Free – Episode 12 – The Emotional Return of Rin

After Rin is kicked off the relay team, what will be his fate?

I don’t know, but I had mixed feelings about the finale since it felt over-dramatic and I knew somewhat what would happen to Rin. He apparently comes in at last place in the 100m, I admit that I laughing when he had his temper tantrum when he can’t get his own way. I just can’t believe how low he can go with breaking windows and kicking trash cans. Furthermore, he treats Nitori like a piece of crap and almost beat the living crap out of Haruka. Despite this, his friends eventually forgive him and he even gets to participate in the relay with his friends after all this. Even though I don’t think this is a good lesson for him, at least it ends well.

While the team didn’t advance for obvious reasons, I’m happy that Rin finally made up with everyone after swimming together. It seems that they didn’t care so much about winning despite getting first place, but rather want to repair their relationship Rin. I admit that it felt heartwarming to see them so happy after getting first place despite seeing them get disqualified. Hopefully in the next season, they will make it to the finals and even get to complete with each other.

Final Thoughts

Despite the lackluster ending, Free was an interesting attempt to take a break from the usual shows Kyoto Animation has been making in the past. While some things bothered me such as Nagisa’s somewhat annoying personality and Rin being an angsty shark boy, the swimming animation was nice. Also, I liked how the boys worked as a team to become the best compared to Rin who only initially cared about winning. While some people didn’t like Free as they accused this show being “Fujoshi bait” and saying that this is K-ON, but with boys, I disagree. While the story is certainly not a masterpiece, at least it was a decent attempt of trying something different.

Overall Rating: 8.0/10, B-, Good ¶