2021 appears to be the big comeback year of Kyoto Animation, as one of its most popular franchises will finally be back on the big screen! The official website of swimming-themed anime franchise Free! released a teaser video this Saturday, announcing that the delayed film is now up for a 2021 release. Check out the video here!
The announcement of the film’s delay, which was posted KyoAni’s website last November, revealed that the film had been delayed “due to various circumstances”. At that time, the studio assured fans that the staff and the director of the film are hard at work to meet fans’ expectations.
Reasons for the film’s earlier delay were not specified, however, it’s not hard to surmise that the horrific arson incident last July could be the reason (or at least one of) why the new Free! movie had been delayed.
The last film to be released for the swimming franchise, Free! Road to the World Yume, premiered in Japan last July 5, 2019. It was a “reconstruction” of Free!’s third season Dive to the Future and was also supposed to serve as the “bridge” to the new movie.
The new movie will be a direct sequel of the events in the TV anime series. No specific release date has been announced yet as of this writing.
Free! is a sequel to Koji Oji’s High Speed! light novel, which won an honorable mention in the 2nd Kyoto Animation Award contest in 2011. Free! premiered in 2013, and has since aired two more seasons in 2014 and 2018: Free! Eternal Summer, and Free! Dive to the Future.
Anime News Network describes Free!’s story as such:
“Four boys named Haruka, Makoto, Nagisa and Rin all participated in a swimming tournament shortly before graduating elementary school and later parted ways. Years later, they reunite when Rin challenges Haruka to a race and wins. Not wanting to be defeated so easily, Haruka gathers Makoto and Nagisa and a new recruit named Rei to form the Iwatobi High School Swimming Club.”
Source: Anime News Network