#and i love his whole character arc with ikuya

[eleanorenchanted]

🌻 Happy Birthday Natsuya 🌻

[letterstoear]

My favorite letters~ Top five! Part 1

As this is the month of love, I wanted to focus on self-love today and talk about my favorite letters I’ve written. This is all my personal opinion, and I would love to know what your favorite letters are! 

Again, these letters are my personal favorites. In part 2 I’ll be doing letters where I think I did the best in terms of writing and character.

#5 Kageyama’s confession: Letters to Ear : THAT MALLEUS LETTER GOT ME FED UP WHAT DID I JUST... (tumblr.com)

I never would have thought Kageyama would be here. I wrote this letter as a fun response to the ask. It started out as a drabble then blossomed into what it is today. This letter is fun and feels very fluffy which is the intended purpose. There’s not much else I can say, it just really is a Kageyama like confession.  

#4 Kenma’s confession: Letters to Ear : A confession from Kenma (tumblr.com)

This letter in particular is what started my whole business, so without this one I never would have gotten this far. It really nails Kenma’s character in a way I don’t see done often. Or maybe it’s just me being biased. 

In the letter we see how Kenma’s whole love started to bloom towards the reader. It’s such a sweet letter. The character growth is what sells this letter in a way I don’t normally do. I should do more of it though, it seems to work well. 

#3 Chuuya’s letter: Letters to Ear : Wow, a letter from Chuuya~ (tumblr.com)

I love my man Chuuya and this letter was a spur of the moment letter out of frustration. I actually wrote this letter when I was doing research on Dazai, but I took a break and wrote for Chuuya instead. I tend to come back to letter as a casual pick me up because of how smooth everything flows. 

I don’t know how I did it, but the transitions between each letter come out so smoothly. Like it really flows well, which is a highlight of the letter. I think to write Chuuya well you need to get his timing done. Also, the casually sprinkles of little remarks about love makes me kick my feet in the air and scream into my pillow. 

Read this letter if you want some casual pick me up. 

#2 Lilia Vanrouge’s Letter of Acceptance: Letters to Ear : A letter of acceptance from Lilia Vanrouge (tumblr.com) 

We have our first and only Twisted Wonderland character letter here! Which is a little strange now that I think about it. I’ve written a ton of Twst letters, but this is the first one to be seen on my list. I should improve on that. 

This letter is so special to me because of how it tells the story of Lilia’s view on love. I wanted to enchant the reader with Lilia’s pure feelings and insight. It’s not an overly fluffy or romantic letter, but it’s bittersweet. I think it easily shows how even though Lilia is in love, he’s not going to force his feelings onto the reader. In fact, a small part of him has already given up. 

What can I say I love a pinch of angst. 

Towards the end of the letter, we get Lilia’s promises for his lover. I think it’s a very sweet action he does, and I can really see him making these vows. Each time I read this letter it squeezes my heart. 

If you like Lilia, I’m pretty certain you’ll love the letter. 

#1 Ikuya Kirishima’s After the Race letter: Letters to Ear : After the race (tumblr.com)

Let me just say, I wrote this letter for myself, so of course I’m going to love it the most. This letter is the definition of fanfiction. It’s not written to impress nor is it made out of self-loathing or hate. All this letter is to have something fluffy to read from one of my all-time favorite characters. 

When I read this letter time and time again, I actually forget I was the one who wrote it because it’s that special. The letter captures the spirit of how Ikuya feels after winning the relay race with Haru, Rin, and Sousuke. It’s meant to feel like a warm hug, one you would feel after someone did a big accomplishment. 

More than that it goes over Ikuya’s character arc, which I love to add into my letters. Plus, Ikuya reminisces about the relations he has with the reader in their established relationship. 

If you’re like me and you’re a fan of Ikuya from Free! I highly recommend you check out this letter. Read it! 

[ominous-meme]

Speculations and Questions about Free! The Final Stroke Pt. 2

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS OF PART 1 UNDER THE CUT

Okay, so I’m writing this on desktop because it’s gonna be looooooooooooong. Tagging @caffernnn since they’re also keen on speculating and have welcomed my brainrot.

Having watched The Final Stroke and broken my heart over it and the trailer for part 2, I’ve been wondering what exactly might happen in the next movie, because it’s likely to be the final major installment in the series, and there are several plots and character arcs that need to be wrapped up within a max of 1.5-2 hours (given the runtime of Pt. 1). Note that my Japanese skills aren’t the greatest, so I’m basing my theories and questions off what I understood during the movie and from posts of other viewers whose skills are better than mine. It’s also possible that some of these speculations have been inspired by other meta posts whom I have forgotten about, so please do let me know if that’s the case, and I’ll tag/cite them appropriately! (Part two of this speculation can be found here)

Guide:

S1 - season 1

S2 - season 2

S3 - season 3

FS1 - final stroke pt 1

FS2 - final stroke pt 2

So, what are the things that could possibly happen?

1. Early on in FS1, we learn that Kaede and Ryuuji (whom I hate now) have known each other for several years, and Kaede’s brother? cousin? was seemingly the childhood friend who got into an accident, making Ryuuji have to choose between his friend and his career. Now that Haru has done what Ryuuji “suggested” in terms of cutting Rin off and getting the creepy purple eyes, it’s possible that we the audience will get a greater insight into Ryuuji’s past through Kaede’s perspective, and/or Haru’s friends will encounter Kaede and learn through a conversation with him what exactly went down and why Ryuuji is the way he is. It might also show us how KAEDE became the semi-scary dude we catch glimpses of in S3 and FS1. Mikhail might also be involved here, since he and Ryuuji were rivals, and might tell Rin more about their past as well, giving Rin some clarity on what the hell Haru was on during their confrontation at the end of FS1.

2. Now that Haru has cut Rin off and turned to Ryuuji’s side, there may be at least ONE official swimming meet/tournament where Haru displays his new strength and destroys his enemies a la Albert. But that will be a very different Haru, and his friends are going to be shocked, because his swimming style obviously wouldn’t be what they know is genuinely his. Haru will shut everyone out and focus only on becoming stronger and winning under Ryuuji’s tutelage, and Makoto, Rin, Ikuya, and the others will attempt to snap him out of it. This may lead them to Kaede via Hiyori, and he’d give them a better insight into wtf is up with Ryuuji’s obsession with giving up your loved ones to win.

3. We still haven’t gotten a look at Albert’s past. How did he become the way he is? Why is that old man in a wheelchair calling him a machine? We HAVE to get that insight into Albert, given the effect he’s had on Haru and his swimming abilities and perspective since S3. That definitely has higher chances of happening than some of my other speculations.

4. Free has always centred itself around the value of the medley relay. It’s what kicks the whole story off and has been the central point in both S1 and S2. It fades away during S3 somewhat, but Ikuya and Hiyori participating in it plays a key role in their relationship towards the end. In the trailer for FS2, Makoto VERY CLEARLY mentions something along the lines of it being “400m” towards the next goal, and I believe it was @caffernnn who speculated at first about it implying a relay. I would strongly agree with that, and I think that to get Haru’s head on straight, his friends are going to drag him into a medley relay (formal or informal), and remind him of what swimming truly means to him. In addition, he'd remember that even if he's swimming a solo race, he's never truly alone, because his friends are supporting him from outside. That then raises the question: who would be IN the relay? I think it will be the three with whom Haru has the strongest emotional connections, both inside and outside the water: Makoto (backstroke), Ikuya (breaststroke), and Rin (butterfly). Whatever the results of the relay are, I think it will give Haru some clarity, and enable him to recognize who he’s become and what he wants to be, particularly as he approaches 20 in the coming months - the year he’s supposed to be “ordinary.”

5. Rin and Haru may compete together in one last freestyle race. The ending of S2 showed them taking their positions for one such, and KyoAni has repeatedly done these throwbacks to older seasons, the latest of which was in the trailer for FS2 where they showed the original water commercial with the guys. It wouldn’t surprise me if, in a callback to previous seasons, Rin challenges Haru to a freestyle race in order to see whether Haru is actually as good as he claims to be now that he’s gone all cold and Albert-like. The question would then be, what will happen if DESPITE cutting his loved ones off, Haru STILL loses? That would call into question Ryuuji’s entire policy and whether Haru hurting Rin so badly at the end of FS1 was even worth anything, since Haru can’t even beat someone who doesn’t specialize in freestyle as much as he does in butterfly.

