Series · 2013
Free! – Iwatobi Swim Club
Free!
Haruka’s quiet high-school life changes when Rin, a childhood swimming teammate, returns and challenges him to a race. Haruka reunites with Makoto and Nagisa, and they recruit Rei to form Iwatobi High’s swimming club. Old friendships become entangled with the wish to compete again.
The boys last swam together before finishing primary school, then took different paths. Rin returns much stronger and makes the gap between them difficult to ignore. Rebuilding a club requires a new fourth member, so returning to the water also means changing the old group.
The club is also held together between swimming sessions. Haruka and Makoto walk home with their bags against a deep orange sky, the school day continuing beyond the pool. These shared journeys place the competitive quarrel inside an existing friendship: training and racing matter to boys who still have to go home and see one another the next morning.
Original 2013 television series · Approx. 4.8 hours · 12 episodes
Original 2013 Free! – Iwatobi Swim Club, all 12 television episodes. Eternal Summer, Dive to the Future, the prequel and recap films, and The Final Stroke are separate related works.