MakoHaru vs RinHaru
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MakoHaru vs RinHaru is a ship war in the Free! fandom. Both ships are M/M and noncanonical; however, this ship war has always been a source of contention among Free fans. It was especially active during Free!'s airtime between 2012 and 2014, and occurred across Tumblr, Twitter, and AO3 alike.
Makoto, Haru, and Rin are all main characters in Free. Haru is arguably the protagonist of the entire series, caught between both sides of the ships.
Though time has passed and many fans have moved onto other fandoms, those who were even remotely involved in the fandom can still recall where they stood in the war.
The Debate
In the early days of Free!'s airing, fans were unsure if there would be a canonical gay couple, or if the show would end up queerbaiting. Because no queer ships ended up becoming canon, some fans may consider the fanservice--which is how Free! came to be in the first place--queerbaiting, while others may simply consider it a slice-of-life friendship anime.
Still, due to emotional attachment and the overall nature of shipping fandom, MakoHaru and RinHaru shippers were constantly at odds with each other.
MakoHaru shippers cited support for their ship with:
- Being each other's best friends, supporting and loving each other unconditionally, into an easy friends-to-lovers
- Being childhood best friends as well
- Many MakoHaru shippers also took issue with Rin's relationship with Haru, as in season one Rin constantly blamed Haru for being better than him at swimming, nearly causing Haru to quit swimming altogether.
- Their relationship improved in future seasons, but because the ship war started in season one of the anime, many MakoHaru shippers considered RinHaru shippers romanticizing this behavior and unhealthy relationship, going as far to call it "abuse."
RinHaru shippers cited support for their ship with:
- Being more of a rivals/enemies-to-lovers ship, which they may have found more interesting
- Perhaps considering MakoHaru (or Makoto) boring?
- MakoHaru's relationship has also been criticized for being codependent, due to Haru's reaction to Makoto telling him that he applied to a university without him. RinHaru may be more appealing to fans who are uncomfortable with this.
There may be top/bottom wank also involved (this user cannot say for certain.)
Alternative Solutions
Despite being a fandom-encompassing ship war, there are fans who prefer to resolve it with an OT3 (MakoRinHaru), ship MakoRin (Makoto/Rin), or ship all three with entirely other different characters instead.
Some also like both ships equally, or at least to an extent where they do not despise the other--an attitude rarely found amongst either only MakoHaru or RinHaru shippers.
Notable Occurrences
- The RinHaru Catfishing Scandal, which briefly started up the ship war again in 2016, two years after the second season had ended.
- Some translators who are known RinHaru shippers have been accused of downplaying translations representing MakoHaru's closeness, or embellishing translations between Rin and Haru to make them appear more romantic/sexual/shippy.