Free! Dive to the Future

If Free's second season was an improvement for the series, its third season is its all-time low. Free, in its best moments, may not have been anything more than mildly enjoyable (if teetering the line between 'fanservice' and outright pandering), but in this case it has fallen below even being tolerable. Nonstop, incessant melodrama, focused not on the main characters but split between the dozens of irrelevant side characters around them who nobody watching the show actually cares half a dingdong about. Any humor or relaxing little moments are gone, with an endless barrage of melodrama from opening credits to ending credits. Yes, if that sounds interesting to you, by all means, have yourself a blast. There are so many bloody characters in Dive to the Future that you will often forget who is who. KyoAni also assumes that everyone who watches Dive to the Future has also watched the prequel movie, High Speed, so you're also expected to care for characters you have probably never seen, or hardly remember. Depending on the way you divide things up, there are at bare minimum three different sets of characters, all largely doing their own thing for most of the season (one of these groups even living on a completely different side of the damn planet), with few important, and mostly minor connections holding them together. The high school group in particular is almost entirely irrelevant to the rest of the plot, them still existing only to appease fans of their characters who wanted to see more. Even by the final episode, there were still new characters being introduced, and by that point I had long since lost my patience. The ludicrous amount of subplots going on between Dive to the Future's seven million characters means there is so little time spent on each character that the viewer cannot get emotionally invested in any of them. It's like being given fifty dishes to sample, except all you get to taste from each of them is a tiny, minuscule amount on the tip of your tongue: would anyone actually feel full after that? To say I had any fun at all watching Dive to the Future would be a lie. Whereas most anime at least try to intersperse the drama with a light-hearted scene here and there, the melodrama in Dive to the Future is all there is. It is the entirety of the show, with not a single moment to breathe. By the time I had finished watching even one episode, I would already be fatigued enough to want a damn break. While the first and second seasons of Free also had plenty of the 'ol melodrama to go around, it was nowhere near the onslaught it is here. Ikuya is waxing philosophical about not being able to see the stars, and I think, well, gee, you live in the most urban country in the world and somehow the word 'pollution' doesn't exist in your head. Hey, maybe I'm just dead inside, but I think it has more to do with how it is impossible to empathise with any word the characters utter. Dive to the Future is processed through your ears and your eyeballs, but never through your brain or your heart. Some of the characters (Nagisa, for one-- boy, would I love to strangle this little dickweed at times) are infuriating as hell and do not even behave as actual people do. There's the flashback with Ikuya in the hospital, for example, where he smiles and giggles like a little schoolgirl whose mommy just bought him a new dollie. I suppose KyoAni believes that male characters should act 'moe' in the same way that female characters do, as if men and women in Japan somehow have the exact same mannerisms and behaviours (breaking news: they don't). Oh, and the white-haired foreign-dude's voice actor was such an awful match for his character that it was actually laughable. I think KyoAni had a grand slammin' total of one English voice actor available, and just handed him the job as their token foreigner, because, well, to be fair, Japanese people have no clue how white people actually speak. I guess if you like gay stuff, Dive to the Future is pretty gay. There are scenes like when Hiyori tells Ikuya to forget about other dudes (and look only at Hiyori), as he towers over a submissive Ikuya laying on his back. Cue rockin' dupstep. Buuu-wuu-wuu. Everyone in this show is rainbow-ass-coloured gay, but KyoAni is only interested in teasing and playing pretend, for better or for worse, depending on how you prefer your gayness served. Unsurprisingly, there is no real conclusion to the story, with your sole reward for watching the show being a "See you again in 2020!" announcement in the final few seconds. Um, thanks, but rather than more seasons, I'd have been much happier to see an actual ending to this one, which would have been possible if the show just focused a wee bit more on Haru's and Rin's central struggles and rivalry with one another, rather than all the superfluous rubbish surrounding the other forty-billion characters. I fail to see the purpose in Dive to the Future, in 2018, five full years after the first season, when hardly anyone except the most hardcore of fans still care about Free. And another sequel in the works? For what purpose, exactly? They cannot do anything of value with such a massive cast of characters by throwing another measly twelve episodes at it. Surely there's better creative and monetary endeavors that could be pursued instead, and, well, I guess there are, what with the coming of their next fangirl-friendly series, Tsurune, this fall. KyoAni always envisions these grand ideas on paper, but then give up midway when it comes to actually realising said idea. Were there twice or thrice as many episodes, a decent story might have been feasible, but with a cast this large and only twelve episodes, it makes you wonder if KyoAni is only capable of thinking in dreams, with reality somehow a distant concept to them. As long as they give the appearance of being something, so too do they believe they will truly become said thing. It's a bit like cosplay: if you're pretty and you act the part well enough, some who don't know any better might just assume you are the real thing.

