Free! -Dive to the Future-

Episode 3

It's a small world this week on Free! Dive to the Future. This episode's story somehow spans a decade and three continents! This franchise has stretched itself thin attempting not only to include a dozen legacy characters, but also introduce a few who are exclusive to the third season. All its disparate pieces are held together by focusing on the cast's most presently damaged character, Ikuya, following a “six degrees of separation” relationship where everyone in this ballooning cast is concerned about Ikuya, no matter how far away they may be. The show juggles characters and locations from scene to scene, but by focusing on just one of its characters for the most part, it manages to hold it all together—for now.

Last week, we learned that in middle school, Ikuya overworked himself to the point of near-drowning in order to surpass Haru—only to be rescued by Haru when that happened. This week, we learn from his big brother Natsuya (as told to Rin in Australia), that the same thing happened to Ikuya in America too, “but that experience made him stronger.” Things do tend to happen in threes though, so I worry that Ikuya's suffering isn't complete. He has a fear of abandonment that's expressed through the individual medley event; he would rather master every stroke by himself than delegate anything to fallible teammates during a relay race. Between the discussion of Ikuya in Australia, flashbacks of Ikuya in America, and the bulk of the cast's attempts to reach out to Ikuya in Japan, his damage has become an international concern! It's comforting to know that he has such a wide social network (even if Hiyori is misguidedly isolating him from them), but I wonder how long this widespread cast can narrow its focus in such a way. All the scenes showing people reacting to Ikuya left little time to show us Ikuya himself!

While I have my doubts about the plot going forward, the visuals are stunning (especially anything involving the movement of water). Rin and Natsuya's movement as swimmers (and as sharks) looks practically photo-real at times. The music's engrossing as well—I really liked the intricate piece that played behind Rin's morning routine. Still, I'd be remiss not to mention the odd English voice acting. I'm not sure if the actors are enunciating like they're reading a weather report because it's easier for Japanese listeners to understand or simply because they're not experienced VAs. This kind of speech worked fairly well for Rin's homestay parents, but not so much for college kids, especially considering the lack of Australian accents this time around.

Free! has a better chance of keeping itself together than other large ensemble casts because interpersonal connections are the name of the game for this story. Relationship metaphors and BL flavor abound this week, and the animation is always giving the viewer subtle encouragement to this effect through the characters' comfort with physical touch, glances that hold just a little too long, and copious double entendres. “Just how many guys do you want to swim with?” Natsuya teases Rin, calling him “adulterous” in his breadth and variety of sports rivalries. This is paired with gorgeous animation that makes characters look pretty in every action, from Rin licking egg yolk off his thumb to Ikuya shaking off his swim cap. For this reason, Free!'s core audience is probably going to be patient through this slow build-up, just so long as everyone gets a glimpse of their favorite character. After all, as the show portrays scene after scene of various people being worried about Ikuya, glimpses are all we're going to get.

Rating: B

Free! Dive to the Future is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Lauren writes about geek careers at Otaku Journalist.