Haruo Sakaki

Haruo Sakaki ハルオ・サカキ is the protagonist of the 2017 Godzilla film, Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters.

Haruo lost both of his parents in a Godzilla attack, thus he strives for revenge against the creature. He's described as having a slim, but highly trained and strong body. He was raised alongside the orphaned Yuko Tani.

Appearance
Haruo holds the appearance of a young man, possessing a pale complexion. His eyes are a light shade of brown, and his hair is a dark grayish blue. His body build is average.

Personality
Haruo is initially depicted as reckless in the film's intro, willing to put the Aratrum's entire population at risk over his idea that the Central Committee was seemingly willing to kill the elderly for the sake of resource conservation.

His reckless nature was shown again when he attempted to kamikaze Filius with his hovercraft to activate its shielding, before being stopped by Eliott Leland's actions. He would later be saddened by Eliott's subsequent death and would acknowledge how Leland gave up his own life for the information that'd lead to Godzilla's defeat.

Haruo was also shown as revenge driven over Godzilla's actions, as they killed his parents. His drive for revenge changed during the film's events, where his want to stop Godzilla extends past himself, as he shifts to wanting to stop Godzilla for the sake of humanity, and all they lost, over just his own personal gain.

In spite of his recklessness and revenge driven natures, Haruo also showed compassion and care for his allies, and even in dangerous operations, tried to ensure their safety. This was prevalent when Haruo ordered the pilots of diversionary landing craft to abandon ship provided they were targeted by Godzilla. This would later be seen again as Haruo would attempt to distract Godzilla Earth so others could escape.

Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters
Haruo is introduced, having confined himself to a ship with explosives on board, demanding to leave Tau-e, and abandon the emigration project, immediately. He threatens to detonate the explosives on board, provided the crew doesn't listen, as the planet's uninhabitable, and people will be killed by attempting to live on it.

He accuses the Committee of coercing the elderly into accepting the plan, with the motive of reducing the population on board, and thus those the crew needs to take care of, given dwindling supplies. Haruo broadcasts the conversation on an open channel, allowing everyone, including Yuko Tani to overhear the exchange. Haruo then states he'll give a one hour period for the ship to change course, before detonating the explosives present.

Daichi Tani then messages Haruo, demanding he stops what he's doing, insisting the volunteers of the operation made the choice on their own accord, rather than being coerced, as they, the elderly, felt they were at their limit for waiting, even if the younger generation present may be able to withstand it. He then attempts to reassure the distraught Haruo, and states he'd much rather die with his feet planted on the ground, on any planet.

Haruo is then incarcerated, and the landing craft proceeds out of the Aratrum as planned. As the ship enters the atmosphere of the planet, it suddenly blows up, killing everyone on board, and leaving Haruo screaming in anguish.

The film then flashbacks to events before the present day, when Haruo was a child. As he watches craft departing from the docks nearby, he asks where his mother and father are. He's told they'll catch up soon, and is pointed to the arrival buses, which are on a nearby road. Godzilla then suddenly arrives, with everyone panicking, causing Haruo to drop his dog tag, which has a flower engraved in it.

Haruo then watches as Godzilla destroys the nearby ships at the docks, with the massive explosion destroying everything nearby, including the buses transporting his parents. He's then seen on the Aratrum, departing the planet, which he describes as its own hell, compared to the Godzilla-ruled Earth.

Haruo then wakes up, obviously disturbed, with Metphies by his side, who questions him on a potential nightmare. Metphies then speaks up on how its his job to listen to prisoner confessions, and gives Haruo a data chip possessing information Haruo wants. Haruo speaks up on whether or not Metphies could get into trouble for giving him said data, to which the latter speaks up about admiring his enthusiasm. Metphies then retorts, and questions Haruo on why he wants the data. Haruo begins to go on about how humanity's suffering was caused by Godzilla, and expresses a distaste for running from the monster instead of fighting.

Metphies speaks, saying they had no way to fight the monster, with Haruo stating he'll prove that wrong, with the right strategy. Metphies in turn, finds it curious that Haruo, in spite of all the trauma he and his generation endured at the hands of the monster, wants to seemingly see the creature again, and leaves him in his cell. He takes the data Haruo had been tinkering with, with him, data on Godzilla's hypothetical weaknesses, and thus begins spreading it through the ship anonymously.

