Make sure to check out my team in my description! Ingrid in particular is the one who works all those awesome anime references into the videos, and she loves seeing y'alls comments finding all the anime characters ;)

No one Todoroki writing in the corner of the class: *I hate my dad.*

ALL MY HOMIES HATE FLIP TURNS

As a swimmer myself, unless you're injured, sick, or dying, you should NEVER miss practice. One day missed in swim means a week of recovery in my case

As a long time swimmer since 7 years old, this actually made me really happy and excited to start the new swim season! I remember all of my past struggles with diving, flip-turning, breathing, an streamline. To anyone that is interested in swimming, go ahead and try it out! I hope you love it as much as I do and never give up!

This felt like an anime redemption arc and I'm all here for it 💪💪💪

"so how many references do you want" Illy: *yes*

When I was in middle school I joined my school’s cross country team, and as someone who couldn’t finish a mile in 12 minutes, that was a daunting task. I struggled so much during my first year, and I was pretty bad through most of it, literally tripped over my own feet constantly, but I was determined to keep pushing myself and avoid walking as much as I possibly could. At the end of my season, my coach was super proud of me and told me I was the most improved that year. Trying really hard and improving is a good feeling 😊

I watch this video every time I have a swim meet, and it always makes me feel less anxious about it.:)

Illy: "I'm not really into Anime" Also Illy: That's a better redemption arc than Endeavor's-

This literally sounds like the plot to an anime except there’d be like a super mean bully or something

as a highschool newbie swimmer on the swim team who has been struggling with starts and flip turns youve motivated me a lot to keep on pushing and trying . thank you!!!

i still do swimming to this day, and i absolutely hate swim meets, diving off the blocks, and dryland. ESPECIALLY swim meets. all the noise disorients me and i don't like the pressure of winning for my team. even after years, i still hate all these 😭😭

Imagine actually participating in extracurricular activities for school 😬 could never be me

"Don't breathe underwater" Instructions misunderstood. I'm now 100% water.

this came at the right time in my life, tried out for track absolutely didn't meet my expectations and was so embarrassed i wanted to die, BUT after hearing this story it made me feel so much better i used to watch you when i was younger and still do from time to time but this made me love you even more tysm ☹.

As someone whose been in theater, has asthma, and decided to join the swim team, this is by far the most relatable video ever. I’m a sophomore in high school, and I’m incredibly nervous to join, but here I am. If I get on the varsity team…I’m gonna update this comment. Wish me luck!

You know I'd like to think that you were on the swim team with class 1A

How many anime references de you want? Ily: YES!!!!! AND NOT ONLY ANIME ONES

This is really inspiring, since recently i started highschool and i only learnt how to swim in the holidays and that was just dog paddles. With extra swim lessons on Tuesdays and 2 lessons of swimming in PE a week in term 3 i really hope i improve ALOT i already did. Thanks so much i am definitely subscribing

I had this crazy but awesome old vietnam vet swim coach in highschool and he really pulled the effort out of us, we were the only public school to make it to State and we actually won it. He would make our "warmups" super hard to intimidate the other teams lol

Everyone in class 1-A talking when the teacher isn’t there Iida: raises hand

I love how many anime characters she decided to just drop in this

9:25 this really motivated me. i don’t do swim, but i just started volleyball and i’ve been really insecure, especially about serving. thanks, illy. i’m glad i decided to binge all your videos for the 2956255th time 💀

omg long distance with asthma? UR SO STRONG OMGGG. i also love ur teammates ! i love ur story, it encouraged me to keep trying, bc i just started competitive and its not rlly going well. Thanks.

Illymation: Swim theory. MatPat: Write that down, Write that down!

“Oh, and don’t breathe under water” -illymation 2020

Hey Illy. This really helped my confidence with my new job. I feel like I'm not doing as well as my boss would like. This really really helped. Thank you

This story resnonates with me so much, ive never been the strongest or toughest guy and i relate to you!! Love all the way from the Nordics!

Nobody: Me: **loving all the anime references**

List of references: Hunter x Hunter Ouran Highschool Host Club My Hero Academia Haikyuu Mob Psycho 100 Naruto Free (the swim club anime) Dr. Stone

I just want say that I love your videos and that I want you to know that I’m hear to support your channel your videos are so relatable to my life and I am just happy that there are people that feel like me sometimes

I love your videos so much!!!! I'm go through a illymation marathon😄

Illysa's brain: should we make references Illysa: yes Illysa's brain: how many Illysa: Y E S

Mat pat sees ily mocking him Matpat: hold my diet coke for a second

Man this actually made me miss my swimming classes. We actually had swim meets and my god they made me nervous but I love it at the same time. I really miss my 9th grade swimming class.

Thank you illy for making this video. It has encouraged me to join swim team my first 50m freestyle was 57 seconds and by the end of the season I was at 41 seconds. Not a great time tbh but I'm hoping for the best for my second season of swimming.

Illy: Swim theory Matpat: WRITE tHAT doWn STEPH

SwImMInG mOrE lIkE dRoWnInG.

Aww this reminded me of when I joined swim team in high school too! We were a new school, so everyone was on the team if they were interested. I didn't know how to do anything but freestyle and I also got most improved at the end of the year. I would have loved to stick with it, but I had to get a job to help with bills the following years, but it was exhausting fun while it lasted!

loving it... Thank you for providing this wonderful inspiration for a swimmer

"hey how many anime references do you want, illy?" y e s

She’s not just swimming, SHE’S SWIMMING WITH 100% OF HER POWER

BUT THATS JUST A THEORY, A SWIM THEORY! Loved the reference there, and at the end with the music :D

I have been a competitive swimmer for 5 years and I'm a butterflyer and freestyler. *Good job illymation!*

*Non weebs watching the video wondering why there’s a random kid with half red and half white hair: 👁👄👁

SO MANY ANIME REFERENCES IN THIS VIDEO and I'm here for it

Good lord that drawing of Nyx avatar in the beginning is so incredible. Love it.🥰

I can relate so much to this, thank you!

