Free! - Iwatobi Swim Club Episode 9--Cute Yukata Awareness Episode

There's just something about summer festival episodes. I wonder what it could be...

 
I appreciate that this show resolves its cliffhangers really quickly. They didn't just place in the relay; they came in first and got a spot at regionals! Secondhand pride everywhere! And then of course there's a festival afterwards because it's summer and this is anime. I'm genuinely surprised that Rei doesn't own a rainbow butterfly-printed yukata or something similar. What a wonderful time to be a fangirl... Although that doesn't leave me much to talk about without repeating myself from previous weeks.

 
Ah, hell with it. Rin screwed up, and this week he realizes how much he screwed up. I've finally gotten around to reading the translations of the light novel that serves as the prequel for this show--I'm on Chapter 6--and now that I've got a better handle on the timeline (and will cry forever when Makoto swims backstroke), I do have some things to add to my Rin characterization theory from two weeks ago. My thoughts might change again once I finish it, but I still think that he's trying to run away from the past to an extent, and even when he was at the swimming club with them as a kid, he tried to rationalize it as another stepping stone. It's only now when he sees his old spot in the relay taken by someone else that Rin realizes how much they meant to him. And now he's dramatically clinging to the gate at their old school in a not-so-subtle symbolic moment showing that you can't go back, even if you want to. All he needed there was a Linkin Park song and some rain. As you can probably guess, I still don't have a lot of sympathy for him. Now that he's obviously going to demand a spot in the relay, which is not cool to the other swimmers who worked for their spots, I hope that Rin really has to put some effort in this time instead of magically getting what he wants.

 
There was also a lot of parallel characterization going on with Haru and Rin, although Haru's is on the lighter side of things, even when it came to the gripping-heart-through-shirt moment. I kept expecting to hear that old cliche shoujo manga line, "W-what is this feeling in my chest? Is this love?" Anyway, my prediction from last week came true; Haru has decided that he wants to swim for his friends and not just for himself anymore. I didn't think that he would come to a conclusion that quickly, but it's all for the best. Also, I was really happy to see Haru emoting without anyone being in a life-or-death situation. ...That sentence sounds kind of horrible now that I look at it, but you guys know what I mean. Hopefully this is a new trend, and we won't have to just infer what he's thinking from now on.

He got goldfish for Makoto, I'm going to cry

It looks like we're getting somewhat of a flashback episode next week, covering that missing link of middle school. Given how this show has handled the characterization so far, I don't think that we're only going to get a rehash of the race. There's probably something else that we need to be aware of as an audience before the show moves on to regionals. Only three episodes left! I don't want it to be over!

Nagisa and Rei Appreciation Corner

 

If this is how Nagisa imagines Rei on the phone, then no one can tell me that they're not dating

 

A+ job, would ask to spy on angsty childhood friends again

You guys, they're totally dating. What do you mean, the shipping googles are welded to my face

P.S.: If you haven't seen Ultimatemegax's Free! Guidebook Interview translation, you should check it out! There's a lot of interesting notes on the production, plus some early character art.

Images from Crunchyroll.com.