– Iwatobi Swim Club!!

[Dark Ocean]

Free! - Iwatobi Swim Club

 

 

 

Free! - Iwatobi Swim Club is a Japanese anime television series directed by Hiroko Utsumi and produced by Kyoto Animation and Animation Do. The anime is based on the light novel written by Kōji Ōji, High Speed!, which received an honorable mention in the second Kyoto Animation Award contest in 2011 and later published in July 2013. The anime premiered on July 4, 2013.

 

 

Plot

Free! starts with four boys—Haruka, Makoto, Nagisa and Rin—before graduating from elementary school. They had all participated in a swimming tournament and gained victory but later parted ways. Years later, Haruka, Makoto and Nagisa reunite when they enroll into high school. Not long after, Rin, who was thought to be in Australia, turns up and challenges Haruka to a race and wins. Afterward, Nagisa mentions creating a swimming club and cleaning up the run-down outdoor pool to use. Haruka, Makoto, Nagisa and, later on, Rei, form the Iwatobi High School Swimming Club and work together in making the club a success. Rin's victory over Haruka means nothing to him as he realizes that Haruka has stopped swimming competitively and is not in top shape. He claims that he cannot get over the fact until Haruka competes against him for real. The members of the revived Iwatobi Swim Club later enter a swimming competition against Rin

 

 

 

Type: TV

Episodes: 12

Status: Currently Airing

Aired: Jul 4, 2013 to Sep 25, 2013

Producers:

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Duration: 24 min. per episode

Rating: PG-13

 

 

 

 

Characters

 

Haruka Nanas

Haruka is a second-year boy in high school who loves swimming and being in water. He is a strong and quiet person. His style captivates many and he has a strong fixation towards freestyle swimming. His love for water is so strong that he often strips down to his swimsuit at the sight of water and even considers encountering a waterfall to be a romantic experience. Due to his girlish name, he is often mistaken for a girl at first, and his friends call him Haru. After his first year in middle school, he quit competitive swimming after hurting Rin's feelings by beating him in a race, but Haruka regains his passion after racing Rin again when they reunite.

 

Makoto Tachibana

 

Makoto is Haruka's best friend, and is also a second-year in the same class as Haruka. Unlike Haruka, he is more outgoing and often speaks up for Haruka. He is nice and considerate to others. However, he is weak-hearted and gets scared easily. He developed a fear of the ocean due to a traumatic incident in which an old fisherman, whom Makoto greatly idolized, drowned in a typhoon alongside many others. He is captain of the swim club. His swimming style is backstroke.

The incident occurred when he was in elementary school. A typhoon resulted in a ship crew drowning just about 3 km from the harbor. The crew included an old fisherman who was Makoto's friend.

 

Nagisa Hazuki

Nagisa is a first-year boy who also goes to Iwatobi High School. He is very spirited and not afraid to speak his mind. He has admired Haruka's swimming since elementary school and enrolls at his high school hoping to swim with him again.He comes up with the idea to start a swim club at Iwatobi High, and is treasurer for the club. He has a strange fascination towards the club's penguin mascot, Iwatobi-chan. His swimming style is breaststroke.

 

Rin Matsuoka

Rin is Haruka's rival and his former teammate in elementary school. He comes back to Japan after studying abroad in Australia during middle school and becomes estranged to his former teammates due to a change in his personality,which came after he suffered a tough loss in a race against Haruka during their first year of middle school. He goes to Samezuka Academy, but did not initially join the Samezuka swim team. Despite his self-proclaimed rivalry against the members of the Iwatobi Swim Club, he continues to demonstrate concern for them, particularly for Haruka. He adopted his father's dream to become an Olympic swimmer following his untimely death in a typhoon. His swimming style is freestyle and butterfly.

 

 

 

 

Rei Ryuugazaki

Rei is Nagisa's classmate. He is handsome and intelligent, but is often manipulated by Nagisa for some reason. He used to be on the track team because he only cares about sports that are beautiful. He refuses Nagisa several times when asked to join the swim club, because he did not think swimming was beautiful enough. It is later revealed that he cannot swim. He joins the swim club because he admires Haruka's beautiful freestyle swimming. Out of all the swimming styles, Rei can only swim butterfly.