Later on, Haruo is released, following confirmation of Godzilla's survival on Earth, and the talks of dealing with him as put forth by Metphies and the once anonymous thesis. Haruo briefs the crew on what Godzilla's capable of, biologically, bringing up its shield system, and its electromagnetic pulse functions, and potential counters. The plan involves locating and destroying the amplifying organ of Godzilla's shield, before using either a close range assault, or the use of EMP probes which would result in self-destruction by destroying Godzilla from within. Said operation would require around 600 people. The operation's ruled out by one crew member, before, humorously preparations are made to land on the surface.

Eliott Leland gives a rousing speech, before being spoken to by Haruo, who inquires why it felt like he wanted to pick a fight with the Committee. Leland speaks on how a new hero would rise if they defeated Godzilla, to which Haruo speaks on how Eliott's just like he was as a kid. Shortly after, Metphies reassures Haruo's nervousness with hoping all goes to plan by stating all will be okay as long as they have a hero to guide them. When Haruo asks if he's a Leland sympathizer, Metphies states he put his hope in Haruo, not Eliott.

Once they arrive on the planet, Haruo is paired with Yuko Tani for a scouting mission, and the two, alongside a small group which includes Martin Lazzari, venture around the surrounding areas. Yuko and Haruo speak for a brief time, where Haruo states that he doesn't believe the Committee was corrupt to send elderly people to their deaths, knowingly, and states that they must fight Godzilla to reclaim the dignity they lost in running from him.

Haruo later encounters the remnants of past civilizations on the planet and is overcome with emotions, seeing that the planet didn't forget them in spite of their absence. He would then return with the group following the surprise Servum attack. Once the attack pushed Leland into wanting to retreat, Haruo became aggressive, pushing him against a wall and calling him a coward. Metphies then went on to break down the new plan, piece by piece, which showed it was already almost identical to Haruo's older plan, and still involved a trek through Godzilla's territory. Eliott simply told Metphies they would take no action to draw out Godzilla.

The crew would later board one of the salvageable landing crafts, and begin the flight across Godzilla's territory, attempting to move quickly to avoid detection. However, Godzilla would arise shortly after and the ensuing panic would cause the already unstable landing craft to stall and crash. Haruo would then be relieved of his cuffs by Metphies, and rush to the vehicle bay, before mounting a hovercraft and exiting the crashed craft, moving to attack Godzilla to learn how its shields work. Once small arms fire does nothing to spark the shield's activation, Haruo attempts to kamikaze the craft into Godzilla, only for Leland to rain artillery fire down on Godzilla's back, providing the information at the cost of his life, as Godzilla fires a beam at Leland's vehicle, obliterating it.

Haruo then organizes a plan to defeat and destroy Godzilla, utilizing a hovercraft squad distraction, and the use of the remaining landing craft's bombs to quicken the pace of the conflict by diverting Godzilla's path with the use of a bombing run. Eventually, Godzilla's lured into the trap, and strategically placed explosives collapse the canyon walls around the monster, and bury him to his head in rock.

After utilizing artillery to destroy Godzilla's dorsal plates, Haruo utilizes his power suit and buries an EMP probe in the monster's hide, before artillery keeps firing to ensure Godzilla's regeneration can't rebuild his dorsal plates, and allow his shield to recharge. Yuko and the rest of the power suit squad then join in the fight and help Haruo secure their own EMP probes in Godzilla's hide, which burrow into the monster's skin, cause the electromagnetic waves within the monster to become erratic, which in turn destroys him, causing him to violently explode.

The next morning, Haruo and Martin speak on the defeat of Godzilla, with the latter stating he didn't think the defeated monster was the original, hypothesizing it was an offspring of the original. While Haruo's apprehensive, he's content with the knowledge that they have an effective counter against Godzilla, provided another one rises again.

Shortly afterwards, earthquakes rock the region, and the original Godzilla awakens, blindsiding the remainder of Haruo's forces, and destroying some evacuating vehicles. Haruo attempts to stay behind to distract the monster, but an attack from Godzilla incapacitates Haruo, who then blacks out shortly after.

Haruo was eventually taken under the wing of a native human female from the planet.

Eliott Leland
Haruo and Eliott share a brief conversation as landing craft initially make their way to the Earth's surface. At one point Haruo remarks that Leland is just like he was when he was a kid, implying the two share a long history.

Trivia

 * Haruo may be named after Haruo Nakajima, the original Godzilla suit actor who portrayed the character from 1954 to 1972.

List of appearances

 * Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters