It seems that some bothers Rei, but what?
Finally, we get to see how Rin was like during his childhood. Compared to the jerk shark-boy he is now, he was a really sweet and cheerful boy who happens to enjoy swimming a lot. He apparently transferred to a new school so he can swim on the same team that his father was on. When he admits that he wanted to transfer to a school in Australia to become the best swimmer, this didn’t surprise me since I already knew that he wants to follow the same dream that his father couldn’t achieve. Sadly, this dream eventually became out of his reach by something that happened during his stay in Australia that made him act strange.
From Rei’s anxiousness over Rin, I wonder why Rin still feels bitter up until this day. While we never get to see Rin’s experiences when he was in Australia, it’s obvious that the lack of friends and being beaten by other competitors might have broken his spirit. Because of that, I don’t think Haruka should be blamed even though it causes him to finally break, but rather the possibly hostile environment in the school he was attending. Because of this, I doubt that Haruka losing to Rin would make any difference. It would just give him a false sense of hope. While I feel sympathetic towards Rin, hopefully Rei will finally find out the thing actually happened that made him change.
While this episode was focused mostly on flashbacks, I was bothered by Nagisa’s voice when he was a child as he sounded too much like a girl. Even so, this episode still have some surprises up the sleeve as it finally reveals the secret Amakata has been hiding for a while. She was a gravure idol. This can explain why she doesn’t want to wear a swimsuit, but at least she still has a fan.
My wish finally came true. Sure it was only magazine articles but my raging otaku boner is most pleased. It was worth the wait. “drools”. Oh, and Shark Boy being a jerk is no surprise. Whether it’s about fulfilling his father’s legacy or secretly wanting to return to Team Iwatobi, he needs to take some chill pills.
I felt bad for Rei being left out of the loop due to him being the “new guy”. Good for him for stepping up.
It’s understandable but hopefully he will get the whole story next time… but still, thinking about it. Rin joining the team for one year just because his father swam on that team is kind of selfish…