Look at all those hard, muscular arms and packs.

Hello and welcome. You are weed variant in exploration and education and anime. I'm your anime idiot, patrick dugan.

I'm an anime expert, dana hollander.

And I'm brenna mccullough. Your anime, Michael phelps.

Your weed sounds hard.

It's fun, and it sounds just like it because it's the weed. Remember when Michael phelps got in trouble smoking weed and now it's legal everywhere?

Yes, I remember. Bad boy of swim.

He's a bad boy.

I don't know. Ryan lochte.

Yeah, he got into a fucking fistfight with, like, a Russian store clerk and got kicked out.

Hey, he's the villain of swimming.

He's just the bad guy.

He is a bad man.

Oh, boy.

Are we talking about swimming because it's summer?

It's summertime. We know what we got to do. We got to go to a school extra curriculum class.

It's summer. So we're in school because we didn't pay attention in English.

I got to get that summer school sport.

It's rough. Hey, wait a minute. It is like a summer sport, and it's free. We're watching fruit. We should probably say at some point, yes.

This is a recommendation from Will parsons. We're watching Free. iwatobi the swim club.

Yeah.

Thanks, Will.

Thank you for your recommendations. If you have a recommendation of your own, feel free to send it in through email or Twitter or any of the other social media handles.

Wow, look at Brendan go stealing dugan's gig.

So, Brendan, do you know anything about this show?

I know it's about beautiful boys swimming. I've seen I think it's 50% off is, like the fan dub thing. Kind of like a joke series.

I remember.

Yeah, it was done by, like, a youtuber streamer, Octopimp. So I followed his stuff for a while, and I didn't watch any of it because I didn't watch Free. But I know what it's about and I know a good gist of it.

And dana, have you seen it?

Yeah, I watched some of it. I didn't finish it. Much like every other anime, this podcast is just turning into exposing me as not actually being an anime expert because I never finish anime, it seems like. But, yeah, I like it.

You have to keep your credibility. I did.

I'm sorry.

I delusion.

I've seen all of free. I've seen every anime ever. What are you talking about?

You can watch as none of the anime. Daniel watches half of the anime, and I watch way too much of it.

Yes.

And not the good animal balance is that, but yeah. This original run was 2018. Is that right?

Oh, no.

Two recents yeah, yeah.

Oh, no. That's their most recent season. forgive me.

There's another season?

Hot damn. Hot boy.

It goes under a different name. Well, first off, the light novel came out 2013. That sounds more right.

Yeah.

When the season one also came out, 2013. Okay, that's about and then there's Free eternal summer in 2014 and then free dive to the future in 2018. It seems like they took a little break, but brought it back.

Also, from what I understand, this came from like a commercial. Like, these were characters in a commercial. Look at these pretty boys. Make a show, please. But that could be a mission.

I don't doubt that.

Why don't Americans do that? Why don't we say take like a car insurance commercial and just make a TV show out of it?

They should get Nick kroll to write it.

I think he was in it.

Oh, really? I thought he wrote it.

I think he was one of the cases. Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised, though, because Japan everything has mascots. We've talked about it before. And because it's such a huge animation hub, they'll animate stuff that would normally be a huge budget and like a lot of detail and attention for a series or a movie. And they're like, yeah, this is just to sell instant, noodle ramen. So they'll do, like, big budget animated commercials and stuff. So I wouldn't be surprised if this did start as something innocuous, like a commercial.

We must buy beautiful boys. Is that what we're selling? I don't know. Marketing?

I'll take four.

You're not wrong. Isn't that why kpop bands are so popular again?

Because they're pretty?

Yeah, and it's an industry run on blood, sweat, and horrible, horrible treatment of the musicians.

Just like jp.

Anyways, high schoolers.

High schoolers. High school swim clips. We're going to oggle some high schoolers. Let's get into this.

No, stop it.

I mean, we are.

We're going to watch the first three episodes. Everyone all win.

Everybody out. Everybody out. There's a shark in the water. We got to get out and talk about this swimming anime.

You can't see it. It's a glass shark.

What a dramatic twist.

Glass shark going to get you.

What a dramatic twist that all the characters were eaten by episode two. Just watched a blank screen for episode two.

They really jumped the shark.

I'm on board. This is a good episode. We're doing God's work here.

We walked right into it. We all did. Glass shark. We walked into it like a glass door.

Couldn't see it in that dark water.

Let's get going.

Anyway, episode one.

Episode one starts off with some visuals of water. who'd have guessed it?

Big surprise.

There's a character monologue. And they're like water. And I was like, qatara, what are you doing here?

Fire air.

And the person talking really loves swimming. They're pretty much just talking about how great water is and how great swimming is. And because I know the show, I was like, this is Haru. But the voice I watched it in English, and the voice actor they chose for young Haru is very feminine.

Oh, yes. The casting for all the young versions of them in like, middle school or whatever crazy elementary school, they are all clearly adult women. They are not sounding like young boys at all.

Yeah, I feel like the whole rinse is pretty okay, but I feel like haru's is definitely the worst.

Yeah, I think it's just comparative because the bad ones are very bad.

It is haru. Haru swimming. And then there's some little boys watching Haru swim, and those little boys are named makoto and nagisa. And then another boy jumps in, and his name is Rin, and he's a very good swimmer. They're swimming good, good. Fast.

Rin is also the new kid in school.

Yeah. And Haru is faster than Rin finishes before Rin finishes, and he's like, oh, you're so good. I want to swim in a relay with you at the next tournament. And Haru is like, I swim free. You're not at all, bitch. Get fucked, kid. Because he literally means freestyle. I absolutely hate it. Please.

I didn't realize that until, like, episode three when he says, I swim freestyle or not at all. And I was like, oh, that's what he meant by free. Okay. Took me a minute.

He literally says, it not the corporate sponsors. They're ruining the purity.

In the English dub. He literally says freestyle a lot, and it's like, you're kind of ruining the metaphor there, Haru.

It's not that great. We have to explain it every time.

Yeah. And then he's talking about he's like, me and the water are one. Calm down, kid.

I am a fish.

13Th year on the Disney Channel. I get it. He's a mermaid.

I love that movie.

It's a good one.

