News
Free! - Iwatobi Swim Club Anime Gets New TV Series Next Summer
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
The official website for the Free! anime franchise announced on Monday that the franchise will get a new television series that will premiere next summer.
The new anime's unaired "episode 0" will also have event screenings. The initial Blu-ray Discs and DVDs for both the Free! -Timeless Medley- Kizuna and Free! -Timeless Medley- Yakusoku films will have application forms for priority sales tickets to the event screenings. The films' home video releases will ship on Wednesday and December 6, respectively. The official website will reveal more details about the event screenings at a later date.
The currently screening Free! -Take Your Marks- shows a teaser illustration for the new series. The film's advance screening at the "3rd KyoAni & Do Thanks Event" on October 21 ended with the message "See You Next Stage." An advertising billboard truck will travel through the streets of Tokyo's Ikebukuro, Shibuya, and Shinjuku districts from October 30 to November 5 to promote the new television series.
Kyoto Animation's first Free! anime about the Iwatobi High School Swim Club premiered in July 2013, and Crunchyroll streamed the anime as it aired in Japan. Discotek released the first season on DVD with English subtitles in North America in May 2015. Crunchyroll streamed an English dub of the first season in December 2015, and the company released the season with Funimation on both Blu-ray Disc and DVD in May.
Free! Eternal Summer, the second television anime season, premiered in July 2014. Funimation streamed the second season as it aired, and released the series on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in North America with an English dub in February 2016.
Another brand-new film, High Speed! -Free! Starting Days-, was directly inspired by the High Speed! novel that had been loosely adapted into the original Free! television anime. Whereas the Free! anime centers on Haruka and the other swimmers during high school, High Speed! followed the characters during middle school. The second volume of the novel series shipped in July 2014. The film opened in Japan in December 2015.
The Free! -Timeless Medley- Kizuna compilation film opened on April 22, and the second compilation film, Free! -Timeless Medley- Yakusoku, opened on July 1. Free! -Take Your Marks-, a sequel to the compilation films, opened in Japan on Saturday.
