Free! Review

Posted by : 666Suj Feb 18, 2016

Free! is a show that revolves around a group of swimming obsessed teenagers who want to try and rebuild their old swim team and rekindle the fun times they had as kids. The animation and art style are beautiful. The characters are just okay. The plot is alright for the most part though the show does have some pacing issues at the start. I’d recommend this to anyone who might want to watch something slow paced with a bit of sports.

For more details, read bellow.

Story

Once upon time, three teenage boys who happened to be childhood friends decided to rebuild their swim team. What followed next were the trials and tribulations of trying to create a swimming club in their school, such as finding new members, organizing facilities etc.

While this story is unoriginal, the same can be said about the characters who fall into the usual anime tropes. You have the moody protagonist who is sometimes an idiot, the innocent one, the group leader, the uptight one, the rival, and the wise old man. A trope that is missing is a love interest, which to be honest, is kind of refreshing.

Instead of the plot being the main focus, you have a very character driven story that deals with the relationships between the tropes, both in how they overcome most of their personal issues and how they cope with each other.
Rating 7/10 (10 = amazing, 0 = uninspired, unoriginal and boring)

Art Style

Kyoto Animation did the show, and boy is it pretty. The background scenes look amazing and wallpaper worthy, but the biggest star with the art style is the water. All the shots with the water look incredible both outside and in with the use of reflections and distortions that look amazing. Even the character designs seem linked to the water, with them moving and looking a little awkward when in school uniforms away from the water and then looking smooth as hell in or around the water.
Rating 10/10 (10 = beautiful, 5 = uninspired, 0 = bad)

Dubbed Voice, Sound, and Music

I watch a lot of English dubs, and this for the most part has some of the same recognizable voices. All in all, it was just ok, not great, not bad, just ok. The sound design on the other hand is great with some underwater scenes having that underwater distorted reverb sound effect that anyone who spends time underwater will recognize. It’s done really well and adds a lot to the shows atmosphere. As for the music, the opening and closing tracks were ok, but they didn’t really stand out to me, nor were they very catchy, the same goes for the score.
Rating 7/10 (10 = outstanding, 0 = crap)

Final Thoughts

So this anime gets a lot of grief for being ridiculously fan service heavy, homoerotic, homosexual, and such. Personally I didn’t get those vibes at all. Sure there are lots of scenes where guys take of their shirts, but seriously, why would they swim fully clothed. Think that would be a little strange, in any case though I can’t think of a single anime show where guys weren’t shirtless at some point. That said, the female representation in this show is a little lacking. It didn’t really bother me, but if you are the type to get bothered by such things, you may not like this. The only two female characters are the swim club manager who pervs on the boys every chance she gets and the teacher, both of whom were really underdeveloped in the show.

Another strange thing with the show is the severe lack of completion. There are literally just two tournaments in the show, which makes it feel not so sporty. All this aside though, Free is worth watching despite having a slow start.
Rating 7/10 (10 = amazing, 5 = average, 0 = avoid like the plague)

By Hellsknight Sujay