Haruka Nanase

appearance

Haruka is a muscular young man with blue eyes and short, straight black hair with bangs that dip between his eyes. He maintains a serious expression and rarely expresses emotion. In high school, he often wears his jammers beneath his regular clothing in order to be ready to swim on a moment's notice. As pointed out by members of his swim team, all of his jammers are nearly identical (black with minor variations in the violet striping), yet he claims they all fit differently, and he often has trouble selecting which one to wear in the morning.[3] The most developed muscles of his form are his triceps and abdominal muscles.

Personality

He is a quiet and determined individual with a strong affinity for water. His greatest asset is his confidence in his decisions, once made. He tends to avoid troublesome situations and seldom seeks out people actively. He has difficulty adapting to new environments and dislikes having his actions restricted. Nevertheless, he cherishes those he allows to get close, though he becomes flustered when it gets pointed out. Despite his cool persona, which many perceive as uncaring, he is protective towards his friends, particularly those on his high school swim team: Makoto Tachibana, Nagisa Hazuki and Rei Ryugazaki, but particularly Makoto, his best friend since early childhood. They know one another very well, to the point that others think they can speak telepathically. An example of Haruka's protectiveness of Makoto is seen twice during the team's seaside summer training -- first, when Haruka rescues him from nearly drowning and second, when the group is back on shore and sharing stories. Makoto tells his team the truth about his thallasophobia despite Haruka's attempts to protect him by stopping him. Haruka also values his relationship with Rin Matsuoka, another childhood friend with whom he shares an intense athletic rivalry. During elementary school, while on break from schooling in Australia, Rin loses to Haruka in a private race and declares he is quitting swimming altogether. Though Rin's reasons are otherwise, Haruka believes it is his fault and, out of guilt, quits competitive swimming. When Rin returns for high schooling in Japan, an impromptu race restores both of their competitive spirits and both join their respective school teams. Later, at a tournament, Rin is released from his school's relay team and runs off. Haruka seeks him out and reminds him that it was Rin who taught him that the most important thing about swimming is not winning, but teamwork with friends. Rin takes Rei's place in the relay race and although the Iwatobi team's win is rescinded.

History

Haruka has been friends with Makoto since early childhood, meeting him on a local playground in Iwatobi. As the playing children run to see a passing rabbit, Makoto trips and falls but is helped up by Haruka who sees his distress. Since that time, the proximity of their homes and complementary personalities grows their friendship. One day, Makoto asks Haruka to join the local Iwatobi Swimming Club with him, but Haruka refuses saying, "it's too much trouble." When Makoto replies he will not join either, Haruka asks why and Makoto says there's no point if Haruka isn't with him. Haruka eventually does join and others begin to see his incredible talent. While attending elementary school, Haruka teams up with Makoto, Nagisa and Rin to form a relay team that wins a tournament. At Iwatobi Junior High School, Haruka does not intend to join clubs because it will detract from his swimming time. On the first day of school, classmate Asahi Shiina approaches saying, "You look like the type of guy with no friends," getting off on the wrong foot with him, though he fails to realize it. Haruka does not want Asahi to call him "Haru" like Makoto, but says he can because he wants the boy to stop following him around.[7] Haruka is eventually drafted into the Iwatobi Junior High School Swim Club, along with Makoto, Asahi and Ikuya Kirishima. Later in the school year, when Makoto creates distance between them, Haruka is the one to reach out and initiate amends. He also makes a pinky promise with Ikuya that they will one day swim a race against one another. Their team, however, falls apart when Asahi moves away and Haru quits competitive swimming (causing Makoto to also quit), hurting Ikuya deeply. Once in elementary school, Haruka sleep-laughed, which is one of the rare times he has laughed out loud, besides when being tickled.

Info

Like all members of the Iwatobi High School Swimming Club, Haruka has a typically feminine name. Haruka shares same birthday as the real-life U.S. Olympic Gold Medal Swimmer, Michael Phelps. Haruka often sits in a full tub of water while wearing his jammers at home. [1] Haruka has excellent art skills, such as drawing and wood carving.[10] The year before, he submitted one of 987 entries in the Iwatobi Town mascot contest. His entry was named Tobimaru-kun and it wasn't very cute, according to Gou Matsuoka.[11] Haruka could be called "hydro-sexual" because he has expressed romantic feelings towards water when younger, though whether this continues into high school is unstated.[12] Haruka has said "Tadaima" (ただいま), meaning "I'm home", upon arriving at the swimming club during elementary school[13] and after returning from Australia. When asked which friend he would date if he were a girl, Haruka first chooses Makoto Tachibana saying it would be easiest, but quickly changes to Nagisa Hazuki when Nagisa promises to cook him mackerel for breakfast every morning.[14] Rei Ryugazaki states that Haruka's decisions all center around mackerel.[14] Haruka and Makoto appear to have a game that consists of Makoto guessing what Haruka is thinking and is usually correct, stunning those around them.[15] Haruka once wore a girl's swimsuit in elementary school when Nagisa borrowed his trunks because the blond's sister swapped out his swimsuit for a female one. Haruka claims that he had no recollection of this memory, but admits he does by the track's end.[16] According to Free! TV ANIMATION GUIDE BOOK: Haruka's best subjects are Home Economics and Art; his least favorite is English. Haruka likes cooking and is good at it. He once baked a chocolate-mackerel cake for Makoto's birthday.[17] Haruka bathes with a dolphin toy he received on his first day at Iwatobi Swim Club. Haruka is ticklish and hates being touched.