Australian fans of the very popular series Free! -Eternal Summer- have some welcome news this week in that AnimeLab is going to be streaming the series on their site with the newly produced English language version from FUNimation. The service has already streamed the series in its original Japanese and has it available there for awhile now. But starting soon they’ll be adding the dubbed episodes, which FUNimation began releasing last week on their own service one episode per week leading up to the domestic home video release.
For those that are waiting to own it, the US home video release on DVD/BD combo form has now been set for a September 29th, 2015 bow in a limited edition release. On that’s described as a “Limited Edition Chipboard Box With Water Gloss Effect”. It’ll be priced at $69.98 and will have the original Japanese track in stereo and the English language mixes in 5.1 form.
Extras for the release on disc include the Episode Commentaries, The Competition: English Voice Actor Video Extra, Web Previews, Extended End Card Collection, Illustration Collection, Memorial Promo Video, Promo Videos, Textless Opening Song, Textless Closing Song, U.S. Trailer, Trailers
The English dub is directed by Jerry Jewelly bsed on the scripted by J. Michael Tatum and the cast includes Todd Haberkorn as Haruka, Vic Mignogna as Rin, Johnny Yong Bosch as Makoto, J. Michael Tatum as Rei and Greg Ayres as Nagisa. The supporting cast includes Jerry Jewel as Momotaro Mikoshiba, Josh Grelle as Nitoai Aiichi, Jamie Marchi as Gou, Ian Sinclair as Sousuke, Caitlin Glass as Miho, Robert McCollum as Seijiuro, Chris Sabat as Goro, Clifford Chapin as Takuya and Micah Solusod as Kazuteru.
Free! Eternal Summer is directed by Hiroko Utsumi based on scripts by Masahiro Tokotani and character designs by Futoshi Nishiya. The series stars Nobunaga Shimazaki, Tatsuhisa Suzuki, Mamoru Miyano, Tsubasa Yonaga, Daisuke Hirakawa and Yoshimasa Hosoya.
Plot concept: The cherry blossoms are blooming, the sun is shining, and it’s the perfect time to hit the pool! Haruka, Makoto, Nagisa, and Rei are anxious to get into the water and warm up their winter muscles ASAP, but things aren’t all flip-turns and finish lines. Haru’s passion for swimming is drying up, which dashes Rin’s hope for a true rivalry. With their futures after high school looming over them, Makoto and Haru are having a hard time focusing. And a gruff new Samezuka student, Sosuke, appears just in time to jeopardize Iwatobi’s chance at nationals.
