Not in before the ‘Sousuke’s an asshole’ and ‘he’s just jealous’ posts but whatever.
Competitive swimming is not football or baseball, these kids really only have a couple years to make it on a national level before they can forget about the Olympics altogether. And let’s not forget that that’s what Rin wants, more than anything, to make it to the Olympics. In less than abstract terms: if he’s not way at the top of national rankings by college, that’s that. Sousuke knows this because he has the same goals.
So with all this in mind, try to imagine what the regionals must have looked like to Sousuke. For that matter, try to imagine what Haru must look like to aspiring athletes like Rin and Sousuke, with all that potential and sparks of motivation only every now and then.
Free! is fun and all, but more than that, it’s a really compelling coming-of-age story. If Rin keeps messing around ~*~because friendship~*~ he’ll never make it. If Haru doesn’t make up his mind about swimming competitively now, he won’t have the opportunity to change his mind later. There are no villains or saints here, only a bunch of teenagers struggling with the enormous pressure of having to decide what to do with the rest of their lives, and having to decide right now.
wow tl;dr STOP VILLAINIZING CHARACTERS, what do you think this is, a Bond movie? Seriously.
(wlwjojo-deactivated20210305から)