6. Haru will likely get back to his old self, or maybe become a new version of himself that is better - unless KyoAni decides to be particularly sadistic and denies us a happy ending. Both S1 and FS1 have referenced Haru waiting to turn 20 and become ordinary, and given the canonical birthdays of the characters, Haru is literally six months away from reaching that age. Summer is also when many of the major tournaments would happen. So how will Haru view his abilities once he’s reached that age? Will he celebrate his 20th birthday during his purple-eye phase or afterwards? I think Haru will eventually come to terms with who he is, and find a way to swim that allows him to take on the world and win WITHOUT compromising on the things and people that mean so much to him. It’s possible that if Haru gets rid of Ryuuji, then Makoto will become his coach and guide him to that balance, since he understands Haru the best.

7. Now, in S3 when we heard about Ryuuji’s past, many of us remember that the next shot was of Makoto who (thankfully) was spared in FS1, despite many of us worrying that something bad might happen to him. However, there’s a chance that Haru may be forced AGAIN to choose between his friends and his success if FS2 has something bad for Makoto in store, particularly given the strange vision Makoto had in FS1 about losing sight of Haru. Will Haru be able to leave MAKOTO of all people behind? Even if he’s in his purple-eye phase?

8. I’m sure I’m not even the only blog to have considered this, but they’ll definitely be bringing all the time capsules out by the end of the movie, and reflecting on who they’ve become.

One thing is for sure: the soundtrack is going to be badass as always. Unfortunately, I don’t know if the movie will end with Haru being in therapy, because God knows the poor guy needs it now.

So these are my speculations and questions about what we might expect to see in April! Feel free to add in your own thoughts!

[caffernnn]

One last thought before free final stroke releases. Everyone has said that if Haru has to choose between his bonds and a race or “swimming on a larger scale” he would choose his bonds and I think that too, but what if he doesn’t? 🤔 I would hate for KA to do that, but I can’t help thinking about it. Would love to hear you thoughts about it if you have any.

Buckle up, buttercup! I have perhaps too many thoughts on this one 😅

Okay so here’s the thing: I’ve definitely been sipping on the free!verse “friendship is magic and those special bonds can conquer anything” juice, but I can see Haru or one of the other main pro swimmers we’ll be following (Rin, Ikuya, etc) putting swimming first… at least in the first movie. Out of everyone to take on that possible arc, it feels like Haru is the main one left to isolate, break, and have to be reminded of who he swims for.

(This one got lengthy; read more under the cut) 🏊✨

This is a pattern in Free! that has been explored over and over. Haru has a teammate, rival, or friend that gets so lost in their own head that they refuse to let anyone reach them and try to put swimming and solitude first. Then, Haru and company step in with a race, a relay, pool time in general to show them that they’re so much stronger when they realize they’re not alone. They hug it out, the audience cries; rinse, repeat.

From the promos, it sets the stage for a specific emphasis on these six. Going through the characters like a checklist for this Free!verse rite of passage, it feels clear who is most likely going to be the next one to take on the cycle.

(Note: I’m going to refer to the pattern described earlier as “the cycle” moving forward)

Painting it with a broad stroke, most of the characters on this list have taken their respective turns moving through the cycle.

- (Season One) Rin is, like, the king of this lesson. The whole first season was more or less dedicated to showing how he got so fixated on being a viable competitor that he forgot one of the main things that drew both him and his dad towards swimming in the first place: communicating and connecting with people in the water. That’s something Rin knows not to take for granted, and that’s shown through his immense character growth since season one. I think I stated in a past FS theory post how I’m curious about how Rin will handle the pressures and demands of finally reaching the world stage. With that said, he’s also not the main one I’m worried about taking on the main cycle.

- (Season Two) Sousuke paid his dues when he wrecked his shoulder overworking himself. He put success above everything to his own detriment, and he’s lucky that ignoring his own hurt while embracing his Samezuka team didn’t cause irreparable damage. We should watch him closely while he prepares to make his return to swimming because he’s at risk of overextending himself, but he’s had a good amount of time to sit with the firsthand consequences of trying to “do it all on his own,” so he’s not the one I’m primarily worried about.

- (Season Three) Ikuya’s whole journey in DttF was about him coming into his own and realizing his worth. The Iwatobi guys play a big part in this, their efforts in reconciliation starting to help him break out of his stubbornness and inferiority complex. He’s learning by the end of the season how to open up again (and actually appreciate Hiyori, but that’s another conversation) and see himself as an equal counterpart to the people he’s put on pedestals (Haru, Natsuya). His growth is still new, and I’d argue he’s the one who most recently completed his trek through the cycle. I’m sure he’ll inevitably have his own hardships highlighted in the movie, but he’s still riding off the high of freshly finding his inspiration/motivation again that I don’t see his narrative being the focal point.

- (High Speed/Starting Days) Makoto had his own primary trek through the cycle way back in junior high. This is probably one of the points where the dichotomy of the proposed choice (swimming vs. bonds) is most explicitly highlighted. Nao’s question of “do you enjoy swimming or are you here for Haru” is one of the earliest instances where the idea of choosing between success and relationships is explored. Makoto distances himself so much because the question feels loaded and leading - Is it a bad thing to swim because his friend is there? Shouldn’t he want to “grow up” and have merit-driven goals? Even if he doesn’t want to, would he be okay letting Haru go in the pursuit of maturing? Is that really a choice he has to make? Makoto’s eventual conclusion that he loves both swimming and Haru, that both are intertwined into driving him forward, sets the stage for the rest of the series, honestly. I can’t deny the foreshadowing putting Makoto in a potential position of influence in FS, but it’s because of how tied he is to the pro swimmers that’ll inevitably take narrative priority.

- Asahi is a wild card in this framework, but still fits in as a guiding light and a possible outside perspective that could be vital in the story (if he doesn’t get overlooked). He’s someone who hasn’t necessarily been put through the cycle, but he’s a good example of someone who’s a shining light, rowdy and driven and arguably secure in his determination that he’ll make the most out any opportunity by finding his place on any team and taking on the world at his own pace. I’d love to see a side story exploring Asahi’s journey in more detail, because he’s such a unique position as someone who worked on channeling his own self-esteem early on and built new teams every time he had to move. Just from how they’re likely to prioritize characters, especially now that we’re in the endgame, I wouldn’t put my money on Asahi taking center stage.

And then there’s Haru. The unwilling protagonist. The one who played a part in everyone else’s turns through the cycle, his status as a teammate/rival/prodigy/friend launching them into the pitfalls before inspiring them to come back towards the light. He’s grown throughout every season bolstered by the question of why he swims, but I’d argue that now is his time to face the cycle head-on. This is when the idea of improving his times, of winning, hold more value to him than they ever have before. That’s why I think when Ryuuji and other competitors (Kaede, Albert) start telling him that he has to make a choice between loneliness and mediocrity, pushing him towards the path of isolation, it’s going to hit hard. His declaration to have everything he wants, to hold his friends close while taking on the world, is going to be seriously put to the test.

That’s what makes the most sense to me at this point. The story started with Haru, and now it ends with Haru. Will he have to make an unthinkable choice and have to sacrifice one of the vital parts of his dreams? Will he find a way to prove everyone wrong and have it all? I’m excited to find out.

[mak0to]

Thank you very much for posting some spoilers of The Final Stroke! Do you have any speculations for the second part?

Hello! This is a very old ask, I'm sorry it took me so long to answer but it's been hard to process the whole thing that is Free! ending.

I'm not going to lie, I've read a bit of spoiler (accidentally) but I still don't know where the actual movie is going so my speculations still are honest.