The second season was a great comfy experience. Eternal Summer was what it was called and it was H O T just like the name suggests. However, it was much more than that and left several different factors unanswered, for example, In s02e09, Haru said: "What dream? What future? I have nothing of that sort!" Other questions it rose were: The traumas behind our transfer student (not wanting to swim on the behalf of team, only on individual level), Haru's lack of motivation, and the disappearance / solitude phase of the best boy. Essentially, this 3rd season is exactly as the title promises: Dive towards the future of our characters and that's pretty much how the story goes. The selling point of this season among its light hearted drama are the cast who are yet again showing what being a bro to your bro truly means. This is like all those cute girls doing cute things anime series except the cast focuses on boys (bros) doing cute (bro) things and they all are rather real characters (bros) instead from the moeblob side because these are real manly men. The single best part is how natural these bros act in every situation be it them spooning in bed or hanging out naked. It's only possible and #nohomo because they are real bros and so manly. It's rare to see male friends achieve this level of broship and that's pretty much why I like this show because all the other manly and bro shows (I really like manly and bro stuff) center around GAR Jesuses and muscle Moseses who are often also Gary Stu and practically immortal superhumans all muscles and spreading masculinity wherever they go. Free's cast is realistic and fragile, but it don't matter because they are so bro and support the shit out of each others, always. However, I don't think this series is especially good anymore because it only has few things going on and most of what it had to offer was already seen in the first 2 seasons anyway. I.e. it got old. Worth of watching, but really I could have personally lived without this season.

Free!: Dive to the Future is an amazing sequel to an already amazing series. We get to see Haru and Makoto lives after finishing high school, which we don't see a lot of, as they face new challenges and problems that come with the higher competitive world of swimming. This season we get introduced to Ikuya, a childhood friend of both Haru and Makoto, and he is shown to be very cold to others at the start for certain reasons which are then told later into the series, Haru, Makoto and everyone else has to help him get over his past trauma and worries so he can become the lovable kid he once was. Now that is pretty much how the first half of the series is in simple and non spoiler-ish way. Now the second part is Haru training for the All Japan invitational Tournament. We get briefly introduced to some other competitors to see what kind of opponents Haru and Rin will have to face in this tournament. Although it's not has drama heavy as the first part it is more intense and exciting, and then we get to the tournament and then the final episode were it leaves off finishing the qualifiers (kind of) and then teases us with sequel to come soon. Overall to say if this was better then season two I would have to say no as season two was was absolutely fantastic. Compared to last season this was a little bit rushed at some parts and some things just sort of worked out for the sake of it having to work out but it didn't happen to much so it did not degrade my love for this season at all.

Overall this season definitely felt weaker than the previous seasons. Partly that is due to the vast expansion in the main cast and obviously because of that, not all characters got to have the screentime needed for their characters to develop or to do much with the characters. However overall I feel like what has been accomplished, was done pretty well. This season's major flaw however is the slow pacing of the first half of the season. The first couple episodes felt so so slow and I also understand that time is needed to introduce new characters and establish what is happening with all of them, but it just felt too long. On the other hand the pacing in the latter half was fast, which in a way mirrors competitive swimming and it makes you hyped up for the races. I feel like most of the fanbase feels the same way and it's so unfortunate that that happened and might have turned off some people from watching more, because the latter half is done really well and feels exciting and is immensely enjoyable. Ikuya and Toonu's drama felt... I guess it was needed, but it felt too similar to previous Free! seasons, so that almost undermines the whole point of this season, which is the characters are growing up. I guess because they grew up the drama only lasted half a season now, instead of a whole. I understand that a lot of attention was needed to develop Ikuya's and Toonu's characters and story arch, but I can't help but feel like TOO much time was spent on their drama, when it could have been spent on, ya know, actual swimming. Long time fans of Free! will love seeing all the characters come together (I myself teared up quite a bit when that happened) and it is lovely to see so many bonds form between characters. The new characters are pretty good (however the girls are all very unfortunately underdeveloped (then again, the story doesn't really focus on them anyway, but it's still sad that that is still the case)) and they are introduced quite well. Tonally, the series truly feels like the main characters are slowly growing up, but that does not mean that they are suddenly fully fledged adults either. I feel a ridiculous amount of pride for these fictional characters and seeing them grow up, but still remain their same personalities and quirks and characteristics. Especially Haru feels like he has finally reached a point in his life that might have been unimaginable to him a couple years ago. He has come a long way from the 'I only swim free and I by twenty I will be ordinary' guy. Could this season have been made better? Definitely. I feel like this season should have been 24 episodes long, so there would be more time for all the characters to be relevant and develop. I hope that the next season will keep the pace from the last episodes. (2020..... ㅠ ㅠ ) In the end, I still love Free! dearly and the characters are all very precious to me, so I will always be biased. However I can still see the major flaws in this season and I can only hope that next season will be handled better. The things this season did well however, were done really well. It is just unfortunate that the bad things sorta drag it down and that they were the focus of the first half.

