I want to start off this review by making clear that this is a fun watch and I think that if you enjoy Free! as a series as I very much do, this is clearly an essential watch, not just for compositionists but for some of the new characters clearly being established prior to Season 3. I am sure they're going to be re-established there but keep in mind this review is colored by someone who very recently completed Eternal Summer and is soon going to watch the recaps and the final season.

I will say though that my ultimate takeaway is that while i am glad I watched this, especially with a friend who adores this series as much as I do... this is the most uneven entry in this anime yet. It isn't bad, not even close. But while there are well executed moments of melodrama everywhere in this film just like the series proper, this movie also chooses to ditch the broad comedic tone that often helped lighten the blow of the melodrama and keep the pacing nice and light. To some extent, I don't hate the idea and I think it was smart to recognize that for a shorter film the pacing has to be different than an episode of a TV show. But there's a few moments of drama, particularly in the first half that just drag, and the movie gets very rote and repetitive during the montage meant to communicate how dysfunctional the team is starting to get with each other. It builds to some satisfying crescendos by the second half, and I do feel satisfied when all of these boys begin to click- but it takes too long, or at least it felt like it had taken too long to get to that point by the time we did, since the movie is over very shortly afterwards.

And I do like the two new characters, though canonically speaking it is more correct to refer to these boys as the original Iwatobi Swim Club team- but I unfortunately did not leave this viewing fully satisfied that Rei, Nagisa and Rin are on the sidelines, though it was unexpected and nice to see Sousuke in a small supporting role. I understand that as Season 1 established things it simply would not have been possible to have the team established by this time, so I am not attempting to engage with this movie on terms it is not setting out, i know what terms it is setting out and I am ok with that. What I am saying is that there is naturally a bit of resistance when I am presented with a variant on the team that i know, and at the start 2 members of that team range from tolerable (Asahi) to extremely punchable (Ikuya). The execution is really the issue, it could have been perfectly in step with the series, and it just.. isn't. Not quite. That said, That is not saying as much about he quality of this as that probably sounds like it is. By the end, I did like them, and I actually particularly found myself connecting with Asahi by the end, his stupidity is rather endearing. I did appreciate the pretty relatable dramatic issue with Ikuya, and I did like the way they resolve his arc, but he is such a deeply unpleasant character throughout that I didn't care as much as I should've, I'll be honest.

The most compelling story in this is definitely Haru's struggle to cope with Makoto's sudden desire to change himself to fit in at Iwatobi, and his own inability to fully gel with everyone else on the team, either. It was genuinely heartbreaking to see him go without food and fail to get Makoto to tell him the truth and send him into a further spiral of despair. Makoto's side of this story is a little underdeveloped, but I also related very much to the struggle of trying to be "somebody" and find who you are at this point in your youth, and the many misguided ways most of us go about getting there. That's something the mains series explores a lot in Eternal Summer with Haru and Makoto, as well, so it makes sense.

I did like Nao as a character a lot, too, actually- though feel it was misguided to have his unintended insult that trigger's Makoto's spiral to be a remark the way they've got it. this series is the gayest non-gay series that I know of, and I don't really like the mildly homophobic undertones to that remark, when he isn't really challenged on this and he only offers a half-apology. Am I saying that was the intention? Not necessarily... but it sorta comes off that way. let my boys be happy swimming together, man!!

And I did really enjoy seeing them finally get it together and win, and the boys helping Haru actually eat properly in the ending, that was really sweet. made up for a lot of the first and second act stumbles in this movie.

I dunno. This is definitely good, and it's surely going to be rewarding later. I'd even willingly own it on Blu-Ray... but this is a somewhat mixed bag in a series that so far has been nothing but straight bangers. Perhaps, though, that says more about where my expectations are given how blown away I have been by Iwatobi Swim Club and Eternal Summer.