Yeah. decom. And now he's a teen, and he's all angsty, and he's talking about something about his grandma told him about being normal by a certain age. And he's like, I have three years to be till I'm normal. And I'm like, who are you? Stop it.

Yeah.

What is that?

It was pretty much like that. It was like the grandma talking about, like, you can be really good as, like, a kid, and then you're like, a prodigy as, like, a teenager, and then by the time you're 20, you're normal, and everyone sucks. It's like, wow, Grandma. Way to really just sell adulthood.

She's right, though.

She's kind of right, though.

I was fascinated.

When you grow up, kids have no dreams. Die alone.

Damn.

Hand me that sweater.

Bright and burn out fast.

I was in the Gate program in elementary school, so I can confirm that gifted students, we just turn out sad.

Anyway, I was in advance math, and now I can barely count.

Yeah, I didn't do shit. I still don't do shit.

See, we should have took it easy last year. It's great we all ended up on the same podcast.

So yeah, he's angsty and a teen, and then we see the opening, and the opening is fine. I wasn't sure about it at the beginning, but as time went on, I felt more hype. Toward the end of the opening. It's like, oh, yeah, okay, here we go.

Like the music. I mean, that's definitely my type of opening music. It's kind of weird, though. A lot of nipple list dudes for a swimming show. dude's got no nipples like any of them.

I didn't even notice.

Yeah, it's one of those things where it's like, that's weird. why'd you make them all smooth?

You got to shave them off.

No, thank you.

You're going to have a show where so many boys are shirtless all the time. You really should just be anatomically correct.

I mean, that nipple budget is really.

Where they get something's got to go. And it's always the nipples first.

It's a nipple. Nipples are the first one.

Always got to cut those off first.

So after the opening, they live in, like, a little beach town. It's nice. And then makoto, he's a teenager, too now, but he's much less angsty, and he's walking to school, and he's nice to an old lady, and then he's nice to a kitten. And I was like, at this point, I was like, he's my favorite. I know it. I'm confident that he is my favorite boy.

He's the sweetheart.

Yes. He's the mom friend. I remembered that after watching. I was like, oh, that was like a meme. makoto was like the mom friend.

Yeah.

So he stops by hari's house because he's waking him up for school, and he just goes inside, and he goes into hari's bathroom, and hari's just sitting in the bathtub, and makato extends his hand, and he's like, hey, Brad, it's time to go to school. And then Haru gets up, and we get, like, a pan shot of his body, and it just keeps going, and you're like, Are we going to see this teenage boy's dick? But no, he's wearing a swimsuit in the bathtub.

At this point, after watching these three episodes, it's no longer his swimsuit. That's just his body. That's just what genital area looks like. Yeah.

He's the never news. He can admit it, he can hide it if he wants, but he is.

I was, like, thinking, if he wants to be one with the water so bad, why would he wear a swimsuit?

Also true.

Yeah, but then he gets out, and he's making breakfast and complaining about being late, and makato is like, you're the one. You're the one in the city. And he's wearing only an apron over his swimsuit.

That's a fancier shot.

Absa fruit.

My next cosplay, just walking around the con with a big frying pan full of fish.

Mackerel, swim sword.

So makato picked him up because Haru missed the first day of school yesterday, and he's kind of filling Haru in on what he missed. But Haru only has eyes for the water. He's, like, staring out into the ocean, and makato teases him for it.

If he could, he would.

If he could, he would. So he gets to class, they get to class, and they're in the same class, of course, of course. And the teacher is calling role, and she says, Ms. haruka nanasi, because haruka is a girl name. And then Makrauto leans he, like, leans toward Haru, and he's like, oh, my God, miss Teacher. Haru is a boy. And everybody laughs, and Haru is embarrassed, and she's a new teacher when people are talking about her. Yeah, just like that. And I did not pick up on what they were saying about her, but she apparently tried one thing, and it didn't work out, so now she's a teacher. And Haru was like, that's dumb. I'm going home.

See you.

Bye.

I don't trust someone who's not dedicated to teaching me.

Yeah, she had a life.

Every teacher I've ever had was born to be a teacher.

And then it's lunchtime, and makato is like, hey, you want to go up on the roof? And Haru is like, I guess. And they're going up to the roof. They're walking up the stairs, and hari says, he didn't bring lunch. And I was like, Are they going to share a vento? Wow, how cute.

The intimacy.

The intimacy of it all. And then there's a blonde boy. He's chasing him up the stairs, and he's like, makoto, haruka, hello. And then haru's like, he called me haruka. And they're like, nagisa.

What?

And I'm like, he's got pink eyes and blonde hair. He's hard to miss. I think he looks pretty much the same.

He's about the same height.

Yeah, baby. He's baby. Yeah. They say they haven't seen each other in years, and they all go up to the roof, and they're eating lunch, and they talk about how there's no swim club at the school. And nagi says, like, what the heck? I was so excited to come swim with you guys again. And then makoto, I think, mentions that Haru doesn't swim competitively anymore, at least not since the accident, to which I also put in my notes. I'm only half kidding. I forget why. And then makato makes eye contact with a red headed girl on the roof so we know she'll be important later. And then they're walking back downstairs, and nagisa is like, our old swim club is getting torn down. We should go in and reminisce before it gets all rubbled. I lost my train of thought. And Haru is like, no, that's not a good idea. And then makoto is like, there's a literal pool there. And Haru is just like, you can swim okay. And then they go hang out at haru's house, at which point we find out that he lives alone. Not because his parents died, though, because his dad got a new job, and his mom was like, I don't want you to switch high schools, honey. So now he just lives by himself.

Honest question. How would either of to you two fare if you lived by yourself in high school?

In high school? Bad.

Real bad. I would have been real bad, I think.

I probably wouldn't.

I mostly did that in the summers.

I probably wouldn't have eaten ever.

I mean, thinking back, it's pretty much just what I did in college, but with less alcohol, so, like, a lot of bagel bites.

Okay, derail, I think that's something we should definitely add to the bingo card, though, I feel like recently, or not recently, but throughout our time, we have seen a lot of high schoolers just living by themselves.

Yeah, that's definitely an anime trophy.

