Recap: Nagisa thinks the best way for the boys to get to hang with Rin again is by competing against his school with a swim club of their own. Gou is eager to help out as the swimbros go through the all too familiar motions, including searching for a fourth member and blackmailing a quirky teacher into becoming their advisor… Gee, where have I seen that before?

Aqua‘s thoughts: For some reason, I am still allowed to cover weekly anime for this website. I suppose there are just so many shows to cover they need to get the pretentious hipster in to cover what is arguably the most popular show of the season. No, contrary to common belief, this does not cause my skin to spontaneously catch fire. Joking aside, it remains to be seen if Free! will be interesting enough for me to write about for thirteen episodes in a row. I feel so uncomfortable without my gruesome misanthropy and psychological terror.

Arguably, the closest Free! comes to actual drama is Haruka’s rather hamfisted motive for giving up competitive swimming. Characters feeling bad about themselves because they are too good at something is a pet peeve trope of mine, and I hope the relationship between Rin and Haruka will eventually turn into something more than just angst. It is quite obvious that for the both of them, swimming is missing something that only the other can provide, and their stubborn refusal to simply hang out as friends like they used to is surprisingly realistic. It is all a bit tried-and-true sports drama, but at least I can somewhat follow what is going on in these guys’ heads. On a scale of arbitrariness of conflict, ranging from fighting game story mode (very arbitrary) to World War II (very justified), I’d say Free! at least ranks among some of the more decent shounen. Yeah, I do not know where this analogy is going either.

“U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! Land of the Free!”

Anyways, aside from the main couple’s squabble, Free! treads familiar territory. There are your quirky characters, your leisurely vibes, your somewhat bizarre jokes and your charming fanservice, but it does surprise just how closely Free! follows the formula. Many of this episode’s plot points mirrored those of K-ON! or other shows about a group of high schoolers starting up a new club, up to and including the blackmail of a teacher with some embarrassing secret. I’m surprised the artists of Pixiv have not jumped on Miss Ama’s little secret just yet, but I’m even more surprised her and Gou have such prominent roles. Sure, you may wonder why I find it strange that this show has main characters of both sexes, but then again, did you ever see an important character in K-ON! who was male?

I admit that might have been one K-ON! comparaison too many. We need to look at Free! as its own show, which it definitely is. Nevertheless, that does not change the fact that it often does seem to think it is just another high school girls anime, only with dudes. Now, I am all for gender equality — boys acting like “girls” is of course a-okay, and girls acting like “boys” just as much — but replacing the traditional roles in the four girl ensemble with guys does show just how dumb most of the things we take for granted in these shows are. Is it because we have come to expect anime girls to act all quirky, while we prefer our guys as bland as possible? This does raise some interesting questions, though. Would Haruka’s dorky tendency to strip in public despite his cool demeanour be less bizarre if he were a girl? Would the happy-go-lucky way in which the bros interact with each other be more credible if they all had breasts? Are we all horribly sexist? Is Free! ruined forever now? Am I overthinking this? Probably?

“I am mad swimbro, yo! Is so cool! Sunuvabitch!”

Random observations

• For some reason, the swimming coach has not aged a year while the swimbros have practically doubled in size. Also, from the way he was introduced, he looked like a massive paedophile spying on little boys in tight little trunk- Okay, I better stop there.
• I love how Rin fawns over Haruka’s abs. What is this, female human beings feeling some sort of sexual attraction? In my anime?
• I’m not even going to question how inplausible the notion of Miss Ama keeping her previous career as a swimsuit model a secret from her teenage male students is.
• After his cameo this week, blue swimbro will join the party next week! I sure wonder what his personality will be like.

Iro’s Thoughts: I’m just here to point out that as the dudes are dancing in the ED sequence, there are a bunch of gimps in the background dancing along. Yep, they’re all dancing at a bondage gear club.