Free! revolves around a group of boys, Haruka Nanase, Rin Matsuoka, Makoto Tachibana, and Nagisa Hazuki, who all went to the same elementary swim club, Iwatobi swim club. After some conflicts and rifts in their friendship, Rin Matsuoka leaves for Australia, wanting to swim more professionally, and the group slowly starts to fall apart. After the rest entering the same highschool, Haruka, Makoto, and Nagisa decide to go visit their old Iwatobi Swim Club, and there, they meet a much meaner and darker Rin who challenges Haruka to a race! What will happen? What is Haruka's real purpose of swimming? And will they be able to continue to swim in the future?
Before even thinking to watch this anime, for those of you who think it has anything to do with the details of swimming, and focuses on the sport much like Haikyuu, this is the wrong anime. Also, those of you looking for pretty girls and big chests, also the wrong. Free! produced by Kyoto Animation is aimed towards both genders, and although it may have slight sublines of shounen ai, it's enough to deal with where you aren't screaming, "GAY", every two seconds. Also, this is a slice of life and sports anime, and focuses on both genres, so those of you looking for a sports only anime, this isn't the anime to watch with that mindset.
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No Ecchi Hentai!
Free! was a very interesting anime for me, and at first I did not expect a lot from it. The moment I saw the 40 second PV, I was like:
GIVE ME THE FAN SERVICE
No, but in all actuality, I did not expect much from KyoAni's Free! series, but I was clearly proved wrong when watching this anime, so I will knock out the complaints that I hear for Free!
"But, LalakoKyubey... You're clearly a girl, so that makes you biased for the stripping!" is probably most of you may be thinking. Free! is a swimming anime, and as for the fan service, there isn't actually much when looking closely. Yes, they do take off their shirts, but that's something that's needed for swimming, and for those complaining about to much skin, they do manage to cover a lot of their body portions, and the only part that shows is the upper half of their body. If Kyoto Animation really wanted to make this an ecchi,hentai for girls, they would have put everyone in tight Speedos and have suggestive scenes in the changing rooms. But they don't, and they manage to make one of the most colorful HD animes that I've ever watched.
HD!
Free! is unique in that it manages to merge sports and slice of life together. You have to remember that when Free! started running, or should I say swimming, there wasn't much slice of life/sports animes out there. We have decent characters, which at points can be somewhat cheesy, a good realistic plot line, and somewhat of the feelings of the sport itself. KyoAni did a good job merging and making Free! a cohesive plot line and pretty decent characters, and I do applaud them for this pull off.
Aside from the characters and plot lines, Free! has AMAZING HD art and design. The color palette is vivid and each shadow contrasting light has full depth and tone to it, making it an eyegasm each time you look at the characters and the water. I enjoyed every moment of the art, but the only complaint I would have is the sometimes too bright of colors, or at times all the characters looking kind of the same. Other than that, Free! did a really good job with the art, and enough to the point where you can just watch for the bright, sparkling colors.
Was it the best thing in the world? Not really. Should you watch it? If you liked the description. Those two are the most non biased answers that I can think of, and from watching that, there are some times where my eyes would slightly get watery and times where I was cracking up on the floor. It was a good anime, and I did enjoy it a lot. So, on to the scores!
Plot: 7.5/10
Free did have a unique plot in the beginning! It was interesting to see the more "human" or slice of life feel to it, while having the sports and the competition to be the motivational conflicts.
Voice Cast: 8.5/10
Great voice cast! And good singing at that too! Sometimes Rei's voice can get slightly annoying, but he was an awesome character! But, I have seen better choices and better voice casts, so the highest rating for this would be an 8.5.
Art: 9.5/10
Again, KyoAni did a great job with depicting the 3d and deep landscapes with a bright color pallet. I would watch this anime just for the art.
Music: 7.5/10
I wish that there was more music to this series, but the opening and the ending songs were amazing for both seasons! If you wanted more music with the voice actors, you can always search up their character songs.
Overall, Free! wasn't as disappointing as some people made it, and I think it is an anime that should be on your to watch list, and something that you should watch this year.
I hoped you liked my recommendation, and look forward to my Aldnoah Zero Ep 12 analysis and character analysis! So, until then!
-LalakoKyubey
PS. If you liked this recommendation, please +1 this page and post, and please share the news! :3
Aside from the characters and plot lines, Free! has AMAZING HD art and design. The color palette is vivid and each shadow contrasting light has full depth and tone to it, making it an eyegasm each time you look at the characters and the water. I enjoyed every moment of the art, but the only complaint I would have is the sometimes too bright of colors, or at times all the characters looking kind of the same. Other than that, Free! did a really good job with the art, and enough to the point where you can just watch for the bright, sparkling colors.
Was it the best thing in the world? Not really. Should you watch it? If you liked the description. Those two are the most non biased answers that I can think of, and from watching that, there are some times where my eyes would slightly get watery and times where I was cracking up on the floor. It was a good anime, and I did enjoy it a lot. So, on to the scores!
Plot: 7.5/10
Free did have a unique plot in the beginning! It was interesting to see the more "human" or slice of life feel to it, while having the sports and the competition to be the motivational conflicts.
Voice Cast: 8.5/10
Great voice cast! And good singing at that too! Sometimes Rei's voice can get slightly annoying, but he was an awesome character! But, I have seen better choices and better voice casts, so the highest rating for this would be an 8.5.
Art: 9.5/10
Again, KyoAni did a great job with depicting the 3d and deep landscapes with a bright color pallet. I would watch this anime just for the art.
Music: 7.5/10
I wish that there was more music to this series, but the opening and the ending songs were amazing for both seasons! If you wanted more music with the voice actors, you can always search up their character songs.
Overall, Free! wasn't as disappointing as some people made it, and I think it is an anime that should be on your to watch list, and something that you should watch this year.
I hoped you liked my recommendation, and look forward to my Aldnoah Zero Ep 12 analysis and character analysis! So, until then!
-LalakoKyubey
PS. If you liked this recommendation, please +1 this page and post, and please share the news! :3