Here is a list of things that I think will happen (Spoiler-free, of course, oh but maybe some spoilers if you haven't watched Part 1) (under the cut because I didn't notice this is now a long post):

Sousuke giving a step forward in his rehab process? Honestly, I'd hate if the movie doesn't show us Sousuke finally achieving his dream, or at least being close enough, I really expect to see him shine and smile living his dream.

Asahi swimming! We already saw him supporting Ikuya and hanging out with Kisumi and Hiyori but if Asahi is one of the characters that keeps swimming, then I guess we'll get to see him trying his best in the pro world!

PLEASE Kisumi playing basketball, and boys from the gang supporting him and/or playing with him. PLeAse, it's the most unfinished goal/arc in Free!

Ikuya and Natsuya getting along! No more angst for any of them. NO. MORE. We had enough.

Iwatobi and Samezuka graduation? I wish we knew what they're going to do after school! I'd love to see more of Rei, Nagisa and Kou, I hate that they're getting so little time on screen since S3, so if TFS2 needs to "bring Haru back" then I think Iwatobi gang is perfect for it!

Makoto helping Haru to come back to his senses. Hated that they cut Makoto off in the last scene they shared, it was so ooc :-( I hope they did that way so we see Makoto finally speaking his heart out in the second part. I could write a whole essay about it but maybe some other time.

Albert kinda came out of nowhere and his troubles are being shown so I guess we'll see him getting his own arc? I don't think of him as the villian of the story, at all, but he definitely has his own stuff going on and knowing Free!, a little bit of Power of Friendship will bath him and we'll get to see him happy, maybe even being friends with Kaede or Haru, or the rest of the group even!

More details about what happened between Kaede, his brother/cousin, and Azuma. Like. You owe us.

Azuma retiring? Maybe not a speculation but a wish JAJAJ jokes aside, I would love to see Makoto taking a stand on Haru's training in a more serious way. Maybe as an athletic supporter? I don't know if they're actually called like that in English but you know, maybe not his coach coach but close enough (I'd love if Makoto was the coach for Haru but I get that he's still a student and it'd be a little bit unrealistic).

Rin. Winning. A. Medal. Kou and their mom supporting him.

Oh, of course, a reconciliation between Haru and Rin. ACTUALLY SPEAKING, not only by swimming. But again, I guess that's more of a wish than speculation.

There's gotta be hella flashbacks. Like. Tons.

Everyone getting a happy end, resolving their problems and taking steps forward in what they want to do, in who they want to be :-) if they don't, I'm throwing hands.

Makoto succeeding at cooking at least One (1) Meal. As a treat... Don't look at me like that, a person can dream.

Oh sorry, this post was longer than expected :o

Please do not comment on this post saying what actually happened in the movie if you have read spoilers or watched the movie, I'm trying to stay away from more spoilers until I get to see the movie for myself (in a month)! Instead, you can comment here your own speculations, I'd love to read what you think will happen or want to happen.

[mestizashinrin]

About Ep. 10 of 2.43

sorry, they are very disorganized and all over the place. sorry for the misspellings and grammatical mistakes and all of that.

-when Fukuho's coach told Mimura that Tomoki said Ochi was trying to protect Subaru, he is like : why is he minding about things that doesn't concern him? in a such sassy attitude and i love it lol

-But Tomoki is like, im the setter i do what i think is best and i think Ochi was protecting you back there so no sets for you, sorry hun. sassyness levels are spiking

-kuroba, even if he sucks at receiving, could manage to receive a floating serve. Seijoh needed four tries xD

-Chika is so great. we know he don't say anything he doesn't mean, and he saying that Fukuho is scared by Yuni, is my whole world. he... he really is caring but sometimes he doesn't know how to put his thoughts into words in a socially acceptable way. Also, how Oda understands him despite his 'cold' words shows how mature and also caring and intelligent Oda is. it is not easy to see past the "harsh" words other person says.

-Oda, oda, oda. hes the best of all the characters, really (well, i dont know, i change of opinion every 5.3 seconds, and i really love yuni, chika and aoki's development too,pkus the brief lines other characters have) . with his development in the last episodes, i really need to read the novel because in the first one he is always self depreciatingly saying he is selfish, but, he is most caring teammate in Seiin. his decision must have been or very difficult or very easy.

-one of things i like the most of 2.43 is how the characters actually struggle with their struggles. I mean, Yuni slip with Chika and then slip again even if he said that he was going to believe in Chika. And Chika us struggling with trusting his teammates, every now and then he tries to olay volley alone again, but then, he actually manages to change, slipping less and less. And I really like that.m, because in some animes, a character with a distinctive flaw gets over it easily and in one motion, and well, we all know that struggles arent like that (which is why i love sousuke's arc more than ikuya's or even rin's, in free!)

-right now, i think Oda is my favorite captain of all the anime sports ive watched. and if i finish the books i know i will be hopeless.

-please please David Production let 2. 43 have more seasons and movies and ovas and a bigger fandom and translated books and mooks, and everything (except queerbaiting, but i am asking for a lot here, i know).

-about Subaru. im still scared of his knees. why does he kneed another surgery?!!! they are awful! and the chances that he cant play as he is now after the surgeries is pretty high! does Ochi called Subaru's doctor? does Ochi sense Subaru's heartbreak for his knees? his pain? can he hurt himself more if he continues to play rough to win against Seiin? are we going to have another injured st the end of the game?

-The music when Kanno and Hokao express their support to Chika was on point. and the one when the block hits Yuni. That scene was... intensd. I thought about any shonen fighting anime with powerful attacks. did Yuni broke his nose's bone (i dont know its name)? it keeps bleeding and bleeding.

-why did Subaru go to the infirmary?

-Wtf with Subaru's energy drink? how can you drink condensed milk during a practice /match and not throw up?

[goutheswimqueen]

thoughts on free! s3? what do you think went wrong/right/what you wish it would’ve went etc

I could quite literally go on FOREVER about season 3 and y’know what you asked for it so I’m just gonna ramble until I feel good about it lmao.

Now first I have to say that I wholeheartedly love season 3 with the deepest passion in my bones. I genuinely didn’t think that we were ever going to GET a season 3 in the first place, so the fact that it exists is just... so meaningful to me as someone whose favorite franchise is Free! and someone whose life was saved by these dumbass swimmers. 

I will say that season 3 isn’t what I wanted from it. I wanted it to be centered on Nagisa, Rei, Gou, Sousuke, Ai, and Momo. I love Haru with my entire being but I really really REALLY wanted to see a series centered on the Iwatobi trio. They’re so underrated and I felt like they were lowkey sidelined in Eternal Summer so I wanted to see them shine and grow together in their third year. But of course Kyoani has just been setting them aside more and more as time has gone on so I feel like that was nothing but a hopeless dream lmao. I have a lot of headcanons and AUs about what went on with everyone who was still in Iwatobi while the rest of the gang was in Tokyo. The little bits that Kyoani gave us of them were beautiful, I will admit. Episode 11 is my FAVORITE episode of season 3. The fact that Rei WON A NATIONAL RACE??? Like, come on. I wish we could’ve seen the work that he put in to even be able to do that in the first place. That moment where he ponders what he’ll be doing after high school really gets to me too because I would love to know what the fuck he and the others are gonna do. I wish we could’ve seen the moments in their third year that led to whatever decisions they will make. I wanted to see the Iwatobi trio go through the absolute wringer together lmao. I wanted angst I wanted to see their journey that led them to where they are now. I wanted to see more of them growing with the new trio too. I wanted to learn more about Gou and Sousuke’s past through their interactions in her third year. If the season was longer I feel like they could’ve had it be half the Iwatobi arc and half the Tokyo arc, y’know what I mean?

