Long story short: No, there won't be a movie frecap.
If I could, I'd love to make a cap again, but realistically it would just take too damn long to do two whole movies. Plus, it's kind of past the point of relevancy to even try making one now. Also, I'm basically retired after many years of not making them, so I figured there was only one proper way to put it all to a close...by making a final mini cap to cap it all off (haha).
Fun fact: purple eyes Haru telling Rin to fuck off because he doesn't like him or swimming anymore is what I had in mind for this scene if I were to have actually capped the whole movie, albeit it would have been a little different in order to follow the "plot". But alas, only my brain will ever know how this scene really would've played out.
We had a fun run, but so long and thanks for all the swimming.
Been rereading your frecaps! (and currently rewatching the wreck of s3)
I actually prefer the es caps. They give me life. I LOVE YOUR FRECAPS.
Oh and please allow me to make reference to your frecaps in case i decide to make hilarious fanart. Pretty please with a lot of saba 💕?
ES is an oldie but a goodie. And DF is indeed a train wreck. Also sure, anyone is allowed to fanart or fandub the caps as long as you ask and properly credit, but no using and reposting the actual cap images please.
Hi! I just read all your Frecaps and they're all so freaking hilarious I wish I discovered them sooner!!! Do you have a particular episode that was your favorite to make?
Lol thanks, glad people are still into those after all these years!
Hmm...I don't think I have a specific episode that's my favorite. There are favorite jokes in each episode, but I guess I'm most proud of the episodes where I could get really creative with the story (like the OVA and DF episode 5)
So um... what if the whole Ryuuji backstory (the accident thing) was foreshadowing something... like maybe with Rin or Makoto... possibly getting into an accident? (I’m sorry ik you’re not this kind of blog, but you’re the only Free! thing I follow)
Ok in the final stroke part two, it’s confirmed that the character in the hospital is Kinjou’s brother/cousin (I think his name was Kiyofumi or something), he was friends with Ryuji and Mikhail. When Haru is over working himself with training, Ryuji is worried the same thing will happen to Haru (it was still kinda unclear what happened to him, like whether he’s alive or dead since we only ever see him in flashbacks, but it’s implied that whatever happened was from swimming because of the parallel with Haru, but idk).
Ok again, after I watched this movie a second time, I can confirm Kiyofumi is Kinjou’s cousin. And after rewatching part 2, part one, and the end of season 3 again to revisit the details about Kiyofumi, it still isn’t directly confirmed what exactly happened to him other than an accident, but it’s pretty heavily implied that he's probably dead.
Also it seems like Kiyofumi isn’t a swimmer at all, just Ryuji’s childhood friend.
Thank you for your thoughts on the new Free! movie! I wanted to ask a few things though: 1) are there any quality Asahi/Ikuya scenes (the previous movie was really great in this regard and I hoped the new movie would continue the trend) 2) are there any quality interactions between Hiyori and Kaede or Hiyori and Kisumi? 3) does Albert interact with anyone other than Haru?
Tbh I don’t really remember anything super standout between those two, but there was prolly a few good moments.
Hiyori and Kinjou had a short scene towards the end when they kind of reconcile their differences.
Albert has an interaction with Kinjou, but it’s actually just Kinjou talking at him and Albert not saying anything back (something similar happened in part one; it’s unintentionally hilarious)
I’ve been told Kinjou and Albert’s plots were more sidelined than anything, but even so, do the two of them get any meaningful conversations on their backstory or how they’re currently doing right up until “the end”? I figure Albert might not have a real conversation with Haru or anything, but I had expected in Kinjou’s case, since Hiyori told Kinjou he should swim with Haru that somehow it would trigger his emotions and/or he would confess to someone (his one brown-haired teammate, Nagisa, Haru, Azuma) about his hurt over his brother/cousin having gotten hospitalized—like maybe he’s secretly scared the same will happen to him eventually? Sorry if this is a dumb question!
