Free! : Hesitant Loosen Up!

Episode 9

The only thing that matters....

Did we win our heat? Are we going to regional's?!

***SPOILERS***

Yes we did.

Never thought we wouldn't!

Rin seems very jealous of how friendly they all are (no I don't mean it in that way, mind out of the gutter!)

The school assembly announces that they've made regional's! They really are getting there now. Soon he'll get that gym membership he wants. Possibly.

Their next objection is nationals apparently!

Kou has them straight into the pool and training. And Rin seems to still be upset about probably not being in a team with Haru and all that.

So festival time! And even Haru is going. There is hell of a lot of squid around, and everything to eat is squid... Or candy apples. Rei and Nagisa are adorable together and become the duo who try to stop Haru running into Rin.

Turns out that Rin leaves the festival to go to their old elementary school (and Rei does such a good job stalking him.)

WOOHOO Haru wants to swim in the relays! He wants to swim with everyone. AND HE SMILES!

Turns out that Rin has asked to race in the relay at regional's. So Haru gets to swim against him again, man I will shout if he upsets Haru again!

Very nice episode, loved it in fact.

I do like anime's that have characters just being... Nice to each other. Just having fun.

So the thing that Rin and Haru have in common seems to be they want to race together, I think that Rin really is jealous and upset that he can't race with his friends, he's made this big thing in his head up and has this twisted thing about Haru but deep down just like Haru he wants to race together.

Well tough, Rei is with them now!

The whole episode after we won was lovely, I loved seeing the characters just do things together and it was nice to see Haru acting human for a change.

Rei, what a magical creature he is! The stalking Rin was about the funniest thing I've ever seen and so skillfully done.

I liked that Haru decided that he wanted to race with his friends, I don't know there was something hollow about the words maybe the way he didn't smile or seem to put any energy into the proclamation that he wanted to race with them. He really is like a robot at times I just hope that he really becomes enthusiastic about being in a team with friends.

And what the hell is this grabbing the front of their t-shirts thing about?!

One question I have though for real life swimming buffs.

After you qualify in the preliminary rounds for something can you change the line ups for the, in this case, regional's?

I understand why the captain went with it, Rin is probably their best or close to best swimmer but I just feel bad for whoever qualified for the race and gets kicked out because Rin has a power made trip about having to make himself feel better beating Haru.

Lastly, and not really about the episode, Mako. What a lovely character he is! I love how warm they've made him, even as a animated character you get so much warmth out of his eyes and his smiles, he's pretty much a real life person to me. So sweet and caring (loved the scene the other episode with his family) really the backbone of the whole group!

Can't wait for next episode (AND I WILL NOT BE LATE!)