English Dub Review: Free! Dive to the Future “Dive to the Future!”

Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.

Overview (Spoilers!)

While he swims, Haru remembers the beach. Makoto invites the Iwatobi team over for breakfast. He tells them that, during Haru’s very first time in the water, he swam freestyle without being taught how. They all look forward to seeing Haru swim in the All-Japan.

Mikhail reveals to Rin that, when Ryuuji was a swimmer, his friend got into a bad accident the day before the All-Japan. Ryuuji chose to swim and see his friend afterwards. Ryuuji lost the race, and, horrified, immediately retired from swimming. Mikhail believes that Ryuuji is working with Haru now to ensure he doesn’t make the same mistakes.

The gang meets up at the All-Japan. Ryuuji and Mikhail reunite. Apparently, the top two swimmers in each race can qualify for the World Championships if they meet the base time.

Ikuya and Natsuya race each other in the 100-meter IM. Ikuya narrowly beats out Natsuya for first place, and they both qualify. Seijiro wins his heat but doesn’t qualify. Kaede Kinjou easily beats both Asahi and Hiyori, breaking a tournament record. In the 100m butterfly, Rin comes second and qualifies. Haru lags behind and comes third in 200m free, losing out on the World Championships. Rin and Sosuke discuss Rin’s victory; Rin hopes that soon Sosuke will join him on the world stage.

Makoto invites Haru and Rin to sit with him by the ocean. Haru is worried he’ll have to give up his friends to succeed, and that he doesn’t deserve to compete internationally if he doesn’t want to. Rin tells him that “There’s more than one way to chase a dream.” Makoto shares his own dream of being a trainer. Suddenly Haru screams and runs headlong into the ocean. Makoto and Rin join him.

Ryuuji and Mikhail discuss Haru’s loss. Kaede once again beats a tournament record, this time in 100m free. Racing together in the next heat of 100m free, Rin and Haru are ready to face their futures. Al watches on TV. If Haru keeps up his speed, he’ll set a new tournament record. A title card reads, “See you in 2020!”

Our Take

Jesus, what a cliffhanger.

I mean, okay, it’s pretty heavily implied that Haru will win his race—but will that be enough to qualify? Surely Kaede qualified for the World Championships, so that leaves only one other spot. Does that mean Rin isn’t going to make it in 100m free? And what happened during Ikuya’s 100m breast? They’re clearly trying to let us infer what’s going to happen without telling us outright, and it’s all very poetic, but dammit, I don’t want to wait two years to find out!

On that note, I drastically misunderstood what was going to happen in this season finale. Maybe it’s just me, but up until this episode, I thought they were setting up an epic race where Haru, Rin, Ikuya, and Al would all compete in the 100m freestyle. I was really looking forward to it, too! Instead, Ikuya seems to be competing in the 100m breast. Albert races Haru in 200m free instead of 100m, and I only know that from one throwaway comment a spectator makes—we don’t see Albert swim, or find out his results, or learn the effect that swimming against him has on Haru’s mind. That’s pretty anticlimactic after the whole “swimming with Albert makes you go insane” thing from past episodes. In fact, although Albert was set up to be the big bad Haru would have to overcome in order to reach the world stage, in this episode, he’s abruptly yanked out of the spotlight in favor of Kaede, who comes out of nowhere as a huge threat. When Kaede has only been around for one episode—and we know virtually nothing about him—watching him swim isn’t very scary or rewarding. I’m not sure why the writers felt like they needed two characters to freak out Haru like this—Al and Kaede could have easily been the same character, and it would have made a lot more sense.

Okay, back to the beginning. The intro to this episode is stunning. Haru’s dive blends into the flight of a bird, and his body’s splashes through the pool are compared to Haru seeing the ocean as a child, of him washing his hands in the sink with his mother. This scene is gorgeous. It gives me the chills. Seriously—it makes me understand why Haru’s swimming is so inspirational to others.

The majority of this episode is made up of exciting swim races. In Natsuya and Ikuya’s race, we can hear them breathing as they swim. This intimate detail allows viewers to be right there with them, feeling the fears and excitement that the swimmers experience during their race; the synchronized breaths also illustrate that two brothers are connecting for the first time. I also really enjoy that the show didn’t go the easy route and have every character win—Rin comes second. Haru comes third. Asahi and Hiyori don’t qualify at all, and neither does Seijiro. It happens. It’s real life.

And I like that the themes of Ikuya’s arc finally come around to Haru. When Haru believes he can’t win without sacrificing his friends, he falters and loses almost on purpose, because he’s not the person Ikuya used to be. After the gorgeously animated scene in which he, Makoto, and Rin float together in the water, Haru realizes that he can have friends and swimming, so he goes all out. It’s really heartwarming, and a great message.

I’m not totally sure what Ryuuji’s role in this arc is, though. After the story Mikhail told, it sounded like Ryuuji was going to try to convince Haru not to give up his friends for swimming. Indeed, Ryuuji’s words on the matter seem to imply that intention: “You can’t get that good without throwing something away. No one can survive in the competitive world with a regular mindset. The only people who can make it at that level are those who don’t waver an inch… even for those, they care about most.” I thought he would follow that speech up with the anecdote from his past, and how swimming in the All-Japan wasn’t worth it if it meant he couldn’t be there for his friend. But instead, it’s Rin and Makoto who teach Haru this lesson. In fact, Ryuuji tells Mikhail that Haru won’t shut up about “stupid crap like friendship and bonds,” implying that Haru is somehow weaker for doing so. It seems like, after all he’s been through, Ryuuji has learned nothing, and it makes me question why he’s in this series at all. What does he add to the story? Is he actually a malevolent figure, trying to pull Haru away from his friends? I don’t get it. His relationship with Mikhail, too, feels more forced than charming—we see the payoff of the “totes hip with the kids’ joke,” and it’s exactly as stupid as you might expect.

This comes back to one of the main problems of this season—there are just too many characters. I would have loved if Ikuya was floating in the ocean with Haru, and he was able to turn around and remind Haru of the importance of friends, but because the show needs to feature the fan favorite Rin, this continuity wasn’t possible. Hiyori has a funny moment where he’s unamused that Nagisa calls him “Hiyo” now, but other than that, he serves no purpose in this finale. Neither does Asahi or Kisumi, or even Nagisa or Rei. I wish the writers had tried to find new ways to utilize their old characters instead of just piling new ones on to round out the cast.

I get what they’re trying to do with that ending, though. In the end, it doesn’t matter whether Haru qualifies, because he has worth whether or not he succeeds. Because he can get there next year. Because he has his friends by his side, and that’s what’s really important. This wasn’t a perfect season finale, but I’ll still be joining these boys in 2020.