Updated May 13, 2024 by testing
Let’s go! It’s summer and we’re talking about Free! The most refreshing anime of all time. You will see water everywhere. Even if you’re scared of water, after watching Free!, you will feel like jumping into the pool for sure! If you’re planning on watching this fantastic anime with clean animation, you’re at the right place. We’re going to sort everything regarding this anime so that you won’t have to!
Free is a slice-of-life anime that focuses on swimming. It tells us the story of several boys in different swimming groups enjoying their youth as they go through hardships together. Some people might watch it for the handsome male characters, others might watch it for the slice of life genre. What are you gonna watch this anime for? We’ll know in the comments but let’s jump onto the watch order for now! Let’s go!
HOW TO WATCH FREE?
FREE! CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
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- Free! Starting Days
- Free! Season 1
- Free! Movie 1: Timeless Medley – Kizuna
- Free! Season 2 Eternal Summer
- Free! Movie 2: Timeless Medley – Yakusoku
- Free! Take Your Marks
- Free! Season 3 Dive To The Future
- Free! Movie 3: Road to the World – Yume
- Free! The Final Stroke
FREE! EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
Free! Starting Days
Although Starting Days was released after the second season, it is still better to start Free! with Starting Days. Why? Because it highlights the stories of our main characters before going to school. I remember I started watching this anime the wrong way and I couldn’t comprehend anything. So, if you want to start watching this anime, this is the right order!
Let’s talk about its plot now. Starting Days start with Haruka Nanase beginning his very first year at Iwatobi Middle School. Asahi Shiina, who is one of Haruka’s buddies, finds out that Haruka and his friend, Makoto, had been together in a Swimming Club. He gets an idea and wants them to join the swimming club even though he can see the lack of interest in Haruka’s eyes.
On the other hand, Kisumi asks them to join the basketball club. Can a swimmer play basketball? Something sounds off, right? Well, fate brings Makoto and Haruka together when the captain of the Swim Team convinces Haruka and Makoto to join their team along with some other members of course. So, now that they’re back on the track, will they refresh their memories? Will they be reminded of their past?
During one of their early practices, there’s a tie between Haruka and Natsuya. It is a freestyle race. Everyone’s hiding something behind their smiles. For instance, Asahi is not very confident in his swimming abilities. On the other hand, Haruka’s brother is hoping to get his attention by copying his style.
Just like that, there are so many other practice matches and even some official tournaments as the story proceeds. I’m sure you are gonna like the story of this anime once you start watching it. So, don’t miss out! You will get to know about the main characters’ story and the reasons behind their behaviors.
Free! Season 1 – Iwatobi’s Swim Club
Set in the town of Iwatobi, Japan which is based on Iwami Tottori, the story revolves around Haruka Nanase who’s just a high schooler. He comes across his childhood rival named Rin Matsuoka at his school.
Even though Haruka is a gifted swimmer himself, something about Rin gets to him. I mean, we all have someone from our past who ends up becoming our rival and makes us weak. It’s the same with Haruka. Well, Haruka along with other friends decide to rebuild the school’s swimming team.
Makoto Tachibana, Rei Ryugazaki, and Nagisa Hazuki also join the swimming club and that’s how the swimming team is rebuilt. The rivalry between Haruka and Rin continues as they individually get better at swimming and learn a few tricks about it too. Their desire to swim together gets heard when a prefectural tournament takes place. That’s how they compete against one another and see through each other’s weaknesses and strengths to prepare for the next tournament beforehand.
Rin has a rather sad past. If you have watched this anime you will know what I’m talking about. Well, his father died on the sea since his business was trading fishes. The moment his father died, Rin decided to become an Olympian Swimmer. Since he was quite young when his father died, he wanted to keep remembering his father’s face. Therefore, he thought that by following such a path, he’ll be able to remember his father’s face. This all explains his competitive nature and desperation to win. Isn’t that right? In fact, he’s a butterfly swimmer too. He’s quite good when it comes to swimming.
Haruka on the other hand is a gifted swimmer, he’s just naturally good at swimming. Even though he was on competitive terms with Rin, he’s quite warm and chill when it comes to Makoto whom he has known for a very long time. They both met at Iwatobi’s local playground. Let’s see where the story takes us, I won’t spoil anything for you guys!
Free! Movie 1 Timeless Medley – Kizuna
Free! Timeless Medley is one of the movies of this anime which has two parts. One of the parts is called “Kizuna” which means “The Bond”, the other part of this movie is called “Yakusoku” which means “The Promise”. So, let’s talk about the first part now!
Imagine you meet your childhood rival after years and you get to compete against one another in a tournament but you end up failing! How will you take that shock? Will you give up or figure out what’s wrong with you? These questions were floating in our MCs mind when he lost in a tournament against his childhood rival who is none other than Rin. He decided to quit the Swimming Team in his Junior High. This incident made Ikuya resent Rin too.
