Free! Iwatobi Swim Club/Swimming Anime Thread!

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Re: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club/Swimming Anime Thread!

Post by neshcom »

Episode 4 "Captive Butterfly" is now live on Crunchyroll. Make some predictions before you watch!


I don't remember the preview from last week, but they do need to address the whole Ryu swimming thing, so...

I'm guessing 1 totally new character and 4 kirakira/dramatic shirtless men shots. And of course Ama will probably have a no-way-no-how swimsuit moment.
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Re: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club/Swimming Anime Thread!

Post by al kusanagi »

You can keep watching your nekkid dudes. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAIAXFQ0T74">I'm watching the best new anime ever!!!</a>
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Re: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club/Swimming Anime Thread!

Post by neshcom »

Episode 4 spoilers/discussion~
 
What happened to the indoor swimming membership plot line that got planted last week? Seems like I misunderstand why that was even a thing, though I suspect it was just a reason to reiterate the need for four swimmers.
Per my predictions, I was WAY off. No new characters were introduced (though we did learn Cleavage-kun's name), but goddamn were there, like, 14 different body beauty shots. Beautiful Rei has a lot of subtle, unemphasized body shots like his crotch shot when stretching and last week when he was curled up against the wall and posed looking like he was naked.
Two recurring points are making me appreciate the storytelling and detail in the show. We're seeing a lot of out-of-school, out-of-swimming moments with the club and the characters actually have a wardrobe of casual clothes. Nagisa always looks the cutest btw. That ascot in ep 1? Those sweaters? His school sweater-vest? 
I'm glad Rin and Haru finally fleshed out Rin's beef and that Haru wasn't a total bitch about it. The only real unsolved question is why the relay race when they were young turned Haru off to Rin so much. My guess is since relay's have four swimmers swimming different styles, Rin took the freestyle thus pissing Haru off. 
Rei's swimming narrative was alright, but the whole thing felt a little forced. Rei can't swim because of reasons and he has to learn in a week because reasons and it's he can only do butterfly for reasons. They're keeping the Nagisa-Rei connection through Rei wearing Nagisa's cute penguin speedos.
Ama advocating for a quick solution was endearing and is opening her character up a little. Plus, her withholding herself from teachig Rei to swim seemed to sputter out before anything significant could be revealed.
 
MVS of the week is a tie!
exboyfriends!Rin x Haru is a strong plot this week. After a casual shopping day, Haru is confronted by his abusive ex Rin and is sweet-talked into a bathroom stall and hatefucked into sexual bliss. Rin walks away with a wink and a smirk knowing Haru is always his. Trigger warning: rape.
Also, many arguments could be made for humiliation!Rei x Swimclub. The new kid Rei is being pushed around by a fed-up Makoto after a week of unsuccessful swimming lessons. When Makoto notices Lil' Ray peeking from Rei's stretched penguin speedos, he calls Haru and Nagisa to join the fun. Rei ends up on his knees, his body sticky and mind swirling. As the three leave, Rei, spent and glowing on the floor, wonders what would happen if he couldn't swim by the next week. Warning: piss play, bukkake, humiliation, demasculinization.
 
Thoughts on next week: I think the next thing is to play catch up, workout, and setup the first regional tournament.
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Re: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club/Swimming Anime Thread!

Post by Tsuki »

The fanservice was amazing this episode. The body/crotch/butt shots everywhere, even Gou-kun got overstimulated by it all!
 
Rei is way more earnest than I expected him to be, he's rocketed up to my number 2 favorite, but this is only a result of not having any real Makoto or Nagisa development this episode.
 
I'm not really sure Haru is "pissed" at Rin, nesh. I saw the previous episode's flashback as him being really sad that Rin was so competitive and upset that Haru beat him when all Haru wants to do is swim. He just likes swimming and I'm assuming he likes when other people like swimming too, so he can't seem to understand where Rin is coming from. So I think it's a conflict of perspective rather than them just being "upset" with each other.
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Re: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club/Swimming Anime Thread!

Post by neshcom »

Ah, I just meant pissed Haru off the day of the relay. Yeah, he was definitely depressed that he killed Rin's motivation. Rin is definitely still angry.
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Re: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club/Swimming Anime Thread!

Post by neshcom »

Reminder/notice that this weeks episode has been delayed due to some sort of swimming event in Japan and will return next week, so you have plenty of time to catch up or start fresh.