‘My little swimmer: friendship is magic’ - The anime. I love it as much as anyone, but you have to admit the title fits. More now than ever. One of the best parts about watching anime is seeing a series you loved get another season. The characters you spent so many hours getting to know, the scenery you spent admiring *cough*, the thrilling parts that made you sit up in bed to get a better look, and the emotional parts that made you cry. Free! Dive to the future is a great example of that. I’m not saying it’s perfect, because it’s not. Heavens knows there were far too many characters this season to fit in any real screen-time for most of them. The show ends on a heart-warming but annoying cliff-hanger as usual. Nagisa’s voice is still far too high to ever be believable for a 17 year old guy. And Gou is still just there to harp on about how fabulous muscles are. I will be amazed if someone finds me a line where she doesn’t mention either Rin or muscles. But watching everyone get back together again was just fantastic. The world of competitive swimming is a small world, and most people seem to know each other. Heck, most people are friends, and have to struggle to cheer for each other and strive to beat each other at the same time. Despite not having much screen-time, most of the cast have grown a lot. Most are in Uni or older, and it shows. They can be more honest with each other. They support each other’s way of life. They’re patching up broken friendships, maintaining relationships, and focussing on their careers more and more. Rin, Nagisa, and Rei had their main development in S1. Sousuke and Nitori had theirs in S2. Makoto’s and Haru’s are spread out all over the place – both get featured a fair bit in S3. But the main source of development, at least in the first half, is Ikuya. [Note: Here’s where you’re gonna want to have watched the movie, because it provides some very useful background information. If you’ve watched ‘Starting Days’, you’ll know who Ikuya, Asahi, and Natsuya are. You’ll be able to compare their kiddie selves to their adult selves. And these three are quite important in S3, because of how they interact with each other and the rest of the group.] Ikuya, along with Asahi, is a member of Haru and Makoto’s old swimming team (no, not the one with Rin in). His story is surprisingly similar to Rin’s, but his personality is more similar to Haru’s. Add in a loyal but rather possessive best friend (who himself is quite well-developed and stops being irritating after a while), a concerned older brother, and a ‘chance’ encounter with the former team, and you’ll get some pretty gripping drama. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before in Free!, but you don’t need to fix what’s not broken. I was eagerly waiting for the next ep every week. Finally, the swimming tournaments are still exciting to watch, but in a different way to before. It’s less a question of ‘will they qualify or won’t they?’ and more a question of ‘who will be first?’ Because we all know by now that the mains qualify in at least one race each. Watching them swim just means watching them spend some quality time together, training hard and having fun. This is a slice of life, after all. Relationships are what we’re here for. (Well, that and the swimsuits 😉) Let’s put it this way. If you liked the first two seasons at all, you’ll love this one.

A third season for Free! is something I have always dreamed about but never thought would actually come true. The first 2 seasons exceeded my expectations… as if half-naked, dripping wet bishies weren’t enough, there was also solid plot and character development. These swimming boys endeared themselves to me and I was beyond excited for their return years after Eternal Summer. However, as much as I’m reluctant to admit this, I don’t find the new season anywhere near as good as its predecessors. I have many gripes about Dive to the Future, such as: - Not enough intense swimming races - Not enough Rin (isn’t he supposed to be the deuteragonist) - Too much Hiyori (he is so meddlesome and annoying… I have never disliked any character from this series until him) - Not enough Rei and Nagisa (they get even more shafted on screen time than Rin) - New iwatobi members aren’t interesting enough for me to care about them - Don’t care about Ikuya (most of the season is devoted to his development and I don’t find him to be a compelling character… his personality is somewhat reminiscent of season 1 Haru except more boring) - Not enough college life Last but not least, my main problem with the show is how it tries to cram in way too many new characters. With only 12 episodes, the show is unable to spend much time on each person and give them proper development. None of the new characters made an impression on me or made me care about them in any way. What really made the first two seasons shine was the camaraderie between the central characters, which is something that is lacking in the third season since they’re all in separate places and don’t have heartfelt interactions anymore. Their development was nicely wrapped up in the first two seasons, so it seems as if KyoAni didn’t know what to do with their characters anymore. Still, I would have preferred less focus on the new characters and more focus on the boys I have come to know and love.

If you watched S3 with shipping goggles, you were likely disappointed since that's not what S3 was about and that's a good thing. Instead, what fans got was more of the Starting Days characters and new characters to look forward to in the 2020 project. Of course, you didn't know that when you started watching but you have to have faith, ne? Haru and Makoto are very together in Tokyo, contrary to what S1&2 Director Utsumi said would happen, a big plus for Makoharu shippers, of which I am one. Rin got sassy with Sousuke, which was also a good deal of fun to watch. Reigisa didn't get enough screen time, but neither did the new Iwatobi crew, though it's good to know they have new members with Gou Matsuoka, Miss Amakata and Goro Sasabe all reprising their supportive roles. The Samezuka boys returned to keep the friendships lively and the brand new characters were intriguing and sure to return in 2020. Personally, I enjoyed the season from start to finish. The drama brought on by the reappearance of Ikuya Kirishima and his best friend Hiyori Toono was solid, if frustrating, since it gave us a view into what a dysfunctional Makoharu would have looked like instead of the supportive relationship it is and remains. Natsuya's brief visit with Rin in Australia was a hoot as it forced the swimmer into examining his obsession with Haru and his friendship with Sosuke in the funniest of ways. The new pro coaches brought into the picture were delightfully quirky and Haru's competition on the global stage was truly phenomenal and threatens to remain so. What stands out, as always, are the bonds of friendship between these characters, especially between the Iwatobi crew with Haru and Makoto reuniting with Asahi Shina and Kisumi Shigino, along with Ikuya, Hiyori (eventually) and Nao Serizawa; and the Samezuka crew with Rin, Sosuke, and their former schoolmates. It's broship at its best. If you want to cry "gay baiting" you can, but why not view it as a positive spin on the queer community? I don't need to see fornication in het shows to feel the love and friendship between couples so why do I need to see it between gay couples? I don't, but I know when it's there and recognize it. As a ordinary viewer, the sports anime aspect does fail a bit as there isn't much swimming as I'd hoped to see. I love Kyoani's water animation. As a shipper, especially a Makoharu shipper, I couldn't ask for more. It's clear Haru and Makoto are already "together" or on the verge of a serious relationship. Thank goodness the "love triangle" facing off Makoharu and Rinharu was ditched with the change of directors after Eternal Summer. Rinharu shippers are still hopeful for a miracle, but they're just in denial at this point. In summary, DttF was a wonderful S3 and I thoroughly recommend it. Those who disliked it are probably disgruntled fans who either were hoping to see hugs and kisses or a continuation of a RH vs MH online feud. Or they realize that their 12 y.o. self is going to be in their 20's by the time the next segment is out and they're not likely to care at all. Me? I came to the series late (2017) and caught up on everything in a fanbinge. I'm so in, I'm drowning. It's all good.

