From the very beginning of the series, Haru set herself up as a bit of weirdo asking for one of the, presumably expired, bentos from Rikuo when he was feeding them to the crows outside the convenience store and saying things like how she has no family besides her pet crow Kansuke and that she’s a Tokyo University student, which are both definitely not true, although it’s pretty obvious to both of them that it’s a joke. When they meet up later and she’s saying things like “You’re pretty humble for someone who’s being hit on by a mysterious, pretty girl like me.” This overtness is honestly more charming than it really should be and sets the tone for her character, at least the lighter, surface-level part that she wants to project while also revealing her own vulnerability with how tryhard she’s going about it. Also crow pet? Heck yeah! If anything that probably sells her mysteriousness the most since her actual circumstances are fairly normal, albeit a bit troubled with how she dropped out of school and such.

Throughout the series she’s often teasing Rikuo “like a demon” about his situation with Shinako and being flirtatious and sometimes overdramatic like how she openly “declares war” with Shinako for Rikuo’s affection and philosophically muses on questions like “What is love?”. Despite how arguably artificial a lot of her behaviors are, it surprisingly becomes so over-the-top that her genuineness sort of bleeds over in the subtext of it all. She gets a lot of smug anime girl points along the way, particularly in scenes like in the photo gallery looking at the results of the contest with Minato’s winning photo of her. “That photo came out nice. Am I this pretty? … I guess it depends on the model.” Haru’s dunks on Rikuo have got to be a big highlight of the series in themselves and which continues right to the very end with her grading him on his confession (rightly so too, that first one was pretty pathetic!).

This is actually more of a general “Haru-chan cute moments” section but it’s a good example to lead with as we keep returning to her and Rikuo, and Minato that one time, getting okonomiyaki and Haru showing off her “lightning flip!” skills. One of the most memorable light moments of the series is when they’re getting okonomiyaki again and Haru lists off this incredibly complicated order complete with a plethora of extra toppings, drinks, and desserts, etc. followed by Rikuo’s incredibly simple usual pork and egg okonomiyaki, and then further expanded on when he tells her that he got the photography studio job which prompts her to order beers despite her being underaged (she’s a bad example kids). Not only is this funny, but it also reflects their personalities well with Haru’s somewhat forced gradiousity and Rikuo’s rather subdued passivity. In any case, seeing the “invincible” Haru drawing crows with mayonnaise on her okonomiyaki was super cute for sure!

Another big source of kawaii has got to be Haru’s outfits. It’s admittedly convenient that the author has her work at Milk Hall where she usually wears the ever-popular maid outfit but the real standouts are probably her everyday outfits which change throughout the episodes. Seeing her excitement when preparing for her ill-fated movie date with Rikuo and trying out different clothes really made seeing her wait alone for hours and then get rained on even more of a downer but at least she rocked her look as she did with her scooter helmet and goggles for serious Haruko Haruhara vibes and of course her adorable Santa-ish Christmas getup. Although not necessarily memorable because of her winter outfit, although it’s also cute, another highlight has got to be when she was waiting outside Rikuo’s apartment to wish him a Merry Christmas and deliver some bagels from the cafe. Seeing her smile and go in for the hug was so precious, even if you might question her arguably unreasonable devotion to Rikuo. Seeing her kindness and generosity with Rou at their chance meeting where she gave him the extra coffee from her delivery was great as well and further showcased the genuineness of her sweetness, not just when it comes to Rikuo.