I'm going to be positively fawning over this season at the start, so please await your confusion at my overall score until the end, because this season really was quite good- there's just more problems here than seasons 1 or 2. and event though I'm giving it basically the same score as High Speed: Free! Starting Days, I'd rewatch this far more often than that, and I'll elaborate on why in a bit, but I'm gonna try to frontload my praise.

Season 3 brings more cute boys, more swimming, and more juicy drama than ever before- and I loved almost every minute of it- I was very worried at the start, when I realized that we'd be going between three prominent locations and character group storylines, at least for a little bit. The first 3 episodes eased my worry, a bit, though- and for most of this season i have to commend the team behind this show for how well this season balances all of the characters and storylines. I expected it to become a jumbled mess, but it really isn't. They almost always focus on very important or interesting plot or character growth elements for each group, with just the right amount of flavor text. To their credit, as well, they clearly & quickly realized the need to bring these characters closer together again for a satisfying collision of all the stories going on here-smart decisions on the whole.

Haru and Makoto's stories receive satisfying, if somewhat predictable evolutions from _ Eternal Summer_, Take Your Marks! and the Timeless Medley recap films. It won't blow you away, but it certainly satisfied me. I was actually worried for most of the season that Makoto might fall by the wayside from the entirety of the season, as he is sidelined for a hot minute- but they dedicate an episode near the end to answering that exact issue, so if you feel the same way going into this, your patience will be rewarded int hat regard. It's very sweet and just... real the way he clearly loves to share the joy of swimming with other people. Haru also gets a nice little arc about beginning to open himself up to new ways of approaching his craft, and swimming as a whole as the plot unfolds, though I feel that his arc is sort of halted before it can really come to any conclusion. It was nice to see more of how he changes other people for the better around him, but somehow this time around that didn't necessarily lead to us learning anything more about Haru himself- aside from further confirming that underneath his cold heart he truly loves people. That's why I think when he swims with an important character int his season, at loss to himself, just to help them get over their fear and sadness, you see that on display more than ever before- and I'd be a lair if that act of kindness did not make me cry.

Nagisa, Rei and the Iwatobi High School team actually have a solid amount of time focused on them, even as they are definitively assigned b-plot status.I really enjoyed seeing Rei and Nagisa as the older mentors for a new group of students in the group, ESPECIALLY Rei taking up the mantle from Haru as captain. It's so heartwarming seeing him embrace and absolutely shine in that role. You can see that he really believes in his team and wants to inspire them the same way Haru did for him. Granted, seeing Nagisa and Rei in this more matures state is all you get for character growth, but I suppose it's enough.

Ikuya and Toono are somewhat complicated. I really love their stories in a way, and Ikuya is far more likeable and easy to empathize with here than in the prequel movie- I think the allegory of him to the Little Mermaid novel- while a little cheesy- is nonetheless effective at portraying the flawed perception he has of himself and those around him. Haru finally breaking him out of the idea that he has to become powerful and accomplished solely for himself and never rely on anyone is genuinely beautiful and Ikuya's breakdown and full reunion with his old friends is the best part of this whole season, maybe. Toono is definitely interesting, and I did feel like I understood why he did what he did int he end, and even wanted to pity him- but I can't fully because there's a double sided coin to his nature. He's definitely negatively affected by the expectation place upon him to care for his friend like a father almost- but he displays some rather controlling and mean behavior towards his friend's old colleagues- to the point that when Ikuya said that he wasn't really a bad guy I wanted to ask... "I mean, isn't he kind of a bad guy, tho?"

Rin has a fun littler story int his season, even if he's part of a C-plot that is not touched on in several episodes, and the interactions between him and Mikhail are pretty funny, I'll admit. there's also a few touching heart to hearts that he has with Haru and Makoto later on that made me smile, and it was good to just see him as a fully confident character removed entirely from the shackles of the past in this season, just... happy. Mah boy deserves to take on the world. He doesn't get as much screentime as I'd like, even so... He's my favorite supporting character int his world and here it felt like he was somewhat of an afterthought in the narrative for about 3/4ths of it.

Natsuya and Nao don't play the largest overall role int his plot, but they're a satisfying piece in this puzzle, and it's sweet how much they still care about these kids even at the point they are in their lives- especially when Natsuya leaves his life of pure money-seeking to discover the thrill and joy of competing for competition's sake all over again. Nao is sort of just there, yeah, but he makes a nice foil to Natsuya in a lot of ways and you can feel how much Natsuya longs to swim with his dear friend again- and admittedly he gets to give some nice advice to Makoto, too.

Now for my main issue, beginning with the very late introductions of Albert Wehrlander and Kaede Kinjo. I understand that these two are here to tease Free: The Final Stroke, but neither serve any explicit purpose in the narrative other than to inexplicably trip Haru up mentally for ill-defined and shaky reasons that don't even end up being resolved in this season, hitting you with the "see you next time" before you know it. That really bothered me, because Seasons 1 and 2 were complete stories that worked on their own, for the most part. this season felt like it ended before it actually fully completed the story it began, and these two characters feel partially responsible for why it feels that way. I just HATE these characters with no real buildup or development pending a movie that hasn't happened yet int he chronology derailing the main plot and leaving the ending to be so bittersweet and unsatisfying. It would be one thing if one of these characters was built up the entire season and then just crushed Haru in a shocking ending, but it literally ends right before another race begins- we don't even know how that turns out- and the one race we see the results of feels rather anticlimactic and weirdly paced- considering how much time was dedicated to Nagisa and Rei's portion of the All-Japan Invitational. And overall, I really o not like the feeling of having this season be truncated in order to advertise the future movie, which I would be happy to watch anyway because I love this series, you didn't need to cheapen this part of the series to get me on board. ugh.

And in general, as admirably as this season juggles as many characters as it has, the fumbling at the finish line because of two sudden newcomers as well as the fact that the Samezuka cast mostly falls by the wayside here despite Iwatobi still having a decent part to play and the fact that most of Sousuke's story has to be done offscreen are evidence of how hard the writers were having to work to make all of this really work in just 12 episodes. I feel like maybe 2-3 more episodes would've fixed all of this, even one more could've fixed that ending. And as much as i think they did a good job balancing everythign they had to handle given that, the pacing is often totally breakneck, there's rarely time to stop and have a slow moment like the first two seasons had plenty of.t hat's not to say you get none, but they feel more fleeting here than before- and less impactful as a result.

Overall, I'm happy I watched this, and I think there's plenty to gain from watching Season 3 of this series I love- but if I was watching this after 4 years of waiting upon release back in 2018... I could easily see myself being more than a little disappointed. It's not even close to being bad, but it just feel underwhelming in a way I cannot say about Seasons 1 or 2. maybe the movies will fix my issues with this, on the whole- but it could never fix the way I felt seeing it end so abruptly.