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NOT OBJECTIVE (MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS)

objectivity in art is fake but genuinely the best season of this show and the other two were already BANGERSSSS... obviously i wished they did the confession sooner but i'm complete brainrot mode so!! here's everything i liked.

THE ANIMATION WAS SO NICE THIS SEASON!! i loved the little styles they used for gags, or cutaways, or even extended segments. there's clearly a lot of love and thought that went into creating the animation this season. callbacks to earlier shojo romances and other properties make it so so fun.

The characters are so fun this season IDK IDK !!! and yeah i wish ... the final arc was shorter so we couldve seen other chapters get adapted that fully flesh them out more but the first half filled with more episodic premises were incredibly solid. i laughed so hard during one of the episodes, banger after banger.

i really enjoyed the first two seasons, so maybe if you don't like those, or got burnt out on the premise pretty quick, this season isn't for you. but if it is, the finale is impeccable. the music, the art EVERYTHING brought that already 10/10 manga panel to life, and im so glad with how it turned out.

best piece of art i think this year idc... SO GOOD

It's very understandable why this show is as well loved and popular as it is. The artstyle is wonderful, everything is quite polished, and it is so inherently marketed to men.

You could argue that its source material was written by a woman, sure that's fine. But there is still something so inherently male-gazey about this show.

One of the first things that come up about this show is its fanservice. At this point, it's basically half the appeal to a lot of people. However, it is so extremely unnecessary, and it just detracts the story so much.

The characters don't feel real as well. They're merely just ... caricatures of different type of women that can appeal to as many different men as possible. Marin is a terrible character. I like her a lot but she does not feel real AT ALL. She's hypersexual, but modest enough that she isn't a whore. She's independent and can do many things by herself, but still requires a lot of help in random areas. The story frames it so she needs help at a lot of things, but not TOO much to the point where it's annoying. She's the perfect girl who doesn't care about whatever anyone says, and the list goes on. Up to a certain point her flaws aren't actual flaws, they're just contrivances the author puts in so male audiences can find her to be the perfect waifu.

And the loli character, alright. Lolis have always been a point of controversy in a lot of anime circles but here, it feels so gross. In a few of the latest episodes, the girl who the main characters assume to be in middle school accidentally flashes the main character. What was the need for that? Genuinely. If the writers wanted a natural way for gojo to succumb to the girl's request, she could've just asked and paid for it. It seems like he would've said yes anyway considering his previous response to Marin.

Overall, it's a decent show that is made much, much worse by its inclusion of fanservice.

A disgruntled mess that will probably only be enjoyed if you actually like free!!.

Cons :
- The movie darts from plot point to plot point, from scene to scene, that coming up with a reasonable timeline for it is extremely difficult. One moment, we're in a school festival, the next Sydney where we're competing, and literally the next scene, we're back in Japan. The (main) story never lets itself breathe, and it becomes increasingly difficult to figure out what's going on with the multitude of smaller side plots - making the pacing both excruciatingly slow and extremely fast. A lot of the final act is ... just set up for part 2, ending at a moment equal parts camp, and terrible writing.

- To add on the previous point, way too many characters. Starting s3 the show starts to lose its balance when designating time to different characters, it's definitely worse here. So many small moments with other people of the main cast (Makoto, Sousuke and etc) could be cut out but can't because it's free!! and they need the characters to show up. It's better done in the tv show because the 87 minute time limit is ultimately one of the movies largest shortcomings.

- An issue that stems all the way from S3 is Albert's (and the english speakers) terrible voice delivery. It's similar to Squid Game in the way that the english barely sounds like actual people and more like what people assume english sounds like. Considering that the show was able to integrate the english speakers better in s2, I find it confusing how terrible Albert's voice is.

Pros :
- It's quite enjoyable to watch, and the comedic timing is still high up there. While Free!! isn't the most comical series out there, it's still a fun show to watch and I think the movie absolutely delivers on that part. I could pinpoint multiple times in the movie where the people in the theatre I went to laughed out loud.

- While there is a problem with the number of characters, there are so many good character interactions. I feel like the staff behind Free!! understand a huge part of the appeal of Free!! are the characters in the show; we see characters who barely interact in the TV series get full conversations that last a substantial chunk of time. These scenes really are the best part of the film.

- It really is just Free!! It has the same underlying homoerotic tendencies (that could still be read as just guys messing around) that all of the other films and seasons have, all the strange melodramatic conflicts, and all the moments that make you want to cringe. Free!! is like comfort food, sometimes it isn't the best but it's still nice to go back to, and this movie encapsulates that feeling super well.

Things to note :
- There is quite a fair usage of 3d animation, similar to the tv show. It isn't terribly blended into the 2d animation but it is noticeable. It took me out of the movie a little but it isn't too bad.

- The cinema I went to screened the film at a 21:9 aspect ratio, cutting out a large part of the frame. This kind of also impacted the way I felt towards this film as I could not see the whole screen fully.

- Something weird, and not necessarily a con, is that they added a flashback to a moment we have not seen before. Shown in the ten minute preview, Rin loses miserably to Kinjou. This moment kind of baffled me the first time I saw it, and I genuinely wonder why the writers chose to start the movie JUST before the Sydney competition, and not right where we left off last season. Moreover, so much of this movie is flashbacks. For a sequel to the Free! series, about 40% of the film is in flashbacks.

Overall, as a big fan of this series I think it suffers from being the first half of a two parter, needing to end on a hook to draw audiences back in. I really enjoyed it (very biased, I would give literally anything that comes out of this show a 10/10 *subjectively*) but there are so many issues that plague this movie.

The movie feels contradictory and confusing. It's a blender of ideas that are never fully developed, a film where there are too many characters who are also extremely fun to watch, and a film completely dependent on how much you actually care about a well written plot. If you are a fan of this series, it's still enjoyable to watch and I think it'll be much better when the second part comes out.

Subjectively, I would give this show a 10. It has a special place in my heart, and it's just great. However, it does a few issues which I will discuss here.

There are a lot of characters in its main cast, and after their own special dedicated episodes, they just get left behind. Characters like Miya or Shadow get tidbits of screen time here and there but they mostly revolve our two main characters, Reki and Langa. For a mostly character heavy show, it feels a bit lacking in the development department. Not only that, there aren't a lot of important female characters, which is a ... little upsetting if nothing else.

This also may be a nitpick but strange undertones can be found in some of the dialogue. Aside from the clearly sexual language that ADAM uses, there's something a little strange about calling the darkest character in the main cast a gorilla. It's something that may be upsetting if you experience colourism or etc. yourself.

While the art is nice to look at, the CGI in some scenes isn't very well blended with the rest of the 2d animation. It isn't too bad but it will take you out of the experience. You can see this especially in the landscapes and especially in the main course.

A lot of bad things occur in this anime that is swept under the rug, or pushed aside for a possible second season. There's some weird stuff that is brought up like stalking that arguably ends up nowhere but an offhanded comment.

There's also some weird queer undertones the show never decides to fully commit to. This has made it a very "will they, won't they" kind of situation. To many younger audiences, lgbt it may seem like a ploy to gain more traffic, especially since the success of shipping in other similar works such as YOI or Free!

Overall, Sk8 is a really good show. I do recommend it but if any of things above bother you, maybe check out something else.

I think a lot of my disappointment with this show comes from the very large excitement I had from the manga finally being adapted once more. A year ago I watched the 4 episode ova they had previously made and wanted a higher quality, full length version, and low and behold, we got it.

As an anime, the ending fails in so many ways. It skips so many chapters in the manga that flesh out some of the other characters and in the end, it makes it difficult to care for them and where they go. Characters like Tanihara, Shindou, and Sawada aren't used to their ... fullest extent and it's upsetting to think how much stronger the ending could be with a second season, or a couple more characters.

The anime manages to muddle up the timeline in a way that is baffling. The anime manages to condense 2 years of high school in the span of 13 episodes, and it doesn't seem like any of the characters have grown other than Miyamura. This is because once again, there wasn't any time and so they had to go at breakneck speed.

On the main characters, while Miyamura does have some development, Hori remains roughly the same, if not a little worse. As the story progresses, Hori continues to make most situations about her, not really regarding anyone else's feelings. This has sprung up some discussion in regards to her comments towards the "homophobic" comments she has made towards Miyamura in the series. The relationship the two have never feels like it's only level playing field, Hori has the upper hand roughly 80% of the time and it gets kind of exhausting.

Overall, this anime has soured on me the more I think about it - especially, after the ending we got. I would say if you do like the anime, the manga is worth checking out.

When I first heard about this series I was admittedly very excited. I saw this had a lesbian couple and wanting some representation, I was hoping that this movie would be able to handle it well unlike citrus or other things on that wavelength. As you can see, that has not happened.

Story - 1/10

A lot of this short film felt like a retelling of scum's wish.

So if you like that anime, you may like this one. There are a lot of similar plotlines in both, with different iterations. For example, possible incest is present in both, teachers, and just horribly done yuri.

Things just don't seem ... to wrap up nicely too. It makes you feel extremely unsatisfied and wondering if there is going to be more.

It also just felt so slow. 55 minutes feelings like such a long time at the pace this movie was going. This movie also had an issue with repeating jokes and lines, and it feels like we were going in circles. This is especially present in the third story following this guy and his girlfriend go through the struggles of being in love when the guy is attracted to his cousin who does porn.

It feels like such a cheap way to add tension and make jokes, especially considering the length of the time frame the issue occurs for.


Art/Sound - 4/10

They were both okay.

Not great, not even that good, but they were fine. The art was cute, but that was it. It isn't spectacular, and the colours were a bit drab at times, but it was alright.

The sound was also fine. The opening and ending were both fine to good, depending on what you favour in music. It was also quiet for a lot of the times, not a lot of noise or sound, it felt extremely empty. When background music was used some of them felt very off and some of the tracks just ended unexpectedly, bringing you out of the illusion.

There is also a scene where there is someone using the restroom, and the sound just does not fit. It sounds like there's rain pouring, but it occurs in a locked room and there's no sign of downpour.

Characters - 1/10

The characters are so very bland. Since this is a collection of short stories there are a lot of them. I completely understand not being able to develop characters in the span of about 15-20 minutes each, but they just made them so unlikable. For example, story one, the two main leads have zero chemistry. The only thing distinct about each of them is how they look, they're both in love with their ex and they both are sexually active, that's it. Even by the end of the ~15 minutes, their only real interactions are just to talk about their ex and have sex.

Enjoyment - 1/10

The feeling of checking when this movie would end was there with me the whole time. I kept checking the bar just to see how much time was left. It was boring, plain and simple. 55 minutes felt like 90, and it just dragged on and yet, It left me feeling so unsatisfied.

The endings to these stories felt like a massive cockblock and some of these lines just made me so confused, that I had to pause and think, "They really want to keep this in? Alright."

Overall - 1/10

All in all, this movie is just so boring and so mindlessly unentertaining. Stories go nowhere, and progression is just clunky. They could have made these into three separate stories spanning a few more episodes so development could occur, but they decided to just mash them all together ultimately, leaving the viewer confused as to why it existed in this form in the first place.