Haruka Nanase (Free!)

Haruka Nanase, also known as Haru, is the main protagonist from the Free! series.
== Charactah Account ==
A second-year student with a strong fixation to water. Was childhood friends with Makoto, Nagisa, and Rin. Has a natural talent for swimming, but does not swim forms other than freestyle.
Haruka is a quiet but determined individual with a strong affinity for water. His greatest asset is his confidence in his decisions, once made. Despite his cool persona, which many perceive as uncaring, he is protective towards his friends, particularly those on his high school swim team: Makoto, Nagisa and Rei, but particularly Makoto, his best friend since childhood. This is seen twice during the team's seaside summer training -- first, when Makoto feels compelled to tell his team the truth about his fear of the ocean and Haruka, immediately sensing Makoto's discomfort, commands Rei to drop the question, though Makoto insists just the same and second, when Haruka actually rescues Makoto from nearly drowning earlier on.
Haruka's fixation with water makes him a very comical person as he will strip down to his jammer just about anywhere and in anything if there's available water nearby (including a fish tank). He even considers an encounter with a waterfall to be romantic. Despite being stoic, he is ticklish, as seen in the seventh FrFr short.
== Appearance ==
=== Anime ===
* Free!
* Free! Dive to the Future
* Free! Dive to the Future Episode 0
* Free! Eternal Summer
* Free! Eternal Summer Special
* Free! Movie 1: Timeless Medley - The Bond
* Free! Movie 2: Timeless Medley - The Promise
* Free! Movie 2: Timeless Medley - The Promise Photo Session
* Free! Movie 3: Road to the World - Yume
* Free! Movie 4: The Final Stroke - Zenpen
* Free! Movie 5: The Final Stroke - Kouhen
* Free! Starting Days
* Free! Take Your Marks
* Free! Take Your Marks Photo Session
* Free!: FrFr - Short Movie
=== Light Novels ===
* High☆Speed!
=== Manga ===
* High☆Speed!
== Trivia ==
* The name Haruka means "distant, remote". It can also mean "spring" or "clear weather" (haru) and "flower, blossom" or "fragrance" (ka).
* Haruka's surname Nanase means "seven" (nana) and "swift current, rapids" (se).
* Haruka is often called Haru-chan by Makoto and Nagisa. The honorific "-chan" is tagged onto the names of endearing people in a person's life such as babies, young children, grandparents and female teenagers. It may also be used towards cute animals, lovers, close friends, or any youthful woman.
* Haruka shares his first name and last name with a female character from Hagure Yuusha no Esutetika
* 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 bathes wearing his jammers. 
* Haruka has excellent art skills, such as drawing and wood carving.
* 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.
* 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.
* Haruka has said "Tadaima", meaning "I'm home", upon arriving at the swimming club during elementary school.
* 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.
* Rei Ryugazaki states that Haruka's decisions all center around mackerel.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* Haruka bathes with a dolphin toy he received on his first day at Iwatobi Swim Club.
* Haruka is ticklish and hates being touched.
* Once in elementary school, Haruka sleep-laughed, which is one of the rare times he has laughed out loud, besides when being tickled.
* Haruka's motif animal is a dolphin.
* At a staff talk event for Free!–the Final Stroke–, one of the character designers discussed the main characters' body types in terms of musculature. Haru was listed as being "type 2:" slightly above average muscles, but still quite lean compared to other body types.
* Those born under Cancer are tenacious, loyal and imaginative, but can also be blunt while conflict avoidant. They like art and being near or in water, and dislike strangers and revealing of personal life. Those born on June 30 have something to teach and something to share but must guard against allowing their hidden fears to get the best of them. Traits are affected by the position of the moon and other planets at the time of birth.
== Gallery ==
File:Haruka Nanase Render 01.png
File:Haruka Nanase Render 02.png
File:Haruka Nanase Render 03.png
File:Haruka Nanase 01.png
File:Haruka Nanase 02.png
File:Haruka Nanase 03.png
File:Haruka Nanase 04.png
== External Links ==
* Haruka Nanase at Free! Wiki
Category:Characters
Category:Males
Category:Free!