Yeah. And then makoto says, like, all four of us should be here. Rin isn't here, but he's in another country doing something else. And then it's flashback time. And Rin tells Haru that he's moving to Australia because he wants to go to a school with a good swim team because he wants to be in the Olympics. Yeah, like, every good boy.

Wow.

And then they're like, well, what about the tournament? And he's like, I leave the day after the tournament. Haru, please do the relay with me because I'm never swimming with you again.

This is literally the only chance before I move to a different continent.

Please. And then Rin also says to Haru that if he swims with him, he'll see something he's never seen before.

His deck.

I mean, I don't know what else? Probably what are you going to do that's so amazing? It's suspicious. Rin.

I have a pet hedgehog I haven't shown anyone.

Biscuits, biscuit. I love it.

Look, I got him a custom little swim cap.

It doesn't work with all the quills, but yeah.

So they're there at the old swim club and it's time to break in. And nagisa brought salt because he says it's probably haunted. Shannon purify these demons. Oh, no, they're not that bad.

Absolutely.

They're never bad.

They're not those bad.

Why did I say that?

They're breaking and entering right now.

They want to reminisce.

It's still illegal.

At which point, makoto is like, don't tell me that, nagisa. Don't scare me.

Scared.

And so nagisa throws the salt all over them and they're walking in and hari's like, this is sugar. What kind of sugar is going to purify demons? And he's like, they're the same, right? He's like, no, nagas can believe hard enough it's not the same. And makoto is a big old scaredy cat. While they're walking through, Najisa, like, accidentally kicks a can. And Malcotto is like, what was that? He freaks out fully. I'm fully committed to this boy.

He's such a good lad.

And they're looking around, looking. They find some pictures, they're reminiscing and stuff. There are more flashbacks. They did the relay. They won. hooray. Of course they won. They got Haru on their team and they won a trophy for it. But Rin suggests that they buried in a time capsule because it's not fair for one of them to keep it because they all did it together and rein in the English dub. He goes, what can I say? I'm a romantic. And I loved that. I loved the idea of, like, an eleven year old boy saying that to his friends. And then they're walking down toward the pool and there's a figure at the end of the hallway. Who could it be? It's a good ghost.

The ghost of Rin. He died.

Australia is a dangerous place, but he's beautiful. And I must say, the way I feel about this dub at most times is kind of disgusted because roughgow. What the fuck? dugan.

So I couldn't find a picture of a hedgehog with goggles and a swim cap, but I had to share this hedgehog in the wool kayak. Anyway, thank you.

I love it. I'm so sorry. My notes are on my phone. So I saw that you sent a picture and I was like, what? Okay. But yeah, I'm disgusted by this dub because of actors in it. And I find history. I find that the casting of vic minyana as Rin is just bad. It's not a good character type for him at all. The fact that bad.

I can't hear him as anything other than Edward elrick. So that's always what I think of when I hear him.

And tomiki. I think of Tomaky because that's how I know him. Which are dude. They're just like very I don't know. Rin should be played by someone who.

Sounds more brooding, less blonde.

Less blonde. So they see each other and ren is like, why are you still hanging out with these losers? The challenge is haru to erase because that's what I learned abroad. Haru. And then they're taking off their clothes. yep. And they're very toned. It's a big thing in the show, just boys taking off their clothes.

I will say, if there's any high school athletes that would be ridiculously toned and fit, it is swimmers.

Absolutely.

So it makes more sense with this than other shows.

Yes. And they're already ready with their swimsuits. They're both wearing their swimsuits, and they got to prove themselves to each other. They're raring to go, and they're running toward the pool, and makato is like, Stop. Wait. Because there's no water in the pool.

Kind of wish they don't sleep.

They're about to demolish it. Don't just leave the water in there.

So they can't race. darn. And then Ryan is like, oh, are you guys here to dig this up? This trophy, I don't even want it. And then he drops it on the ground. And I'm like, you're the one that dug it up, you big idiot.

Clearly did.

I don't even care. I just scrambled through the weeds that haven't been maintained and fought a raccoon and dug for a half hour.

But I don't metal detector with me. jeez. And then it's the next day, and haru's like, Was that a dream? And they're like, nah, dog, it happened. And they're talking about how Rin used to be nicer. They don't remember him being so mean. And then off in the distance, the redheaded girl is watching them in parentheses because I know things I wrote because she's rin's little sister. They have the hair, and she's with a friend. And the friend is like, Why? You know all these guys? What are all those guys up to? And she's like, yeah, they used to swim together at the swim club with my brother. But now they're only bonded by the fact that they all have girl names. And then her friend is like, oh, you have that in common with them, too. Your name sounds like a boy name. And the delivery of this line in English made me laugh. I thought it was an excellent delivery of the line. I wouldn't have a boy name if people stop calling me Go.

She just got a point.

I loved it. It was so good. And then they get in trouble with the teachers for breaking and entering because, of course, crime. And the new teacher comes over and tries to defend them, but the old teacher is like, Get out of here, lady. And then they're looking for rin's locker because they're like, he's back. Is he here? And then they find his last name, Matsuoka. But it's go Matsuoka nanny plot twist. And then haru's at home in his bathtub, and Go is ringing his doorbell, but he doesn't want to deal with it, so he ducks his head under the water. And then nagisa and makuto are there, and they're like, what's up? And she keeps telling them to pronounce her name as Co instead of Go. And then she says she was at haru's house because she wanted to know if Haru had seen Rin because he came home, and then he went to a boarding school, and she hasn't even seen him yet. And I was like, that's so terrible. What a butthole.

Why wouldn't you, sister?

Because he has to be too edgy for her.

No, I don't have a sister. What? That's a sister for sissy. And then they go tell Haru that he should say hi to Rand. And he's like, Why? We just saw him yesterday. And they're like, there's an indoor pool. And he's like, I'm in.

He got me.

So they go and they're peeping on the boys with swimming practice, and they don't see Rin anywhere. And then they go in after swim practice is over, and it's nighttime, so they're breaking and entering again. But this is, like, an actual important facility that they're breaking into. So it's a little come on, boys.

They're at snootington Fancy Academy.

It's got sparkling water in the pool.

Nothing but perrier for us.