I personally feel like this series actually gets better with each season. The studio did a wonderful job of combining all previous seasons and movies into this show in such a short period (12 episodes). That being said, if you have not recently watched the movies/anime it might be hard to keep track of which character is which as this season incorporates many more characters compared to previous seasons. As someone who has participated in sports in High School, a lot of themes were very similar and I often found myself reminiscing about past sports experiences. They did a good job of balancing what actually happens between friends and people who are not necessarily close but are acquaintances due to playing the same sport while also dramaticing some parts to make it more interesting. I'd like to end off that I prefer this style of focusing on the races and competition than the friendships/rivalries that previous seasons/movies had. This season still had that but included many more races and explored different styles of swimming as opposed to the typical medley relay that we often saw in previous seasons/movies.

Free!: Dive to the Future is a big disappointment. It is much gayer than the previous seasons that it becomes intolerable. It has far worse animation and relies on cheap CGI too often. A lot of interest characters are pushed to the sideline with the college setting. The new characters for this season are uninteresting and feel far too tropey to be believable characters. If you were a fan of the previous seasons, don't watch this one. There is a lot of unnecessary drama that would never happen in male circles. It is woman-level drama that does not belong in a sports show. Avoid this show, it will make you angry if you like the franchise.

Personally, I've never once tried SWIMMING in my life, and this show perhaps motivates me to join the sport ; maybe the reason I adore this show so much (despite the score I gave it). Not much to say about this show, based on 'professional swimming'. It is based on a bunch of guys involved in the sport, a protagonist of course, & their path towards going professional starting from their childhood. Efforts matters, and their skills, experience, luck, surroundings, friendship, passion, motivation,... will be significant to define where & how fast they progress. The show is 'slice of life', drama. Highlights : - Hot, ripped (lean) guys. - Fluid animation during swimming, especially when they swim. - Slice of Life movements - Information on the sport. Someone interested in sports (physical activities), particularly swimming must surely check out this one. I hope you'll have fun. :D (8/10) Thank You!

What a huge disappointment. -- Story/Characters: If Free managed to get its identity in its first season, and more or less holded that into the second one, the third season Dive to the Future is a huge disappointment, full of cliches and repetitive formula spammed all across the episodes. For starters, you absolutely have to watch the previous movies to at least care about the characters and some plot points, otherwise you will be left outside of the group, not even knowing what some scenes means, or what happened in some flashbacks. But that's solely because the anime focused on drama... Oh, the drama. Let's talk about the drama. If Free managed to grab attention on its first seasons, this one used past cliches and plot lines repeatedly but with other characters. Half of these 12 episodes are spent in something that we already saw in past seasons, trying really hard to make the spectator care about a particular problem, but already making it clear how it will end. Formulas are repeated over and over to a point it looks like Saint Seiya. You have 2 to 3 characters in each category and the character whose name is screamed the most, will win. If their name is not screamed that means it will lose, just to plot device the next episodes into a huge drama to be unfolded to some sentences you take from your luck cookie. You can almost take those shounen lame quotes from any anime out there and place on Free!:DF and it will work. Some people complaining about fanservice and fujoshi bait: The anime never advertised otherwise, so if the characters look gay or something and that annoys you, you aren't the target audience. It's simple as that. I myself love a good fanservice with boys, but even that is lacking in Free and the drama stole everything. I admit there are some good shots here and there, but it's lackluster compared to the 1st and 2nd seasons. Dive to the Future is lackluster not because is gay, but because the actual drama is cliche, overused, repetitive and obvious. Oh, and there are coincidences all over the place. All. Over. No action whatsoever. Of course, I speak metaphoric because its an anime about swimming, but almost no swimming happens, and when it happens the result is so obvious that isn't worth it to watch it. And last... That cliffhanger. When I speak about this cliffhanger I'm not only speaking about the final scene, I'm talking about a lot of characters that were introduced just to make any difference in the next season in 2020. We spend 3 episodes learning about these characters, a little bit of their personality traits and one or two dialogues, only to be left with nothing and hang to the next season. The season finally just brags about more cliche drama until its over and can end on a "?" note. -- Art: If you are in for the fanservice, you are going to have a fun time. Art-wise this anime is absolutely great and definitely a level up from previous seasons. I have yet to say that no one has a better water than Free!. Some shots are fun to look and some reactions are the little sugar in this journey of boredom. -- Sound: What the hell happen to the sound? There's a particular OST that plays in some scenes that feels completely out of place. One of the scenes - night, in the park and two characters - which was supposed to be taken seriously, has its atmosphere broken by this techno-like song. And...We have actual English in the anime. Even though they don't have a strong accent, it feels out of place to a point that I believe they used a third party company to make those sentences and only sent the audio, since even the sound quality is disconnected. One English character has a voice so weird that is unsettling. -- Conclusion: All in All, Free!: Dive to the Future is a huge filler that doesn't add anything to the story, holds itself into obvious dramas, and makes the main character way more important than he deserves to be. To an anime that introduced so many characters, why they even exist if everyone keeps focusing on Hakura like he's this untouched entity? There are one or two plot points that could have been explored way better, but instead they are holded by formulas that worked on the past and are used again in the same fashion. If you are in for a good cute boy's club melodramatic thing, you are in for a fun time, but don't expect anything spectacular.

