#not even anti makoharu

[badpostureart]

It Could Only Ever be Rinharu

Author’s Entry Angle

As of May of 2023, the Makoharu v. Rinharu debate is alive and well, albeit on a much smaller scale than in years prior. I’ve been on team Rinharu for almost a decade now. The earliest I expressed (purely personal) written support for them was back in late October 2014 and my first fanart of them (never shared publicly) was finished in early November of that year. Since then, my writing and art have improved dramatically, but my feelings about Rin and Haru have largely remained the same. Equally, the debate hasn’t changed that much either—at least from those outspoken about their dislike of the other side. Indeed, some variation of the word “toxic” has at one point or another been used to describe both pairings, with fans caricaturing the other side as being overly emotional and/or delusional when faced with content of the pairing they don’t like. It’s honestly quite funny to read!

For me, shipping has been a cheeky exercise in empathy and introspection about relationships more broadly. Rinharu is kind of like a first love. Not only were they the first coupling I would defend with my dying breath, but they were invaluable in contouring my understanding of romantic love in all its absurdities. Undoubtedly, my own experiences (limited as they are) and personality colour my preference, and I’ve spent the last 10 years trying to articulate what I love about these goobers so damn much. What does being a Rinharu truther say about me, if anything at all? I would like to explain my Rinharu-or-bust rationale precisely because this has been such a polarizing debate in the fandom. What is obvious to me is not obvious to others—there would be no debate if that were the case. After all this time, I don’t hate people who ship Makoharu. They have poor taste, of course, but that isn’t worth hating someone over. Heh, just kidding! I’m being an ass on purpose because it’s just so easy!

Being that Free! has recently celebrated its tenth anniversary, I understand that people have had a long time to formulate their opinions and dig their heels in either way. I don’t believe engaging in debate will change people’s minds, and that isn’t what I’m trying to do here anyway. This is purely for fun! Additionally, while I’m still relatively new to posting on social media, I’m pretty sure it’s too late to respond directly to some of the points I mention below. Moreover, I don’t want to impose myself onto other people’s conversations—even though they’re public and some are overtly anti-Rinharu and antagonistic towards its supporters. These folks are ultimately entitled to their wrong opinions.

If you decide to indulge me and give my thoughts a read, I offer these disclaimers: I fully appreciate Makoto’s role in the Free! series more broadly and recognize that he is an important person in Haru’s life. Although I’ve never been a fan of Makoharu, I can appreciate where their supporters are coming from. I’m not writing in bad faith and do not wish to antagonize anyone. Equally, if I say anything you agree with, feel I’ve missed something, or think I’m completely out of line, please don’t be shy in letting me know! I’ve long wanted to engage in this conversation, but largely felt too shy to do so!

On Makoto Being “Boring”

Recently, I read a thread on Twitter where someone expressed indignation at the prospect of someone disliking Makoto for being “too nice.” Even after hearing at some point that people who aren’t his biggest fan find him boring, another commentator concluded that it’s “definitely something else.” What that “something else” could be…I’m not sure either! But I can certainly elaborate on the sentiment that Makoto is a boring character.

I, for one, don’t find him incredibly interesting. It isn’t that he’s “too nice,” but more so that his kindness is among the only characteristics I can think of to describe him. Frankly, I don’t know much about Makoto other than he’s kind, considerate, and supportive of others. His biggest flaws, if you could even call them that, are that he has a hard time being assertive and can be cowardly. He’s a nice guy, and how can you hate a nice guy without looking like a complete monster? By the same token, while I can’t hate him, I don’t feel particularly strong enough to like him that much either. I appreciated how Nao asks Makoto in Starting Days whether he likes swimming or simply that it’s something he can do with Haru because it addressed the problem I, (and likely others), had with Makoto’s character: Who is Makoto if Haru isn’t there? Aside from Haru, what does he like? What does he want to do purely for himself? By the movie’s end, I didn’t learn anything new about Makoto. He at least made peace with confirming that although he does like swimming in and of itself, he likes it better when it’s something he can do with his best friend. While completely unoffensive, it’s nothing to get excited about either.

On “Codependency” and “Toxicity”

Based on what we’ve covered so far, is it fair to say Makoto is overly dependent on Haru? Perhaps in some ways, but not to the degree of a complex. Growing up is hard, and being apart from someone you’ve spent virtually your whole life with is quite the adjustment to make. A better example of codependency would be Hiyori and Ikuya, with the former isolating the latter in order to hoard him privately to himself. (But that’s a story for another day).

On the flip side, Rinharu has been called toxic, presumably because they fight and have said hurtful things to each other. Oftentimes, these instances are the result of miscommunications, and while I wish they would be more honest with each other from the outset, they deserve grace too. Being vulnerable is not an easy thing to do—especially concerning someone one has strong feelings for. It may seem easier to push someone away or refuse to let them in to preserve a sense of pride or to protect oneself from the possibility of being hurt all over again. But for all the fighting Rin and Haru do, they have always reconciled and been able to express what having the other in their life means to them. They wouldn’t be able to affect each other as much as they have if they didn’t really care about each other, hm?

On Canonical Material

With translations of the FS Fanbook underway, some folks have suggested that being an “irreplaceable existence” is more significant than “destined to swim together,” but this depends entirely on how each statement is interpreted. Being that Makoto and Haru have known each other for basically their entire lives, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who could possibly know either of them better. They were firsthand witnesses to how the other grew up over the years because they did it together. Indeed, this relationship should in no way be underestimated or thought of as dispensable. Still, being a “destined pair” suggests to me that Rin and Haru’s connection is bigger than either one of them. Put another way, it is as if the universe itself declared that the two were on a crash course to meet and would ultimately share a future together. Now, depending on whether you see swimming as just a sport/shared interest or whether you believe, (like I do), that it’s an intrinsic part of who they are and how they express themselves and love toward others, then the implications of the statement “destined to swim together” are decidedly quite different.

