Haruhara, Haruko
- Gender
- Female
Summary
Haruko Haruhara presents herself as a nineteen-year-old energetic and spontaneous pink-haired investigator for the Galactic Space Patrol Brotherhood, though she hails from outer space. Mamimi notes that she appears to be at least twenty years old, but because she belongs to an unknown alien species, neither Mamimi nor the audience has a relevant frame of reference to judge her age accurately. She rides a yellow Piaggio Vespa, earning her the nickname The Wasp Woman due to the pun on the word Vespa, which means wasp. Her primary weapon is a blue, upside-down, right-handed Rickenbacker bass guitar model 4001, which resembles the instrument used by Paul McCartney, whom she mentions in Episode 5. Although she is left-handed, the guitar features a pull-cord motor on the back and functions as a bizarre arsenal capable of shooting bullets, acting as a rocket launcher, flying, and opening an N.O. channel in Naota's forehead. She takes on the role of maid at the Nandaba household and joins a rival team of the Mabase Martians ostensibly for extra money, but her true objective is to knock a satellite out of Earth's orbit using the baseballs she hits. She seems to have past relations with Amarao that mirror her dynamic with Naota. As the mysterious catalyst for FLCL's entire plot, she is also known as Haruha Raharu, a name Amarao believes is her real identity. Haruko maintains connections to the Nandaba family cat, Miu Miu, which acts as a walkie talkie to her superiors. While the cat only meows and grunts, Haruko’s responses during their interactions suggest she is receiving replies akin to a telephone conversation. Naota addresses her as Haruko Haruhara, Kamon calls her Haruko-san, Mamimi refers to her as Haru-san, and Amarao calls her Raharu.
