Haruto Soma

Haruto Souma (操真 晴人) is the main protagonist and the title character of the Kamen Rider Series installment Kamen Rider Wizard. With the WizarDriver given to him by the White Wizard, he is able to transform into Kamen Rider Wizard (仮面ライダーウィザード), the titular hero. His first appearance was in Kamen Rider Fourze the Movie: Everyone, Space Is Here!.

Origins
As a child, Haruto was forced to watch his parents die after they were badly wounded in a car crash. But the promise he made to his parents to keep hope alive in his heart saved Haruto's life years later when he was among the Gates sacrificed during a solar eclipse to create Phantoms.

Six months prior to the series, Haruto was subjected among many others in a ritualistic sacrifice that created the Phantoms on the day of a solar eclipse. While many died giving birth to their Phantoms, Haruto managed to keep his Phantom Dragon from emerging by facing despair head on and as a result he obtained magical powers. Coming to after the eclipse ended, Haruto was attacked by one of the newly-born Phantoms until he was saved by the mysterious White Wizard who presented him with Koyomi, a Gate who also survived the ritual but lost her identity, the WizarDriver and the Flame Ring so that he can access his magic and track down the Phantoms as Kamen Rider Wizard. Motivated to give hope and save people from despair so no Phantom could ever be born again, Haruto sought out Shigeru Wajima to be supplied with more Wizard Rings to fight the Phantoms with.

Early appearances
He was first seen assisting Kamen Riders Fourze and Meteor against the twelve Horoscopes, allowing the two Riders to continue their battle with the Space Ironmen. He makes quick work of the Horoscopes. This was the first time that Haruto learned of the Kamen Riders, and met other Kamen Riders. He introduced himself as a Wizard to Fourze, who explained to him that Kamen Riders are heroes that fight for justice, thus Haruto gave himself the title "Kamen Rider Wizard".

He later appeared out of his Rider form some time after Fourze defeated Mitsuaki Gamou, his last battle against the Zodiarts. Haruto walked past Miu Kazashiro and Shun Daimonji while adjusting his Flame Ring, unknowingly and unintentionally catching Miu's eye and interrupting Shun's proposal to her.

Two new friends
As Kamen Rider Wizard, Haruto got to work opposing the Phantoms and rescuing Gates. He confronted the Phantom Minotauros and his force of Ghouls who were attacking workers at a warehouse, along with a police squad set to assist. Minotauros was holding Rinko Daimon, a rookie detective, by the throat when Haruto arrived. Identified by Minotauros as a magician, Haruto transformed into Kamen Rider Wizard to swiftly dispatch the Ghouls and break one of Minotauros' horns, forcing the Phantom to retreat. After summoning his PlaMonsters to search for Minotauros, Haruto was confronted by Rinko. He explained to her that humans with magic potential, known as Gates, are being targeted by Phantoms, monsters that emerge from Gates who have given in to their own despair. Demanding more information from him and seeing him as a potential threat upon revealing that he has a Phantom inside him, she arrests him. At the Toriizaka Police Station, Rinko was informed by her superior, Amino, and the police chief that they were dropping the case due to their inability to handle the threat.

Koyomi went to the police station to free Haruto where she passed by both Rinko and Amino, detecting a strange aura within the latter. Koyomi planted the Blue Unicorn PlaMonster, which broke into Haruto's cell to deliver him a message from Koyomi, warning him that Amino is the Phantom they are after. After deducing that Rinko is the Gate, he promptly used the Small Magic Ring to shrink himself and ride on Blue Unicorn to break out of jail. Meanwhile, at a park, Rinko explained to Amino that she became a detective because her father was a policeman himself. Suddenly, Amino grabbed Rinko's locket and slapped her to the ground before revealing himself to be Minotauros and stomping on the locket, forcing her into despair. Haruto and Koyomi arrived to intervene; while Koyomi looked after Rinko, Haruto transformed into Kamen Rider Wizard to battle the Phantom. Kamen Rider Wizard used his Land Style and Hurricane Style attacks before finishing off Minotauros with Flame Style's Strike Wizard Rider Kick. When Rinko's body began to show signs of a Phantom about to emerge, Kamen Rider Wizard placed an Engage Ring on her right hand and entered her Underworld to neutralize her inner Phantom Jabberwock using his Winger WizarDragon and the WizarSwordGun. No longer a Gate, Rinko woke up on a park bench and looked at the Engage Ring on her hand as Haruto took Koyomi back home.

