Free! Eternal Summer 05-06
Not the race you were expecting…
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So, as if it wasn’t obvious by the tardiness of this post, it’s my turn to blog Free! this week! These past two episode were especially hard hitting on my poor fangirl heart, so let’s get right to it~ |
These past two episode definitely had a lot for us fangirls to munch on and cry over with Nagisa in episode 5 and Makoto in episode 6. In episode 5, it was Nagisa of all people who was the subject of another possible member-leaving-the-swim-club scenario. It was a pretty typical story of “My parents keep making me study for things I don’t want”. I kinda felt for Nagisa in the sense that I’ve known a lot of close friends who went through the same thing, and it’s just…not great seeing your friends like that. So I can understand how worried the rest of the boys were about him. However, the episode did feel a bit melodramatic; then again this is Nagisa so something like this was bound to go over-the-top. I did enjoy the friendship moments though. It was so nice to see the guys stick by him, help him out, and offer to talk to his parents, especially Rei who told him what exactly what he needed to hear.
The more interesting episode for me though was episode 6, which I swear is not because of my Makoto bias (well, maybe a little). Right from the first episode of the season I felt that Makoto probably wasn’t going to continue with swimming, seeing as he’s not as amazing a swimmer as Rin and Haru. With racing and losing against Haru this episode, it seemed to be the start of Makoto sort of stepping away from swimming, and maybe even a bit from Haru. It was like a realization that he can’t compete and win at Haru’s level, nor can he have that fierce, competitive friendship that Haru and Rin have. Yet what I couldn’t understand was Makoto and Haru are already very close friends, so why feel the need to do this? To see if he could actually continue swimming with Haru? To have not only one type of friendship with Haru, but to add that competitive type as well? Even if Rin and Haru do have that type of friendship, what’s wrong with the type of friendship Makoto already has with Haru? I’m not sure if Makoto has realized this or not, but I hope he does.
Double the episodes, double the memes~
Of course I’ve shamelessly enjoyed these past two episodes, especially the Makoto focused episode. This whole season in fact has been enjoyable. What I like most about this second season is that it isn’t all about swimming and training (funny, I know). The majority of these episodes have been more focused on one person, so we’re getting to know more about the characters, from their childhoods to their current selves, with flashbacks and situations we wouldn’t expect to find these characters in. KyoAni has definitely done a great job of changing things around this season, even if most of the time they’re merely tricking us into thinking things will get serious when it just ends up working out well in the end (though I feel episode 6 is a little exception to that?). Even then there’s a lot of fun stuff in between, creating a great mix of comedy and fangirl fun with an actual story thrown in. I guess I do miss some of the focus on the actual sport (I mean, everyone winning first place in their individual races was a bit much), but with the long awaited relay race in next week’s episode preview, I’m sure we’ll get some of that focus back, even with all this teammate (*cough* Sousuke) drama coming from Rin’s team. Anyway, that’s it from me! Look forward to a more prompt Free! post this week from another writer. Until next time then~!
About Hoshi
A tired, over-dramatic 20 year old college student who likes manga and cheesy Korean boy bands. Prone to succumb to laziness and refuse to work for hours on end.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
The only criticism I have of ep 5 is that it’s a little too Nagisa-centric. Seeing him interact with his parents, and home life, might have made for more balanced plot progression.
PS. The sibling relationship of the 2 Mikoshibas today were reinforced by their similar tastes in over-the-top acting, Gous and (gaudy endcard)Speedos. 😛
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
It just goes to show they are indeed related. 😉
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
It continues to annoy me that this show makes Haru and Rin (and to a lesser degree everyone else) out to be very good swimmers, they win their heats going away by a large margin, and yet the best they can do is 6th fastest time? Really? How many heats are there? Or are they just in the total scrub heats? I mean, if Haru and Rin aren’t even in the top 4 in their region, and you can’t argue that they didn’t have motivation to go out fast in their race, what kind of pipe dream is it that they should be scouted for the national team? I would have liked to see them at least be like 2nd or 3rd in the region to make any of that future storyline believable.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Odd that for the original three friends (Before Rei arrived), some manage to remain secretive. Which is why it’s weird no one knows about Nagisa’s home life until now while he’s in Haru and Makoto’s nearly on a daily basis. Kind of an unequal circumstance if you ask me.
And Haru can really be weak minded. A shame he let himself be bribed with mackerel in exchange for room and board.
More Gou is always a pleasure. Can’t blame the guys for losing themselves over her.
POWUH: and Yaoi Fangirl~ with 2320 comments
Asdfghjkl Makoto best episode ever. And it’s obvious that Makoto is pretty… Um, possessive of Rin, and this is not in a shipping way (maybe. kinda.) because even the most hetero person can notice that Makoto is jealous of the friendship between Rin and Haru. Because no matter how close he is to Haru, he will never have that special friendship Haru and Rin have. I have a feeling he’ll quit after the competition or cut his ties with Haru I dunno man but Makoto is so negative and is turning into a yandere. THE DOUJINS WERE RIGHT