Otherwise known as Episode 3 – Rei gets cold feet (We think? (Scratch that no he doesn’t he’s more determined than ever)). Kyoani thought the title a bit long winded so they shortened it down a bit.
This was a Rei episode. Rei, the one who usually feels left out and is pretty emotional despite what he thinks about himself. Rin, Nagisa, Makoto, and Haruto? All childhood friends. This leaves poor Rei out in the cold and feeling like he doesn’t belong, something I can unusually relate to for some reason. I feel for the poor guy – he just wants to be closer to his friends. Not only that, he doesn’t want to be such a one trick pony, only knowing how to handle the relatively difficult butterfly. This, uh, wasn’t such a bad thing when I was a swimmer – being damn good at one stroke is just fine, although I ended up being good at 3! Everybody has at least one stroke that is their downfall.
As a side note, I loved how the beginning of this episode demonstrated that all the swimmers aren’t as good on land, but Rei was once on the track team and therefore kicks tremendous ass in the relay race. Nobody seemed to have expected it either!
Rei, once at odds with Rin, ends up being secret buddies and learns how to swim other strokes with relative proficiency in secret. Misconstrued as Rei losing interest in swimming, they are relieved in an adorably sappy way that he was struggling hard on his own. Gay or not, this strong bond of friendship nearly moved me to tears. I love these guys. It’s hard not to feel the strength of their friendship from beyond the screen as they work hard to perfect their techniques with the intent of making their teammates proud.
More free please!