Sometime later, Haruto came to the assistance of a group of children and a young man named Shunpei Nara, who were being attacked by the Phantom Hellhound. After Hellhound retreated, Shunpei approacheed Haruto and, realising he was a wizard, asked him to make him his apprentice. Haruto refused, but found himself being chased by Shunpei all over town. Shunpei finally cornered Haruto at the Donut Shop Hungry, and he told him he wanted to help people with magic, but Haruto explained that the world does not need any more wizards and told Shunpei to keep dreaming before he walked away. Meanwhile, after being questioned by Agent Kizaki of National Security Agency's Section Zero for her involvement with Kamen Rider Wizard, Rinko went to the Antique Shop Omokagedo to look for Haruto. There, she met Koyomi and Mr. Wajima. Koyomi explained to Rinko that six months ago, on the day of a solar eclipse, she and Haruto were kidnapped along with many other Gates to be forced into despair during a sacrificial ritual. While nearly everyone was consumed by their Phantoms, Haruto fought to contain the Phantom within him. After the eclipse, a mysterious person wearing a red mask and a white robe laid an unconscious Koyomi next to Haruto and granted him the WizarDriver and the Wizard Rings. As a result of the incident, Koyomi lost her memories of her life from before the event while Haruto became a wizard, vowing never to let anyone become a Phantom.

Later, Shunpei picked up a children's book at a library when he was surrounded by Hellhound and a platoon of Ghouls. As a Ghoul cornered him against a tree, he closes his eyes and points his finger at it, suddenly casting a weak flame-throwing spell before Haruto arrived at the scene and faced the Phantoms as Kamen Rider Wizard. Haruto told Shunpei to run, but he is in shock from casting a spell, and Rinko jumped in to save him from another Ghoul. Haruto was surprised that Rinko had returned, she explained to Haruto that just like him she wanted to protect people, magic or no magic. Kamen Rider Wizard disposed of all the Ghouls before he chases Hellhound on motorcycle. During the chase, he blasted the Phantom into a warehouse with his WizarSwordGun. Minutes after running for safety, Shunpei came to the realization that he himself could wield magic.

Excited over his newly discovered ability to create fire from his hands, Shunpei started showing off his magical power to the children at the park before he was invited by Kazuo Tajima of TV Yūhi for an interview on his Morning Island show. After doing a short demonstration in front of the camera, Shunpei was offered a spot on live TV before Haruto found him. At the Hungry stand, Shunpei tried to show off his power in front of Haruto, but to no avail. Upon remembering that Hellhound breathes fire, Haruto realized that the Phantom survived and is playing mind games on Shunpei. Though Haruto tried to explain it to him, Shunpei accused him of keeping him down before he walks away. Later that night, at Omokagedo, Haruto pondered on his argument with Shunpei before Wajima reminded him of how they met six months ago, when Haruto and Koyomi traced the origin of the Flame Ring to Wajima and asked him to craft more rings to battle the Phantoms. Given a new Wizard Ring and told that it might help light the way for him, Haruto's conviction is restored. The next morning, Haruto received a phone call from Rinko about Shunpei on TV. Realizing that Tajima was the Phantom orchestrating Shunpei for the fall, Haruto rushed to the TV station to save Shunpei as he was publicly humiliated on national TV when his "magic" fails on him. Delighting in his target's misery, Hellhound revealed himself before entering Shunpei's shadow to force him into incinerating the Forest Wizard book to completely send him to despair. Kamen Rider Wizard battled Hellhound and used the Light Magic Ring to flush out the Phantom from the shadows before transforming to Water Style to counter the Phantom's flame attacks and destroy him with the Water Slash Strike. Giving Shunpei an Engage Ring, Kamen Rider Wizard entered his Underworld and managed to destroy the inner Phantom Cyclops while retrieving a mental copy of the Forest Wizard. Later, as Rinko arrived at Omokagedo to inform Haruto about the media blackout involving his fight with Hellhound, Shunpei was there too. Like Rinko, he vowed to help Haruto in any way he could even without magic.

