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| It seemed clear that the pressure was going to hinder Haruka's performance, but my jaw dropped flat when he just stopped and stared up. This just keeps hitting harder and harder, Haruka snapping really drove it home for me because I know what it's like to be talented in something you have no drive to excel in, yet everyone else constantly pushes you expecting that you owe a responsibility to make use of those talents. It was heartbreaking to see how devastated Rin was as well, to see his best friend giving up after they spent so much time competing and pushing each other. Seeing Sousuke at the end really hammered it all in though. Just...wow, the drama is back. |
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| Damn this episode~ Poor Haru just wants to swim with his friends and be free, but nobody let's him, they put too much pressure on him. He was bound to snap. Can't believe he just stopped swimming and stood up And that last scene with Sousuke =( breaks my heart |
| Gosh, finally some emotions from Haru. I knew something would happen during his race, but I wasn't expecting something like this. Free!, more angsty than your regular angst d4rk anime. |
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| I can understand Haru's emotions but it's silly of him to stop swimming in the middle of his heat just because scouts are watching... Anyways, really different episode from previous episodes...or rather, this entire season 2 is very different from season 1. I'm liking it. It's a good different. |
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Pknoctis said: I can understand Haru's emotions but it's silly of him to stop swimming in the middle of his heat just because scouts are watching... . In reality, it's not something you can really control. When you have a meltdown, you would just drop everything. Haru felt like he was no longer free and was stuck, drowning in the water. He is no longer free and not swimming with his friends either, therefore he has no reason to swim in that competition - or to even swim at all. ~ People are shocked about Haru snapping though but most people would've snapped long before that. He may not look like it, but Haru has emotions in his own way. I think what was silly of him was to not confide in anybody about the way he was feeling before he started swimming the competition. Makoto asked him twice what was wrong - people don't ask what's wrong without wanting to know what is wrong. |
| I feel like the show is giving Makoto the short end of the stick. He loves to swim. He may not be as passionate about it as Haru or Rin but it's definitely something he wants to do. I feel like they're building up him leaning more towards the average for some reason, so if they don't I'll be confused and a little bit depressed for him. I wonder if he'll be scouted. Haru yelling was awesome. I agree that turning something that can be so personal for athletes into an American Idol-ish spectacle is kind of demeaning. But Rin is also in the right - Haru clearly wants to swim and if he wants that he has to work towards that future, even if it means jumping through some hoops that are unpleasant. |
| ^ Yeah this season's making me pity Makoto because he feels like he's not as good as the other two. And I can relate to how he feels too, because I'm also someone who's passionate about something but not good enough to become a professional or prodigy. |
| Nooo haru my boys are falling apart ;_; I can totally relate to him all that pressure I don't blame him for snapping This is a show about swimming god dammit I didn't sign up for all these feels And sousuke poor sousuke he needs to stop now he's in so much pain :( This episode was hard to watch... And the ending didn't cheer me up like it usually does D: 5/5 |
laputiaSep 3, 2014 2:10 PM
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| That was such a dramatic good episode. Dealing with extreme pressure. |
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| Poor Haru. He's choking under the pressure. Sousuke's my least favorite character, but I couldn't help but feel for him when he was in the shower in pain. Sent with Mal Updater |
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| Oh so Haru is afraid of expectation, hmm wouldn't have guessed that from him. Gonna put this series on hold for a while, kinda not feeling it anymore. |
| Honobono Log - best slice of life short -------------------------------------------- most kawaii loli overlord ---------------------------- Donquixote Doflamingo AMV - Control |
| Haru is all about being free |
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| Awww, that was so good! So sad that Haru got overwhelmed by the pressure of scouts when he just wants to swim because he enjoys it with friends, awww. Rin had to have a go at him. |
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| ahh this was such a painful episode |
| I think that anyone who has had anxiety and breakdown's from expectations can really relate to this. Even if you don't swim... It's like it's an invisible weight on you and you just... stop. You cease to function. Even in incredibly inconvenient circumstance. You can't control it, and it just gets to your head. I feel so bad for Haru. He wants to swim to be free. I understand his friends are happy for him and want him to use it towards his future, but no one can see he just likes the euphoria. It's really hard to tell people that and watch them get sad about it too... You don't want to let them down, but you don't want to let yourself down either. |
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| Amazing episode as always. <3 But I was so dreading the scene where Haru swam, I knew it wouldn't be pretty... He needs to be free, and what everyone was saying kept him from being that way. And poor Sousuke. Still don't like him, but that looked painful. |
| Aand the feels from season one are finally back with all their strength... I feel so bad for Haru.. That nightmare was horrible and then the race.. B-but please... Don't yell at Rin... Not my poor Rin. The angry burst Haru had was obviously very shocking to all since it is so not like him. The shock could be seen on Rin's face so clearly. And Sousuke... It was painful to watch. I want that Rin will get to know about this asap. I know he'll notice it soon, but I want, no I need him to know about it before the relay. I really hope it is something that can be fixed - if Sousuke doesn't just make it a lot worse by continuing to train with the injure. I have a bad feeling he might end up having to stop swimming. And I fear that he'll mess up the relay for Samezuka. |
