Free
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Free! (フリー！ Furii!) is a Japanese anime television series produced by Kyoto Animation and Animation DO. Its premise is based on the novel High☆Speed！ written by Kouji Ohji.
Haruka Nanase, Rin Matsuoka, Makoto Tachibana, and Nagisa Hazuki used to be members of the same swimming club in elementary school. They win a tournament just before graduation, parting ways thereafter. Nagisa reunites with Makoto and Haruka in high school and Rin, thought to be studying in Australia, also reappears, but attending a different high school.
After an informal swim race between Haruka and Rin, Nagisa suggests re-establishing the Iwatobi High School Swim Club with Makoto and Haruka, drafting in Rei Ryugazaki as their fourth member with Gou Matsuoka as their manager and Miho Amakata as their advisor. Rin joins the Samezuka Academy swim club and the two schools' teams compete against one another until both reach the national level in competition.
Free! (July 2013) focuses on the formation of the Iwatobi Club, Rin's estrangement from his former friends and their subsequent reunion. Free!-Eternal Summer- (July 2014) focuses on developing a larger cast of characters, following their ups and downs in sport, friendship and future plans.
High☆Speed！－Free! Starting Days－ (December 2015) is a prequel film highlighting Haruka Nanase's first year of middle school and his friendships with the swim team therein, which includes Makoto Tachibana, Asahi Shiina and Ikuya Kirishima.
A film pair titled Free!-Timeless Medley- was released in 2017. The first film titled Free!-Timeless Medley- the Bond (April 2017) features the bond between Makoto and Haruka through a compilation of scenes taken from existing footage, with a focus on the Iwatobi Swim Club members, with some newly added animation. The second film titled Free!-Timeless Medley- the Promise (July 2017) features the friendship between Rin and Sosuke Yamazaki in a similar style as the Bond, with the film focusin on the Samezuka members instead of Iwatobi.
The same year the Timeless Medley films released, a third standalone film titled Free! The Movie -Take Your Marks- (October 2017) was released. This film features four new vignettes focusing on both the major and minor characters of the franchise, and sets the scene for all major characters storylines and settings in the third anime season that would release soon after.
Free!-Dive to the Future- (July 2018) followed Haruka's continued progress as a competitive swimmer at a Tokyo university where he, along with Makoto, are reunited with their former middle school teammates, Asahi and Ikuya, though not without some bumps in the road. In this new environment, Haruka faces the challenges of tougher competitors, including Albert Volandel and Kaede Kinjou. Other cast members from Starting Days make appearances in critical roles and Rin shows up to compete in the All-Japan Invitational, qualifying for global competition.
Another compilation film titled Free!-Road to the World- the Dream debuted in July 2019 depicting events heretofore unseen in the ongoing story. Free!–the Final Stroke– the first volume debuted in Japanese theaters in September 2021. Part two (the second volume) will release in April 2022. Both films cover Haruka's experience with global competition.