But I looked back on the reviews that said “There were many unexpected character interactions!” and I thought maybe Kinjou and Albert did have some few important things to talk about with others after all?
Thank you!
Yeah Kinjou and Albert's plot lines were definitely sideline; I'd describe it more as "they wanted to give them a story, but kinda gave up and hoped no one would notice". So because of that in the end they don't have much depth to their characters other than they're the loner type for one reason or another.
Kinjou at least has somewhat of a backstory because of what happend with Hiyori and his cousin Kiyofumi, despite that not diving into those plot lines so much. In part two he does interact with the main cast a lot, and has some interesting interactions; like he shows a little bit of concern for Haru ruining his body because it reminds him of his brother, and the whole thing with Nagisa is hilarious. (that brown-hair friend literally doesn't do anything; I don't know his name and I'm pretty sure he never talked). And during the relay, he has one of those moments where he's like "wow swimming is fun", and it was unrelated to Haru because they weren't swimming together.
Albert on the other hand really just exists as a catalyst for Haru's character growth, and still hardly has any character traits or backstory in the end. In his last race with Haru he had one of those moments like "I'm lonely and sad, but not anymore because I swam with Haru" but it really isn't all that significant tbh.
Anyway probably the main reason for the lack of character development for those two was because they were trying to fill the "rival" character like Rin, Sosuke, and Ikuya, but unlike them, didn't get to have a whole season to develop their characters. The Final Stroke is meant to mainly focus on Haru, so any other plot points that aren't fully about Haru aren't so heavily developed.
So um... what if the whole Ryuuji backstory (the accident thing) was foreshadowing something... like maybe with Rin or Makoto... possibly getting into an accident? (I’m sorry ik you’re not this kind of blog, but you’re the only Free! thing I follow)
Ok in the final stroke part two, it’s confirmed that the character in the hospital is Kinjou’s brother/cousin (I think his name was Kiyofumi or something), he was friends with Ryuji and Mikhail. When Haru is over working himself with training, Ryuji is worried the same thing will happen to Haru (it was still kinda unclear what happened to him, like whether he’s alive or dead since we only ever see him in flashbacks, but it’s implied that whatever happened was from swimming because of the parallel with Haru, but idk).
I laughed. I cried. I’m glad to finally be free from Free! after 9 long years.
The beginning was recaps of part one, showing flashbacks and montages describing Haru’s internal struggle about what he’s swimming for, and that maybe he’s actually better off swimming alone. This part had an acoustic version of Dried Up Youthful Fame playing over it, which was really good, highly recommend.
Flashbacks finish, and Haru is super focused on trying to be the best like no one ever was and beat Albert; so much so that he pushes away his friends and almost destroys his body by pushing it to the limit limit cuz he’s in it to win it.
Rin is also really regretting his fight with Haru at the end of part one and is contemplating what to do about swimming or something like that.
And Makoto is worried about Haru too, of course, and has a flashback of when they were kids and Haru lost a race to some older kids. Makoto wanted to support Haru and make him feel better, so he bought him an お守りcharm that he thought said 安心(relief/peace of mind), but it actually said 安産(safe childbirth) lol he was like 10 years old and couldn’t read.
Eventually Rin and Makoto go find Haru to reconcile with him on a random rooftop pool. Rin and Haru race. Rin hugs Haru and cries. Haru remembers that he’s most happy swimming together with his friends (you know, the same lesson we learn every season)
Then Haru starts training with literally all his friends to get ready for the 全日本選抜 (All Japan Invitational). Makoto and Nao are training the gang, and everyone else who didn’t quit swimming is working hard lol.
Also one important note: Rei and Nitori enrolled at Ikuya’s university, and Nagisa and the other Samezuka guys go to Kinjo’s university. Nagisa instantly forces Kinjo to be his friend and calls him Kin-chan, and surprisingly Kinjo goes along with it.
