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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15457 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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I had no idea what I wanted to do at that age. My proficiency at accounting and numbers should have made it obvious, but as that was can you think of the stigma against that. Honestly in my case I think it actually was a video about showing it can be interesting and my business technology class helping me experience a bit of the environment. One thing not exactly made obvious is that Haru's true strength is not actually as a well trained swimmer, what his real strength is being able to read the water. Noteworthy, I recently listened to a Cracked podcast that talked about hidden abilities, in the podcast they specifically mentioned that there are people just like Haru have a specific strength from being able to understand the water rather than just a strength at swimming. Haru never considered swimming as something he wanted to work at because it was just something he liked to do. That it actually took experiencing the world stage for Haru to realise he wanted to do it, is not really surprising. |
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RestLessone
 Posts: 1426 Location: New York |
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I too didn't know what I wanted to do when I was that age. I loved biology and the sciences, but thought it was out of reach. It is especially confusing when friends are choosing careers different than yours, particularly when they are set on what they want to do. Haru was surrounded by Rin, who knew exactly what the wanted to do and had for awhile, Makoto, who chose a career path without telling him and that would split the two apart, and his underclassmen friends.
We also shouldn't simplify this situation as Haru just looking at a pool. He journeyed to another country alongside Rin, who was encouraging and open about his dreams and experiences. He saw and swam with the Australian national swim team. This was him seeing what his future path could be and recognizing his dream. Similarly, I chose biological science and immediately felt right at home. I didn't know why I was so fearful about choosing before. It's just a natural stage many people go through, extremely talented or not. |
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MaxSouth
Posts: 1363 |
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As I explained earlier, it is not quite believable in this character's circumstances: being so focused and so advanced with swimming, there is simply no feasible root for indecisiveness. The reason for drama about this (and superficial way it was resolved, spoiler[the damn Australian pool]) that the show has offered is stretched, which subtracts from the story authors are telling; makes it less believable. |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15457 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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The show has been super clear from the beginning that Haru never wanted to swim competitively. The reason being that he liked swimming free, to swim without any worries, and the idea of turning it into a job likely made him afraid that it would ruin swimming for him. From the very beginning characters were angry at him for his lack of interest in turning his ability into passion, it was not a surprise. |
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MaxSouth
Posts: 1363 |
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However character's attitude was towards swimming, he was always focused and excelled on it. There was never an alternative to muse and freeze about, there is no dilemma, no real drama in this setting.
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11340 |
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You're mistaking what his conflict was about. It wasn't about what career path he would take (though that was where the external pressure on him was focused on by adults: "You must decide NOW what you will do with the rest of your life!"). It was about leaving his comfortable cocoon to join the world outside of high school. He didn't want anything to change, even though he knew he couldn't prevent change. That's why he was so upset when he learned of Makoto's plans to leave, which to Haru essentially meant leaving him behind.
This is a pretty common anxiety at his age, if not universal. If you never felt that way, well, good on you. Btw, just because you're exceptionally good at something you enjoy doesn't mean that's your one and only fixed career path in life. People's interests and lives are not so tidy. And since when is any major drama that teenagers create in their heads unrealistic? Being a teenager is all about the drama. 
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leatherhead333
 Posts: 1187 Location: Kansas |
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Even though I'm not as..........hateful of the scenario as MaxofSouth is I sort of see where he is coming from.
We as the audience know that if Haru is going to do ANYTHING it's going to be swimming. We have not been shown any of his other interests. With everyone else we get the vague idea that they would be fine perusing other careers. But Haru is a GODLY talented swimmer and that's what he's always been (aside from being quiet i guess). So in a sense I can see what he means by the drama feeling a little fake. Haru has always wanted to swim with his friends but the idea of being pressured by everyone to swim competitively is more pressure than he's used to. That's fine though in my opinion. However that doesn't stop the conflict from taking predictable turns. I never felt a sense of what his REAL conflict was. Is it really because he wouldn't be able to swim with his friends anymore? Or was it a result of being pressured to be the best swimmer? All of these are reasonable but since Haru..........doesn't talk that much it's really hard to pinpoint the main reason. He wants to swim free......we get it. But for him to be completely oblivious to the fact he would have to make a decision until it was almost to late DOES bend to being a bit unbelievable since most high school kids think about this stuff pretty early these days (even if they don't know what to do). He has the mind of a child who thinks things are always going to be happy go fun time until the harsh reality hit him. Not saying he's not acting like a real person but the anime never made it seem like he had any other talents that MIGHT influence his choice away from swimming which made the drama a little less creditable. Just my thoughts on the matter. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11340 |
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I think he was less oblivious to it than in denial about it. He was shown pondering his self-eval forms for awhile before just dismissing it with "Free." He probably either did the same the previous year (which we weren't following him during) or just never turned it in at all. As for other interests, maybe he doesn't have any. And since he didn't want to swim competitively that would create an even greater sense of anxiety about what am I going to do when I'm forced out of here? He just wanted to swim with the guys while he could and felt cornered when everybody kept trying to ruin his precious time with them (which he knew was coming to a close) with "What are you going to do after this?" pressure. If you're not a procrastinator, this may be an alien feeling to you.
