Free!/Ships

AyuGou
AyuGou is the femslash ship between Ayumu Kunikida and Gou Matsuoka.

Dive to the Future
SPROUTING DIVE START!

While taking pictures, Gou tells Ayuma to relax. She then asks her what her favorite muscle is. Ayuma says that she’s not really into muscles, which shocks Gou. Ayuma admits that she likes guys with a little more fat, which horrifies Gou to no end.

FIRST SWIM IN ANOTHER COUNTRY!

Gou gets a weird feeling as she reads her muscle book. Ayuma notices her flinch and asks her what’s wrong. She tells her that she had a weird feeling, then tells Ayuma to promise that if anything happens to her she’ll protect the book. Ayuma says that she can’t promise anything.

Fanon
One of the few femslash pairings in Free! shipping took off for femslash shippers immediately after their first interaction. On AO3, there are currently 3 works.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

HaruH2O
HaruH2O is the cargo ship between Haruka Nanase and water. AKA: HaruWater

Dive to the Future
SPROUTING DIVE START!

Haru swims through the water, before going to university, thinking to himself. When Makoto shows up, he pulls him in and the two swim for a bit. At his swim practice Haru says that when he swims for real it’s always free, and dives into the water. He swims and everyone is impressed.

Haru completely submerges himself in the bath. At the newcomer’s tournament, he dives into the water. He swims free, and win’s.

A PROMISE ON A SHOOTING STAR!

Haru swims during the training camp for his team in middle school. He later join Ikuya by the pool to watch the meteor shower. At another swim team practice, Haru’s swimming once again impresses his teammates. He dives back into the water to save Ikuya.

Fanon
The only popular ship within Free! that no one of the fandom argues over. HaruH2O is loved and accepted as a humored ship that people enjoy. It is the fifteenth most written ship for Haru on AO3.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

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Trivia

 * Haru always wears his swimsuit beneath his casual clothes in the chance he can get into water.
 * He also has a tendency to wear his suit in the bathtub.

Makogisa
Makogisa is the slash ship between Makoto Tachibana and Nagisa Hazuki.

Dive to the Future
SPROUTING DIVE START!

After class Makoto gets a text. One of his classmates see’s the name and asks if Nagisa is his girlfriend. Makoto corrects him and tells him that they were part of the same swim club. Back in Iwatobi Nagisa comments on how fast Makoto replied, but is upset with the very short messages. Nagisa decides to send him pictures of their new members.

Dive to the Future
A Promise on a Shooting Star!
 * Makoto receives a text from Nagisa saying that Sousuke told them about Ikuya.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

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MakoGou
MakoGou is the het ship between Makoto Tachibana and Gou Matsuoka.

Dive to the Future
Sprouting Dive Start!
 * Gou asks Nagisa if it was okay to text Makoto during class.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

Tumblr

MakoHaruRin
MakoHaruRin is the polyship between Haruka Nanase, Rin Matsuoka and Makoto Tachibana. AKA: Marinka, Freesome

Canon
They are childhood friends.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

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Trivia

 * Haru's animal is a dolphin while Makoto's is killer whale/orca and Rin's is a great white shark.
 * Haru only swims free.
 * Makoto's main stroke is backstroke.
 * Rin's main stroke's are butterfly and freestyle.

MakoRei
MakoRei is the slash ship between Makoto Tachibana and Rei Ryugazaki.

Dive to the Future
Sprouting Dive Start!
 * Rei says that Makoto isn’t the type to answer a text during class so they’re probably fine.
 * When Nagisa becomes upset at the short replies Rei tells him that he wouldn’t have much of a response to their being only three new members.
 * Rei wants to retake the team picture before they send it to Makoto, since he looks bad in it

Fandom
FAN FICTION

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Trivia

 * Makoto's main stroke is backstroke while Rei's is butterfly.
 * Makoto's animal is an Orca/Killer Whale, while Rei's is a butterfly.

MomoTori
MomoTori is the slash ship between Momotaro Mikoshiba and Aiichiro Nitori.

Eternal Summer
Momotaro calls Aiichiro, "Nitori-Senpai" since he is a year younger, while Aiichi calls him "Momo-kun". When Momo arrives for his first year at Samezuka Academy, he and Nitori end up becoming roommates. Both of them are on the Samezuka swim team.

Dive to the Future
INTERFERENCE OF LOSS!

Momo flops on his bed in excitement, since he gets to see Gou again. Nitori points out that it's a training camp, and that other teams will be there. Momo ignores Nitori and starts to run around the room in excitement. Nitori questions his roommate if he's even listening, Momo insists that he is, while remembering about a swimmer from another school. Nitori remembers this and tells him not to get into a fight like he did at the resort over spring break.

Fanon
With Rin being Nitori's primary source of inspiration when they were on the team together, Rin's absence and Aii's promotion to team captain puts a lot of pressure on his shoulders. But rather than caving into the pressure, Momo's upbeat and cheerful personality encourages Aii to get over his shyness and lead the team.

