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

Soul Eater.

Overview (Spoilers!)

Makoto tells Hiyori to stop worrying about Ikuya and just be himself in the water. Hiyori is jealous of how much everyone loves Haru and demands to know what’s so special about him. Makoto says that he’ll understand once he swims with Haru.

As Haru races Ikuya in the IM, it’s obvious to everyone watching that Ikuya is struggling (“it’s like he’s fighting the water”). Observing Haru, Ikuya wonders how he can be “that free.” Suddenly, he understands that strength is about helping other people, not going through life alone. He vows to break down the walls he put up around himself out of fear of loneliness and abandonment. Ikuya wins the race.

Haru reminds Ikuya that he finally kept the promise he made in middle school to race against him, and Ikuya bursts into tears. Haru asks what Ikuya wished for, on that night with the shooting stars. Ikuya admits that he wanted to become a “hero” like Haru. Makoto suggests that Ikuya is someone’s hero and just doesn’t know it yet.

Ikuya tells Hiyori that he wants to swim relays again. Though Hiyori is initially jealous, he has a change of heart when Ikuya asks Hiyori to swim with him. As he races Haru in the freestyle relay, Hiyori indeed has a revelation about how to be himself in the water.

Although Hidaka University wins the tournament, Hiyori and Ikuya decide to swim more relays in the future. Ikuya recalls meeting Hiyori in kindergarten, and Hiyori says that, back then, Ikuya was his hero. Natsuya apologizes for expecting Hiyori to take care of Ikuya and promises to be there for his brother more in, especially as they both aim to swim at the global level. Afterward, Ikuya and Asahi playfully tease each other while hanging out with Makoto and Haru.

Our Take

“Metamorphosis of the Soul!” is everything I love about Free!. Exciting swim races, meaningful emotional moments, touching messages about friendship. My only real complaint is that it felt like a season finale—with everyone’s threads wrapped up so neatly, I don’t know what kind of conflict they’re going to produce to fill up the rest of the season.

With this episode, I feel like I finally understand Hiyori. Dive to the Future has done an excellent job of crafting a sympathetic villain—he really does love Ikuya and want the best for him, but he’s also terrified of being left alone again, so he can’t handle the idea of Ikuya having other friends. At the moment, his relationship with Ikuya is mutually toxic: Hiyori is stressed out from worrying about Ikuya, and Ikuya is stifled by Hiyori’s possessiveness. This is perhaps best illustrated in the completion of the mermaid metaphor: in the original fairy tale, the mermaid would turn into seafoam unless she pierced the prince’s heart. Similarly, Hiyori feels that the only way he can avoid disappearing from Ikuya’s life is to shut Ikuya off from anyone else. We can see Hiyori’s jealousy firsthand, as he immediately assumes that Ikuya wants to participate in relays only to swim with Haru. It’s taking a huge toll on Hiyori’s mental health, as is feeling responsible for Ikuya—as Makoto says, Hiyori is “trying too hard.”

Over the course of this episode, Hiyori and Ikuya are able to reach a breakthrough in their friendship, as Ikuya decides to spend time with his other friends and Hiyori learns to focus on himself sometimes. There’s a huge difference between the end of Ikuya’s first race—when Hiyori comments only on Ikuya’s swim time, congratulating him on his win—and the end of the relay when Hiyori agrees that relays are actually pretty fun. And I’m glad that Ikuya’s revelation—that strength is about caring for others—allows him both to hang out with his middle school friends and take the time to give attention to Hiyori. Ikuya didn’t just learn to value specific friends but to value friendship as a whole. It’s a much more mature and satisfying solution than if he’d just picked Haru’s group over Hiyori. Ikuya continues to be Hiyori’s hero, even in gestures as small as helping him out of the water after his race.

In a genre dominated by school stories, it really is nice to see a series about young adults working through their interpersonal issues in mature ways. Upon learning that Haru is about to swim other strokes, Nao declares, “Well, everybody has to grow up sometime, I guess.” My heart swelled at that moment because I really did feel like I was watching our boy Haru all grown up.

The races in this episode are pretty great, too. When Haru swims against Ikuya, we’re treated to the gorgeous underwater imagery of Ikuya swimming towards the literal light of his revelation. Quick flashbacks to past events don’t feel shoehorned in, but rather like a natural window into Ikuya’s mind. Some parts of the scene are pretty cheesy—I rolled my eyes a little when Ikuya asks, “How can he be that free?” and considers the true meaning of freedom (roll credits!). It’s a little silly, too, when Ikuya reaches out, practically screaming the words of his epitome, or when he announces, “I’m back!” after finishing his race. Yet these moments are heartfelt and fun, too; the silliness doesn’t take away from the power of the moment.

Before the second race, the starting pistol raises in absolute silence. We flash to various members of the audience, breath held in expectation, and my heart was racing in anticipation, too. The moment is a perfect way to build tension and excitement for the race to come.

As for this episode’s flaws, I’m not entirely sure that it’s realistic for Ikuya and Hiyori to suddenly, out of the blue, decide to swim in an event they haven’t prepared at all for, ever. I also laughed out loud when Ikuya said, “I was thinking about something that happened in kindergarten” out of nowhere after the race. It’s supposed to be a serious moment, but it seems like a perfect microcosm of the problem I’ve had so far with this show: even in really interesting scenes, Dive to the Future feels the need to look back and re-describe the past. And I didn’t quite understand a conversation between Kisumi and Hiyori, which also comes out of left field—Kisumi asks if Hiyori wants to join a basketball club? Don’t they go to different universities? I get that Free! is trying to show that Hiyori is willing to make other friends now, but surely there would be a less random way of going about it.

I was also a little annoyed by a scene at the end of the episode when Natsuya and Ikuya have a heartfelt conversation during a gorgeous sunset. To be fair, it is a really nicely painted sky, but we’re apparently only allowed to look at the sky—we hear Natsuya and Ikuya’s voices during their emotional reunion, but we don’t get to see the looks on their faces, which is a little disappointing. But I love the way Ikuya and Asahi tease each other throughout the episode (especially in reference to the “I am a genius” recitation) to show that Ikuya really is able to kick back and relax a little now.

This episode is one of Free!’s absolute best. Satisfying emotional arcs, heartwarming friendships, nail-biting swims—even my darling Ayumu got her time to shine! I’m looking forward to next week, when we’ll meet , even more, new characters! Oh boy. How will I keep track of them all?