Free! : Trial in Open Water!

Episode 5

Rei finally knows how to swim! He's mastered the Butterfly technique.

Now all we need to do is starting winning at tournaments and Haru gets his gym pass!

***SPOILERS***

So Kou is trying to keep them all motivated and finds something in the locker room...

They have their tracksuits which look very nice and what Kou found was an ancient training regime from the old swimming school. Apparently they swam from island to island and as they need stamina they decide to do a training camp.

Of course they won't get the money to go to a deserted island to train, they also had to pay for their own tracksuits.

They decide to camp but they need transportation which they get from Pizza guy (I like that better than his real name hence why I'm calling him Pizza guy.) Haru seems to have a problem with the ocean, we only get a vague flashback of colorless men walking by them so goodness knows what that is about.

Turns out that Rin's team is there anyway at the sports center. The boys are camping out side whilst the girls are staying in the hotel. So they get to the training which takes them all day.

During the night Rei decides to go out swimming but a storm starts up and he gets stuck in the water with only Mako to save him. Will he be able to do it?

I like the idea of their training camp, it really is a good idea not only to build their stamina but also to help their team work.

They do seem to get on very well as well because whenever Rei was lagging behind they'd stop for him even if it meant they were wasting time waiting.

I'm starting to see that the reason I like this series so much as the episodes roll by is because they actually just enjoy swimming. The tournament is only important to them because they get to swim against Rin and even then it isn't "we want to beat him" just "we want to swim with him" which is adorable in its own right.

The fact that Rin still cares about them is nice.

I think I get Rin a lot better now, I'm guessing that seeing he went to Australia to become an Olympic swimmer then came back and was beaten by someone who wasn't even swimming much anymore... Its gonna leave a mark on your confidence, and one thing professional athletes need to confidence. He needs validation that all his training was worth something, which he feels means he has to beat Haru who is just a natural swimmer.

I get that, it is a sad story I don't think will have a happy ending though unless the character finds the same thing Haru has which is a group he can be with and be happy with. His goals right now are too high there is only one way to go especially if he's going to kid himself that he didn't deserve victories when he gets them.

The episode ended on a very scary note! I'm happy episode 6 is right there waiting for me because I'd be heartbroken waiting a week to find out if Rei is alright!

And what is Mako's history with the ocean?!