Kono Haruo

* Anime
* Ashura
* Omega

**Kono Haruo** (河 (こう) 野 (の)  春 (はる) 夫 (お) , *Kōno Haruo*; "*Haruo Kohno*"), also known as **The Destroyer** (デストロイヤー, *Desutoroiyā*), is a Super Japan Pro Wrestler and an affiliated fighter within the Kengan matches. During the Kengan Annihilation Tournament, he represented Nentendo as their affiliated fighter.

## Appearance

Haruo is easily the biggest fighter in the Kengan Annihilation Tournament, with an extremely heavy set, bulky, overweight frame. He has a chubby hairless face, generally squinted eyes and black hair that is neatly combed and parted to each side with a flick of hair sprouting from the top. Haruo wears a pair of circular glasses, as well as a pair of dungarees with the company he is representing, Nentendo, imprinted on the top of it. After his encounter with Sekibayashi Jun, he trades this in for a Super Japan Pro Wrestling t-shirt.

    When Haruo was still "Haru", he was an extremely tall, muscularly well-defined youth with his hair set into locks that fell either side his head. At that time he wore only a loincloth and weighed an impressive 158kg.

Two years after the events of the Kengan Annihilation Tournament, Haruo has grown even larger with his CJW t-shirt barely fitting over his stomach. Jose Kanzaki noted that Haruo gains at least 10kg every tour.

## Personality

Haruo is extremely lazy and addicted to computer games and sweets. He seemed disinterested before fighting Akoya, and would have rather played video games. He is easily frustrated when presented with challenges, whether in video games or in fighting, and throws frequent tantrums which require near-constant repairs to his house.

Haruo, when still "Haru", was a kind and caring person to his village with the villagers seeing him as a symbol of strength and protectiveness. This was shown by how reluctant he was to leave the village after Kono Akio came to recruit him and the tears he shed when he was leaving.

Two years after the events of the Kengan Annihilation Tournament, Haruo is a more upbeat and jovial person, having found a new reason for living and training under Sekibayashi Jun and Kurachi Karugo. His voracious appetite has not wavered however, enthusiastically enjoying meal times when they present themselves.

## History

Growing up, many legends surrounded Haru, with his most defining one being when he effortlessly cleared his coming of age trial at the age of 15. From this point, in his village, Haru came to be known as the strongest of the Gurkhas and he soon became the village leader. However, when Kono Akio came to recruit Haru, he had a tough time thinking about leaving the tribe. But with the approval of the tribe, a tear stricken Haru left the village to face strong opponents, unaware that Kono Akio had other plans in store for him.

Upon coming to Japan, Haru was absorbed into the wonders and vices of his new environment, and soon gained a massive amount of weight, began wearing glasses, and became addicted to sweets and video games. This all contributed to the making of his current identity of "Kono Haruo".

## Plot

### *Kengan Ashura*

He represented Nentendo in the Kengan Annihilation Tournament and fought Akoya Seishu in the first round. While Haruo wowed the audience with his powerful blows and nimble movements, he was unable to even knock Akoya off-balance, and the latter's impenetrable defense and harassing moves caused Haruo more and more impatience and frustration. This frustration grew more and more when Akoya began using Hiyama Shunka's calculations to attack Haruo precisely in the intervals between his attacks, further compounded by Akio's threats to send him back to the Himalayas. In spite of his desperate efforts, Haruo was knocked out without being able to land another blow on Akoya. However, just when the referee was about to declare the match, Haruo stood back up, seemingly unconscious and growing thinner by the second, and more significantly, throwing Hiyama's calculations off. With Akoya helpless, Haruo was able to pummel him into the ground, until Akoya, fed up with Hiyama's unreliability, reverted to fighting on instinct. This resulted in a knockout for Haruo, which left him just barely alive.

Defeated, humiliated, and now unemployed and with no home to return to, Haruo was on his way out of the stadium when he was stopped by a passing Sekibayashi Jun, who encouraged him to at least stay for his match. Haruo did so, and he was so moved by Sekibayashi's display of tenacity and conviction that after the match, he rushed backstage to find Sekibayashi and tearily asked him if he could change. Reassured that even someone like him could change, he decided to become Sekibayashi's student and start a new career as a professional wrestler. Haruo continued to watch Sekibayashi's matches until the latter's defeat to Muteba Gizenga.

Haruo stayed with Sekibayashi while the latter was recovering in the medical room and the two watched the other tournament matches from there. During Hayami's "revolution", he, Sekibayashi, Inaba and Murobuchi helped to defend against the Guardians with Haruo personally protecting Yamashita Kazuo and the unconscious Tokita Ohma. Despite managing to get Kazuo and Ohma to a safe room, Haruo was severely injured and subdued by Ranjo. After the coup, on the fifth day, he and most of the other knocked out tournament fighters watched the final day of the tournament unfold from a special area.