Story (8/10) Our protagonist has now started studying at the university. We get to follow him and several other characters with their respective problems. I’d say the main focus is identity - who you are as a person and what you want to be. We get to see characters like Makoto trying to find his own path in life and Sousuke, who is concerned about a surgery that may or may not be the end of his career as a swimmer. Rei, Nagisa and Gou are studying their final year at Iwatobi. We get to see them with new recruits for the swim team. These are only some of the sub-plots in this season. “If these are the sub-plots, then what’s the main plot?” you ask? To be frank, they should’ve just named it “Free! Two Lovers’ Promise” because about 65% of this season focuses on Haru and Ikuya’s *Cough*romance*Cough* friendship. Although I’m overjoyed to see so much of Ikuya and seeing him (and Haru) develop as a character, it doesn’t give much time for the other characters and events. In the end, episode 11 and 12 feel a bit rushed, which is why I’m giving the story 8/10. The way the guys are trying to find their own identities and lifetime goals is not only inspiring but also touching. Characters (7/10) I’m very proud of Haru this season. Everyone who has watched the previous seasons or at least Starting Days are well aware of Haru only swimming free and nothing else. In episode 7 and 8, we get to see Haru practice for- and participate in the individual medley just to keep his promise to Ikuya. The fact that he stopped swimming only free for a moment shows how far Haru is willing to go for the people he cares about. Makoto and Rei share a similar dilemma. Neither of them knows what they want to do with their lives. With some help from Nao, Makoto realizes what he wants to do in the future. Rei on the other hands never got this realization. He does think about his future, but never mentions his options. As for Nagisa, we don’t get to hear much from him at all, which is a bit disappointing. His ‘major’ development was in the first season and his character has been a bit flat since then. Yes, he has become a better swimmer and has a charming personality, but he hasn’t changed much, has he? Does he still want to become an astronaut or an adventurer? Rin is doing fine. He’s still aiming to become the number one swimmer in the world. Sousuke has an interesting scenario. His doctor suggests a surgery if he wants to continue swimming. The problem is that this surgery may or may not end his career. The problem is that we don’t get to see much about this. Natsuya also gets some development. In the beginning of this season, he swims and participates in races just to get money. He uses the money to travel to another country in the world, races, wins money and then the cycle just repeats. As the story goes on, he eventually stops swimming just for the money and starts taking swimming seriously again. Even Nitori - the only character who I couldn’t stand in the first two seasons - was okay in Dive to the Future. He didn’t do anything outstanding, but he didn’t annoy me either. I’m also happy to see how much Ikuya has grown since childhood. Especially his swimming. Now for the newer characters. First we have Ikuya’s “best friend” - Hiyori (Seems a bit one-sided from Hiyori’s part). He and Nitori are the only two characters in Free! that I dislike. Like I said earlier, Nitori was much more bearable in this season. Hiyori wasn’t. In my opinion, Hiyori is a selfish, illogical, rude and manipulative control freak. He’s far too judgmental towards Haru and the others despite never meeting them, he makes decisions for Ikuya without Ikuya’s consent and goes out of his way to prevent Haru from talking to Ikuya. “Maybe he just doesn’t want Ikuya to get hurt again” Nope. After his race against Makoto, Hiyori clearly states that the reason why he won’t let Haru and the others approach Ikuya is because they’re too weak, not because he wants to protect Ikuya from getting hurt again. He also seems to be rather delusional as he considers himself as the little mermaid who saves the prince (Ikuya) from “sinking” (depression). Where did he get that idea from? According to Ikuya, he has been feeling like this for years. Hell, Hiyori (unintentionally) made Ikuya’s depression even worse. He also never apologizes to neither Haru nor Ikuya for his behavior. Hiyori's entire purpose in this season is to be a pain in the ass. That’s literally it. Then we have Haru’s new “challengers” - the world record holder in freestyle Albert Wåhlander and the mysterious swimming prodigy Kaede Kinjou. The anime makes such a big deal about them (Especially Albert), but we never get to find out much about these two except that Albert has a coach named Ralph (Or is it Ralf?) and is a world record holder from Sweden. But Kaede? Nothing. Then only time we see him in action is in the very last episode where he participates in a race. This category gets only 7/10. Hiyori single-handedly removed one point, one point off from the lack of development for Rei, Nagisa and Gou and lastly, one point off for showing close to nothing about Albert and Kaede. Designs and animation (10/10) As expected from Free!, it has beautiful animation. And somehow, the anime managed to make the guys even better looking. Am I the only one who thought Nagisa looked a bit more…mature this season? He used to look younger and rather child-like compared to the other guys. Now he’s starting to look like a man. They grow up so fast… I didn’t see any (major) flaws with the animation and the character designs look good. Even the clothes the characters wear for the ending look good. The hat Nagisa is wearing gets a bonus point. Therefore, I’m giving this category a solid 10/10. Voice acting and music (10/10) The ‘older’ voice actors were good, as always while the ‘new’ actors also did pretty well. Kudos to the voice actors of Ikuya, Albert and Hiyori. Despite despising Hiyori, I think Ryouhei did a good job with portraying the character and making him sound like a real piece of shit. Especially the first five episodes. After hearing Rin’s broken english despite living in Australia for years, I’m surprised Albert spoke perfect english. No stereotypical Nordic accent, no awkwardness. And if he has always lived in Sweden, I’ll be even more surprised. The opening theme Heading to Over and ending theme Gold Evolution were both catchy and suited the anime. Though, I wish they could’ve “tossed the rock a bit further” with the opening theme as it resembles the opening themes of the previous seasons - Rage On and Dried Up Youthful Fame - a bit too much. Still, I must admit that I never skipped the opening or the ending of Dive to the Future. Actually, I listen to their full versions often. Once again, I’m giving out a full score. 10/10 for the voice actors’ performances and the kick-ass music. Ending (7/10) As I’ve already stated, this season focuses a lot on the bond between Haru and Ikuya for the first 8 episodes. After episode 8, they’re rarely seen together, let alone talk to each other. Why would the staff put so much time and effort into their relationship and then just be like “Their drama is over now, so let’s completely move on and make them interact as little as possible because Ikuya is completely irrelevant now”. Of course, I didn’t want Ikuya to get all of Haru’s interactions, as characters like Makoto and Rin are also important. However, I think it was rather disappointing and lame how they almost completely ignored Ikuya for the remaining episodes when they made a such big deal about him (and Haru) earlier. Most of his appearances in episodes 9-12 are just cameos with the only exception being his race in the individual medley. He doesn’t say much. He’s just standing there to show that he still exists. I’m also a bit disappointed that the only three characters succeeded with their races. The others failed and the final race was left on a…

