Alright, this is more a plot heavy post and not so much of a shipping post but i wanted to talk about it.
A criticism I’ve seen a lot is that “this is just recycling s1.” This isn’t season 1; even though the setup resembles season 1. You can see even in the flashbacks between haru and ikuya in episode 2 that he and ikuya do not have the same relationship dynamic as rin and haru do.
Haru’s reactions are totally different, and honestly he was not as invested in ikuya as a rival in middle school (which by the way is in line with what happened in starting days). He and ikuya barely knew each-other and they didn’t have this magic swimming bonding experience, but haru still feels guilty for leaving as abruptly as he did. Not because he lost something irreplaceable to him, but because he abandoned his friend when he knew how much ikuya looked up to and needed him.
Ikuya was in a dark place before the events of starting days, and became very invested in haru. The fact that we don’t know much at all about how ikuya processed haru leaving, other teammates leaving/quitting leaves even more possibilities. We really have no idea who ikuya is as an adult, we don’t know much about him anymore because honestly we haven’t been given any information.
He clearly still cares; he has flashbacks that are honestly pretty emotional, but we don’t really know how HE feels about those memories. He tells haru it’s no big deal but is it? is he hiding anything? This is what we will be unpacking in season 3.
This is so important because so much of the season 1 plot revolves around rin and haru and their dynamic. That is not what we are being given here. As ikuya is given more character development AS AN ADULT we’ll be able to see where this story can go, because even as a younger person he is clearly not the same as rin.
There is also the fact that haru is not the same haru as season 1. He is much more outgoing and comfortable in social situations as well as being less prone to isolating himself when he’s upset. He runs when he sees a glimpse of ikuya and continues to chase him the whole day until they meet by chance. Even then he doesn’t run away; he almost immediately starts apologizing after saying hello; even though this is the first time they’ve talked in years. Haru of season 1? it took him the entire season to have the talk he needed to have with rin… THE ENTIRE SEASON; and not without help.
I don’t think it’s right to brush this season off as a bad copy of season 1, because fundamentally it can’t be a carbon copy. The parallels between haru’s conflict and resolution with rin and ikuya separately will highlight haru’s growth and the uniqueness of his relationships with these characters.
tldr; give s3 a chance to prove itself, because it is unlike anything the series has tried to do before (and honestly it’s the second episode who knows what’s going to happen).
Alright an amendment! I’m not sure how to reply to other people’s replies on posts but thank you @aella-a for bringing this up.
Regarding my comment about haru and ikuya not knowing each other very well: I personally felt that they didn’t know each other well compared to how well the rest of haru’s friends know him. I should have phrased it differently. I have to admit, I don’t remember starting days very well, but I did leave with an impression their group was more cobbled together than made strong by close friendship, but all of my interpretation is clouded by my own bias.
It also had to do with how the movie was paced, it made me feel a little like their friendship arc was rushed, considering previously others had been done over a full season of an anime. In the context of starting days in a vacuum, yes they did care about each-other but how well did they really know each-other? Yes they checked all the boxes but considering how quickly haru left the club, even in the circumstances that he left, I can’t help but think at least that haru didn’t care about ikuya as much as ikuya cared about him at the time (even unintentionally).
Which tbh (and this is off topic) I think lends more to a new and interesting story, because it just further emphasizes how much ikuya is not Rin to haru.
Thank you for your reply (even though mine is very late)!
soumako central 