schrodingerscatisdead:

I was discussing anime with some friends and my friend who studied sports medicine/biology explained the significance of each of the Free! characters’ physical builds.

Rei has trouble swimming because as a track runner/pole vaulter, he has really high muscle density and that’s what causes him to sink even though his form is perfect, and to fix this he needs to gain more fat. The butterfly stroke relies heavily on upper body strength though, and this is why it’s the only one he can do.

Nagisa gains an advantage from his height because his short limbs allow him to rotate his arms faster for a faster breast stroke.

Conversely, Makoto’s tallness helps him because the backstroke is a long-axis stroke, so longer arms make him swim farther and faster with less exertion.

Freestyle, or the front crawl, is also a long-axis stroke, so again being tall helps. Rin is more powerfully built than Haru and his flip turns boost him a lot farther, but being less bulky makes it easier for Haru to catch up, so they’re pretty evenly matched.

KyoAni really did their homework.

kuronocchi:

So in the opening we have this scene: 

In which we can witness Haruka grow up, and then we have a peek into his mind/soul and we see this:

which is this:

So this memory was so important to Haruka, that it’s literally the brightest memory he has through the years. 

Now if it would be significant because of the relay and the team, we’d have the whole picture, right ?

Yet what Haruka sees is him and Rin at that exact moment.

Now I have to note that that moment happened right after this:

Must be something important considering the fact Haruka remembered it so clearly, don’t you think ?