Free! Anime Reveals New Film’s Title

Kyoto Animation’s projects have been in an understandable flux following the tragic fire of the 1st Studio building earlier this year, and each of the ones announced to be in the works has been subject to a delay in some way or another. While Kyoto Animation previously confirmed that Violet Evergarden: The Movie will be releasing next Spring rather than in January, the studio also confirmed that the next film based on the Free! franchise has been delayed for “various circumstances.” But it’s not all bad news as now the film has an official title.

The next Free! film is now titled Free! See you in the future!, and while it does not have an official release date following its push from its originally planned 2020 release, the title definitely sparks all kinds of hope for the future.

Originally announced following the final episode of the third season of the series last year, not much is known about what the new film will entail as of yet. The film will announce its new release date sometime in the future, so it’s unfortunately going to be a bit of a wait before we see anything concrete from what’s to come next. But given the quality of every entry in the Free! franchise thus far, it’s going to be worth the wait!

Free! follows a group of high school students who were introduced as children on a local swim team. The anime’s primary lead Haruka is a prodigal swimmer who can think only about swimming but does not wish to turn his passion into a profession. When the boy teams back up with his friends Makoto and Nagisa on a swim team, Haruka is stunned when their third childhood friend reappears in his life. Rin, who had gone to hone his swimming skills abroad, is back in their hometown and holds plenty of bitterness towards his former friends. And, as the series goes on, fans watch as swimming rekindles the friends’ once-tight bonds.