Relationships are fickle things. You have couples who seem to hate each other's guts but would do anything for each other during times of duress. You have couples who are so lovey-dovey that they make everyone around them wish they'd get a room. Then you have couples who aren't really together, but they hook up once in a while and are on good terms. That would be my relationship with anime. SO WHAT'S YOUR DEAL WITH ANIME, ANYWAY? I don't have as full of a history with anime as some people in the class do, or as full a dedication. My first interaction with anime was with the original Pokemon anime, all the way back in 2000 or so. I watched it when I could and enjoyed the episodes I did watch, but nothing really grabbed me and sucked me into that world- not yet, at any rate. To my six year old self, Pokemon was just another Saturday morning cartoon.
But then we moved to a new town in 2006, right as I was about to go into middle school. The library in town had a little section filled with comic books and manga. I'd spend the entire time I was in the library, devouring what manga they had. And when I got access to my own laptop- oh boy. I found a wonderful site called tvtropes.org that introduced me to a bunch of new anime. My youthful innocence was corrupted, and I became an avid fan. I remember waking up at five in the morning on Saturdays to watch Inuyasha on Cartoon Network.
...Then the great manga purge of 2010 happened. Manga and anime distributors started regulating the sites that posted fan-translations of anime and manga, limiting my access to them. Add that on top of the rigors and high school, and it's understandable that I faded out of anime and started focusing my attentions on other pursuits. I still kept an eye on the anime community so I could know what my friends were talking about, but wasn't actively engaged.
Then I saw this class on the list, and I discovered you can never leave your past behind. DO YOU ACTUALLY DO ANYTHING IN THE ANIME COMMUNITY? Short answer: no. Longer answer: I wish. Most complete answer I can give: I admire many artists from a distance, and wish I could do the kinds of things they do. Cosplay, fanfiction, drawings... The things some people can do with stuff from the craft store give me shivers. I can only hope that one day I'll be as good as them, but I've got to practice. And obtain funds. I'd really like to get to a point where I can fund my hobbies independently. I also enjoy reading people's comments and analysis' where I find them. Oftentimes they'll lead me to a further understanding of certain anime, and why the creators do the things they do. The thing is, I'm not what some people would call "actively engaged". I admire things from a distance, filing them away in a cupboard to be admired again at a later date. That's my niche in the fandoms, and I take to it with gusto. After all,
SO WHAT KIND OF ANIME DO YOU LIKE?
Personally? I like Slice of Life anime, such as Azumanga Daioh! or Free! (apparently I also like things that have exclamation marks. Who knew.) I also like anime with fantasy elements in them, such as Fullmetal Alchemist.
I'm always happy when I see an anime that subverts modern anime tropes, or plays around with them. Puella Magi Madoka Magica, for one. Anime that have fully realized female characters also have a high standing on my list. After my induction into the Feminist Illuminati (or whatever people are calling it these days), seeing out of place fanservice just irks me.
At the sum of it, I like anime that have good, tight storylines. Stuff that can be analyzed, characters that are more than one-dimensional stand-ins, etc. Or comedy anime that's actually funny, or sometimes surreal.
WHAT'S YOUR SOCIAL LIFE BEEN LIKE?
I have friends. I have a lot of friends online that I talk to about anime and such. One of my friends and I are working on a collaborative story together based on an anime's world and context. And it's always a treat to see people in real life wearing anime t-shirts and being able to know where they are from. But physical friendships? Those are kind of rare. I'm not sure whether to attribute that to my interests or to my inclination towards introversion. Come to think of it, maybe that's why there's a lot of introverted otaku. They, like myself, enjoy thinking about things, and don't really care for the social aspect of life.
My parents have been supportive. They willingly listen to my rambles and rants about what I like, which I'm thankful for. I know a bunch of people have parents who don't support it, so I commend mine for their effort to try to understand. They went with me to Comic-Con 2008, and I think they had fun. My dad's more supportive than my mom is, possibly because he's a geek himself.
*arrives twenty minutes late to the blossay party with Starbucks*
THERE ARE A FEW SPOILERS IN HERE, SO BE WARNED.
SO WHAT IS FREE! ANYWAY?
[The commercial that sparked a million fangirls' hearts]
Free! is a combination of the Sports, School, and Slice of Life genres of anime, with a heavy emphasis on the relationships, both old and new, between the main members of the cast. The anime got its start as High Speed!, a light novel written by Kōji Ōji. High Speed! received an honorable mention at the Second Annual Kyoto Animation Awards in 2011 and later went on to be published in 2013. Kyoto Animation and Animation DO later produced a short commercial that quickly grew in popularity online. Free! Iwatobi Swim Club premiered on July 4, 2013, and ran for twelve episodes, ending on September 26, 2013. Due to it's popularity, a second season, Free! Eternal Summer, followed, starting on July 2, 2014, and ending September 24, 2014.
WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?
