Free!

WATCHED 22.07.2017 - 26.09.2018

AVERAGE RATING: 9.8

SEASON 1: Haru, Nagisa, Makoto, Rei and Rin were swimmers in their elementary school before they parted ways. They reunite years later and want to get back into swimming with each other. They therefore start the swim club Iwatobi - members: Haru, Makoto, Nagisa. They couldn't find new club members at first, but soon got Rei to join. He couldn't swim so the boys taught him how to. Haru only swims free, Makoto specialises in backstroke, Nagisa in breaststroke, and Rei now in butterfly. They do some swimming and even some races and they train for the Nationals, where they actually win! They come across problems like Nagisa running away from home, and solve them, and as they do they grow closer to each other. Rin also gets introduced who was Haru's childhood friend until he moved to Australia, after returning they became enemies. Sousuke is Rin's partner now. Rin's team also appears and they compete with Iwatobi. When training, in the middle of this season, the guys went to swim and train at an ocean, where Rei wanted to get more comfortable with swimming, since he was so not confident about it. So he couldn't stop himself when he had a major urge to go swim at night. There was a storm and so Rei got dragged into the ocean. Luckily Makoto woke up and noticed he was gone, so he went outside of the tents they were sleeping in and saw Rei almost drowning in the distance! He went to save him but remembered how he feared the ocean, so he ended up being stuck there with Rei, Haru came to save them both after this. Nagisa helped too.

SEASON 2: All the members of Iwatobi separate again to follow their dreams. Sousuke is forced to quit swimming suddenly, because of his injured shoulder which he got due to overworkingon swimming and training his muscles. Rin goes ahead and trains back in Australia as a professional and Haru does the same but in Japan. Makoto becomes a swim teacher/instructor for kids wanting to learn how to swim like the Iwatobi boys. Nagisa and Rei haven't graduated yet here, unlike the others and continue with the Iwatobi swim club and try to recruit new members. The club became very popular after the boys won at the Nationals, so getting new members was quiet easy and fun for them. Ai (Rin's team member that really looks up to him) becomes the new coach for the swim team since Rin would be leaving, and Rin gave him the title. Furthermore, the Iwatobi swim members and Rin had to say goodbye to each other once more after finally reuniting and growing close, so that they can all follow their dreams.

SEASON 3: Haru has been attending college in Tokyo, and he there meets Asahi - one of his childhood friends who he didn't reunite with before this season. He also runs into other childhood friends who weren't introduced before this season, like Kirishima. Makoto is often seen with Kisumi (a minor background character who sometimes appeared over the last seasons.) and the newly introduced character Nao. Makoto was teaching kids how to swim, like he wanted, and focuses on Kisumi's little brother, who seems to be unsure of swimming and scared. Makoto teaches him how swimming can be so fun, and shows him the way to enjoy and try his best. This turned the kid's confidence upside down and he became really good. We also get to meet new characters including Hiyori. All the Iwatobi members and Rin's team continue following their dreams and everyone always watches Haru and others race in the best leagues of Japan. Haru gets a new personal coach, and so does Rin. Haru meets a guy named Albert and talks with him for a short while before an important race. He seemed a bit suspicious when left, as he was very kind during the conversation. Turns out, Haru had to swim against him in the match, and surprisingly, Albert wins from Haru by far (Haru was still second), but way behind Albert! This shocked Iwatobi, Rin, Haru's other friends, fans and Haru himself a lot. - Haru had found his new rival! Nagisa and Rei continue to work on Iwatobi as well as final exams, but don't appear in this season a lot. This season ends with Haru racing against Rin.

MOVIE 1: Free! Take Your Marks! - This movie shows the guys preparing for their future. Haru goes to college here, Nagisa and Rei recruit new members for Iwatobi, Rin leaves for Australia and Sousuke quits swimming for a while to take a rest due to his injured shoulder. Momo challenges Rin for a race just before he left. The movie shows four different short story like segments around what I just mentioned. And these were called 'Destined Choice!', 'Secret Hot Spring, Cooling Down!', 'United Butterfly!' and 'Departing Eternal Blue'.

MOVIE 2: High  Speed: Free! Starting Days - This is a movie about Haru, Makoto, Kirishima and Asahi mainly, and how they became friends and teammates as kids. Also how Haru grew distant from Rin.

SPECIAL 1: FrFr Shorts - These were a few special shorts for the show and they are all very memorable and funny in their own ways, I re-watched them multiple times. There were some very special moments in here, like finally getting to hear Haru's laugh!