Recap: Makoto is struck by a sudden anxiety attack while trying to save Rei from drowning. Haruka and Nagisa jump into the ocean to help, but the heavy weather causes them to lose track of one another.

After last week’s surprising cliffhanger, I started to fear Free! would go down the same career path as Love, Chunibyou and Other Delusions and hit us in the face with thinly veiled attempts to manipulate our emotions. Luckily enough, this episode managed to succesfully merge drama, character development and breezy antics, making it seem more like the same friends going through a bit of a darker period rather than an uncharacteristic drama bomb. Makoto’s trauma is much more realistically portrayed and dealt with than Rikka’s bizarre Freudian motive which seemed to contradict the show’s earlier message. It gives his character a bit more depths without swallowing the entire show.

With the four swimbros stranded on an abandoned island, Gou and miss Ama get taken out of the picture, which harms their interesting interactions a bit. Luckily, this allows for Haruka, Makoto, Nagisa and Rei to have some more substantial talks beyond their usual quipping. Free! provides a nice balance between genuine dialogue and funnier moments, in stead of suddenly bringing down the drama hammer near the halfway point. Rei’s regret and the other guys’ appreciation for his feelings makes their blossoming friendship into a very subtle and gradual thing, while Haruka’s worries about Makoto’s trauma show that these two a thick as thieves. Still not thick for some passionate mouth-to-mouth, though.

And then Rei discovered Nagisa’s ‘secret closet’.

In grand Kyoto Animation tradition, then, the training trip ends with the victims having done very little actual training, but we all know that in this universe, even the biggest ditzes can become master athletes or musical virtuosos without the slightest practice. I do suspect all Kyoto Animation shows — Yes, even Full Metal Panic! — are set in the same universe, a bizarro alternate dimension where competence is proportional to how unlikely you appear to be competent, loud cheering is the preferred form of communication and the worst sugary food can do to your body is make you look like a cute marshmallow. The final scene of this episode makes pretty clear that, of course, Free! will end with Rin realizing that competitive swimming is not about indoor pools or training regimes, but about having fun with your friends! It is a dumb and naive message, but one I can get behind. Kyoto Animation know what they are good at, and surprisingly, it has yet to backfire. Then again, didn’t I just mention Love, Chunibyo and Other Delusions?

Random observations

• Why does everyone in this show dress like they are in a teen sitcom from the early nineties?
• Pretty ironic that out of all possible Kyoto Animation shows, Free! is the first one to actually show a naked woman. Well, to a certain degree, that is. Oh, Haru.