Free! is set in the town of Iwatobi, which is based on the real town of Iwami, Tottori. Iwami has since used Free! to promote tourism to the town. The story starts with four boys—Haruka, Makoto, Nagisa and Rin—before they graduate from elementary school. They all participated in a swimming tournament and won, though they parted ways. Years later, Haruka and Makoto reunite with Nagisa when he enrolls in their high school. Not long after, Rin, who was thought to be in Australia, turns up and challenges Haruka to a race and wins. Afterward, Nagisa suggests creating a swimming club and using the school's run-down outdoor pool. Haruka, Makoto, Nagisa, and later on, Rei, create the Iwatobi High School Swimming Club and work together to make the club a success. Rin's victory over Haruka means nothing to him as he realizes that Haruka had stopped swimming competitively and wasn't in top shape. He claims that he cannot get over the fact until Haruka competes against him for real. The members of the Iwatobi High School Swim Club later enter a swimming competition against Rin.
Haruka Nanase (七瀬 遙, Nanase Haruka)
Voiced by: Nobunaga Shimazaki (Japanese); Todd Haberkorn (English)
Haruka is a second year (third year in
Eternal Summer) high school student who loves swimming and being in the water. He is a strong and quiet person who displays limited facial expressions, and has a hard time communicating his feelings. His style captivates many and he has a strong fixation towards freestyle swimming. His love for water is so strong that he often strips down to his swimsuit at the sight of water and even considers encountering a waterfall to be a romantic experience. Due to his girlish name, he is often mistaken for a girl, so he is usually called Haru. After his first year in middle school, he quit competitive swimming after hurting Rin's feelings by beating him in a race, but Haruka regains his passion after racing Rin again when they reunite.
Makoto Tachibana (橘 真琴, Tachibana Makoto)
Voiced by: Tatsuhisa Suzuki (Japanese); Johnny Yong Bosch (English)
Makoto is Haruka's best friend, also a second year (third year in
Eternal Summer) high school student and in the same class as Haruka. Unlike Haruka, he is more outgoing and often speaks up for Haruka. He is nice and considerate to others, putting others before himself. However, he is weak-hearted and gets scared easily (particularly Nagisa teases Makoto by scaring him). He developed a fear of the ocean due to a traumatic incident in which an old fisherman, whom Makoto greatly idolized, drowned in a typhoon alongside many others. He is captain of the swim club. His specialty is the backstroke.
Nagisa Hazuki (葉月 渚, Hazuki Nagisa)
Voiced by: Tsubasa Yonaga (Japanese); Greg Ayres (English)
Nagisa is a first year (second year in
Eternal Summer) student who also goes to Iwatobi High School. He is very spirited and not afraid to speak his mind. He has admired Haruka's swimming since elementary school and enrolls at his high school hoping to swim with him again. He comes up with the idea to start the swim club at Iwatobi High School and is treasurer for the club. He has a strange fascination towards the school's mascot, Iwatobi-chan. His specialty is the breaststroke.
Rei Ryugazaki (竜ヶ崎 怜, Ryūgazaki Rei)
Voiced by: Daisuke Hirakawa (Japanese); J. Michael Tatum (English)
Rei is Nagisa's classmate and also a first year (second year in
Eternal Summer) student at Iwatobi High School. He is handsome and intelligent, but is often manipulated by Nagisa for some reason. He is heavily attracted to all things beautiful, both tangible and non-tangible, and will do everything in his power to avoid things he claims "unattractive". He used to be on the track team as a pole vaulter, but could not perform well because he constantly calculated his jumps. He refuses several times to join the swim club, because he did not think swimming was beautiful enough, and therefore did not know how to swim. He joins the swim club because he admires Haruka's beautiful freestyle swimming. At first, he is unable to swim, but with some help from Haruka, he manages to learn. Out of all the swimming styles, Rei could only do the butterfly. In
Free! Eternal Summer, Rin teaches Rei to swim the other three swimming styles.