Nonetheless, I love season 3 for what it was. I’m so beyond happy that they brought in Asahi, Ikuya, Natsuya, and Nao, you have no idea. The High Speed! characters hold such a special place in my heart. I wish Asahi would’ve had more of an arc/character development though, and I wish Nao was more included. I think Natsuya’s character arc was my favorite of the whole season. Seeing the trash traveling man that he had become and his interactions with Rin and Sousuke really stuck with me for some reason. And that line that he had when he was talking to Ikuya and fucking crying like, “a dream to fight for my strength and pride, plain and simple.” That shit fucked me up bro. We all meme about Natsuya a lot but I feel like there’s a lot of deeper shit there that’s yet to be explored. When we met Ryuuji I was genuinely convinced that he was Ikuya and Natsuya’s father because it would explain a lot about Natsuya’s behavior. A trash dad who wasn’t really there for his family and just kinda fucked off to travel the world training swimmers until he found one that met his expectations? That would’ve added so much to Natsuya and Ikuya’s background stories and their character arcs. Like can you imagine? Natsuya not initially going into professional swimming because the fact that his father LEFT to find a swimmer to train instead of training his own damn son because he didn’t see that potential in him??? Natsuya being inspired by Ikuya to work hard to prove their father wrong??????? Nao punching Ryuuji square in the nose the moment he sees him???????????? A fucking gold mine that Kyoani could’ve dove into, but no he’s related to Shizuru lmao. 

I could go on forever about Natsuya in season 3 cuz I just really, really loved his arc but I’m gonna keep rolling haha. Hiyori was probably the most unexpected thing from season 3 and I just... love him so much. Like his absolute snakey behavior gave me the same chills that that scene of Sousuke pushing Haru against a vending machine in episode 2 of Eternal Summer gave me. I LOVE that shit. The Free! antagonists just keep getting bitchier and bitchier lmao. I also relate to Hiyori on a deeper level. I too have been selfishly protective of my best friends in a way that... really just wasn’t the way to go. Like jeez Hiyori I understand how you feel but maybe let them talk to Ikuya at least once??? Chill with the possessiveness? Idk I know Hiyori is the source of a lot of discourse lol, but that’s just how I feel because of my own similar experiences with myself and others who’ve acted in a similar way. I do wish his beef at the other boys wasn’t solved by just fuckin... swimming with Haru lmfaoooooo. Like I wish they just would’ve added more to his conversation with Ikuya when he asked him to join the relay with him.

I was quite satisfied with Rin’s arc in season 3. It just like, made perfect sense to me I guess lmao. I know he wasn’t there much but I don’t know what else they could or should have done with him, if that makes sense. The fact that his coach is Ai’s uncle is just the best thing ever too lmao.

I was also very happy with Haru’s arc actually!! Seeing how much he has grown makes me feel like a proud mom. Ya boi is tired of the bullshit and the miscommunication haha. Of course I’ll always wish he didn’t go into pro swimming but alas, gotta deal with it I guess. I love his dynamic with Ryuuji and the way that he has dealt with pro swimming though. And his decision to go into the individual medley absolutely made me lose my mind. I didn’t know I needed to see him swim the other strokes until it happened and I just, I loved that so muchhh. 

I alsooooo enjoyed Ikuya’s arc. Seeing someone from your past again like that can 100% have that effect on you. I just kinda wish we understood more about like, why he just randomly faints while swimming sometimes? I feel like they didn’t solidly explain it? Cuz I don’t think it was always from overworking himself. Idk maybe I’m just a dumbass and remembering incorrectly.

Kisumi deserved better. YOU CAN’T TELL ME THIS BOY DOESN’T HAVE UNDERLYING ANGST THAT KYOANI HASN’T DELVED INTO. He gave us that line of “We’ll never make friends like the ones we had back then” and then him worrying about whether or not there was anything he could do to help with the Ikuya situation. This boy feels left out and you can’t tell me otherwise and it is 100% because of the fact that he’s not a swimmer. Someone give this boy a basketball team that he can experience that kind of bond with PLEASE. I AM BEGGING ON MY KNEES!!!

Makoto also deserved better. Like, okay, don’t get me wrong, I absolutely loved his arc with the kids and Nao and all that. I love his new dream. BUT!!! Kyoani has yet to go into depth with his insecurities with Haru. I’m still not over that damn dream he had on that bus. All we got in season 3 was Makoto’s aNGSTY looks when it came to his relationship with Haru lmao. GIVE MAKOTO A BIGGER ROLE AND A BIGGER ARC DAMMIT. He’s one of the most popular characters I’m surprised his angst hasn’t been touched on more. This dumbass just needs to stop holding things in i SWEAR TO GAWD.

I thought the inclusion of Albert was kinda weird, dunno what the point of him is aside from making Haru shake in his bones. Kinjou is definitely interesting. He scares me lmao, but I am here for that. Give us an antagonist who is just absolutely unhinged at this point LMAO. I have some headcanons about him too but I feel like the new movie coming up is going to crush my dreams soooo yeah.

Isuzu is a goddess. I’m so happy she’s finally here and she has a name and a FACE. We learned that the Mikoshiba bros had a sister before we even knew that Momo existed lmao (Sei mentioned her in a drama cd from season 1). I almost thought they were never going to give her to us but she’s here and she’s beautiful and she’s everything that I wanted her to be. I’m so happy she thinks Gou is cute and that GOU LIKES HER and I just ugh yes thank you so much Kyoani I never expected that we’d actually get this but I’m so happy we have it. I hope she goes to Hidaka Uni and gets to race Haru like she wanted haha. And I’m so happy we got to see her swim! Our first in-anime female swimmer with a name. I love her.

Speaking of FEMALE SWIMMERS. Sighhhhhh.... My biggest disappointment. Aki Yazaki. Where is she? We deserve her!! I promise we do!! She was SUCH an important character in the High Speed! novels and kyoani decided that she just doesn’t exist anymore lmao (biggest reason why I’m not the biggest fan of the Starting Days movie). At this point I’ve lost hope that she’ll ever be included in the anime, and it makes me so sad. I love her so much and there’s so much potential for an amazing beautiful story arc with her if she reunited with the boys. I don’t think we’re going to get a season 4, (the new movie is scaring me making me think it’s the end of the series with the way it’s been advertised...) but if we DID get one I imagine it beginning with Haru walking through a snowy day, huddling close to himself to shelter from the cold, when he passes by a tall figure and catches a glimpse of familiar caramel hair with a loose little braid peeking out from behind one ear and a large scarf that has gotten quite messed up over years of wear and tear, a memory clicks in his mind like a light switch and he stops in his tracks to turn around and let a long forgotten name slip from his lips: “Yazaki Aki?” ... cue opening sequence. LIKE WOULDN’T THAT BE SO AMAZING???????? I WOULD FUCKING SHIT MYSELF OKAY YOU DON’T UNDERSTANDDDD. Aki is one of my favorite characters I’m so mad she wasn’t in season 3. I’m also mad that Satomi Nii wasn’t there either like!!! She would make a great trio with Ikuya and Hiyori that’s all I’m sayinggggg. I would probably start crying if either of them showed up at some point like genuinely I would just be a mess sobbing on the floor. ALSO I FEEL LIKE GOU AND ISUZU WOULD ABSOLUTELY LOVE THEM LIKE PLS GIVE ME THE GIRLS THAT WE DESERVE!!!

The art style of season 3 was pretty good. The only thing that bothered me about it was how fucking WIDE the characters’ shoulders were sometimes. Especially with the big bois like Makoto and Sousuke. Like please god no stop that. I’m always gonna miss the art style from season 1 tho, the crazy expressions n shit that were there were just too GOOD lmao. I feel like in season 3 they kind of attempted to bring that back but it just wasn’t executed the same and done to the same extent. R.I.P. the comedy from season 1, it will be forever missed.

I love the opening and ending themes, always. So fucking good. I’m so happy all the characters were included in the end theme animation sequence. I’ll never get over Gou and her BEAUTY.

ANYWAYS. Those are my thoughts in the general sense. Idk if I forgot anything because I have so many thoughts that’re all unorganized haha. If anyone wants me to talk in more detail about anything specific I am soooooo down! Thank you for sending in this ask, talking about this show makes me happy hehe.

[redxblueihateloveyou]

Can't wait to hear your thoughts on the latest episode! I don't like how they handled Ikuya arc, but at least it's over. Also that post credit scene 😍

This episode pissed me off to no end seriously. I knew that they didnt’t have time to do this properly that’s why the result is not really surprising. This whole arc is lazy, let’s play on the things people loved about this show, have same shit but with Haru’s emotions 70% off.

