Free! Eternal Summer – 11
This chart also coincides with the decline of blatantly pandering fanservice shots.
Luckily, KyoAni still has Rin around.
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…Didn’t they do a (sort of) festival episode involving someone angsting in the last season? Anyways, more issues with Haruka, since obviously they weren’t solved in the last episode. |
Yay, Iwatobi made nationals. Though the anime isn’t quite over yet, so of course there’s obviously a few lose ends still hanging around (and being Free! near the end of it’s season, that means angst). Haruka’s issues seem to be carrying over to affect the entire team’s times (because really, what else would be holding them back at this point?). …Though I suppose this is more convenient for finding a solution to. Iwatobi just needs to help Haruka, and then they’ll be good for nationals.
On the other end of the plot, Samezuka still seems to be doing okay. Things aren’t perfect, considering Sousuke’s shoulder, but everyone seems to have accepted where they are in one way or another. Rin still seems bothered by something (maybe the letter, maybe Haruka, probably both), but he still seems to have things together. Interestingly enough, Momo probably revealed what the main message of the anime’s title is. There is no “last summer” where everyone can be together, but instead an “eternal (number of) summer(s)” as long as everyone is alive. Just because things change doesn’t mean that everyone has to grow apart.
The Iwatobi team has all grown up a lot over the season. Nagisa got into studying, Rei… actually didn’t do a whole lot (it feels like a lot of his development was last season, like Rin), and Makoto seems to have kind of gotten over chasing after Haruka all the time. Point in case, the fact that he’s decided all on his own to go to some school in Tokyo (to fulfill pretty much every fangirl’s dreams after seeing the ED this season and becoming a firefighter…?). As made apparent in the past couple of episodes, really, it’s Haruka who’s having the hardest time in finding something to chase after. His thing is being free. Obviously that’s hard to pursue using “real world” standards. Pretty much everyone agrees that they don’t want Haruka to lose that aspect of him, but he seems the most lost on what to do.
Asking him to just find a dream he wants to pursue for the rest of his life does seem like a pretty unreasonable request, but Makoto and the others seem worried since Haruka isn’t even attempting to look for something. Sousuke’s advice maybe wasn’t the best (“Hey, keep swimming because I want Rin to swim. By the way, I still don’t like you.”), but it’s kind of sad that the other (former) major angst-ridden character is giving Haruka life advice. But hey, Rin is around to back Haruka up. …And to drag him off to Australia, apparently. So maybe a vacation will be the thing to pick Haruka up.
Shark-chan is still the one true ship:
Well, Haruka still isn’t as bad as Rin was in the last season, so there’s something. Man, I guess they just need to do something obviously illegal in the upcoming relay and Haruka will be okay again. …Or maybe not, since there are two more episodes left in the 13 episode season (as opposed to last season’s 12). Whatever happens with Rin seems like it will be a deciding factor on the solution here. But as for what happened this episode, OH MAN that scene with Haruka and Makoto was great. BL shipping aside, Haruka has never felt as “real” as he did here (er, his freak out at Rin earlier aside). Of course he would have doubts and concerns, but we hardly ever got to see that under that collected and well, “free” side to his personality. It should be interesting to see where he develops from here.
About Karakuri
University student and the one at Metanorn who's known for wearing glasses. Likes blood, insanity and plot twists, but also plays otome games and adores cute romance anime. It balances out... somehow.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
I still believe Pyunsuke the beetle would’ve been Momo’s trump card in wooing Gou.
…it’s kind of sad that the other (former) major angst-ridden character is giving Haruka life advice.
And now the shark must save the dolphin from despair.
The circle is now complete.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Yeah. Baffling that the one who puts him down every time they cross paths is the same who’s trying to bail him out.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
Both sharks will help him. The whale shark will give him a nudge, while the great white pushes him back to the light.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
A shark tag team. I’m shaking from the intimidation.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
I wish there was more Momo in general, but I guess Iwatobi is more important at the moment.
Assuming that Rin does manage to bring back Haruka, things kind of worked out well, didn’t they.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Some of that speculation is going to be handled in the next episode. I just saw it myself not too long ago.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Haru is running out of approaches now that everyone else has basically found an outlet to move on after the competition. You could see he wasn’t expecting Makoto to have an edge over him. Maybe now he’ll sit down give some serious thought on where he should go next. Hopefully, the group won’t have to resort to the same extremes like they did last time to get Rin out of his slump. In fact, Rin should talk to him one last time since they’ve more or less been in one another’s shoes now.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Yeah, I’m hoping Rin is the one to help out Haruka. It would just feel right, since as you said, they’re basically in the same spot at the moment.
I’m glad Makoto is moving on with his life though. Just chasing after one person for all of your life seems like kind of a depressing situation to be in.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
You can’t fully understand another’s pain unless you’ve been there yourself.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
This was a good episode with lots of drama as our friends from Iwatobi are struggling with the coming separation around them, and nobody is more lost that Haru.
Haru actually seems to be falling apart at the seams. He no longer swims freestyle and he only swims relay now, but even in that, he’s not doing so well. It’s getting so bad that pretty much everybody has noticed it, and it worried about him.
However Haru seems to be in an emotional denial since his breakdown in episode 9. He’s rejected everyone who’s trying to help him, and that has now begun to translate to his best friends as well. Rei and Nagisa tell him that he should continue to swim and eventually swim for the world. All of them basically tell him that his talent shouldn’t go to waste. Sousuke makes a more selfish and blunt statement in that while he still doesn’t care for Haru, he’s worried that Rin won’t make it to the international stage if Haru doesn’t go forward. We saw from last season that Rin can fall apart if he doesn’t have motivation and support as he pursues his dream. Sousuke knows that Haru is that source of motivation and that the two constantly inspire each other to go forward and grow. So out of concern for Rin, Sousuke tells Haru to move forward towards the future.
Makoto is the final straw, he tries again and again to talk to him, and finally, he just has to get physical. He lays everything out there for him, he tells Haru that all of his friends are worried about him and that he’s actually hurting them by being so distant. They want him to find a goal and a dream and not be completely aimless.
Haru gets completely defensive and fires back at him to stop being a mother hen and mind his own business. He yells at him, asking what plans Makoto has, but the older boy suprises him by telling him that he plans to leave and go to a university in Tokyo and that he actually decided quite a while ago.
Every one is moving on it seems and Haru can’t seem to face change and so he’s floundering and doesn’t know how to escape this state of indecision. He can’t find a goal or dream for himself and is angry that Makoto and Rin seem to have it so easy. And so, after hearing the truth from Mako, he again, runs away.
Rin surprisingly, is the only one who decides not to bother talking to Haru, the two don’t even see each other the entire episode until the after credits scene, where Rin again takes the direct and blunt approach and basically decides for Haru. He’s going to take him to Australia for the summer break and show him what he’s been missing.
And while there was development for Haru, there was also development for Makoto. Mako has been constant companions with Haru for 17 years, and he has practically Haru’s caretaker on top of being his friend. The two had always been connected, and Makoto had always passively done whatever he thought was best for Haru. However, Mako decided that it was time for them to separate and be on their own and for Haru to stand on his own two feet. That symbolic shot of Makoto simply letting go of Haru’s arm was so powerful, as well as the fireworks symbolizing the shattering of Haru’s old life, this one scene was one of the best in the entire series, and I loved it.
A great episode, and I can’t wait to see what the two do in Australia.
Well, I the next episode already since this episode came out late, so I already know.😀 Rin just comes out with that right out of the blue, and I crack up at his unabashed audacity. It’s pretty much all but decided that Haru will go pro, but he just has to realize that for himself.