Haruka Nanase/Relationships

Iwatobi High School=

"#99DAEC"

- If you're not there... It's meaningless without you!



Makoto has known Haruka for his entire life, having met when they were just months old, and is his best friend. As a consequence of being together for so long, Makoto is able to read Haruka's mind, understands Haruka's good points, and is often forced to speak as his spokesman. When Haruka doesn’t want to speak anymore, he just "leaves it up" to Makoto to speak for him. It allows Haruka to act aloof and stoic, but still get his thoughts across - though they aren’t stated to be his, necessarily.

Haruka, in particular in his 12-year-old portrayal in High☆Speed！, is rather spoiled by his best friend. He is extremely used to having Makoto always there to help him with making decisions and even speaking up his mind, and when he feels like Makoto oversteps his boundaries, he dismisses him in his mind as a meddlesome guy, but of course still values Makoto.

Both have had near-drowning experiences; in the sixth grade, Haruka fell into a river and was saved by Makoto. During the training camp on the deserted island, Haruka saves Makoto after he fails to save Rei. When Haruka brings Makoto to shore he is terrified when he realizes Makoto is unconscious, and is about to perform CPR, but then Makoto coughs up water and regains conciousness. He tries to sit up and look for Rei, but Haruka tells him that he should be resting and holds him down. Shortly afterwards, Makoto tells Haruka that he is the biggest reason he still swims and gets close to the ocean because Haruka does, and he cares that much for Haruka and what Haruka loves, enough to put his fear aside so he can enjoy it with him, wanting to share the experience, to understand what makes Haruka the happiest, and so he overcomes fear for it. Makoto wants to understand and feel the same emotion as someone else to the point of conquering a deep-rooted fear — something that gave him a panic attack, made him stop moving in the ocean during a storm, while trying to save someone, despite himself.

Haruka greatly dislikes it when people use his girlish first name, but Makoto always somehow manages to lose the argument and calls him 'Haru' Makoto is also the major person to restrain Haruka from randomly stripping around or diving into fish tanks. When he gets scared, he tends to hide behind Haruka or cling to him in some way.

They are very close and care for each other greatly. In the beginning of the series, Haruka didn't express himself as much, although Makoto always knew what he was thinking. Throughout the show, Haruka begins to speak his mind more often. Haruka cares for Makoto and does not wish to lose his friend In the hotel, he tells Makoto "I appreciate you being here for me, before he leaves for his run.

It is shown that Haruka bought Makoto four aquarium fish. Nagisa told Makoto to name them Nagisa, Rei, Haruka and Makoto, however Haruka told him that it's better to name them Mackerel, Bonito, Tuna and Jackfish.

As Makoto and Haruka become third-years, both of them have to think about their futures. Makoto is very worried about his friend, since the two of them will probably have to part their ways. Makoto is unsure of what to write on his career path questionnaire while Haruka simply writes "Free", showing he doesn't care about getting a job or continuing education. When Makoto asked him about his future plans, he said that "as long as he can swim, he doesn't care", leaving Makoto smiling and commenting how that sounds just like him.

As pressure on what he's going to do in the future keeps on growing upon Haruka, he distances himself from others and doesn't speak his mind as he used to. Makoto sees this but doesn't say anything, not wanting to bother his friend up until they go to the festival together. He then asks Haruka what he's going to do after high school and whether he found a dream for himself. Haruka gets mad at his friend as Makoto was the only person he though would understand him and not ask him the same question everybody else did. They argue and Haruka tells Makoto he has no right to tell him about dreams and future as Makoto himself doesn't have any. Makoto then tells him that he has and that he's going to attend a university in Tokyo. Haruka is stunned and runs away, leaving Makoto at the festival alone.

After their very first fight, Haruka is broken and spends his whole morning wrapped in his bed because all of his recent fights with both Makoto and Rin has brought him down, as well as all the pressure and stress from high expectations put on him. Rin soon comes to pick him up and tells him they're going abroad. In Australia, Haruka keeps quiet and doesn't talk much, making Rin immediately know that he had been feeling overwhelmed and had a falling out with makoto. When Rin and Haruka come back to Japan, Haruka apologizes to Makoto, Nagisa and Rei and tells Makoto that he believes Makoto would make a great swimming coach.

