Free! Review

Swimming; a life skill, and a way to move through water. Competitively, swimming can be a difficult full body workout, and a way of life for some people, but others swim non-competitively and enjoy every bit of it. Sports dramas are sometimes seen as being nothing but a documentary, but in reality, sports dramas often tell the difficult life of any athlete in the sport the drama focuses on. Many of us go through that phase where if we could be anything in the world, we would be a professional athlete in our favourite sport, and do nothing but train as much as we can to become the best. The anime Free, revolves around one such small group of swimmers; the Iwatobi Swim Club. They want nothing but to be able to swim together again through high school as they used to in elementary school, and will let nothing stop them.

Free is the journey through high school for the four swimmers, Haruka Nanase, Nagisa Hazuki, Makoto Tachibana, and Rei Ryugazaki. The four all have various things in common; a love of swimming, and a need to be the best. Through the series, the fact that all four of them have feminine-sounding names is kept as a running joke to keep them united, but the fact that their manager has a masculine-sounding name makes it all the more fun to witness. Their journey starts in Haruka and Makoto’s second year of high school, (Nagisa’s  first year of high school), when they decide they want to bring back the swim club to the school. The available budget for them is low, and they need to find two extra members to be qualified as a club. Nagisa is enthusiastic about the project, and proceeds to scout for new members, where he meets Rei, a member of the track team who refuses to join the swim club. But after constant nagging from Nagisa, Rei finds that his true passion is swimming, even if he can’t swim at first. Before high school, one of the members of the relay team Nagisa, Makoto and Haruka were on, Rin, moved to Australia to go to a private swim school, and the trio are in doubt of whether Rin will return to swim with them again or not. After a brief encounter with Rin, the trio’s goal to make it to the regional races to compete with Rin is made clear at the beginning of the series, as well as the club’s goal to be successful.

Our first main character Haruka Nanase is a calm character with a cool and collected personality, who is frightened by the idea to compete with Rin again, in fear that he will hurt Rin emotionally as he can’t stand to lose. Haruka has a tendency to wear a swimsuit underneath his regular clothing, and will often eat nothing but mackerel. As all the members of the group have some sort of spirit animal, Haruka’s is a dolphin, and the colour blue serves to identify him due to his piercing blue eyes. His preferred, or rather only style of swimming that he practices or can do is freestyle. Next is Makoto Tachibana, the specialist in backstroke. Makoto is the more mature character, focused on protecting the group, however he was traumatised as a child by the way people died by the ocean’s hand. He is charismatic, calm, and determined to help the group. The colour green, as well as an orca whale identify him through the series. Next we have Nagisa Hazuki, an enthusiastic and light-hearted character whose stroke of preference is breast stroke. Nagisa is often the cheerleading force behind the group and serves to provide energy to the group. He is often seen with unhealthy food, usually sweets or pastries, and is identified by the colour yellow, and a rock hopper penguin. Finally we have Rei Ryugazaki, a former track and field member turned swimmer by coaching from Haruka and determination. Rei is enthusiastic, and very methodical as he memorises the theories of a sport, and tries to apply them while practicing the sport. This tactic sometimes works, but usually fails as theory is not the only thing to a sport. Rei can be slightly overly dramatic at times, yet this helps add comedy to the series as a whole. His specialty is the butterfly stroke, and he is identified by the colour purple and a butterfly. There are so many other characters to explore such as Rin, our “antagonist”, or opposition, coaches and managers, as well as interesting side characters. Each character gets a fair share of character development, screen time and back story, so nothing is left unanswered.

The soundtrack for the series was done by Tatsuya Kato, known for works such as the soundtracks for Mirai Nikki, and the Medaka Box franchise. The soundtrack fits well for the series, as it is not too dramatic as for a battle anime, as its more of a racing soundtrack filled with electronic instrumentals and calming tracks. One such example of the soundtrack would be the piece Raging Swim on Disc 1 of the soundtrack. Both openings and endings fit the series well, the more notable ones being Rage On by Oldcodex, and Splash Free by Style Five as the first season’s opening and ending. The dub is well done, portraying the personalities of the characters well, and as of now, the English dub is yet to be released.

The animation for the series was done by Kyoto Animation, known for other works such as Clannad, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and Full Metal Panic (Fumoffu and the Second Raid). The animation was done very well, looking realistic, and fitting the series nicely. The water was animated beautifully, and was well done in the swimming scenes. Colour palettes for the series were suitable, and added a nice touch with the bright colours and gradients, as they were not jarring in the least, but added a sort of shine to the series.

Overall, Free is a well done sports drama adaptation of Koji Oji’s light novel by the name of High Speed. Although many people will take one look at the series and write it off for being another boring sports drama, Free has a charm that not all sports series have, giving us a deeper understanding of the characters and their motivations. With two 13 episode seasons, the series had a satisfying ending to both seasons, with the first season having room to make the successful second season, and were enjoyable through out. So, considering the categories of sound, animation, story, characters, and my personal enjoyment, Free: Iwatobi Swim Club receives an overall score of 8.62 out of 10, with a recommendation to stream rather than buy. As good as the series was, it isn’t for everyone. So if you’re already a fan of the series, then go buy it to your heart’s content. Free is available for legal streaming on Crunchyroll, and the second season on Funimation’s website, with DVD and Blu-Ray releases not currently available in Canada.

And that’s a wrap up, thank you for reading. Reviews will be posted daily through the month of November, so stay tuned!

-Takami