History Trivia / Free

** from ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': [[Creator/JohnnyYongBosch Makoto]] is Ichigo, [[Creator/VicMignogna Rin]] is Ikkaku, and [[Creator/ToddHaberkorn Haruka]] is Moe Shishigawara. they're also, [[VideoGame/Persona4Ultimax Yu, Minazuki, and Junpei's da man]], [[Manga/Magi Tidus, Koubun Ka, and Judar]], and [[Manga/Naruto Sasori, young Obito, and Hiruko from the 3rd movie]].

*** from ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': [[Creator/JohnnyYongBosch Makoto]] is Ichigo, [[Creator/VicMignogna Rin]] is Ikkaku, and [[Creator/ToddHaberkorn Haruka]] is Moe Shishigawara. they're also, [[VideoGame/Persona4Ultimax Yu, Minazuki, and Junpei's da man]].

*** from ''Manga/Bleach'': [[Creator/JohhnyYongBosch Makoto]] is Ichigo, [[Creator/VicMignogna Rin]] is Ikkaku, and [[Creator/ToddHaberkorn Haruka]] is Moe Shishigawara. they're also, [[VideoGame/Persona4Ultimax Yu, Minazuki, and Junpei's da man]].

** [[Creator/VicMignogna Rin]] and [[Creator/MaxeyWhitehead his younger self]] were once known as the [[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist]] Elric Brothers.

*** in the dub, [[Creator/JMichaelTatum Rei]] is the class rep Iida([[Main/TheComicallySerious hell, they share the same personality]]), [[Creator/JoshGrelle Niitori]] is Tokoyami, [[Creator/IanSinclair Sosuke]] is Shoji, [[Creator/GregAyres Nagisa]] is Kouji and of course, [[Creator/ChristopherSabat Goro is here]] as All Might, their teacher. [[Creator/JerryJewell Momo]] is their principal, [[Creator/MicahSolusod Kazuki]], and [[Creator/JamieMarchi Gou]] are pro heroes while [[Creator/JasonLiebrecht Hiyori]] and [[Creator/EricVale Kusumi]] happen to be part of the League of Villains.

*** in the dub, [[Creator/JMichaelTatum Rei]] is the class rep Iida([[Main/TheComicallySerious hell, they share the same personality]]), [[Creator/JoshGrelle Niitori]] is Tokoyami, [[Creator/IanSinclair Sosuke]] is Shoji, [Creator/GregAyres Nagisa]] is Kouji and of course, [[Creator/ChristopherSabat Goro is here]] as All Might, their teacher. [[Creator/JerryJewell Momo]] is their principal, [[Creator/MicahSolusod Kazuki]], and [[Creator/JamieMarchi Gou]] are pro heroes [[Creator/JasonLiebrecht Hiyori]] and [[Creator/EricVale Kusumi]] happen to be part of the League of Villains.

** [[Creator/VicMignogna Rin]] and [[Creator/MaxeyWhitehead his younger self]] were once known as the [[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist Elric Brothers.

*** in the dub [[Creator/JoshGrelle Niitori]] is Yuri, [[Creator/JerryJewell Momo]] is Victor, [[Creator/MicahSolusod Kazuki]] is Yurio, [[Creator/CaitlinGlass Miho]] is Lilia, [[Creator/IanSinclair Sosuke]] is Celestino, Nao (Creator/OscarSeung) is Seung Il, [[Creator/ChristopherSabat Goro]] is Chris, [[Creator/JMichaelTatum Rei]] is Michele, [[Creator/RiccoFajardo Natsuya]] is Leo, and [[Creator/VicMignogna Rin]] is Nobunari.

*** in the dub [[Creator/JoshGrelle Niitori]] is Yuri, [[Creator/JerryJewell Mopo]] is Victor, [[Creator/MicahSolusod Kazuki]] is Yurio, [[Creator/CaitlinGlass Miho]] is Lilia, [[Creator/IanSinclair Sosuke]] is Celestino, Nao (Creator/HowardWang) is Seung Il, [[Creator/ChristopherSabat Goro]] is Chris, [[Creator/JMichaelTatum Rei]] is Michele, [[Creator/RiccoFajardo Natsuya]] is Leo, and [[Creator/VicMignogna Rin]] is Nobunari.

* Remember how the hotel Rin and Haru stayed at is a real place, depicted accurately in the anime? Well, WordOfGod says that they wanted to have a scene involving the [[ShowerScene glass shower]] the room has, but could not find the time.

* TheMerch: This franchise is extremely {{Egregious}} when it comes to merchandises ranging from figurines to ''life-size standees''. This franchise also ''loves'' to produce limited edition '''one-offs''' that usually costs ''triple'' in auctions. Recently taken UpToEleven with the release of many merchandises related to the theatrical film ''right after'' the film's announcement.

* RecursiveAdaptation: In 2017, more than four years after the animated series ended, ''Free!'' itself got a novelization. This being said, after the whole series was just a sequel to a series of novels.

