Pachi's Anime Review: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club

Haruka, Makoto, Nagisa, and Rin shared one love: swimming. In elementary school, the four swam in a relay and won, their last bout before Rin transferred to a school in Australia for pro-training. Now in high school, the three remaining are without a swim club and out of practice. What's more, Rin has returned, but for some reason he's grown antagonistic toward his former teammates and seems completely fixated on Haruka having a serious race with him. There's just one problem - Haruka only swims freestyle; he doesn't swim competitively. In the meantime, Nagisa suggests that the three of them create their own swim club at Iwatobi High...

Kyoto Animation has always been a studio that plays to the expectations of their fans. They revel in any opportunity to incite a rise or a riot from their now seasoned legions of moe brigades. Earlier this year during their run of Tamako Market, a commercial aired meant to show off the work of a sister studio, Animation Do. Below you will find a video of the commercial in question. Suffice to say it's......contents are not quite what anyone expected.

To say the anime community exploded is an understatement. KyoAni did this? KYOANI did this? The same KyoAni that brought us Haruhi Suzumiya, Lucky Star, and K-On, all highly regarded staples of male-centric moe culture, created this video of ripped teenagers showing off their bods in a pool? Rumors and speculation began running wild. Was this an ad for their next series? "How could it be - it's not aimed at their normal fanbase." "Has KyoAni abandoned us?" "How could they betray us like this?" "They're supposed to be making shows for ME, not for girls!" "Fujoshi shows don't sell as well. This will be horrible for business." (Note: Fujoshi is the term used to describe anime primarily marketed towards girls and with a heavy fanservice focus, as you may have guessed)

Comments like the above permeated through message boards, giving us a compromising glimpse at what happens when the hypnotized masses (the moe brigades) are violently snapped free of their trance (hints of a show from a historically male-focused company that is aimed at the opposite sex). It's not a pretty sight. But I'm getting off topic; I'm not writing this to speak on the vile nature of male-centric entertainment and the reverse of which can bring out the worst of those who tote their hats to the MRA; the gimmie-gimmie-gimmie rhetoric of those with all the power and such. That's a topic I could dedicate its own discussion to, but I don't want to because it's rather unpleasant! No, the reason you're here and the reason I'm here is to talk about the anime that resulted from this tantalizing TV ad - Free! Iwatobi Swim Club.

This must be said first and foremost. Yes, this is the first KyoAni show in recent memory meant to appeal to the other half visually. Sort of. KyoAni's trademark moe features and personalities are prevalent in our protagonists, in fact it would not be prudent to say that Free! is a very moe show. The main characters carry themselves in their motions and mannerisms much like a common group of girls you'd see in a KyoAni show, and they even all have girls names (a fact which the show constantly pokes fun at). But the buck stops there. From the neck down, it's all muscles and swimsuits and tight bods as far as the eye can see. Much like the ad that started it all, the close-ups of pecs and speedos are abundant and take every opportunity they can to linger and show off eye candy for the viewer.

But then you might be asking yourself - Pachi, what are you getting out of this show? You're a guy, do you get a rise out of staring at half-naked, athletic teenage boys? For me, the fanservice aspect of the show is primarily a joke, and also works into a strong defense why I believe Free! is entertaining for all genders. No, I am not turned on by any of this. What I am doing is smiling and laughing, and so is the director. Perhaps this is a swayed opinion, but I've always found fanservice meant to turn on my own gender insidious and disgustingly to the point. I rarely see any kind of joy exuded in showing off a girls' breasts or panties in anime such that I can laugh. I never feel like I'm made to admire the female body or chuckle at how silly it is to see it objectified so shamelessly - the message delivered is almost always one of "Hey boy, here's this cute girl and now you're seeing her in a vulnerable position. Get turned on already!" I've seen this in shows aimed at girls too; bishounen too pretty for words and you're just supposed to think they're the hottest thing since sliced bread and all the girls want them. It's joylessly blunt. 

Unless......the director, animation, or story can add some jovial flair. Revolutionary Girl Utena did this. Ouran High School Host Club did this. And so does Free!. The fanservice here is directed to be entirely tongue-in-cheek, weaving it in not only through visuals but in dialogue as well. "You're only going to swim for me!" Rin dominantly proclaims to Haruka in one scene, as he inches the latter up against a fence, their faces practically touching; in the distance, you can hear the sounds of fangirls snapping open their laptops as they furiously tap out the impending slash fiction. The visuals invite admiration of the male body and to find boys in swimsuits sexy, but there is no subliminal force behind it.  For instance, Rin's sister, Gou, is very much an audience surrogate as she has an insatiable attraction to muscular male bodies. Such a character could have potentially been a problem, but the director understands that her infatuation is largely a joke meant to wink at female viewers but do little more. She never does anything lewd or malcontent in response to her own attraction, and she doesn't fantasize in a way that gives the audience an indirect sexual benefit. She simply finds the naked male body to be irrevocably beautiful - and that's it. A simple attraction treated openly and honestly, and as such it's funny.

