Free! Eternal Summer Episode 1--CAN YOU FEEL THE SPLASH

And summer has officially started in the best possible way! My favorite swimming team is back!

Man, I missed this show. I mean, I was pretty sad when the first season ended, but it didn't hit me until I started watching this episode. I missed Haru's water obsession, Makoto being a sweetheart to everybody, Gou reading my mind with all her reactions, and Rei and Nagisa bouncing off of each other. And since the second season doesn't have to bother with all the setup that the first season did in its premiere episode, it can jump straight to delivering what most of the viewers came here for!

Seconds into the episode and my heart melted

SYNCHRONIZED OTP

 
Admittedly, I didn't miss Rin. Those of you who read my episodic posts from last time remember that I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with his character. I like the guy, but I hated how he handled things, especially in the last episode of the first season. Which is why I'm happy to see that he really has learned from his mistakes and is still aiming for his goal without acting like a jerk towards the people who care about him. In the short time that we see him at the school race, he encourages Nitori while quietly commenting on his form afterwards, and then later makes it a point that he wants to go all out against Haru in a friendly rivalry way. The old Rin wouldn't have acted nearly as gracious in either situation, and I think that growth was why he was selected to be the new captain. I'm glad that this character development was pushed to the forefront of the episode, since it makes me feel a lot better about Rin going into this season.

 

Iwatobi High School confirmed for terrible taste

Meanwhile, our main group has a membership problem. I don't know what's wrong with this school, Gou's campaign was flawless. At the very least they have a place to practice indoors now thanks to the swimming club building reopening. I'm really happy about that, since the building falling apart was a sad detail after reading High Speed! Their current game plan of "get recognition=get members" looks like a good way to go. And with Rin pushing things along from a more highly recognized school, that shouldn't be a problem.

 

Literally just a couple of kids

And did I mention that the shipping fodder in this episode was turned up to about eleven? I don't really care about anything outside of Reigisa, but I have to admit that KyoAni knows exactly how to push its fans' buttons.

 
Anyway, the status quo has been reestablished with the notable exception of Rin not wallowing in self-inflicted angst, and everything seems to be running smoothly. Except that would be boring, so something new has to happen to shake things up a bit.


Enter the transfer student. You know that he's The Outsider because he has a masculine name. I'm not sure what what that look he's giving Rin is supposed to mean, but I can almost hear the fanart drawing itself. That said, the way that he just randomly showed up at the swim club to stare at photos and then leave makes me a little concerned that his character arc will be a retread of Rin's from the first season, i.e. old friend returns out of nowhere, acts like a jerk, demolishes my sympathy, etc. I hope that I'm proven wrong though.

It's easy to forget any and all concerns when I watch the ED, though.

     

So we heard you liked Arabian Free! Here, have six more AUs on the house.

Images from Crunchyroll.com.