Haruka Suzushiro
Encyclopedia
is a character from the My-HiME
and My-Otome
anime
and manga
series. Her name is Haruka Armitage (ハルカ・アーミテージ Haruka Āmitēji) in the My-Otome series. She is voiced in both series by Ryōka Yuzuki
. In the English dubs she is played by Lori Barnes-Smith
. She has a tendency to mispronounce or misspell words.
She is Yukino Kikukawa
's best friend and often protected the younger girl in earlier years, but also bosses her around. She has a strong (and mostly one-sided) rivalry with Shizuru Fujino
, who she often refers to as "bubuzuke" (tea with rice). Much of her strong dislike of Shizuru comes from the result of the Student Council Elections in which they both ran, where Shizuru won in landslide of 817 with only 12 votes for Haruka. However, Haruka recovered from this loss and became the passionate and commanding Executive Director of the Suzushiro Executive Team, and often deals with the dirty work or otherwise humiliating tasks that the Student Council would rather not do.
When Shizuru goes missing to take care of an injured Natsuki Kuga
, Yukino tracks her down with Haruka following. From their hideout they observe Shizuru stealing a kiss from the sleeping Natsuki, with Haruka giving their presence away by her shocked reaction. In a confrontation with Shizuru, Haruka declares her horror at the other girl's actions and calls her infatuation with Natsuki "disgusting" and ends up slapping Shizuru. Because Haruka is the most important person of Yukino she ends up "dying" because of Shizuru's retaliation attack on Diana. Before she "dies", however, she manages to headbutt Shizuru and reassure Yukino, to whom she gives her council badge as she fades away. Haruka is later resurrected by Mashiro and appears floating before Yukino before comically falling to the ground. By the end of the series, she passes her position in the student council to Yukino, but not before making one more spelling mistake on a warning sign. In an extended ending of the final episode, it reveals that Haruka and Shizuru have ended up in the same university, and that Shizuru has once again beaten Haruka in the top standings, much to Haruka's chagrin.
bread keeping her going. She is also of comfortable family background stemming from construction management (the name Suzushiro is written on a logo on a building being rebuilt in the final episode) as her family owns a seaside mansion large enough as to have multiple guest bedrooms, though Yukino indicates in a DVD special that Haruka's family was not always so well off.
beams from its mouth. In the manga, she tag team
s with her partner Yukino, who is also her Key, to form a perfectly balanced fighting pair: she handles offense while Yukino handles defense, with both of them covering each other's backs. The two are even able to combine their Childs into a single being, capable of firing an incredibly destructive laser at their opponents.
Haruka's commanding personality remains from the My-HiME anime, and she feels that Mai and Natsuki's attempts to stop the Orphan attacks are unsatisfactory and runs her own subset of HiME known as the Ori-HiME team, of which she is the commander. However, she later teams up with her rivals in order to stop the forces that threaten to invade the Academy. We learn in the manga the reason for her zealous dedication to protecting the school itself; her father was the chief construction worker who helped build the school.
During the coming of the HiME Star, Yukariko Sanada
trapped both Haruka and Yukino inside her child, St. Vlas, which in turn trapped them inside a winding illusion; in it, Shizuru Fujino
was revealed to have tampered with the votes to make her win the presidential election. While Haruka was initially not fooled by the illusion, she fell under its thrall once the mass began chanting her name. However, she manages to break free from the illusion (ironically from noticing the behavior of her rival, Shizuru, wasn't right) and destroy St. Vlas from the inside out, freeing both her and Yukino, though the effort causes her to fall unconscious.
She later battles against Marie Antoinette inside the HiME Star alongside Yukino and Midori Sugiura
, and, despite the overwelcoming odds, the three manage to destroy the Queen's child, though the subsequent explosion seems to kill all three HiME as well. After the HiME Star is destroyed, Shizuru holds a funeral
service for Haruka, only for Haruka herself, along with Yukino, to burst through the wall, the two of them, along with Midori and Marie herself, alive and well. As it turned out, the service was yet another way for Shizuru to mock Haruka, which once again riles Haruka's hackles.
In the alternate universe
version of the original story, Haruka Armitage is a Brigadier General
in the Aries military and President Yukino Chrysant's Otome. This is a reversal of their My-HiME anime relationship, where Yukino was the one protecting Haruka. Haruka is a very aggressive fighter who prefers to charge into a situation rather than wait it out, as shown in the second OVA. She was formerly a member of the Trias, the top three performing Pearl Otome.
