Free! The Movie -Timeless Medley- the Promise
劇場版 Free!-Timeless Medley- 約束 (Free! Movie 2: Timeless Medley - Yakusoku)
- Sports
- School
- Episodes
- 1
- Duration
- 1 hr 37 min
- Aired
- Jul 1, 2017
- Status
- Finished Airing
Synopsis
Rin Matsuoka is reunited with his childhood friend Sousuke Yamazaki after Sousuke transfers to Samezuka Academy. The two look back on their early days together and renew their shared desire to swim side by side once more.
With Rin and Sousuke joined by Momotarou Mikoshiba—captain Mikoshiba’s younger brother—and the diligent Aiichirou Nitori, Samezuka’s relay lineup takes shape and their bond grows stronger. But as training intensifies and competitions draw near, the real reason behind Sousuke’s abrupt return begins to weigh on him, disrupting his performance in the pool. Sensing the shift, Rin presses on to find what’s holding Sousuke back.
Otaku Consensus
Free! The Movie -Timeless Medley- the Promise lands as one of the franchise’s more appreciated recap projects, with a 7.67 MAL average and 75 AniList score reflecting solid fan approval for its Samezuka-centered reframing, Kyoto Animation/Animation Do polish, and emotionally direct Rin-Sousuke material. Its biggest limitation is the compilation-film format: the pacing is efficient but visibly dependent on prior attachment to Free! Eternal Summer, making it more rewarding as franchise editing than as a standalone sports film.
Why You Should Watch
Watch The Promise if you want a sports anime movie built around loyalty, rivalry, and team identity without the bracket-heavy strategy focus of many tournament arcs. It scratches the same emotional itch as Haikyuu!! when that series narrows in on a single teammate bond, but filtered through Free!’s glossy swimming-body language, school-club intimacy, and KyoAni-style pauses rather than loud tactical escalation. The film is especially strong for viewers who prefer Rin’s side of the franchise: Samezuka’s lineup gets the emotional center, and the movie treats competition as a pressure test for friendship rather than a scoreboard. If you already know Free! and want the franchise’s male-cast melodrama in a compact, theatrically polished form, this is the targeted cut.
Key Characters
- RRin Matsuoka(VA: Mamoru Miyano)
Rin remains the franchise’s most volatile emotional engine, a swimmer whose ambition is inseparable from how intensely he invests in the people beside him.
- SSousuke Yamazaki(VA: Yoshimasa Hosoya)
Sousuke gives the film its most grounded dramatic weight, with fans often responding to his restrained manner and the quiet tension behind his competitiveness.
- MMomotarou Mikoshiba(VA: Kenichi Suzumura)
Momotarou brings a deliberately louder, more comic rhythm to Samezuka, making him a useful contrast to the film’s heavier Rin-Sousuke focus.
- AAiichirou Nitori(VA: Kouki Miyata)
Aiichirou stands out as the diligent underclassman type whose appeal comes from sincerity, discipline, and the way he stabilizes Samezuka’s more forceful personalities.
What Makes It Stand Out
- 1
The film was produced by Animation Do and Kyoto Animation, the studios associated with Free!’s signature attention to water effects, swimmer physiques, and small changes in posture during emotionally loaded conversations.
- 2
As the second Timeless Medley movie, The Promise functions as the Samezuka-side companion to the broader Free! recap project, narrowing the franchise’s second-season material around Rin’s circle rather than treating the ensemble evenly.
- 3
Its sports emphasis is unusually internal for the genre: races matter less as tactical puzzles than as measurements of trust, pride, and whether a relay team can hold together under personal pressure.
- 4
AniList’s tag spread captures the film’s specific niche with unusual clarity: Swimming at 80%, Primarily Male Cast and Cute Boys Doing Cute Things both at 79%, and School at 60%, placing it between athletic drama and character-service franchise film.
- 5
The reception numbers point to a dedicated-audience title rather than a broad gateway film: it sits at MAL rank #1503 with a 7.67 score, but its popularity rank of #3696 shows it is far less widely sampled than many similarly rated sports anime.
Fun Facts & Trivia
- Fun fact 1
- The Japanese subtitle Yakusoku directly corresponds to the English subtitle The Promise, making the film’s title unusually literal across its common international and Japanese listings.
- Fun fact 2
- It premiered in Japan on July 1, 2017 as a single theatrical anime film, not as a TV special or OVA episode.
- Fun fact 3
- The movie is officially credited to both Animation Do and Kyoto Animation, reflecting the production structure behind much of the Free! franchise before Animation Do was later absorbed into Kyoto Animation.
- Fun fact 4
- On MyAnimeList, the film has 15,503 recorded votes, a useful clue that its 7.67 average comes from a committed franchise audience rather than mass casual viewing.
- Fun fact 5
- AniList lists only 140 favourites for the film despite a 75/100 score, which reinforces its status as a well-liked companion piece rather than the main entry most fans choose to represent the franchise.
Studios
- Animation Do
- Kyoto Animation