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leatherhead333
Posts: 1187 Location: Kansas |
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You kidding me? Shit when i was in high school procrastination was all i knew how to do. Remember finishing homework at 4 in the morning because i refused to let up game time
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Denial does seem to make more sense for Haru's character i suppose. Like I said he has a rather childish mindset since he set all this important stuff in the back of his mind until now. Because even a procrastinator knows that when it comes to deciding your career it's not something you can afford to put off till the last minute. Which is why I didn't particularly like how Haru's character was basically "reset" from last season as he went back to his quiet, usually emotionless self when in last season he was very vocal in talking about this stuff when things ended. Perhaps that was a result of him acknowledging his final moments in school? Who knows. I suppose the fact he refused to talk to anyone contributes to his denial. I just wish he had some more inner monologues or something to expand on what he was dealing with. But i think Kyoani likes to use Haru's mind as a means of showing off their animation even more than they have xP. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11340 |
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People do that all the time. They get some random job out of high school, planning to go to college later, but sometimes never do and just end up in the rut they fell into; they travel around to get a better idea of what they want before going to college; they go to college because they're supposed to but don't declare a major for a year; they just stay home and live in their parents' basement until they get kicked out. Many, many people leave high school without having made a concrete decision about their goals or future. All they've decided is to put off deciding.
Was he? I don't remember. I know he never answered Rin's question of "what about you?" at the very end. All he got out was, "I..." and then sky. Because all that was still far off to him, with more swimming with the team to look forward to in the meantime. But I agree that more of his inner monologues would have been welcome. 
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15457 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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On the topic of them looking for careers, it was not an accident that the ED had all the characters in an array of jobs. I thought that Haru as a chef did match his habit of frying up fish. But also note that Haru is also shown at one point as a merman, something that is not actually a job, unless you count being a realy, really, ridiculously good looking male model.
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11340 |
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He could probably find a host club that would set him up with a tank.
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leatherhead333
Posts: 1187 Location: Kansas |
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Yeah kids put off deciding what they want to do all the time but in Haru's case it's different. He's very skilled at swimming which many people aren't. If someone is skilled at sports I'd say it is rare for them to just blindly go off with their lives not knowing what to do when they could just keep playing that sport. Depending on your skill you can get a FULL RIDE to college which is something nobody would turn down especially these days when being 50,000 dollars in debt is considered getting off easy. He has a career all laid out for him if he chooses to go through with doing it. He might be conflicted about not wanting to swim competitively or dealing with the stress but in all honesty for a normal person I doubt they wouldn't at least TRY it before dismissing it completely (of course Haru isn't normal but still). Even if they didn't pursue it competitively after college that full ride scholarship will help tons. I mean he got frustrated and broke down during a race. That's acceptable. But going further to possibly consider dropping it altogether because of that experience? Seems less likely to me that's all. |
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crosswithyou
 Posts: 2892 Location: California |
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Most people who, for example, play in NCAA basketball don't become professionals. Yeah, the top of the top pretty much have the way paved for them, but there are many more athletes than the cream of the crop. Also many Olympians are not professional athletes. |
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Vaisaga
 Posts: 13224 |
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Some people just plain old don't want to make their hobby into their career.
As for getting future aspirations from simple things, I decided to study psychology because of a novel I read. It was a sci-fi cop story involving a copycat killer who immitated famous serial killers. |
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