Free! Eternal Summer Episode 9 Review

UGHHH FREE. WHY SO PAINFUL??

Season 2 is making me worry about the characters way more than I should.

Rating: 4.25/5 curious clouds

When the episode begins, we see the Samezuka swim team running their times against each other. It seems that Sousuke’s training with Ai has paid off and Ai ends up beating another teammate with hi new time. The Iwatobi swim club isn’t slacking either and they end up doing relay exchange drills over and over again even as it’s about to get dark in order to master their triaing.

Lots of Haru and Sousuke angst in this episode, both in different ways. Haru is struggling with decisions with his future. He’s feeling the pressure from his teammates, from teachers, from scouts – it seems like every one swimming competitively only cares for setting times and breaking records. Haru even ends up having nightmares over the stress and it is NOT GOOD cause he ends up stopping in the middle of his race to just… stop. I wonder if Rin is going to be the motivating factor for Haru’s future or is Haru going to have another moment of enlightenment in the water? Only the relay will tell.

Sousuke on the other hand is struggling with his shoulder injury. We get some of the darkest brooding scenes in Free from Sousuke. Haru and Mako are the only ones who know about Sousuke’s injury because of Kisumi. I wonder when Rin is going to find out. If Sousuke swims, his injury will get worse. If he doesn’t swim, he won’t be able to show off his talent to other scouts.

The elevator scene between Sousuke and Haru was totally tense and awkward. I feel like Sousuke really needs to confide in someone about his injury while Haru needs to spend some time along figuring out his life. I’m really scared Sousuke is going to mess up in the race when his shoulder acts up. DAYUM.

In terms of lightning the mood, the supporting characters really serve as bright spots to the other brooding characters. Rin and Makoto have a sit-down in Makoto’s room where they ALMOST talk about Makoto’s decisions for the future before Rei and Nagisa interrupt.

Other Random Thoughts:

The Mikoshiba brothers are the CUTEST SIBLINGS EVER.

Momotarou hitting on Gou never gets old.

Momotarou’s pre-competition motivation is just too adorable.

I just need to curl up in the corner and cry about Sousuke now. All of his injury scenes are so heart wrenching UGH, it’s painful for him to even shower and it’s painful for us to watch.

In any case, I REALLY NEED THE NEXT EPISODE.