Gotta catch em’ all, especially if they’re “Free!”

Birds of a feather flock together, so the saying goes. And that concept applies to non-humans as well; it’s not uncommon for pets and their owners to act, and sometimes even look, somehow similar after spending years together. Even in the super popular anime and game series Pokémon, where the aim of the game is to collect as many pokémon as possible, many of the pokémon trainers in the series use pocket monsters that somehow resemble them.

But what the characters of the anime series Free! were pokémon trainers? Which creatures would they have under their well-toned wings? Find out as this Japanese fan puts her imagination to work in a series of awesome Pokémon x Free! crossover illustrations!

Pokémon is a long-running hit series that made its debut in 1995 as a video game for Nintendo’s Game Boy handheld console. It has since blossomed into a mega franchise that spans across various mediums including anime, trading card games, movies, and of course, loads and loads of toys and official merchandise, catering to both children and adult fans of the series.

Free! on the other hand, is an anime series which revolves around the lives of high school boys who are members of swimming clubs. The series was first released in 2013, and subsequently got a second season titled Free! -Eternal Summer- the following year. With its lineup of good-looking young men strutting around in swimwear, plus a bit of friendship and emotional drama stirring in the plot, it is no surprise that the series has captured a substantial fan base (mostly fangirls) in a short span of time.

We never thought the characters of two such different anime genres would play well together, but the crossover fanart created by Japanese Twitter user Ronisuke (@usasuke14) have proved otherwise. The Free! cast look pretty promising as pokémon trainers!

▼ Makoto Tachibana

https://twitter.com/usasuke14/status/614443669010018304

▼ Nagisa Hazuki

https://twitter.com/usasuke14/status/612994534289453056

▼ Haruka Nanase

https://twitter.com/usasuke14/status/615164077933903872

▼ Rei Ryuugasaki

https://twitter.com/usasuke14/status/613707618788323328

▼ Gou Matsuoka

https://twitter.com/usasuke14/status/618070999498534912

▼ Rin Matsuoka

https://twitter.com/usasuke14/status/614079366775988224