How about a Most <del>Valuable</del>Useless Ship of the Week? There have been big returns on Nagisa-Rei in the show's absence. That troublesome pipsqueak Nagisa has spent weeks to get Rei to say even two words to him, but Rei has turned it into a game. It's until one lonesome lunch on the roof when Nagisa breaks him by stealing his iconic red glasses. After a near-sighted chase through the halls of the school, Rei pins the blond down, panting and gives Nagisa three pretty good words: "I got you."
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Re: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club/Swimming Anime Thread!

Post by Melon »

I am catching up today! :lol:
 
I was busy and missed the past couple of episodes.
 
On a side note, each and every time I watch the ending and Rin does his laughing while gloating over the water makes me laugh so hard. It's the combination of the head bobbing to time of the  music, shark teeth, and the expression on his face.
 
So onward, to catching up!
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Re: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club/Swimming Anime Thread!

Post by Melon »

This feels like K-ON!, where we get a lot of antics, not a lot of actual swimming stuff, then they pull it together magically into awesomeness.
 
Gou acted like I probably would have during the swimsuit segments. xD UNF UNF UNF that was some great ass scenes. I also love how all the guys wear their suits so low we can see that "v" line or hip dip or whatever it's called when their pelvis shows. Really, guys, really? :rofl: that fanservice is so ridiculous I love it :rofl:
 
My first impression was meh, but now I am shipping Makoto with anyone and everyone. Between his adorableness with his siblings, his adorableness with the kitty, and his straight man sensibleness he is quickly becoming my favorite character.
 
Rei looks wise is a perfection Megane-kun, but his personality so far is a little too much into cliche territory. We caught a glimpse of his vulnerable/insecure side in the conversation with Haru, but it wasn't enough to tear away from archetypes imo. I guess time will tell if I end up liking him more since I have such a hard on for megane-anything.
 
Rin being upset at his teammate for giving up won points for me, but his constant "Waaah I lost years ago" gets on my freaking nerves. Go back to being the great jackhole Rin I know and love. Also the "those lardasses are so out of shape ewww" comments cracked me up. Those guys have sub 5% body fat, what the waaaaaaaatttt! Oh, and that scene where he got all angry and grabbed Haru's shoulder and pushed him into the fence was hoooooooooooooooooooooooootttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt.
 
As for straight pairings, I ship Gou and Captain dude. Gou is really cute too, I wonder if she'll end up getting merch before the dudes. :rofl:
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Re: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club/Swimming Anime Thread!

Post by neshcom »

The new episode of Free! should be going online today/tonight. We should be headed straight for a race, right? We don't need to see the minutia of swimming practice, so hopefully we skip some time.
 
[quote="Al Kusanagi"]
You can keep watching your nekkid dudes. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAIAXFQ0T74">I'm watching the best new anime ever!!!</a>
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omg I started watching this last night and it's really great. That clip doesn't sell it very well, but it's amazing.
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Re: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club/Swimming Anime Thread!

Post by neshcom »

(Spoiler zone!)

Wow, a two parter! I don't like how they kept Makoto's water thing so fuzzy, but we need some deep heart to hearts next week.

I'm a little too splashed for the normal rigmarole, but I thought the new episode was a little too slow to get to the meat (the island) and didn't give us enough quality time there. We're on the upswing, so it'll be Rei and Makoto are saved by Rin and they all leave.

Best character this week was, again, Nagisa. He's singlehandedly pushing everything, even when it's Gou's idea. Runner up is Makoto for being a soft touch with Rei.


Most Whatever Ship of the Whenever time! Haru-Nagisa tent exploration. Haru isn't exactly wild when he's paired with the loudmouth blond, but when the cover of darkness falls, all bets are off. Haru, expecting some mutual funtime with Makoto, is able to talk the chatty Nagisa into "exploring" their natural selves in the beach wilderness. As the two rest, Haru's mind drifts to the idea of large Makoto and the athletic Rei trading massage techniques and jostles the blond for one more round.


Next week: muhfugga needs to save Rei! Honestly? I'm expecting Rin to deus ex machine that shit.
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Re: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club/Swimming Anime Thread!

Post by neshcom »

New episode is up!


One thing I'm noticing is how much Nagisa--not Kou--is the audience surrogate. I've mentioned before how he's the major catalyst in a lot of the action, but rather than being a plot machine, he's indulging in what we want to happen. He instigates the beach episodes, the swim club, and he's also been absent from the group since they were little. In retrospect, Ama has many of these same tendencies (including sleeping style).

We also finally got closure on something this week: Makoto's water-based fear that turned out to be the sea. It rounds out these two episodes nicely and keeps the show from being bogged down in that pesky swimming stuff.

