News

Free! Take Your Marks Teaser Video Previews Film's 4 Stories

The official website for the Free! -Take Your Marks- anime film began streaming a teaser video on Friday for the film. The characters Coach Sasabe (Hiroshi Yanaka) and Amakata-sensei (Satsuki Yukino) narrate the video, describing each of the film's four stories.

The website also revealed a key visual, the cast and staff, and summaries for the four stories featured in the film. The film is a sequel to the Free! -Timeless Medley- compilation films. The story takes place in March, with Haruka dealing with graduation from high school. The film depicts four stories set in the days of early spring, before the characters advance to the next starting blocks of their futures, and what lies ahead.

#1 Unmei no Choice! (Fateful Choice!): Haruka visits Tokyo to look for a place to live for when he starts his college life there next month. Coach Sasabe recommended a real estate agent to Haruka, but when he arrives at the agent's office, he meets an unexpected character.

#2 Hitō no Cooling Down! (Cooling Down at the Secret Hot Spring!): Aiichirō and Momotarō are considering what to give Rin and Sōsuke as a graduation present. As they try to think of something that might surprise Rin and Sōsuke, Momotarō wins a premium lottery.

#3 Kessoku no Butterfly! (United Butterfly!): Starting in April, the Iwatobi High School Swim Club will only have Rei, Nagisa, and Gou. In order to recruit new members to the club, the three try their hardest to create an invitation promotional video, but...

#4 Tabidachi no Eternal Blue! (The Eternal Blue of Journeys to Come!): The Iwatobi High School Swim Club members plan a surprise party to say goodbye to Rin before he goes to Australia. But Rin happens to see Gou and Momotarō as they run errands together all around town for the party.

The film will open in Japan on October 28.

Eisaku Kawanami returns from the two Free! -Timeless Medley- films to direct the film at Kyoto Animation and Animation DO. Masahiro Yokotani is again writing and overseeing the scripts, and Futoshi Nishiya is returning as character designer and chief animation director. Tatsuya Katou is again composing the music. Style Five are performing the theme song "Free-Style Spirit."

The website has also confirmed that the main eight cast members of the Iwatobi High School Swim Club and Samezuka Academy Swim Club are returning for the film, including Yoshimasa Hosoya as Sōsuke. Hosoya had announced in April that he was undergoing treatment for his throat and would return to work before the end of this year.

Kyoto Animation's first Free! anime about the Iwatobi High School Swim Club premiered in July 2013, and Crunchyroll streamed the anime as it aired in Japan. Discotek released the first season on DVD with English subtitles in North America in May 2015. Crunchyroll streamed an English dub of the first season in December 2015, and the company released the season with Funimation on both Blu-ray Disc and DVD in May.

Free! Eternal Summer, the second television anime season, premiered in July 2014. Funimation streamed the second season as it aired, and released the series on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in North America with an English dub in February 2016.

Another brand-new film, High Speed! -Free! Starting Days-, was directly inspired by the High Speed! novel that had been loosely adapted into the original Free! television anime. Whereas the Free! anime centers on Haruka and the other swimmers during high school, High Speed! followed the characters during middle school. The second volume of the novel series shipped in July 2014. The film opened in Japan in December 2015.

The Free! -Timeless Medley- Kizuna compilation film opened on April 22, and the second compilation film, Free! -Timeless Medley- Yakusoku, opened on July 1.