** Subverted for the first season. It was licensed for streaming by Crunchyroll, a website that generally streams anime with subtitles and isn't known for dubbing anything into English, or even streaming English dubs period. While ''Free!'' was initially streamed with English subtitles at first, they also began streaming an English dubbed version of the show (with the English voice actors from Funimation's dub reprising their roles, no less). Played straight for the sub-only DVD release, which was sub-licensed to Creator/DiscotekMedia (another company not known for dubbing anything into English); a Blu-ray/DVD release by Funimation of season 1 eventually happened in 2017.

* [[IronyAsSheIsCast Irony as He Is Cast]]: ''Free!'' is known to have strong {{yaoi}} overtones, yet the English dub has Creator/VicMignogna in the cast, who is known for his Christian beliefs and his dislike in working in yaoi anime because of his beliefs. [[note]] That being said, he is known to be good friends with Creator/JMichaelTatum as well, who is openly gay.[[/note]]

* [[IronyAsSheIsCast Irony as He Is Cast]]: ''Free!'' is known to have strong yaoi overtones, yet the English dub has Creator/VicMignogna in the cast, who is known for his Christian beliefs and his dislike in working in yaoi anime because of his beliefs. [[note]] That being said Creator/VicMignogna is known to be good friends with Creator/JMichaelTatum as well, who is openly gay.[[/note]]

* NoDubForYou: Subverted for the first season. It was licensed for streaming by Crunchyroll, a website that generally streams anime with subtitles and isn't known for dubbing anything into English, or even streaming English dubs period. While ''Free!'' was initially streamed with english subtitles at first, they also began streaming an English dubbed version of the show (with the english voice actors from Funimation's dub reprising their roles, no less). Played straight for the sub-only DVD release, which was sub-licensed to Creator/DiscotekMedia (another company not known for dubbing anything into English, though they did hint at a dubbed release still being possible).
** Averted with ''[[SequelFirst Eternal Summer]]'', which was licensed and dubbed by Funimation.

** "Tsun" for Haruka, though he turned out to be genuinely more of a [[SugarAndIcePersonality Kuudere]].

* GenreRelaunch: Free!, along with ''Manga/{{Haikyuu}}'' has been sited to help revived the interest of sports anime in North American fanbase, especially with Creator/{{FUNimation}}.

* [[IronyAsSheIsCast Irony As He Is Cast]]: Free! is known to have strong yaoi overtones, yet the English dub has Creator/VicMignogna in the cast, who is known for his Christian beliefs and his dislike in working in yaoi anime because of his beliefs. [[note]] That being said Creator/VicMignogna is known to be good friends with Creator/JMichaelTatum as well, who is openly gay.[[/note]]
* IKnewIt: Fans were calling [[spoiler: Sousuke having a medical problem with his shoulder]] since episode 2 of Eternal Summer. [[spoiler: Fans who suspected a [[CareerEndingInjury potentially career-ending shoulder injury]] were right on the nose; fans who suspected that he had [[SoapOperaDisease a heart condition or cancer]] were (fortunately) {{Jossed}}.]]

* MerchandiseDriven: This franchise is extremely Main/{{Egregious}} when it comes to merchandises ranging from figurines to ''life-size standees''. This franchise also ''loves'' to produce limited edition '''one-offs''' that usually costs ''triple'' in auctions. Recently taken UpToEleven with the release of many merchandises related to the theatrical film ''right after'' the film's announcement.
* NoDubForYou: Subverted for the first season. It was licensed for streaming by Crunchyroll, a website that generally streams anime with subtitles and isn't known for dubbing anything into english, or even streaming english dubs period. While ''Free!'' was initially streamed with english subtitles at first, they also began streaming an english dubbed version of the show (with the english voice actors from Funimation's dub reprising their roles, no less). Played straight for the sub-only DVD release, which was sub-licensed to Creator/DiscotekMedia (another company not known for dubbing anything into english, though they did hint at a dubbed release still being possible).
** Averted with [[SequelFirst Eternal Summer]], which was licensed and dubbed by Funimation.

* RecursiveAdaptation: In 2017, more than 4 years after the animated series ended, ''Free!'' itself got a novelization. This being said, after the whole series was just a sequel to a series of novels.

** "Shota" for Nagisa, who has the typical Token (Male) Mini Moe physical aesthetic, if not as exaggerated as [[Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub some]]; he's more or less a CloudCuckoolander, though.

* RelationshipVoiceActor: Siblings [[Creator/AkenoWatanabe Gou]] and [[Creator/MamoruMiyano Rin]] worked in the past as partners as [[Manga/SoulEater Death the Kid and Liz Thompson]], while best friends [[Creator/ToddHaberkorn Haruka]] and [[Creator/JohnnyYongBosch Makoto]] worked in the past as twin siblings in Super [[VideoGame/StreetFighterIV Street Fighter IV]]: Arcade Edition.

* RelationshipVoiceActor: Siblings [[Creator/AkenoWatanabe Gou]] and [[Creator/MamoruMiyano Rin]] worked in the past as partners as [[Manga/SoulEater Death the Kid and Liz Thompson]].