Rin Matsuoka

"#F12B3C"

- I'll show you a sight you've never seen before!

Rin Matsuoka (松岡 凛 Matsuoka Rin) is one of the main characters of the anime series Free! and the light novel High☆Speed!. He was the freestyle and butterfly swimmer on Samezuka Academy's swim team. After Seijuro Mikoshiba graduated from Samezuka Academy, Rin became the new captain. Rin is currently training with the Australian National Swimming Team in Sydney, Australia.

Appearance
Rin is a muscular young man with semi-long, maroon colored hair. He has red eyes and shark-like teeth. His winter and fall school uniform consists of white trousers, a white buttoned up jacket with a black t-shirt beneath and black shoes. The spring uniform consists of a black polo shirt with a pink collar, white trousers and black shoes. His school bag is a red messenger bag with the word "shark" printed on the outside. While swimming, he wears black jammers with red markings trailing along the length of his outer legs and thighs, and a pair of dark blue tinted goggles.

Personality
When he was young, Rin displayed great passion and competitiveness for swimming, as well as teamwork. As years passed, his ideals about swimming drastically changed and he doesn't care much about the relay trophy he won during elementary school and becomes obsessed with competing and winning against Haruka.

As a student at Samezuka Academy, he observes the Iwatobi High School Swim Club practicing and having fun together and is notably morose when he sees how happy they are together while he stands alone. His isolation is due to a self-imposed goal of meeting his deceased father's own dream of becoming an Olympic swimmer. At times, Rin displays a softer side, as he is shown to still harbor concern for his friends' well-being and acts like a mentor towards his younger sister Gou and teammate Nitori. Rin is conflicted emotionally, but his pride as a swimmer masks his insecurities.

History
Childhood= Rin's father was a fisherman by trade. He died when Rin was very young during a storm that claimed his life and that of his crew only three kilometers from shore. Rin stated that he has very few memories of his father and cannot even recall what his father looked like, as he would be gone for days while at sea. Rin wants to become an Olympic swimmer because he believes that by following this path, he will be able to remember his father's face. He also puts his swimming goggles in the same way his father used to do, by pulling the strap back and letting it snap onto the back of his swim cap. Rin joins the Iwatobi Swimming Club in elementary school because that was his father's old swim club, where his father and his teammates won a relay. Rin wanted to make a team and win a relay to emulate his father as he started down the path to becoming an Olympic swimmer. Elementary= In elementary school, Rin is the same community swimming team with Haruka, Makoto and Nagisa and is instrumental in motivating the group to swim a relay. After they win the tournament, he leaves Japan to attend a school in Australia known for their strong swimming team. Junior High=

Skill
Current stats:

Expected stats:

Trivia

 * Like all swimmers associated with the Iwatobi High School Swimming Club, Rin has a female name.
 * Rin is the type of person who cannot sleep without his pillow.
 * Haruka stated that Rin accidentally called his coach "mom" during elementary school.
 * Gou has admitted that Rin shaves his body hair to reduce water resistance.
 * Rin's best subjects are English and Math, while he's bad at Literature and Old Japanese.
 * Rin likes sports that he's good at.
 * Rin's best stroke is the butterfly, but his obsession with beating Haruka, who only swims freestyle, leads him to focus on that stroke and whatever distance Haruka is swimming in competition only.
 * In the same series, Akeno Watanabe (Rin's child voice actor) also voices his sister Gou Matsuoka.
 * Rin appears to have inherited his shark-like teeth from his father.
 * Whenever Rin meets a new crowd, he always starts off with introducing his name, pointing out how girly it is, and clarifying that he is a guy despite his girly name.
 * Rin loves survival games.
 * He has a pet cat named Steve.
 * When they were kids Rin slept together with Haru in his bed for a sleepover because he forgot his special pillow. (Duet/Drama CD)
 * In Free! Take Your Marks when Haruka is looking for an apartment in Tokyo Rin says, " Tell Haru it won’t matter when you are asleep." referring to the hotal incident where they were forced to share a bed.
 * Adult Rin has more of a sense of humor than little Rin and its also a bit kinky like when he swim's against Haru and Rei he says "watch out, im going to bite you from behind!" but is still as sensitive as he was as a child and is likely to cry at movies and if he lose's a race.
 * Rin likes both cats and dogs even though cats never seem to like him.
 * He owns a diary.
 * His motif animal is a shark.

Navigation
Rin Matsuoka Rin Matsuoka