Characters / 50% OFF

Iwatobi Swim Club

Haruka "Haru" Nanase

Voiced by: SparkyTheAndroid

"I always thought swimming was kinda like doing somebody: you dive in, flop around a bit, and you either get booed or somebody gives you a medal."

• Bigger on the Inside: There is an entire world in his head full of multiple Harus that can take control of him.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Despite his unusual mental state, Haru is clearly a powerful swimmer.
• Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Implied to be because of having swallowed so much chlorine-filled pool water.
• Genius Ditz: Great at swimming, not so great at pretty much everything else.
• The Man Behind the Man: Apparently the Council of Nine Harus are the ones in control of Haru at least until they're all killed off by Haru-That-Can-Read who takes control for himself.
• Metaphorgotten: The opening narration for the series has one of these, where he tries to compare swimming to having sex.
• Never Learned to Read: Only one Haru ever bothered to. Then he gets shot and all the other Harus have to improvise.
• No Social Skills: "Join the swimming bird team!"
• Not Quite Dead: The Haru that can read gets shot and left in a dumpster by Impulsive Haru. He manages to survive, avenge himself, and regain the competence that Haru had been slipping from.
• Oblivious to Love: Is literally the only person (with the possible exception of Makoto himself) who hasn't noticed Makoto's painfully obvious feelings for him.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Unlike his canon self, he's almost never referred to by anything other than "Haru".
• Psychic Powers: Not Haru himself, but his Personalities are capable of leaving his mind and entering other peoples', like the one that ended up in Rin's dream. This also seemingly creates some kind of psychic link that Haru-That-Can-Read/Supreme-Overlord-Haru later uses to taunt Rin.
• Single-Target Sexuality: Towards water. There's not much of anything that will hold Haru's interest like a body of water.
• Split Personality: There are multiple Harus holed up inside his brain that have conflicting interests and personalities.
• The Stoic: Out loud anyway. In his head, the Harus are more emotional.
• Voice of the Legion: In his Demon Form, achieved by having all the Harus talk at once.

Makoto Tachibana

Voiced by: Octopimp

"I learned to swim the old-fashioned way: when I was five, my dad took me out to a lake and tossed me right in the water! Making it to shore was easy! Making it out of the gunny sack was hard, though."

• Beware the Nice Ones: He's the nicest on the team, easily. However, when he does insult somebody, he goes right for the throat.
• Cluster Bleep-Bomb: Has one when he wakes up from nearly drowning in episode 14
• Freudian Slip: A frequent instigator of these, especially in relation to Haru.
• Hidden Depths: As noted in Smarter Than You Look below, Makoto is a lot more perceptive of his team's situation than he lets on.
  " We're all here because we're not welcome anywhere else. You think that these antics would fly at the German Club? We put everything into swimming is because swimming is all we've got."
• Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Suffered this at the hands of his father, who is clearly disappointed by his effeminate son.
• Idiot Hero:
  Nagisa: Makoto, I love you, but you dumb as hell.
  • Only to be surprisingly subverted in episode 14.
• Nice Guy: In contrast to his teammates.
• Smarter Than You Look: He's fully aware that the Swim Club is made up of nuts, and also fully aware that everybody has nowhere else to go if they ever decided to leave.
• Straight Gay: Sparky confirms that Makoto is gay and has painfully obvious feelings for Haru.
• Team Mom: Officially, as of the eleventh bonus video. Rei even mockingly calls him that during the early parts of Episode 14.
• Transparent Closet: Literally everyone can see through it.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Watches a shady business deal take place between Nagisa and Miho right in front of his eyes and is utterly baffled by it.

Nagisa Hazuki

Voiced by: Octopimp

"This reminds me of prison!"