I’ve never felt like Makoto and Haru were anything more than best friends. Between running the same “drop the chan already” routine and essentially being able to read each other’s minds, their relationship has settled into something undoubtedly solid. It’s clear that they understand each other very well and have an unspoken agreement to always support each other. If romantic love were a matter of practicality, Makoto would perhaps be the most reasonable candidate for Haru. It’s a safe choice. But the laws of attraction don’t adhere to whatever is most rational—it isn’t a matter of who knows you the best, has known you the longest, or fights with you the least. It’s about who moves you and makes you feel something. I don’t wish for Haru to make choices just because they’re familiar and easy or out of fear of possibility.

Likewise, Rin is special to Haru in a way different from any of his other friends—something that is acknowledged and talked about by other characters throughout the series. Nagisa remarks in season one that “Haru-chan says he doesn’t care about his times or winning races, but he’s motivated when he’s racing Rin-chan.” Why is that? What is it about Rin in particular that motivates Haru in a way no one else does? Even when they first met, Haru knew immediately that the other boy was going to be a prominent character in his life whether he wanted him to be or not. He tries to get ahead of it, even run away from it, but he decides instead to be brave and open up enough to let Rin, in all his fleeting glory, nestle inside his bones. We’re treated to Haru’s entire emotional range where Rin is concerned. (Frankly, he was the first person I think Haru allowed himself to be vulnerable with by agreeing to join the medley in elementary school). Despite only being in the same class for a couple of months, Rin left a deep and lasting impression on Haru to the point where he thinks about the other boy well into high school. Hell, feeling as though he hurt Rin caused Haru to quit (and later come back to) the sport he loves most. For someone who goes out of their way to avoid participating in, well, life, Rin sure does a hell of a job in moving Haru to actively engage with what goes on around him. In season two, Nagisa knowingly asks Makoto why he wanted to compete against Haru in the prefecturals. Makoto can’t give a definite answer, but says, “Maybe I was jealous of Rin.” If the audience were to understand Rin simply as Haru’s swimming rival and nothing more, Makoto’s words are incomprehensible. It isn’t just a rivalry with Haru that Rin has, but a mutual, intimate connection over the sport. In other words, Makoto’s feelings towards Haru are not reciprocated—and he knows it.

Indeed, while Makoto feels swimming is meaningless without Haru, Haru finds the greatest purpose in swimming with Rin. With Rin missing from his life, Haru was prepared to resign to being ordinary. In being able to swim together, he wants to be and experience more. And this isn’t necessarily to say that Makoto and Haru would have an unhappy life together, just that Rin offers Haru something no one else can—namely beautiful sights to be shared. Whereas Makoto has expressed the desire to be a part of Haru’s life no matter what he decides to do, Rin proposes to Haru that they share a life and a dream together. Haru can always be certain that Makoto will be there for him, but seeing all he and Rin can be is realized only if they move forward together. I think it goes without saying how much Rin adores Haru, what with him talking virtually everyone else’s ears off about him. Kisumi didn’t even swim, but he knew who Haru was because Rin (apparently) told all of his buddies at Sano about the guy with the “cool attitude and eyes clear as water.” The guy thinks of Haru in prose for god’s sake!

Rin and Haru’s relationship has undoubtedly gone through growing pains, but they’re getting better at communicating and being completely honest with each other (and, frankly, themselves). I admire their relationship because it’s so god damn dynamic—it’s playful, adorable, rife with tension, beautiful, devastating, frustrating, complicated, and innate all at once. Perhaps precisely because Makoto lacks dynamism I find the prospect of a romantic relationship between him and Haru to be, well…boring. It's not that their connection is non-existent or some flavour of the word toxic—they have a wonderful friendship—but I don’t get the sense that it will change much, let alone develop into anything more in the future. From my perspective, as soon as Rin entered the picture any chance for a romance between Makoto and Haru was soundly squashed. There was simply no going back to the ordinary time before Rin Matsuoka “coincidentally” ended up at Iwatobi Elementary School.

[fromzerotoeuphoria]

This MH Shipper Tho...

So last week I made a post about how Haru gets sentimental when around Rin which I had originally posted to Reddit (before I got my Tumblr account). It wasn't too popular on Reddit as there are many more MH shippers there than RinHaru shippers, which is totally fine; I didn’t care about the post being popular (I figured it wouldn’t be), I really just wanted to share my thoughts and love about RinHaru with the world. 😁💜🌸

The rules of the subreddit clearly specify "No Hate Comments" and "No Ship Bashing." If you read my post, even on the Tumblr version I don't even mention any other ship and certainly don't hate on any other ship. It was merely an appreciation post of RinHaru that discussed how Haru gets especially sentimental when around Rin.

I literally wrote this disclaimer in my original post:

But of COURSE, that’s just too much for some people and they still get triggered.

Disclaimer: This isn't an anti-Mako//Haru post but it is an anti-Mako//Haru shippers who are immature, hateful and hilariously insecure about their ship. This isn’t towards all Mako//Haru shippers, esp those lovely and chill ones. To those I send my love (because I appreciate y’all and also love my big squish Makoto 💚).

So this afternoon I get a notification that I have a comment on my Reddit post:

I didn't want to just assume this person was a Mako//Haru shipper, because they could've been an anti-shipper in general, so I checked out their profile first because I like confirming things rather than jumping to conclusions and making assumptions.

But sure enough:

OMG ahahaha y’all this person was so triggered by my post—a post that had absolutely no hate towards Makoto nor Mako//Haru—that they made not only one, but TWO posts that broke community rules by ship hating because of it. AND those two posts were the only posts they ever made on Reddit, ever. 😂 

Literally, all my original post did was give some rare RinHaru appreciation in the subreddit. And the post was even tagged as “Shipping” and had RinHaru in the title. And still this person willingly clicked on it knowing it was a ship post about their notp smh. 

Even in my response to them, I didn't hate on any ship. Yet even then, they're still mad and then try to turn the blame onto me:

Imagine being so insecure and overly sensitive about your ship that the very appreciation of a different ship, one that never invalidates your otp nor Makoto, triggers you that hard. Lol YIKES.

Needless to say, both of their posts were removed for breaking the rules of the subreddit.

Here’s the thing: I’m new to the Free! fandom so I wasn’t here when the ship wars were at their worst. So when I come across all of the Rin and RinHaru hate when I dive into fandom posts, it hits me like if it was new, because no matter how long ago it was, it’s still hate. Hate that still crops up today, which I see frequently on other areas of the internet. 

