ROWEN HASHIBA

SUMMARY:

   Rowen is the smartest of the group, and often gets teased for it, but they appreciate it. (If he wasn't smart who would be?) His parents are divorced which really hurt him, not that they were ever around anyway.  His dad is a scientist who is usually cooped up in his lab and pays little attention to Rowen.  His mother is an international journalist, which causes her to always travel.  She always brings something home for him when she visits, but that doesn't make up for lost time.

    He was very mature since he was young, and loved to read at an early age. When most boys his age were playing sports, he'd read. He was always a nerd at school and therefore didn't have many friends.  The ronins are his first true friends, so he always protects them with his life.

    *Rowen's mother hadn't really liked the name Rowen, she wanted him to be Touma.  But his father went ahead and changed it on his birth certificate.  His mother always calls Touma-kun even though his name is Rowen, because she still thinks that it fits better.

Detailed Description

Family:

• Father: Genichirou, a university researcher specialized in physics and astronomy. He's the type of mad scientist similar to Doc Brown of Back to the Future. He almost never leaves his lab. He'd like Rowen to join him in his research. He has a beard which I guess shows how far from the norm he is. (Japanese generally disapprove of facial hair.)

• Mother: About a decade younger than her ex-husband, she still keeps in touch with the two. She is described either as a very cheerful young person or an air-head. She is an international journalist and is about 32 when the other Ronins met her in Tenkuden. She gave birth to Rowen when she was eighteen. She treats both Rowen and his father like friends, *Touma-kun and Genichirou-kun respectively.

    In his father's side of the family, there has been a legend about a yoroi (armor) that the family once had but lost. Rowen was researching ancient history and strategy, taking interest in this opposite to what his father researched. He created a computer program to analyze the data but couldn't understand the output. His mother happened to drop by that day and identified as "Ama no hashidate", one of the three famous sites of Japan and where Rowen trains later in the TV series. It is there that he receives his yoroi. The story says he went there during the spring vacation of his second year third semester of junior high. That would mean he got it almost right before the battle. It was probably a year earlier.

    Rowen's dark blue yoroi is Strata, and draws power from generally air. He has a metal collapsible hankyu (bow), Sho Ha Kyu, that can be hooked on his quiver which supplies an endless amount of golden energy arrows. Rowen is skilled both in Eastern and Western archery. His special attack is Arrow Shock Wave, which creates a huge air wave that obliterates anything its path.

Rowen has lived with his father in a modern high-rise mansion (i.e. apartment) in Osaka since his parents divorced when he was twelve. His mother has the spare key to drop in whenever she wants. Rowen's father's lab is in Kyoto. In the original storyline, Rowen's paternal grandfather owned a shrine and Kento was a foreign student who was staying there (that is, Kento and Rowen grew up together).

Rowen has an IQ 250, which means during the TV series, he had the intellectual capacity of a 35 year old. (His mom did say he acted like an old person.) Because of his intellect, others would call him a Living Computer or genius. Adults didn't treat him like a kid, so Rowen often acts like an adult (he's the youngest of the Ronins). He actually enjoys studying (what's wrong with that?). He also likes reading detective stories.

Once Rowen got a zero on the math portion of the academic tests given as practice for the college exams because he forgot to write his name and the teacher was a substitute who didn't know him.

Though he is usually a cool, self-possessed person, matching his computer-like intellect, his emotions can also make him as violent as a tornado. The Ronins are the first real friends he's ever had and he'll do anything to protect them.

In addition to the interests listed above, Rowen's hobbies are sleeping and eating. He has low blood pressure which makes it harder for him to get up but he also likes to sleep. Staying up till two in the morning doesn't help either. His idea of waking early is eleven am. Rowen actually eats as much as Kento (or more in one manga) but it doesn't show and he doesn't talk about food like Kento either. He does have a sweet tooth.

Rowen's blood is AB. By the little Japanese blood-personality chart, that means he has a very high pride, a tendency to insult, and often takes revenge.

Personality: Rowen's feeling are difficult for the other Ronins to understand.  He often teases Sage and when Sage teases back, it gets dangerous.  Rowen always becomes defensive, Sage gets upset and they begin a fist fight.  But, they are still best friends.  Rowen hates being teased, but he loves to tease others.  He really is a caring person, but it's hard for him to act like a friend.  He never had friends before he met the guys.  He once said that because of that fact, he doesn't know how to be a friend.  He has trouble acting like himself, and when he really tries is when he's not anything like himself. 

    Rowen is basically a happy person who truly loves his friends (and himself).  He would do anything for them, even die.   He loves learning and studying and being a Ronin.  He sometimes wishes that he didn't have the armor, but quickly changes his mind.  If he didn't have the armor, then he never would have become friends with the other ronins, and never would've met Sarah.

Relationship: Sarah and Rowen's relationship is a little confusing.  They were lovers in most of their past lives, but because of a Forest Shima curse (thanks Katie) something terrible would always befall them and screw up their relationship, which causes each life's mentality to want to be together.  When Sarah joined the Ronin Warriors sometimes her past mentality's would push through, causing spurts of affection for Rowen that she didn't understand.  The same happened to him, only his were more careful and subtle.  Because of this once they acknowledge their feelings for one another the relationship moves quickly.  He always trusted her, along with the other four, though sometimes it seemed illogical.   Regardless of his past selves, Rowen truly loves Sarah for Sarah.  He stands by her when she finds out the truth behind the Shima clan, and her armor.  They're an unbreakable couple, and Rowen becomes a strong force to be reckoned with when Sarah is threatened or hurt.