Miki

Free! – Iwatobi Swim Club Season 1 Review

Back in elementary school, Haruka, Makoto, Rin, and the younger Nagisa swam together in a relay and brought a championship home to their local swim club. Afterward, however, Rin moved to Australia to pursue his swimming at a prestigious school, his sights set on one day swimming in the Olympics. Haruka, who loved the water, stopped swimming, effectively dissolving the relay team; before too much longer, the swim club closed its doors altogether.

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New in Japan

Free! – Iwatobi Swim Club: Episode 10 Review

After the events of episode seven and the angst race, Free! has definitely taken a turn for the angstier, with lots of side glances, snide smirks, and glares. Rin is still an insufferable asshole, obsessed with winning, and even the addition of more backstory in episode ten can’t help him (in fact, it just made it worse, since there wasn’t much of a reason for his actions). However, Free! has made it clear just how amazing the rest of the Iwatobi Swim Club is.

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Kuroi

Free! – Iwatobi Swim Club: Episode 4 Review

Still backed by a dubstep background piece that comes in at the most giggle-worthy moments, Free! jumps from serious rivalry and competition-based angst to girls ogling muscles and guys trying on swimsuits that seem to become more and more ridiculous (and when you’re starting off with a pair of rainbow-striped jammers, you’d think it would be hard to top).

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Kuroi

Free! – Iwatobi Swim Club: First Impressions

There’s been so much buzz about Free!, from the first announcement to the first episode, that it’s almost impossible to really know what to expect going into the show. I’ll also say it straight out: no one was as excited for this show as I was. As a long time competitive swimmer and a long time sports series addict, the lack of a series about swimming (even if Golden Boys’ swimming scene is classic) was a huge hole to me that needed to be filled.

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