Harlin

For the Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL character, see Haru Tsukumo.

Harlin

Names
English	Haru
Japanese Japanese ハル Rōmaji Haru
Personal
Gender	Male
Duelist
Deck	Hydradrive
Appearances
Anime debut	Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS episode 04747: "LINK VRAINS 2.0"
Appears in Anime Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Voice actors
Japanese	Ryoko Shiraishi
Harlin

Haru (ハル, Haru) is a character and an antagonist in the second season of the Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS anime. He works with Bohman towards their goal, and he is described as a mysterious boy who holds the key to the new plot. Though he is described as Bohman's little brother, in truth he is older than him and is a second-generation A.I. created by Lightning as a prototype to Bohman, tasked with guiding him on his journey.

Design

Appearance

Haru's two VR forms.

Haru appears as a young boy with orange hair that has a yellow top that flicks up at the sides. His hair has three red highlights; two diamond shaped sections on the temples that almost seem to extend from his eyebrows, and curved section on his orange fringe. Like Bohman, he has orange eyes with yellow borders on the irises.

Haru appears in two different outfits within LINK VRAINS. In the first, he wears a dark blue long-sleeved shirt with a white blazer with yellow accents, orange pants with yellow accents and the cuffs turned up just past the knees to reveal an aquamarine lining, a pink belt with a silver buckle and an aquamarine, diamond-shaped fastener, and white boots with pink soles. His second outfit is a more ornate military-style garb similar to those worn by Jin Kolter and Bohman; he wears a white mantle with a gold border and a red tip and green shoulderpads with a slight collar. Under this mantle he wears a long black coat with golden edges, red shoulders, and an orange belt. He also wears red gauntlets with golden cuffs, black boots, and white "flared" pants tucked into his boots.

As with all members of Lightning's organization, the Southern Cross star is prominent in Haru's design; his boots have yellow stars on the ankles, and his blazer has a larger star on the chest. His gauntlets, boots, and mantle over the heart bear it in his military garb.

Personality

Haru's voice actor, Ryoko Shiraishi describes Haru as possessing lovely expressions, but also countless different types of feelings. He puts these to use to manipulate Bohman, demonstrating casual annoyance at his crude Dueling and the argument between Bit and Boot.

Abilities

Haru is a skilled coder, implanting an anti-Ignis program within Bohman to prevent Ai from eating him and breaking through the restricted area of LINK VRAINS.

Etymology

Haru's name may be a reference to HAL 9000/Hal from the science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey; a character named "Bowman" also appears in the film.

Biography

Lost Ignis

After Bohman stole Jin Kolter's consciousness, Haru observed him Speed Dueling Playmaker. He noted that Bohman's Dueling was crude, as he lost more than half his LP on his first turn despite only needing to suffer minimal damage to activate his "Marker's Portal" Skill. Haru continued to observe Bohman's progress, and he was shocked to see Playmaker use a Cyberse Ritual Monster, as that hadn't been in their data on him. That monster's attack revealed Bohman beneath his glowing facade, and as Bohman lamented over his lack of memories, Haru told him his name and that he was fighting to reclaim their memories. Bohman continued the Duel and almost won, but the effect of Playmaker's Ritual Monster saved him. To Haru's shock, Playmaker used his own Skill, "Storm Access" to acquire a new "Code Talker", "Shootingcode Talker", and defeated Bohman. Playmaker's Ignis, Ai, attempted to eat Jin's data out of Bohman, but the anti-Ignis program that Haru had implanted within Bohman repelled him, and Haru helped Bohman onto his Duel Board and fled. He summoned Bit and Boot to stop Playmaker, but a new Duelist appeared to stop them. Bit and Boot were defeated by the newcomer as Playmaker pursued Haru and Bohman, and Haru fired them, engulfing them in flames. He fled to the bottom of LINK VRAINS and into the restricted area, bypassing the boundary and escaping with Bohman. Before escaping, he told Playmaker to stay tuned, as something miraculous would soon happen.

When Playmaker reached the area in which Bohman was detected for the last time, the latter (along with Haru) appeared on top of the statue of a soldier and was challenged by Playmaker. Bohman stated he wasn't after Ai, stating he would bring Playmaker to justice and make him pay for his crimes. Haru was watching the entire Duel, and was curious to see the "new power" given to Bohman. He was visibly surprised when Bohman forced one of Playmaker's counters, only to reveal he had already predicted it and proceeded to use the cards he really wanted to. After destroying all of Playmaker's monsters, Bohman revealed he was the original consciousness of one of the Lost Incident's victims, trapped outside his own body, and the one inside his real body was none other than Playmaker, showing as evidence the fact he was able to predict Playmaker's every action as a Duelist. Decided to have his body returned to him, Bohman vowed to win.

Decks

Like Bohman, Haru plays a "Hydradrive" Deck. He claims that the Deck is different to his brother's and that he was the one that taught Bohman how to Duel. While Speed Duelling, he uses the Skill "Marker's Portal" to access "Judgment Arrows" from his Deck.

Deck
Main Deck Monster Cards Effect Monsters Hydradrive Booster x2 Spell Cards Hydradrive Impact Hydradrive Rebuild Hydradrive Utilization Judgment Arrows Trap Cards Hydradrive Nightmare Extra Deck Link Monsters Coolant Hydradrive x3 Flow Hydradrive Twin Hydradrive Knight

Duels

Opponent(s)	Episode(s)	Outcome
Skye Zaizen/Blue Maiden	85	Lose