I tend to write a lot of “posts” addressing this hate or defending RinHaru, but it was originally just for myself and my private blog/diary. Now that I have tumblr, I’ve debated many times whether or not to publish these defenses of RinHaru since the ship wars aren’t nearly as bad as they were before, and a I’m sure a lot of the haters have moved on to (hopefully) better things. Yet every time I feel like maybe its unnecessary to write these long meta posts about RinHaru or posts that address hate coming from mh shippers, I run into something like this, either on YouTube or apparently now Reddit (even though it's against the rules). 

So you know what, I’m not gonna feel bad about addressing RinHaru hate anymore, even if it's from the past because it still goes on today. Also, I know how hard it is to see the hate as a new fan, and seeing people defend Rin and RinHaru is always comforting. Hopefully it’s comforting to others, too.

Anyways, pseudo-venting sesh over.

BONUS: this person really hates Rin lol

[just-antithings]

the rinharu/makoharu ship war is enough to frighten even the antis away. trust me i was on the makoharu side in the thick of it back in like 2015 and i was a ship and let ship type person who just happened to have rinharu as a notp but damn. things got NASTY

meanwhile I’m just over here shipping all the boys together in peace

[having-conniptions]

Free! The Final Stroke SPOILER (I guess)

So, I read a short synopsis of the movie and

Uhhhh

Are we really back to RinHaru drama??

Bc I swear if they kill MakoHaru and SouRin and make it all about RinHaru again then I'm not even gonna bother finishing my season 3 rewatch (which I am doing to catch up with the story so I can watch the movie)... and I'm not gonna bother watching The Final Stroke either... I'll just hope that someone posts a Makoto compilation with all his clips from the movie and then I'll watch that... kinda sad because I do want to see all the characters again but if it's just gonna be RinHaru relationship drama I really can't be arsed... I'm so tired

Disclaimer: I am not a Rin anti (plz I love him) and I do not have a problem with the movie being mainly about Haru and Rin. But there is a difference between the movie being about Haru and Rin and it being about RinHaru.

RinHaru shippers don't come for me I have nothing against you, that ship is just really not for me and I would elaborate but I don't have the time to write an entire essay right now k bye

[heavensenthearty]

For the salty ask.... number 5 👀

TW // Homophobia, racism

5. Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?

I think there were few occasions when that happened. Back at the time when I didn't think things too deeply, I think there was the Inuyasha x Kikyo ship in the Inuyasha fandom. I shipped InuKag since the beginning and even as a child I could tell who was going to be endgame, so I wasn't bothered by what others shipped... until I found a blog that redacted and role-played a criminal trial against Kagome for... well... her character 😶

After that there was the MakoHaru ship in Free!. Nothing too serious there, I just thought the characterization in the fics was too OOC.

Then I joined the ATLA fandom 😑

The flashbacks say I used to be laid-back and forgiving when I first joined the fandom. The thing is that I can't remember what that felt like. I used to be the way I was in the Inuyasha fandom, a "if you're good, I'm good" mentality in regards of ships. K@t@@ngers broke me first.

And they did so when we weren't even talking about ships. See?! 👇🏽

This is a chat I had once with a K@t@@nger, I'm the one saying that I was working on a collection of pro-LGBTQIA blog articles, the K@t@@nger is the one telling me that's sick and blocking me.

And this was after they SUPPOSEDLY tried to apologize for doxxing me when I was raising awareness about Venezuela's crisis.

Yeah, as you heard it. They doxxed me for that, encouraged their followers to send me GIFs of Chavez giggling and posts supporting Che Guevara — (who was an homophobe) — and all of them just happened to be K@t@@ng shippers. (I took a look at their profiles myself.)

Small world, huh?

Then there was the "You probably date your oppressors" comment, a take that I probably will die mad about since it is such a ✨PERFECT✨ thing to say to someone from a country in dictatorship.

And then when they said being Latina didn't make me a POC, and then when they came to my inbox to say I probably didn't shower because I live in Venezuela, and then when after all of that they had the audacity to ask me whether I was white.

So... yeah... like we say in my country, K@t@@ng and its shippers can go a j*der a otra parte.

I want to clarify that I know not all K@t@@ng shippers are like that, and even I follow K@t@@ng artists on Instagram because I like to draw and it happens that I am the kind of person that learns from the ones with more experience than me at something, but I guess I'm not very much okay knowing there are so many... anti-Venezuelans in that side of the ATLA fandom.

Huh, so this is what it feels like to have a villain origin story 🤔...

Anyway... after K@t@@ngers, there were Z*kkas.

Fortunately, I haven't have that much bad encounters with them. I don't how because... I haven't been very chill after everything they have done to my LGBTQIA mutuals 🤨. Maybe it's just that I put the same amount of energy they put in Z*kka in my mlm ships from other fandoms, so they can't say I dislike mlm ships 🤷🏽‍♀️

It's funny because most of my mlm ships are bi or they involve a bi character, and Z*kkas are known for being awfully biphobic 🙄 And people don't have to take my word for it, they can see the asks they sent to bi Zutara shippers. Or to the aro/ace, wlw, and mlm Zutara shippers.

What makes me sad is that when Z*kka first had its popularity boost, I was kind of happy and curious, I wanted to see if I could warm up to it with fanon content. (I have shipped things with less.) Z*kka shippers k-worded Z*kka for me. They k-worded it!! 😡😡😡

Salty asks!

[stardustizuku]

Can we talk abt the fandom's lack of creativity when it comes to shipping? Almost everything is solely Dekubowl and that's cool and all but what about bakubowl? kamibowl? MOMOBOWL?? Like c'mon fandom there are more characters that need loving as well 😥

the dekubowl actually goes far back into fandom history. It was the fandom’s poor attempt to do damage control when it came to ships. 