[From center clockwise: Haru, Nagisa, Makoto, Rei, and Rin]
Nanase Haruka: Haruka, also known as Haru, is a second year at Iwatobi High School. Though he appears very quiet and emotionless, Haru has a strong passion for water and swimming, to the point that he will strip down to his swimsuit at the sight of any body of water large enough to hold him. He and Rin have a rivalry going on for reasons more complicated than they initially appear. His specialty is freestyle swimming (a plot point that occasionally comes up) and he is often associated with dolphins.
Tachibana Makoto: Makoto is a second year at Iwatobi High School, alongside Haru. Though kind and mothering to his friends and others, Makoto is easily flustered, and is deathly afraid of the open ocean, for reasons we learn later in the season. Makoto and Haru were the only members of the original elementary school group to stay in close contact with each other. His specialty is the backstroke, and he is often associated with orca whales.
Hazuki Nagisa: Nagisa is a first year at Iwatobi High School. Having admired Haru's swimming style ever since they were in elementary school, Nagisa reunites the remains of the group to form the Iwatobi Swim Club. Nagisa is constantly cheerful and upbeat, and expresses himself physically. He develops a strong friendship with Rei, though this friendship mostly consists of Nagisa bugging the ever living hell out of Rei. His specialty is the breaststroke, and he is often associated with penguins.
Ryūgazaki Rei: Rei is also a first year at Iwatobi High School, and is Nagisa's classmate. He is a bit of an outsider to the group, having not been one of the original members of the elementary school swimming club. In fact, he was originally on the track team until Nagisa convinced him to join, and he initially can't swim worth beans. He puts on airs about being an intellectual type, but in actuality he's a giant dork. His specialty is the butterfly stroke, and he is often associated with butterflies.
Matsuoka Rin: Bucking the trend of going to Iwatobi High School, Rin is a second year at Samezuka Academy. He aspires to be an Olympic level swimmer, in continuing on his father's legacy. In elementary school, he was good friends with Makoto, Haru, and Nagisa, but when he moved to Australia to learn how to become a better swimmer, that connection was severed. (It was also severed for more complicated reasons, but that's a whole other barrel of fish.) His specialty is freestyle, and he is often associated with sharks.
The first episode opens with a flashback to the group's elementary school days, and outlines how Rin met Haru, Makoto, and Nagisa. Rin and Haru have an inpromptu race (Haru wins, in a moment of foreshadowing to the second episode), which prompts Rin to ask Haru to run a relay with him at the next competition. Haru replies that he only does freestyle, and jumps back into the pool, reflecting on how he only cares how the water makes him feel, and that bond that he shares with the water is the most important thing.
(What's so significant about the flashback is that it establishes in a few short minutes a whole bunch of information that is vital to the series: Haru's love and reverence for water, the bond the four boys share, and Rin and Haru's rivalry.)
We cut to the present, where a now seventeen year old Haru is sitting in the bathtub with his swimsuit on, musing on how weird the thoughts he had when he was younger. Then he says something that's a keystone to one of the themes of the series:
"There's an old saying my late grandma taught me. 'When you're ten, they call you a prodigy. When you're fifteen, they call you a genius. Once you hit twenty, you're just an ordinary person.'"
He then muses to himself that he can't wait to be normal.
[INSERT TITLE SEQUENCE WITH HEAVY SYMBOLISM HERE]
We then return to see Makoto walking through Iwatobi to fetch Haru for school. This entire sequence establishes Makoto's kind nature, as he's seen talking to an older woman like they're good friends, stopping to play with a cat for a moment, and chastising Haru for being in the bath and then making breakfast when he should be going to school.
When they finally get to school and Haru meets the teacher for the very first time, we learn that Haru regularly gets mistaken for a girl (his full name, Haruka, is generally given to girls.) In fact, all the main characters are men with girly names. But moving on.
[There's a brief moment of foreshadowing where we see Nagisa bump past Matsuoka Gou, Rin's sister and eventual manager of the Iwatobi Swim Club.]
As Makoto and Haru head up to the roof to eat lunch, they run into Nagisa, who's now a first year at Iwatobi. Herein a lot of exposition happens. We learn that the pool the group used to swim at has long been out of commission, and is scheduled to be torn down. Haru hasn't swum competitively since. Nagisa then proposes that they visit the old pool, and retrieve a relay trophy the group buried there. As they prepare to go, Makoto expresses concerns about it being right to retrieve the trophy when not all the group is there. It's here we learn that Rin left Japan to move to Australia to go to a swimming school. There's a brief flashback to when Rin reveals this to Makoto and Haru, and he asks Haru again to swim in the relay. Haru still resists, but Rin promises that if Haru swims in the relay, he'll show him a sight he's never seen before.
The flashback ends to see our heroes standing outside the old swimming pool. Makoto's scared as hell of possible ghosts, Haru is indifferent, and Nagisa attempts to make the situation better by purifying things with salt, but fails cause he accidentally used sugar instead. As they go through the pool building, they encounter the lounge, which has a picture from when they won the relay. Haru thinks back on the relay, and they continue on.
