Kari’s Anime Corner: First Impressions of ‘Free!’
Though summer may be over, it is still hot in southern California! Well, you can cool down with Free!, though for some, it might just make it hotter. A few of my female friends had been squeeing (squee = “an expression of extreme cheerfulness that goes beyond words”) over this show and now with the release of season 2, I thought I would take the plunge.
Free! is about a group of friends who enjoyed swimming together for fun and competing in swim meets when they were in elementary school. Flash forward to them in high school and some things have changed. Their aquatics center is going to be torn down, Rin went away to school in Australia, Nagisa is now in high school and re-introduces himself to Haruka and Makoto (they don’t recognize him at first), and Haruka is still obsessed with being in water all the time. Will they ever be together as a team again? Their high school has an abandoned/rundown pool, but will they be able to fix it?
This is definitely a Shojo show because it focuses on relationships (primarily friendship – though there are yaoi [boy on boy] undertones). To be honest, domestic/real life anime does not have a particular draw for me (compared to supernatural, magical, fantasy, historical, or horror animes) but I did enjoy the first few episodes of Free!. Now, before I get into the meat of the show, let me first talk about why this show has the ladies (and some guys) drooling. It is a swim team = beautiful men frequently shirtless; it is basically fanservice. Then you acknowledge the water aspect and notice these boys glisten. Yep. Not just twinkle in their eye, but full on, let me get out of the water and stun you with my glistening physique. There is a funny female character, Kou, who joins the team as their manager, but her other motive is that she enjoys ogling the swimmers. Not only that, but she focuses on somewhat random body parts. One time she admires a guy’s triceps and one of the boys on the team questions her obsession by repeating the praised body part’s name out loud. The timing is perfect because as soon as she says, “I can’t get enough of those triceps,” I am thinking, “triceps? Really?!” and low and behold a character voices my exact sentiment.
The overall style is very Shojo with everything being so pretty and deeply saturated. The only thing that is a little weird is these shirtless athletes have no aerials or nipples; they are like Ken dolls. Though it is not common in anime to see nipples on men (or even most women), it is emphasized by how often these characters are shirtless.
To be honest, the show did not totally hook me but I am curious to see where it will go. The relationships between friends is entertaining, with warm and fuzzy moments, jokes/teasing, and many of the characters striving to be free like Haruka (the best swimmer on the team).
It has the vibe of a sports centered show and the swimming is shown rather well. There are shots outside the pool as onlookers catch the action and there are POV shots that let you experience their underwater world. Watching the show makes you want to go swimming. Even if you have never been on a swim team, you can appreciate the camaraderie. Not every character on the swim team is a star swimmer, they vary in skill, which is refreshing because it allows those characters to develop.
If you want to ogle some pretty boys, want a refresher from the heat, enjoy sports shows, or are interested in relationship shows, then you should check out Free!.
