What They Say:
Nanase Haruka loved to be in the water – loved swimming. In elementary school, Nanase Haruka, Tachibana Makoto, Matsuoka Rin, and Hazuki Nagisa attended the same swimming class together. Time passed, and as Haruka was living an uneventful high school life, he suddenly encountered Rin again. Rin challenged Haruka to a race and showed him how much stronger he had become. Soon enough, Makoto and Nagisa also rejoined the group, and along with a new classmate, Ryugazaki Rei, they established the Iwatobi High School Swimming Club.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
One of the aspects I do like with anime at times that gets dealt with, more so with the sports genre than others, is that we do get some actual growth and aging of the characters. Within the sports genre, we see that with the transitional aspect of senior players leaving to focus on studies or graduation and the way that some do their best to leave a mark before they graduate and go into the next phase of their life. We’ve gotten some of that with this season, notably with Rin’s team and the changes there, but also some with Makoto and what his future holds. Things also took an interesting turn in the last episode with the letter Rin got that has him and Haruka heading to Australia – which means time to hear Rin speaking in English, a moment certain to delight the fans.
Giving us this time in Australia is certainly interesting in general as the two have an unusual relationship, but it’s also nice to get the change of scenery and getting the boys on the beach for a bit, though Haruka isn’t quite so enthused about swimming these days and that’s carried through to here, which is why Rin’s brought him with him. There’s some great flashback material to this when Rin was younger and we saw his English introduction, noting that even though his name sounds like a girl’s that he’s all boy. There’s some great English here overall, certainly leaps above what shows used to be, and having Rin talk about his past, his challenges and what he discovered with friends there when it came to himself and swimming is all great to help establish him even more. The show also does some good stuff in introducing Rin’s homestay family from before, which gives us a good Australian accent, and some really heartwarming material overall.
For a lot of this, the episode focuses on the relationship between the two young men as they get settled at first and then begin their journey which takes them to an international swimming competition center. There’s a lot to like in watching the two since their relationship does go back quite a ways, even with the time apart when Rin was in Australia. Bringing Haruka back here definitely has its moments, and its comedy as the two end up having to share a bed of course, but it’s mostly something that they use to try and get Haruka back on track. When you see him not enthused about getting into that beautiful ocean, you know something is broken in him. Rin’s attempts to fix him here, taking him to where the national team practices at that, is like coming to the place you dream of and touching that dream. Getting a chance to practice with them, even a little, takes Haruka to that place he’s always dreamed about. The kick that he needs to remind him why he really does do all of this, to swim, to compete, to feel alive and free.
In Summary:
While Rin is not my favorite character and I dislike that the rest of the Iwatobi boys are kept to just under a minute or so here, this is a very strong episode. The show narrows its focus to having Rin trying to light a fire under Haruka in the right way by taking him with him to Australia, revisiting some of the places he spent while there and seeing what it takes to get Haruka to come alive again. He’s been in a bad place for a bit, but the light is finally starting to shine again and we see the edges of the old Haruka coming back, potentially with a really strong and renewed purpose. There’s a lot to like here with the character material, seeing the home stay family and interactions and some of the sightseeing and gentle comedy. It’s a very good episode that finally gives Haruka something meaty to work with while allowing Rin to draw him out in a great way.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