You have your sheith and your klance, your makoharu and your rinharu, your usuk with fruk. it’s bound to happen. 

when this fandom was still an embryo i took a peak, and no one knew exactly what was going to be what. no one knew who these two big mlm couples would be, sincebnha escapes a bit the usual formula,  and they didnt want to get into a fight. Most shippers came from relatively chill fandoms, so they thought it would work…

“We ship everything!” to avoid getting into fights. and well, it worked for a while. 

turns out bnha got…a bit bigger than expected. 

the dekubowl has been declining slowly as the entirety of the fandom went to each corner and it became obvious who the two big ships were. and even when the dekubowl has been milder now…you can see who exactly runs it. often tddks, who hate bakugou and just want him to lose lmao -i was one at some point shrugs-. 

but since im a deku stan more than anything, i’m okay with it. 

thats the main reason behind the dekubowl. its not an exclusion of characters, it’s more of a phenomena that was bound to happen somewhere, and bnha was the one place to a large enough cast, a lovable enough mc, and an undefined “partner” by the beginning of the series. 

on itself its a very peculiar case lmao. 

REGARDLESS -sorry for the tangent- the fandom really lacks creativity when it comes to ships. 

This is coming from someone who was in the hetalia fandom way back when -throw stones at the end of the essay please- and let me tell you it’s falling incredibly short. 

Back when fanfiction.net was a thing, you could only list one ship -TWO WHEN THE UPDATE WAS RELEASED and that was like…woooow-. So people would throw ANYTHING at you. 

And that was a very pleasing way part of reading fics. You got to explore new ships, and could see the writer’s personal taste shine through. I liked it it was fun. 

You’d have crack ship all the way through, everything was free game. You did have the “default ships package” but most people played around, and threw them out of the window. You’d have a myriad of ships in the background, and it was AWESOME 

that’s why i hate it soooo much when they do this kind “default ships package” of thing in bnha. Always choosing the same things, always going through the same path. 

it standardises things and i hate it.  

i once read a very good tddk fic, because it had such wild ships i was having a BLAST with it. bakugou was dating kirishima and ochako, i think kaminari was dating sero, and tsuyu …i dont recall prob mina?…it was wild and i loved every second of it.

 And i have the vague idea -dont take my word for it it’s expeculation more than anything- that it’s because of anti culture. it’s permeating in a very toxic way. 

because you’re not allowed to ship this because its toxic, you’re not allowed to ship that because its straight, and you’re not allowed to ship what not because age gap, power dynamics, canon content, non canon content, it’s cliche, it’s ooc, it’s harmful for lgbt people, its stereotype it’s this, it’s that…

in voltron -for example- no one is allowed to ship ANYTHING other than klance. and because for some reason those shit holes are coming to bnha, they’re creating fear in the community. They don’t want you to ship anything other than what their “default ship package” has told you its okay. 

that’s why everyone attacks  you if  you think ts*chako is bland. that’s why everyone thinks you’re weird if you ship hawksdeavor, that’s why everyone riots when you say you ship bkdk. 

that’s why we can’t get more ships that the default ones. 

this purity culture is killing creativity. i know artist that don’t want to draw stuff that isn’t “safe”. writers who don’t want to cross the line. 

and its pretty damn awful. 

for people who claim to be protecting and creating wholesomeness, they sure are killing creativity in here. 

It also doesn’t help that bnha has underdeveloped characters and sexism keeps popping up in fandom, but that’s another can of worms and this response is already super long lol. 

[rottenboysclub]

badcopingmechanisms replied to your post “Antis in Free! would be really weird, because I have seen HATE over...”

Anti goalposts are always headed in that direction. As soon as a character canonically ages up, it somehow becomes pedophilia to do art of them as their canon adult age. I think it happened in Voltron fandom too lmao but I'm not sure.

Oh, it gets worse, I’ve seen antis complain about this scene in one of the prequel movies, where a 14-year old Makoto declares his love for Haru

Because apparently he’s “just a baby” and he can’t possibly be having any kind of feelings for his best friend (even though said feelings could be romantic or platonic, not necessarily sexual ffs, but even if they were sexual, he’s 14 and going through puberty, that’s normal) and will throw an absolute shitfit if you tag it as MakoHaru (same deal with any moments with Rin and Haru when they were younger being tagged as RinHaru). It’s a mess.

[discoursecatharsis]

Hey! This isn't really discourse related but I'm planning on getting back into Free! and watching the new season. Got any recommendations for Free! blogs that are pro ship? I didn't know about antis when I was into it before (guess I was lucky) but now I know, I want to stay away from all that. I love Makoharu and Reigisa but I'm chill with seeing content of any ships.

Hi! Tbh I don’t know that many Free blogs to recommend because a lot of blogs I followed back during seasons 1 and 2 are now inactive or deactivated, so even my dash is kind of lacking Free stuff T-T  One day I’ll make a proper Free! blog rec, but here’s a few blogs I know of~

For Makoharu:itsmeaninglesswithoutyoucauseofdeathmakoharufeelsseabreezefriendship

For Reigisa:iwatobiestheory-of-beauty

For general non-shippy stuff, check out dailyfree!

That said, there aren’t many antis specifically for Free ships. If there are antis in the fandom, then they’re usually against ships in other fandoms, like vld or bnha. There’s still shipping wank and ship drama in the Free! fandom though, but it’s more like “Makoharu is unhealthy because it co-dependant” or “Rinharu is abusive,” people who seem to hate the ship because they hate one of the characters in it, etc. But that crap is few and far between (to me at least, I don’t see it often), and once you realize who those people and their friends are, they’re easy to avoid/block.

I can tell you who NOT to follow in the Free fandom lol (like that anti-sha/adin who makes Free gifs and has me blocked), but I don’t want to call anyone out publicly, so if anyone is curious, PM me

[fromzerotoeuphoria]

So you wanna say that RinHaru is a "tOxiC" ship...

*siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh*

It's 2021, humanity has survived a freakin pandemic and people are still out here calling RinHaru 'tOxiC!!1!'?? Like with their full chests??

Imagine HOW TIRED—

Random blog post:

Also random blog post:

In at number one we have RinHaru, also known as Sharkbait. Everything Free! began and ended with these two. The entire first season is about their relationship, and the final fight in the Eternal Summer Special is between them. RinHaru may not have the years of friendship that MakoHaru and SouRin have behind them - but that’s what makes them such an amazing pairing. Within just a short few months in the last term of their last year of elementary school, Rin and Haru became an unforgettable presence in each other’s lives.

