Something else I’m noticing about the Free! episode 12 screencaps on my dash that I really like, that I think the anime did a really good job on,

Spoilers below the cut.

Rin is actually smiling.

I know we spent the whole series going, “Haru never smiles,” and then when he finally did it was, “Awwww finally he’s showing his emotions omg!”

But actually, I think the character that smiled the least in the series… is Rin.

Hear me out on this.

Every time he did smile, it was that smug asshole smile, that, “I’m gonna beat you,” or “I won ha in your face!”  Which, when he was younger, he had a smile like that too but it was more fun.  It was more lighthearted, I think.  It wasn’t so bitter, not like older Rin’s smiles have been.

But finally, in this episode, he has a real smile on his face  That smug smile happens when he’s racing with Haru and the others, sure, but it’s more like the one he had as a kid, not the one he had when he raced against Haru.  That smile felt forced, felt like, “I have to do this to move on and I’m going to do it no matter what, even if it hurts you.”  

So it’s like, Rin finally, finally smiled.

And it was beautiful oh my.