Season One: Dolphin, Orca, Penguin, Butterfly and Shark Once upon a time, four junior school friends - Rin, Makoto, Nagisa and Haruka - were not spilling water. Not only were they friends, but they were on the swimming team, which, among other things, took first place. But after winning and graduating from junior school, the friends parted ways: Rin left the team, going to study in Australia. Infected with the idea of reassembling a swimming team, in high school, Nagisa convinces Haruka and Makoto to create a swimming club, where he also invites former track and field athlete Ray Ryugazaki. Enlisting the support of teacher Miho Amakata, as well as Rina’s sister schoolgirl Go, the club begins its activities, preparing for future competitions. And it is at this time that the friends meet Rin, now an ambitious and confident swimmer, who is challenging the Iwatobi school club. Who's faster?
This is such a motley company. The first episode, which rushed for me instantly, left only one thought in my head: "Mercy". Seriously. Such baby boys, constantly walking around in only swimming suits, can not but please the entire female half of anime - although, however, the interest in this anime is not at all in such types (However, we must pay tribute to Go, whose feelings will be shared by any normal girl). No, no, the plot here, despite the abundance of almost completely naked Japanese schoolchildren, revolves around such concepts as friendship, attachment, pride, stubbornness and strength of spirit.
The first thing that immediately catches the eye (at least for girls) is the relationship between the characters. Since the protagonists here are guys, it is logical to assume that their friendship is purely "male" in nature - and no! Now I can say with confidence that this creation was created exclusively for anime girls - after all, where any guy will say: "Dude, hare to worry!" All normal!, the heroes of "Free!" will sit side by side, pat on the back (or hug) and, looking into the eyes, in a quiet voice say that "Everything is fine." And with them, you begin to understand that - yes. Everything is fine.
Seriously, this is a wonderful anime. Because it will obviously make it clear to anyone how important it is to rely not only on ourselves, but also on friends—those who are dear, who will not let you down, who will not abandon you in trouble, and who will make you believe in yourself. Haruka is independent. He does not seek any victories, nor is he particularly attached to his friends. At first, he agreed to participate in the club, probably from the idea that he could just swim. His firm desire to just “go with the flow” without trying to become the best is somewhat stuporous, especially when his friends are out of their way to win competitions. But without confrontation, there would be no history. Rin is Haruki's contrast. All he does is dream of winning. And while Haruka doesn’t even think about who will come first, Rin does his best to beat the rivals. In fact, neither Rina nor Haruka is interested in the rest of the former team - they pursue their goals, not fully understanding why they are doing it. Oh, just...
You can't bury friendship.
The story could have done without a character like Ray. Yeah, I guess.
But it wasn't. And that’s right, because it’s from Ray’s side that we learn all the details of Haruka, Nagisa, Makoto and Rin’s past. Honestly, I was so imbued with the hero in glasses that I almost felt the injustice of the situation and his absolute ignorance of the relationship between once close friends who suddenly turned into enemies. "Dialogues between Ray and Rin were necessary; and they are some of the most powerful moments of the anime."
For the most part, this anime is a drama: grabbing the soul, making us rethink everything that happened in our lives, touching and evocative. And that's great. But against the background of the tragedies of the fates of five guys, each of whom struggles with their own complexities, the anime is not without humorous moments. Well, it is enough that the guys organize the swim club on the basis of their “female” names (for the same reason, Ray later gets into the swimmers). However, in general, you do not think about laughing at it, because you are completely immersed in the problems of mutual understanding of the characters, where you do not want someone to win, and you wait for a story, why did such difficulties begin between friends?
And I want to say a huge thank you to Sayyu, who managed to create a truly amazing atmosphere, because "Free!" is a very emotional anime. It's a pity that almost eighty percent of Haruka's series (and with him, Shimazaki Nobunaga, who has a great voice) is silent, but in recent episodes this talented Sayyu has been allowed to turn around. By the way, it is the last series that almost knock out a tear from the viewer with their revelations and invincible, violated all conceivable boundaries of reason, friendship.
It's a great anime. It can generally be recommended to everyone and everyone - because after watching it, there will necessarily be a strong feeling that everyone has at least one friend in this world, on whom you can rely and without whom further life will not make sense; that everything can be overcome when there are loved ones nearby.
I was delighted.
9 out of 10
... a pleasant viewing.