(Come on, you know points were made 😉).

But then ofc, you got people crying in the comments that their ship isn't No.1. Which okay, I totally get that you'd feel your ship should be at the top even though the article is just someone's personal opinion...and they didn't even attack your ship; if anything, they put it at No.2 and only had lovely things to say about it, but seriously?? Calling RinHaru toxic?? In the year of our lord 2021???

Aren't y'all exhausted with your own selves by now? I know the rest of us are.

And so, I'm sharing my response to those comments here, for although I have much more organized and polished essays on my drafts on how RinHaru Is NOT Toxic, I really had to just get these points out for now:

Claiming something to be true doesn't make it true, especially when it's driven by an emotional attachment to an opposing ship.

None of the relationships in Free are toxic except for Ikuya x Hiyori, ugh, especially RinHaru, since this is the one haters love to ignorantly throw the "toxic" label on. The entire series wouldn't revolve around Haru and Rin's relationship if that were the case (and Utsumi, the director, comes out and says that Free! is Haru and Rin's story).

The staff, director, VAs all have POSITIVE and lovely things to say about Haru and Rin's friendship. Utsumi said in the RinHaru Mook interview that Rin was the only one who could do what he did in helping Haru realize his dream in S2. In Ep4 of Take Your Marks, Haru himself literally tells Rin that he is the reason Haru was even able to move towards the future. This is all CANON, not headcanon, not fanon, but actual canon material directly from the words of the Free! staffa and anime.

Explain to me how RinHaru is "tOxiC"?? Because they've argued? Because Rin unknowingly and unintentionally hurt Haru when he only once ever told him he'd never have to swim with him again?? Because Rin was suffering with depression (as Utsumi herself said) throughout Season 1 and sometimes showed symptoms of his depression? Because Rin kicked a trashcan out of frustration in S1E12????

Hahaha like seriously, it's okay if you strongly dislike RinHaru as a ship, but calling it "tOxiC" is such a pathetic stretch as a hater. Especially when doing so, you undermine actual toxic relationships and the victims who live through them.

The entire Free! franchise has multiple movies, 2.5 whole seasons and even a 4-episode film that shows Rin being one of the most supportive, sweet, caring and motivating characters on the show. He drives Haru to constantly improve at swimming, was the only one who was able to breakthrough to Haru in Season 2 about Haru's future dream the way he did (again, as Utsumi herself said), is the reason Haru attributes to being able to step towards the future, is a "dear friend" to Haru whom Haru cares a whole lot about and, as Season 1 shows us, strongly wants in his life.

But I guess none of this exists for antis—nope, in their own 2013-stuck worlds, RiNhArU iZ dA tOxiC sHiP.

(But hey, at least the commenter agreed in a follow-up comment that their claim is "dry, unoriginal ignorant and completely-undermining-to-ACTUAL-toxic-relationship"—acceptance is one of the first steps to recovery :))

[sailoriasake-blog]

I'm a makoharu shipper but....

I feel like if rinharu was in an actual relationship, Rin would be protective over Haru to the point where it’s overbearing. Also, Rin is too competitive and probably will get jealous easily. On the other hand, Makoto is perfect for Haruka! I mean they even grew up together 💓 (I’m not anti-rinharu, just a thought!)

[just-antithings]

there actually were some rinharus claiming makoharu was incesty (since they knew each other all their lives) and makoharus claiming rinharu was abusive (since season 1 rin wasn’t very nice) in the free! ship wars but not for explicitly anti reasons, just as a “our ship is better than yours” type deal. so i think antis wouldn’t know what to condemn and what to put on a pedestal bc of the different viewpoints. they’d probably not even know what to do with reigisa, the ship that most people on both sides of the ship war could agree on, since nagisa is small and cutesy so obviously he’s child-coded.

🙄🙄🙄🙄

[fandomtrumpshate2017offerings]

lyrithim - FTH Contributor Page

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lyrithim’s offerings:

lyrithim Auction #1

Type of fanwork: fic Subtype(s): n/a Fandom(s): [really, any fandom as long as the canon isn’t too long - just give me time to catch up] MCU (especially Captain America), Check Please!, Legend of Korra, Yuri on Ice!!!, Merlin, X-Men (haven’t seen Apocalypse yet), Harry Potter (potentially Fantastic Beasts; have yet to see that), Zootopia, Free!, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Assassination Classroom, Shakespeare (some of the major works), Hunger Games, Hamilton, Nothing Much to Do & Lovely Little Losers, Star Wars: the Force Awakens (haven’t seen Rogue One), Girl Meets World, BBC Sherlock, Supernatural, Man from U.N.C.L.E. (remake), Inside Out, Hetalia, One-Punch Man, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, Cardcaptor Sakura, Ouran High School Host Club Rating(s): G, Teen, Mature, Explicit Length/size: up to 5k words, 5-10k words, 10-20k, 20-50K, >50K Especially interested in: [basically most ships without histories of abuse, but especially - ] Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers (Stucky), Natasha Romanoff/Clint Barton, Bitty/Jack (Zimbits), Shitty/Lardo, Nursey/Dex (Nurseydex), Korra/Asami (Korrasami), Yuuri/Victor (Victuuri), Merlin/Arthur (Merthur), Charles/Erik (Cherik), Nick Wilde/Judy Hopps, Makoto/Haru (Makoharu), Nagisa/Karma, Hamlet/Horatio, Peeta/Katniss, Dean/Castiel (Destiel), Howl/Sophie Will not: Ships that conflict with the pairings listed above. PWPs. Depictions of self-harm. Heavy depictions of mental illness, especially depression. Ships that contain and themes such as abuse, incest, severe power imbalance, slavery, rape/non-con, underage sex, body horror, beastiality, etc. Notes: Anything longer than 8k to 15k will be difficult to complete within a month, depending on how actively I'm involved in the fandom (basically, how far up I listed the fandom/ship) and my schedule at the time. Sorry about that!