Haruka and Nagisa are childhood friends and were in the swim club together. After the swim club was closed down, Nagisa went to a different middle school from Haruka and Makoto. Nagisa admires Haruka's swimming and enrolls at his school just to swim with him again.

Haruka thinks of Nagisa as a weird guy, whether it is from simplicity or something else.

Haruka and Rei have a good senpai-kohai relationship. When Haruka saw Rei practice pole-vaulting for the very first time, he was amazed by how amazing he looked doing so. When Nagisa told Haruka and Makoto that Rei didn't join the swim club, stating that Rei might hate water, Haruka gained a big dislike for Rei, saying that they don't need someone like that.

When Rei finally met Haruka in person after running to school with Nagisa, he asked Haruka if he was Haru-chan-san Nagisa was talking about. Haruka cut him off telling him not to use both '-chan' and '-san' on his name. After Rei saw Haruka swim at the joint practice with Samezuka Academy, he realized that he wants to have the kind of freedom Haruka does. Haruka told him that it's not freedom that he has, but freestyle. After this event, Rei decides that he wants Haruka to be the one to teach him to swim, although Haru did not want to. After hearing what Rei had to say about freedom, Haru reluctantly decides to help Rei to learn to swim.

In Reunion at the Starting Block!, Gou visited Haruka's house to ask him for information about her brother, but he didn't answer her, so she decided to head home, running into Makoto and Nagisa. It is shown that she does care a lot about Haruka, as well as other members of the swim club, and is very worried over Haruka and Rin's dramatic relationship. She tries to always be there for Haruka and the others and help them improve their swimming as much as she can.

She is constantly swooning over Haruka's figure.

"#99DAEC"

- Give it a try. You won't know until you do.

Miho is Haruka's Classic Literature teacher as well as his homeroom teacher. Haruka's not really impressed by the fact that she became a teacher as her plan B, as well as the fact that she mistook him for a girl, calling him "Miss Nanase Haruka." However, she apologized for it immediately after Makoto had clarified the misunderstanding.

Miho is, alongside Makoto, greatly concerned about Haruka's future after high school. She called him out to ask him what his future plans were after reading his career path questionnaire, only to get "just as it says" as an answer. The teacher tried to convince Haruka to think about the whole thing again, saying that someone with athletic abilities like his could probably enter the sports world easily, but since he kept quiet, she finished the conversation with yet another quote - "Give it a try. You won't know until you do."

Samezuka Academy=

"#99DAEC"

- I'll show you a sight you've never seen before!

In elementary school, Rin was in the same swimming team as Haruka, Makoto and Nagisa. After they won a tournament, Rin went abroad to Australia to study swimming. Haruka constantly remembered how Rin promised to show him a sight he has never seen before, and held onto that memory. When Rin made a rare return to Japan, Haruka and Rin raced, and the former easily won. Rin was exceptionally disappointed that his hard work was for nothing; this created a rift between them, as Rin refused to take Haruka's extended hand. Subsequently, Haruka gave up competitive swimming because he thought he hurt Rin and made him quit. Later, when they went against one another again, and Rin won without much difficulty, Rin was not satisfied as Haruka was not swimming at his best potential. He urged Haruka to swim competitively, so that they may have a fair race, to which Haruka complied.

Rin's best stroke is the butterfly, but his desperate want to race Haruka, who only swims the crawl stroke, led him to focusing on that stroke and whatever distance Haruka was swimming in the competition.

Throughout their various encounters, their relationship is portrayed as volatile, but changes over the course of the series to one of a friendly rivalry. At first, Rin is continually preoccupied with the notion of beating Haruka. Rin sometimes gets very frustrated with Haruka, acknowledging that Haruka has the ability to showcase that he is an extraordinary and unusually excellent swimmer, yet Haruka only cares about immersing himself in water. When Rin officially defeats Haruka at the prefectural tournament, Rin claims that he will never swim with Haruka again, resulting in Haruka's shock and disappointment. For Haruka, swimming with Rin meant more than winning races; for Haruka, it was swimming with his friends that meant the most. Makoto tries to relay this to Rin, but Rin fails to understand.



