Ikuya Kirishima

Ikuya Kirishima (桐嶋 郁弥 Kirishima Ikuya) is one of the main characters in the movie High☆Speed！－Free! Starting Days－ and Free!'s third season, Free!-Dive to the Future-. He was also a minor character in the light novel High☆Speed!. He is the younger brother of the Iwatobi Junior High swimming club's captain, Natsuya Kirishima. He is currently studying at Shimogami University, where he is on the swim team, alongside his friend from America, Hiyori.

Appearance
Ikuya is a feminine looking young man with teal hair, brown eyes and long, black eyelashes. He and his brother do not look particularly alike, but have the same eye color.

As of Free!-Dive to the Future-, Ikuya's hair seems to be slightly darker and shorter and he is shown to be quite muscular. He currently wears knee-length, black swimmers with subtle brown and gray designs.

Personality
In the beginning, Ikuya was rather quiet, cynical, and distrustful of others. He gradually started to warm up to his friends, eventually trusting them, though he still retains the quiet part of his personality.

Ikuya in Free! Dive to the Future, is a lot like Haruka in the first TV series. He is detached but unlike Haruka's lack of reaction he seems more distracted and also aloof. Ikuya expresses his distaste or annoyance more often than Haruka so he is less reserved than Haruka in that regard. Like Haruka in the first TV series, who only wanted to swim freestyle, he seems to only participate in Individual Medley (IM). Due to problems between Rin and Haruka, Haruka quit the swimming team when they were in middle school without giving a reason. Asahi also left. Makoto did not press for any reasons either. Ikuya did ask Haruka why he left but it seemed he didn't wish to answer.

This sudden isolation made Ikuya feel like drowning so he left for America to train and be with his brother. Like Makoto, Ikuya does have some fear of water due to the fact he almost drowned multiple times. The reason for that is Ikuya is so determined that he forgets his limits and runs out of oxygen while swimming.

Unlike Haruka, who sees water as his natural element and has troubles understanding swimming and competition, Ikuya is his opposite. Ikuya seems to think swimming and competition are more natural to him than water. This is indicated in how when he is feeling water as an "enemy" or reaching a limit he the elements as binding him down. Similar to how in Eternal Summer, Haruka stopped swimming as he thought the water was binding him. Thus they are both brilliant swimmers they are not necessarily the same.

Ikuya is quiet like Haruka. Uptil now, the past seems to haunt him a lot and he feels that he can't trust people. When Haruka genuinely wishes to apologise to him after they meet in their university days; Ikuya casually brushes him off not really caring. Asahi and others later realize that Ikuya has a quiet anger about him because of what happened in middle school. He wanted to win as a team, he was inspired by Haruka to try freesytle and then the team was no longer there.

Ikuya's problems with swimming and his past are further implied by his multiple readings of The Little Mermaid. Ikuya reads the ocean described as a pure paradise beyond the world's problems but his reading show he has hesitation in fully believing this as he almost drowned in water. He likes mermaids because water is their natural environment. However, when Ariel gains legs and is in pain for these new appendages; Ikuya seems to understand her. It seems he feels like Ariel as in that he knows that the water is beautiful but he may also need land. Metaphorically, it meant he must walk in another environment, mainly confront his past, if he ever wishes to move forward.

In the beginning of the 3rd season, we see Haruka contemplating about if he wants to be ordinary and if he has what it takes to be something more. Whereas Ikuya professes to Hiyori he never wishes to be ordinary. Therein lies a major difference between the two characters, Haruka swims because he likes to but Ikuya also does it because he likes winning.

History
At first he was reluctant about joining the swimming club, thinking of it as just "playing around" and not taking things seriously. After joining he's able to change thanks to his team, leaving his past behind. He is a childhood friend of Nii Satomi (only appears in the light novel).

Trivia

 * His motif animal is a beluga.
 * His favourite foods are fried shrimp, sweet tamagoyaki and pistachio cream