Sep 26, 2013
WARNING: may contain some spoilers and some grammatical mistakes.
Free!... The first show from Kyoto Animation that apparently is fanservice and fanservice only for the ladies. But is that truly right?
No, it isn't.
Before you go and say there are naked cute boys going around hugging for the whole show, I want to explain my point of view and why I scored this with a 9.
Story (9/10)
It's not a complicated spot or anything completely special, but it's refreshing, it's about friendship, loyalty, being able to move forward with the help of others and follow YOUR own dream instead of living a lie. Haru, the main character, only
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cared about feeling the water since he first started swimming as a kid. He thought that was all that mattered, until Rin shows up and gets him to swim on a relay with him and their other 2 teammates, Makoto and Nagisa. After the amazing experience of swimming with the best teammates you could ask for, Haru, Rin and the others felt something they've never felt before - swimming together in a relay was the best feeling for them. However, they were not completely aware of this, so when Rin goes to Australia to follow his dad's dream and become an Olympic Swimmer , his confidence is shaken when he realizes that something isn't right. Swimming isn't as important for him if he doesn't do it with his best friends, so he assumes he's just weak and gives up on swimming, and so does Haru.
When later he races against Haru and wins, he thought he'd be free from the feeling of weekness that surrounded him, but it didn't work. Beating Haru wasn't what he needed to become "free". He needed to swim with him again. So, seeing his old teammates forming a swimming club all over again, he feels lonely and doesn't know how to move on. However, in the last episode (the best one of the whole show), friendship saves Rin from the dark hole he was stuck in, and in the process, Haru finally feels complete again.
Art/Animation (10/10)
I don't give a damn if this design is way too cute or anything, or if the characters have too many muscles--the animation is FLAWLESS. Half assed anime to please the fans, you say? I'd like to see you stuck in a studio and make the animation as realistic as possible. The swimming styles, when they swim and turn in the water, when they dive in... Everything is realistic, and they took the work to animate it the best they could. The movements of the swimming styles follow the real sport rules, and everything is carefully taken care of.
Sount (10/10)
The opening song is by OLDCODEX and it's a really good catchy song, and so is the opening. The ending is sang by the main character's voice actors - it's also catchy and i loved it, so I've got nothing to say about this one.
Character (8/10)
A cool type guy, a silent one, a prince, a shota boy and a glasses dude. It's predictable, yet the development makes up for it. Every character evolves with the help of one another, and if you compare the first episode to the last one, you'll easily realize that.
Enjoyment (10/10)
I really did enjoy these series, it always made my Wednesdays. It was refreshing from all the stress i was going through, and not a SINGLE episode was boring/rushed, in my opinion. This anime made me cry in some episodes and laugh my ass off in some others.
Overall (9/10)
As I said above, I enjoyed these series a lot. It's a really big change of work from KyoAni and I think they did an excellent work. They saved the bomb for the final episode, and it worked. I will never forget this anime, and I look forward to next summer so I can see season 2 and hopefully have a really great time with it as I did with this season.
Don't judge this series by what you hear around. Give it a try yourself.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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