Haruhiro

Haruhiro (ハルヒロ, Haruhiro) (born on May 8th) is the main character of Hai to Gensō no Grimgar. After the death of Manato, he becomes the leader of his group. Though many initially perceives him as nothing special, he makes fast judgment in dire situations when overseeing a battle and gives quick tactical orders. Despite his tactic mind, he carries an inferiority complex with his fighting abilities and constantly compares himself and his team to stronger parties.

Appearance


Wavy brown hair and brown eyes, he would describe himself as "average". His most distinctive feature are his eyes, which always look tired, even though he isn't actually tired (in the anime version, he doesn't look that tired). Thus, he was given the  Thief name: Old Cat. In level 8 of the Light Novel, Haruhiro promises his left eye to Setora in exchange for help. In level 9 its taken from him and he now wears an eyepatch over that eye.

Personality
Haruhiro is an awkward person at first, steadily becomes more reliable and outgoing as the story progress. Though he is still awkward with new people as shown with Mary after Manato died. Before Manato's death he had taken on a support role in the group where he tries his best to keep morale up despite their poor earning's.

He's a bit sarcastic and cynical at times, usually with Ranta. This is more of a defence used due to his natural shyness. He took on the role of leader after Manato died despite having no aptitude for it, only doing it in order to survive with his friends. After assuming the role of leader Renji offer's the party one gold piece, a sort of gift since Manato had died. Haru refuses this thinking they should earn the money them self. Ranta then got more like a 'jerk' a short while after Haru assumed leadership often doing things his own way despite the risk to himself. When Haru confronts him about it Ranta says that he doesn't want to just be one of their friends. He said he does his work as a team member and to leave it at that. Later on when fighting in the mines Ranta says Haru over complicates things and tries too hard to be like Manato.

Before Grimgar
Haruhiro lives in an unnamed town with his childhood friend and neighbor Choko. Unbeknownst to Choko, Haruhiro liked her ever since preschool. Haruhiro would help her advance on her own crush but would never admit his own feelings.

Level 1
At the start of the series Haruhiro is first seen in Altana tower, along with him was twelve other people apparently having no idea where they are or who they are. Bri, the commanding leader of Altana reserve force, introduced them to Grimgar. He gave them an option to join the reserve force for ten silvers, having no other options, they all accept and Haruhiro formed a party with his fellow recruits: Manato, Moguzo, Yume, Shihoru and Ranta. His teammates chose their respective guilds while he chose the Thief's guild. The group had a slow start, still adapting to their surroundings. They hunt in Damlow and kill 0 - 2 goblins everyday. Eventually they were able to get stronger enough to acquire new skills and buy new equipment. While hunting for goblins, they encounter a plate-armor goblins and a hobgoblin. Overconfident, they engage them and were quickly over-whelmed, they were late to realize this and as they retreated their leader and priest, Manato got hit and died from blood loss.

His death has a heavy impact on Haruhiro and they spent the next few days grieving. He decided to replace Manato with Mary, a party jumper as their priest. Haruhiro and the others weren't used to how Mary operated in battle and this caused a conflict between everyone. The tension was ended when Hayashi told them about Mary's past and they began to accept each other. with an efficient priest on their side now, they were ready to face the plate-armor and hobgoblin. They struggled at first but with their new equipments, skills and a reformed approach in battle they were able to kill the plate-armor and hobgoblin to avenge Manato.

Level 2
Haruhiro, as their new leader, eventually decided to hunt the Siren Mines. They spent a couple of days adapting to the new environment until they decided to face Deathspot, the boss of the Siren Mines. In the boss level they unexpectedly encounter Mary's old teammates. Haruhiro was struggling with his counterpart, Ogg the theif of her old party. Mary helped them through removing the Deathless king's Curse and eventually they were able to defeat their counterparts.

Haruhiro decided to retreat for now come back again but Deathspot suddenly appeared and scattered them, leaving Ranta by himself. At the upper floors they were finally able to reunite with Ranta and as they were about to rest, Deathspot came in and tried to attack them. Seeing no way out, Haruhiro decided to hold off Deathspot to let the other escape. He was able to pin Deathspot to the ground and when it tried to get up and attack Haruhiro, Haruhiro was then able to see a line of light and used it to kill Deathspot by slicing his eye and later making the beast fall upon his sword. The team rejoiced after the death Deathspot and obtained its bounty.