This may be the best season of Free! yet. I'm going to start off by telling you what you should watch before you watch this season of Free! Obviously, the first two seasons are a must, but you also need to watch Starting Days and Take Your Marks to fully appreciate what you're going to get in this third season. Now, let me tell you something that may make the decision for you regarding whether or not you should watch this season. Free! is not a typical sports anime. It's main focus is not the competition but the relationships and journeys of the characters. In this season, that is not the case. In beginning of this season, you're going to get something very much like the previous two seasons because the first half of Dive to the Future focuses on Ikuya and the characters from middle school reestablishing a friendship with him. From then on, you're going to be focusing a lot on swimming competition and preparation. You're still getting the wonderful character work that you've seen previously (some of the best ever), but you're also going to dive deep into the world of competitive swimming. Moving on to the character work I just mentioned. Obviously, as I said, you're going to get a lot with Ikuya as he's the main focus of part of the season. With that, you're going to get some development with his friend Hiyori. Makoto has a small bit of important development as well which is beautifully showcased. The biggest difference in character you'll see this season, though, is-- you guessed it-- Haru. Because Free! focuses on it's characters, since the anime decided to start highlighting the competition aspect, you'll see Haru's character take a big shift. In my opinion, it's the best change we've seen for Haru. You're going to see him get much more competitive, and you'll see him hone in on what it is he wants out of competitive swimming, even more so than before. The storytelling of this season allows Haru's character to grow and change quite a lot, and it's done very nicely and realistically. Beyond that, this season has the best nail-biters in the series. Storytelling is this anime's strong suit alongside it's characters, and it doesn't disappoint this time around. Many characters are introduced and reintroduced this season, a couple of which are insanely talented swimmers. Because of that, you not only get great suspense in the races, but you get a brilliant amount of tensity. If you thought that Rin and Haru were the fastest swimmers around, this season will make you think otherwise, and that's a really good thing. It's very smart for this story to expand it's world by adding in strong opponents for Haru and Rin. Instead of risking their development flat lining by continuing to promote them as the strongest, this season of Free! will throw in a few wrenches. Because of that, this anime has the potential to extend on for a very long time, which is also helped by the fact that the anime made a slight switch into the competitive viewpoint. One last thing to mention here is that this season doesn't cover as much ground as the previous two seasons, and the ending is definitely not the same. In the past, Free! has covered around one school year and it's always ended with the promise of the next year. Meaning that time would skip in between seasons. However, in this season, less time is covered overall and it seems like there is going to be a cliffhanger that'll either be picked up directly or will pick up a few days or weeks in the future. In other words, this season doesn't end cleanly. Again, that isn't a bad thing. In fact, I think it's a really good move to keep interest in the story. There is so much more life in this anime that we will get to see come 2020, and I have never been more excited to be a fan of this show. I 100% recommend that you watch this season if you enjoyed the rest of Free! The character interactions and meetings are like no other, and you'll be on the edge of your seat for most of it. You'll probably even cry here and there, too. Give it a go because this season will show you what Free! can really do.