Just like that, everything falls apart. Ikuya decides to study abroad. On the other hand, Asahi decides to move out. This was their backstory back in Junior High (IN CASE, YOU’RE CONFUSED).
Now, it’s time to discuss “High School”. During this time, Haruka prepares for the tournaments along with Makoto Tachibana, Nagisa Hazuki, and Rei Ryugazaki. Rin also decides to prepare for the tournament after meeting with these guys again. Our MC is in his final year of high school yet he still hasn’t made any plans.
This boy was scouted by a well-known university during the prefectural tournaments. Since everyone has plans of doing something after graduation, Makoto Tachibana also plans on becoming a swim coach.
When Haruka’s time comes to perform in front of university level students, he gets pressured and thus stops swimming. Later on, he encounters Rin who mocked him for not having a dream which made Haruka angrier than we can ever imagine. Let’s see where the story takes his anger at? Will he use it for the well? I’m sure Haruka has really cool friends who will support him no matter what!
Free! Season 2 Eternal Summer
Since everyone’s in their final year now Haruka is still not able to think what to do next! Now, the plot takes a twist when we see Rin’s childhood friend named Sosuke transferring to Samezuka Academy. A very obvious Rin move is coming, can you guess what it could be? It’s nothing more than him wanting to compete with Sosuke in swimming. However, Sosuke is hurt and has injured his shoulder.
Coming back to our MC, he’s confused about his graduation plans. After learning about the plans of his best friends, he becomes lost and overwhelmed. As the story proceeds, he further sees that Makoto has to leave Iwatobi in order to study in a university in Tokyo.
One surely feels left behind when everyone’s moving forward in life. Isn’t that right? Just like that, Haruka felt the pressure and sadness. But that’s not the end! He gets help from some of his friends and that’s how he goes on a trip to Sydney! YAY! There, he clears his head and decides to complete his swimming career on college level.
Finally, our boy found something he always wanted to do. One should for sure follow their passion if they want to excel at something. Similarly, if you guys have anything you’re passionate about, just take the step no matter how big it is! There are some things that our schools don’t teach but anime does. So, never forget to watch anime. That’s it for Free! Season 2 Eternal Summer. Just like Haruka found his passion and what truly made him happy, I hope you guys figure out what makes you truly happy as well! Stay brave and let things take their time.
Free! Movie 2 Timeless Medley – Yakusoku
Free! Movie 2 Timeless Medley is the second part of “Timeless Medley”. Let’s see what happens in the “yakusoku” part. This is the story of a promise made by childhood friends, aka Rin and Sosuke. After Sosuke transfers to the same class as Rin, they remember the promise that they made. What could be the promise? The promise was that Rin and Sosuke were supposed to continue their swimming careers no matter what. But the sad part is that Sosuke has severely injured his shoulder and can’t really swim like before.
As Rin continues to convince him, Sosuke is coming up with various ways to swim and to not let their friendship get strained. Isn’t that really nice of him? At the tournament, Rin finds out about Sosuke’s injury. AHH! FINALLY. Since Sosuke has formed a bond with the swimming team, he decides to take one last chance and swim. The team gets second place and that’s when Sosuke realizes that he needs to get medical treatment. Even though Sosuke dropped out of the Nationals, he decided to help some fellows including Aiichiro Nitori and Momotaro Mikoshiba.
In one of the scenes, Sosuke gives a warning about Ikuya to Rin since his swimming style is quite similar to Haruka. While Ikuya decides to not take part in the tournament, that’s when Gou (former manager of Iwatobi High School Swimming Club) gets motivated to take new members in the swimming team.
Free! Take You Marks
Haruka Nanase is accompanied by Makoto Tachibana in choosing an apartment near his college, there’s a boy named Misaki who’s introduced as a fresh swimmer, and he got scouted by the previous tenant. Let’s see how things go between the two of them. It’s always nice to see new characters being introduced in the anime.
Moving on, we see Aiichiro Nitori deciding to give a graduation present to Rin and Sosuke. Momotaro wins some concert tickets. He decides to go with his friends but when he gets there, he gets into an intense competition with the Sofukan High Swim team captain. You might not know but all this intensity was over a plush toy. Isn’t that cute yet hilarious?
As the story continues, we see Rei, Nagisa, and Gou making a video about the recruitment of fresh swimmers on their teams. They’ve been working hard and all of a sudden they found PKH EAST which might come in handy when it comes to picking out new members of the team.
Getting a few ideas from the PKH Theory, they were highly disappointed when they found out that there was a member in the previous team who attracted female students with fan service. LOL! That’s when they thought of including the disappointment in the video thus succeeding in creating a not-so-boring video.
Since Rin is going to Australia soon, Samezuka Academy and Iwatobi Academy are planning a farewell party for him. After seeing Gou and Momotaro together, Rin comes to a conclusion that the both of them are secretly dating. However, it’s not what you think! They end up planning to challenge Rin to a relay match with his brother, aka Seijuro, included! Let’s see what happens next in Free! Take Your Marks!