So they go inside, and the Haru immediately takes off his clothes. But he's, of course, wearing his swimsuit. And he hops in. And then nagi says, like, I want to go swimming. And makato is like, I didn't bring my bathing suit. And nagy says, like, me either, mom, but I'm going to get in anyway. So now he says, naked. And he gets in the pool. And then he pulls look at my.

Butt holes and jumps.

And now they're all shirtless and all in the pool. And then Rin comes in and he's like, why are you guys here? You should get the hell out of here. And then Haru says something about only swimming freestyle. And then he gets savage. And he gets out of the pool. And he's like, what did you show me that day that you told me not to forget? Because I don't remember. And I was like, oh, fuck, dude.

Damn.

And then rinse. Like I'm going to remind you. Haru. So we end on that sexy, sexy cliffhanger.

Also, rinse got sharp teeth. Like, what the fuck?

He does.

Yeah, you can tell he's a villain because his teeth are all pointy.

Villains don't have good dental hygiene.

I mean, they're impeccable. They're just not human.

He has shaved down in Australia.

Oh, god. Fucking killer croc style. And we get the ending and it's all the boys in a desert.

And like, yeah, this was just a jpop music video.

Yeah, it's true.

Then we get episode two.

But yeah. So episode two, they're gearing up for the race and they start, but we cut away from it pretty quickly. We don't see the results. We just see Rin in his room getting a text from Co, seeing if they met up at the pool. The old friends and edge lord rin the gang. And he's like, oh, I can't beat him. So they get busted again in school. They get another lecture of, hey, why are you suddenly into trespassing? Now you're all three idiots. And almost shot for shot, we get the same miss. A, the new teacher tries to come to their defense. But the other teachers like, hey, shut up. They broke into a different school. That's kind of a big deal. So they talked to ko, and it turns out that she set up both instances of Rin running into them, overheard them talking about going to the old swim club and told Rin and then that they were planning to go to the pool that night. So she's in on it. She's trying to get them back together, get the gang back together in friendship, one last heist. And they decide since their school doesn't have a swim club, they're going to start one.

Yeah.

So yeah, they're at haru's house. They're all talking. And Co mentions that this isn't the first time rin's been back in town. He's come every winter since he moved away. So even more, what the fuck? Why didn't you visit? Why haven't we seen you in the last decade or so? Because he's been there. He could, but he's too edgy so far.

No redeeming qualities.

Well, it's at this point that I started wondering, like, all right, so rinse got some shit going on because he never visited anyone. How come they haven't been hanging out with nagisa? Like they said they haven't seen him in years. The first episode, but they're all buddies.

He went to a different school, but just came back.

I think they mentioned that he went to a different junior high school, but he's also younger than them.

Okay, I must have missed that. Makes sense.

But yeah, he actually wanted to hang out.

Yeah. No, he couldn't.

So they're divvying up all the duties trying to fill out the application to start a club at school. mako is going to be the captain because he's the peppiest one and will whip the whipper snappers into shape. Haru is going to be the vice captain. Yeah, vice captain. Because they say he doesn't really have to do anything as vice captain. He's like, yeah, that works.

Fair enough.

And nagisa is going to be treasurer, and they're going to ask Miss A to be the advisor because, quote unquote, before she worked at the school, she had a job in swimwear.

What could that a beautiful woman having a job in swimwear. Who knows?

She sold it. She used to work at retail stores.

That's what these naive children think.

Yes.

They're like, oh, you work for, like, a company, so you know the high end, like swim gear, right? And she's like, no, hey, shut up. Not here.

Why? Did you hear a lot of rumors about her?

So, yeah, she agrees to coach them. So Co goes to visit Rin at his school, go to their swim practice. She gets in, and we get our audience surrogate of just a young woman saying, oh, look at all these beautiful boys, all this toned meet. So she talks to the captain of the swim team, and he says, rin, that's not the name of anyone on our swim team. He's not swimming for them. What's he doing?

Drops.

Getting super high in the parking lot.

Yeah.

Swim practice.

Winkling.

So Miss A approves the club, and back at the other school, we see the old abandoned swimming pool. And Miss A says the cost of admission for them accepting the club is that they themselves need to restore and fix up the pool.

Montage. montage.

Classic summertime. Fix them up. montage of them pulling the weeds out of the pool, getting all that together. Them just finalizing all the club stuff, going to the hardware store. It's fun. It's cute.

It's my favorite weird house song. Hardware store. Sorry. Go ahead.

I will, but gretchen so it turns out for the club to be official, they need a fourth member. And they try to convince Ms. A to put on a swimsuit and help them recruit because all the boys are going to want to join when they see their hot teacher in a swimsuit.

You're not wrong.

Of course. She's like, fuck no, you fucking pervy. And then we see Co and. Maco chatting about the race in the club. And we get the flashback to the actual events of that race in the dark trespass pool.

Oh yeah, maco is talking to Co. Sorry, that's what you just saw. The names confuse me because we're using their real names and not nicknames. Sorry, girl. Is that what you want?

Is that what you want from me, Brendan?

That helps me a lot more.

No, it's redhead girl and Sweet boy.

Sweet Boy. Sweet Boy.

Not small sweet boy.

Big sweet boy.

Big sweet boy. See, that gets confusing because there are two sweet boys.

Sorry.

Brown hair, sweet boy and red girl. They're chatting about the race and Shark Tooth man. So Rin won the race, but haru seemed happier. He seemed a little bit relieved for some reason and not being devastated by losing the race, rin didn't get that satisfying victory. So he is being extra moody, spiraling. So as sort of a big conspiracy. Also, she just wants to see all the hot guys. Apparently she also joins the team as their manager.

Yay.

Isn't this what happened in the running anime?

I recruited to be their manager.

Okay.

She's also no one little sister.

No. Yeah, she was like the store owner's daughter. That was the relationship.

Yeah.

Got you. They seem similar.

So back at maco's house, we see a little bit of family time and his dad's like, oh yeah, you remember that childhood memory factory you had in that swim club? It's getting blown up, my dude. So go say goodbye now. So he goes over to see the remains as the building is starting to be demolished. We see a little bit of that rubble. See a little bit of that sad Time broken House. And sad.