| "Oh, I wasn't trying to be funny.. I would've put a 'Haha' at the end of it." |
| This is one hell of an episode. |
 “Even if the attention isn’t forever, I’ll keep singing.” |
kitten320 said: While Haru might not want to be a professional swimmer, he still needs to sort his future out. Once school ends, that's it for his carefree days. He will need to support himself somehow, swimming for fun won't do that. one thing that i never really understood is how haru supports himself. doesn't he have a family? it's not just a father and a mother? he doesn't seem to mention any relatives. i wonder if sousuke isn't lying. maybe this break year isn't about swimming with his friends. maybe it's because of the injury. he's probably supposed to take a break and let his shoulder heal or something like it. or idk, maybe he already lost his scholarship to it and doesn't want to deal with it and is pretending everything's alright. |
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| Great episode. Wasn't expecting any of that what happened to Haru. It's such a shame that his friends and people around him keep talking about scouting, future and so on while he's trying to make it to the finals. That's just unneeded pressure. I hope Rin will be able to understand that too. The situation for Sosuke seems also pretty bad. It's such a shame that he's way too proud to tell Rin about his problem. He's just ruining his own health and makes his team mates trust him less. I mean, how anyone would trust a person who's hiding something such important. And if they'll lose, it'd be pretty much Sosuke's fault because of the injury. |
yoite-May 2, 2016 9:31 AM
| Signature removed. Please follow the signature rules, as defined in the Site & Forum Guidelines. |
| Wow, that was a painful episode to watch...I felt really bad for Sousuke, but I felt even worse for Haru. I've been in that exact same position...in fact, I still am. It's a horrible feeling to be pressured by everyone around you to take you future 'more seriously' and to just 'make up your mind' when you're the only one without a clear goal or dream. Regardless of the context, it really does feel like you're drowning. |
| Damn. Most intense episode so far. |
 "ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴏsᴇ ᴡʜᴏ ᴡᴇʀᴇ sᴇᴇɴ ᴅᴀɴᴄɪɴɢ ᴡᴇʀᴇ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ɪɴsᴀɴᴇ ʙʏ ᴛʜᴏsᴇ ᴡʜᴏ ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅ ɴᴏᴛ ʜᴇᴀʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴜsɪᴄ."  |
| Rin is so cute. I love how he always protect Gou and how he poked Nagisa. ;; I'm also so proud of him but Haru and Sousuke...;;; |
 "Please stop talking about math when I'm eating." |
| Dang, lots of drama in this episode ... Sousuke and Haru not telling anyone about what they're feeling :( I can totally understand both Rin and Haru, I mean Rin just wants Haru to do well for himself but the latter just isn't sure what that means yet. The pressure from the scouts and everyone definitely isn't helping either, so man, that really sucks for him. I don't get Sousuke though, why hide your injury? 'Cus you want to swim the relay? I mean like, if you can't even practice, how are you gonna do well in the race? :S Seems silly, but I guess next episode we get another flashback, maybe that'll tell us why he wants this so badly? D: |
| Dang, that dream sequence was creepy. |
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| Oh, the feels. This season far exceeded the already good first season. Haru doesn't like swim with that pressure. He just swims for himself and his friends. Poor Haru. Also, his nightmare was very creppy. In the other side, I'm worried about Sousuke's injury. |
| 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 |
| That Evangelion-esque elevator scene still has me surprised. Of all the shows I would have expected said reference, this would certainly be the less foreseen one. Regarding the episode, I really liked how they portrayed Haru's insecurities and the pressure he was feeling with the dream sequence. Sadly, I was expecting a better conclusion other than the "I don't care about my future" outburst... a real disappointment for such well handled episode but well. Anyways, leaving that aside, it seems the next episode will be entirely focused on Sousuke which is nice since I'm interested in knowing more about his past with Rin and the injury he has as well. |
| Absolutely beautiful way to start some of Haru problems I can totally feel why he stopped swimming and he did the right thing he would have just run blindly without facing his problems and repeated history again, hope he can find some meaning and continue to give it all he got, cause its a really scary thing not to have a dream and stop thinking about future. |
| Finally some Haru's development, it has been bothering me for a while now. The way he just stopped in the middle of the race was beautiful in a depressing way. I hate injury driven drama in sports anime, hope it won't result in anything stupid. Anyhow this season so far looks much better than the previous one. |
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| So many things were on the table, that Haruka couldn't concentrate, and that nightmare he had felt to him like a message that made him pessimistic about everything he was doing out there. His stopping mid-race was a huge shock to everyone. Let's hope that he will feel better when the relay comes. Sousuke's shoulder is giving him a lot of trouble, but Rin has no idea. Will Sousuke even be able to swim anymore? |
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| Bwhaha Momo is such a spaz! LOL 'My favorite hamburger is the triple-cheese burger!' Haru is just straight up apathetic it sure had been starting to annoy me. I figured through season one and thus far he was just stoic but either way it made him seem seem so one-dimensional. Finally...FINALLY seeing why he behaves the way he does, with pressure put on him makes so much sense. I kept wondering, why write an MC this way for so long? It just built up the tension! That was heartbreaking. Also, poor Sousuke. |
| Poor Haru. People keep putting too much pressure on him. Also, poor Sousuke. His shoulder isn't getting any better. |
SerafosMay 20, 6:36 AM
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