Auctions run from 12 January 2017 (Midnight, EST) to 19 January 2017 (Midnight, EST). Bids before or after this period are invalid and will not be counted.If you would like to bid on this auction:

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lyrithim Auction #2

Type of fanwork: podfic Subtype(s): n/a Fandom(s): Any fandom, but especially MCU (especially Captain America), Check Please!, Legend of Korra, Yuri on Ice!!!, Merlin, X-Men (haven’t seen Apocalypse yet), Harry Potter (potentially Fantastic Beasts; have yet to see that), Zootopia, Free!, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Assassination Classroom, Shakespeare (some of the major works), Hunger Games, Hamilton, Nothing Much to Do & Lovely Little Losers, Star Wars: the Force Awakens (haven’t seen Rogue One), Girl Meets World, BBC Sherlock, Supernatural, Man from U.N.C.L.E. (remake), One-Punch Man, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, Cardcaptor Sakura, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles Ouran High School Host Club, Inside Out, Hetalia, Naruto Rating(s): n/a Length/size: up to 5k words, 5-10k words, It depends on how much the bidder contributes (tell us more in the ""additional info"" section) Especially interested in: Any pairing, especially (and any pairing that doesn't conflict with) Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers (Stucky), Natasha Romanoff/Clint Barton, Bitty/Jack (Zimbits), Shitty/Lardo, Nursey/Dex (Nurseydex), Korra/Asami (Korrasami), Yuuri/Victor (Victuuri), Merlin/Arthur (Merthur), Charles/Erik (Cherik), Nick Wilde/Judy Hopps, Makoto/Haru (Makoharu), Nagisa/Karma, Hamlet/Horatio, Peeta/Katniss, Dean/Castiel (Destiel), Howl/Sophie Will not: Explicit sex scenes. Ships that contain and themes such as abuse, incest, severe power imbalance, slavery, rape/non-con, underage sex, body horror, beastiality, etc. Notes: $10 more per 1k word after 10k words.I don't have great recording equipment, unfortunately - I'm using my phone. Sorry!

Auctions run from 12 January 2017 (Midnight, EST) to 19 January 2017 (Midnight, EST). Bids before or after this period are invalid and will not be counted.If you would like to bid on this auction:

Step 1: Check the bidding spreadsheet to find out what the current high bid is. (Note: It may take up to five minutes for a bid to appear.)

Step 2: Fill out the seller’s bidding form with a bid that is higher than the current high bid. If you want to make it harder for someone to outbid you, bid higher! You will NOT be notified if someone outbids you, so please bookmark this page and check frequently. You will only be notified if you are the high bidder after the auctions end.

lyrithim Auction #3

Type of fanwork: fan labor (betaing, etc) Subtype(s): Beta-ing Fandom(s): MCU (especially Captain America), Check Please!, Legend of Korra, Yuri on Ice!!!, Merlin, X-Men (haven’t seen Apocalypse yet), Harry Potter (potentially Fantastic Beasts; have yet to see that), Zootopia, Free!, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Assassination Classroom, Shakespeare (some of the major works), Hunger Games, Hamilton, Nothing Much to Do & Lovely Little Losers Rating(s): n/a Length/size: up to 5K words, 5-10K, 10-20K Especially interested in: [basically most ships without histories of abuse, but especially - ] Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers (Stucky), Natasha Romanoff/Clint Barton, Bitty/Jack (Zimbits), Shitty/Lardo, Nursey/Dex (Nurseydex), Korra/Asami (Korrasami), Yuuri/Victor (Victuuri), Merlin/Arthur (Merthur), Charles/Erik (Cherik), Nick Wilde/Judy Hopps, Makoto/Haru (Makoharu), Nagisa/Karma, Hamlet/Horatio, Peeta/Katniss, Dean/Castiel (Destiel), Howl/Sophie Will not: Ships that conflict with the pairings listed above. Depictions of self-harm. Heavy depictions of mental illness, especially depression. Ships that contain and themes such as abuse, incest, severe power imbalance, slavery, rape/non-con, underage sex, body horror, beastiality, etc. Notes: Thanks for participating!

Auctions run from 12 January 2017 (Midnight, EST) to 19 January 2017 (Midnight, EST). Bids before or after this period are invalid and will not be counted.If you would like to bid on this auction:

Step 1: Check the bidding spreadsheet to find out what the current high bid is. (Note: It may take up to five minutes for a bid to appear.)

Step 2: Fill out the seller’s bidding form with a bid that is higher than the current high bid. If you want to make it harder for someone to outbid you, bid higher! You will NOT be notified if someone outbids you, so please bookmark this page and check frequently. You will only be notified if you are the high bidder after the auctions end.

Thanks for participating in Fandom Trumps Hate!

[fromzerotoeuphoria]

Addressing Haru’s Emotions Towards Makoto vs Rin (Season 1, Ep 11 & 12)

(ft. my low quality first attempt at gifmaking) 

So I was innocently looking up Rin and Haru meta on Google (I’m addicted to RinHaru meta plz send help) when I came across this little thread that tried to discredit RinHaru by comparing Haru’s emotional confrontation with Rin in S01E12 vs Haru’s emotional “thank you” to Makoto in S1E11.

Oh give me a break.

{gif from google}

Disclaimer before we dive in:

Now, I know this was posted by antis back when the shipwars within the fandom were at their worst, but I still wanted to address this because I myself am new to Free! and the fandom (I discovered Free! a couple of months ago in mid-July), and being so new to the fandom, these kinds of comments hit like they’re fresh, ya know? I know for me, finding posts of people defending both Rin and RinHaru against the hate really brought me comfort as a baby in the fandom, and I know there are new people coming into the fandom who may feel the same way.

Also, although many of these tumblr posts were written years ago, I still see this kind of stuff active on the internet: on youtube, anime forums, and even kpop forums, believe it or not. So there are still people out there who think these kinds of ways and say these kinds of things, and hopefully addressing posts like these will help highlight the inaccuracies in this kind of thinking...while, again, bringing a sense of consolation to other RinHaru shippers out there.

Makoto is my lil-big squish and I appreciate the MakoHaru friendship, so in no way am I trying to undermine their relationship because it is important (and there’s no way you can deny that Haru does love Makoto at least platonically). So though I may come off strong towards these types of MH shippers, it doesn’t mean I’m talking about all MH shippers and it’s certainly not towards Makoto. I will, however, place things in a proper perspective because I see a lot of exaggerating and misrepresenting going on in order to undermine just how much Rin means to Haru (which is baffling to me because it’s so obvious and CANON just how strongly Haru cares about Rin and wants him in his life).