Time broken House is my favorite.

I want memory.

Childhood memory factory.

I say band name, but I want Childhood Memory Factory is prime band name material.

So behind him here, he hears a familiar voice. And a pizza delivery man is like, you used to swim there too? Hey, me too. We're swim bros. Good times.

It's all much.

And seeing him mako is like, hey, wait, you were our swim coach? And this is Coach Sassabay. And he was their instructor as a kid. And he's like, holy shit, I didn't recognize you because you're not an elementary schooler anymore. That's so weird. So they're catching up. Yeah, he's delivering pizzas now. The swim life's behind it's been a.

Rough few years, the economy and all.

So talking about the gang, he mentions haru and Rin and sasso Bay says, oh yeah, I was there the first winter after he moved away, he came back and he and haru had a race. And the incident, the trouble times, this was their first actual competing against each other competition. And haru won. So Rin was like, after all this, after moving away, I am training for the Olympics, but I'm still not as good as haru. It's all in vain. So that hurt from that loss sort of made him embittered and made him avoid the gang. And we then see ren trying to join his school swim team, because after that victory from the most recent race, he's like, I need to crush this fool. I need to break his spirit.

I need to make him sad. Like, he made me sad.

He must feel my pain. But yeah, then it's I guess not the next day. It's whenever they finish the pool. They finish the pool. So, yeah, it's all set. It's too cold to swim because it's outside in early April. But haru jumps in anyway. And yeah, it's just a cute little moment of the club is finally set up. They still need that fourth member, but they got a good team already. And that's episode two.

That's too cold to swim harder. Seems to be having fun. It's like his lips are turning purple. It's like.

His nipples are not existently hard.

Oh, God.

His whole peck is just the whole peck is hard.

He's more goosebumps than Matt.

The visual I created the pool is.

Pretty, and it makes me want to go shrinkage. I love I love swimming.

Anyway, episode three. God damn it. Like, that created that brought me back to the kids next door episode where they get chickenpox and they have little chickens coming out of their skin. Why? That's a real bad episode. It's a real bad episode. You're the one that had goosebumps. That's what made me think of it. Anyway, episode three.

If only there was a more notable franchise to think of when Goosebumps is.

Said, dude, I don't know what you're talking about.

What is happening?

Wait a minute. The Goosebumps theme and the home improvements sound vaguely similar. Anyway, episode three. Next day, they're at harro's house, and he's got a blanket or a towel over his head, and he's sneezing a bit, and he's like, oh, someone must be talking about me. Or, yeah, you got a cold because you're in a fucking pool in, like, 60 degree weather in April. You probably got sick. And nagy saw heard from Co that Rin joined his school's team. So kind of like, we got the rival. We got the competitive school to go against. We're ready. We're in this now. And haru still says he doesn't do relays. He only swims free style because it's free Iratoi. Swimming okay. And they said even if they want to do relays, they only have three people. I guess you need four. So they can't do it even if they wanted to. And then we cut to, I guess the next day or the next school day. And we see nagy Sauce sitting on the train, riding the school in. And we see anita character, who immediately declines his invitation to the club because.

He guess who plays him in the English tub.

Eda. He's literally pushed by eda J. Michael tatum.

He plays him, kellya and eda.

He's got a type, and he does it well.

All the mega nay characters.

And he declines his invitation to the swimming club because he's like, oh, how'd you know? He's like, you've been asking everyone to join the club. Like, I'm not going to join. I don't want to join. I see all your chotch keys and your advertisement stuff in your bag. I want to join my life.

Is trekking field him too. Yeah, he asked him. And as soon as Ray goes, no.

I was like, is J. Michael tatum tell instantly? But he says no. Track and field is like his life. That's what he wants to do. And it's right around that time we see the train stop and he gets off before everyone else does at school. And we see that he stops early so he can run to school every day. So he's really into the track. And he's also a runner like IDA. He's literally just eda. This is eda in a swim anime.

He's in the wrong anime.

He's in the wrong anime. At least he's in those gross, weird.

Legs with the wind.

Oh, he should be. how's he not in that one? Anyway, then we see. Co says she found a place for them to train in their off season. Since the pool outside is not warm enough for him yet, we're going to practice at the other school with the other swim team. It's a joint practice. And they talk about, how do I write this here? Teacher says they can't have the funds for a new club because they need money. They need money. Yeah.

So before she does that, before she gets the joint practice, she actually finds an indoor pool for them to practice in. But it costs a lot of money.

That's right. It's like a private gym or something. It's not the school. That's right. She finds a gym and they're like, we can train here in the off season. They're like, oh, it's expensive. And they're like, your club's brand new. We can't give you that money for a brand new club. So like, all right. If we win a few meets, then we could train at this private club in the off season. Like, yeah. So then haru starts, like, twitching. He's got the fix. He's like, I can swim. I can swim all year round. I got to swim. I got to get my fix. And he goes, like, running out of the room and just runs up to two other students. He's like, hey, join the swim club. You get little weird mascots in like, speedos. And they're like, no thank you. We don't want this really showing that. haru just only thinks about swimming and has no personal skills. And around this time now, he saw bumps into eda again. And he's like, hey, eda. He's like, no, I'm not joining the club. Stop asking me to join your club. You're not changing my mind. He's like, oh, man. And nagisa is talking to him about his locker. So when eda, like, walks away, he goes home. nagisa looks at the locker and sees his name. He's got it. He's got his in. He's got an idea. He knows how to turn them around and convince them. And they go running after eda. And they find out he's doing pole vaulting, part of the whole track and field stuff after school. And he's bringing the whole nagi so he's bringing the whole gang along with him. He's like, I know how to convince him. Like what? How? He doesn't want to swim, but he's got a girl name. Like we do. That's all we need, a girl name. That's the big join us. Join us. Join our cult. And as we see eda, like, getting ready to do the Paul vaulting, he's like, at the starting point. He's got the pole ready. He's doing all these calculations in his head. So if I put it here and I get the calculation, I track the speed, I do this, I can get over the pole. And he's just a big fucking nerd. He's just a big, dumb nerd. Like, just so nerdy.

Yes, that's him.