Anyway, the characters who qualify for the Japan National Team (and what kind of races they qualified for) are: Haru (freestyle), Rin (butterfly), Ikuya (breaststroke), Natsuya (butterfly), Asahi (butterfly), Hiyori (backstroke), Kinjo (freestyle), and Sosuke (backstroke); yes Sosuke too, I literally cried!!!!
They all go to the international tournament in Fukuoka. Ikuya got a bronze medal for breaststroke. Rin got a bronze medal for butterfly. Haru beat Kinjo in a freestyle race and qualified for the finals, but then becomes hospitalized for pushing himself too hard, oh no! Because of that Haru doesn’t get to swim against Albert and Kinjo in the finals, so sad.
After Haru heals up in the hospital, he does a relay (of course). First Hiyori, Ikuya, Natsuya, and Kinjo swim together in the relay in the qualifying round; that was cool. Then Sosuke, Ikuya, Rin, and Haru swim the relay in the final round (the absolute dream team). Haru gets to race against Albert in the relay, because Albert was like “Let me swim the relay. I want to settle the score with him”. During the relay, there’s one of those mid-swim euphoric character development moments where Haru saves Albert from his loneliness, ok sure. Haru’s team wins the relay, and Haru says to Albert “Let’s swim together again. I don’t hate your swimming”, and Albert says “There’s something about you”, so that makes them friends now I guess.
But after the relay Haru collapses again, oh no! All his friends rush to his side, fade to black, the end.
After the relay, Haru had to retire from swimming. He also became a famous athlete after that tournament (he was shown in the news and on billboards). They also show this one girl reading the news about Haru; we don’t know exactly who she is, but there’s theories that she’s maybe Aki from the light novel. And fade to black, the end, for real this time.
The credits roll with the new OLDCODEX song playing. The credits were a montage of literally every piece of official artwork that has every existed in the Free! Series from start to finish; everything from CD covers, to DVD covers, to random promo art, you name it and it was there.
But wait it’s not over yet. One year later Haru comes out of retirement after he did some rehabilitation. Haru and Rin go to Hungary for a tournament; Makoto also goes to support Haru. The last scene is Haru, Rin, and Albert in a race (not in Hungary, it’s probably Japan since the whole ensemble cast is there too). Haru is does one final a voice over: “The water is alive”....**pause for a montage of all the characters, and a shot of Haru reading his letter to himself from that time capsule that says “Even when you’re 20, I hope you’re still swimming”**....“I don’t mind waiting a while more to become a normal person” (meaning that he’ll keep trying to be the best swimmer, good for you Haru)
There’s other small things that happened here and there, including but not limited to:
-baby Haru crying in a flashback dreamscape
-Haru’s grandma
-Kinjo becoming friends with everyone (but the kind of friendship where he acts like he doesn’t care, but secretly does)
all the main characters having small wholesome interactions with each other (like Sosuke driving Haru in a car and being worried about Haru overtraining, cuz been there done that)
-Ayumu being revealed to be a either super rich or in the mafia
-characters suddenly appearing in a scene literally out of thin air on 3 separate occasions. 1. sosuke appears next to ikuya under a bridge. 2. natsuya appeared in the back seat of sosuke’s car. 3. rin appeared before asahi in a laundry mat. And I really mean they just appear, like Ikuya and Asahi were surprised, but Sosuke wasn’t surprised by Natsuya even though that one literally makes the least amount of sense, like he was just driving Haru in the car, and then one second later Natsuya is there for no reason, like ???? where did he come from and why is Sosuke acting like he was there the whole time, he wasn’t???????????
- a small side plot with no real conclusion about Kinjo’s trauma of his older cousin, Kiyofumi, and it’s not directly confirmed if he’s dead, but by all accounts deceased.
-Albert still not having much of a character trait other than “he’s lonely and good at swimming”. We don’t even know why he’s so lonely tbh other than he’s too good at swimming I guess.