Level 3
After their victory over Deathspot, Haruhiro kept looking for the line of light only to be distracted. They were informed of a new batch of recruits and along them was Choko. Choko's party slept in the same lodging as Haruhiro's. However, they do not recall their friendship, they were able to see flashes of memory of their past. The next day Ranta informed Haruhiro of a Crimson Moon Directive, an invasion to Capomorti for one gold. Although Initially reluctant himself, Haruhiro managed to convince everyone to join the invasion. When Haruhiro was able to talk to Choko, he was surprised to hear that their party was also in the invasion.

On the day of the invasion, Bri explained the details to all reservist. He also put Choko's party and Haruhiro's in charge of the ladders, which angered Haruhiro and his teammates. With a little struggle, Haruhiro's and Choko's party were able to place the ladders unto the walls. The Main force has failed to breach the front gate and this left the reservist on their own. They were able to charge inside the keep and through the watchtowers successfully and when Haruhiro and his party were on top of one of the watchtowers a massacre had taken place on the first floor.

When they arrived there several dead reservist scattered the floor and Zoran Zeshuu and his orc guard was engaging Renji. Haruhiro's party tried to help but was overwhelmed by Shamans and Zoran's honor guards.

Abilities
As a Thief, Haruhiro excels at surprise attacks and distractions. He cannot hold the attention of enemies like a Warrior, but he can play a support role for the Warrior. Taking aggro from the Tank for a long enough amount of time that he can recover.


 * Lock-Picking: One of a Thief's first skills that is simply learning how to pick locks.
 * Hit: A basic attack that can cause someone to lose their balance or drop their weapon if aimed at their wrists. Like all Thief skills, this works best from behind or by surprise.
 * Stealth Walk (忍び歩き, Sunīkingu): A skill that allows Thieves to be undetected by moving supernaturally silent.
 * Backstab (背面打突, Bakku Sutabu; lit. Back Infliction): A signature skill of Thieves that allows them to stab the back of opponents for massive damage.
 * Swat (蠅叩, Suwatto; lit. Fly Strike): A melee skill that causes opponents to lose their balance and fall to the ground. Less likely to work on especially strong or tough enemies. Particularly effective for parrying attacks in a duel.
 * Widow Maker (蜘蛛殺し, Supaidā; lit. Spider Kill): A technique of balance and agility that involves acrobatic-like moves to instantly lock oneself onto a target (usually from behind) and then mortally wound them. Even without a weapon, Haruhiro can still gravely injure an enemy by breaking their arm/leg or lethally snap their neck. Haruhiro also uses Widow Maker to immobilize an opponent to have someone else deal the finishing blow.
 * Arrest: A martial art technique utilizing an arm bar with a leg sweep to immobilize an opponent.
 * Assault (強襲, Asaruto): A method that aims to kill. It is a flurry of attacks that does not allow the enemy to respond. It is best used with Dual Wield.
 * Dual Wield (両手構え, Duaru Wīrudo; lit. Two-handed Style): A style of combat requiring ambidexterity. As Haruhiro still uses a dagger with his right (dominant) hand, he wields an iron rod with his left to beat. Haruhiro was initially not used to using his left hand, so Barbara advised him to have both his weapons with him at all times to get used to it.
 * Line of Light (線, Sen; lit. Line): A mysterious and secret Thief skill that seems to come and go to all Thieves at random. It is a line of light that reveals a path to an enemy's exposed fatal area. Following the line of light allows a Thief to instantly kill in one strike. For Haruhiro, it immediately disappears whenever he changes his breathing rate or doesn't catch up to it, thus he follows it with his body already moving in.

Mary
While at first Haruhiro is put off by Mary, he makes an effort to try to get to know her better and urges the group to befriend her and include her in the group. Since the group has bonded, Mary has always been most fond of Haruhiro. In return, Haruhiro also opened up to her more and more. It is seen throughout the story that the two of them are always there for each other and talk about things and problems they have never mentioned to anyone besides themselves. After Haruhiro defeated Death Spots and woke up in bed after the fight, Mary cries for him and shows more affection for him. Haruhiro is clearly happy about it.

