User blog:Luxartisan/SUM IT UP - FS

HUGE PLOT SPOILER FOR FINAL STROKE:

Reblog from fencer-x on Tumblr:

The movie opens very cutely with Haru’s friends recording videos about him, mostly about how they met him and what impact he’s had on their lives. Even Rin is dragged over by Iwatobi and asked to put in a few words too. Given that Makoto is still wearing his Iwatobi uniform, I’m guessing this is before they graduate.

Cut next to Haru with that old familiar mantra: ''“When you're ten, they call you a prodigy. When you're fifteen, they call you a genius. But once you hit twenty, you're just a normal person.”''

Yup: Once you hit 20, you’re just a normal person. Nanase Haruka is on the cusp of his 20th year, and he can hear his time to reach his dream ticking down.

We get a brief flashback to baby Hiyori on the playground getting bullied by a baby Kinjou who wants to see him smile. He asks Hiyori what’s a memory that really makes him happy, and Hiyori mentions swimming. Kinjou rushes home, bright and excited, asking to go to a pool, but when he returns to the playground with swim gear in hand and a huge smile on his face, ready to invite Hiyori to go swimming, Hiyori is gone, and we learn that he moved away. Baby Kinjou is heartbroken.

In the present, Haru’s college is having a joint cultural festival with their rival school, and everyone’s come to help and/or check out the booths. Rin and Sousuke make their rounds, eventually coming upon Ikuya reluctantly selling sweets. They tease him about it and give him shit, and Ikuya whips out his phone that has a picture of Maid!Rin and says, "WELL MY BROTHER TOLD ME YOU DID THIS WHEN YOU WERE IN HIGH SCHOOL SO YOU HAVE ZERO LEGS TO STAND ON MISTER," and after Rin recovers from his minor heart attack, he whips out his own phone with a picture of Ikuya on it, though we can't see it (it’s cut off), and uses it to embarrass Ikuya saying, "YEAH WELL I KNOW YOUR BROTHER MADE YOU WEAR THIS SO STUFF IT." I have to assume it's an embarrassing crossdressing episode of his own.

Kinjou drops by the festival too and crosses paths with Haru. Words are traded, and the gist is: they’re going to settle who’s better in Sydney, where Haru, Rin, and Ikuya are heading to compete in their next international tournament.

Yup, it’s that time again ladies and gents: HARURINRALIA 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO (THIS TIME WITH 100% MORE IKUYA). There’s very cute callbacks to S2′s Harurinralia episode, but the highlight is their arriving at the pool the boys visited in S2 and Ikuya seeing the pool himself for the first time. Haru comments that, “This is where I found my dream,” and Ikuya agrees he can understand why it’s important to him, then.

Back in Tokyo, Sousuke is in the midst of rehabilitation, with Makoto helping him train. Natsuya is training as well, and in a conversation with Nao, he remarks on how far Sousuke has come. Nao notes that it’s thanks to Makoto’s help, and that Nao and Makoto are both dedicated to helping Natsuya and Sousuke, respectively, get stronger. MAD DOUBLE-DATE VIBES HERE.

The day of the preliminaries in Sydney arrives, and Haru’s in the first heat. Ikuya and Rin watch from the sidelines and talk about Haru’s influence on the both of them, what his presence their means to them, and where they plan to go in the future.

Haru wins his heat handily, swimming one of his best times, but Rin and Ikuya both choke in their races and only come in 5th, not moving on to semi-finals. Haru is horrified watching Rin swim the way he does, and after Rin leaves the pool, he races off to find him but is unsuccessful.

Albert and Kinjou make it through their heats as well, and in the 100-meter Free semifinals, it’s Haru vs. Albert vs. Kinjou (and some randos). Haru trails the two at first, but he eventually finds his stride and manages to take (IIRC) second to Albert. He’s absolutely exhausted from the effort, though, shaken both physically and emotionally, and nearly falls down a flight of stairs before being caught by Ikuya. He rushes to find his coach, and immediately asks, panicked, how he can get better, how he can win.

Something fishy is up with Albert, though, and we see that he doesn’t have any passion at all for winning, only ‘doing his job’ with a cool detachment. After seeing the way Haru nearly caught him in the semi-finals, though, something clicks for him, and he...goes home. Albert skips the finals. I’m not entirely clear on what happens in the finals itself tbh -- Kinjou is asked how he feels about getting a ‘double medal’ (as in sharing a medal with someone), but Haru laments that he didn’t get a medal while Makoto reassures him he did place and that’s what matters. I’ll have to watch again to see if I can get a better gist, but if anyone has clarity on this point, I’m curious!