Since Utsumi left, the franchise has not been worth watching. They are milking a cash cow without a single iota of understanding of what made the series successful or what the fans liked about it. Everything that it has going for it now comes down to sound and visuals, and even though the animation continues to be impressive it isn't enough to make this season worth suffering through. This was twelve episodes of obnoxious melodrama punctuated with only a few short cute moments with characters I've grown attached to. Humor is gone. Fun is gone. Having coherent character arcs with motivations that make sense and that have satisfying resolutions: Gone. I also have to express how absolutely bonkers it drives me that a bunch of college age young men are still angsting over drama they experienced in MIDDLE SCHOOL. It's completely laughable. Or it would be, if this series was still funny.

Free! is a show which you call controversial or decisive, you either like it or dislike it... But for me Dive to the Future was something special, something unique, something i would've regretted not experiencing. One of the main reasons i love this show is because of the fact that it is a sports, slice of life anime. As a matter of fact this is one of the only animes i have seen, which had a combination of sports and slice of life. Every other sports anime you see is just this : there is a <sport> club which has mediocre members and a charismatic captain, and the freshmen who join the "underdog" school's team take the team to nationals, and along the way meet a few rivals. Don't get me wrong, there are also shows which are great even though they are generic, but Free!'s story was much more than just a bunch of weak individuals getting "stronger", and that made it far from what makes an anime generic. The anime in some parts of the story took a philosophical approach in overcoming problems. I wasn't really involved with the characters or the story when this series started, i mean like i previously mentioned... i have already seen the "sports anime template" that most of the sports anime portray, but as time passed i started loving the show. At the end of the day it isn't an anime that i would recommend someone to watch because like i previously mentioned the opinions that you get for this anime is very decisive and controversial, but personally i enjoyed it a lot. : ) *This is my first review lol, forgive me if it wasn't what you wanted to read or if i wasted your time

I really loved the first two seasons of Free!. Being a swimmer myself, I could really relate to the excitement of a race and how devastating some of their seemingly small errors were. I've also seen many, many animes in which the main characters belong to some club in high school and they create long lasting bonds that get broken as they leave high school and whatnot. Basic stuff. But season 3 of Free! is the first time I've ever gotten to see how the characters fare after high school, and I thought this was really interesting! Now onto the particulars: Story (6): Bruh, the first half was all about a new character named Ikuya and his obsessive and borderline creepy best friend Hiyori. I couldn't care less about either of them, and I got really frustrated seeing Haru worry over and dedicate himself to basically a bitchier Rin. However, after their "conflict" gets resolved, the second half is quite enjoyable. Seeing Haru's ambitions grow as he realizes what he actually wants from swimming and what he wants to work towards really shows how much he's grown from season 1. We also see Makoto find his career path and make something of himself while still supporting his lifelong best friend, which is really heartwarming. The races are action-packed and exciting, so I have no complaints. Art (10): There really isn't much to say. This is one of the best-looking animes I've ever seen, and I think their water animation got even better from season 1 (if that's even possible). I think Haru looks a bit more buff, which is realistic, and the other characters all have really reasonable proportions. I just loved looking at the water and the backgrounds. Sound (8): I loved the opening. I listened to it all the way through for every episode. The ending's pretty good too, and the race music fits the atmosphere and builds the excitement. Characters (7): Ok ok ok. There were a LOT of new characters this season, and I've seen many people say that there were in fact too many and all under-developed. I disagree. I grew to adore Asahi, even though we don't see too much of him. Besides Ikuya and Hiyori, I loved all the new additions, especially the monstrous swimmers with the record times. The introduction of characters much, much faster than Haru that truly dedicated their lives to swimming and almost lost their humanity in the process is honestly extremely realistic and called for. It doesn't make sense for Haru, who is described as being mostly "naturally gifted" with the ability to swim, to win every single race, so giving him some serious competition and seeing him struggle is very interesting and different. Makoto is still the same sweetheart, but we see him mature and find a path in his life, as I stated before. The only truly irrelevant characters are those back at Iwatobi High school. The new members aren't memorable, except the girl that likes pudgy men, and they distract from what I would consider to be the main storyline in Tokyo. I wish they had just popped up for one episode instead of being given so much screen time with little development. Enjoyment (8): The only reason I didn't put this at a 10 was because of Ikuya and Hiyori. I just couldn't wait for their part in the story to end, and I was surprised to see that it actually did stop abruptly halfway through the season. I loved looking at the art and it made me miss swimming more than I can express (I'm writing this in quarantine). I wish there had been more about Haru and Makoto's college lives, and maybe some real and developed female characters, but I was more or less fine without them. I liked watching Haru and Rin get coached and compete for more than just a fun experience with friends. This turned into the real deal. Overall (8): This came from just a culmination of all the bits I just talked about. If you loved the characters and you love the art, just persist through the first half of the season and you'll see some great friendships strengthen and some real life goals arise.

