Anime Review #1. Free! Iwatobi Swim Club

Free! Iwatobi Swim Club

Alright, everybody! Yuri-chan here. ﾟ･✿ヾ╲(｡◕‿◕｡)╱✿･ﾟ

We start off with the recently popular reverse harem anime, Free! Iwatobi Swim Club. Now that the second season has just finished airing, the show is gaining more and more popularity among fangirls and even fanboys.

If you are note interested in reading the review, you can just jump to the mark and decide whether you'd like to join me in watching this series.

Let's get started!

0) Statistics

Genre: Comedy, School, Slice-of-life, Sports
Year: 2013
Episodes: 12
Studio: Kyoto Animation

1) The Story

The premises of the story is quite simple: like any other slice-of-life/school life anime, we have our group of school-gowers, club-attending characters, unsuspecting of the incredible adventures awaiting to unfold in their otherwise boring lives.  These guys have known eachother since middle school, and there's no other friendship like theirs. But what happens when a long lost friend reappears?

Allow me to tell you what happens: these boys take their clothes off and have a swim off. щ(ﾟДﾟщ)  With the dream of a brighter future in mind, four of our five main characters work together to build a swim club at the public they're attending, while the other is training viciously in the comfort of the rival school's team.

On the plus side, there is plenty of hot muscle for the ladies to admire, just like our dear Gou-chan likes to remark. The jokes are not half bad and there are no obvious plot holes.

On the other side, the story in general seems a bit boring to me. That is perfectly fine if you'd just like to relax, but for the usual thrill-seeking watcher, this show might just be one big disappointment. Nothing out of the ordinary seems to ever happen in our characters' lives, and that becomes a tiring after a while.

2)The Characters

As is the case with plenty of anime lacking in plot content, the producers had to make up with something. In some cases, it is the characters that they use. Sometimes it is the art. For this particular anime, both the character designs and the quality of the art are outstanding.

What I find intriguing is that our five main boys all fall into different stereotypes... that are usually associated with female characters. Allow me to explain:

First, we have Haruka:

Nanase Haruka

Haru is our main character and therefore the star of the show. He does not talk much and when he does, it is generally related to swimming. He swims for the sheer pleasure of it and adores Japanese cuisine. While he might not seem impressive at first, during the series you come to observe a certain deepness in this character, a mystery that cannot be solved. The only one that seems to understand Haruka's thought process is his best friend, Tachibana Makoto.

Second, there is Makoto:

Tachibana Makoto

Haruka's sidekick, slightly missing in development concerning his past, Makoto is the reliable club president. He usually speaks in a calm voice and is not afraid to come to his friends' aid. All in all a cat-loving Mr. Nice Guy, Makoto lives together with his younger brother and sister. 

Third, the energetic Nagisa:

Hazuki Nagisa

Nagisa is our happy-go-lucky guy, now improved with a sweet tooth. With overflowing enthusiasm and a pouty face, he is the cute icon of the show, making it even more evident that hardly any female characters are needed in this anime. While the audience expects the read-headed Gou to be the cute cheerful presence in the show, Nagisa takes up the role and owns it. 

Fourth, there is Rei:

Ryuugazaki Rei

Our good old reliable Rei-chan can often be seen accompanied by Nagisa, to the delight of the yaoi fangirls. These two develop a close relationship after Nagisa convinces Rei to switch from the track club to their swim club. Rei's hobbies include studying and admiring the beauty of perfecting one's muscles through sports. 

Finally, we have Rin:

Matsuoka Rin

Matsuoka Rin is what I imagine would be the love child of Sebastian Michaelis and Grell Stufcliff of Black Butler. With long messy red hair, Gou's older brother has a love-hate-like relationship with Haruka, since both of them refuse to admit the lingering feelings of friendship they have for eachother. Rin is probably the most developed character in the series. He met Haruka, Makoto and Nagisa when they were in middle school, they all became friends and began swimming relays together. After a while, Rin moved to a boarding school in Australia, in order to train. When the pressure became too much, Rin decided to return to his hometown and compete with Haruka, this being the only way he could regain his confidence.

3) The Art

Featuring amazing works by Kyoto Animation, this series is 12 episodes long and is guaranteed to impress you when it comes to looks. The animation flows smoothly and the characters have distinctive color palettes. The water effects are fabulous, despite the fact that many studios have difficulty when it comes to animating liquids. As for 2013, the animation for Free! is top notch.

4) The Music

The opening theme for the show is entitled "Rage On" and interpreted by the band Oldcodex. Surprising enough, the vocalist of this band is none other than Tatsuhisa Suzuki, the voice actor for Tachibana Makoto! The ending theme, "Splash Free", is sung by the five main voice actors themselves. 

The music was an important detail in this anime series, but it did not play an essential role in setting the mood or even in describing the characters appropriately. I believe that a mode dynamic soundtrack would have been a better option, but I suppose it's too late now. (｡◕ฺˇε ˇ◕ฺ｡）

5) Popularity

While popularity should not influence the quality of he work, we simply cannot ignore the fact that rising stars of the anime voice-acting industry were featured in this show. Their fandom is a vast one, and the doujinshis involving its characters are getting more and more shameless. In the end, it is the fans that decide whether a show is worth our time or not. (・ω<)
The Conclusion

The final marks for the anime are often influenced by my personal preference and by how recently I have seen the series. While I try to be as fair as possible when reviewing an anime, sometimes the power of sexy guys swimming is too strong.

Story: 6
Characters: 7
Art: 8
Music: 5
Popularity:7

Total:6,6

Please join me again next week for another review and don't forget to comment and follow! May you watch anime in peace.