Free! -Take Your Marks- Film Closes With "See You Next Stage" Notice

Music: Tatsuya Katou
Character Design: Futoshi Nishiya
Art Director: Joji Unoguchi
3D Director: Yuji Shibata
Sound Director: Yota Tsuruoka
Director of Photography: Kazuya Takao
Color setting: Yuka Yoneda
Prop Design: Seiichi Akitake

The boys of Iwatobi Swim Club ar ready to head to new stages and new phases.

On October 21, fans of all things KyoAni (and Animation Do) gathered at the third “KyoAni & Do Thanks Event.” At the event, Kyoto Animation screened the global première for Free! -Take Your Marks-. The feature ended with a message, which reads “See You Next Stage.”

Character designer Futoshi Nishiya, who attended the screening, was asked about the message. Nishiya responded by repeating the line in English, and nothing more.

The message quickly gained interest, because 2013 Free! – Iwatobi Swim Club ended with a similar send-off. Sequel series Free -Eternal Summer- was revealed the next year.

Free! Take Your Marks will hit Japanese theaters on October 28. The feature is the second of two planned compilation movies, which will cover the following episodes:

Unmei no Choice! (The Choice of Destiny!)
Hitou no Cooling Down! (Cooling Down at The Secret Hot Spring!)
Yakusoku no Butterfly! (Butterfly of The Promise!)
Tabidachi no Eternal Blue! (Eternal Blue of The Departure!)

Eisaku Kawanami was tapped to direct the films at Animation Do and Kyoto Animation, with Futoshi Nishiya (Free! – Iwatobi Swim Club, Nichijou – My Ordinary Life) providing character designs. Masahiro Yokotani (Free! – Iwatobi Swim Club, The Devil is a Part-Timer!) is in charge of the films’ scripts.

Other confirmed crew members include: