Nagisa Hazuki

Nagisa Hazuki (葉月 渚 Hazuki Nagisa) is one of the main characters of the anime series Free! and the light novel High☆Speed!. He is the breaststroke swimmer on the Iwatobi High School swim team and a 1st year high school student at Iwatobi High School.

Appearance
Nagisa is a short, young man with wavy blond hair that goes down between his dark pink eyes.

His usual school uniform consists of light brown trousers, a white shirt with a red necktie, beige long sleeved jumper, dark gray buttoned up blazer and black shoes. During the spring and summer, he would wear his summer uniform, which consists of gray trousers, a white shirt with short sleeves and a gray collar, the red dotted necktie, beige sleeveless jumper and white shoes.

In the beginning of the series, he is seen wearing red swim jammers with yellow star patterns on them when swimming, however, he later switched to black swim jammers, which have light pink patterns on them.

Personality
Nagisa has a cheerful personality. He is very strong and is not afraid to speak his mind; these traits define him as a straight-forward person. It was this very straight-forward and bold personality that established the current Iwatobi Swim Team in the first place. He can get very enthusiastic about most things that catch his eye and if there is something that remotely interests him, he will instantly act upon and pursue those feelings.

Nagisa admires Haruka's swimming style and eventually enrolles at the same high school to get a chance to swim with him again, as he previously attended another middle school away from Haruka and Makoto. He can be quite pushy in some situations, especially when Haruka doesn't share an opinion with him, which can be seen as rudeness by some people. However, this helps Makoto to get Haruka to do something most of the time. Additionally, Nagisa lacks manners to some extent, as he frequently speaks with his mouth full, and tends to be very noisy and untidy.

Nagisa also has a certain rebellious side, as he insists to sneak into the indoor swimming pool of Samezuka Academy which was closed at the time, commiting trespass. He still acts very much child-like and has nothing against swimming naked in the pool, which someone would find embarrassing. He is shown to be sly in some way and above all, stubborn, especially when it comes to Gou's name. No matter how hard Gou tries to make him call her "Kou" (which she considers more feminine name), he always contradicts wtih calling her "Gou", much to her dismay. Nagisa is not particulary gifted in arts and can be very intrusive. Although Nagisa often thinks of unconventional and strange methods to solve relatively simple problems, his eagerness always influences the situation to work to his favor.

Whenever he sees something is wrong with Rei-chan, he gets serious and tries to help. He gets well with everyone in the series and has many friends.

History
A little is known about Nagisa's life before entering Iwatobi High School except his time in the Iwatobi Swimming Club. Nagisa once revealed to Makoto, Gou and Rei, when the question why he's so attached to Haruka was brought up, that he has three older sisters, who often dressed him up in girls' clothing and put makeup on him when he was in elementary school. One day when they switched their swimsuits with his, Haruka offerend to lend him his swimsuit and he took his sister's. Ever since then, Nagisa has admired Haruka greatly. However, in high school the bullying still didn't stop because, time after time, Nagisa's sisters switch his swimsuit with theirs.

Relationships
Iwatobi High School=

With only three members on the swim team, forming a medley relay team was impossible, so that’s why Nagisa sought out Rei. At first Rei exclaimed “If people evolved to walk on land then it makes no sense for them to return back into the water!!!” but because of Nagisa’s persistent persuasion, he entered the Swim Club. Trying his hardest to catch up with the others along with Nagisa who follows with all his might, the two make an uneven combination, but only they can eventually calm the tides of the Swim Club.

At first, Nagisa was someone Rei could barely stand because of the way he talks, changes topics very often, is very pushy, super greedy, spills things, doesn't do his homework, messes with other people and drools when he sleeps. Even so, Rei's very thankful to him because Nagisa was the one who invited him into the swim club, and because of that he was able to meet Haruka, Makoto and Rin. He's the reason why Rei was able to notice the beauty of swimming and was the one who "changed his world". In one of the interviews with Rei, he admits that, even though Nagisa is pushy at times, he has an aura that Rei's attracted to and that he has him completely wrapped around his finger.

They both belong to a same class in school and take the same train line to go back home. Nagisa often goes to Rei's home and hangs with him most of his free time. They're often seen doing things together. Rei easily gets manipulated by Nagisa for some reason.

Like all other members of the Iwatobi High School Swim Club, Nagisa calls Rei "Rei-chan", adding girlish suffix "-chan" to his name.

Nagisa admires Haruka's swimming and enrolls at his school to swim with him again, planning on opening up a swimming club. When he learns that Haruka stopped swimming competitively, he gets sad but instead jokingly asks about starting a Hot Springs Club.

Like all other members of the Iwatobi High School Swim Club, Nagisa calls Haruka "Haru-chan", adding girlish suffix "-chan" to his name.

Like all other members of the Iwatobi High School Swim Club, Nagisa calls Makoto "Mako-chan", adding girlish suffix "-chan" to his name.

Nagisa seems to enjoy teasing Gou by calling her Gou instead of Kou, which is constantly upsetting her. Even though, the two seem to be on good terms and rarely fight (aside from him refusing to call her Kou). They often seen to have a same response, along with Rei.

Like all other characters somehow connected with Iwatobi Swimming Club, Nagisa calls Gou "Gou-chan".

Like all other characters somehow connected with Iwatobi Swimming Club, Nagisa calls Miho "Ama-chan". Samezuka Academy=

Like all other characters somehow connected with Iwatobi Swimming Club, Nagisa calls Rin "Rin-chan", adding girlish suffix "-chan" to his name. Other=

Like all other characters somehow connected with Iwatobi Swimming Club, Nagisa calls Goro "Goro-chan", adding girlish suffix "-chan" to his name.

Creation and Conception
Hiroko Utsumi said that Nagisa was the cute younger brother type of character. He always acts childish for his age, even though he’s not even a year younger than the rest of the group. Nagisa is the only one who physically plays around with Rei, but since it’s Nagisa, Rei’s good points are brought out. He’s the one who’s able to bring out everyone’s various expressions. His outer appearance also feels childish with his big and round hairstyle. His personality is a natural airhead; everything goes over his head. He’s the type of person who gets by on instinct. As soon as he thinks of something, he acts on it instantly. Nagisa has a lot of small penguin accessories because he loves big penguins. In the first episode, you can get a glimpse of his underwear which have penguins on it. He enrolled in Iwatobi High School wanting to swim again with Haruka and Makoto, but there was actually another reason - "Iwatobi" in Iwatobi High School means "rockhopper penguin". With that kind of inspiration, he easily made his decision where to apply. Futoshi Nishiya added that "He’s a cute character, but as a first year high schooler, his body is a bit tense. He’s not just cute and, while he does say some stupid things as he pleases, he’s not an idiot. We drew him carefully while examining the rest of the cast to maintain balance among designs". His character is very important to help move the story along.

Trivia

 * Like all members of the Iwatobi High School Swimming Club, Nagisa has a female name.
 * Nagisa has an extreme sweet tooth. For lunch, he always eats "rock" and "hopping" bread, which is bread with strawberry jam, marmalade, and chocolate on top. It costs ¥480.
 * Nagiasa's favorite food is strawberry shortcake, and he prefers to eat his favorite foods first.
 * Nagisa dislikes are Math, peppers, and onions.
 * Nagisa has three older sisters, who often dressed him up in girls' clothing and put makeup on him when he was in elementary school.
 * The first day Nagisa joined the Iwatobi Swimming Club in elementary school, his sisters had swapped out his swimsuit for a girl's. Haruka ended up wearing the girl's swimsuit and lent his to Nagisa.
 * Nagisa owns a pink cellphone.
 * Nagisa likes eating strawberry flavored ice cream and strawberry cake.
 * Nagisa's best subject is History, while he's bad at Math.
 * Nagisa likes history, all sorts of insects, horror movies and thrill rides.
 * Both Gou and Nagisa's rooms were exactly copied from North American furniture catalogs and blogs.

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