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Rowen Hashiba (羽柴当麻 Hashiba Tōma) is one of the main characters of the series and a the intellectual one of the five Ronin Warriors. He is also known as Rowen of the Strata (Tenku no Toma). His favorite color is blue and he can control wind power after being trained by the Ancient One. His ability to fly and use sonic blast due to his wind using energy. His mind is a mishap involving birds of prey like eagles, hawks, and falcons. Rowen is a good counterpart of Horus, the Dark Warlords of Storm.
Appearance[]
Rowen has blue hair and blue eyes.
During the TV series, he wears a royal blue sweater with a bright green collar, light colored jeans, and dark shoes.
During Gaiden, he wears a white shirt under a blue and red sweater, blue jeans, dark shoes, and a white cap.
In Legend of the Inferno Armor, he wears a white sweater with dark blue diamonds over a red shirt, red pants, and black shoes.
In Message, he wears a white shirt, a blue scarf tied around his neck, a green jacket, light brown pants, and dark shoes.
In Extreme and the 2016 revival series, he has a royal blue track jacket over a gray shirt, black jeans, and blue sneakers. While inside the house, he has a same civilian outfit from the original 1988 series.
During the series, Rowen often wears a blue headband.
Personality[]
Rowen has an IQ of 250, making him the smartest of the five although he sometimes has a Captain Obvious trait in the English dub. He enjoys studying, and he likes reading detective stories. He is usually cool under pressure, but his emotions can make him just as violent as a tornado. The other Ronin's are the first real friends he's ever had, so he will do anything to protect them. His favorite sport is baseball which he starts playing by the Message arc. His favorite team is Hanshin, and he strongly dislikes fans of the Kyodai team.
He loves go (Japanese chess), chess, puzzles, computer games, jogging, and swimming. He also likes to eat and sleep, which part of the reason why he has trouble getting up in the morning; low blood pressure and staying up until two in the morning contributing to this as well. Rowen's idea of an early morning is waking up at eleven a.m. His eating habits match and, at least on one occasion, exceed that of Kento's but he doesn't talk about food as much. He has a real sweet tooth.
Biography[]
Family History[]
Rowen is a descendant of Toyotomi Hideyoshi who was born a peasant. He knew how to read people and get what he wanted or how to influence others. This particular skill helped him out when he became a politician, then eventually became a powerful general and came to rule over all of Japan for a while, which doesn't even get into the fact that he was crucial to having helped build Sunomata Castle, a castle that was said to have been built in a single night.
It is stated in history that the Hashiba clan was wiped out by Tokugawa.
Early History[]
There is a ten-year age difference between Rowen's parents, his mother having been only eighteen when she had him. His father, Genichirou, is a university professor who specializes in physics and astronomy. The mad scientist type, he pretty much never leaves his lab, which is located in Kyoto. Rowen's mother, on the other hand, is a bit of an airhead and works as an international journalist. They divorced when Rowen was twelve. He lives with his father in a modern high-rise apartment, but his mother has the spare key so she can drop by whenever she wants. She treats her ex-husband and son like friends rather than family.
Sometime before Rowen obtained the Strata armor, he is stated to have been doing research on his family tree and came across a passage about the Strata armor being in his family. With his mother's help, Rowen was able to locate the armor's location at a particular shrine owned by Rowen's paternal grandfather. It was here that he met Kento as the latter was staying at the shrine as a foreign student.
Plot[]
The War with Talpa[]
Rowen first debuts when he saves Ryo from an attack by a dynasty soldier. As the five Ronin's unite for the first time, it becomes clear that they have trouble syncing up but are able to work together thanks to help from Mia. As they rested and tried to figure out what to do next, Rowen voiced to Sage how he wanted to directly attack the Dynasty but was convinced to stay put. It was then that Anubis tried to attack the Ronin's and Talpa cast the five teens to the locations where their armors drew their power.
Rowen proved the most challenging to recover when Ryo figured out that he was located in outer space. Rowen was in a semi-conscious state but wasn't able to bring himself back to Earth until Ryo was able to reach him. Once they were back on Earth, Rowen appeared to have no recollection of what happened since being in space. As Ryo was about to explain what happened, Anubis arrived and was able to capture the two with his chains. Rowen saw how the warlord was getting ready to attack the unconscious Wildfire warrior and took the chance to attack. Although he used his ultimate move, Anubis had caught the arrow. However, the arrow and energy from the attack caused his helmet to split and reveal to Rowen that Anubis was a human instead of an evil spirit.
