Free! Iwatobi Swim Club Season 1 & Season 2 Review

Konnichiwa  Minna-san! 

Today I am going to be reviewing the anime series Free! Iwatobi Swim Club, both the first season and the second season (Free! Eternal Summer). 

The series surrounds five boys who all have girl names, with four of them previously swimming together in their younger years. 

The main character is Haruka Nanase who is obsessed with water and swimming, this shows in the way he talks about water and rather humorously tries to swim in any water that he comes across (including a fish tank). Unlike his friends he will only swim freestyle as it makes him feel "free". 

His friend and only true rival Rin Matsuoka moves away to Australia shortly after they and their two other friends Nagisa & Makoto swim together in a relay. Rin chose to move as it would give him a better chance at becoming a Olympic swimmer. Since then Haruka refuses to swim competitively and has not joined a swim club.

 Fast forwarding to their high school life, Haruka, Makoto and Nagisa have decided to create a swimming club. After having trouble finding members, Nagisa spotted Rei who was part of the track team and relentlessly hounds him into joining the swim club.

As the swim club becomes more established they acquire a manager in the form of Gou Matsuoka, which is Rin's little sister who stayed in Japan with his parents. 

The series progresses to show the hardships each member of the Iwatobi Swim Club goes through as they begin competing again. 
As can be expected Rin appears again and becomes Haruka's rival once again, which gives an emotional element to the anime. 






Overall this is one of the best animes I have ever watched, it truly captured my heart despite the fact that it is usually not my style.

The genre is a sports/slice of life type anime, there are some intense scenes but nothing too dramatic and the majority is kept light-hearted yet thrilling.

The art style & animation is jaw dropping and gorgeous. Everything is so mystical and the metaphors and symbols for each character are portrayed so well in this series. A truly beautiful anime. 

Story: 8/10 - Kept to the point with a lot of back story. Maybe not someones taste if they don't like sports.

Characters: 10/10 - I honestly loved each any every character, even minor ones. I feel like they all brought something to this anime, with all of their very different personalities.

Art Style/Animation: 10/10 - Completely awe-inspiring, I have never seen such a beautiful anime, especially the water animations throughout the series. Fantastic.

Overall: 10/10 - One of the best relaxing animes I have ever watched, very gentle with thrilling moments, a very pleasant anime to watch at night or when you are ill (like I was).

This series is also available on Crunchyroll:

http://www.crunchyroll.com/

 

I hope you all liked my first ever anime review, I hope to do a lot more in the future! 

Sayonara! ♥ xxx