History Characters / Free

* FiveManBand: Of the original five main characters
** TheHero: Haru
** TheLancer: Rin (TheRival)
** TheBigGuy: Makoto (although he's not the most prodigious swimmer and he's easily frightened, he's the tallest and the TeamMom)
** TheSmartGuy: Rei (very intelligent and prone to invoking AwesomenessByAnalysis)
** TheChick: Nagisa ({{Keet}}). Gou also fulfills this role in the swim club, being their manager.

* StaticCharacter: Nagisa remains the same throughout the Season 1. He starts out bubbly and cute and is bubbly and cute consistently through the story, and is the only one of the main characters as of episode 11 to not have an episode feature his CharacterDevelopment or past, aside from the brief moments he is seen as a kid in Haruka, Makoto, and Rin's memories. He gets more development in the second season.

* CharacterTics: [[AdjustingYourGlasses Nudging his glasses.]] [[http://gfycat.com/GoldenEmptyHoneycreeper Even if he isn't wearing them.]]

* OutnumberedSibling: Has three older sisters.

->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/YukaTerisaka (Japanese), Creator/MorganBerry (English)

* IllBoy: Ikuya has an ongoing condition where he suffers from oxygen deprivation, and he has nearly drowned several times because of that. Hiyori mentions when he had moved to America to study abroad, he had a particularly near-fatal incident that caused him to be hospitalized for days, but has since been working hard to overcome it.

* IllBoy: [[spoiler:The reason he doesn't swim anymore is because one of his retinas has been detaching, revealed when he's in the hospital.]]

->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/YoshimasaHosoya, Creator/AoiYuki (young) (Japanese), Creator/IanSinclair, Ryan Reynolds (young) (English)

* BerserkButton: ''Do not'' threaten Rin or interfere with his swimming.

* DudeMagnet: Or more accurately the [[SubvertedTrope Mikoshiba Magnet]]. Being the main cast's TokenFemale, you would expect her to be more or less this but, since most of the male characters are YaoiGuys, she's not quite the center of attention. Still, both Mikoshiba brothers find her ''very'' attractive and will readily attempt to woo her whenever they come across her. Also, she spurs the BigBrotherInstinct not only from her actual brother but also from all the other members of the cast, especially Sousuke.

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Plays it straight.

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Purple.

* WholesomeCrossdresser: He doesn't care what he has to wear as long as he just wants to swim. On a minimum of two occasions - including the day they very first met - when Nagisa's sisters switched out his trunks with a girl's one-piece swimsuit, Haru lent Nagisa his own trunks and then wore the one-piece for swimming without complaint.

* BeautyMark: He has one under his right eye.

* {{Expy}}: With his blonde hair and cute appearance, he's almost regularly compared to Mitsukuni "Honey" Haninozuka of ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub'' and Momiji Sohma of ''Manga/FruitsBasket''. His cuteness and youthful appearance are downplayed compared to the two and is traded in for his silly, fun-loving, CloudCuckooLander personally which resembles that of the Clampett/Tashlin-era WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck.

** When Hiyori, a backstroke swimmer, is angerly challenged by Haruka to a race for Ikuya's friendship and proceeds to taunt him, Makoto noticeably takes offense and immediately takes the challenge in his friend's place, even going as far as clenching his fist.

* CharacterDevelopment: Haruka begins the series depressed and closed-off, essentially relying on Makoto to to make sure he actually goes to school and to communicate on his behalf, but gradually he starts to involve himself in things more and more without having to be coaxed, such as personally helping Rei learn to swim (when at first he was ready to reject Rei over his dislike of water), and since opening up to his team in episode 9, Haru's been much more openly emotional, smiling often and being direct in showing concern or appreciation for his friends. Season 2 Haru compared to season 1 Haru is a perfect example of character development.

* {{Asexuality}}: Haruka has never expressed interest in romance and in fact is seemingly in a relationship with [[CargoShip water]].

* {{Asexuality}}: He claims to see "love" as something illogical.

-> '''Voiced by:''' Creator/KenjiNojima (Japanese), Ricco Fajardo (English)

-> '''Voiced by:''' Hidenobu Kiuchi (JP), Creator/PhilParsons (EN)

-> '''Voiced by:''' Jeff Manning

* BookDumb: The boy does ''not'' know how libraries work.

* InterruptedSuicide: [[spoiler: Asahi tackles him to the ground while he's found on a bridge. The trope is subverted in that Ikuya wasn't actually committing suicide but was looking for his old swim club building.]]

-> '''Voiced by:''' Creator/RyoheiKimura (Japanese), Creator/JasonLiebrecht (English)

* NotSoDifferent: As Makoto points out, he and Haruka are actually pretty similar in terms of being quiet and stoical.

** Albert - Ivory

* TaremeEyes: A little subtle, but still there.

* AmbiguousDisorder: He mentions that in middle school, [[spoiler:his parents made him study so much that there was no joy in his life at all. When he was told he would have to quit the swim club in favor of academics, he says that “everything he could see went dark”. It’s possible to interpret this as severe depression.]]

** ''High Speed! 2'' reveals that Asahi had known Rin as a child, since their fathers were friends, and he was part of the relay that first inspired Rin to start swimming. However, they lost touch after Rin's father died, and they most likely don't remember each other because they were young at the time.

[[quoteright:225:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/haru_9.jpg]]

[[quoteright:225:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/makoto_8.jpg]]

* AmbiguousDisorder: He mentions that in middle school, [[spoiler: his parents made him study so much that there was no joy in his life at all. When he was told he would have to quit the swim club in favor of academics, he says that “everything he could see went dark”. It’s possible to interpret this as severe depression]]

* CheerfulChild: A male version of this [[http://25.media.tumblr.com/b658b7e305b56c206ad01848360bbacb/tumblr_mpe6y5rpMR1rorbzqo1_500.gif when he was young]]. Turns out he wasn't always so cheerful; he said himself in the drama CD that he used to be a crybaby and was bullied often due to his GenderBlenderName. If that wasn't bad enough, his sisters forced him into dressing up in girls' clothes and he was often teased to the point of tears. He became cheerful after meeting Haruka.

* AnimalMotifs: Great white shark.

* AnimalMotifs: Occasionally referred to as a shark due to his competitive nature; also resembles one via his teeth.

%%* TheStoic

* AmbiguouslyGay: Mikhail likes young men's muscles, enough to keep books of them. This makes Rin somewhat uncomfortable.