That's all he is. And Nagi calls out his name. He's like, hey, Ray. Which is a girl's name, apparently. And he's just kind of like, what? Hey, what? Don't just call me that. Like, so casually. It's like, what do you want? He's like, oh, come on. You got to join us. And, you know, we all got girly sounding names. And it's like, I'm sure you'd, like, get into swimming if you could. He's like, no, I don't find it beautiful. I'm only interested in things I find beautiful, like track and running and all this. He talks about this whole elaborate thing of what he finds beautiful, about track and all this stuff.

I bet if he saw me running, he'd fall out of love with it.

Running is disgusting. No one looks good running.

Absolutely nasty.

Tell that to the boys of Run with the Wind.

That's not fair. They're anime boys. They look good doing anything. And he goes on this rant about how he says, as a species, we spend millions of years trying to evolve out of the water. It's like fruitful to go back into the water. It's a reverse evolution. And he just goes on this rant. It's like, Jesus, we get it. You don't like swimming. Like, cool, relax. And next day they're in, like a huddle talking about it again. Magic is like, hey, maybe we could try installing that hot teacher angle again. Maybe if she can't be seen in the swimsuit, maybe the guys will be interested in being in swimsuits in front of her. And they're just like, what? No. And the teacher hears them. Bad, bad idea. And the teacher hears them. It's like, hey, I can hear everything. And fucking no. I'm shutting this down again. No.

Once again, I'm not going to prison trying to tantalize some high school boys.

That's our job for the podcast and walking home.

That's not a hill I'm going to die on.

Like, to not be associated with that previous statement invitation.

I unsubscribe.

Walking home, mako and Harvard are talking and saying about like, hey, I ran into the coach, and he told me about all the shit that went down between you and Ran. So, like, I get it, man. Like, we're on the same page. It's like, yeah, it's rough, but he can see, like, a new spark for swimming, like reinvigorated in Harris. So he's kind of like he's into it now, I guess, losing that race to Ran. Like, we got him back into it. And then we cut to we see eda pole vaulting again. And he's doing all the math again. And he hits the bar and falls down. And the coach comes up. He's like, hey, nerdo, you got good form. You're thinking way too much. You're trying to do this math and it's just not fucking working. You got you got to stop it. No more math. And he's just like, but numbers, I i love numbers.

They're all I know.

I'm sexually around my numbers.

Don't want me to.

Dummy thick. The next day, Co says this is where she says, I got permission from the other school to do a joint practice with them so we can swim at the same time as their swim team because they have an indoor pool, so it's good during the offseason. And then they go to the swim practice, and one of rin's teammates, he's like, no, I'm all confused with the show. qatu ren and his swim team running outside and practicing. And one of his teammates runs up to him and he's like, oh, hey, I remember you. You were with this group at this grade school relay, and you guys kicked our ass. Like, we got kicked out real early, but you guys were really great. What happened? He's just like, yeah, he's just all grumbling and sharp tooth and nagisa. Shows up the next day to run with eda. He gets off the train with him. He's like, hey, can I join you? He's like, yeah, sure. Just keep up. And he's like, why is my name the big thing that really set you on me, really convinced you to get me to join her team? Why is this the selling point now? He says, like, we all have girly names, so you just fit in and you have a great form. Like when you're Paul vaulting and you could work with diving and swimming and all this stuff. And he's like, you can use all those math and calculation and all that dumpsheet. You can calculate the water viscosity and the tension to break the surface and all this stuff. Like, we could use that. It'll be great. And he's like, oh, I was just told I can't do that pole vaulting. It's a convenient and he is confused why he talks about haru so much. Like, apparently nagisa just talks about haru all the time. He's like, what is your deal with this haru guy? Like, what the fuck is the big deal? It doesn't seem really convinced. They end up running to school. And they get there, and now you saw me and so with the gang. And he just like, I don't know, guys. I tried talking to him. And at that point, Edo walks up and he's like, oh, so you're haru. You're his little friend? He's like, I'm nobody's little friend. chill, haru. Put the shark teeth away. And he's like, I'll agree to join to find out what the big deal is, and I'll join your joint practice as a trial member. The only condition is I ain't swimming. I'm not agreeing to swim. They're like, cool, that's enough. We'll go with that. And then we cut right to the joint practice. And the team captain front of the other school starts chatting up haru. Like, oh, yeah, I remember you. You were a great swimmer. You got a lot of medals back in the day, like in grade school and all this stuff. And we see Rin walk in and gets all pissy. Like, what are these guys doing here? I don't like them. My robber, robber, robber. robb storms out.

I don't want loser sweat in my pool.

You're only allowed to swim. Your hair spiky as mine. And the other team captain, the terrorist and spiky. I mean, I don't know. He kind of runs me in knuckles. It like, drips down over the sides and spiky at the point. And it's like red. And then Harry reminds me of sonic, and now he reminds me of tails.

They aren't doing this.

The team captain says, like, all right. We're doing practices. Like, was it time trials or whatever? Some sort of practices where the two teams are competing against each other. So he's like, everybody's got to do it. All the team's got to do it. So everyone like, step up to the block and go. And we see macca go. We see. Nagi SAG go. He's like, all right. You're up, nerd boy. And it's like edith's turn. He's like, oh, no, I'm not swimming. I'm not here to swim. It's like, no, you swimming. You're here. You're swimming. And they load them like a bathing suit from the other school. And it's like a little speedo thing while everyone else is in, like, very tight swim shorts with his wife of speed. Got that dangle. And Ed is very reluctant to swim. And he's just like, I really fucking I really don't want to swim. And they're like, come on, man. Like, if you agreed to join the team, you're going to swim eventually. Like, come on. And he finally gets talked up enough, and he gets up on the block. Starting block. And he's doing all the math in his head, like, if I hit it at this angle, I could swim like this, and I'm good. And then this, and then break the surface, all this stuff. He's like, all right, I'm ready. And the captain blows the whistle, and he's like, and start. And we just flops. He just flops real fucking hard. Just a big old dumb dog tripping into the pool. And haru dives in and pulls him out. And, hey, turns out eda can't swim. Who would have thunk it? He really hates swimming because he doesn't know how.

Why didn't you say you can't be swim before?