Early in the story Haruka is a role model for Arika Yumemiya
; on Episode 4, as Arika is struggling to save everyone from the falling spaceship in the arena where she and Nina Wáng
have been dueling against each other, Haruka comes timely to her aide, and save her and the crowd. She reminds and encourages Arika about being an Otome needs "Power, Beauty and Guts", before tossing the spaceship singlehandedly. Also, an additional running gag
is the fact that in order to control Haruka's often overly exuberant and aggressive attitude, some of Yukino's subordinates make it a habit to knock Haruka out with a large rock, though by the second episode the OVA they have discovered that they need a larger one (however, a large wooden hammer seemed to be just as equally as effective). As the series later goes on, she along with the other loyal Otomes come to rescue Garderobe and Arika, and demonstrates a superb fighting skills before Arika.
Haruka still retains her tendency to mispronounce words, and is often reprimanded for it by Yuki or Five Column member Sarah Gallagher in a later episode. She was classmates with Shizuru Viola, and, like in My-HiME, considered her a rival, albeit on a much friendlier note. Her Element is a ball and chain mace weapon, just like her My-HiME manga incarnation.
Her weapon is a large ball and chain mace, which she fights with using her trademark aggressiveness. She is proficient at both attacking and defending with it, and her signature attack is called 'Dynamite Crusher', where she hurls her weapon with her impressive strength full force.
, two versions of Haruka exist.
The first is Haruka Armitage. She is a low-ranking member of the Windbloom police force. Yukino is her partner. She has a dislike for Otome, but ironically enough comes to their aid often. She has a penchant for heavy artillery. The miniskirt she wears as part of her uniform often makes her the victim of blatant pantyshots, although apparently this is only visible to the reader as no character comments on this.
The second is Haruka Suzushiro revived from the dead. All the revived HiMEs from the manga have altered personalities and this one is no different, being subservient to Yukino, which comes as a disturbing discovery for the other Haruka.
My-HiME
is an anime series, created by Sunrise. Directed by Masakazu Obara and written by Hiroyuki Yoshino, the series originally premiered in Japan on TV Tokyo from September 2004 to March 2005...
and My-Otome
My-Otome
is an anime series created by Sunrise. Directed by Masakazu Obara and written by Hiroyuki Yoshino, it is a spinoff of My-HiME anime series and as such My-Otome takes place in a new setting with new main characters....
anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
and manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
series. Her name is Haruka Armitage (ハルカ・アーミテージ Haruka Āmitēji) in the My-Otome series. She is voiced in both series by Ryōka Yuzuki
Ryoka Yuzuki
Ryōka Yuzuki is a voice actress who was born in Anjo, Aichi, Japan. Her younger sister is an adult comic strip artist Sayumi Sakuragi ....
. In the English dubs she is played by Lori Barnes-Smith
My-HiME anime
Hot-tempered Haruka Suzushiro is a member of the Fuuka Academy Student Council. She is first introduced when interrogating Mai TokihaMai Tokiha
is a character from the My-HiME and My-Otome anime and manga series. She is voiced by Mai Nakahara in Japanese and Carol-Anne Day in English.- Common characteristics :Mai is depicted with short orange hair and a rather large bust...
. She has a tendency to mispronounce or misspell words.
She is Yukino Kikukawa
Yukino Kikukawa
is a fictional character from the anime and manga series My-HiME, and also appears in the alternate universe sequel, My-Otome, where she is known as . In both series she is voiced by Mamiko Noto in Japanese, and is voiced by Morgan Partridge in the English language dub.- Common Characteristics...
's best friend and often protected the younger girl in earlier years, but also bosses her around. She has a strong (and mostly one-sided) rivalry with Shizuru Fujino
Shizuru Fujino
is a fictional character in the Japanese animated series My-HiME and My-Otome. In My-Otome, her name has been changed to Shizuru Viola. Though her role in both series was that of a secondary character, she has a wide range of admirers among the show's fans...
, who she often refers to as "bubuzuke" (tea with rice). Much of her strong dislike of Shizuru comes from the result of the Student Council Elections in which they both ran, where Shizuru won in landslide of 817 with only 12 votes for Haruka. However, Haruka recovered from this loss and became the passionate and commanding Executive Director of the Suzushiro Executive Team, and often deals with the dirty work or otherwise humiliating tasks that the Student Council would rather not do.
