High☆Speed! Free! Starting Days

skyela Apr 1, 2020

9.5

MINOR SPOILERS   Story: This was lovely! I love how it was basically just a childhood memory of Haru and Makoto. I really enjoyed it and started crying in the end because it was just so adorable, I didn't want it to end lol.  Animation: Charming as always. The character designs were so pretty. The Free! series never disappoint with the animation. Sound: The Free! series usually have amazing soundtracks, but I didn't really think it was that great in this movie. I also had a really hard time to hear who was who between Ikuya and Haru (I'm sorry), which was quite a tease. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love both Nobunaga Shimazaki (Haru's voice actor) and Kouki Uchiyama (Ikuya's voice actor) and I am usually able to tell them apart! But, it's just that Ikuya and Haru are very similar in this series in general (especially when Ikuya is starting to imitate Haru) and I think it's there that it fails for me. Does that make sense? Characters: Haru: He's just lovely in general. I do understand that some find him annoying, though, as he rarely talks or smiles and tends to look like he's not actually grateful for anything, but I believe that deep down, he really cares. He's just a bit introverted. Makoto: BABY! I love him omg. He's just so kind and I love his relationship with Haru. And whenever he takes out his hand toHaru to help him up from the pool my heart just says "DJSAKFHHJFKA" (๑ ˃̵ ᴗ ˂̵)و Asahi: He's so dorky and adorable! He's like that quite annoying friend that screams you in the ear all the time but you're still thankful to have him by your side. The show wouldn't be the same without him. Ikuya: I really like him and I look forward to seeing him in season 3 (I have not watched it yet). He seems really interesting and awesome! Overall: This movie was so delightful and I regret nothing from watching it! Unfortunately, the platform I watched it, somehow had Japanese subtitles (cc) on the video already, so it looked super weird with English ones upon it, so I didn't really get the perfect experience from it, but I am so happy I still watched it! I can already tell that I am gonna rewatch it sometime in the near future!

Sapphiire Aug 4, 2016

10

I thought this was suppose to be cute moe middle school swimming gays but then they all had issues with themselves and each other. There was so much self discovery in the length of two hours. At least they had somewhat of an excuse for not talking because they were still trying to figure it out for themselves that how could they possibly work out the problem with another. Thank goodness for momma Nao, he helped a lot. If you like free, watch this. If you don't, well okay. I wanted to give story a dramaful/10 and the characters a wtf/10 but the site wouldn't let me do that. Kyoani is an awesome studio with quality animation.

xyst Mar 11, 2020

9

Ahh, i love this movie so much. One of my favourite out of the whole Free! series. Smol Spoilers so read at your own riskkk The Story This movie is basically when the main character (Haru) and his friend, (Makoto) went to Middle school.  This story was so innocent (?) and cute.  I was honestly really glad that they made a whole movie about the past of the characters.   Even though the story was very heartwarming and stuff it did explore some problems the characters were dealing with in an amazing manner, such as Makoto trying to change himself, Asashi's sudden loss of confidence, Ikuyu's problems with his brother and etc. When I finished watching this, I noticed how the fact that Ikuyu sort of copied Haru alot wasn't cleared up.  But don't worry, they acknowledged and fixed that problem later in another series.   (This paragraph is sort of unrelated) I also love how realistic, not just this movie but the whole Free! series, is.  I always get annoyed when the MC wins just because of plot armour and stuff.  Free!, Haikyuu and Yuri on Ice take a nice realistic turn and the mc's DO lose sometimes and ofc I am sad because i have seen them work so hard but I just find it much better plot wise. Animation The art was beautiful.  The characters designs and colour palettes.  The scenery (especially the starry night).  10/10.  No complaints for this movie. Sound The Free! soundtrack is always amazing but I didn't hear any notable music and such in this movie specifically so I won't rate it as high.   Characters Haru: Same monotone expression and i LOVE Him for that.  Has an adorable obsession for Mackerals which i found to be a funny detail.  Swimming prodigy ofc.   Makoto: My favourite boi.  Sweet and caring.  Cares for Haru so much, I love their friendship.  Played an amzing role in the drama that was in the movie.   Asashi: I love him and I cried at the end.  When I started watching another Free! series, I started crying when I saw him.  I just missed him.  Love how he overcomes his lack of confidence.   Ikuyu: Adorable cinnamon roll.  His voice when he was younger in a flashback got me crying, it was so cute.  Love this boy and his problems.  I am very glad how they helped Ikuyu.  All characters, not just the main four, underwent such amazing development.  And we got to see Rei and Nagisa when they were younger so I am very satisfied. Overall Movie is definately worth watching if you enjoy Free! Even if you don't watch Free!, it is an amazing way to get into the Free! animes.   Personally, I feel that you should watch Itwaboi swim club and Free! eternal summer before this so it would really give you a 120% impact.