's hoping the next season tries to be an actual sports arc instead of drama. If money is what you want KyoAni just pair someone up, already. Teasing will only get you so far. |
| Well... I liked that this episode was focus on the big tournament and that I could see all the characters from previous seasons, as well as the new ones. However, the idea of trying to cover up all the competitions in only one episode... it kind of messed up the big finale. Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to the next season/movie to know more about all these characters, old and new ones alike. I only hope that we don't get more meaningless 'melodrama', like the one we got with the Ikuya/Hiyori's arc. 6/10 |
J-ForeverJun 29, 2019 3:08 PM
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| I couldn't watch Episode 12 until a couple of days after it came out, so I already knew about the new season planned for 2020. But while I was watching, I kept thinking that I would've freaked out SO MUCH if I hadn't know about that, because the whole episode, from the first frame to the last, feels so much like a series finale. Maybe that's the reason why, even if I knew this wouldn't be the last I saw of the boys, I couldn't stop crying during the episode. Oh my, I loved it. I know this season has been very polarizing, but I'm definitely in the minority here because I enjoyed it so much. I've never encountered another anime (or show, or movie, or book, or anything) that helps me forget about my shitty life and problems quite like this one (also, Silver Spoon). I will be waiting impatiently for 2020. |
Fly High. Swim Free. You Can Be A Hero.  |
| kyoani whyyy!! 2020??! anyways! it's not a surprise that i love this series and all its characters. HOWEVER... this season is a bit.. idk i'm thinking about either a 7 or 8... it's hard because i am a bit unsatisfied overall with how the pacing went and how it just didnt feel that connected. i agree with others, the hiyori/ikuya drama wasn't that great. the ikuya/natsuya thing was also a bit random and had little background. my issue with ikuya is that he brings nothing new to the table. we already have a character like him.. who got his development. aka nanase haru lol hiyori was.. not as interested as i expected. cute voice, cute design but.. a bit :/ i dunno asahi is probably the only "new" character i really liked. he's a breath of fresh air and really motivating to watch! i am so happy my number 1 fave seiyuu voices him ^.^ |
| Like other people above, I really love the Free! anime, but this season was a bit below in comparison in my opinion. I spotted two major flaws : -The Ikuya/Hiyori drama that was a bit depressing and too long. The episodes 3-4-5-6 were very slow and no really entertaining I'd say. -There were too many characters, too many sub-plots, and 12 episodes were not enough to expose them correctly. Some parts seemed really rushed. But it is still Free. Good animation, action, some funny moments (less than in the two other seasons though), appealing characters. I give a solid 8/10 despite the flaws. I'm reeaaaally looking forward the season 4, hoping it is really a full season and not "just" a movie or what. |
| Fuck this season 3/10 I'm still going to watch season 4 though |
 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 first half of the series too much friendship drama and the second half is alright. I kinda like how they introduced Natsuya in the first half but later on he is not really significant sad </3 Felt so happy for Sousuke :') I really loved the scene when Rin almost cried when Sousuke told him that his surgery went well. Look forward to see more Sousuke in the future. and ughh.. the cliffhanger at the end.. I blame the friendship drama for taking up so much time D: 2020.. alright >.> |
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| It's over. This season made me feel happy and sad all at the same time. In the sad part, Ikuya melodrama ruined this season and the worst part is that it took 8 episodes to solve it. Also, there is too many characters. In the good part, the last four episodes were very good. Natsuya is the only new character that I really liked. 5/10 for the anime. At least season 4 is confirmed for 2020. |
| BANZAI NIPPON. Nippon is the Land of freedom. Nippon is the Land of Peace. Nippon is the Land of Justice and Prosperity. In Nippon, we trust. We love Nippon, we love Anime. Anime love us, Nippon love us. 日本 |
| This series got really, really bad, this was the worst season by far. Who even remembers all of these random characters? They have no personality at all, and all they talk about is pool-related shit. Which makes some sense I guess, but even in Haikyuu or Kuroko, it's not like they were talking ONLY about their discipline over and over again... They should add some new ideas, instead of reusing old ones, like with Haru saving people from depression with his swimming style x'D I need a long break from this, seriously. AND THERE WASN'T EVEN ONE CUTE BROMANCE SCENE, this felt like a filler before Olympic season, or whatever they're gonna do in the future. Meh! 5.5/10 |
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| I guess Rin x Gou didnt happen, but there was progress between them!!!! |
ooo333 said: I guess Rin x Gou didnt happen, but there was progress between them!!!! er, rin and gou are brother and sister???? not my favorite season but in the end it's free. ❤️ i stopped the season in the middle to watch high speed and take your marks and they actually made the season more enjoyable (specially high speed) and the new characters more fleshed out to me. it was like i knew them from a long time ago just like them. of course we're gonna have a season in the year of the japan olympics, but i really wanted to see that last race to the end. ); fell in love with rin and sousuke all over again this season - individually, i don't ship them. and i really liked natsuya. my biggest fear? it's like they're building up their shoulders to show the time passing and their training results. if this keep up, they're gonna look like jojo's characters in 2020. (not so popular opinion: i'd love to see one or some of them getting girlfriends/relationships in the next season too - just not between them exactly. not everyone is aiming for the world stage and it would be nice to see makoto or idk, even gou in a relationship in the future.) |
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| Honestly, Rin's race was the only good moment of this final episode. I'm glad he managed to qualify for the World Tournament and I was a bit interested in seeing his so awaited confrontation with Haru but the studio decided to conclude the season in a sort of cliffhanger... talking about being anticlimactic. Such a disappointment but well. Without a doubt, this was the weakest season of Free so far. Ikuya's drama was extremely boring and the way it was handled was even worse. I also didn't like the pacing and the way these last episodes were directed so I really hope the next season can fix this issue. 3/10 |
| Gosh, this was so overwhelming.. There's just too many characters, too many points of view and side stories, I can't.. The flashback scenes did get me nostalgic, the plot then felt straight and easy. Now it's all bouncing from one point to another and you don't have time to focus and invest yourself in the story or new characters.. oh well. I did enjoy the race between Kirishima brothers tho. |
Katsu-kunJul 9, 2019 2:00 PM
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