Why You Should Watch Free!

Just to clear things up, yes, this anime is about attractive summer swimmer boys with girly names.

Alright, alright. Well first of all, it's got kick-ass, smooth animation. Look at him swim. The water. It's all too beautiful. I'm too lazy to make a cooler gif of the animation at the moment, so you're really gonna have to go by that gif. Or take my word for it. Unless you have trust issues, because in that case you can go watch Free! right now and see for yourself. [which i highly suggest]

Okay, let's just skip to the part you really want to see. The characters!
They are all pretty awesome and each has an animal to which represents their swimming style.

First off, there's Haruka Nanase. He doesn't say much. All he cares about is swimming and mackerel. But mostly swimming. You may take that as an exaggeration, but iT'S NOT. I LITERALLY KID YOU NOT. HE WEARS HIS SWIMSUIT UNDER HIS CLOTHES AND ONCE HE TRIED TO JUMP INTO AN SMALL AQUARIUM BECAUSE HE WANTED TO SWIM THAT'S HOW MUCH HE LOVES WATER. I like to say that the entire show revolves around him [he's my favorite if you couldn't tell] but he's one of the main characters. The only reason the others swim is because they want to swim with him. [okay maybe except for Rin but I'll get to that later] Speaking of Rin, Haru has a special like thing for him that I really can't explain. I don't want to post many spoilers. Haru only swims freestyle. His animal is a dolphin. [did i mention he's my favorite]

Then there's Makoto Tachibana. He is probably the nicest and most sweetest guy on the show. [in my opinion] He always puts his friends first and always has this smile on his face. He is the guy people would generally look up to. He sometimes acts like child, but in a sort of cute, dorky way.  He is Haru's childhood friend and I suppose you could say they're BFF's in a way. Makoto is always looking out for Haru and making sure he's not trying to get into aquariums. [or other things that contain water..] He sometimes uses Haru's love for water to get him to do what he wants. He also acts as Haru's spokesperson because he understands him the most. Makoto swims backstroke. His animal is a killer whale.

So now we have this lil' shit, Nagisa Hazuki. He is your typical little sex demon shota. Where do I even start?  He is a year younger than the others. He has a very optimistic and has a bubbly personality. Let me tell you, he is very bold and is not afraid to speak his mind. Basically most of the stuff that comes out of his mouth is funny. Especially when he's picking on Rei. [which is all the time] He is also that character every anime has that is obsessed with food. Where there's food, he's scarfing it down. Sometimes even while picking on Rei. He is also the one to suggest to start up a swim club again. Nagisa swims breaststroke. His animal is a penguin.

So who is this Rei Ryugazaki? The biggest dork you will ever meet. When he joined the swim team, he didn't even know how to swim. He only joined because Nagisa kept bugging him to join because he thought he was beautiful. [yes, the show is that gay] Rei is obsessed with beautiful things and looking beautiful. He didn't think even think swimming was beautiful until he saw Haru swim. [everyone is obsessed with Haru&swimming in this show i kid you not] Rei wants nothing but perfection, so he comes up with theoretical equations to come up with perfect forms and such. His form may be perfect, but that doesn't mean he succeeds. [the results are funny] He is picked on by Nagisa constantly, making their relationship utterly hilarious. Rei swims butterfly. His animal is a butterfly. [shocker]

Rin Matsuoka. I don't really know how to begin to explain him. He was in the swim club with Haru, Makoto, and Nagisa when they were in elementary school. He was a pretty cool and nice kid. Then he moved to Australia to attend a swimming school to improve his swimming. Now that they're all in highschool, he moved back to Japan, but attends a different school from the others and is in a different swim club also. He developed a rude personality and his only goal is to beat Haru in a swimming race for reasons I won't say. Rin swims freestyle and butterfly. His specialty is butterfly though. His animal is a shark. [if you couldn't already tell with the teeth]

There's other side characters too, but these are the main ones.

The plotline is as follows: "Free! starts with four boys—Haruka, Makoto, Nagisa and Rin—before graduating from elementary school. They had all participated in a swimming tournament and gained victory but later parted ways. Years later, Haruka, Makoto and Nagisa reunite when they enroll into high school. Not long after, Rin, who was thought to be in Australia, turns up and challenges Haruka to a race and wins. Afterward, Nagisa mentions creating a swimming club and cleaning up the run-down outdoor pool to use. Haruka, Makoto, Nagisa and, later on, Rei, form the Iwatobi High School Swimming Club and work together in making the club a success. Rin's victory over Haruka means nothing to him as he realizes that Haruka has stopped swimming competitively and is not in top shape. He claims that he cannot get over the fact until Haruka competes against him for real. The members of the revived Iwatobi Swim Club later enter a swimming competition against Rin."

Also, there a lot of references from the High☆Speed! light novel by Kōji Ōji, which is what this anime is based off of. The High☆Speed! light novel is about Haru, Makoto, Nagisa, and Rin back when they were in a swim club together in elementary school. You don't have to read it to get the show because they show a lot of 'flashbacks' to those scenes. I read it, and it gave me a waaay better representation of the characters. I read it though around when episode 4 came out, so they hadn't explained too much of it then. So as the episodes continued, the more they mentioned from the novel, which I thought was pretty cool to see the novel become animated. It really adds to the story and pieces everything together.

Something not totally unrelated--ABS

So yes, there is fanservice for girls. [or you fabulous boys out there] And the creators knew people would go nuts over it. So they added a lot of humor towards it to make it seem ridiculous. [i don't know if i even worded that right] There is even a character, Gou Matsouka, [yes rin's little sister] who is obsessed with biceps and muscles. It's pretty funny to watch her obsess over it. She is basically the fandom.

The show is pretty funny. [another reason why i love it so much] My favorite parts are usually the Nagisa and Rei moments. Cause come on, those two just crack me up.


There is also TOO MANY FEELS. I started watching this show ironically, but I never really imagined to get so attached to it. To feel emotionally connected to the characters as they went through emotional moments. To grasp onto every word they said because I was so into it. To have

the quiet character speaks

episodes end in gruesome cliffhangers and have to wait until the next week to see what happens next. To be on some sort of feels rollercoaster ride. Like what, I didn't sign up for this? But I guess that's what makes me really enjoy this show.

The opening and closings are also pretty awesome. I jam out to the songs in my spare time. The closing song is my favorite though. ^-^

The fandom for Free! is also really great. They are constantly shipping the characters together. [haruxrin btw] The people in it are either really wild, or funny. I consider myself both, I guess. But the reason why I love this fandom because of all the ridiculous parodies people make based off the show. My favorite are the 50% Off videos.

There is only 12 episodes to it and I've been watching it since it came out. The last episode comes out next week and I look forward to it, but I'm also sad to see the season come to an end. :c
I hope for a second season!