Not long after the five warriors are reunited, they met The Ancient One who helped make a bridge between the realms so the Ronin's could take the fight to the Dynasty. Just after arriving, the five heroes were split by the Warlords. Rowen and Kento were caught by Dais, but Rowen was able to escape thanks to Kento challenging Dais. Rowen managed to find Ryo who was confronting Talpa and the two learn that the dark emperor wanted to conquer the mortal realm to expand his domain and feed on the negative emotions of humans. During the fight against Talpa, Rowen and Cye were the first two defeated and their armors were forcibly returned to Talpa's body where he and the others stayed until Ryo was able to summon the white Inferno armor and freed them.
Over the next few days, Rowen and Sage scouted the city to see that everyone involved appeared to not remember the events of the Dynasty's takeover. On their way back to the mansion, they encountered Saranbo who easily defeated the two after discovering neither one was the holder of the Inferno armor. They returned to the mansion and informed the others, minus the recovering Ryo, of the new threat. He and Sage stood as guards when Kento and Cye acted as bait to lure out Saranbo. Unfortunately, Saranbo knew of their plan to trick him and gained the upper hand. Although Ryo was still weary from using the Inferno against Talpa, he was able to save the four before it was too late. When they came across Saranbo again when he caught Ryo and tried to burn away his being until the white armor was all that was left. The process caused physical harm to the Ronin's and Rowen's right knee was hurt.
Gaiden[]
Along with Mia, Yuli, and the other Ronin's, Rowen travels to New York City after learning that Sage was missing and crimes were being reported with the assailant being described as the Halo armor. Upon arriving in the city, Rowen learns of a photographer who managed to capture pictures of the Halo armor during the crimes. He visits the man's apartment only to find him dead from a stab wound to the chest. As Rowen is pulling the dagger out, he is spotted by Runa and is accused of being a murderer. He tries to catch her to explain what is going on but loses her once outside the building.
Later at dinner, Rowen hears from Mia and Yuli about the university not doing research on swords or inviting Sage to the states. This confirms Rowen's suspicions of them being tricked and that Sage was possibly the one his captors were after all along. After meeting Kento's Uncle Chin, Rowen finds himself under attack by Runa but was able to dodge all of her knife strikes. The following day, Rowen is with Kento when he spots a disturbance taking place. When they hurry to check what is going on, they see the armor of Halo wreaking havoc. Thinking Sage is inside the amor, Rowen and Kento quickly armor up to stop their friend. However, he and Kento notice that Sage is actually not inside the armor.
As darkness falls, Rowen and Kento become targeted by the American enforcement agencies. The armor of Halo soon unleashes its ultimate attack and injures the two Ronin's. Ryo and Cye arrive and take over in their place. With Rowen and Kento injured and the American enforcements continuing to attack them, the Ronin's temporarily split up. As he and Ryo hide, they are quickly located by Runa who helps them escape. When they manage to get a short break, Rowen questions why she is helping considering she had earlier tried to attack him. Runa admits to her mistake of thinking he was a killer and now sees that they are the good guys.
After regrouping and recovering from the fight, the group travel to Los Angeles where Mia and Yuli were abducted to. There, they come across Shikaisen's henchmen and locate his hideout. Rowen manages to temporarily free Sage from his imprisonment but all five of Ronin's are captured. When Runa and Yuli manage to distract Shikaisen and the Mad Scientist, the Ronin's are able to break free. They give Ryo their power to summon the Inferno armor.
Shikaisen is stopped once and for all and the Ronin's paid their respects to Runa before returning to Japan.
The Legend of the Inferno[]
At the start of the arc, Rowen appears when Ryo is fighting against Mukala. Though it was he, Sage, and Ryo fighting against Mukala, the lone warrior proved to be too strong for them to handle without Cye and Kento and their armors.
Message[]
Extreme[]
2016 revival[]
Armor and Powers[]
While he was researching ancient history and strategy, Rowen first discovered a legend that his father's side of the family had once had an armor, but it had been lost long ago. He was intrigued by this story, for it was so different than what his father usually studied. He created a computer program to help him analyze the data, but he still couldn't fully understand it. By coincidence, his mother dropped by for a visit and was able to help him figure out that he needed to go to Amanohashidate. Rowen went during spring vacation to the site and received the Strata armor.