Obviously, the impending mouth-to-mouth moment was a major fanservice, but it works well as a subversion. If it actually happened, the show's tendency to cut the fluff would have actually made it a very rigid and minor detail where it could only be a build up of that size had it never come to fruition. A similar subversion was Haruka's love story. Obviously the characters wanted to know if he had ever been in love while the audience was totally waiting for the megaton moment of "and I saw ~him~." The fake-outs are nice ways to grab attention, but if a gay element were to come about, it would have either happened by now or will be a last minute nod in minute 22 of the finale. On some level, I actually prefer the shirtless, dramatic fanservice moments to the constant goading of the gay thing.


Most Valuable Ship of the Week: stranded Nagisa-Rei. After finding shelter from the rain in a cave on the deserted island, Nagisa pulls Rei inside. A grateful Rei talks Nagisa into showing his appreciation in the form of a slippery blowjob and a budding romance.


Next week: Prefectural tournament is FINALLY here! Rin and Haruka seem to have a head-to-head race.

Also, omg that oyasumizu image at the end omg. Something about tanlines gets me riled up!
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Re: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club/Swimming Anime Thread!

Post by Tsuki »

Was about two weeks behind when I finally caught up today. The show is nothing amazing honestly, but it's pretty solid with good pacing and decent character development. They don't seem to want to push any envelopes since I guess the almost constant shirtless guys is enough for Kyoani. There's no commitment to anything other than having the guys be good friends who swim together and sometimes have adventures related to swimming. It's pretty much K-on! except with boys who swim instead of girls in a band.
 
I'm still amazed that Nichijou was basically sandwiched between K-On! and Free, both of which are just simple sweet anime but overall kind of bland. Nichijou was so different from the usual fare we get in anime and I'm really sad that it wasn't more successful in Japan. I keep hoping they'll try out more things with Free than they have but so far it's just been teacups instead of rollercoasters. Maybe they'll eventually do things not always related to swimming but this is the Swimming Anime so I guess that's just what I'm going to have to expect.
 
The constant shirtlessness is not really doing anything for me because they just don't have enough meat on their bones. They're just too sinewy for my tastes. The ending images are wonderful though, they're almost the best part of every episode for me, I completely agree with the tanlines thing nesh.
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Re: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club/Swimming Anime Thread!

Post by neshcom »

New episode is finally up. Is it me or do these episodes feel shorter and shorter each week?

Not much to say this week, but the connection between Makoto's fear and Rin was unexpected as was Rin getting the photo of his father, not just some other class of swimmers.

The swimming sequence wasn't very interesting. That Haru lost again makes sense and sets up the show for a long run, but I'm getting a little tired of the sulking, cards close to the chest elements. I really don't care too much about why Haru is so stunned about Rin's last bit. I'm also disappointed Haru's "now I'm going to be set free" moment still doesn't mean anything to us yet.


Next week: prefecturals continue next week as--apparently--Iwatobi enters a relay. The obvs storyline is that they qualify in medley for regionals and Haru and Rin keep eye banging as they race their way to the top.


Ship du Week: Rin-Nitori. As a nervous Niori holds down the wriggling Rin, the scent of his sweaty sit ups and glistening skin fluster the grey haired kid. As Rin cools down with a sports drink, he notices Nitori's frantic blushing and goes on the offense. Rin coaches Nitori sharply through his first time with a man--a toned, rugged man. That night, the two fall asleep in Rin's already-too-small bunk, tied in each others' warm embrace.
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Re: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club/Swimming Anime Thread!

Post by Melon »

I need to catch up. I haven't caught up since last time when I was working :( On the other hand, I can have a mini marathon! :D
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Re: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club/Swimming Anime Thread!

Post by Tsuki »

I liked this week's episode, maybe more than last week. I enjoyed the little scenery clips interspersed that Kyoani does so well. I also liked that we got into Rin's head a bit more but he's still being a giant dick and Haru's still too dismayed for no good reason. The show needs to reveal more for us to really understand why the characters are the way they are, especially Rin and Haru.
 
How many episodes is this supposed to have anyway?
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Re: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club/Swimming Anime Thread!

Post by neshcom »

[quote="Tsuki"]
I liked this week's episode, maybe more than last week. I enjoyed the little scenery clips interspersed that Kyoani does so well. I also liked that we got into Rin's head a bit more but he's still being a giant dick and Haru's still too dismayed for no good reason. The show needs to reveal more for us to really understand why the characters are the way they are, especially Rin and Haru.
 
How many episodes is this supposed to have anyway?
[/quote]
 
Wiki says 12 episodes<i>. </i>This week was #7, so they really need to start ramping up to a bigger conflict. We're definitely on the same wavelength about the Haru-Rin conflict, and with this week's sort-of closure, we may just be left adrift for 5 more weeks.
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Re: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club/Swimming Anime Thread!