And YES, I’m a RinHaru shipper. There is a possibility of ship-bias, but I do my best to be fair. Plus, I love these boys.

Well, let’s get into it.

(tl;dr in bold & at end of post)

...but telling Makoto “thank you” and that he “appreciates him being here for him” is overwhelming to the point that he can’t even look at Makoto while talking and feels the need to run out of his room in the middle of the night, the night before their super important relay.

So the scene with Makoto being referenced by OP is the MakoHaru scene in S01E11 in which both Makoto and Haru are in their hotel room the night before the big tournament. They’re in their respective beds, and Haru opens up to Makoto and thanks him for always being there for him. Feeling embarrassed as well as being unable to sleep, Haru leaves and goes for a run.

Then of course, the climactic scene of the whole season: Rin and Haru’s final confrontation. No need for me to summarize it because we ALL know what goes down:

last gif brought to you straight out of a shoujo manga ;D

Comparing Haru's reactions between these two counters is erroneous because so much about them is different, and thus Haru is coming from totally different places emotionally. 

These are two different situations under completely different circumstances (with two different people who hold different places in Haru's heart. Again, different). With Makoto, you had a sweet, heartfelt moment in which Haru opens up his heart to his best friend and thanks Makoto deeply (in his Haru-like way) for always being there for him, for being someone he can always depend on and lean upon for all these years.  With Rin, you had a culmination of so much raw emotion and misunderstanding between two friends who cared about each other—but thought the other person didn’t reciprocate—finally coming to a head-on collision. This has Haru in a completely different mental and emotional state when he confronted Rin than when he was with Makoto in their hotel room. 

Haru went through a whole freakin' lot over the years, even just in Season 1 alone. He just experienced an "existential crisis" of sorts in eps 8 and 9 after Rin told him he was never going to swim with him again, and Makoto was a big part of why Haru was able to overcome that feeling of blackness and discover his enjoyment in swimming relay (Rei and Nagisa and their team-manship being the other part of the reason). Makoto has been THE constant support in Haru's life, always supporting him from the shadows and taking care of him without ever asking for anything in return. I believe that in the excitement, anticipation and emotions of the entire team's journey thus far that brought them to that hotel room for their big tournament, Haru began thinking about everything that led up to such a big moment in their lives. And he knew that the major support in his life right there in the hotel room with him, and in this poignant moment, Haru expresses his gratitude.

(Sidenote: a confession of gratitude =/= a love confession, folks. I've seen people hype up that Shimizaki called it a “confession” from Haru to Makoto, and that Utsumi agreed, and so they somehow equate it to a "confession of love" when…sorry luvs, but no. In the same statement Utsumi says, "…it is a confession to his best friend.[…] this is the first time he openly expresses his feelings of gratitude for that consistent support." It’s a confession of gratitude, not non-platonic “love.”) [x]

And Haru being Haru, he doesn’t often express himself emotionally. The hotel scene was one of the few times Haru ever verbally expressed to Makoto how deeply he appreciates him, and of course, as someone who doesn’t express their emotions or feelings on the regular, he was embarrassed. I agree that it’s totally sweet and makes you uwu because Haru expressing his emotions is uwu, and the fact that he did it to his best friend Makoto who's BEEN deserving it makes it even more UWU. I totally understand how this scene is precious to MakoHaru shippers, and it should be for it was a very sweet and heartwarming scene between the two best friends (and it was about time Haruka expressed his appreciation to Makoto).

That being said, trying to use an exaggeration of what actually happened in that scene as ammo against Haru’s feelings for Rin is just...not it. Haru didn’t leave the hotel room solely because he was embarrassed about thanking Makoto, and certainly not because:

...telling Makoto “thank you” and that he “appreciates him being here for him” is overwhelming to the point that he can’t even look at Makoto while talking and feels the need to run out of his room in the middle of the night, the night before their super important relay.

 ...as OP claims. There were other factors that played a much more significant part in Haru feeling “overwhelmed” and causing him to “feel the need to run out of his room in the middle of the night before their super important relay”—one of those factors being said super important relay.

We know Haru is nervous about the tournament and can’t sleep because of it—Makoto even calls him out on this. Then shortly after, when Haru runs into Nagisa out in the town, Nagisa and Haru go to a nearby playground and Nagisa also asks Haru if he’s can't sleep because he's nervous. Haru tries to dodge the question (he doesn’t want to admit it, very on brand for Haru), but when Nagisa admits that even he’s nervous—and has been so since they got onto the bus—Haru is shocked and asks, “You are??!” He’s surprised that he wasn’t the only one feeling nervous about the tournament, which confirms Makoto’s observation from earlier: that Haru is nervous about the tournament and can’t sleep because of it. This along with him being embarrassed are why he goes out for the run. (But honestly, it makes way more sense to the story that it was primarily because of his nervousness about the tournament that he left the hotel room, not because he was embarrassed thanking Makoto).

Also, just pointing out: Nagisa reveals one of the reasons why Haru is nervous about the tournament (and therefore one of the reasons he can’t sleep):

Nagisa: “We’ll be racing Rin-chan tomorrow. That’s probably why you’re nervous.”

I know that some shippers out there (*eyes OPs*) would love to tell themselves that it was all just Haru feeling so overwhelmed with emotion from merely telling Makoto that he appreciates him, and that Haru just couldn’t handle sharing these emotions with the one he luvvvs so he runs out into the middle of the night because it’s all just TOO OVERWHELMING...

...but, that’s just not how it actually was.

YES Haru was embarrassed from expressing his appreciation to Makoto, but he was also nervous and anxious about the tournament—and about racing against Rin. Remember, the last time he raced Rin in ep 7/8, Rin won and told Haru he’d never have to swim with him again. That left Haru in a black hole; yet on the flip side, when he had raced Rin in middle school and won, Rin said that he was quitting swimming and in turn, Haru also quit competitive swimming because he thought he hurt Rin. So in Haru's mind: "beating Rin = losing Rin, which means I get hurt BUT ALSO Rin winning = never swimming with him again/losing Rin, which still means I get hurt." So you can imagine the apprehension, anxiety and nervousness Haru is dealing with from all these different uncertainties. (@skania​ explains Haru’s internal dilemma regarding beating Rin very well in this post; seriously you guys her Free! Meta is everything I'm in love with her posts, please go check her stuff out.)

