Delts, pecs, and six packs: a new episode of Free! must be out! I know we’re a few days late getting this out, but better later than never, right?
Starting out shortly after where Episode 2 left off, Haru has a cold from swimming in the pool in April. His passion for swimming is admirable, but he seems willing to let nothing, even his health, come in the way of him swimming. The trio is working on getting a 4th member so they can do relays, but the task seems to be a little harder than they expected. Nagisa has his heart set on Rei Ryugazaki, a member of the track club who is very intelligent. Rei’s calculations turn into his downfall, however, when the coach praises him on his form, but says that’s all he has, which upsets Rei. He also becomes the main focus of the episode.
Then, Kou/Gou arranges a joint practice with Samezuka, the private school that Rin attends. She says, however, that they need to have at least 4 members in order to do this though. This leads Nagisa to run with Rei in the morning on his way to school, getting to know him better, and trying to convince him to join the swim club, which he agrees to, but only as a trial member.
When they get to Samezuka, they start doing individual time trials. When it’s Rei’s turn, he starts calculating, and when he jumps in, he immediately sinks to the bottom because…wait for it…he can’t swim! The fact embarrassed him so much that, even after getting talked into swimming, he doesn’t tell anybody he can’t swim. After getting rescued from the pool, Rei watches Haru swim, and is suddenly full of admiration for him.Rei finally agrees to join the swim club as a full time member, wanting to be able to swim like Haru.
This episode definitely set up a lot of further plot points, and set up some great storylines. It was fun to watch, and kept me wanting more. Can’t wait to see what happens next week!
– Gates and Tyler
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