Yume
Haruhiro is on good terms with Yume. It is shown that he does find Yume physically attractive as he mentioned that he must 'resist the temptation' when Yume was washing her clothes in a casual attire and he was flustered when Yume was holding Shihoru. He does respect her enough to not be perverted in any way, and even goes out of his way to stop Ranta from checking the girls out as Ranta might do something to both Yume and Shihoru that they won't like as seen when he talks to him while he was about to go wash his clothes. After Manato's death, they open up to each other. Haru asks her what's wrong one night after she comes back from washing her clothes. Yume fail's to describe what's wrong with her because there is nothing wrong with her. The problem is with Haru evident by her saying he 'doesn't get it' a few times. It also gets quite emotional with the pair ending up in each other's arms with Yume resting on Haruhiro's chest. She asks if she could stay there for a while longer, finding it 'safe'.They are also very good in combat as a pair, and are mostly seen working together.

Manato
Haruhiro seemed to look up to Manato during their brief time together, seemingly looking upon him as an elder brother figure. On multiple occasions Haruhiro sought to broach difficult subjects with Manato only to flinch at the final moment and say something else. Haruhiro attempted to protect Manato during a scavenging mission and took an arrow from a Goblin meant for Manato. However just as they escaped the ruins an arrow took Manato in the back and he bled to death before he could be taken to the Chapel. Haruhiro feels responsible for this, as shown by his insistence at paying for the funeral costs and being the one to disperse Manato's ashes. Manato's final words to Haruhiro are 'Counting on you'.

Ranta
Haruhiro has a healthy relationship with Ranta, though there are times where they both insult each other. On multiple occasions Haruhiro tries to stop Ranta from doing things that are stupid, it shows that even though they do occasionally insult each other he really does care for Ranta. After Haru assumes leadership Ranta get's more difficult to be around driving a wedge in their relashonship. But their relationship is strengthened when Ranta caught Haruhiro's hand as he fell to the Death Spot and many other Kobolds. Haruhiro then in return saved Ranta and the rest of the party directly from the Death Spot who chased them, and made Ranta take over the party for him much like Manato made Haruhiro take over the party when he died.

Moguzo
Haruhiro is on good terms with Moguzo, and knows that he fulfills a key role in their group as a Warrior. He even went so far as to suggesting that everyone help buy a helmet for Moguzo when he noticed that he was very protective of his head during battle. He also enjoys Moguzo's cooking and is often seen drinking with him at the pub and shopping at the market with everyone else in his free time.

Shihoru
Prior to Manato's death, Haruhiro hardly had any interaction with Shihoru as both were too shy to talk to each other. However, after Manato's death Haruhiro has opened up more to her and Yume in attempt to become a leader, paying attention to their fighting styles and trying to learn more about them. Haru does succeed in making a friendship with her often describing the new magic she learn's throughout the anime and noticing she is low on magic in the Mines.

Renji
Although Renji and Haruhiro meet each other very scarcely, Renji seems to have a respectable acknowledgement of Haruhiro. As after Manato's death, Renji appears before Haruhiro in a bar and drops him a gold coin to compensate for his party's loss. Haruhiro unable to accept the offer, firmly returns it and the two depart after a minimal talk. The next time they meet, after Haruhiro slays Deathspots, Renji returns to the same bar and apologizes for what he did previously. Haruhiro says not to apologize as he admits he simply was unable to accept Manato's death and thanks Renji.

Mimori
Mimori has feelings for Haruhiro, who is completely unaware of this.

Kikkawa
Haruhiro always liked Kikkawa's Happy-go-lucky attitude. Kikkawa was also the one who helped Haruhiro's party in their time of need. They both respect each other and are on good terms.

Gallery
See Haruhiro/Image gallery

Quotes

 * "I felt like I had a lot of things I wanted to ask Manato."
 * It's a battle of life or death, and Im still alive. So I'm not going to give up, and I'll keep living. I'll keep living until I die.

Trivia
Who do you want Haruhiro to end up with? Yume Shihoru Mary Others
 * Haruhiro has shown to have conversations with Manato, his team's first Priest who had died. This shows he has mental difficulties either inherent or brought on by emotional trauma.
 * Later on, it is revealed that Haruhiro has feelings for Mary.
 * In order to save Mary, Haruhiro agreed on giving his left eye to Setra.