As someone who had binged all 3 seasons of Free in the span of less than a week, I was compelled to leave a review, as a note to my future self and maybe for anyone reading this. There are subtle spoilers if you squint. For a sports show about swimming, Free isn't all too bad, however, season 3 tried to take flight like the other two seasons before it, and it ended up crashing. Story (3, Poor) This aspect ties into character, but the plot was all over the place. From one place to the next and so much drama that really was not needed as it as all seen before. The beginning was slow, which was okay, but it kept on being slow even halfway through the season and it was simply a drag to watch. Some moments in the series really were not needed and could have been used for developing more on the characters. It picked up towards the end, but then everything just went too fast with too many missing plot holes, ending in that manner as well. It just didn't give that same vibe as the previous two. Art (8, Very Good) There were so many nice things to look at in the anime and everyone looks really nice too. Very appealing to the eye and certainly upped the game in the art department this season. Sound (8, Really Good) The soundtrack really upped itself this season, there were many nice tracks playing in the background, and it feels like it really builds on the previous seasons. Fresh and energetic to say the least. Character (3, Poor) There were way too many characters, some of them honestly were not needed. Then there were some characters that felt like carbon copies of ones in previous seasons, the same drama ensuing between the two of them. It was really repetitive and drawn out, infuriating almost. Then just when you feel like you get to know the characters (roughly 3/4 through the season), there are more characters thrown into the batch and they just stir up even more unneeded drama. Aside from the original few from the first two series, the other characters were not nearly as fleshed out and they really did feel like extras simply sitting on the sidelines for cheering purposes. I guess they were nice to look at for the most part. Enjoyment (4, Decent) Apart from all the drama, it was really nice to see everyone again and how their lives are fairing. There were some instances in the show that I looked forward to for sure, but it didn't win over the fact that there was a very long period of senseless drama. Overall (5, Mediocre) It was okay for the most part. To some degree, the music and art made up for the lack of story and character. Still, considering Free's previous seasons, I was expecting much more.

What a mess of a season. Too little happens in the first half of the season, and too much got crammed into the last few episodes. Just when I sort of perked up when it seems like some plot finally started to unfold, the season ends. The main issue I had was with the subplot to repair Ikuya's relationship with Haru and co. that basically went around in circles for no reason other than to waste time. The resolution felt like a cop out and only happened because the plot needed shift focus. The story further hurts itself by stretching too thin as it attempts a failing act of juggling an expanding cast of characters, none of whom get properly fleshed out to the point where I actually care about them. Either the new characters contributed nothing to the plot or they were introduced for plot points only (and therefore felt flat and bland). The coaches only made an impression on me because of their association with Rin and Haru. I loved Isuzu but why did we meet her?? And there were some international swimmers. That's it, that's all the information we get on them. I only remember them because they showed up in the opening and I kept wondering when they would make an appearance. I assumed they would play a much bigger role, since they were uhhh, in the opening. KyoAni animation is gorgeous as ever though.

it's the 3rd season of a show that clearly wasn't aimed at a straight teenage boy like me but fuck it I liked the first 2 seasons cuz I like swimming ok. dive to the future, however, I found incredibly hard to watch; while the other two seasons thrived on their relatively small cast of characters and dare I say ehem BANTER with the Iwatobi lads, this season just went fuck it and started incessantly adding new and apparently important character's to the roster literally (and I'm not exaggerating) every 10 minutes. it's like they were mocking their own show in that ED having more and more characters join them on that fucking street only to have them all clustered onto that tiny stage so it just looks fucking ridiculous, honestly, that's a perfect metaphor for what this show's like. also, Haru and Makoto and rin are all in fucking university so the (arguably) 3 main characters are all split off from each other and the other 2 which just doesn't make for a very interesting plot. the other 2 seasons were self-aware about how borderline comedic it can be to mix melodrama with constant homoerotic tension but this one just tried to play it straight and shoots it'self in the foot so hard. like all that shit where Ikuya is being a little bitch and tries to drown himself because Haru beat him in like one race when they where like 13 is just so obscenely out of proportion but they still try and make it seem like an important character moment. and then Haru gets all bitchy because he lost a race to the fucking WORLD RECORD HOLDER of the 100m freestyle like dude chill wtf did you expect you aren't a world-class athlete at 19 wow. overall I just think they really dropped the ball with this one and compared to the other 2 seasons it just really doesn't stack up. but imagine if anyone reading this has even seen the show so whatever. peace out dudes

If you are a Free watcher because of half-naked bishonen talking to other bishonen as if they are in a romantic relationship, this will still be your jam. For everyone else, this season is definitely not as good as previous installments of the show. At one point I had to ask myself if the story had just gotten too bloated with characters. Why is more than half the season so focused on Ikuya when the resolution of his arc does nothing to further Haru's swimming? Did Free forget who the main character of the story is? Honestly could have skipped the Ikuya stuff and just done the whole season on the last 3 episodes. I'm I going to stop watching Free? No, partly because I'm here for the half-naked bishonen too, but partly because I hope the next installment refocuses on Haru and progresses his story.