Smiles all around for the guys of Free! Eternal Summer in this Newtype Magazine (Amazon JP) finale poster illustrated by character designer Futoshi Nishiya (西屋太志).

New Free! Eternal Summer poster with the Samezuka boys in Animage Magazine (10/2014) illustrated by animation director Shoko Ikeda (池田晶子). 

Free!ES Characters Mook Vol.1: Rin & Sousuke

I’m going to place a group pre-order for the SouRin Characters Mook on September 16th. If you want in, please read on ~

The book is released on October 29th and I will start shipping it on November 7th.

And here are the official pictures we currently have, from the KyoAniShop:

Freel free to order if interested!

Since I was asked about this, I thought I could just reblog this post here too.

What about Rin and Sousuke? It seems they are a really popular pair right now.

It does seem that way. But I’m worried that Sousuke has become that popular (lol).

Why are you worried?

Injuries happen in sports, but when you actually write about it, writing it is painful. I wonder how people are going to react to it. and then, it’s not like he won’t appear in the show anymore, but the reason he transferred, and his shoulder, all of his drama is over now, after this I wonder how people are going to react to what his place in the show is from now on.

There were a lot of scenes about Rin and Sousuke’s childhood past too weren’t there? Unlike Haruka and Makoto they weren’t together the whole time, ever since the moment when their opinion differed about relays they’ve been separated. These two pairs have a similar, and yet contrasting existence. I wasn’t able to take my eyes off of it.

That’s right.  There was a flashback scene of Haurka and Makoto but, ever since childhood they’ve never competed against each other, Makoto was always the one to give in. Even when he got the mascot he said “this one is good” “I wanted this one”. Where as with Rin and Sousuke, whenever anything happened they always said “let’s compete!” That’s how their relationship is different from Haruka and Makoto.

The real reason Sousuke appeared injured

In season 1 Rin was saved, so then what was the point of having him go up against the already injured Sousuke? What did you want Rin to do?

We wanted to write about “many different futures”. The main character is of course Haruka so, we wanted the plot to focus on Haruka. The focus for him is deciding what he will do in the future. Around him there is  “Rin” who is aiming for the world, and “Sousuke” who really wants to swim more, but in the end that wish won’t come true. “Makoto” thinks about him in his own way…… being so close, what will Haruka end up thinking?  

Sousuke is Rin’s childhood friend, so he adds drama with his relationship with Rin but fundamentally it’s all about “Haruka”, what he will do in the future, so we wanted to write the three of them each having their own different views and pushing him that way.   

To begin with rather than Sousuke having a shoulder problem, we thought about him having problems with his family, but we really wanted it to be “dramatic!” I’ve heard there are a lot of people who have hurt their shoulders by swimming butterfly

5 September 2014: Sousuke’s… 

Darling: “Kakeru-san! Look at this!!”

Kakeru: “This is!?”

Darling: “I once overheard director Utsumi muttering about this picture she drew and I borrowed it! Sousuke’s holding a pig!”

Kakeru: “It sounds like Sousuke is hungry!? Run away, piggy!”

Darling: “His eyes look like he’s completely in the mood to eat it, huh…”

Kakeru: “By the way, he did eat it in the second episode, right.”

Darling: “Ah, at that time he was eating it fried. I guess he likes it.”

Kakeru: “A city boy, huh.”

Darling: “So he’s a bit superstitious at competing*, how very much like Sousuke!”

Kakeru: “Now I want to eat after talking about this~”

Darling: “Well, let’s go out and eat~!”

Kakeru: “Let’s toast with soda!”

——

* Sousuke was eating Tonkatsu (pork cutlet) in episode 2. "katsu" is is pronounced the same as the verb 勝つ katsu, meaning “to win” or “to be victorious”. 

Source: Animation Do Staff Blog

Why is Haruka hesitating?

"I really don’t know how he thinks about the future. Haruka said that he doesn’t have a dream, but he probably just doesn’t know the situation, the circumstances, for him to be able to call it a dream yet. The sole thing moving him is that he "wants to swim", just that one thing. If he can "see a sight he’s never seen before" that makes him feel that way, then he might be able to move forward" (Series writer -Yokotani Masahiro)

Has Makoto decided his future?

"In episode 9, Rin said that a scout would probably come for Makoto too. Makoto swims at a high level so, I think he’d choose a university with competitive swimming. However, since he’s in such close proximity to Rin and Haruka’s high level abilities, it’s hard to write that type of future for him. Either way, it seems Makoto is already decided." (Series writer - Yokotani Masahiro)

Hirakawa: Decisions that will influence the rest of their lives is a theme this time right?

Suzuki: That’s why I’d like everyone to watching those parts of them, to feel them. For Makoto, when he became motivated was in episode 11. After this, I wonder what will happen with his relationship with Haruka but, I think passing each other by is just part of growing up. This time compared to the first season, there are a lot less scenes where they talk by themselves.

Shimazaki: There really are a lot less.