High☆Speed! -Free! Starting Days- Teaser Video & Staff Revealed – 1st Season Theatre Release

The official website of the upcoming anime film adaptation of Kouji Ohji and Futoshi Nishiya’s High☆Speed! light novel series, the basis of Animation Do’s Free! anime, has opened and revealed the first teaser video for High☆Speed! -Free! Starting Days-, which will be releasing in Japanese theatres on December 5th. Additionally, the first members of the anime’s staff have been revealed and an announcement that the anime’s first season will be having a theatrical release was also made.

High-Speed!--Free!-Starting-Days--Visual-1.2

The first teaser video has been revealed for the upcoming film announcing that it will be released in theatres across Japan from December 5th.

The site has revealed that Nobunaga Shimazaki (Shidou Itsuka from Date A Live) will return to voice Haruka Nanase. The first members of the film’s staff were also revealed, where Kyoto Animation will be animating the film – with no mention of Animation Do thus far.

  • Director: Yasuhiro Takemoto (Amagi Brilliant Park, Hyouka)
  • Animation Studio: Kyoto Animation (Hyouka, Clannad)

It was also revealed that there will be special theatrical screening of the anime’s first season. The event, titled Free! -Swimming All Night-, will be a special event that will run in July showcasing all 12 episodes of the 2013 anime. There will be a total of two sessions that will be held, an overnight session on July 19th that runs from 11:00pm JST till the next day at 5:00am JST, and a two day session on the 25th and 26th, both showing 6 episodes on each day from 8am-11pm JST. The event will be held at various locations across the country with tickets costing ¥3,000 (~ $24.30 USD) and will open from the 13th. For more information: http://l-tike.com/free-allnight/

The High☆Speed! -Free! Starting Days- film will adapting the original High☆Speed! light novels, whereas the Free! and Free! Eternal Summer anime were lightly based on the novels and are set after its events. The novel itself focuses on Haruka and friends in Elementary and Middle school, whilst the Free! anime features them in High school.

Kyoto Animation earlier released the covers for the second volume of the High☆Speed! light novel that released on July 2nd last year. Volume 2 will be set after the first novel as the main characters move on to middle school, where new characters will be introduced. The first novel feature the characters in elementary school.

High Speed Volume 2 Cover

The site also released an alternate cover of the novel, which features Rin Matsuoka and his new friends.

High Speed Volume 2 Cover Alt

Free! (Free! – Iwatobi Swim Club) is a TV anime series based of Kouji Ohji light novel High☆Speed!, which is illustrated by Futoshi Nishiya. The light novel received an honourable mention in the 2011 Kyoto Animation Award contest, and to date a total of 2 volumes have been published by Kyoto Animation. The anime adaptation aired from July 2013 for 12 episodes, animated by Kyoto Animation (Hyouka, Clannad) and Animation Do – with the latter’s animation debut. The second season of the anime, Free! – Eternal Summer, aired in Summer 2014. There were also radio shows and drama CD volumes released to promote the two anime seasons.

Here is a synopsis of the series from MAL:

The story revolves around Haruka Nanase, a boy who has always loved to be immersed in water, and to swim in it. Before graduating from elementary school, he participated in a swimming tournament along with his fellow swimming club members, Makoto Tachibana, Nagisa Hazuki, and Rin Matsuoka. After achieving victory, each of the boys went their separate ways.

Time passed, and in the middle of their uneventful high school lives Rin appears and challenges Haruka to a match, showing Haruka his overwhelming power. Not wanting it to end like this, Haruka, gathers together Makoto and Nagisa once again and brings a new member named Rei Ryugazaki to create the Iwatobi High School Swimming Club in order to defeat Rin.

Free!-Season-2-Titled-Free!-Eternal-Summer-Key-Visual

The Free! anime prequel film High☆Speed! -Free! Starting Days- will be released in Japanese theatres from December 5th. Further information will be revealed at the Free! -Swimming All Night- event on July 19.

You can visit the film’s website here: http://movie-highspeed.com/

Visit the anime’s website: http://iwatobi-sc.com/
And follow the official Twitter: @iwatobi_sc

 
Source Article and Images – High☆Speed! -Free! Starting Days- Anime Website
Source Article – Free! Anime Website
“High☆Speed! -Free! Starting Days-, “Free!”, “Free! Eternal Summer”, “High☆Speed!”, images, video and all associated tiles © 2015 Kouji Ohji, Futoshi Nishiya, Kyoto Animation and Animation Do