• Ambiguously Bi: Although he usually shows attraction towards males while on-screen, his sexuality is described as "a shrug with a wiggly hand motion" and he says that he "doesn't even consider himself a gay person" even though he's dating Rei. Can possibly mean he is pansexual as well. He also notably sends a picture of his, ahem, genitals to Gou/Kou in episode 19, something he has only historically done with Rei, who he is constantly flirting with.
  • Additionally, in one of the bonus episodes (ambiguous canonicity and jokey nature aside) he mentions watching JA Vs and specifically name-drops a female actress.
• Badass Adorable: Despite the vastly different personality in comparison to his canon counterpart, he's still incredibly adorable.
• Book Dumb: Surprisingly averted. Judging by his knowledge of modern artists, and his meta-discussion about similes and metaphors in Bonus 14, he's just as book smart as he is street smart.
• Breakout Character: He's appeared the most in crossovers out of the rest of the cast, and certainly seems to be the most popular character.
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: Hardcore thug most of the time, but apparently cried for an hour after he watched The Notebook.
  "It's a sad movie."
  • Apparently has an Etsy account for his non-illegal works.
• Establishing Character Moment: One that's completely offscreen, no less.
  "What's up, sluts?! Guess who just got outta prison?!
• Depraved Homosexual/Depraved Bisexual: Nagisa's flirting with Rei strongly comes off as this.
• Gayngster: He speaks and acts like a gangster and is head-over-heels for Rei.
• Even Evil Has Standards: As dangerous as Nagisa is, he seems to be afraid of Miho at times.
• Forgetful Jones: In Bonus 14 he alleges that he can't remember what he ate for breakfast, and that for him, 45 minutes is a long time to have known someone.
• Hidden Depths: Frequently displays some non-illegal hobbies and cultural knowledge. Particularly in the Bonus videos.
  Makoto: He says poetry died with print media.
  Nagisa: (about a painting) This'll be great reference for my thesis paper about cubism. Good use of negative space!
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: It's debatable whether he cares about the others or not, but he does run into the ocean after them when he thinks they may be in danger, and in bonus videos, he outright admits he loves Makoto, "but [he's] dumb as hell."
• Meta Guy: Tends to break the fourth wall, or at least lean on it, more than any other character.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: One of his aliases is, according to Rei, "The Iwatobi Icepick."
• Official Couple: With Rei, eventually.
• Scary Black Man: Obviously he isn't black, but he still has the personality and speech patterns typical of this trope.
• Stalker with a Crush: Towards Rei.
• The Stoner: Applies to everyone, really, but this series takes the "purifying salts" scene from canon, and runs away from context with it.
• Tattooed Crook: Including a tattoo on his chest that reads "Thug Seme".
• Vocal Dissonance: Most folks really wouldn't expect the voice of a Scary Black Man to come out of a small blond teenager.

Rei Ryugazaki

Voiced by: Octopimp

"Everybody, shut up!"

• Ax-Crazy: Heavily downplayed in comparison to most examples. However, he seems almost obsessed with the idea of taking a life.
• Fauxlosophic Narration: What most of his thoughts are.
• Inner Monologue: Tends to have these often.
• No Love for the Wicked: Is confirmed to be aromantic, and is a serial killer.
• Not So Above It All: It's saying something when the Only Sane Man is also the next Patrick Bateman.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Makoto accuses him of this during Episode 14, and then goes on to say that no matter how many times he vocally protests the team's antics, he'll stay there regardless because swimming is all he has right now.
• Official Couple: With Nagisa, despite the relationship seeming a bit one-sided at first.
• Only Sane Man: In comparison to his teammates. He's also the only one who seems remotely bothered by Demon Haru. And yet, he's either already a serial killer or a serial killer in the making.
• Serial Killer: Nothing is confirmed, but his Inner Monologues scream possible premeditated murder, plus comments about disappearing cats from Haru.
  • Confirmed as of episode 15 since he mentions preparing for premeditated murder before.
• Shout-Out: His speech, mannerisms, and hobby are deliberately styled off of Patrick Bateman.
• The Stoic: Most of the time he's this.
  • Not So Stoic: Becomes visibly agitated when he's forced to swim with the rest of the team.
• Word of Gay: Confirmed to be Aromantic by Sparky the Android in a tumblr post.

Gou "Kou" Matsuoka

Voiced by: Rina-chan

"I have to Tumblr this!"