When Shizuru goes missing to take care of an injured Natsuki Kuga
Natsuki Kuga
is a fictional character from the My-HiME andMy-Otome anime and manga series. Her name is in the My-Otome series. She is voiced by Saeko Chiba in Japanese and Cheryl McMaster in English.- Common characteristics :...
, Yukino tracks her down with Haruka following. From their hideout they observe Shizuru stealing a kiss from the sleeping Natsuki, with Haruka giving their presence away by her shocked reaction. In a confrontation with Shizuru, Haruka declares her horror at the other girl's actions and calls her infatuation with Natsuki "disgusting" and ends up slapping Shizuru. Because Haruka is the most important person of Yukino she ends up "dying" because of Shizuru's retaliation attack on Diana. Before she "dies", however, she manages to headbutt Shizuru and reassure Yukino, to whom she gives her council badge as she fades away. Haruka is later resurrected by Mashiro and appears floating before Yukino before comically falling to the ground. By the end of the series, she passes her position in the student council to Yukino, but not before making one more spelling mistake on a warning sign. In an extended ending of the final episode, it reveals that Haruka and Shizuru have ended up in the same university, and that Shizuru has once again beaten Haruka in the top standings, much to Haruka's chagrin.
Abilities
Haruka is not a HiME, but she possesses strength near the human upper limit, able to engage Searrs Foundation soldiers in hand-to-hand combat even if only for a short time and carry a massive fish around without external assistance, along with the ability to stay up for days on end with only curryCurry
Curry is a generic description used throughout Western culture to describe a variety of dishes from Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Thai or other Southeast Asian cuisines...
bread keeping her going. She is also of comfortable family background stemming from construction management (the name Suzushiro is written on a logo on a building being rebuilt in the final episode) as her family owns a seaside mansion large enough as to have multiple guest bedrooms, though Yukino indicates in a DVD special that Haruka's family was not always so well off.
My-HiME manga
In the My-HiME manga, Haruka is actually a HiME, and unlike many of the characters, she actually has a larger role. Her element is a massive mace that she fights with that causes heavy damage to her foes. Her Child is a large and grotesque marine creature (most resembling an angler fish) called Koumokuten. It fires destructive laserLaser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of photons. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation...
beams from its mouth. In the manga, she tag team
Tag team
Tag team professional wrestling is a variation in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. A tag team may comprise two wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of established teams who wrestle regularly as a unit and have a team name...
s with her partner Yukino, who is also her Key, to form a perfectly balanced fighting pair: she handles offense while Yukino handles defense, with both of them covering each other's backs. The two are even able to combine their Childs into a single being, capable of firing an incredibly destructive laser at their opponents.
Haruka's commanding personality remains from the My-HiME anime, and she feels that Mai and Natsuki's attempts to stop the Orphan attacks are unsatisfactory and runs her own subset of HiME known as the Ori-HiME team, of which she is the commander. However, she later teams up with her rivals in order to stop the forces that threaten to invade the Academy. We learn in the manga the reason for her zealous dedication to protecting the school itself; her father was the chief construction worker who helped build the school.
During the coming of the HiME Star, Yukariko Sanada
Yukariko Sanada
is a fictional character in the anime and manga series My-HiME, and also appears in the alternate universe sequel My-Otome and its manga series, where she is known as...
trapped both Haruka and Yukino inside her child, St. Vlas, which in turn trapped them inside a winding illusion; in it, Shizuru Fujino
Shizuru Fujino
is a fictional character in the Japanese animated series My-HiME and My-Otome. In My-Otome, her name has been changed to Shizuru Viola. Though her role in both series was that of a secondary character, she has a wide range of admirers among the show's fans...
was revealed to have tampered with the votes to make her win the presidential election. While Haruka was initially not fooled by the illusion, she fell under its thrall once the mass began chanting her name. However, she manages to break free from the illusion (ironically from noticing the behavior of her rival, Shizuru, wasn't right) and destroy St. Vlas from the inside out, freeing both her and Yukino, though the effort causes her to fall unconscious.
She later battles against Marie Antoinette inside the HiME Star alongside Yukino and Midori Sugiura
Midori Sugiura
is a character in the My-HiME and My-Otome anime and manga series. In My-Otome, she is simply known as Midori. She is voiced by Yukari Tamura in Japanese and Mariette Sluyter in English.- My-HiME anime :...