Momo drags Aii into his shenanigans, usually with Aii protesting but going along with it anyway. Common prompts for this ship usually involve Momo being weird and cheering Aii up from his usual serious self.

They are the second most popular pairing for Nitori and the most popular for Momo on AO3.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Momo/Nitori tag on FanFiction.net
 * Momo/Nitori tag on FanFiction.net

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Trivia

 * Aiichiro's motif animal is a duck, while Momo's is an otter.
 * Momo's a really intrusive/pushy and a happy-go-lucky guy.
 * They are almost always seen together, even when outside of class/the swim club.
 * Aiichiro likes to be called Aiichi.
 * Momo swims backstroke. Aiichiro swims freestyle and breaststroke.
 * In the Season 2 ending, "FUTURE FISH," the two are criminals/bank robbers getting arrested by Sousuke and Rin.

RinIku
RinIku is the slash ship between Rin Matsuoka and Ikuya Kirishima.

Canon
DIVE TO THE FUTURE

Thanks to Natsuya, Rin and Ikuya learned more about each other before meeting in person. They discovered each other's existence through Sosuke years ago.

ROAD TO THE WORLD

Rin and Ikuya met a few weeks prior to the All-Japan Invitational. The two joined the Japan swim team and became teammates for the first time. They began to spend more time together.

THE FINAL STROKE

Rin and Ikuya realized that they weren't so different and ended up getting along; they initiated their friendship after the Sydney Tournament. At the next tournament, they both won medals and hugged in front of their friends and the audience. They also swam in their first medley relay.

Fanon
The RinIku ship started years before the release of Road to the World because their stories are similar and both of them aspire to be professional athletes. Fans' excitement was increased by all the funny and cute moments shown in The Final Stroke arc.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

TUMBLR

SeiGou
SeiGou is the het ship between Seijuro Mikoshiba and Gou Matsuoka.

Canon
Seijuro is the captain of the Samezuka swim team while Gou is the manager of the Iwatobi Swim Club. The two first met when Gou went to one of their meetups in hopes that her team and theirs could train together.

Gou and Seijiro first meet while Gou is admiring the Samezuka team member's muscles. Seijiro questions what she's doing before pausing and commenting that she was "cute." Gou tells him and he grabs her hands in excitement, agreeing that her team would train with his.

They meet again at the store. Gou is buying a drink from a vending machine when Seijiro turns a corner and sees her.

Gou is rather clueless about Seijuro's advances/crush and denies that she "seduced" or used her "sex-appeal" to have the Iwatobi Swim Club train with the Samezuka swim team.

Moments

 * Seijiro enthusiastically waves at Gou before a swimming competition.

Fanon
Gou's appreciation for muscles and Seijuro's attraction to Gou works out. Most fanworks involve the two finding something to love past their outer appearances. Some examples of this would be Seijuro admiring how hard Gou works to keep her team together while Gou notices Seijuro's warm-heartedness and overall charisma.

SeiGou have a decent following in the fandom. On AO3, SeiGou is the most written ship for both Seijuro and Gou.

SeiGou is the most popular het Free! ship.

Fandom
FAN FICTION 

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Trivia

 * Gou prefers to be called Kou but Seijuro calls her "Gou-kun" which is adding a masculine suffix to her already boyish name, much to her dismay.
 * Seijiro's little brother, Momotarou, also has a crush on Gou.

SouGou
SouGou is the het ship between Sousuke Yamazaki and Gou Matsuoka.

Canon
They're acquainted by Rin, who's Sousuke's best friend and Gou's older brother. Sousuke and Gou have known each other since they were children.

They don't have a lot of screen time together, but their dialogue suggests that they do speak to each other often off-screen.

Dive to the Future
INTERFERENCE OF LOSS!

As Sousuke is walking home from the doctor, Gou runs up to him. He asks if she was going home from club and she replies yes. He asks about Iwatobi being at the training camp with the other schools, which Gou is excited about and she asks if Sousuke will be there as well. He will and tells her he can start swimming again. Gou is excited for him, but he asks her not to tell Rin yet, since he wants to do that himself.

Fanon
Many believe that they two would be a cute couple. This is do to all of their interactions being friendly and sweet. Shippers differ on how Rin would react to the two as a couple, as it would be his best friend dating his sister. Most seem to think he would react positively.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Sousuke/Gou tag on FanFiction.Net
 * Sousuke/Gou tag on FanFiction.Net

TUMBLR

SouRei
SouRei is the slash ship between Sousuke Yamazaki and Rei Ryugazaki.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

TUMBLR

Trivia

 * Rei's animal is a butterfly, while Sousuke's is a Whale Shark.
 * Both of their main strokes are butterfly.
 * Their English dub actors once kissed at a charity auction in exchange for reaching 250 dollars.