#i dont think theyd end up actually getting together bc hes probably a little young for her rip harry | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

kinosternon · 2 years

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same person who asked abt ur opinion on the movie! i think you made good points; i again didnt actually watch it mostly bc idk how to access it so i cant really gauge the flow of it, for lack of a better word, but from the plot of it i felt like it was too many things pushed together. notably i feel like kinjou’s involvement was unecessary, i dont understand why theyd add another character to the ensemble in the movie closing off the series when we have SO many characters at play already.

i know albert and specifically haru and albert’s rivalry/rship drives a lot of the swimming plot but similarly to kinjou i dont think it was necessary to get into a whole other backstory and angst about another character to achieve the same themes message conclusion etc.

you’re right that expectations probably play a big role in how you receive the movie - personally i think more could have been done to actually tie off the major conflicts amongst characters, but i guess free! has always dealt with conflict through swimming so i cant actually complain. i do wish that we could have seen hiyori and ikuya’s rship (ie their conflicts and development) a little bit more bc thats one of the most unresolved plot points from past seasons imo.

anyway thank you for responding to my question! your insight was rlly interesting :)

These are very good points, honestly, and they reflect a lot of the more...unconventional storytelling decisions KyoAni made with Free! So I hope you're ready for another short essay about them :D

But I'd argue that the "let's add new characters instead of solving old problems" thing has been showing up from the beginning. Like, I agree it's weird! But they did it in season 2, with the addition of Sousuke, and again in s3 with Hiyori and Ikuya. (And as they're officially my favorite, I feel like I've somewhat lost the right to complain about it lmao)

And speaking more broadly...it's kind of like life, isn't it? Especially for young adults. The biggest problems are not easily solved (or even easily recognized), and new people keep coming into our lives, recontextualizing those old problems in new ways. That and the decision to build the story backwards as intensely as they did forwards were some pretty innovative-feeling storytelling choices, at least from my perspective.

As for adding Kinjou and Albert, and HiyoIku development: (more spoilery stuff below)

Kinjou's arc really didn't make sense till this finale, even though it was really started off in the Road to the World movie (which was mostly a Dive to the Future rehash) where he randomly threatens Hiyori at the end. The setup seems to have started from (roughly) there, so this direction had to have been planned from at least that far back. (..."Road to the World" indeed. Huh.) And by the end, his role felt absolutely essential to me given the direction Haruka's arc went in.

Basically, Kaede acts as a really direct foil for Haruka's arc in the final film.

Most importantly, he has secondhand (but intense) familiarity with the risks Haruka seems to be taking for granted, and it's his choices more than anyone's that lead to Haruka making it to and winning the final race STRIKEalive and relatively unharmed.

Moreover, his relationship with swimming is so interesting to compare to Haruka's. It's not that Kaede was always a talented swimmer! He actually got started pretty late, and for reasons that didn't have to do with the water at all! Instead, it's implied that he started swimming seeking a place to belong, because he couldn't find one outside of it. And when he lost the person he was closest to and was rejected by Hiyori others, he became even more dedicated to swimming, seemingly at least a little out of spite.

This isn't Haruka's relationship with swimming at all! And yet, a lot of the underlying factors keeping them focused are similar—they're just more explicit in Kaede's case. (More than once in the film, via flashback, Kiyofumi tells him things like "swimming will become something that accepts you," which between that and his extremely ND vibes as a kid? Implies to me that he faced a lot of rejection growing up.) And yet he still is more aware than anyone else of the very real risks Haruka is taking, when the people around him are intentionally letting them slide.

Because—this is important—who else was going to tell Haruka to stop literally risking his life, just to win against Albert? Ryuuji tries, but ultimately, can only do so much. Almost everyone else looks up to Haruka too much to tell him to stop, and know him just well enough to believe that he wouldn't listen if they tried.

The only real options, to me, would've been Sousuke, Hiyori, Rin, or Makoto:

Sousuke does actually try in the movie, but he just isn't close enough to Haruka to be able to make much impact.

Hiyori already went through all this with Ikuya once, more or less, and deserves a break. Actually, I kind of wonder whether on a creative level Kaede was introduced as closest to him because he didn't really turn out to be dickish enough to get this job done.

Rin could've been quite interesting! And he seems relatively well-positioned to do this, especially with his very visible concern for Haruka throughout the movie. But even though he's finally making real steps to repair some of the interpersonal issues he's had with Haruka from the beginning...he's still really inspired by him and wants him to compete. Plus there's the problem that everyone who knows Haruka well comes up against—knowing how deep his passion goes, and not wanting to fight him on it.

Makoto...see, this would have been another place where the movie could've happened very differently, I feel. What if Ryuuji had pushed Makoto, not Rin, to try to reach Haruka? What if Haruka's well-being had ended up depending directly on Makoto finally managing to drill it into Haruka's head that he cares about him himself—not as an abnormal person and not as a prodigy? But instead, by this point Makoto's so worried about hurting Haruka's chances or their relationship (possibly remembering their s2 argument that was never fully resolved??) that he's actually more willing than Rin (or at least agrees first) to let Haruka keep hurting himself in the name of his dream.

(Actually, one weird dark-horse option would be Albert himself? But the timing doesn't really work on that.)

But with Ryuuji's tragic backstory (of Kiyofumi) already added in and everything, Kaede was really uniquely positioned to do the job he does regarding Haruka.

And speaking of Albert: I'd actually agree that a lot of his stuff felt shoehorned in, but I get why they did it—it adds an "international" level to the rivalries that's pretty necessary, given that the world championships are the final setting. Then as far as backstory goes, Free! has always been about coming to understand people's situations/perspectives better to overcome conflict with them. Haruka's journey with Albert (or vice-versa) is about him coming not to hate Albert's swimming, and showing Albert's issues to the audience helps make him relatable as that happens.

I enjoy that they tried to make a character like Albert work (even though his English lines made me cringe a little bit, especially this time around). I just...don't think they quite got there.

Then there's Hiyori and Ikuya. So. I say this with absolute love for them and their dynamic, but like—drama was never going to be the main fix for HiyoIku, because they're both predisposed to being dramatic in a way that is frankly part of the problem. Instead, Hiyori's development seems to come from both settling into a healthier role supporting Ikuya, and also learning to lighten up a bit and think about people other than him. Kaede plays a surprisingly important role here, as do Kisumi and Ikuya's friends. Even littler moments like his exposure to the disaster (at least on the surface) that Rin and Haruka's interactions often are probably had an impact. Ikuya's development, OTOH, mostly comes in the form of getting to know Rin and realizing that he isn't the only person in Haruka's orbit, while also making friends in general after years of acting like a loner. (Sousuke is a particularly good influence on both Hiyori and Ikuya, I think.)

So overall, getting away from the drama of everything after basically being the center of the drama for Dive to the Future is probably a welcome reprieve where they're concerned. And we did get to see them have a very pleasant convo pre-Ikuya's final race that hints that they're much better adjusted than they were, so for me it was an exercise in faith that they've worked on their shit more behind the scenes.

#free! the final stroke second part #free! spoilers #haruka nanase #kaede kinjou #albert volandel #hiyori toono #ikuya kirishima #sousuke yamazaki #if you're wondering if I'm aware of the irony in my position on HiyoIku drama: the answer is yes.#I am and I'm having a good time anyways (lol)#meta rant #disclaimer that I am not an expert and am just having fun here #after watching the movies a bunch to figure out what was happening #in conclusion though: it WAS a lot and there are SO MANY BOYS #thanks for coming to my ted talk lol

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