I’m kinda feeling sorry for Ikuya fans because let’s face it, whether you like him or not, he’s gonna be forever a copy in this fandom. Whether it’s his swimming or his character arc. I saw even people who liked the season to this point cringing.

As much as I’m happy about this finally being over, it costed us ¾ of the season and costed me my faith in screenwriters. 

But thanks for packing him finding himself, patching things up with Hiyori and Natsuya all in one episode, I was afraid they would eat more. That was some lousy pancake they’ve made, VERY worthy of the all the build up and fussing (haha).

Post credit scene is like fucking finally seriously, at least we have 4 episodes left not one lol bless

[lethesomething]

Why Sousuke deserves everything

Ok, listen. I need one thing to happen in Dive to the Future, and that is for Sousuke to catch a friggin break. That is all I need. Swimming is nice, the cameos are nice, I'm happy to see all my faves back and being adorable but. BUT. Give Sousuke his arc. Let him find happiness and a future because so far you (KyoAni) have failed him.

What follows in my TED talk is a full breakdown  of the Free! Timeline (I don't even know man, it needs out) and why it has just been mean to Sousuke from the start.

Because that timeline goes far. It starts in friggin elementary school where (this is mostly from the ligh novel High Speed) Rin pretty much abandons Sousuke (and Gou, and his mom, - and Kisumi but no one cares about him) to go live with his gran in Iwatobi so he can go to school with Mako and Haru, and to their swim club, because he 'finally found a guy he wants to swim relays with'. I have a picture of baby Sousuke's face when Rin tells him that he found a team he wants to be part of.

‘Bitch, I thought I was your best friend.’ (Sousuke, probably)

So baby Rin bursts onto the scene in Iwatobi Elementary, and drags the other two (and Nagisa) into a relay by talking about teams and the importance of friendship. And Rin being Rin, he makes an impact, upsetting the fragile balance of Mako and Haru's weirdly codependent relationship for the first time (if you pay attention, he'll do this a lot).

Things aren't made any easier by Haru nearly frigging DROWNING in a river in front of Makoto and Rin, triggering an old trauma, where Makoto witnessed the funeral of an entire ship's worth of fishermen. The whole thing makes Makoto realize that he's terrified of water, always has been, and the only reason he swims is because he likes hanging out with Haru (Makoto gets messed up pretty badly in the light novel, guys). Anyway.

Makoto deals, somehow, because power of friendship.

Haru learns what it means to have a true rival and gets finds his inner fighting spirit.(he’s honestly quite a passive character and a lot of the series’ runtime deals with him finding motivation)

Rin gets his relay.

And then he immediately takes off to Australia, leaving nothing behind but a buried trophy and a rock that says 'for the team'. I have a picture of people's reaction when he tells them he’s leaving.

'Aren't we friends?' (literal dialogue in the light novel)  

Enter High Speed, Starting Days.

Haru and Makoto go to middle school, where they end up meeting Kisumi, and everyone is sad. They join the school swim club, thereby basically abandoning Nagisa, who is now in Iwatobi SC by his friggin self, and they're coaxed into swimming a new relay to learn that you can make new friends and team mates.

In this process:

Kisumi tries to get everyone into the basketball club and fails miserably

Asahi has to get over his performance anxiety

Ikuya deals with his issues with his brother Natsuya and decides to break down at least some of the walls isolating his little tsun ass

Makoto tries to grow an individual personality but is basically told by Haru to cut it out (I'm paraphrasing but that 'Makoto is Makoto' thing is a very weird scene, it's a 'be yourself and don't force it' kinda thing but let Makoto try for frig's sake)

Haru has to contend with being Too Popular and learns to, sort of, get over his weird crush on Rin to swim with new peoples and win.

Everyone gets kindly advice from Nao, and they band together and win (yay!)

It's about at this point that Sousuke shows up again, with a letter from Rin, written to Haru but sent to Sousuke (because that guy doesn't already feel like plan B, surely). Rin and Haru sort of both resolve to keep swimming with the ideal image of the other in their mind.

And then in between seasons shit goes down.

Ikuya and Asahi leave Iwatobi.

Haru meets Rin randomly when he's visiting his family, and they have a race. Haru wins.

This spurs on Rin's complete breakdown and he stops writing letters to, like, anyone (including Sousuke, because of course).

Haru and Mako quit the swim club and Makoto takes up basketball (so at least Kisumi get something out of this).

Iwatobi Swim Club (the one where it all started) just straight up goes bankrupt and shuts down entirely.

 We are on Free! Iwatobi Swim Club

and everyone is sad (again, but since this is the first anime season to come out, you know, whatever).

Haru and Makoto are in their second year of high school, Haru lives by himself and the only reason he's a somewhat functioning human being is because Makoto mothers the heck out of him. He doesn't even appreciate it. Nagisa shows up and has conveniently forgotten that he's one of the first people everyone always abandons. He drags the others to the ruins of Iwatobi SC to dig up their old relay trophy thing before the building is torn down. Also Rin is back in the country and being an utter drama queen (I love Rin, I do, but boy is theatrical). He shows up at the same written-off swim club and immediately challenges Haru, the both of them abandoning Nagisa and Makoto, because fated rivalry.

Not even kidding about the immediate ditching thing.

Anyway. Mako, Haru and Nagisa start a new swim club at school and pull Rei into it, and the lot of them relearn the power of friendship.

While they're doing this:

Makoto is a self-sacrificing idiot who faces some of his worst fears (the ocean, remember) in order to not be a burden on the team. It's bad enough that a pre-character development Rin lowkey worries.

Haru struggles with his talent, in the sense that he feels guilty about Rin's emotional state, thinking it’s his fault Rin lost his enthusiasm.

Rin is redeemed because he suddenly realizes he likes these people after all, and winning isn't everything.

Rei learns how to friggin swim from scratch, works super hard and then when they make it to nationals as a relay team, he GIVES UP his place to Rin, because Makoto is far from the only self-sacrificial idiot in this series.

The team is rightfully disqualified, but they learned something? They at least resolved some of their issues. Even Iwatobi SC is reinstated. Everyone is happy!

Which lasts like a few weeks.

Because in Eternal Summer, Haru and Makoto are now third years and as Rin mentions, should figure out what to do about their future. This leads to a lot of the issues they had at the start of middle school. Also: Sousuke shows up again. This guy is still desperately trying to get Rin to friggin notice him, senpai, so he joins the guy's school and swim team despite being injured. And Sousuke at this point has spent most of his teenage years being vaguely angry/jealous of Haru, and overworking himself to be 'good enough' for Rin to see him as a team mate and he! finally! gets! to! be? Only he RUINS his shoulder in the process because self-care has just gone completely out of the window at this point.

I guess it was worth it if he's giving that look.

What else happens in Eternal Summer:

Rei continues to be the sweetheart that this world does not deserve, but gets to swim in a relay with his own friggin team for once. Also Rin teaches him all the other strokes.

Nagisa briefly runs away from home because the kid has it rougher than people realize, it’s just we were all busy worrying about Haru.

Makoto finds his calling in being a swim teacher

Haru doesn’t know what to do with his life, despite being, you know, a swimming prodigy. Everyone and their mother try to talk some sense into him. 

Haru and Makoto try, again, to address their codependent relationship, it doesn't go well.

Despite the visuals.

But somehow, through an extended intervention, this is all neatly resolved in time for the relay final at nationals.

And what's nice here is that Mako and Sousuke seem to really mirror each other. They're both tol self-sacrificing idiots who have some serious jealousy issues about their best friend and his fated rival. Only Makoto actually gets to hang out with his reluctant, badly communicating friend. Sousuke, despite giving up his own abilities, and despite mentioning some kind of emotional closure, doesn't really get shit.

