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“ | The idealist says, everyone is born equal. We are all of equal worth. The sportsman screams, no effort goes unrewarded. Work hard for your dreams! It's about how you play the game. | „ |
~ Haruki Aritomi. |
Haruki Aritomi is the main antagonist of the Silent Party Arc in the A Certain Scientific Railgun S anime series.
He is a student in Academy City and is the leader of a terroristic organization called STUDY, which seeks to prove technology is superior to espers. He's the arch-nemesis of Shinobu Nunotaba and Febrie.
He is voiced by Junji Majima in Japanese and by J. Michael Tatum in English.
Appearance[]
Haruki is a tall and slender young man with short black hair. He wears round-framed glasses and is often seen wearing a white lab coat over his blue and green uniform, which consists of a buttoned-up collared shirt and pants.
Personality[]
Haruki demonstrates a calm, collected, and analytical demeanor befitting an intellectual individual. Like his colleagues, Haruki has a tendency to adjust his glasses with his finger. He holds great hatred towards espers, to the point where he will take any opportunity to show the downsides of over reliance on esper abilities to the public, as shown when he criticized Mitsuko Kongou after she stopped a purse snatcher by claiming she could have harmed a bystander in the process. Haruki claims that those who rely on their powers are the ones who are truly powerless. He's also very charismatic and eloquent, being able to persuade an entire crowd of people into believing his opinion with his words alone.
However, deep down, Haruki is an extremely arrogant, egotistical, and cold-hearted individual who detestation of espers stems from the lack of recognition for his genius in comparison to those with powers. He's highly delusional, as he sees himself and his group as one of the most powerful factions in Academy City, who will revolutionize the world with their technology. Haruki is very ruthless and cruel, as he shows little regard for who his experiments hurt and is willing to put innocent civilians in danger just so he can have his way. He's also quite sadistic, as shown when he promised to give Mikoto Misaka the formula for the lollipops Febri needs to survive if she and Shinobu Nunotaba did what he asked, only to callously stomped the flash drive containing the data to dust. Later, he beats up Nunotaba and gives her a black eye.
Despite his intellect and resources, Haruki's biggest flaw is his overconfidence and egotism, as he severely overestimates himself and his robots and underestimates his foes. He vastly underestimates the level 5s in general, and Mikoto specifically. He thinks that the trouble she had with his non-electrical robot meant it was too strong for her, when in reality she was holding back because she thought it had a person inside. He also manipulated Shizuri Mugino and didn't expect her to come looking for revenge.
Biography[]
Haruki is a genius student in Academy City, having won several awards in national science competitions, but hardly anybody knows who he is because espers overshadow regular people in terms of fame. Determined to show his genius, Haruki developed a new method of creating espers through the Chemicaloid Project, seeking to replace the Power Curriculum Program.
Eventually, he and his group, STUDY, presented their research to various organizations but it was turned down repeatedly and amongst them, Gensei Kihara, who Haruki idolized, even referred to the whole thing as merely "summer arts and crafts." This led to them becoming disillusioned and seeking to do the project on their own.
Abilities[]
- Genius Intellect: Haruki is very intelligent and has keen scientific aptitude, being the head researcher of the Chemicaloid Project, which involves the creation of artificial espers called Chemicaloids. He described as a genius even by Academy City's standards, having won several awards in the Academy City Research Exhibition Assembly. He even manipulated the legal system to prevent Anti-Skill from interfering with STUDY's plans. He also proves himself to be a capable tactician, able to lead an army of robots against Judgment during Silent Party. However, his knowledge isn't near the levels of the Kihara Family.
- Immense Charisma: Haruki is an extremely charismatic orator and manipulator to the point that he can criticize someone who just saved the day and get the crowd on his side. After Mitsuko Kongou flawlessly took down a purse snatcher, he comes out and causes the cheering crowd to turn against her, using the probability fallacy to imply she could have killed or severely injured a bystander if luck wasn't on her side.