The woman, who has been observing and tracking Ayato from afar. She is the one who saves Ayato when he is about to get taken away by agents from the Department of Public Safety. She tries to get close to Ayato by telling him that she will "tell him the truth".
Background[]
A 29 year old officer within the TERRA organization, Haruka Shitow is partially responsible for aiding Ayato in leaving Tokyo Jupiter. Originally a Major in the Intelligence Division, she is promoted to Captain in the Tactical Division.
Haruka is shown to have very strong feelings for Ayato and struggles at maintaining a relationship with him for many reasons. Her position within TERRA makes Ayato think that she is only using him because of his ability to pilot the RahXephon. Ayato's own personal struggles also create barriers for their relationship.
It is later revealed that the girl that Ayato is constantly drawing and painting is actually a young Haruka. They had fallen in love when they were younger. The earliest date when the show places them together is at August 10 2011, at age 13. When the Tokyo Jupiter barrier was established (just after the end of 2012), Haruka was on the way to visit relatives in Nagoya. Ixtli uses Ayato's distorted memories of Haruka to create the form of Reika Mishima. Haruka aged much more than Ayato in the outside world due to Tokyo Jupiter's time dilation effect. She had a relationship with Itsuki Kisaragi, possibly due to his similarity to Ayato.
- In other versions
There is no real difference between Haruka's portrayal in the series and in the movie.
In the manga, Haruka is more ditzy but has a similar role in the story until the end, where she is revealed to be a reincarnation of Reika.