And THEN

In Dive to the Future, everyone seems to be mildly grown up. They're almost all in college (I'm so happy for Nagisa that he found Rei because at least Rei appreciates that ball of sunshine and he's not alone now). Makoto has ?given up? swimming?, but now Ikuya is back and dealing with almost the exact same issue he had in middle school (like I realize this is realistic, and people don't just evolve in a straight line but Ikuya pls). So he's probably gonna get the friendship treatment, again.

Honestly, the only one even remotely stable in this entire series is Kisumi and no one seems to like him.

But most importantly: Sousuke appears to not be in college. He appears to not be taking over his father's restaurant, which is something that was hinted at in Eternal Summer. He's just mostly bumming, hanging out at his old high school like a loser and failing (again! still!) to write letters to his best friend (who f*cked off to Australia again).

I mean. Honey. Sweetie. You deserve better than this. I need you, in this season, to be more tan a simple side character there to hand out plot points. I need a bunch of people to get together and pull you up. I need you to find that self-confidence and get your shit together because really, it's been twelve years and everyone else has gotten over it multiple times by now. I'm begging  you.

[reikunrei]

15% of my brain: fuck hiyori

7% of my brain: this ikuya arc better end early on bc at this point it’s getting a little ridiculous and they just need to be able to talk to him away from hiyori bc theyve just been running around the last 3 episodes and ive learned nothing about ikuya bc he’s just been sitting around. i wanna see him resolve his feelings w haru, makoto, and asahi so he can move on, and so haru can move on and get to focusing on his dream and swimming. also to cut off hiyori and have ikuya reconnect with them at least a little bit would be nice (even tho i have like the littlest amount of feelings for ikuya). 

unpopular opinion but i dont even get why they introduced all these new characters in starting days. i only care about asahi bc his character type is one of my faves, but overall that movie gave me absolutely zero emotions towards these middle school characters and i honestly dont see the point in them even being brought up as these big important aspects of haru and makoto’s lives, and the fact that now theyre the main plot point of this season is kind of tiring bc i already dont care about them and now suddenly i should care about them, but my only emotions are hatred towards hiyori, so by default i end up liking ikuya more. also the ikuya and s1 rin arcs are nothing alike, but the fact that haru has to deal with this “im mad at you bc of swimming” again is like!! give him a break!! he still needs to work things through with rin again let him do that first!!!  im not super into this whole cat and mouse game they got going. 

and suddenly having like 15-20 characters instead of the 9 from s2 (im counting the iwatobi 4, gou, and samezuka 4) is extremely jarring, especially because they’re trying to focus on those original 9, but then also throwing in the additional newer characters that we dont know a whole lot about yet and trying to put in these dynamics between them all and tie them all into a whole arc while having their own individual arcs.  not saying they shouldnt introduce any new characters ever, bc that would be hard, but it feels like theyre trying to make us feel intense emotions for every single character and be able to keep up with deep relationships and feelings for all of them when we’ve only known them for one movie (i am a simple man with memory problems and already love my main kids i dont need anymore).

overall this whole ikuya arc is 80% unnecessary drama that can be easily avoided if ppl were more forceful with hiyori and ikuya. it’s cool to have these newly introduced characters but we love the show bc we like our main boys, and while new characters are fun, dont shove them in front of our main crew so they become the driving aspect of the show. and like having this be an issue is cool, bc yeah they did fuck up back then and now having the chance, they should totes try to fix it, but dont have it take up what feels like literally 90% of the show. like even in s1 when they were dealing with shit from rin, that wasn’t the entire aspect of the show; they were also dealing w the swim club and it was a pretty even split between simply iwatobi time and dealing with rin time, so it gave us a good break from any intense drama. like i already love my main boys, and theyve been built up for 2 seasons, and now suddenly im being forced to create split second opinions on these new characters bc im forced to focus on them bc that’s all that’s been talked about for 80% of this season.

but that’s just my onion!

what i would’ve liked to have gotten from this season: haru, makoto, and rin just going to college, and the main point of tension/drama coming from them trying to juggle school and social life. i really wanted to see a focus on makoto’s studying to become a coach, and see haru deal with a real professional setting for swimming, and fine-tuning his dream, and see the same thing for rin and how each of their experiences compared to one another. i also want to see more of iwatobi and samezuka and how they’re dealing with new members, etc. (even tho i know haru is the main character so most of the show will circulate around him).  

take your marks? absolutely wonderful, incredible, astounding, fun as fuck, got to see mostly my main boys with little smatterings of new characters, so it wasn’t overwhelming and i knew what was happening. dive to the future? ur on thin fucking ice.

the last 78% of my brain: hhhhhhghhghgh favorite anime i lov my boy s

[reasonreblogs]

Hiyori and The Little Mermaid

So after ep 6 of this season, I found the parallels between Hiyori and the Little Mermaid actually really interesting.  That he’s probably most like the Mermaid imo?  Or at least most blatantly.  I took a few notes after seeing the episode on his similarities and what I think is kinda funny in comparison to Ikuya seeing himself as the mermaid is that I don’t think Ikuya has anyone he considers the woman the Prince ends up falling for while Hiyori explicitly mentions saving the Prince only for him to fall in love with the woman who found him instead.

So in Hiyori paralleling himself as the Mermaid, it was made pretty clear Ikuya is the Prince and Haru was the woman the Prince fell for as his savior.  SO let’s get into how Hiyori is like the mermaid both the way he sees it and in other ways he as a character parallels the story.

It’s kinda cute, but his trouble speaking or weird speech patterns in general covering up the things he wants to say or the things he hasn’t revealed, his “true voice” if you will.  His first moments shown interacting with others as a kid is him seeming to be literally unable to speak or articulate his thoughts enough to be able to.  Also notable is how he’s muttering to himself what he really feels about what Ikuya is saying about himself at the playground (unless I misinterpreted and he was thinking it and not speaking under his breath).

He seems to revolve a lot of his efforts around Ikuya even if it hurts him.  However, it seems unlike the Mermaid, he doesn’t want to accept this and keep his Prince from the Woman (Haru) he thinks saved him.  If we were to compare, it seems Hiyori sees himself as potentially where Ikuya’s support, love, and chance to be saved is, but he’s attributing to someone who didn’t do much of anything to deserve it (especially since all he sees is the pain it’s caused and wasn’t there to know what the friendship was really like.  Perhaps the parallel he’s drawing is that his longing to be an important person to Ikuya the same way Ikuya is to him is painful in that it isn’t reciprocated and sees Haru as what Ikuya is to him if that wording makes an ounce of sense.  I should just draw a god damn chart).  He’s also seeing very intimately the kind of pain Ikuya is feeling and has no context for his fixation on an old friend besides that.

In the story before the prince gets a chance to reunite with the Woman he thinks saved him, he said he would not marry the princess from a neighboring kingdom.  The Mermaid at that time becomes his favored companion.  This seems to be where we are in their arc.  Ikuya has just caught a glimpse of the Woman and Hiyori is trying his best to make sure the story doesn’t play out the same.

Another thing is Hiyori and Ikuya met as kids and that seemed to make a big impression on Hiyori.  The same way the Mermaid fell for the Prince the moment she saw him when she went to the surface for the first time but the Prince of course didn’t notice her.  The next time the Mermaid meets the prince is in saving in, but then actively becomes a part of the Prince’s life when she gives up her voice.  It feels like that forgotten meeting and seeing each other years later where one remembers but the other doesn’t in some way reflects that and I like it.  It’s subtle if intentional.

So considering where we are in the story right now with these two it makes me wonder where their arc will go.  If Hiyori has to give Ikuya up, if he does so will it because he realizes it’s something he truly needs to do for Ikuya or if he’ll still do what’s best for Ikuya as long as it suits the selfishness of wanting to keep him to himself.

It also makes me wonder if perhaps Natsuya becomes the sea witch in the slightest way for enabling Hiyori’s protectiveness.

I’m liking it.  While I am more interested in the other characters and Ikuya just isn’t that compelling to me as a character and seems more like a pre-development Haru and Rin mash up imo, I really think with Hiyori’s story it gets more interesting... though honestly I think these two are really just... too new and it’s playing a lot of catch up to develop their relationship and as separate characters from the cast that it’s kind of distracting.  Though I suppose that’s the point, it does feel more like spotlight stealing than an ensemble piece where things are coming together between a lot of characters.  I kinda hope Ikuya feels more like how Kisumi and Asahi do later on.

