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Free Season 3 is by far the best the series has ever been and the two highly rated reviews on MAL flat out confuse me? I'll start by saying what I disliked about s1 and 2, and what I love about s3.

Season 1 and 2 of Free are very solid but I would often be hit by a brick wall when watching it. I wasn't able to fully emotionally connect to the series due to its melodrama, fillerish strides, and lack of stake. I should clarify I didn't dislike the drama itself, rather the execution that made it overdramatic and sappy at times. This in ... combination with the episodes that felt somewhat like filler(despite having purpose) and the lacking stakes of the series. To elaborate on the point about stakes, the matches simply didn't have much tension or excitement for me because there was nothing major at stake. I feel season 3 minimized all of these issues while playing to the strengths of its cast, well-constructed character arcs, and small moments that raise your overall enjoyment.

Season 3 from the start was meant for me. I really liked the Free Prequel movie(starting days) and was a MAJOR FAN of the cast; I loved Ikuya and Asahi and was a fan of Nao, Kisumi, and Natsuya. I was hoping for their eventual return and got that in full with season 3, even better, I got that with a solid character arc for Ikuya, tying up a loose thread left from the gap between the prequel and everything up to season 3. Ikuya's involvement in itself led to growth on Haru's part and spurred further change in the story. Following this, several plot lines such as Sousuke's surgery, Makoto's career path and part time job, Rei and Nagisa's current team - Samezuka cameos, Natsuya finding his path and its relation to Ikuya, Asahi growing with Haru and Ikuya - his sister's cafe which provided many wholesome moments, and still more going on. I loved every second of it but I can understand if someone else didn't. It focused on the movie cast and even some side characters outside of it, MANY people haven't seen the movie, so they have little connection to these characters but I think that's something fundamental for Free, especially season 3. If you like the cast up to this point, and the movie cast, you'll love season 3. Season 3 is exactly what it says, a dive into the future, and we see a majority of our cast make decisions pertaining to their future, making strides towards old and new goals.
Season 3 did all of this while having the least melodramatic feel, excluding ep 2-4. We also see more growth and accumulative payoff to Haru's development up to this point. The end of the season had a specific clip, the scream at the sunset, that is symbolic of the growth he's made.

Other small things like adorable or wholesome moments such as the movie cast reuniting, Ikuya confiding to Haru in the pool, Asahi's sister and the baby cheering on Haru, Ikuya surpassing Natsuya in the All Japan IM, the crew helping out at Asahi's sister's cafe, Misaki's little rivalry witnessed by Makoto, and so much more. There were so many moments that made me smile uncontrollably, helping my overall enjoyment and making this season the most emotionally connective Free season of them all
Another thing to credit is the stakes of the season, while I knew he was more than likely going to succeed in his All Japan Endeavors, there feels like there is more at stake for Haru, Ikuya, Asahi, Hiyori, Natsuya, and Rin, simply because this is the global stage we are referring to.

All in all, this is peak free, and this is coming from a person a bit skeptical after season 1. Go into this with an open mind, and don't forget to watch the movie(starting days).

I've seen some negative reviews and I felt I should clarify my stance. Hakubo is a very solid movie;
it's a simplistic love story revolving two teenagers brought together by the Hakubo. Hakubo being the title for the scenery near their bus stop. They begin a relationship that naturally progresses into a romantic relationship. The movie doesn't do much or attempt to do much. It's a love story between two completely normal teenagers, it's pure, cute, and awkward, all playing to its benefit. It does so by creating a serene atmosphere and calming tone to the overall movie; supported by the very solid production. Otherwise, the ... characters felt human and so did their lives, nothing special to it, no excessive drama or deep character arcs, just a cute romance journey.

The problem for some may be that it's boring because of how serene it is or the fact it lacks no real direction. I've seen one person complain that it doesn't elaborate much on the premise seen in the synopsis/the earthquake plotline(something that didn't bother me since I went into it raw, without reading it)

The most reasonable complaint is its lack of standout aspects. Especially for a simple movie like this, some may expect a standout cast; which is fine, the movie doesn't exceed a 6 because it's lacking in these departments

This series was an interesting one. The manga is unique in premise and somewhat lacking execution. But somehow even with that glaring issue with the execution and story direction, it still kept itself extremely entertaining from start to finish.

With a premise revolving around a school of powers and our cast having to hunt these power holders, there's only so much room direction-wise. To put it simply, once we find all the witches, there isn't much direction for the story to take revolving around the premise. So the solution and my problem with the execution was *spoiler* add more witches and conflicts revolving around them. ... Basically, the entire manga and its arcs can be summed up to find witches, helping witches, getting them on our side, and likely at some point have some memory loss arc. Normally this repetitive arc structure is annoying and would make for a boring story, but in the case of this series, it often makes interesting choices progression-wise each arc. With the characters changing with each witch hunt and the conflict also changing, there's plenty of room for intriguing turn of events to be placed into the story. With this we see the writer's best skills at hand, foreshadowing, and writing in new things. Foreshadowing is self-explanatory and used really well throughout the manga. When I say writing in things, most people are going to think negatively but for the most part, it works here. The writer left a lot of gaps information-wise from the start. The gaps would be progressively filled while also leaving room for plot twists that fit the constraints of the story. Those plot twists, the unraveling story, and likable characters allowed for the series to stay extremely fun and entertaining despite its repetitive arc structure.

When mentioning the cast I don't have much to say, they aren't outstanding characters but have personalities that make you want to root for them. Yamada and Shiraishi make a cute couple, Yamada and Miyamura have a funny bromance dynamic, Yamada and Ushio have a great childhood friendship. The rest of the side cast meshes well together and makes for some generally fun interactions and funny jokes. The Harem is kind of just girls admiring Yamada from afar after gaining feelings for him. They avoid unnecessary romance drama besides one annoying portion of the story during the election arc.

Other than that, it was all fine and dandy until the final arc. From the start of the arc, I wasn't fully on board but progressively grew to like it as the purpose of it became clear. But the worst case scenario happened and it kind of just rushed to its conclusion. The last chapter itself was really nice though and wrapped everything up nicely.

Overall this manga was a fun read with a unique premise and likable cast, far from devoid of issues but definitely worth checking out for romance fans who are tired of the more traditional stories.

Rating: 6.6/10

Spoiler-Free Review:
This is a series with an interesting concept, to teach a socially inept person with no romantic skills how to handle women better(nonsexual seduction) It's a nice concept. To start the series aims to push forward and burn into the readers that the MC is a misunderstood loser with bad luck, and because of his bad luck, he gets in situations that get him labeled as a pervert. Tbh watching this happen to him was embarrassing and painful when first experiencing it but it mattered a lot, mainly because it makes his later success hit so much harder. He goes through a trial and ... error process as he learns, his teacher friend/wingman does a great job at giving real-life tips. This is what makes the story good, it gave us fifteen genuinely good and realistic tips that the readers can legitimately take and use to improve their social skills. We watch the Main Character grow through these tips and the process of trial and error. The series also implemented a competent romance plotline that had me invested till the end. The antagonist wasn't a good character by any means, but was used as a solid plot device and allowed for reasonable growth from the MC. The main romance ship panned out fully, and we saw the results of all the MC's training in the final chapter, leaving the readers relatively satisfied with the ending and series as a whole.

My only significant complaint is the characters were just competent at best. They have no depth behind them nor are they inherently likable. They are an example of characters that fit their series and had to progressively grow on me.

Overall it was a fun read. I recommend it to anyone who likes series with the protagonist trying to grow and develop for the better