November 19th, 2018 
Charles Solomon 
The adventures of the swimmers in the Free! (2013) series proved so popular, they spawned follow-up series and feature films
High Speed! Free! Starting Days (2015) is a prequel to the original series: Four talented young athletes enter Iwatobi Middle School. Kind, soft-spoken Makoto (Johnny Yong Bosch) tries to look after everyone. Introverted Haruka (Todd Haberkorn) is a prodigiously gifted athlete with a sullen personality. Red-haired fireball Asahi (Christopher Lewis Ramirez) overflows with energy and enthusiasm, while Ikuya (Lee George) radiates barely suppressed hostility.
Each character carries a gym bag’s worth of personal baggage, much of it related to previous athletic competitions. Makoto isn’t sure if he’s really committed to swimming or does he just want to spend time with Haru. Despite his exceptional athletic ability, Haru doubts his own commitment to swimming and wonders if he can recapture the team spirit he shared with the members of his old swim club. Asahi is intimidated by Haru’s formidable talents and loses his way in a thicket of self-doubts. Ikuya feels estranged from his older brother, team captain Natsuya (Ricco Fajardo): Natsuya deliberately pushed him away to help the younger boy escape from his elder brother’s shadow.
With some sensitive coaching from senpai (upperclassman) Nao (Oscar Seung), who’s recovering from an injury, the four young men learn to focus less on themselves and more on forming a team that’s stronger than its individual members. Director Yasuhiro Takemoto and screenwriter Maiko Nishioka keep the story and action close to the original series, which is exactly what fans want.
Free! -Take Your Marks (2017) is not really a feature, but a four-part OVA set after the first series, when Makoto and Haru are getting ready to leave Iwatobi High and head off to college. Makoto would never let Haru look for an apartment in Tokyo on his own. Fortunately, Kisumi (Eric Vale) is working in his uncle’s real estate office, and has list of good places. (Haru insists on a big bathtub and a suitable place to cook mackerel.) The apartment he settles on just happens to be Nao’s old digs, located right next to a natatorium.
In the second adventure, Rin (Vic Mignona) and Sosuke (Ian Sinclair) from the rival Samezuka Academy team are taken to an onsen (hot spring resort) by their admiring kohei (juniors) Ai (Josh Grelle) and Momotaro (Jerry Jewel). Nothing much happens, although the mineral baths provide a chance to show the attractive characters in minimal costumes.
Actually, nothing much happens in any of the episodes, as Iwatobi’s sensible new team captain Rei (J. Michael Tatum), half-pint fireball Nagisa (Greg Ayres) and team manager Go (Jamie Marchi), who is Rin’s younger sister, shoot a video to recruit new members to the swim club. For the finale, everyone gets together to throw a surprise farewell party for Rin, who’s heading back to Australia to train in hopes of qualifying for the Olympics. While everyone’s working on preparations, Rin gets confused and is understandably upset when he thinks his sister may be dating the nutty Momo. Director Eisaku Kawanami and screenwriter Masahiro Yokotani keep the minimal action moving.
Like Yuri!!! On ICE (2016), Free! turns the conventions of “fan service” anime series on their head. Most fan service shows exist to provide audiences of hormonal adolescent boys with shots of girls’ cleavage, panties and semi-naked bodies. They range from innocent comedies to bloody supernatural adventures; and from mild to raunchy. Burn Up Excess (1997) even included a “jiggle counter” that monitored the number of times each character’s breasts bounced.
Free and its sequels use many fan service conventions, but the minimally clad cast consists of high school swimmers who embody the slim, athletic good looks of bishonen (beautiful boys). In Take Your Marks, Rei, Go and Nagisa discover the reason the club had more members years earlier was that everyone was attracted to the exceptionally tall, muscular team captain.
The guys do pretty much everything in Speedos, and visit the onsen in Take Your Marks. At various times two or more of the characters share a bedroom, discretely curled up in adjacent futons. Although the filmmakers never venture into shonen-ai (boy’s love) territory, the intense friendships sometimes suggest a gay subtext. Free! might be more fun if romance complicated the competitions, misunderstandings and reconciliations. But so many fans love the Tiger Beat good looks of the cast, more conventional adventures for Haru, Makoto and their chums are probably in the works.
High Speed! Free! Starting Days
Funimation: $24.59 2 discs, DVD and Blu-ray
Free! – Take Your Marks
Funimation: $27.99 2 discs, DVD and Blu-ray
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