Yeah, I think is it nagisa? Or Mako even says, I know you said you didn't want to swim, but you never said that you couldn't swim. Those are very different that you should have specified.

If I say I can't swim, I don't want to accept defeat. You die.

You could have died. I didn't learn how to swim for a long time. Wonder what I told people I don't know how to swim because I could have died.

And then no one made you swim. No, that's how that worked.

No, people still did. People still threw me in the pool. People were dicks. So haru's turn since time to swim, and he dives in, and just as soon as he jumps off that starting block, IDA is captivated by the sheer beauty that his haru's form cresting into the water and cascading up and out and swimming like a duff. He's real hard up for haru right now. He's into this. The only reason he joins the team is because he's so captivated by the beauty of haru swimming. And no one else like, you can't deny it's, specifically haru. That gets him in.

It's because he wants to swim as beautifully as that.

He looks like he's just so it's seeing the love.

It's seeing the passion.

Passion. He's so moist, wet, slick like a baby otter.

No, listen, I know this show is gay, but you're making it bad gay.

Oh, you don't know what bad gay is? There's no such thing. I don't know. I want to talk. Anyway, so it was after seeing haru swim, he agrees to join the team. And it's because he was so inspired by how free haru looked swimming. Free of like it's weird. He loved the numbers, but he wants to swim because it was clearly haru swimming out of passion and not calculating. He was in the moments, and he wants to be like that too. So he's hoping he can learn how to do that by swimming. And we see him the next day, like pole vaulting. And we see him get right to the top of the pole, and he just kind of starfishes like. He just kind of spreads out, which is weird.

He wants to fly like a flying squirrel, I guess.

And it was like, razzle dazzle.

I think that's him just like pole vaulting and trying to just do whatever feels natural at that moment. And by doing that, he hits the pole again and they're just like, what the fuck, man? And then we see him run over and say all that stuff of like, I want to join the swim team, and they're like, yay. So then he also says he wants Nagi sauce specifically to teach him because Nagisaw was so intent on getting him to join the team in the beginning. So he's the one who's going to try the hardest to keep him on the team.

Gay.

Now it's gay. Okay. When I make a gay, it's bad.

Guess who people ship? Nagi said and Ray.

Yeah, that makes sense.

They have a good relationship.

The teacher and the student.

Fun. It starts on persistence.

Got. That also reverse age thing going on because Nike says younger, but he's also the mentor. I see it.

What color is ray's tie? Red. I'm sorry? If it's red, they're the same age. No, nagusa had a red tie because he's younger and the makato and haru have green ties.

Oh, that's right.

I'm sorry. Can you explain that for me? Because once you said, what color is this tie?

It's like a differentiation between grades, like in the uniform.

Gotcha.

Yeah, you might be right. The few pictures I can find of Ray actually clothed, it's red. So you might be right. They might be the same age.

It's not that important.

No, he's just like towering over nagisa, so I thought he was older.

Those are three episodes.

Yeah. How are we feeling? Are we feeling the love?

I love these beautiful boys.

Love the boys.

Good boys.

I had fun with this, I think. I don't know. Since the most direct comparison I have to another show is Run with the Wind. I'm sort of like comparing and contrasting between that because I feel like this one, they sort of lean into the edgy rivalry at the top more than we got from Run with the Wind, which I didn't like as much. Once we got to episode three of the sort of wacky recruitment stuff, I thought that was a lot of fun.

Build the team.

Yeah. Once like the gangs altogether. And it's not just the Edge Lord from our past. I was digging it more because yeah, we know they're going to be friends by the end of the series. They're going to compete and they're going to learn to love each other again.

They'll kiss and it'll be fine.

They'll kiss, they'll adopt a golden retriever in the country somewhere. It'll be great.

That's the dream in it.

But yeah, at the top, I think sort of that reverse narrative introduction from Run with the Wind I enjoyed less, but I still had fun with it. It's still just some dorks in a pool. You can't get too intense with it.

Dorks in a pool. That sums it up.

Yeah. How are you all feeling?

Cute and fun?

Yeah, I think I actually enjoy it. I enjoyed Run with the Win more because it didn't have agreed it wasn't the rivalry of these two characters. Because I enjoyed some of these characters quite a bit. I found them very engaging and entertaining. haru is not one of them. He is just the blank slate of a main character. And I don't care. The only character trait he has is.

That he was swimming. That's kind of like in Run with the Wind, too. Like, the two main ish characters are like my least favorite characters.

Like the veteran or the graduating kid from Run with the Wind more because we saw him more and he was like he was a fucking psychopath and manipulating people and blackmailing him into the team. But that's at least a personality more than these two characters. Harry or that other guy from Ronald Win. But I agree. I definitely like whenever there's an ensemble cast of characters, I typically hate the main character. Just in most things. I enjoy mako Nagy's like drawing me. He's kind of greeting at times. I like to eat it. I like co. I enjoy the character of this.

Yeah, mako is the best boy. One thing that I can appreciate about Running With the Wind that Free does not do is the lack of sexualization of boys. Especially because in Free, they're teenagers. And it's just a lot of opportunities to auggle at these boys bodies. And it's like, I don't need that so much.

Yeah, I get that. They're doing it from with code. Going from the perspective of another high schooler of like, I, as a high schooler, am okay to think that these other high schoolers are hot, but that's not your audience. Well, I guess it is. High schoolers are still going to be watching this. But I think just because we're older, it feels weird because it has that weight to it that it doesn't have. If you're a high schooler looking at someone your own age yeah.

Audience is women. It's tricky because age factors into it. Because anime is just anime is for everybody. So anybody will watch this.

Yeah.

I don't know. I can't explain that. I can't explain what I'm trying to say.