Haru, Rin, and Ikuya all leave the tournament with the singular goal of getting stronger, though, and go through their individual ways of making sure that happens. Ikuya decides to go to a training camp Natsuya invites him to, Rin wants a harder training regimen from his coach, and Haru?

Haru goes to talk to his coach, who tells him there’s only one way to get stronger: he has to be prepared to give something up. Haru refuses--everything he has, his friendships and bonds, are precious to him. He’ll become the best without losing anything.

Sousuke, Makoto, and Hiyori burn off the anxiety of watching their friends struggle in Sydney by having a backstroke race, with the losers being forced to do something embarrassing. We’re later treated to SouMako kitty-ear selfies together. This is a very important scene, so I have made sure to include it in my report.

As the year is winding down, all the Tokyo friends get together for an end-of-the-year party. Natsuya and Nao are the only ones of legal drinking age, and Natsuya gets absolutely plastered.

Rin and Haru sit together at the end of the table, and Rin begins pressing Haru about his future--what he’s decided to do after college. When Haru admits he’s still thinking over his options, Rin gets a bit irritated and leaves the party. Makoto rushes after them and they talk about Rin’s own plans; Sousuke moves over to where Rin was sitting and similarly chats up Haru, reminding Haru that he’s doing really well and should keep up the good work. We learn that RIn has made a decision--but not what that decision is yet.

Talk at the table turns to ages, and it’s remarked that they’re all going to be 20 soon. Here again, Haru hears the mantra in his head: ''“When you're ten, they call you a prodigy. When you're fifteen, they call you a genius. But once you hit twenty, you're just a normal person.”''

He’s almost 20. Almost a normal person.

The boys return home for New Years, and while there, Ikuya has a talk with Natsuya. He’s made a decision as well.

(PERSONAL INSERTION: Haruka stays with the Tachibana family during this break. We see Makoto and Haruka interacting with Ren and Ran and Mrs. T cooking. A closeup of a cute decoration featuring a glass dolphin and glass orca is on display in her home. The boys sit in Makoto's bedroom chatting about Haruka's concerns with Makoto being supportive.)

Haru finds his way one evening to Iwatobi Elementary School, where the sakura tree still stands, including its little brick wall with painted words. ''I swim. Free. For the team.''

The sound of crunching gravel calls his attention over: Rin is there too. They talk about their time in Sydney, and where they’re going from here. Haru's experience in Sydney confirmed for him that he wants to keep swimming with Rin.

There’s just one problem.

Rin’s made a decision himself, and it’s this: he’s not going to swim freestyle anymore. He wants to be a professional swimmer, and he knows that to get scouted, he has to swim his best. He has to focus on Butterfly, so that’s what he’s going to do. Ikuya has made the same decision and will only be swimming Breasstroke going forward. They’re both going to go pro--what about Haru? Rin wants him there, standing on the international stage with him, so will he join him?

...Haru’s been feeling strange since he swam with Albert. A cold, dark emotion is beginning to settle in him, a ruthlessness, swimming single-mindedly and without any love for the water. It’s infected him, and it manifests here in a cold, cruel accusation: “You’re just scared of Albert. How nice for you, since he doesn’t swim Butterfly. You won’t have to face him.”

Rin is taken aback, snarling, “You think I made this decision lightly?”

Haru: “Yeah, I do. Just like you make all your decisions.”

Haru watches himself have this exchange with Rin, as if a separate person, a soul watching someone else pilot his own body and say terrible, horrible things to someone he cares about.

Haru: “You always leave. You always disappear without a word.”

Rin rushes him, grabbing Haru’s jacket and shaking him, “I thought you’d get me now! I thought you’d understand! I was so happy I got to swim the relay with you!”

But he realizes Haru is gone, that this is it--and then releases him, turns his back, and walks away. Haru watches, horrified, from somewhere outside of time, and all he can see is Rin running away from him again, like before. Rin has left him yet again.

Still, though, he can’t wrestle control of his body back, and whatever cold emotion is driving him now takes a cellphone out of his pocket. It’s a cellphone his coach gave him that connects directly to his office.

Azuma picks up, and Haru only says: “I did it. I cut him away.”

Now Rin isn’t there holding Haru back anymore, just like his coach told Haru he would need to be prepared to do if he really wanted to be the best. He flashes back to Rin himself saying, “You think you’re the best there is in the water, right?” with that characteristic leer.