Kazuma Kiryu, the main playable character throughout most of the series, protects and assists her during her search for her mother and Haruka is later adopted by him at the end of the first game.

Although initially absent from Yakuza 6, Nagoshi wrote the narrative to mark the appearance of her son Haruto as the center of Haruka's past once again.

[9] Introduced in Yakuza, Haruka is a young girl searching for her mother, Mizuki, who appears to be the sister of Yumi Sawamura.

Kiryu eventually learns that Mizuki is Yumi, and that she and Haruka were hiding from her husband, Jingu, a politician who had tried to kill them both to prevent a scandal from affecting his career.

In Yakuza 3, Haruka now lives in the Morning Glory Orphanage run by Kiryu in Okinawa with a group of other orphans while she attends school.

Haruka does not play a major role in Yakuza 4, although she and Kiryu assist the recently escaped Taiga Saejima when he is injured.

Despite the stress of her new career, Haruka rises in popularity while working in Sotenbori, but is shocked when her manager Mirei Park dies, seemingly of suicide.

She meets up with Kiryu's friend, money lender Shun Akiyama, and the two search for the truth behind Park's death, discovering that she was actually murdered.

During her idol debut in Tokyo, Haruka comes to regret her choices, especially after learning she was still being aided by Kiryu, who was trying to prevent Yakuza interference with the concert.

Kiryu travels to the town of Onomichi, where he learns that Haruka had been friendly with the Yomei Alliance's Hirose family and had entered into a relationship with Yuta Usami.

This action angered the Daidoji Faction and Makoto Date suffered a violent punishment as a result of his betrayal towards them, they did however spare him from death as Kiryu did not visit Haruka.

Vandal claimed that Haruka's meeting with Kiryu was one of the biggest points from the series due to how their relationship develops until Yakuza 6.

USGamer appreciated playing as Haruka in Yakuza 5 due to the change of pace Sega provided after multiple types of fighters in the narrative and felt that her long distanced relationship with her adoptive father was the most appealing area of the game.

[19] Egmnow praised how Haruka's character stands out across the series starting with how Kiryu finds her in a store alone and how she grows into a popular idol in Yakuza 5.

[20] Polygon wrote an article about how Haruka is relevant in a narrative filled with toxic masculinity, she is still depending on others including Kiryu and Akiyama despite achieving her dreams of becoming an idol.

[24] In another article, the same website enjoyed the J-pop work as the player encounters more singers in Haruka's life performing different typs of themes.

[26] GameRevolution shared similar comments, mainly on how Haruka also has been developing in previous games to stay close to her adoptive father and this time it was Kiryu's quest to protect her in Yakuza 6.