 Haru being embarrassed with Makoto does NOT mean that, as the mh shippers in the OP are insinuating, Haru doesn’t actually care about Rin because he wasn’t “overwhelmed” with emotion enough to run from the situation, but instead was “just fine” during his confrontation with Rin. 

i still can’t get over the fact that Haru gets through the entire end scene with Rin face-to-face just fine (where they’re yelling about feelings and Rin’s crying on him and everything’s so amped up between them)

Umm…did you guys just skip over this entire scene that was legitimately the most emotionally-charged scene in the entire season?

Haru literally has tears in his eyes as he finally [and “desperately”] reveals to Rin how he really feels [x]:

Did you not hear how just seconds earlier, Haru was literally shouting his feelings to Rin, and how before that he momentarily fell back into a black hole at the thought of never being able to swim with Rin again?

Did you totally miss how even Nagisa pointed out that Haru wasn’t in the condition to swim their relay at their "super important tournament" because he was so devastated about Rin? Did you not watch as Haru risked his relay race at said "super important tournament" to go look for Rin—”running with abandon”—and reconcile with him?

Did y’all not watch the same anime as the rest of us in which the whole resolution is Haru and the rest of the guys willingly getting disqualified at the super important tournament just so they could have a chance to swim relay with Rin again?

Are you guys so obsessed with your ship that you willingly blind yourselves to what’s actually going on in the anime outside of your otp?

 Like I said above, Haru was in different emotional states in these two scenes:

With Makoto, Haru is embarrassed from emotionally opening up and expressing his appreciation for Makoto—something he does not usually do—coupled with his anxiety and nervousness about the relay.

With Rin, Haru is in pure relief that after all of this time, after all of these years, Rin feels the same as him and that he’s finally able to reconcile with his friend. 

What did the OPs expect, for Haru to run away from Rin in that scene because he’s so overwhelmed with emotion? Haru ran after Rin—he was DONE running away from Rin, and with Rin running away from him. This entire episode was about their reconcilement, not them running away from each other yet again. Haru is finally free from the emotional weights of his unresolved conflict with Rin, and what OPs claim to be Haru being “just fine” is in actuality Haru being utterly relieved and happy. Throughout the season, Haru had been wanting to feel free, but it wasn't until he and Rin reconciled that he actually achieved that freedom.Can you really deny the emotion in Haru’s eyes and smile during this scene? I mean, just look at him:

Do you really think KyoAni is going to have Haru be “jUsT fInE” after he finally made things right with the friend who had been haunting him ever since elementary school?

BOTH scenes were emotional for Haru. BOTH scenes were important for Haru, and for his friends involved. BOTH interactions evoked strong emotions within Haru because he loves and cares about BOTH Makoto and Rin.

.

.

Tl;dr: Haru was much more (expressively) emotional in the entirety of ep12—let alone in the confrontation scene with Rin—than he was in the hotel room with Makoto. No one can honestly deny that, it's all over the animation and soundtrack and directing of the entire episode. This isn't a knock to Makoto and doesn't mean Haru cares about him any less than he actually does. However, the entire season was about Haru and Rin reconciling + the power of friendship, so of course their reconcilement would be the climax of the show. In addition, throughout the whole season Haru had such powerful emotions when it came to Rin, so it makes sense that their reconcilement scene would be one of the most, dare I say the most emotional scene in the show. That's not bias, that's just merely how it is.

[discoursecatharsis]

Although the Free! fandom isn’t affected by extreme antis (there were the ship wars between Makoharu and Rinharu fans though, but thankfully not like Voltron fandom, I think), I always see the Klance tag in the Rinharu tag, and I feel irritated. Every time I see a Free! blog and want to follow it, I look through it and get cautious when they ship Klance or like Voltron as well because I really don’t want to risk following an anti, even if some Klancers aren’t antis, but I’m not sure sometimes>.

Oh big mood, I know that feeling. Recently an artist I follow started watching Voltron and drawing Klance and I feel like it’s just a ticking timebomb whether or not they’ll subscribe to the anti mindset (hopefully they won’t). T-T

Also season 3 started, a lot of Free fans I follow on twitter have added red and blue hearts to their username and I had an almost Pavlovian reaction like “OMG THEY SHIP KLANCE??” then I was like “oh wait no, they ship Rinharu and Sheith, nevermind haha.” But yeah, Rinharu’s not my biggest ship so I don’t go into the tags often, but I’m sure it’s swarming with Klance stuff

[stardustizuku]

I’ve been in fandoms ever since I was in seventh or eight grade. I’m kind of a veteran and have seen the shift in how fandoms consume ships in the last few five go six years.

Ship wards have always existed. M/M war ships have been specially prevalent, and that’s understandable to a certain degree.

Back then it was Us/Uk vs Fr/Uk, then came RinHaru Vs MakoHaru. Finding the division was kind of obvious. And if you didn’t like it you simply had to unfollow a bunch of people and follow new ones.

And genuinely thought this was how it would be forever...

Until it wasn’t.

For some reason people started shippers bg just one m/m ship. The “definite one” and while it was okay, I feel like it had a bad impact as a whole on fandoms. They started to believe just ONE could be the Ultimate Ship (tm) and the result was...that when new shows with more than one possibility of ship came up...

As an anti you lose your humanity by harrasing people over fiction, and as a shipper you lose because you can never win against antis.

The war between Sheith and Klance was one I had seen countless of times at the beginning. It happened with free, with hetalia, even black butler. I didn’t think about it much until the word “pedophilia” showed up...

And in that instant I knew it. They were playing dirty.

It happened again in boku no hero and-...

This is not a real war. Not one you win, but one everybody loses.

Back then the argument “I ship this, and it’s better”

Now it is “I don’t ship YOUR ship and yours is horrible”