• Big Brother Attraction: Downplayed, but she doesn't seem to mind the idea of her brother having sex with other boys. Especially Haru.
• Deadpan Snarker: More so than in the original show.
• Eating the Eye Candy: The first thing she does upon seeing Haru shirtless for the first time is snap a photo of it and post it to Tumblr.
• Guy on Guy Is Hot: Her love of slash basically seems to stem from this trope. She goes beyond shipping fiction and decides to take random handsome men she sees and pair them up together, enough to have a whole binder of shipping material even. She even anticipates all of the confrontations Rin and Haru have together because she finds it attractive. Nagisa discusses it in Episode 19 and gives her a long speech about why her attitude's creepy.
• Hidden Depths: She gets in on some of this during Episode 18, where she admits to Miho that she doesn't know if she has the right credentials for the working world and she mentions that she has complicated feelings about Haru losing to Rin since it wasn't funny or hot. Then it dips into a bit of an existential crisis.
• Hypocritical Humor: Gets on Nitori's case for going through the Matsuoka's trash yet she admitted to doing the same thing to someone else's trash in an earlier episode.
• Lovable Sex Maniac: Gou is still a likable character, but her love for muscles is exaggerated for comedic effect.
• Noodle Incident: Had to take the fall for Nagisa once and ended up in jail because of it.
• Occidental Otaku: She acts like this, only showing up more prominently after the sixth episode or so. Which is kind of weird, seeing as that she's from Japan.
• Yaoi Fangirl: Even more so than her canon counterpart. As soon as she gets to the Samezuka swim practice, she starts mentally pairing off all of the male swimmers she sees.

Samezuka

Rin Matsuoka

Voiced by: SparkyTheAndroid

"Fine. I didn't want to hang around with you dildos, anyway."

• Aloof Older Brother: To Gou. Although the effect is sort of ruined when she calls him "bitch-baby" and he starts crying.
• And Then What?: Has this moment after finally beating Haru in a race, and is unable to figure out what he could aspire to afterward, even with Nitori reminding him hat he didn't accomplish much.
• Berserk Button: Being called "bitch-baby".
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Milked for all it's worth and then some with his longtime rival, Haru.
  Gou: SSSSSSSHHHHH! I hear boys being gay!
• Catapult Nightmare: Twice in the space of five seconds at the end of Bonus 14.
  Rin: I hate that!
• Cloud Cuckoolander: He's not that different from Haru in the end, especially apparent when they start communicating telepathically.
• Daddy Issues: It all started when his father said swimming didn't pay the bills. Rin then went completely off his rocker.
• Inelegant Blubbering: He doesn't cry on-screen per se because of the animation, but you can hear it in the tone of his voice. He does this every once in a while when he's alone, or when nobody remembers his birthday, or when somebody calls him "bitch baby"...
• Jerkass: Just like his counterpart, he's dismissive and rude towards his former friends.
• Motive Decay: He doesn't know why he hates/loves Haru, he just knows he has to beat him.

Seijuurou Mikoshiba

Voiced by: SecretlyEric

"You must be Haru! I've heard a lot about you, and your extensive collection of tank tops. I'm thinking of getting, like, ten more..."

• Fratbro: He talks like this.

Aiichirou Nitori

Voiced by: Unlucky Warrior

"Your name is Rei? That's only a letter off from Rin!"

• Dogged Nice Guy: Stalker elements aside, Nitori is a pretty decent person who can't get Rin to notice him.
• Only Sane Man: When put next to Rin and all of his baggage, Nitori comes of saner than him, and exasperated by his antics.
• Stalker with a Crush: To Rin.

Other

Miho Amakata

Voiced by: Azamack

"I guarantee that, if I get out of this chair, you'll end up in one with wheels."

• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Her appearance as a harmless literature teacher is just a front for her criminal activities.
• Crazy Cat Lady: Implied in episode 19, when she says she only goes to swim meets to get away from her cats.
• The Cynic: She has absolutely no faith in the team she's supervising. She only comes to the meets because she needs some alone time from her cats.
• Faux Affably Evil: She tends to threaten the swim team in a polite tone.
• Old Shame: In-universe, whatever the weird porn was.

Coach Sasabe

Voiced by: LittleKuriboh

"They're MY ostriches!"

• Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Like Haru, implied to be because of having swallowed so much chlorine-filled pool water.
• Conspiracy Theorist: Played for Laughs.
  Coach Sasabe: [through a megaphone] The hole in the ozone layer was caused by the magic bullet that killed JFK!

Easter Dave

"I represent a certain mutual acquaintance. One Easter Dave."

• Canon Character All Along: Turns out he is an actual character... Just not from Free!. He's Makarov from Fairy Tail Abridged Parody.
• The Ghost: Never actually shows up in series, but always referred to.
• Oh, Crap!: Mentioning his name is enough to get Miho to comply.
• The Faceless: Not any more...
• The Voiceless: Technically, he's had no lines in any 50% Off videos.