What is Free!?
Free! is the latest TV animation production by Kyoto Animation. It follows the story of a bunch of friends who were on the same swimming team in elementary school and are now reunited in high school. The story is based on the light novel High☆Speed!, which is set during the boys' elementary school years. The light novel won some kind of award in KyoAni's light novel competition, the winners of which have formed the basis of their last few shows.
Oh, so this is the anime that got made because of tumblr and Crunchyroll?
I WILL CUT YOU There's a long story behind this. Essentially, a commercial aired after the end of one of the Tamako Market episodes in March and everyone went nuts over the fact that Kyoto Animation, known for godly animation and moe girls, was animating something with hot dudes. At first everyone thought this was a new anime and went nuts. Then everyone realized it was (at that point) only a commercial and went even more nuts. Finally, because of this, in an incredible act of hubris and intellectual bankruptcy, Crunchyroll created a petition to make this thing into an anime.
The truth is, the show (as with all other KyoAni productions) has been in the works for a long time. Concept art for the show appeared on the site of Animation Do, a KyoAni subsidiary, as early as last year. High☆Speed!, the light novel on which Free! is based, won an honourable mention in the KyoAni contest in 2011. Neither tumblr nor Crunchyroll nor anyone outside of the Japanese archipelago has had one bit to do with the existence of this show, and definitely not anytime within the four months before the airing of the first episode. If I were a mod of an anime forum, I would abuse my powers to ban anyone who so much as breathes this sentiment, but since I'm not, I'll have to settle with trying to set them on fire over the internet with my mind.
So why should I watch this show which Kyoto Animation produced of their own volition?
Because KyoAni is excellent at what they do and because, for those of you who care about this sort of stuff, it's not a bunch of girls doing nothing (so to speak). If you doubt there'll actually be any swimming, you can take a look at the staff and note that there's a guy whose job is to work on water animation. And also, based on their last few shows, they can make boys really moe as well.
Where and when can I watch this?
Much to my disappointment, Crunchyroll's disgusting cheerleading was (hopefully unintentionally) rewarded with the streaming license at http://crunchyroll.com/swim on Wednesdays at 12:15 Pacific, starting on July 3, just in time to celebrate the birth of the land of the Free!.
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