Gou Matsuoka (松岡 江, Matsuoka Gō)
Voiced by: Akeno Watanabe (Japanese); Jamie Marchi (English)
Gou is Rin's younger sister. She is a first year (second year in
Eternal Summer) student at Iwatobi High School. She prefers to be known by the more typical reading of her name, "Kou", due to Gou being a boyish name, though she eventually gives up, mostly due to Nagisa insistently calling her Gou. She joins the swim club as the manager, in hopes that she can help change Rin back to his old self. She is very organized and determined, even going as far as using calligraphy to create a 60+ page calendar to increase the pressure on training. She has a muscle fetish (even if it is her own brother), and tends to blush around men when admiring their muscles.
Miho Amakata (天方 美帆, Amakata Miho)
Voiced by: Satsuki Yukino (Japanese); Caitlin Glass (English)
Miho is Haruka and Makoto's homeroom teacher. She teaches classic literature. The students nicknamed her Ama-chan. Rumors among Iwatobi students suggest that she had gone to Tokyo to pursue her dream of being in a swimsuit company, but failed and became a teacher instead. Although she has a quirky and upbeat personality, sometimes she uses old, confusing literature phrases to make a point. She becomes the faculty advisor for the swim club after Nagisa finds out her work in Tokyo involved swimsuits. It is revealed she was once a swimsuit model working under the name of "Marin-chan". She appears to loathe her days as a model, and takes extreme measures to hide her previous career. When in conversation, she will emit evil auras if she feels the subject is going dangerously close to her modeling days.
Rin Matsuoka (松岡 凛, Matsuoka Rin)
Voiced by: Mamoru Miyano (Japanese); Vic Mignogna (English)
Rin is Haruka's rival. He transferred from Sano Elementary School to Iwatobi Elementary School so he could join the swim club with Haruka, Makoto and Nagisa, leading them to victory in the relay. His father had won the same competition and dreamed of becoming an Olympic swimmer but died in a typhoon. Rin went abroad to an Australian swimming middle school but experienced difficulties training and suffered a tough loss in a race against Haruka during his first winter vacation. His personality has changed by the time he comes back to Japan, estranged from his former teammates and enrolling in Samezuka Academy but not joining their swim team until his reunion with Haruka. Rin's conflicted feelings lead to him failing his individual events and he considers quitting swimming. Instead, he swims in a relay with Haruka, Makoto and Nagisa again and decides to follow his own dream. By the beginning of the second season, Rin has become Samezuka's swim team captain and is friendly with all the members of the Iwatobi Swim Club, even Rei. Rin is actually better at swimming butterfly, but chooses to focus on freestyle in order to compete with Haruka. Rin seems to be very protective of Gou, especially when Seijuro calls her by her first name and Momotaro coming closer to her. Rin is often misunderstood and his speech is taken the wrong way.
Sosuke Yamazaki (山崎 宗介, Yamazaki Sōsuke)
Voiced by: Yoshimasa Hosoya (Japanese); Ian Sinclair (English)
Sosuke is Rin's childhood best friend from Sano Elementary School and is the person who understands Rin the most. In
Eternal Summer, he transfers to Samezuka Academy so he can spend his last year of high school swimming with Rin in his hometown. He is also good friends with Gou, since he spent his holidays with her and Rin in their elementary days. Having a strong personality, he does not let anything irritate him. He takes a dry and harsh position on swimming toward himself and others around him. He is a very skilled butterfly swimmer, and was ranked in the top 10 in Japan. After Rin left for Australia, he set a goal for himself to one day become a professional swimmer alongside Rin. It's revealed that due to over training in his first year of high school, he severely injured his right shoulder, ruining his chances of ever entering the professional world. He appears in the second season.
