Wednesday, December 17, 2014

12 Days of Anime 2014--#9: Haru's Nightmare

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Free! really knows how to use weird dream logic to make a point.

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I've always found dream sequences fascinating, possibly because it's very easy for things to go wrong. How do you convey irrational dream-logic while still making it clear what is going on? Not to mention that dream sequences themselves are considered to be lazy writing; why show it in a dream when you can say it upfront in the storyline?

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However, that's really the point here. Haru won't say what's bothering him outright because at this point in the show he wasn't really sure what his problem was. He had his concerns--that much was obvious from his behavior in the lead-up to the team's big race--but it's not apparent how much pressure Haru has placed on himself until we get this dream sequence.

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There's even evidence that on some level his subconscious realizes that he's panicking over nothing--even if he fails, that doesn't mean that his friends will turn his back on him--but the fear is there all the same, building up until he's standing on the starting block surrounded by creepy puppets waiting for him to race.

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This scene also provides a nice contrast with the first season, which used a dream sequence with Rin to flesh out some of his backstory that he refused to discuss during his waking hours. Here it's used to take a look inside Haru's mind, something that isn't always obvious because of his reserved character. It's short, but it gets the job done.

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Although the puppet people are mostly just terrifying
Images from Crunchyroll.com.

4 comments:

  1. "OH NO!" I completely agree, Joseph is the best part the series! Personally, I still found Stardust Crusaders more fun, both because of grandpa Joseph is hilarious and because the creators seem to have a better grasp of the story and the humor. However, I completely agree that we need more of Joseph's crazy strategy. It was easily my favorite of his arc. Fun post, I enjoyed it!

    -James

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  2. It's great to see another Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun fan! Excellent analysis of Hori and Kashima. The way Gekkan turns the tropes on their is positively brilliant. As unlikely as it is, I really do hope that we get another season!


    -James

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  3. I agree that the humor in Stardust Crusaders is much more well done. I guess I just miss all the crazy strategies.


    Thanks!

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  4. I hope so too! Apparently the anime boosted the popularity of the manga by a lot, so I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for another season!

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