[Locke]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SPLIT LIP

Haruto represents the exact opposite of what people praise him for. He is not subdued, he is not deep or layered beyond anyone else. He has the exact same amount of depth to him as most riders, if not less. People are just mistaking bad acting and lack of emotion for some intent to be more "mature" when really he's just a bad actor and poorly written. (neitehr alone would condemn the character, but together it makes for a terrible, terrible rider)

There is not layering to Haruto. He never shows emotion, never cracks, never even bends. That doesn't make him badass or cool, it makes him emotionally dead or an idiot. Past riders "scream and shout" because they feel emotion and react liek a human being. Haruto just stands there with a vacant expression on his face like he's reading his lines off of a card offscreen.

I ahve never rooted for Haruto. I've never even been against him. I have no opinion of him as a person because he is not a person, he is a prop and we are told things about him. The only layer to his character is wanting to save people, somethign MOST MODERN RIDERS WANT TO DO.

I especially laughed when they explaine dthe whole "Haruto is the hope for so many people, but who is his hope?" like it's trying to be deep or something when there's NO evidence of that in the show. Hell, we don't even know what him being their hope MEANS since it makes no sense in a practical or metaphorical sense. He's not carrying any burden. He fights a monster than leaves. The very basis for the character is a fabrication.

Haruto may not be the worst of Wizard or a truely bad rider, but that doesn't make him a good character. Hell, Den-O and W are vastly superior characters with far more interest right out of the gate. Ryoutaro may not be much of a man at first, but for someone who was, rather unfairly, drafted into a life-and-death struggle, and rather than meekly avoid the confrontation (I'm spoiling a bit here) he actually trains himself and takes his forced-apon role seriously. He's a champ. Shotaro, well, he's just fucking great. His driven, and despite repeatedly being called an idiot (and not exactly putting up a strong defense with his actions at times) he's, once again, placed with an unfair burden and shoulders it first out of guilt, then later out of respect and, too sound a bit corny, a genuine sense of justice. And of course, Philip also makes up part of W, and he has a very strong character by the end of the show. I mentioned it not long ago in reference to PuToTyra, but the Fang arc, despite being shorter, was a far greater service to the character and really bolstered the genuine bond between Philip and Shotaro.

Haruto... ugh. I mean, for all your talk about not being a fan of perfect, ultimate heroes Locke... Haruto is exactly that. He has, at least in what I've seen, yet to make any kind of mistake or be flawed realistically in any way. Plus, the show makes a point that he's getting stronger and harder to beat. Add to that his powers are literally just handed to him with no struggle. He has achieved nothing yet constantly succeeds. He's not a fighter, he's a chump who got lucky.

I's clear how different our tastes are, I don't think Haruto is a bad actor or emotionless, I find his subtle humour absolutely hilarious, much funnier than any of the goofball shit that toku tries to tell me is comedy the rest of the time.

These little hints into how Haruto sees the world and how his mind functions shows how good the writing is and how interesting he is as a character. He may not have as much depth as some Riders but has much more than Riders like Gen and Godai, much, much more.

It is true that most of Haruto's drama has taken place off screen and before the series started but little windows into him are always enjoyable perhaps because they are used sparingly. But still we've seen him struggle to hold things together and overcome the enemy many a time over the course of the series.

The difference with Haruto is he can actually live up to his bold claims and saves people because it's the right thing to do. They aren't world changing motivations but they are better than Godai's 'protect the smiles' (while millions of people die as he plays the piano for school kids) or Gen's (I'm gonna be friends with everyone and downplay all the drama and tension of my series while I do).

Although I will admit that now the enemies no longer kill, or even harm, it does become a lot harder to root for the heroes because there is never any real sense of danger. I mean you know they're gonna win, regardless, but their artificial struggle is only all the more artificial now they aren't really struggling against anything.

Wizard's lore still makes more sense than OOOs.

I couldn't stand that wimp from Den-O out of the gate, I loved Haruto from the start.

I would still class Haruto as a flawed hero, he doesn't just steamroll through every skirmish with no collateral and has struggles on and off the battle field, internally and externally.

Godai is a so perfect he is bland hero, Tendou is a so perfect he is bland hero, Haruto is detailed, fun and interesting.