Anime Profile: Free!

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Free! follows Haruka Nanase, an introspective high schooler with a deep, almost mystical love of water, and his elementary-school swim-team friends Makoto Tachibana and Nagisa Hazuki, who reunite years later when they revive the long-defunct Iwatobi High swim club. After recruiting an enthusiastic newcomer, Rei Ryugazaki, the four are drawn back into competition with Haruka's old rival Rin Matsuoka, whose family relocated him to a competitive swimming academy and who has come home harder, faster, and harder to reach than the boy they remember.

What follows is a coming-of-age sports story about friendship, ambition, and the unspoken connection that develops between teammates pushing themselves past their limits. Kyoto Animation brought it to screen in 2013 with their trademark fluid character animation, particularly suited to bodies moving through water, and the show's stylish look quickly built it a devoted international audience.

The franchise has continued through three additional TV seasons, "Eternal Summer" (2014), "Dive to the Future" (2018), and "The Final Stroke" (2021), plus three theatrical films, following the cast from high school through college and into adulthood as their dreams of competitive swimming collide with the realities of growing up.