A blond-haired seventh grader who leads Team Blue Flare, a Digimon Army. Although he is in the same year as Taiki, he attends a so-called "elite school." Already, in the Digital World, due to his ingenious tactics and direct control over powerful Digimon, he subjugates a large number of Digimon. Anticipating Taiki's qualities, he once asked Taiki to become his subordinate but Taiki declined the offer, saying that Kiriha's eyes were not the eyes of a man who helped others out of kindness. His signature Digimon is MetalGreymon, a fusion of his MailBirdramon and Greymon.

Later, in the temple of the Digimon Temple, the legendary Digimon Deckerdramon chose Kiriha as his general over Taiki and Nene, stating that Kiriha held the strongest love in his heart, shocking Kiriha.

As the series goes on, Kiriha and Taiki became occasional allies and enemies. Whereas Taiki valued trust, friendship, and believed in all Digimon, Kiriha valued power and believed only in strong Digimon. These two values would clash multiple times through the season as Kiriha refused to help weak Digimon. The two would even battle each other on occasion, though both also teamed up to defeat the Bagra Army when necessary at times.