Haru Tawara is one of the main leads in Netflix’s action-adventure series, House of Ninjas. Kento Kaku plays the character in the show.
Haru Tawara is the second-born son of Soichi and Yoko Tawara. Though most skilled as a fighter, he lacks one key thing that a shinobi must know — the ability to kill.
Haru doesn’t kill
It was this inability to murder someone that cost him great pain and trauma after an incident six years ago.
The Fuma clan had kidnapped an up-and-coming politician and the Tawaras were tasked with the mission of rescuing her.
Haru defeated many enemy shinobis, one of whom pled and begged him to spare him. Haru couldn’t go through with the murder and did spare him.
Sometime later, his elder brother Soichi was stabbed from the back by the same man, before he was pushed off the ship and drowned in the sea.
Haru has held himself responsible for his brother’s death and insurmountable guilt has wracked him to the point where he frequently has nightmares about the masked Fuma who killed his brother.
Haru can’t love
Haru Tawara works as a vending machine operative, stocking up all the vending machines in an area.
He frequents a Gyudon shop where he orders his usual, and sits beside a girl, whom he had developed a crush on.
Her name is Karen Ito and the two eventually begin interacting. She eventually asks him out but he also learns that she’s a reporter.
He helps her in her investigations into the Pleasure Cruise incident, which was orchestrated by the Gentenkai, the religious group that Fuma Kotaro the 19th created.
When the Fuma keep trying to kill her, Haru brings her into the Tawara house to keep her safe; in doing so, he breaks one of the core rules of his household, which is to never bring home a civilian.
One night, after sharing secrets, the two also confess that they like the other one, before they have sex.
However, the Bureau of Ninja Management soon finds out that the Tawaras are hiding a civilian and eventually kidnap her.
Civilians can’t find out about the shinobi and those who end up learning about them, have to be killed off by the BNM.
This is why the shinobi are forbidden from romances and have to be arranged married.
Haru promises to never see her again and do anything for the BNM if they spare her life.
And there ends the love story of Haru and Karen, at least in the first season of House of Ninjas.
Haru Tawara can fight
Haru Tawara has great reluctance to kill, which is what ended up in him sparing Shikkoku’s life six years ago.
Later, Shikkoku stabbed his brother and went on to become the leader of the Fuma clan, as the 19th Fuma Kotaro.
He then became Tsujioka Yosuke, the leader of the religious group called Gentenkai.
Tsujioka meets Haru and doesn’t immediately kill him, thanking him instead for giving him life as he now proclaims himself a god and works towards fulfilling his Fuma ancestors’ desires.
The finale sees Haru face off against Gaku, who he defeats by knocking him out.
He then faces Tsujioka, whose arm he cuts off, thereby demonstrating that he is a more skilled and capable fighter than them all.
Finally, before he’s about to change himself forever and become a proper shinobi by killing Fuma Kotaro the 19th, Gaku kills him instead.
Gaku spares Haru from maligning himself with the shinobi ways and keeps being himself.
He’s happy that his family is safe, even though they’re a fractured unit right now. He’s sad that his brother has defected to the Fuma clan.
He’s also devastated by the fact that he can’t see Karen anymore, even though he loves her still.
Haru Tawara quits his job as the vending machine operative; he quits eating meat and drinking alcohol; he becomes a vegetarian and might take over his father’s brewery.