It's different with the rise in anime because traditionally it would just be in Japan and like, before the Internet, it would just be aired on whatever TV. And you saw it when you saw it. And that's why with like, one piece, like, the author, like, knows who his audience was. When it started, it was just horny teenage boys that would pick up the mango or watch the show after school and stuff. And then now, because it's grown so much and it's got like a cult following in America and then grew into this just very popular it's in mainstream culture at this point, which is still bizarre to me. It's now. So many people are seeing it that like, the reason there's so many high school anime is because the main demographic for most animes are high schoolers. So it's when we're older and we're like, oh, man, another fucking high school story. Like, it we're not the main targets for the demographic. So it's like, it's it's not for us. And it's it's also what makes it weird when it's like, oh, man, I sure do love this character. Like, oh, man, that character is pretty hot. It's like, but she's 17. It's like because cartoon characters don't age. So if you could love a show when you're in high school, when you're around the same age and seems more appropriate than in ten years when you still love that series, it's more creepy now to still love that character as much.

So it's just like, how much I love Tom mckee.

Exactly. So it adds a weird dynamic to it stuff. And it's one of those things where the more you think about it, it just spirals into this train of thought of like, well, it's for everyone. But it's like, how much can you love it depending on where you are and who you are and all this stuff. It's tough.

Yeah. I think they know that now only because they have shows like Run with the Wind takes place, college students and stuff. And yuri on Ice is he's literally a college graduate. He's in his 20s, so like and Victor is 27. So like, oh, yeah, you can look at those characters and be like, yes, pretty boys, and feel less icky.

Yeah.

And make fan art of them and.

Write fan fiction, not feel those crimes.

I'm curious.

The way they sort of set up the fan servicey things for the show is also to a lesser degree as well, because Co is mostly talking about how built their arms are and not like, oh, look at that dick.

Look at that package.

So it is like, oh, yes, this is just a strong young man rather than this is a sexual object that.

I yeah, that's true.

We unfortunately don't get that distinction with high school girls in anime, but we can make that distinction for the high school boys because no one looks at.

A boy or a man, and they're like, oh, yeah, look at that dick. But with women, people can look at women and be like, oh, yeah. titties.

The very visual, secondary sexual characteristics.

But like, even when we had a boy in a speedo in episode three, it wasn't like, check out that package.

Yeah. It didn't even give us, like, a comedic shot of just, like, boing, like, where it zoomed in. I'm like, look at him in this awkward swimsuit. It's kind of just like, he's got to borrow one, and then it's never drawn. Focus on more than that. So, yeah, it's how it's presented, even with my hero academia. And I've seen. In the fandoms. Early on when it started, people were like, hey, no, these are high school kids. Like, hey, if I can ease up on this. And I think it's because they got very endeared to the characters. I think it's because they shoot a lot of the characters as children. And it makes it much more endearing of like, look at these little wabies, versus seeing them in high school and be like, look at the yabos on that one. So it's definitely what it was when it started. It's drifted quite since then, unfortunately. But yeah, you can still make shows and especially anime, where it has a lot of those tropes built in inherently without relying on them. Like, there's a manoa, which is a Chinese comic series instead of a manga that I'm reading. And it's about like a female boxer in high school. And it's like, really cool and I'm really into it. And you see, like, this little boy character that becomes her boyfriend. He's like, oh, man, I sure hope she does well. And I just have to help push her to succeed. And you see him thinking and he's thinking about her ABS. And he's like, no pure thoughts. I can't be thinking about it. And it was like, I really enjoyed how it wasn't just like, yeah, the generic, like, today. He loves that she's a boxer and he loves that she's this towering figure that just could crush him in one blow. But it's also very endearing. He's not sexualizing her. And it is like a very pleasant, cute relationship they have. So it is nice to see if not every series doing that one piece, it is nice seeing a lot of other stuff doing that more. It's becoming more popular to do that in series.

Yeah. Wow. Can't believe we had such an insightful discussion about an anime where boys swim.

Sweet boys. Sweet, muscular boys.

Sweet boys. See, now you got to stop.

That's the thing. We're praising the show for not doing.

That's my job. I have to make it loud and unattractive.

You really don't.

I do, though. It's in my nature. I'm a monster.

So what's going on next week? I hope it's less sexy for brendan's sake.

Well, it's my show, so you know it's good enough. No. Oh, dear God, no.

It's Kjo again.

There's a second God. I genuinely enjoy kjo all poop jokes aside. No, the next series we're watching for next week's episode is Du raha rah. It's fun to say I enjoy it very much.

It says so much about the show.

Just from the title, just Do Rock. And we're watching I believe there's two seasons out dubbed. There's like three total. It jumps around to go, but we're just going to do episodes one, two and three. It's not going to make any more sense if we just jump around. So we're just going to go with the first three episodes, even though I don't think they're the best, but I think it'll be the easiest because I know how much you love Simple Shoes with a few characters that all go by one name, dugan. So I picked the opposite.

Great.

Yeah, I love it. It's going to be real messy.

All right, well, before we move on to our regular ending stuff yeah, we have. Watching this show, there's recent news. We're a little bit delayed since we had a couple backlogged episodes, but one of the studio that made this recently had an arson attack against it and we didn't want to just gloss over that because a bunch of people died and it was not good.

The biggest mass death in Japan's history outside of World War II. So it was a very traumatic and horrific experience even outside of the animation industry. But within the animation industry, koiani, which is the studio, was considered one of the better ones. They treated their employees very well. I think it was like female founded. They gave a lot of opportunities for new people trying to get into the very, very tough industry that is animation, especially in Japan. So not only is it a horrific incident that a lot of people lost our lives and not only was it just all around tragedy, but it was also to one of the better, if not one of the best studios right now in the industry. And it's absolute tragedy.

Beautifully put.

So, yeah, we're including a link in the description for this episode where you can donate money and find more information on this issue. And we really hope that you donate. So, yeah, you can find the show at areweed there yet? On Twitter and Instagram. You can find me at Mr. Patrick dugan on Twitter and Instagram.

You can find me on Instagram at queen. Period weebu and on Twitter at queen underscore weebu and queen underscore weebu art.

You can find me on Twitter at aBTS Brendan. It stands for almost Better than Silence, which is a video game podcast I also do.

And if you have any recommendations for anime you would like us to watch, you can tweet at us or you could email us at arweebaria@gmail.com. Thank you to camille ruley for our artwork. And thank you to Louisong for theme song stories off the album Beats. You can find all of louie's music at Louisong bandcamp.com. Thank you and we hope you'll join us next week as we learn to live with anime.

Go take a nice swim.

Live and swim free.

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