The Armor of Strata, or Tenku, draws power from the air. Its weapon is a metal collapsible hankyu (called ShoHa Kyu), which can be hooked onto the quiver when not in use. The quiver itself seems to have an endless supply of golden energy arrows ready for Rowen's use. His special attack is "Shin Kū Ha" ("Arrow Shockwave" in the English dub of the TV series and "Heavens Shockwave" in the English dub of the OAVs), which creates a huge air wave that obliterates just about anything in its path.
One key feature of the Strata armor is that it grants Rowen the ability to fly. The original version of the armor needed the energy orb present in order to fly but the new Strata armor does not require this feature.
Powers & Abilities[]
The following is a list of Rowen's powers, abilities, and other talents he possesses:
- Hand-in-hand combat:
- Flight: He has the ability to fly without transforming by using a pair of wings.
- Aerokinesis: He has the power over air and can manipulate aspects of said element. Capable of conjuring clouds, create (highly destructive) windstorms and tornadoes, control temperature of air, freeze people and objects, create air-bubbles for traveling underwater, create breathable oxygen, suck the air and wind out of living beings. Use his breath as a weapon. In simple terms he can manipulate any aspects of said element.
- Hurricane Wave: Throws long, thin tornadoes erupting from his fingertips.
- Aero Blaster: Spews a high-temperature heat ray out of his mouth.
- Wind Fist: Punches the opponent with the power of wind.
- Hurricane Kick: Performs a handstand and unleashes a whirlwind kick.
- Sky Kick: Kicks on the opponent while landing on them.
- Strata Force: Glides at super-speed from the sky above to crash a shock wave into the opponent.
- Spiral Blow: Releases a powerful vortex of wind from his mouth in one breath.
- Wing Blade: Unleashes a vacuum blade at super-speed, chopping up the opponent.
- Bite Attack: Bites down the enemy with his fangs.
- Claw Attack: Rapidly jabs or slashes the opponent with his claws of both hands.
- Razor Wind: Uses his claws to create multiple flying blades of wind.
- Horn Attack: Attacks the opponent by using the horns on his helmet.
- Jet Binter: Fires from both arms with the power of the wind.
- Hurricane Gale
- Sonic Blast: Produces an extremely high-frequency sound wave which completely disrupts the opponent's data structure.
- Cosmic Ray: Fires a dazzling laser beam from his eyes.
- Wing Blast: Generates a shock wave by moving at supersonic speed, which injures the opponent even if they parry his other attacks.
- Tornado: Creates a large tornado by flapping his wings or spinning around.
- Wind Guardian: Uses wings to call a flurry of winds that create a wind barrier.
- Special Attack:
- Arrow Shockwave: An extremely powerful light arrow with a vortex of wind.
- Shapeshifting: He can transform into other versions of himself.
Relationships[]
- Ryo of the Wildfire: Rowen is shown to have a good friendship with Ryo. They work extremely well together and can rely on the other when needed. Rowen has been shown to do whatever he can to help Ryo during difficult times.
- Sage of the Halo: Next to Ryo, Rowen appears to be closest with Sage. They are often shown to be in each other's company and are roommates in Mia's house. During battles, they work very well together.
- Mia Koji: Rowen gets along very well with Mia and is occasionally shown to help her out with research regarding the armors or anything relating to the situation at hand.
- Yuli: Like the others, Rowen at times looks out for the young boy and keeps him safe from any danger. He also helps Yuli with his schoolwork at times.
Gallery[]
Rowen of the Strata Image Gallery
Trivia[]
- Rowen once got a zero mark on the math portion of a college practice test because he failed to put his name on the paper and the teacher was a substitute who didn't know who he was.
- The English dub portrays Rowen to be a "Captain Obvious," stating the obvious when it comes to identifying enemies such as Anubis and Lady Kayura. This is due to the dub adding gender specifications where in the original Japanese they were just specified as being "human."
- Rowen is the only member of the main five to not have his own armor-equipping sequence. His only depictions of donning his armor were done alongside Ryo, whose own sequence received a single scene of Rowen doing so as well.
- In the English dub of the TV series, Rowen had a thick Brooklyn accent. It disappeared in the OAVs, despite the fact that Ward Perry returned to voice the role.
- Rowen has type AB blood.
- He is the youngest of the five Ronin's but is the smartest.
Citation[]
- Theria.net, Yoroiden Temple