Post by neshcom »

Another week, another episode.


We finish off the prefecturals with some mild tension and an assumed happy ending. Once again, the show skirts past what is now officially an over-hyped mystery of the Annual Ultimate Children's Relay Tournament of the Century. With all the swimming out of the way, hopefully we can get back to the goodness of not-swimming.

Next week: Squid Festival! Hopefully, we can be done with these two-shot arcs and get to some less self-important scenarios.


Most Valuable Ship of the Week: Haruka-Nagisa. The gentle stream of the shower falls off Haru's head, his legs dutifully keeping the dark-haired boy standing. Makoto peers into the open showers of the locker room and starts to quietly undress. He softly puts his head on Haru's back and wraps his arms over the sullen swimmer. The two return to catch the end of Rei's meet, their pruny fingers interlocked.
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Re: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club/Swimming Anime Thread!

Post by Tsuki »

I liked the episode well enough but it's still just not revealing enough for the plot and characters. I officially do not care about the AUCRTC anymore because they keep making it a big deal without saying why. So no Free, I don't care anymore! Just go back to fluffy episodes. Like Matsuri episodes, those are always good. Guys in kimono, mm.
 
Makoto was adorable sleeping on his foyer though, I have to say. The reaction to Haru joining the relay too. Adorable. I liked the shots of each of their bedrooms too, Nagisa's room seems really cute. (I think I'm noticing interior decorating more since I've moved.)
 
Oh, I've also noticed an increase in doujin on Free, and I've always found that's a good sign for popularity. Hopefully it'll keep expanding and we'll get proper and better paced plot in another season.
 
 
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Re: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club/Swimming Anime Thread!

Post by neshcom »

With Labor Day, it feels like the new Iwatobi came early!
 
So Iwatobi places first in the relay event and will move on to regionals. But enough about pointless things, ~it's matsuri time~. Detective Rei was awesome and the fact that Nagisa imagine's Rei's texts in the sparkling filter obvs makes Reigisa 100% totally canon now. I enjoyed Haru's monologue at the cliff, but Rin's emotional moment seemed redundant. At the end of the episode when Gou announces that Rin will be in Rival School's relay, my first reaction was, "no duh." I mean, they definitely never saw him watching them swim the relay, and they really didn't give it a lot of time this week, but it feels so obvious.
 
I guess there's absolutely nothing left in the childhood tournament thread? Rin basically flashbacked the entire thing and nothing happened! Haru was mopey and they won. I honestly can't imagine it being anything other than Rin decided to swim the freestyle portion at the end, leaving him in the spot to save the team after Haru attempts the butterfly portion. Right? There's so little here that it's frustrating, even when it isn't about whatever happened. This week's episode brought to light a potential reason this plot point just isn't working: we aren't spending enough time as/in Haru and it's making him seem creepy. The boy loves the water, so don't just show him being water-obsessed. Keep taking us in his head about why he loves water. It's only because the whole ensemble is so good that it's okay that we've been floundering on Haru's development.
 
Next week: more childhood memories (~scarves~) and...autumn, I guess? Anyway, ~~~scarves~~~.
 
Most Valuable Ship of the Week: Rin-Rei. The whole town's at the squid festival, leaving Rei alone to track Rin through the barren suburbs of Iwatobi. As Rin stares at the former home of his (apparently only) childhood memory, Rei's phone chimes with Nagisa's personal text message sound. Rei crouches down to silence the damned thing, but Rin approaches almost instantly. Rin verbally bears into Rei; first about following him, second about his swimming form, and finally about replacing him in the group. Rei, suddenly paralyzed by the tense, unbeautiful situation he found himself in is turned around and shown who's more deserving to be in Haru's swimming club. TW: rape, verbal abuse, mild assault. 
 
Also, next month as Iwatobi wraps up(?), a new anime is starting called <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FqUrD0AAH4">Meganebu</a>, a Free!-vein anime about an eyeglasses club. Apparently, it's directed by the director of Junou Romance, so it's gay time. To give you some idea, one of the guys (Hayato, the last one in the PV) has 20-20 vision, but really wants to be in the club, so he wears fakies and there's conflict there in letting him in, so yeah, it's gonna be like that. The <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hzn27QC_xyE">first character PV</a> is also up for Akira Souma, who is stupid into glasses, y'all.
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Re: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club/Swimming Anime Thread!

Post by neshcom »

New episode should be up, so go and get caught up on your swimming nerds!
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Re: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club/Swimming Anime Thread!

Post by neshcom »

Ugh, this show.