Free! Season 3 Dive To The Future
After the reconciliation of Asahi and Haruka, they recall their memories of middle school. Makoto Tachibana also works towards a new dream while studying side-by-side in Tokyo. While Rin meets Natsuya, everyone starts to gather at the All Japan Invitational Competition. Now, we have all the skillful swimmers. Whose victory is it gonna be?
Free! Movie 3 Road to the World – Yume
Free! Movie 3 Road to the World is such a beautiful story that focuses on the dreams of our main characters from their childhood to the present. In fact, there are some new members in the Iwatobi Swimming Club who are prominent in this movie and these will lead the future of the Swimming Club! So, they’ve portrayed the personality of new characters in a really nice way! Many fans love this movie because everything in it is wholesome.
Free! The Final Stroke
I’m sad to tell you guys that here, the journey of Free! ends. It focuses on Haruka Nanase whose dreams have been achieved. He’s literally at his favorite place, Sydney. One day, he confronts an athlete from the All Japan Invitational after taking a break. Carrying such a nostalgic yet beautiful feeling, Haruka takes the final step or stroke towards a new world. He swims his heart out! That sounds very refreshing, isn’t that right? It’s always nice to see the anime characters achieving their dreams at the very end, especially after such a tough journey.
MAIN CHARACTERS
Now that you’ve known about the correct watch order and the plot, we’re going to introduce you guys to some of the main characters in this anime. So, be prepared because these characters will win your heart and they are charming as heck! So, let’s get started!
Haruka Nanase
Haruka Nanase is our main character in the anime. He’s for sure a gifted swimmer. He has been a freestyle swimmer and in fact, he became the vice-captain of the Iwatobi Swimming Club. Haruka is a muscular yet cute-looking guy. He’s got straight short black hair. Yes, yes! Isn’t he so charming? We mostly see him with a constant expression on his face. He rarely shows any emotions. When it comes to endless determination, Haruka Nanase must be included! He’s quite determined about his goals and life, nobody can really mess with him when he’s angry or serious about something.
If we talk about his strengths, It’s his decision-making. While others are hesitating to make a decision, this guy will speak his mind and believe in himself blindly. The surprising fact is that he ends up making the right decision at the end of the day. So, that’s the biggest strength he has after being a freestyle swimmer, of course!
Makoto Tachibana
Makoto Tachibana is also one of the main characters in the anime. He’s known to be the childhood friend of Haruka. He used to be the captain of the Iwatobi Swimming Club. Makoto is a tall and muscular guy who looks very innocent. The most charming point in Makoto is his innocence. He’s always sweet and friendly towards others.
Makoto always keeps a gentle smile on his face. Despite his intimidating appearance, he gets scared easily. Pretty surprising, right? I mean, come on dude you’ve got the muscles, you can beat some people up, can’t you? But then again, if I was fighting Makoto I’d literally melt after seeing him smile.
If we talk about his strengths, well, he’s quite confident in his skills, that’s how he became the captain of the Iwatobi Swimming Club. He’s a really skillful swimmer as well. His leadership qualities as well as responsible self makes him stand out from the rest of the characters in the anime. So, if you want to know more about Makoto, watch Free!
Rin Matsuoka
Rin Matsuoka is one of the childhood rivals of Haruka Nanase. He’s also considered one of the main characters since he plays a vital role in various swimming tournaments. He’s known to be a butterfly swimmer. It won’t be wrong to say that this guy gave our MC a hard time during tournaments. It made Haruka put his guard up. At times, our MC hesitated swimming against him too. But guess what? Rin played an important role in Haruka’s character development!
He’s a young man with fine red hair. With his shark-like teeth, he’s going to bite you! Just kidding! I mean, he will surely win your heart unless you don’t like shark-like teeth. Rin is a very passionate guy who loves competing against skillful swimmers. He’s really good at teamwork too. When he’s alone he observes other swimming clubs having fun while swimming. Unlike him, who’s always focused on winning and the pressure of competition. So, he learned a thing or two from other swimming clubs as well!
Nagisa Hazuki
Nagisa Hazuki is also one of the swimmers belonging to the Iwatobi Swimming Club. He’s also considered as a main character. Unlike other swimmers, he has an average build. Nagisa’s height is average, his hair is blonde and his eyes are magenta. His personality is just like the way he looks!
Nagisa is a very lively person. He’s the type of person who’d cheer you up in your saddest times without expecting anything in return. I’d say we all need a friend like Nagisa to rely on and make us laugh. So, yes he’s great at that. His enthusiasm for swimming is worth-appreciating. We can literally see the fierce passion in his eyes when it comes to swimming. So, It’s quite nice to see him devoting himself to swimming.
CONCLUSION
That’s it for Free! Watch Order. I hope you guys found your correct way to watch Free!. If you have any confusion about the blog, do let us know in the comments! We will surely answer you. Don’t forget to let us know your thoughts in the comments down below! Those of you who have watched Free! I hope this blog brought back a lot of sweet memories! I shall see you guys on the next blog, stay tuned for more!
