(L+CR) Free!

[JKL]

Originally Posted by ginger02

Something I saw on another forum

That Kyoani spruce up in full force yet again.

[Dark Wing]

Originally Posted by MontyAI

http://forums.animesuki.com/showthre...97#post4658097

Oh God no! They look like trannies in that picture!

[frodonk]

holy cow, if there's one thing an all male protagonist anime can do, it is that they can make the MCs undress in a moment without notice.

seriously, can you imagine the controversy it will cause if girls from clannad for example strips down to their swimsuits every time they see a pool? lol somehow it's ok if they are men with ridiculously well sculpted bodies.

I don't see why they can't come up with boyish names for the MCs, why name them with girl names?

in essence though, this looks like a typical kyoani production which includes a bit of rivalry and the usual slice of life thing they do. I don't mind it at all, since the animation is as good as always and the plot is intriguing enough for me to want to watch what happens next.

Imagine if Gou was voiced by Wakamoto Norio...

EVERYTHING'S BETTER WITH THAT GUY AROUND, EVEN IF HE'S VOICING A GIRL!

[GoldenLand]

Originally Posted by frodonk

seriously, can you imagine the controversy it will cause if girls from clannad for example strips down to their swimsuits every time they see a pool? lol somehow it's ok if they are men with ridiculously well sculpted bodies

Well, I don't know about Clannad, but if you saw the K anime, the female lead literally preferred to be nude at all times, spent several episodes and the entire ending credits wearing nothing or nearly nothing, and had to be chased around and persuaded to put clothes on...

[GDiddy]

Originally Posted by frodonk

holy cow, if there's one thing an all male protagonist anime can do, it is that they can make the MCs undress in a moment without notice.

seriously, can you imagine the controversy it will cause if girls from clannad for example strips down to their swimsuits every time they see a pool? lol somehow it's ok if they are men with ridiculously well sculpted bodies.

I don't know about Clannad, but I've seen plenty of scenarios like this:

female strips down to nothing or to a bathing suit/naked....


And yeah, as someone says, the female MC of K is butt-nekkid all the time.

[Blonto]

Ok so...Usually I never find guy fanservice attractive so I was really surprised when a colleague of mine showed the PV to me and I actually stared at it instead of making fun of it (I had to force myself to make some lame jab at it just to keep the image of my cynical self in tact). The PV for this is the second time I've ever genuinely taken the bishounen bait, which might have something to do with knowing that Kyoani animated it , so you can count me guilty. I've rewatched the damn thing a dozen times.
Still, knowing this is Kyoani, I came in with no expectations except for wanting good animation and maybe some good fanservice. Kyoani seemed to expect that and didn't bother with anything else. Nothing new there.

So my impressions:
1. I did not expect the show to be this fanservicey, especially since it's a Kyoani show. I mean, Jesus, this is really what ecchi for women would be like if the guys randomly undressed just as often as girls do. It felt really weird and manipulative, though I won't deny I have a bit of a double standard considering the amount of normal fanservice shows I've watched vastly outnumbers the amount of these fanservice shows.
2. The guys are so annoyingly girly. I couldn't stand K-On due to how over-the-top girlygirlygirly the characters were (or were they just brain damaged? Hard to tell the difference). I sure can't stand it when it's the guys acting like that. Can they at least try not to bob their heads to the side when they giggle or call eachother -chan? I guess that's the same as the usual fanservice anime where all female friends are practically lesbians who can't wait to fondle eachother so...+1 for getting that part right too.
3. The characters are so, so, so bland. Even from the PV you could tell all the tropes they would use: there's the genki girly (well, the girliest) guy, the stoic (pretty much every Kyoani protagonist), the aggressive, douchy guy, the megane dude and the aloof guy (who is actually half straight man, oh the plot twist). At least in some other crap fanservice shows I can cling to one character I find attractive or mildly interesting. Here, I've got nothin'.
4. A few scenes were just such turn-offs due to the way the guys were drawn. One scene in particular, that red haired guy's back looked like his skin dried up and stuck to his bones with no flesh in between. I literally cringed at that.

The things I liked? Hmm...the blue guy's quirk of wearing swimming shorts all the time. That's pretty much it.

[germanturkey]

i think the reaction people are having to reverse moe-blob is hilarious. especially when the vast majority of male anime viewers aren't exactly at the peak of physical performance like the males portrayed in this show are. i can almost hear the self confidence crashing down. its a hilarious reverse of typical female stereotypes.

[GDiddy]

Originally Posted by germanturkey

i think the reaction people are having to reverse moe-blob is hilarious. especially when the vast majority of male anime viewers aren't exactly at the peak of physical performance like the males portrayed in this show are. i can almost hear the self confidence crashing down. its a hilarious reverse of typical female stereotypes.

Yep. This totally

Or they're surprised 'OMG THIS SHOW IS ACTUALLY PRETTY GOOD!'


I'm already looking forward to episode 2. Haruka and his hot love for Pool-san has me intrigued.

[larethian]

A decently interesting Fujoshi show, with great animation. Looks like Rin x Haru would be the main pairing

[Myssa Rei]

Really? I was under the impression that the OTP was Nagisa x Pool.

[Sackett]

Originally Posted by Myssa Rei

Really? I was under the impression that the OTP was Nagisa x Pool.

???

Huh?

Are you sure you don't mean Haruka X Pool?

[monir]

Originally Posted by larethian

Looks like Rin x Haru would be the main pairing

A shrewd observation indeed. Any educated guesses on which episode they might lock lips? I'm guessing Rin needs at least 2-3 episodes before he starts showing his dere mode, though at the moment it's all so Tsun-tsun.

[cyth]

There won't be any kissing, just showing off things each of them has never seen before.

[Sixth]

600+ posts for this anime...seriously? I thought people disgusted with cute boy doing cute things?

[orion]

Originally Posted by monir

A shrewd observation indeed. Any educated guesses on which episode they might lock lips? I'm guessing Rin needs at least 2-3 episodes before he starts showing his dere mode, though at the moment it's all so Tsun-tsun.

Nooooo! It's Haruka x Makoto. Osananajimi ftw!

[monir]

Originally Posted by orion

Nooooo! It's Haruka x Makoto. Osananajimi ftw!

After years of experience gained via watching countless fanservice anime, I reserve enough pessimism against any pairing that involves an Osananajimi. I think Makoto will have to be content with occasional sight of Haru in a semi-hadaka apron. Rin's got way better chance to get to the goods than Makoto by the virtue of Rin's not an Osananajimi. I think Rin x Haru pairing became a canon the moment they simultaneously started to take their clothes off to match each others exposed flesh. It was like watching Nature TV where the desire for mating is expressed by sending overt signal for seduction. Those two want each other!

[Guardian Enzo]

One episode in and we're already arguing over who Haruka wants to take his special thing...

[Dagger]

I don't quite know how to characterize it, but Free's sense of humor reminds me a bit of Ikuhara Kunihiko (of Utena and Penguindrum and Sailor Moon fame)... it's much much lower-key and less surreal/insane than what Ikuhara throws at viewers in his shows, of course. There's just something ever so vaguely reminiscent of his comedic pacing in the tempo of the gags here, and particularly in how the characters' reactions remain slightly off-beat, even when they're pointing out something much more off-beat and ridiculous. Anyway, it works for me. Empty pool for the win.

[frodonk]

Originally Posted by GoldenLand

Well, I don't know about Clannad, but if you saw the K anime, the female lead literally preferred to be nude at all times, spent several episodes and the entire ending credits wearing nothing or nearly nothing, and had to be chased around and persuaded to put clothes on...

but neko is a ... neko, although in human form. Still very much a cat though.

I guess what I'm saying is that we're all too used to fanservice when it involves girls. this time around, with males doing the fanservice thing we don't mind it as much since its kind of new. at least that's how it is for me.

I hope they pull a nichibros routine and air an episode where all the MCs are in the beach or in an onsen somewhere

[GoldenLand]

I don't care what happens in the rest of the series. Haruka x Water is canon and the one true ship. Or possibly KyoAni x animating pretty water.

Originally Posted by frodonk

but neko is a ... neko, although in human form. Still very much a cat though.

And Haruka is just a guy who happens to like the water very much, it's not as if his in-universe reason is that he's trying to provide fanservice and jokes. Similar things in the end, a girl who takes every opportunity not to wear clothes, and a guy who takes every opportunity to strip down to his swimming trunks.

Originally Posted by frodonk

I guess what I'm saying is that we're all too used to fanservice when it involves girls. this time around, with males doing the fanservice thing we don't mind it as much since its kind of new. at least that's how it is for me.

Yeah, I agree with that. I'm not a big fan of fanservice in general (at least not the ridiculous suddenly naked/stripping kind), but Free!'s type of fanservice is not something I've seen a lot of. Which is not to say by any means that Free! is the first ever show to have fanservice of guys. But with KyoAni making this series - and having such gorgeous animation - it has come to the attention of people who might not otherwise have been watching this genre.