The Pianist and the Con artist
At the Antique Shop Omokagedo, Rinko walked in on Haruto using some sort of magical power on Koyomi, with the latter glowing brightly. Meanwhile, Medusa and Phoenix sent the Phnatom Caitsith to hunt down a new Gate in the form of pianist Eisaku Takagi. Just as Caitsith attacked Eisaku at a conservatory, Haruto arrived to intervene while Rinko brought Eisaku to safety. After a lengthy battle, the Phantom retreated. Later, Haruto and Rinko explained to Eisaku about his situation as a Gate, but Eisaku was more concerned about his upcoming piano competition and couldn't care less about being attacked. It was revealed that Eisaku was a well renowned pianist who swept every contest he participated in, but has not won anything since joining the conservatory; thus, he hoped for the upcoming competition to be his big comeback. Koyomi and Shunpei arrived at the conservatory. Just as the four get into an argument, Caitsith in his human form shown up. Haruto and Rinko chased after the Phantom, but lose him past the Donut Shop Hungry. Meanwhile, Koyomi and Shunpei followed Eisaku toward a lake, concerned about his safety when Misa suddenly appeared. However, instead of Eisaku, Medusa targeted Koyomi, entangling her with her hair and siphoning off her mana before walking away. Haruto and Rinko rushed to the scene, where Haruto recharges Koyomi's mana through her Please Magic Ring. Caitsith once again targeted Eisaku with the intent to chop off his hands, but Eisaku offered him to finish the job - much to the Phantom's shock. Kamen Rider Wizard arrived to once again do battle with Caitsith. He trapped the Phantom with the Bind Magic Ring, but as he prepares to execute the Flame Style's Strike Wizard Rider Kick, the spell malfunctioned, as he was out of mana.

Taking advantage of Haruto's sudden loss of mana during battle, Caitsith managed to escape. Haruto confronted Takagi as he realized the pianist wanted the Phantom to cripple him and take him out of the piano competition. Koyomi blamed herself for Haruto's loss as he had used all of his remaining mana to reanimate her. As she walked away, Haruto followed her, but he suddenly passeed out. Back at the Antique Shop Omokagedo, as Koyomi watched over Haruto, Wajima explains to Rinko and Shunpei that Koyomi was actually a Gate whose body was somehow preserved after her Phantom was manifested. As the Phantom had taken her life and memories, she needed a regular supply of mana from Haruto in order to survive. When Haruto waked up, he explained to Koyomi that even a negative person such as Takagi needed hope. Later that night, Koyomi, Rinko and Shunpei payed Takagi a visit. Koyomi argued with Takagi over his fear of facing the present and moving on to the future, assuring him that Haruto will be there to protect him. The next day, as Takagi performed at the competition, Caitsith unleashed an army of Ghouls and prepared to crash the event, but is stopped by Kamen Rider Wizard, who used the Copy Magic Ring to duplicate himself and destroy the Ghouls before finishing off the Phantom with the Hurricane Style's Slash Strike. After the competiton, Takagi told Haruto that he lost once again, but he decided to move on by moving overseas and starting over with his career.

While visiting Hungry for a sugar doughnut, Haruto learned the manager's normally silent worker has fallen in love with a beautiful girl and bought stone bracelets from her and feels envious to it. At the same time, at Omokagedo, Koyomi found Shunpei and Wajima have also found love themselves. Later, Haruto discovered the Phantom Gnome attacking a rich man named Yamagata and his girlfriend Manami. Overpowered by Kamen Rider Wizard in Hurricane Style, Gnome escaped into the ground with Wizard sending Blue Unicorn after him. Brought to Yamagata's manor, Haruto informed him and Manami of the Phantom's intent and called Rinko to help him keep an eye on them to find out which one is the Gate that Gnome is after. However, upon hearing that Rinko is a cop, Manami decided to go home with Haruto, accompanying him before she ditched him when she learns he can only use his magic to fight Phantoms and nothing else. By the time Haruto found Manami, she was surrounded by Shunpei, Wajima, and the donut shop worker who all claim to be dating her. Exposed to have been scamming money off her dates, not seeing anything wrong about it, Manami took her leave before she is dragged underground by Gnome. Alerted by Blue Unicorn and using his Land Style to reach Manami, Kamen Rider Wizard fought off the Ghouls before saving Manami as he explained that saving her is something he must do regardless of her profession. When Gnome caused a cave in to escape him, Haruto found that Manami had left during the fight.

