My stoic swimming husband who hides what he’s going through and is a mean but kind person to those he holds close. Sousuke is a character in Free! that appears in the second season, and I remember all the gays at the time being completely obsessed with him. A tall, strong and almost broody figure at first, but has his moments of warmth with the other characters really adds to his charm.

He is very protective of Rin, even threatening Haruka when he thought he was hurting Rin, and I specifically remember this scene where people were going wild over it and all sorts of fanart were being made, even the fanfiction too. For the longest time I would ship Sousuke and Haruka becasue of the scene, but also beause I was never really a fan of Rin.

From his introduction, his character and personality does slowly warm up to the other characters, developing a close friendship with Makoto and having fun with all the other characters in the OVA. Alongside all the fanservice in the series itself of him, Sousuke is probably my second favourite husbando from Free!, right after Kisumi.

Play

Merchandise

Sousuke has the most merchandise on Neokyo out of all the Free! characters, so he’s the one I’ll buy the most merchandise of.

Trivia

Sousuke’s favourite food is tonkatsu pork, which is a breaded, deep-fried pork cutlet. I will make this for him on his birthday with a side of shredded cabbage, rice, and miso soup.