, and, despite the overwelcoming odds, the three manage to destroy the Queen's child, though the subsequent explosion seems to kill all three HiME as well. After the HiME Star is destroyed, Shizuru holds a funeral
Funeral
A funeral is a ceremony for celebrating, sanctifying, or remembering the life of a person who has died. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember the dead, from interment itself, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honor...
service for Haruka, only for Haruka herself, along with Yukino, to burst through the wall, the two of them, along with Midori and Marie herself, alive and well. As it turned out, the service was yet another way for Shizuru to mock Haruka, which once again riles Haruka's hackles.
My-Otome anime
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
version of the original story, Haruka Armitage is a Brigadier General
Brigadier General
Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000...
in the Aries military and President Yukino Chrysant's Otome. This is a reversal of their My-HiME anime relationship, where Yukino was the one protecting Haruka. Haruka is a very aggressive fighter who prefers to charge into a situation rather than wait it out, as shown in the second OVA. She was formerly a member of the Trias, the top three performing Pearl Otome.
Early in the story Haruka is a role model for Arika Yumemiya
Arika Yumemiya
' is a fictional character and the protagonist of the My-Otome anime and manga series. She is first introduced in the first episode where she travels through the desert to Windbloom to find out more information about her mother, whom she was told was an Otome. After seeing the power of the 3rd...
; on Episode 4, as Arika is struggling to save everyone from the falling spaceship in the arena where she and Nina Wáng
Nina Wáng
is one of the main characters of the anime TV series My-Otome. She is the top student in the Coral class and also one of Arika's roommates. She hails from Artai, a poorer kingdom than Windbloom with no Otome of its own. She and Juliet Nao Zhang are intended to fill this void and serve their country...
have been dueling against each other, Haruka comes timely to her aide, and save her and the crowd. She reminds and encourages Arika about being an Otome needs "Power, Beauty and Guts", before tossing the spaceship singlehandedly. Also, an additional running gag
Running gag
A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling....
is the fact that in order to control Haruka's often overly exuberant and aggressive attitude, some of Yukino's subordinates make it a habit to knock Haruka out with a large rock, though by the second episode the OVA they have discovered that they need a larger one (however, a large wooden hammer seemed to be just as equally as effective). As the series later goes on, she along with the other loyal Otomes come to rescue Garderobe and Arika, and demonstrates a superb fighting skills before Arika.
Haruka still retains her tendency to mispronounce words, and is often reprimanded for it by Yuki or Five Column member Sarah Gallagher in a later episode. She was classmates with Shizuru Viola, and, like in My-HiME, considered her a rival, albeit on a much friendlier note. Her Element is a ball and chain mace weapon, just like her My-HiME manga incarnation.
GEM
Her Otome title is the Continental Orb Topaz (珠洲の黄玉 Suzu no Kōgyoku).Her weapon is a large ball and chain mace, which she fights with using her trademark aggressiveness. She is proficient at both attacking and defending with it, and her signature attack is called 'Dynamite Crusher', where she hurls her weapon with her impressive strength full force.
My-Otome manga
In the My-Otome mangaMy-Otome (manga)
is the manga counterpart to Sunrise's My-Otome series, following a storyline different from that of the anime. It is authored by Hajime Yatate , Tatsuhito Higuchi , Hiroyuki Yoshino and Kenetsu Satō...
, two versions of Haruka exist.
The first is Haruka Armitage. She is a low-ranking member of the Windbloom police force. Yukino is her partner. She has a dislike for Otome, but ironically enough comes to their aid often. She has a penchant for heavy artillery. The miniskirt she wears as part of her uniform often makes her the victim of blatant pantyshots, although apparently this is only visible to the reader as no character comments on this.
The second is Haruka Suzushiro revived from the dead. All the revived HiMEs from the manga have altered personalities and this one is no different, being subservient to Yukino, which comes as a disturbing discovery for the other Haruka.
Name Origins
- The kanjiKanjiKanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...
in the name of Haruka's Otome GEM references her My-HiME surname, which when broken down into individual kanji, mean "Jewel" "Island" and "Castle" respectively. This is reflected in the name of her My-Otome GEM, the Continental Orb Topaz (or 珠洲の黄玉 Suzu no Kōgyoku). Her given name means far off or distant.
- The name Armitage is a reference to a previous role played by Ryoka Yuzuki; the role of Naomi Armitage a blonde gynoidGynoidA gynoid is anything which resembles or pertains to the female human form. It is also used in American English medical terminology as a shortening of the term Gynecoid ....
from the series Armitage III: The Poly-Matrix.