Since Manami went off the grid, with Koyomi unable to find her or Gnome while he takes the Smell Ring from a heartbroken Wajima as he was about to smash it, Haruto returned to Yamagata's manor where he learned that Yamagata knew Manami was playing him but felt there was a very good reason for her needing his money. After getting a call from Rinko that she got Manami's address from the Renaissance Gym, Haruto joined her and they made their way to her house. As they draw near, they found Manami attacked by Gnome with Haruto driving the Phantom off and becoming Kamen Rider Wizard to fight him. However, Gnome escaped and Haruto returned to find Manami having run off as Rinko saw him ads for the house that appeared in a childhood photograph of Manami. Catching up to Manami to give her back her photo, Haruto learned her intent is to buy back her childhood home to preserve it. Haruto told her that he understands losing a family before he and Manami see her childhood home going up in flames as they found Gnome waiting inside for them. Using Water Style to take out the flames, Kamen Rider Wizard took Manami outside and told her to not to be consumed by her past and focus on the present before going after Gnome. As Manami realized he was right, Wizard found himself in a predicament with Gnome's burrowing fighting style before becoming Kamen Rider Wizard Land Style with the Big Ring to force the Phantom to the surface so he use the Smell Ring to overwhelm his senses. Wizard then finished Gnome off with a Drill Strike Wizard kick. Soon after Manami thanked Haruto with the intent to turn herself in, Rinko arrived with Yamagata who was revealed to be buying the property so Manami can buy it from him once she served. Elsewhere, with four Phantoms killed off since Wizard's appearance, Phoenix took Gnome's failure personal as he lost it.

Unleashing the Dragon
At Omokagedo, Shunpei looked at the Wizard Rings that Wajima made before finding a strange Magic Ring Haruto can not use, Shunpei suggested that it was a 'dud' ring. Soon after, a White Garuda arrived with a box as the gang attempt to capture the strange PlaMonster as it let itself out. Koyomi opened the box to find a red magic stone that reacts with the 'dud' Magic Ring as Wajima took it to make a new Wizard Ring. As he walked with Shunpei and Rinko, Haruto realized the White Garuda may belong to the White Wizard before discovering a young boy, Hiroki Itoh, being attacked by Ghouls. Transforming to fight, Kamen Rider Wizard destroyed the Ghouls while Rinko and Shunpei looked after the child. When Haruto asked where the boy lives, he founnds himself kicked in the groin as Rinko founds herself arrested when she tried to keep Hiroki from running off. After clearing up things at the station, Hiroki's mother arrives as Haruto recognized her as Mikiko Itoh. As the others discussed their relation, Mikiko being the nurse who attempted to save his parents after being mortally wounded in a car crash, Haruto informed the woman of her son's endangerment while promising to look after him. However, Hiroki refused to go home as Mikiko entrusts her son to live at Omokagedo for a while. Later that night, Hiroki revealed to Haruto that ran away from home as his father never listens to him and Mikiko sides with him. But Haruto shown him that Mikiko was concerned, convincing Hiroki to talk with his mother tomorrow. Elsewhere, when refused by Medusa into letting him go after Wizard when her Ghouls failed to get the boy, Phoenix asks for Wiseman's permission to put an end to the magician's meddling in their affairs. Wiseman allowed it and gave Phoenix an idea to place the young Gate in despair. The next day, Haruto and Hiroki arrived to find that Phoenix had beaten Mikiko to an inch of her life. Haruto transformed into Wizard to fight Phoenix as Shunpei and a concerned Hiroki took the latter's mother to the hospital. As the others got away, Haruto found that Phoenix was far more powerful than the four Phantoms. He used a wide array of tactics from his arsenal only to find out that his magic was no match for the Phantom as he threw him over the bridge into the water below.

As Mikiko was hospitalized, Rinko rescued Haruto from the river and brought him back to Omokagedo. Though confused that he was saved by WizarDragon while told that Mikiko is unconscious, Haruto realized that Phoenix's objective is to kill Hiroki's parents to throw him into despair. Reaching Hiroki's father in time in Hurricane Style, yet too weak to fight, Kamen Rider Wizard spirited Hiroki's father to the hospital instead, collapsing due to his low levels of mana. After having a nightmare about Phoenix killing Hiroki's parents and the boy's Phantom manifesting, Haruto awakened to find the former alive and well while Hiroki blames himself for their condition. With the scene reminding him of his own parents, Haruto told Hiroki that this is not his fault and that he must not give up on hope. Knowing that killing Phoenix was the only way to save Hiroki's parents, Haruto confined to Rinko that he was scared of standing by and let them die but had no idea how to deal with the Phantom. However, Koyomi arrived with the ring Wajima made from the stone brought by the White Garuda. As Haruto took it, he sensed WizarDragon reacting to the ring and realizes it will let him use his inner Phantom's power. By then, Phoenix arrived with Haruto telling a concerned Rinko that seeking his inner Phantom's aid was the only way to stop the Phantom. Being beaten senselessly by Phoenix, Wizard attempted to use the Flame Dragon Ring before he managed to contact WizarDragon within his Underworld. WizarDragon warned him that although the Transformation Ring can indeed channel his power, its use may eventually consume Haruto in despair. But once hearing Haruto's retort that the dragon's power is his hope, an amused WizarDragon decided to give Wizard the power he desires. With WizarDragon's powers, Wizard transformed into Kamen Rider Wizard Flame Dragon. With the tables turned, Wizard destroyed Phoenix with his Dragon Breath attack. As a few days pass, Haruto told the others that both Hiroki's parents are recovering and Hiroki is reconnecting with them. Elsewhere, Medusa mockingly mused Haruto's power to a revived Phoenix.