Illy: being embarrassed to say she joined bc of an anime game. Also her showing, mha, Haikyuu, hxh, aot,etc.😂😂

Illy's brain: how many references should I put in the vide- Illy: *yes.*

i love how she puts others merch into her videos i saw jarvis's danny's and eddie's merch!

love this

illy: I can't dive Teammate: I'm about to change this girl’s whole career

Illy’s left brain: should we make some references? Illy’s right brain: Yes

This same thing happened with me at track practice. I was one of the slower kids and the older kids weren’t even jerks about it

Trrueee I’m on swim team (because I’ve been swimming all my life) and the atmosphere is amazing I love it

Someone: so how many anime references would you like? Her: *YES*

“How many anime references do you want?” illy: yes.

I love how the swim class is just MHA characters, FINALLY SOMEONE WHO LOVES MHA LIKE ME (I watched the whole show 3 times)

Omg watching this made me remember when I was in a swim CLASS but it was basically like a team but you only just competed against people on the class. I related to this so much about the freestyle and doing the flips it was so scary to me 😭😭

Me: Sees class 1A “Oh they look cool.” Realizes it’s mha “AAAAAAAAA DEKI AND ALL OF THE OTHER BABYS exept Mineta”

No one: Me getting so happy at Seeing anime characters

GURL I FEEL YOU

I'm really surprised how much I can relate to this video! I'm currently a sophomore in hs and this is my 2nd year on my hs swim team. The first year.... I wasn't very good. In fact, I mostly got last place. The events I would normally swim included the 200 free relay and 100 breaststroke. This year... I felt a little stronger. Even though I was one of the shortest people on my team, I did my best in practice. Although I got last place still, there were a few memorable moments of my sophomore swim team experience. My coach signed me up for the 500 free! I remember being so scared and getting ~9 minutes, but I was proud I survived. I also remember when my coach signed me up for the 200 IM. That scared me even more cuz I didn't even know how to do the transition turns (ex. Fly to back). Luckily, my friend taught me during warm up and I was really grateful. :) One of my favorite memories was when my team (15 people) TIED with the best team in our district (they had 40+ swimmers and NO losses). It just goes to show that size doesn't matter - it's the courage and determination you and your team has. I have league meet in 3 days. This video and my experiences have me fired up >:)

Kenma and Kuroo sitting there in class like 👁👄👁 👁➖👁

"just keep swimming" *"N O T H A T S C O P Y R I G H T E D"*

Hello! This video actually inspired my join a swim team!! It’s been really hard, I could barely swim at all before I joined. I just finished my second meet!! I had 3 events, and I got third and first for my individual events!! I just wanted to share that you’ve been a huge inspiration to me, and without this video I wouldn’t of done that. Thank you so much.

I kept pausing at the little anime (mha,haikyu) easter eggs and I LOVE IT

ok but can we talk about how much Ilyssa’s art style has improved since she first started making videos? like, she was good before but she’s even better now

The ammount of ANIME REFERENCES in this. (also im living for historia being the prom queen and dancing with ymir eeeee)

I am so happy that some of my favourite KZfaqrs are fans of film theory, game theory etc!

i love this channel

Nobody: *Shoto writing “I hate my dad” in the corner*

Illy: how many references do you want? Also illy: yes

I love how many references there are but the one that genuinely saddened me was the ‘swim theory’ one because mattpatt retired recently and I bet a lot of people are sad bout that- but anyways, I love your content! Illy you are amazing ❤ keep it up 👍 😊

Hey the food, fashion,game, and movie theory reference was amazing 😂

I love how she used anime characters from different anime’s.

Someone: so how much anime do you want in this video? illy: *yes*

Omg I just noticed the all might poster in the background 🤩🤩🤩

I’m on a swim team and I’m one of the best swimmers in my state. I love seeing my favorite KZfaqrs talk about their swim story’s.

imagine someone watching this and being hella confused by the random refrences because they don’t watch anime 🧍‍♀️

Illy: "dont breath underwater" *me who already choked on my water from laughing after hearing the mario sound effect*

Omggg this is so this makes me happy

i love your content. ur my comfort youtuber (:

THE MHA REFRENCES I LOVE IT. ESPECIALLY SHOTO WRITING I HATE MY DAD

buT HEy THaTS jUst A THEoRy. A SwiM tHeoRy.

I'm watching this before my very first swim meet which is in 3 hours!

This was an awesome story!!!!!

Human being: Why did you decide to swim? illymation: *inhales*, Animavideogam.

“I HATE MY DAD” OK SHOTO CALM TF DOWN Edit: HOW MANY ANIME REFERENCES ARE THERE

Omggg I needed this I just joined a swim team and my first meet tomorrow and I am so scared Ty for posting this vid I love your videos

Everyone here freaking out about the My Hero Academia references while I'm here freaking out about the fact that illy played a Persona game

My favourite part of this was when illy said “ speed, I am speed “ then dived into the water with the Mario “YAHOO” it literally got me rolling 😂❤

BUT THATS JUST A THEORY A SWIM THEORY matpat is proud

ILYSSA, THIS WAS SO FRICKIN WHOLESOME!!! I NEEDED THIS :')

no one: levi chilling and praying for the party to end

THOSE GODDAMN FLIP TURNS

Me as an swimmer I’m am very proud of your accomplishments

Ily: talks abt swiming The "free!" Fandom walking in: the experts