But damn if I though Makoto seemed like a dude clearly in love with his best friend, he’s got NOTHING on Hiyori, let’s be real.  Though I think it’s interesting how Hiyori and Ikuya seem like a (unintentional) parody of some fandom views of Makoto and Haru’s relationship.

Anyway, that’s my two cents after seeing ep 6 of this season once.  There’s probz more parallels and this whole post is sloppy at best, but I haven’t been in the fandom analytical posting in years. :yyy

[jikyuuryoku]

//s3 wrap-up opinions under the cut

this is not overwhelmingly positive by any stretch of the imagination so if you’re attached to s3 in a way that might make you upset to read dissenting opinions, you might want to not read at all!

-

they better bring utsumi-san back for whatever inevitably olympic-themed media drops in 2020 because s3 as a whole was just. not very good. a lot of the magic and the depth of inter-character development was just missing and consistently falling flat episode after episode and made the entire season feel disconnected and borderline sloggish. 

things i think the season got right: 

- haruka. they gave him an emotional depth in a way that was perhaps the only thing i felt this whole season wasn’t forced or otherwise inorganic. the way he thinks and ticks makes sense with regards to all of his decisions and the emotions that follow through as a result. i’m still really not a fan of the “haruka’s swimming is magical because ???” trope, especially for this season where it was used less as a mechanism to drive motivation and used instead way too liberally to write off character motives, but other than that, i felt this season handled his development gracefully.

- the way the handled rin being remote a majority of the season was also more graceful than expected. he has a presence even when he wasn’t present and the snapshots we got of his life in australia before the all japan felt like they fit in just fine.

- overall the new introductions to the cast were done pretty seamlessly and i think they all integrate well together. 

things i think the season got wrong:

- the biggest one for me is the constant attempt at spelling out a character’s emotional investment in something, but with vague and even nebulous reasoning, and it made a majority of the season feel like it was just constantly not hitting the notes it may have intended to hit. for example, hiyori and ikuya’s entire arc felt bland and forced, even though it was the most bombastic all season. haruka and ikuya’s growth together as a bond also suffered from the same issue. a beautiful note to the other two previous seasons were that we weren’t hand-fed these things, and yet the character writing was so strong that everything kind of just fell into place and spelled itself out naturally. it’s what captivated me with these characters (and thus this series) in the first place from the get-go and to see it so bastardized this season felt like a slap in the face, as a long-time fan.

- pacing. surprisingly i think the season handled the large cast pretty well, in terms of focusing on the characters that needed focusing on instead of trying to cut everyone an equal slice (though, even to that end, i almost would have preferred they kept iwatobi and samezuka out of the picture entirely, if only to give more love to the obvious protagonists and intended narratives of the season that was clearly lacking), but a lot of the season felt either very touch-and-go or like certain points were drawn out for episodes too long. 

- a lot of the character acting/blocking wound up feeling staged for the sake of pushing the narrative along. i get that sometimes a scene transition requires a character to be in a place that maybe seems out of place or to interject with something that might be obvious to the viewer, but it was done so frequently and with such little care that a lot of exposition scenes wound up feeling like... “oh, haru is here. haru, did you see ikuya? your old friend ikuya? ikuya who is now in college, who i just saw? haru’s going to leave now, even though he just got here, because now he has to go investigate this new plot point” (obviously not literal but you get what i’m getting at)

all of these things on their own are forgivable and were all present in one way or another in the previous two seasons, but this time around it was just overwhelmingly disappointing. there wasn’t a single part of the entire season that drew me in like the others did. i didn’t really care about any one character, any one story... none of it really struck home for me. and ai got a family member and a won race, so that’s saying a lot

those are me onions. wanted to jot them down while all the thoughts were fresh in my head is all!

[tehrisa]

Free! -Timeless Medley- the Promise/Yakusoku (spoilers...duh)

Part two of the Timeless Medley series, Yakusoku/The Promise, is a Samezuka centered recap of Eternal Summer; in other words it's ES without most of the Iwatobi scenes. The plot centers on Rin and Sousuke's individual character arcs, Sousuke's most heavily, as well as their relationship with each other. Nitori's character development is also covered because of the relay being central to the overall story, and Momo remains as a supporting role. 

The movie opens with new scenes of Rin and his family, showing his mom (Miyako) and dad (Toraichi) for the first time in the series. We're shown a more in depth look into Rin's relationship with his dad, the person he's always loved and looked up to the most, since chasing his dad's dream was an important part of his story in season one. Toraichi is shown to be a caring father who often plays with Rin and Gou, and even teaches them how to swim when they discover that he used to be a talented swimmer. One day Toraichi goes out for his fishing job despite a storm coming, then Gou is accidentally woken up by Miyako and they see the clock in the room suddenly broke and hands are stuck at 4:55. Later Gou and Miyako leave to visit their Grandma, leaving Rin home alone. While taking a nap, Rin is woken by a phone call, the call is about Toraichi dying in the typhoon. After Toraichi’s death, the whole family is shown to be broken hearted, but Rin is determined to remain strong in this time of sorrow. Afterwards we see the days when Rin meets Sousuke and Haru for the first time; Sousuke challenging Rin for the first time at the Sano SC, and Rin seeing Haru at the tournament aforementioned in ES Episode 12. When Sousuke sees that Rin has a sudden fondness for Haru at that tournament, he’s visually disturbed. After, Rin tells Sousuke that he’s transferring to Iwatobi. From there we see a montage showing the events of Season 1 and the High Speed movie. Starting from the Iwatobi SC relay and Rin leaving for Austraila, we see parallels of Haru and Rin during their first year in middle school and what happened to them up until their reunion in winter that same year. Haru is shown to have a positive development with the Iwatobi Middle team, while Rin has the opposite experience being unable to overcome swimmers that are stronger than him and even stopping in the middle of a race just like Haru in ES Episode 9. A new clip of the Iwatobi Middle team is shown just before the scene of Rin and Haru's reunion race. While the team is walking home together, Haru looks up at the sky to see a hawk, then fading to Rin solemnly staring at an empty sky in Australia. After the reunion in middle school, the montage skips to show Rin's development in Season 1, overcoming his torment to regain his passion in the final relay of Season 1. The montage ends with Rin becoming captain at the start of Season 2, and the scene where Rin is alone at his dad’s grave from Season 1 Episode 7. From there it's the opening theme. 

The opening theme, Rising Free, is mainly clips of the main Samezuka boys, and brief clips of Kisumi, Ikuya, Asahi, as well as Natsuya and Nao together as adults (however they're only shown from behind). The Iwatobi team is shown towards the end of the theme standing opposite to Samezuka in a setting similar to the season one opening when they're underwater looking at each other. 

From there the movie is a direct recap of ES with some scenes edited out and a few new clips/scenes added. 

Starting with Episode 1, Sousuke Is shown visiting Iwatobi SC Returns before quickly changing scenes to Samezuka. Rin is trying to get used to his new duties as captain when he recieve a call from the Iwatobi boys telling him to come to Iwatobi while he's in the locker room. This is the same invite to see the Sakura pool but is change from the direct invite at the local tournament that was in the TV anime to just a phone call. The Sakura pool scene remains the same, but Makoto and Haru being unsure of their future when asked by Rin is cut. 

From Episode 2 we see Sousuke and Rin reuniting, Sousuke joining the swim team, Iwatobi inviting Rin and his team to Splash Fes, meeting Momo, Sousuke and Haru's confrontation at the vending machines (but without that dubstep music is was awkward yet intense), and the relay race. 

Next it's straight to Episode 4. This is almost completely unedited aside from cutting out the Iwatobi scenes (no gross rice balls, sorry). Basically it’s all the Rin and Sousuke scenes from that episode.

