Free – Eternal Summer Episode 1
What They Say:
Nanase Haruka loved to be in the water – loved swimming. In elementary school, Nanase Haruka, Tachibana Makoto, Matsuoka Rin, and Hazuki Nagisa attended the same swimming class together. Time passed, and as Haruka was living an uneventful high school life, he suddenly encountered Rin again. Rin challenged Haruka to a race and showed him how much stronger he had become. Soon enough, Makoto and Nagisa also rejoined the group, and along with a new classmate, Ryugazaki Rei, they established the Iwatobi High School Swimming Club.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Having quite enjoyed the first season of the series with its great animation, its love of swimming and the water and a fun group of boys to follow, a second season of Free basically should mean more of the same. Albeit with a little growth and a few other natural changes. And that’s what I really want out of it, and you definitely get the feeling that they know it as well since the brief prologue essentially puts us back into the familiar place of Haruka’s tub as he ponders the meaning of water and its place in the world. It’s a small thing, but these are the small things that in a lot of ways helps to define each of the characters and Haruka in particular.
With the guys going on with life, we get back into the wing of things quickly as school is moving right along and everyone is hitting their familiar quirks, such as Haruka wearing his swimsuit under his uniform and a lot of the other guys doing the same. And yes, there’s plenty of crotch and butt shots to go around with hilarious camera angles that are just as hilarious when used with female characters. What’s good for one is good for the other, so I certainly don’t mind. Getting to see the boys back in the pool, with some of those from the last season being involved now, definitely works nicely as we get plenty of familiar characters dealing with the races, the competition and the absolutely fun of what it is to swim competitively. It’s all got a loose and kind of “free” feeling about it as they go through it all and the positive energy is definitely a big plus to get things going. Even if they don’t quite win, they have a lot of fun.
With the swim club having done well overall and progress being made considering they’re a new club, we get some of the fun involved with the movements towards the new year, the hope for new members and to keep going forward. Getting members for a club like thi sis tough, but the push for better results will get them more members. And it doesn’t hurt that Goro stepped up and got the pool up and running for them in a big way, which excites Haruka like nobody’s business. There’s some great swimming moments here as we get into the next competition after enjoying the simplicity of the school side and just watching these guys move, the beauty of the animation, especially with Matsuoka going at it with Haruka, it just fires on all cylinders in a way that visually puts other series to shame.
In Summary:
While in a lot of ways not a lot really happens here, we get a lot of things going on. It’s almost a whiplash of events that are going forward throughout it as events move on and we see how things are settling in with the third years that Matsuoka was dealing with have moved on and he slides into the captain’s slot while the Iwatobi kids are just getting things going in hoping for new members. We get a touch of that towards the end as Sousuke makes his first appearance in an amusing manner in the final seconds, but a lot of what populates this episode is just spending time with the boys, the swimming, the pool itself and their personalities. It’s not the kind of show that I think would wow anyone who hasn’t been invested in the first season, but it provides a visually striking work that definitely has a lot going for it. We know the characters, so we know it’s not as shallow as it might seem, and we know that a lot more is going to be revealed as it goes on. The swimming boys are back and that’s all that matters at the moment as they’re in top form.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
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