Free! Eternal Summer Episode 9--Under Pressure

I TAKE IT BACK, I DON'T WANT CHARACTER DRAMA ANYMORE.


You know, when I mentioned a few posts ago that I hoped that the show would focus on Haru's decision's about his future, I was not expecting him to crack under the pressure to make one. Be careful what you wish for, right? Hahaha...ha...


Still, seeing Haru get increasingly disillusioned throughout the course of the episode was hard to watch. And the question that he tackles is a difficult one. All Haru really cares about is swimming for himself and for his friends, but now he has all of these expectations placed on him that he doesn't know what to deal with. I don't think Haru actually cares that much about the scouts, but is more worried about what his friends will think. What happens when he doesn't meet their expectations?


The natural answer is that nothing will happen--his friends still care about him whether or not he's a swim star--but I think that Haru isn't completely sure what he wants anymore, otherwise it would be easy for him to just say the "I swim free" line and continue to not care about other people's opinions. The scouts got to him because he still doesn't know whether or not competitive swimming is the right fit for him, and I think Haru believes that this will be his only chance to go down that path. I mean, he opened the first episode of the first season with this:

When you're ten, they call you a prodigy. When you're fifteen, they call you a genius. Once you hit twenty, you're just an ordinary person.

 
He's afraid of making the wrong choice, of not being able to follow Rin anymore, of disappointing his friends who believe that he's the best there is, and it freezes him in place (literally). Swimming isn't just about swimming anymore, and being held down by these expectations and pressure to perform means that he's not swimming free anymore either--at least, not by Haru's own definition. And during the race, he decides that if he can't swim the way that he wants, then he won't swim at all.


But with all of that said, his behavior after the race is completely inexcusable. I've seen some Tumblr posts that claim that Haru was acting "strong" and was "standing up for himself," and, uh... No. Just no. That was not standing up for himself. That was him throwing a fit. Things are changing, and Haru has to make a choice whether he likes it or not. That's life. "Standing up for himself" would've been asking the scouts to no longer consider him because he's not interested in moving on competitively, or to at least say that he wasn't sure yet and needs more time to think. This was just taking it out on Rin.

 

Look familiar?

Making this worse is Rin pulled this exact same thing in the previous season. Those of you who followed my posts then will remember that I wasn't too happy about it there, and I'm not happy about it here, either. However, in Rin's case it was an explosion of misplaced emotions. That's true of Haru as well, but in this instance he knows what it's like to be on the recieving end of that rage and still did it to Rin anyway. I never thought that I'd say this, but Haru acted worse than Rin ever did simply because he should know better.


Narratively, the parallels are fascinating; they both have dream sequences that reveal more about their inner thoughts than their actions every did, they give up on their event races to the concern of their friends, and then take everyone out on someone who's just trying to help. It's weird to see the tables turned like this, and not good for my heart either. I hope that Haru gets his head back on straight soon, since his friendship means so much to Rin.

But hey, now that Haru's drama has taken center stage, maybe Sousuke's injury won't turn out to be so bad! I mean, KyoAni wouldn't put two emotional punches to the gut in one episode, right?

DAMMIT NOW I'M CRYING

The preview for the next episode suggests that we'll find out what happened with Sousuke's shoulder next week, but right now it's not looking good at all. Even without a backstory explanation, it's clear that Sousuke is trying to keep this a secret so that he can continue to swim with Rin. His dedication and perseverance is amazing really; he was able to hold his position at the top so that he could stay on the relay team despite the pain that we saw in this episode. But with the continued emphasis on "Rin's Ultimate Team" and how Nitori and Momo look up to him, Sousuke is walking on a very thin line here. Because of that injury, everything could fall apart at any time. He might be lucky just to get one more race out of that arm.


Sousuke's problems make a sad contrast to Haru's situation as well. Regardless of the choice Haru makes, he still has the ability to choose. In Sousuke's case, it looks like his choice will be made for him, regardless of what he really wants. Maybe that's why he doesn't like Haru. Even when backed into a corner, Haru is more free than Sousuke is.

Moral: Never watch sports anime, they rip your heart out.

Images from Crunchyroll.com.