Dawnleaf Watches Free! - Iwatobi Swim Club: Episode 1

Nagisa: he could only be more moe if he sprouted A-cup breasts and was voiced by Rie Kugimiya.  Thus, I will devote this post’s screenshot selection to him.  I’ll avoid screenshots of the fanservice, though, so nobody gives me weird looks if they see the pictures saved on my computer.   Don’t worry, there's nothing NSFW here, though.  You can watch it with the ten-year-olds you’re babysitting without permanently scarring them.

Let’s get on to the… erm… plot.  Yes, indeed.  These guys like to swim.  That’s basically all you need to know at the base level.  There’s probably going to be some competitions, later on.  And the fellow on the right there has what I can only describe as a swimming fetish.

So, he’s a… mermaid? 

Well, actually, I can describe a bit of plot here.  Three guys, sad that they don’t have a swimming club, sneak into a school that does have a pool to go for a swim.  However, they encounter this one dude, Rin, who apparently felt like wandering through a school alone in the middle of the night.  Come on, guys, I know you all do that, too.

Yes, apparently, this fellow (Rin) used to swim with them back in the day.  But then he went to Australia.  But now he’s back.  He challenges Haru to a race, and they dramatically rip off their clothes to reveal skintight swimsuits underneath.  Again, I don’t have a screenshot of it, so here’s Nagisa looking deep into Haru’s eyes.

However, the pool doesn’t have any water in it.  Huh.  They leave.  Later, they learn from Rin’s sister (I don’t have a screenshot, who wants to see a girl in this?  All this show needs are a bazillion bishies getting all touchy-feely with each other!  And swimming.) which school Rin goes to.  There’s a swimming pool there.  Thus, Haru wants to go, to satisfy his fetish before it gets out of hand and he starts drowning family members in his bathtub.   …okay, ONE screenshot without Nagisa.

This made me giggle.

Okay, so they break in to another school during after-hours.  They find a giant pool, and Haru solemnly rips his clothes off and jumps in.  Nagisa follows suit, except he doesn’t have a suit on.  Or any clothes, for that matter.   Here’s a picture of him sleeping in a moe way.

However, Rin apparates out of nowhere (his psychic swimming-senses were tingling, I guess).   He also solemnly rips his clothes off, and the episode ends with a conversation between him and Haru… Okay, one more screenshot without Nagisa.

He’s totally talking about his penis.  I’m not kidding, just go and watch the entire conversation.  Don’t do it in a public place, though, because you will laugh so hard that you will get looks.  Or maybe that’s just me…?

So, the verdict?  Animation’s nice (it’s Kyoto Animation, after all, their production values are pretty high), music’s fine…  And… uh…

If you’re a girl and you like fanservice, you’ll probably love the hell out of this.  However, it doesn’t do much for me.  I laughed at how blatant it was, so I guess it entertained me, but not in the intended way.

Thus, I can say with a fair amount of certainty that Free isn’t a great show.  But it isn't boring.  It is fun to laugh at, at the very least.  The way Haru stone-facedly rips his clothes off and the way they are constantly touching each other and the fact that Rin’s totally talking about his penis and the way it's clearly trying to appeal to the shounen-ai fans (if you couldn't tell from the screenshots) all made me snicker childishly at how blatant it all is.

This show is an extremely easy target and is easy to make all sorts of fun of.  I'd recommend to watch this with a group of friends to snark at it with for maximum enjoyment.

However, if you’re a guy, you should probably stay away.  Unless you’re weird like me and can laugh at stuff like this.  Or you want to watch it for the...err...plot.