But as they move through the building, they encounter... who'd have thunk it?... Rin, back from Australia and about 1000% more jerkish. There's a tense moment between Rin and Haru, where Rin asks why Haru is still hanging out with Makoto and Nagisa, and Haru asks Rin if he's learned anything. (It makes sense as you watch the series.)
Rin then challenges Haru to a race, which unfortunately gets cancelled, as the pool has no water to swim in. Before Rin goes, he reveals he dug up the trophy they buried together. He then states he doesnt need it anymore, and lets it drop as he walks away.
Flash foward to the next day, the group discusses Rin, and how he's changed. They then get chewed out by a faculty member for trespassing on private property, even if its abandoned. We then go forward to Makoto and Nagisa investigating if Rin is at Iwatobi High School or not. In doing so, they find Gou's locker.
We then cut to Haru's house, where he's in the bathtub with his swimsuit on. Again. Gou rings the doorbell, trying to talk to Haru, but Haru doesn't answer. She turns to find Nagisa and Makoto standing there. Gou reveals that yes, Rin is back from Australia, and has transferred to Samezuka Academy. Nagisa and Makoto attempt to get Haru to come with them to see Rin, but Haru refuses. It's only with the mention that there's an indoor pool that convinces him to come.
The trio then travel to Samezuka Academy, but don't see Rin among the practicing swimmers. They sneak in after dark, where Haru dives immediately in. Nagisa tries to convince Makoto to skinny dip it (as they aren't Haru and dont have their swimsuits), but Makoto refuses, until he gets pulled in by Nagisa.
Dun dun dun. Rin finds them, and tells them to get out. But Haru stops him with one word: "Free." He then challenges Rin to a race, saying:
"Show me that sight that I've never seen before again. I'd forgotten it". That sight, that drive that drives Haru to swim competitively, is returning. Rin agrees to race, and the episode ends.
[INSERT ENDING SEQUENCE WITH HEAVY SYMBOLISM AND GRATUITOUS FANSERVICE HERE]
(A brief note: Rei doesn't appear in the first episode. Don't worry, he'll come in later.)
WHY SHOULD I CARE ABOUT THIS ANIME?
There is something we've explored in class called the "male gaze". The "male gaze" is a term coined by the feminist Laura Mulley to label when a piece of media "puts the audience in the viewpoint of a heterosexual male," so to speak. In other words, it's when a piece devotes a noticeable period of screentime to shots that focus on a female's anatomy, often reducing the female to simply an object of desire, and not a person. We discussed this idea in class, especially in relation to Katsuragi Misato in Neon Genesis Evangelion and Kusanagi Mokoto in Ghost in the Shell. Free!, on the other hand, has moments of "female gaze", where a noticeable period of time is devoted to shots that focus on the male anatomy, in this anime's case the abs, arms, and backs of the swimming characters. But the thing is, when there are blatant "female gaze" moments, they're either played for laughs, initiated by the character being gazed upon, a plot point, or all three. Take this moment from Free! Eternal Summer, for example, when the Swim Club is drumming up support:
Then there's a character that's the audience analogue: Matsuoka Gou, the manager of the Iwatobi Swim Club, and Rin's sister.
[Say hello to your mirror, muscle admirers]
Rin is an admirer of muscles. There are several points throughout the series where she blatantly admires the swimmers she comes into contact with. But that's the point: she admires. She doesn't do perverted things, she's still respectful. Another reason to watch this anime is that the attention to detail is extremely high, especially when it comes to the depictions of swimming. Take, for example, this gifset:
The figure on top is Matt Grevers, the winner of the 2012 Olympic's 100-meter backstroke Gold Medal. The figure on the bottom is Makoto, climbing out of the pool in one of the later episodes of the season.
This is of Rin doing a turn at the end of the pool to come back.
And let's not forget about how the swimmer muscles in these boys are LOVINGLY AND REALISTICALLY RENDERED AND PRESENTED AT PRETTY MUCH EVERY TURN. And that's the scenery and motion detail. There are smaller details sprinkled about that reveal the main characters'... well, character. Such as this post on the locker room lockers, or how Makoto and Haru share practically everything, or how and why Haru is so picky about his swimsuits... I could go on. SO WHAT SHOULD I TAKE AWAY FROM THIS? Free! is a series about friendship, and all its hardships and fun times. It's about friendships that end, that begin, that change, that grow over time. It's about thinking about what you dedicate your life to, and about doing what you love and what that means, especially when your love is a sport with a deadline for your peak. I recommend this anime wholeheartedly, especially for people who enjoy anime with beautiful visuals or anime with well developed and continually developing characters. The fandom, as far as I can tell, is also very positive and silly, with tons of great artwork. However, if you're not into homosexual fanfiction or art, I'd stay clear of the fandom. The anime itself contains no official couples, and you can read each relationship between the characters as platonic or something more. The anime is viewable for free on Crunchyroll.com. Picture Links: Comparison between Mokoto and Matt Grevers