Afterwards are scenes from Episodes 6 and 7, i.e. the regional tournament. Before the start of the tournament, there is a new scene where Gou is at the hospital with a cold and sees Sousuke there too; replacing the scene from the end of ES Episode 7 where she only saw him at the train station. Then Gou and Rin visit their dad’s grave before they go to the tournament. At the tournament we see Nitori's race, Rin's race against Haru, Momo being chosen for the relay team, Nitori sulking over not being able swim with Rin because he thinks his swimming is poor but Sousuke reassures him to try harder, the relay race (except the actual race isn't shown, it's just the scene before it starts and skipping directly to Samezuka celebrating their victory). 

Nitori congratulates Rin on receiving offers from scouts, including "sousuke's team". And then the fight between Rin and Sousuke where Rin questions how serious Sousuke is about the relay. Let me quick mention that the whole movie has a new soundtrack, and this scene had one of the best new tracks in my opinion; it was super intense. Afterwards is the scene where Sousuke coaches Nitori, and then the race that secured Nitori a spot on the relay team; I believe that was from the beginning of Episode 9. 

Speaking of Episode 9 (nice transition between thoughts), from this episode we see Rin announcing the relay team (Momo, Nitori, Sousuke, and Rin), Seijirou seeing the relay listing from Momo, Momo telling the other relay members that they're the "best team", Sousuke's shoulder starting to hurt in the practice pool, Rin's freestyle race, Rin seeing Haru stop in the pool, Rin talking to Haru in the locker room (most of this scene is edited. It's just Rin yelling at Haru "what are you doing?!" And then cut off by Haru slamming his fist on the lockers. That it).

Episode 10 is also almost fully shown, aide from most of the Iwatobi appearances being cut. So we see Rin confronting Sousuke about his shoulder and then Sousuke revealing the truth, along with Sousuke, Nitori, and Momo telling Rin they want to swim the relay no matter what. The relay from that episode is edited so that is focuses on just the Samezuka team’s swimming. And then the ending clip where Sousuke says he's found his dream. 

Episode 11. Rin receives the air mail from his coach in Australia, and Sousuke talking Haru at Iwatobi about talking his future more seriously after the fallout at the prefectural tournament. After Rin dismisses the Samezuka team for their week long break, he receives a text from Makoto. This is followed by three new scenes. First, Makoto calls Rin while he's still at the cliff where he and Haru had their fight. Makoto explains what happened with Haru and how he's worried about Haru's future and wants him to see the world (essentially just retold what he said to Haru). He asks Rin to do something to help Haru, which is where he decides to take Haru to Australia with him. The next scene is Rin packing for his trip and Sousuke ask if it's really ok for him to take Haru with him, to which Rin claims he's "not doing this for Haru" or something like that. Also Rin asks what kind of souvenir Sousuke wants and he says "nothing sweet" (it was really cute). Finally, Nitori and Momo are talking about practicing together to prepare for Nationals. Sousuke overhears the conversation and the two of them tell him they’re nervous about swimming at Nationals for the first time. Sousuke gives them some advice and offers to watch them practice sometime too.

Because it has no relevance to the Samezuka plot line, Episode 12 is completely skipped. Sorry RinHaru fans, your ship is cut. 

Not much is shown from Episode 13 aside from Rin coming back, the third years graduating and Nitori becoming captain, and Rin telling Sousuke that he'll wait for him to come back to swimming. This scene transitions into the ending theme with Nitori and Momo inviting Rin and Sousuke to go eat, and they four exit the pool together while the ending theme, Clear Blue Departures, begins. 

The ending theme shows many new clips including Nitori performing his captain duties, Rei being appointed as the new captain of the Iwatobi team while Makoto and Haru say their goodbyes, a flashback of the Iwatobi Middle boys (Haru, Makoto, Asahi, Ikuya, and Kisumi), and a flashback of Rin and Sousuke in elementary school. The credits start rolling with a series of clips of the Iwatobi boys from Seasons 1 and 2, clips from the OVA, and the ending art frames. 

The post credits scenes are all new animation. Starting with Rin and Sousuke having a talk on a cliff side park at sunset. Rin is going to be leaving for Australia soon and tells Sousuke that he'll write him letters again, and properly reply this time. Sousuke tells Rin about a swimmer that caught his interest at the National tournament, Ikuya. He remembers when Ikuya swam Breast in middle school, but says he's become more talented because he performed well in the individual medley. But most notably was that Ikuya's freestyle swimming was exactly the same as Haru's. Sousuke warns Rin about Ikuya since it's likely that they may complete agains each other in the future. Transition to Ikuya in his dorm room with his roommate, Hiyori who is also on the swim team. Ikuya exits the room to call Natsuya. (Hiyori: “where are you going?”. Ikuya: “to call my brother *leaves*” Hiyori: "calling his onii-chan, huh". Ikuya: "*comes back in* don't call him that *leaves again*". Hiyori: "lol that was cute"). Next is Asahi at his swim club saying goodbye to his kouhai. He gets a text from Kisumi saying "Let's meet up!" (something like that) and Asahi agrees to meet up in Iwatobi in May. Reading Asahi’s reply, Kisumi thinks about how he wants to meet up with everyone again. The final scene is Haru and Makoto at Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo. Clearly still getting used to Tokyo life by commenting on how big and busy it is, they both agree that they're excited to start moving towards the future. The frames switch between the two of them standing in Tokyo and standing alone on starting blocks in a large stadium, Haru in his swimsuit and Makoto wearing his Iwatobi SC coaching wetsuit. An announcer says " Take your marks. Go." and they cross the intersection, and the scene fades out with "See you next stage" in the corner. 

A preview for Take Your Marks is at the end, where Style Five is commenting about new stories that will be told from after Haru's graduation in March. Four "episode" titles are given, #1 運命のチョイス Choice of Fate #2 秘湯のクーリングダウン The Secret Hot Spring of Cooling Down #3 結束のバタフライ Bonds of Butterfly #4 旅立ちのエターナルブルー Eternal Blue Departure, along with the release date for Take Your Marks, 10/28. No footage from TYM is shown, there’s only clips from FrFr! under the character voices.

[pldubrahs]

paused my podcast bc i just had th fucking revelation that i had the foils wrong. hiyori being the mermaid isnt a “reversal bc hes makoto,” hiyori being the mermaid makes sense because HES A HARU FOIL COMPLETELY. i was a fool for thinking he was just a makoto foil that became more like haru, he’s just straight up a haru foil because haru is the driving force in the m*koharu dynamic. makoto is COMPLETELY passive and stationary, but for the effect of his connection with haru. haru is a very calm and relatively passive person, but he has Wants when it comes to the water, and that drives literally the whole plot of free oh my fucking god. meanwhile ikuya is all drive while hiyori only seems to have drive when it comes to moving ikuya forward. its like

okay fuck, i know its almost midngight and i know this doesnt make sense and i know morning lydia is gonna look at this like the scrawlings of doug rattmann but LISTEN its like a graph, okay, let me just

████ <- makoto

████ <- haru

████ <- ikuya

████ <- hiyori

where green is passivity and blue is action, okay, so like the foil of makoto, who is Fine with the way things are and just loves his friends, is not a hiyori, who is also generally chill but Wants for his friend, but ikuya, who is terrified of the present and wants more but only for himself, wants more so he can be by himself. and obviously these are generalizations of the characters, but i feel like my makoto analysis is pretty accurate to him during his first season arc (and, truly, in second season as well). anyway, its now almost midnight and just. haru and hiyori are both mermaids. hiyori straight up says that swimming made him feel Different, was a reprise from his every day (OH MY GOD WHERE HE ALSO HAD ABSENT PARENTS LIKE HARU, ONLY HARU GOT A CARING GRANDMA AS WELL IM GONNA YELL) even if he didnt let himself Be Himself in the water until the very end of the series. i cant believe i went through dive into the future and fell into the well laid trap of just believing that foils always did the same strokes. ikuya does literally every stroke. hiyori also does freestyle, he challenged them to backstroke to fuck with haru bc he knew he only swam free. im going to pass out this is all so obvious in retrospect and its BEAUTIFUL