How can Free keep building this nothing of a plot at such a snails pace? The reminiscing built their childhoods pretty well, but ultimately added little, and the 10 minutes of disclosure to Rei was almost all stuff we knew before! There's nothing here this week. Hell, even Ama's obvious thing obvious-ed out.

A major problem that has emerged has been the strict scope of the show's universe. We're getting no new characters, consequences, motivations, or anything. Even something that ought to be pure fluff (like the festival) are embroiled in trotting this plot along instead of even advancing these characters' relationships. We are in a standstill now.


MVSotW: Me x Vita. While something drones on the TV, I eye the luxurious device. Over twenty minutes, my hand creeps closer until contact, rush, electricity. I play him all night long and we chuckle as I playfully wipe his face off.


Next week: some more bullshit with Rei/Rin. Fuckit.
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Re: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club/Swimming Anime Thread!

Post by Tsuki »

Yeah I completely agree Nesh, the show's plot has completely halted. I'm not sure what the heck they're doing anymore, I can't even figure out a motivation for such a weak plot and how long it's taking for them to go through it. Kyoani might just not be used to having to do an overarching plot throughout an entire season because both K-ON! or Nichijou were pretty much episodic. And they also had the benefit of actually having manga or light novels to help them out with their plot/characterization. The fact that this show essentially came from a bunch of tumblr fangirls is pretty obvious when they have no idea how to push forward any semblance of an interesting plot. I really wish they had just gone overboard and really made this show absurd but I guess Nichijou made them twitchy with its failure and this pleasant but bland show was born instead.
 
Free! you could have been so much more! It's sad when the very ending "see you next week!" parts are the best parts of the episode. The All-Out! bit was refreshingly absurd.
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Re: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club/Swimming Anime Thread!

Post by neshcom »

Haha, someone cut out the ending All Out exchange.

<a href="http://junjouprince.tumblr.com/post/609 ... iew-rin</a>


Also, it looks like a ton of the wackiness ended up on the drama CDs and extra FrFr shorts. Damn shame... They're doing so much supplementary material, I can only guess how much of it was supposed to be in the show proper.
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Re: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club/Swimming Anime Thread!

Post by NekoKaiSai »

This is kind of in response to what nesh said about last week's episode, but I didn't fully understand what you guys meant until today's episode.  It's like there's a bunch of character development, and they're trying to build the plot around that instead of the other way around because there's not much else to do except train for the tournament, so then it feels like there's this sort of disconnect.

 

Also, what was the deal with Haruka thanking Makoto and Nagisa?  They seemed to make a big deal about that.  Was there something with that in a previous episode that I forgot about?
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Re: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club/Swimming Anime Thread!

Post by neshcom »

^ No clue. I don't remember anything. Those nerds always seem to tear up whenever he says more than two words.
 
What sort of shit show puts only interesting stuff in the last 2 minutes AFTER THE CREDITS? They finally created real conflict by an external force and it only took 12 episodes. What a waste such well-done animation is used on such thin plot.
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Re: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club/Swimming Anime Thread!

Post by neshcom »

So, this is it. Finale time.


Finally, we get some real drama, real conflict, and real surprise. I won't spoil anything because it does take a few turns, but the end is sweet and sets up a second season decently well. Hopefully, we can actually see some real sparks next year.

As for the Annual Childhood Swimmeet of the Century Bad Memories Senpai story, it turns out everything was about friendship because friendship. So fuck me, right?


And with that, Free! is over. It will so totally come back next year, so don't throw away those ship-charts just yet. Anyone else still straggling along til the end?


(PS: Meganebu starts either next week or the week after. Any interest in a dedicated thread for that?)
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Re: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club/Swimming Anime Thread!

Post by Tsuki »

Just finished watching it myself today, it was a really sweet ending. It almost made up for the whole thing. Almost. They'd better do well with this show next year now that all that really weird really forced character drama without enough background support is out of the way.
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Re: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club/Swimming Anime Thread!

Post by NekoKaiSai »

The second season started last week.  It's called Eternal Summer.  So far it's pretty good, though I feel like there's something off with the faces sometimes, but maybe I just forgot what everyone looked like.
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Re: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club/Swimming Anime Thread!

Post by MejraThea »

Got all excited, but since they really resolved the story line enough last season, I can't really seem to get into this one. Oh well.   =3=
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Re: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club/Swimming Anime Thread!

Post by NekoKaiSai »

Episode two is out.  The plot has thickened, and now I'm intrigued.  It's definitely worth the look.
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<p class="bbc_center" style="text-align:left;">B!P workflow spreadsheet         Tutorial for Translators/Preppers
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