Aiichiro Nitori (似鳥 愛一郎, Nitori Aiichirō)
Voiced by: Kōki Miyata (Japanese); Josh Grelle (English)
Aiichiro is a first year (second year in
Eternal Summer) student and member of the Samezuka Academy swimming team, who idolizes Rin very much. He shares a dorm with Rin in the first season, and then Momotaro in the second season. He swims long distance freestyle, but begins to focus more on breaststroke in the second season. At the end of the series, Rin appoints him to be Samezuka's new captain.
Momotaro Mikoshiba (御子柴 百太郎, Mikoshiba Momotarō)
Voiced by: Kenichi Suzumura (Japanese); Jerry Jewell (English)
Momotaro is Seijuro's younger brother and a first year (in
Eternal Summer) student at Samezuka Academy. Initially he doesn't join the swim team, but does later on at Rin's request. Like his brother, he also has a crush on Gou and is a very enthusiastic person. He is a very skilled backstroke swimmer and was given the nickname "The Sea of Japan's Sea Otter" because of it.
Seijuro Mikoshiba (御子柴 清十郎, Mikoshiba Seijūrō)
Voiced by: Kenjiro Tsuda (Japanese); Robert McCollum (English)
Seijuro is the captain of the Samezuka Academy swimming team and a third year student (first year college student in
Eternal Summer). He is a very enthusiastic person and a very skilled swimmer.
Goro Sasabe (笹部 吾朗, Sasabe Gorō)
Voiced by: Hiroshi Yanaka (Japanese); Christopher R. Sabat (English)
Goro was the swimming coach at the abandoned Iwatobi Swimming Club, having coached Haruka, Makoto, Nagisa and Rin while they were in grade school, and had since became a part-time pizza delivery man. He later resumes coaching Haruka, Makoto and Nagisa, with the addition of Rei. He is normally very laid-back, but can be incredibly strict with the Iwatobi boys when coaching. In
Eternal Summer, he rebuilds the Iwatobi Swimming Club and renames it "Iwatobi SC Returns".
Chigusa Hanamura (花村 千種, Hanamura Chigusa)
Voiced by: Satomi Satō (Japanese); Tia Ballard (English)
Chigusa is Gou's friend and a first year student at Iwatobi High School. She usually spectates the Swim Club's tournaments to support them.
Ran Tachibana (橘 蘭, Tachibana Ran)
Voiced by: Miyuki Kobori (Japanese); Sarah Wiedenheft (English)
Ran is Makoto's younger sister. She and her twin brother Ren appear to adore Makoto.
Ren Tachibana (橘 蓮, Tachibana Ren)
Voiced by: Yuka Maruyama (Japanese); Megan Vander Pluym (English)
Ren is Makoto's younger brother. He and his twin sister Ran appear to adore Makoto.
Radio show and drama CDs
An Internet radio show to promote the anime called Iwatobi Channel (イワトビちゃんねる, Iwatobi Channeru) began broadcasting on June 17, 2013. The show is streamed online every Monday, and is produced by the Japanese Internet radio stations Lantis Web Radio and Onsen. The show is hosted by Nobunaga Shimazaki and Tatsuhisa Suzuki, who voice Haruka Nanase and Makoto Tachibana from the anime, respectively. Two CD compilation volumes were released between August 21 and September 25, 2013.
Two volumes in a drama CDs series, titled Iwatobi High School Swimming Club Activity Journal (岩鳶高校水泳部活動日誌, Iwatobi Kōkō Suiei-bu Katsudō Nisshi), were released between August 21 and September 25, 2013.
Animation Do released a splash image for a new project in April 2012, which was followed by a television commercial for the project in March 2013. The commercial quickly went viral among fans—especially users of the blogging site Tumblr, who quickly developed a sequel around what they dubbed as the "swimming anime". Despite only being a 30-second commercial, a wide variety of fan works expanding upon the nameless characters from the ad were created, including hypothetical biographies, art, and fan fiction, along with online petitions calling on the studio to turn it into a real series.