Of course, there's also the in-show context to consider - how is the fanservice being displayed in regards to the characters? Are they being treated fairly? Is the fanservice at their expense? In the case of Free!, no. I don't need to go far to explain why Free! handles its fanservice in a respectable manner and do so by talking about a show that doesn't in the same breath. This Fall season right now there is an anime airing called I Wanna Be The Strongest. It's a show about female wrestlers. Now you might think that sounds like a great and empowering subject matter for an anime; but this ain't no Hajime no Ippo, my friends. I Wanna Be The Strongest exists for one purpose only - to exploit. A sport which in competent hands can be an empowering tale of perseverance and personal struggle is transformed into a disgusting spectator sport where the camera zooms in on shots of girls' asses and taints as they are grappled such that their breasts heave and their legs part, as they pant and moan in agony in the same cadence you might hear from a porn star getting porked. It's fanservice that plays off the humiliation of its characters and completely derails any semblance of respect for its subject matter in order to give male viewers boners. It is the worst and most insulting kind; the antithesis to the like found in Free!. Free! triumphs in showing off muscular bodies to tantalize the viewer while simultaneously not compromising the dignity of its characters OR of the subject matter.

Okay, so what DO I get out of this show? Being campy about its fanservice can only go so far, right? So what else is there? You'd be surprised that there's a lot more to Free! than just ogling hot guys. It's well-written, it's a good story, and it has great characters. I went into Free! fully expecting it to be the "joke" anime of the summer season - not particularly good, but completely watchable solely for its hilarious context and camp. To my surprise, I was sucked so much deeper into the pool that is this show (easy joke). Deep down you could say this is a story about friendship, but on the level it's a story of togetherness and finding your purpose through that which you love.

 It begins as it means to go on - with a broken status quo and a drive to reclaim it. First Rin is disillusioned when his training doesn't go the way he expected. Rei, the junior entree to the Iwatobi Swim Club, feels little more than a place-holder for Rin and finds it impossible to put himself in the lives of his new friends. And then Haruka, who loves being in the water more than anything, in regret over Rin losing sight of their past, loses his own way and his reason for swimming in the first place. The story sets up this group of friends, then splits and stratifies them just perfectly to allow for accurately timed drama pieces to move things along to the ultimate conclusion - finding their way back together through shared love. This concept isn't explored with every character (Makoto and Nagisa have pretty much zero development to speak of, and Gou mostly exists in the surrogate capacity I mentioned earlier) so I struggle to call this the show's "theme". But it is certainly where the heart of the show lies. 

Free! is truly a summer anime, in more ways than one. Summer is often pictured as a time of leisure and relaxation, and summers as a result often hold fond memories for those who experience them. Indeed, a child's fondest memories are often forged in the summer when they don't have school and can frolic freely. In that regard, Free! is very much an adventure in nostalgia. A fond remembrance of the salad days of youth lost to time and the adamant refusal in letting them go. Perhaps then, Free! is not a very "adult" anime, as the characters don't "move on" from the past so much as attempt to relive it. The most adult element of the story exists in Rei, who in the end comes out one of the strongest characters. He represents a desire to be wanted, to be useful, to be a part of the team. If the original four boys are a symbol of the past, Rei is a symbol of the future - to hold your past dear, but to adapt to what comes next. That struggle between the past (Rin) and the future (Rei) is one of the most entertaining parts of the show, even though it comes about via Rei's own insecurity rather than a group acknowledgement that he's just a replacement for Rin.

So yes, Free! is a very childish story; uplifting, but childish. If not for their shared love of swimming, I would expect Rin to go his complete separate ways from his old friends. And Rei would never feel completely secure with his new friends. But then, were it not for the swimming, this story would never have happened to begin with. Swimming is the glue that holds this story together and keeps it from being a real account of lost nostalgia.........but that's fine, isn't it? It is fine, because the swimming motif is what gives us the fabulous fanservice and the drama and friendship.  An unrealistic story? Yes. A WELL-TOLD unrealistic story? Definitely yes. Free! gets everything right by being carefree and cartoony and glowing with optimism that puts a smile on your face. This, to me, is what you can get out of Free! if you look beyond the silly manservice. 

The initial brainstorm session behind Free! may have grown purely from a desire to troll KyoAni's stalwart fanbase, or to simply create a product easy on the eyes of their female viewers, but whatever the case, the heralds of moe went the extra mile as they always do in animation and story-telling. I've bad-mouthed their tendencies in the past, but the truth is that KyoAni's never put out a poor product. Most of their shortcomings come about to taste. Who am I to say there aren't women insulted, believing the good story is just a pull for mindless fanservice? After all, I get the same sensation from their works aimed at the male viewer base - the sense that the story is taking a backseat or is merely a forgotten cushion for winking fanservice farce to ride upon to boost sales. Is it because I feel pride for my own gender and don't want to feel manipulated? Do I like Free! because it's not my gender being toyed with on the spectator level? I can say this: I must judge Free! outside of any gender preconceptions, no matter whom the fanservice is constructed for. To that end, Free! is perhaps the one KyoAni tale least stained by its light novel origins; featuring solid writing, loveable characters, and a sly, yet bright-eyed charm only a company with years of experience bringing genki girls to life could craft. Have they simply been pitching to the wrong gender? Or is this a testament to this show's specific production, and merely a fluke? Only time will tell, but with the prospect of a 2nd summer of Free! on the horizon, I'm eager to find out. 

You can currently find all subbed episodes of Free! Iwatobi Swim Club streaming online courtesy of Crunchyroll. The series has not been licensed for release in the US as of time of this review.