After the Kengan Annihilation Tournament, Haruo was officially drafted into Super Japan Pro Wrestling and was training rigorously under Sekibayashi Jun and Kurachi Karugo.

### *Kengan Omega*

Haruo welcomed Yamashita Kazuo and Gaoh Ryuki to the Super Japan Pro Wrestling gym, before Kurachi Karugo told him not to use it as an excuse to slack off from training. Grimacing at how tough his master's training still was, Kurachi ordered him to go on his run. As he was going for his run, Haruo thought about stopping by the arcade for a bit on his way. Later that night, Haruo happily ate SJPW's curry.

Some time later, while the SJPW were getting ready to move out and go on tour, Haruo excitedly anticipated eating yummy food from all over the country.

## Power & Abilities

Kono Haruo is extremely physically powerful, boasting incredible physical strength, durability and endurance. His strength is great enough that with just a full-body tackle, he was capable of sending Akoya Seishu hurtling destructively into the arena wall. Even as a teenager, Haruo was already capable of climbing a cliff carrying a live weight of around 480kg with ease. Haruo was also resilient enough to take many of Akoya's attacks before being taken down. Even as he was passing out, he managed to stop the referee and keep fighting using his sheer will. However, despite his great physical endurance, his knees are rather vulnerable due to having to constantly carry his large bulk. Haruo's most impressive physical capabilities are his unprecedented agility and physical speed; considering his incredible size and weight, Haruo moves his 315kg frame with shockingly deft lightness. An example was when he evaded Akoya's kick with a backflip and then tackled him before the latter even had a chance to dodge.

During the Berserker Bowl, Haruo has shown he has mastered wrestling in a style similar to Sekiyabashi's. He was strong enough to defeat Himuro Ryo with a powerful lariat. It was also shown that Haruo's leg has been permanently damaged from his fight with Akoya, and has become his weak point

Haruo has been shown to have become more observant, as seen during Sekiyabashi's fight with Okubo Naoya.

### Extreme Metabolic Rate

Haruo apparently has the ability to drastically increase his metabolic rate, enabling him to purge the "toxins" in his body at astounding speed; during his fight against Akoya Seishu, this ability caused him to lose weight at a reality-defying rate. When Haruo's "toxins" were being purged, his physical speed and strength increased causing his attacks to become even stronger. In this state, Haruo was striking with such speed and power that Akoya couldn't counter properly and the attacks were rattling Akoya's bones even with Akoya's notorious defenses.

### Bear Killer

**Bear Killer** (熊 (くま) 殺 (ころ) し, *Kuma Koroshi*) is a vicious overhand punch. The full effects weren't seen as Akoya dodged before it could strike.

## Etymology

* **Kono** means "river, stream" (河) (**ko**) and "field, wilderness" (野) (**no**).
* **Haruo** means "spring" (春) (**haru**) and "man, husband" (夫) (**o**).

## Notes & Trivia

* Haruo is considered by his tribes people to be the avatar of Indra.
* Haruo's favourite foods are anything fatty and strong-flavoured.
* Haruo's fear is living in any place without electricity.
* After the Kengan Annihilation Tournament, Haruo annulled Kono Akio's adoption of him, but kept the name Kono Haruo because Akio was his father at one point (even if they didn't have a great relationship) and Haruo believes he owes Akio for bringing him to Japan.
* Haruo's name cameos in *Danberu Nan-Kiro Moteru?* on scoreboard for an arcade game. He had the top score until Ayaka beat him. He later appeared in chapter 111.
* In the anime, Haruo's theme is *Behavior Observation* by Jun Takayama.
* In Nepali script, Haruo's original name, **Haru**, would be spelled "हारू".
* The inspiration to create Haruo came to Sandrovich thanks to his editor Mr. Kobayashi who suggested "Wouldn't it be funny if there was a home security guard as strong as the Hulk?". After adding some gimmicks like "mountain tribe" and "Gurkha warrior", Haruo was created.
* Haruo doesn't have a specific model to which he is inspired, but his appearance his based on that of "old-fashoned otaku".

* Much like Sekibayashi has his Marvellous Seki, Haruo also has a wrestling persona: **The Cyborg of The Savannah: Machine Jaguar** ("サバンナのサイボーグ" マシンジヤガー, *"Saban'na no Saibōgu" Mashin Jiyagā*), where he sports a black tiger mask with white stripes, a black tank top with a fake tail and white pants.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 Kono Haruo's profile
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Chapter 47
3. ↑ Chapter 14 (Omega)
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Chapter 236
5. ↑ *4 wins prior to the Kengan Annihilation Tournament(Ch47)
1 win against Himuro Ryo in the Berserker Bowl(ΩCh164)*
6. ↑ *1 loss to Akoya Seishu during the Kengan Annihilation Tournament(Ch51)*
7. ↑ Chapter 17 (Omega)
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Chapter 49
9. ↑ Chapter 50
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Chapter 51
11. ↑ Chapter 65 (Dumbbell)
12. ↑ Chapter 111 (Dumbbell)