At the relay race at the tournament, Rin, at last, gets to participate in the relay with his old team again when Rei gives up his spot to let the former teammates swim together again. They win the heat but are disqualified for breaking the rules. In the end credits of Season One, it is shown that Rin has made amends with his old friends from Iwatobi.

In Season 2, their relationship continues to challenge one another as athletes and friends. An example of this may be in Storm of Dive and Dash! when Haruka races Rin at Samezuka in an event to send off the 3rd-year members, with Samezuka winning. Later, at a community event, they race again and tie for first place, setting a new record, to which Rin says that he made Haruka's "cold face grow hot". He later confronts Haruka and Makoto about what they want to do with their futures, with both of them not knowing.

In Forming of Disruption! Haruka succumbs to the pressure of college scouting, stopping midway through a race, feeling that the water is a potential cage. Rin is angry and later shouts at him to take swimming seriously and to consider it his future. Haruka retaliates angrily, saying that he doesn't have a dream or future, that he's not like Rin.

Haruka finally breaks down when Makoto reveals he's going to leave Iwatobi to attend college in Tokyo. In order to help the withdrawn swimmer, Makoto enlists Rin's help who decides to take Haruka to Australia to visit his homestay parents, Lori and Russell. Later that evening, they stay at a hotel in Sydney where they have a heart-to-heart chat about their history as rivals and friends, bonding over their memories. The next day they visit the International Aquatic Centre and Haruka has an epiphany, realizing he wants to swim competitively after seeing where great swimmers from all over the world swim. Haruka thanks Rin and later, makes amends with Makoto who meets them at the airport.

In Season 3, Rin remains training in Australia while Haruka attends university in Tokyo. They do not have contact again until Rin returns to Japan in preparation for the All-Japan Invitational. Their relationship at that time, however, has significantly changed into a more mature, yet still competitive one with both swimmers preparing for the global stage. In a heartfelt scene following the first day of the event in which Rin qualifes to move forward while Haruka has not (yet) the three childhood friends -- Rin, Haruka and Makoto -- share memories and future plans as three seagulls soar overhead. Makoto says he's changing majors to become a professional trainer and hopes to work with both swimmers, who express positive feelings about this revelation.

Haruka and Sosuke's relationship in the beginning is very hostile. In Stroke of Chance Encounter! Sosuke confronts Haruka and tells him to "stay out of Rin's way," causing Haruka to have a very negative view of him. However later on in the season Sosuke once again confronts Haruka, but this time tells him to keep swimming his best because as long as he does, Rin will too. In the OVA they are put on the same team. At first they are unsure on how to react to being put on the same team. Later though in the episode Sosuke jumps in front of Haruka, saving him from being hit by the water gun. This moment then leads to a sort of "truce" or peace moment. After this they become friendly with each other.

Others=

Haru first interacts with Aki after she loses her scarf in the river below the bridge they're both crossing--something that would act as a catalyst to his development. The third character Haru meets as the main POV character of High Speed!, he gives the impression that he doesn't wish to involved in her affairs, stating that retrieving her scarf was "impossible" and leaving. However, it's shown that in spite of Aki seeming her cheerful self again later, worrying over him, it bothers him that he'd coldly brushed her off, and he later gets influenza trying to retrieve it.

Afterwards, although he gradually becomes more open to people, it becomes apparent that he's attentive to her, to the point that Rin believes out of everyone, she and Makoto would be able to convince Haru to join the medley, and thinks "why Haru retrieved the scarf" and "why Aki still wears it despite it having turned brown" is something beyond what he can ask.

Goro and Haruka have a good relationship. Goro used to be Haruka's coach while he was still a coach at Iwatobi Swimming Club. When Rin came back from Australia during his Middle School years, Goro was the one to let him and Haruka race back at the Iwatobi Swimming Club pool. He was the only one to know about Rin's and Haruka's race and Rin's breakdown up until he talks with Makoto one night after running into him. He cares about Haruka and others very much and is willing to give his all to help them improve their swimming.