Step 1: Have a stellar bod that should technically be illegal for a fifteen/sixteen-year old.
Step 2: Have talent, or not. Doesn’t matter.
While I’m not totally serious about step 1, I actually have been thinking a lot on how Free! approaches the idea of talent and hard work. I actually think the whole part about the breakdown and re-establishment of friendship is the subplot — for me, the series is primarily about how this scrappy little swim team, made up of four swimmers of varying skill, will fare against the powerhouse of Samezuka Academy and Rin. I realize this is a “no duh” statement, since Free! does belong to the grand tradition of the sports genre, where it’s essentially expected that the unlikeliest team will be the one gutsy enough to take on the team everyone’s expected to win.
So you have these four guys. Haru’s the strongest, the most naturally-talented swimmer, but he has a bit of an attitude problem and he only chooses to swim freestyle. Makoto’s a good leader, well-liked by everyone, but he’s an average swimmer, if that. Nagisa makes up in enthusiasm what he lacks in height and skill. And Rei, their newest member, didn’t even know how to swim til he joined and can barely do the basics. It should not be a surprise to anyone that they didn’t go far in their individual events, even at the regional level.
Tokyo Jupiter 