Personality
Haruto hides his true self under a lighter, easily-amused persona. His favorite food are donuts.

Styles
Wizard's forms are called Styles (スタイル, Sutairu). By using the Kick Strike Ring, he can execute a Rider Kick called Strike Wizard (ストライクウィザード), a corkscrew drop enhanced by the power of the element presently wielded.

Like Kamen Rider Kuuga, Wizard gains access to stronger versions of his standard Styles named Dragon Styles (ドラゴンスタイル, Doragon Sutairu). When a Dragon Style Ring is scanned on the WizarDriver, instead of the usual "please", it announces "Dragon". If Wizard scans the Kick Strike Ring, he can execute the Dragon Strike Wizard (ドラゴンリストライクウィザード) Rider Kick.

Devices

 * WizarDriver - Transformation device
 * WizarSwordGun - Kamen Rider Wizard's weapon.
 * Wizard Rings - Gives access to Wizard's form changes and spells, depending on which style the ring is.
 * PlaMonsters - Wizard's familiars.
 * Drago Timer - Wizard's wristwatch device.

Vehicles

 * Machine Winger - Wizard's Rider Machine.

Portrayal
Haruto Souma is portrayed by Shunya Shiraishi (白石 隼也). As a child, Haruto is portrayed by Kaito Nakashima (中島 凱斗).

As Kamen Rider Wizard, his suit actor is Seiji Takaiwa (高岩 成二), who has been the suit actor for the majority of leading Heisei Kamen Riders (except Kuuga and Hibiki). He has also been the suit actor of several Sentai Reds including, ironically concerning Wizard, MagiRed of Mahou Sentai Magiranger.

Trivia

 * Haruto has some similarities of the famous Vash the Stampede from Trigun: both hide something under goofish personas, wield a pale-colored gun as their main weapon, and have a big love for donuts. Vash also has a red long coat, which Haruto gains when he uses the Flame Dragon form.
 * Wizard is the first main and third overall Rider to wear a trenchcoat, the first one being Kamen Riders Orga and Yuuki.
 * As recently highlighted in Super Hero Taisen, certain Kamen Riders and Super Sentai heroes share design and power motifs. Motif-wise, Wizard's Sentai counterpart would be the Magirangers, due to both have a magic-based-on-mythical-elements motif.
 * Also, his usage of rings to transform is similar to that of the Denzimen.
 * The Magirangers also used Oath Rings to access their Legend Powers.
 * The connection with gemstones is likewise similar to the power source of the Goggle V.
 * The Dragon forms are similar to Kuuga's Rising forms, as they are both upgrades to a Rider's pre-existing forms.
 * He is the third Primary Rider with a dominant dragon motif, being preceded by Agito and Ryuki.
 * His origin involving an eclispe is somewhat similar to that of Kotaro Minami's and Nobuhiko Akizuki's origins.
 * His usage of rings in magic rituals to combat demonic beings could be inspired by Goetic tomes, where some rituals to summon and control demons for the summoner's use required using a ring as an act of fealty or respect.
 * Haruto has a similar English phrase usage in his pre-battle catchphrase, "It's show time!" with Kamen Rider Psyga that was summoned by Kamen Rider Diend in episode 17 of Kamen Rider Decade.
 * Unlike the summoned Kamen Rider Psyga, who said his phrase in fluent English, Haruto's catchphrase is "Now, it's showtime!" (さあ、ショータイムだ!), with the word showtime being the only English word in his line.