The 12-episode anime television series, produced by Kyoto Animation and Animation Do, is directed by Hiroko Utsumi, written by Masahiro Yokotani, features character designs by Futoshi Nishiya and music by Tatsuya Katō. The series aired in Japan between July 4 and September 26, 2013 on Tokyo MX, and was also streamed on the Japanese video-sharing website Niconico and simulcast by Crunchyroll, who also possesses the home video rights to the series. The series was released on six BD and DVD compilation volumes between September 11, 2013 and February 5, 2014, with certain volumes containing short bonus episodes. A 13-episode second season, titled Free! Eternal Summer, aired between July 2 and September 24, 2014. Funimation has licensed the second season for streaming and home video in North America, and they attempted to negotiate with Crunchyroll about releasing the first season on home video. However, Discotek Media released the first season on behalf of Crunchyroll on DVD with subtitles, but noted a dubbed release might come eventually. The English dub of the first season is available on Crunchyroll, with the English voice cast reprising their roles. Crunchyroll will re-release the series themselves on Blu-ray and DVD.
An animated film based on the second volume of the original light novel, titled High Speed! -Free! Starting Days-, was released in Japan on December 5, 2015. The film was directed by Yasuhiro Takemoto and the screenplay was written by Maiko Nishioka. Yokotani worked on the story composition, and Nishiya served as character designer and chief animation director.
The opening theme is "Rage On" by Oldcodex and the ending theme is "Splash Free" by Style Five (Nobunaga Shimazaki, Tatsuhisa Suzuki, Mamoru Miyano, Tsubasa Yonaga and Daisuke Hirakawa). The ending theme for episode 12 is "Ever Blue" by Style Five. The single for "Rage On" was released on July 17, 2013 and sold over 24,281 copies. The single for "Splash Free" was released on August 7, 2013 and sold over 47,646 copies. For the second season, the opening theme is "Dried Up Youthful Fame" by Oldcodex, and the ending theme is "Future Fish" by Style Five. The ending theme for episode 13 is "Clear Blue Departure" by Nobunaga Shimazaki, Tatsuhisa Suzuki, Tsubasa Yonaga, Daisuke Hirakawa, Mamoru Miyano, Yoshimasa Hosoya, Kōki Miyata and Kenichi Suzumura.
Five character song singles were released sung by the voice actors of the main characters. The singles for Haruka Nanase (sung by Shimazaki) and Makoto Tachibana (sung by Suzuki) were released on August 7, 2013. Makoto's single sold over 23,487 copies, while Haruka's single sold about 20,371 copies. The singles for Rin Matsuoka (sung by Miyano), Nagisa Hazuki (sung by Yonaga) and Rei Ryūgazaki (sung by Hirakawa) were released on September 4, 2013. Rin's single sold over 18,698 copies, while Rei's and Nagisa's sold over 15,021 and 14,283 copies, respectively.
Four duet character song singles were released sung by the voice actors of the main characters. The single with Haruka (sung by Shimazaki) and Makoto (sung by Suzuki) was released on December 18, 2013 and sold over 16,361 album copies. The single with Nagisa (sung by Tsubasa Yonaga) and Rei (sung by Daisuke Hirakawa) was released on January 15, 2014 and sold over 11,980 copies. The single with Rei (sung by Daisuke Hirakawa) and Rin (sung by Mamoru Miyano) was released on February 12, 2014 and sold over 13,389 copies. The last single with Haruka (sung by Shimazaki) and Rin (sung by Mamoru Miyano) was released on March 19, 2014 and sold over 15,866 album copies.
The original light novel High Speed! (ハイ☆スピード, Hai Supīdo) is written by Kōji Ōji, with illustrations by Futoshi Nishiya. Ōji entered it into the second Kyoto Animation Award contest in 2011, and it won an honorable mention in the novel category. It was published by Kyoto Animation on July 8, 2013. A second volume was published on July 2, 2014, and the story takes place when Haruka and Makoto are in junior high school.
