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Free! Dive to the Future Anime's Teaser Video Reveals Staff, Cast, July Premiere

Kyoto Animation began streaming a teaser video on Monday for Free! Dive to the Future, the Free! anime franchise's new television anime series. The video reveals the show's staff, cast, theme song artist, and July debut. The video teases the anime is a new chapter that will tell the "college student arc."

In the new series, Haruka, who is attending college in Tokyo, meets Asahi again and reawakens his memories from his middle school years, including those of Ikuya. Makoto is working toward a new dream while he is in Tokyo together with Haruka. Rin has an unexpected meeting in Sydney. As they await their new futures, will they see a new fight ahead? Or will they instead confront the past they left behind?

The returning cast includes:

Nobunaga Shimazaki as Haruka Nanase

Mamoru Miyano as Rin Matsuoka

Tatsuhisa Suzuki as Makoto Tachibana

Toshiyuki Toyonaga as Asahi Shiina

Kōki Uchiyama as Ikuya Kirishima

OLDCODEX will return to perform the show's opening theme song "Heading to Over."

Eisaku Kawanami, who served as a storyboarder and episode director for the two television anime series and director of the two compilation films and the Free! -Take Your Marks- film, is directing the series at Kyoto Animation and Animation DO. Masahiro Yokotani is returning to oversee the series scripts, and Futoshi Nishiya is returning as the character designer and chief animation director. Tatsuya Katō is also returning to compose the music.

Other returning staff members include:

• Art Director: Shingo Kasai
• 3D Art: Joji Unoguchi
• Color Design: Yūka Yoneda
• Prop Design: Seiichi Akitake
• Director of Photography: Kazuya Takao
• 3D Director: Yūji Shibata
• Sound Director: Yota Tsuruoka
• Sound Production: Lantis

The anime will air on ABC TV, Tokyo MX 1, TV Aichi, and BS-11.

The official website for the franchise announced on April 16 that the screenings for the show's unaired "episode 0" that are slated for June 23 will also screen the first episode of the new series.

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 2017.

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.

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

The Free! -Timeless Medley- Kizuna compilation film opened in April 2017, and the second compilation film, Free! -Timeless Medley- Yakusoku, opened last July. Free! -Take Your Marks-, a sequel to the compilation films, opened in Japan last October. Funimation screened the film in U.S. theaters for one night on March 14.