Man, Nagisa…can you not do that for just one sec?
- Recap of Episode 11 - Rei gives Rin a piece of his mind. Rin realizes he’s been an ass for the last 10 episodes. Nagisa almost kills Haruka while Makoto and Rei watch in horror. Rin finds out that he has been dropped from the relay team for his school so he can’t race against Haruka and the rest. Oh, and something about a swim meet.
Now come on Rin! You don’t suck that much…
- Summary of Episode 12 - It’s time for the big race! Rin has been taken off his school’s relay team and struggles in his own individual swimming event. Rei confesses to Haruka, Nagisa and Makoto about his conversation with Rin and tells the group that Rin is more motivated by swimming with his old friends again than actually winning. Rin runs off after losing his race, claiming he is going to quit swimming. After talking it over, the Iwatobi Swim Club decides that they don’t want Rin’s career to end that way and Rei offers to step out of the team line-up so Rin can take his place in the relay event. Haruka and Rin fight out their issues and then come to an understanding. The original members of the Iwatobi Swim Club (with Rin replacing Rei) go on to win their relay event and dazzle the onlooking crowd. After the event we see the two schools gearing up for joint group practice while Haruka and Rin both acknowledge that they are friends and teammates.
Kids, listen to Coach Goro!
So I actually felt sorry for Rin for like three seconds during this.
And this is where the fan girl screaming started.
And this is how I felt during Rin and Haruka’s fight.
And this was me during the relay race.
- My Take – So I’m going to admit something – I actually saw this coming. I didn’t want to believe they would cut Rei out of the final race but I started to think of how they could reconcile Haruka and Rin’s issues and having an exciting finish and honestly, there wasn’t any other option if you think about it. So I went into watching the last episode with a “Rei sized chip” on my shoulder because honestly – it was kinda bunk.
- Just hear me out! Rei dropped a sport he was interested in, trained with these guys that he didn’t know too well and picked up one of the hardest strokes in swimming – all because Nagisa can’t take “no” as an answer. And then, in order to pacify a crazed-sharked-toothed-swimming-demi-god, he does his friends a pretty huge “solid” and bows out of a race that he admitted he was very excited to be a part of. Yes, I get that he was basically sacrificed to appease the deities of plot of substance but I just feel like if you’re going to spend all this time on a character and then throw him to the side so another character (one the writers have done a good job making me dislike) can be part of the group again is just kinda crap.
- So am I happy? Not really. But I’m glad that Haruka and Rin got closure or whatever. Maybe now we can not focus on Mr. Shark Tooth.
I get what they were trying to do with this but I was still kinda…well, confused.
Good! Great! Now stop being such a demanding prick!
Awww!
I loved this part!
Series Review
I admit that I signed up to cover this show because I swam competitively in junior high and high school. I had the lowest of expectations and didn’t think I could learn anything from a show that seemed be mostly fan service. I admit I may have been wrong about setting my sights so low. No, this was not some soul-stirring opus that made me redefine who I am as a person. But, it was a fairly genuine look at the real relationships between people and what drives them to be happy – if you remove all that imposed drama between Rin and the rest. Characters were challenged, the challenges were catalysts for fostering friendship between the members of the group and the group was made better for the experience as a whole – it’s a formula that I have always admired because they feel true in a fictional situation or in everyday life.
As hokey as this sounds – it takes real courage to try something, to attempt something. I often forget that. And any medium that reminds me of that lesson, even if it’s filled with fan service, is a good thing to have around. I really sincerely hope that there is another season as I would like to see how these characters evolve even further. And…I’d like to see Rei get his shot at a big race. But honestly, I’d like just to spend more time lounging in the pool. Too bad summer eventually has to end…
Thank you for following my reviews this season! Here’s to (hopefully) seeing each other next summer!
