Is Haru really that bad?

Today I watched Accel World episode #18, which didn't have Haruyuki Arita in it. Now, I know Haru sucks as a protagonist, but making an entire episode without the protagonist is just bad.

I mean, "Kuroyukihime" (aka Black Lotus) has got what it takes to star the anime, everything it takes to star that anime actually. But making an entire episode, and by the way quite possibly two, starring her can only mean the staff knows Haru isn't cutting the mustard as protagonist.

While watching, it made me think. Is Haru so lame it doesn't even deserve to star it's own anime anymore? Sure there are lamer characters who stay in their own anime during the entire thing. Someone like Haru... like... like... Death Note's first, second and third best detective, L? Okay, maybe L has absolutely nothing to do with Haru. Sorry, that was just wrong.

But then who? Within my limited experience about anime. I can only name one protagonist who can reach the deep bottom of lameness like Haru. Yes, he, who could stay in an anime filled with murder and violence, inside a survival game to decide the next god of time and space, and, for 18 episodes in an anime of 26... he didn't kill a single fly! If you know who I am talking about, oh boy, I'm sorry for you. He is still lamer than Haru.

And I'm not joking here. Sure, Haru sucks as a protagonist. But at least he didn't hide behind an yandere from the beginning to the end of the whole thing. Yes, his avatar is a pig, that will probably never change, but he still has about ten times more attitude than Yuki. Though that is still an hundred times less attitude than Kirito. But I already talked about that, didn't I?

With that, I conclude Haru isn't that bad of a protagonist. He is at least better than Yukiteru Amano... or is he?

Yuki is a terrible protagonist. No, that is not right. He is the worst protagonist imaginable. He beats Neku Sakuraba, Haruyuki Arita, Kiyomaru Takamine, Riku Tachibana and Shinji Ikari in their own field of expertise. The socially problematic field of expertise. But even so, he is still cooler than Haru.

How is he cooler than Haru? Well, I'm already tired of saying this but, Haru is lame. However, he is lame only in the real world. It's like Kazuma Ikezawa and King Kazma. Though Kazuma isn't lame, Kazma is way cooler than him. It's an avatar versus user thing. Anyway, Haru's burst linker avatar, Silver Crow, is cool. The thing is Silver Crow is being cool while Haru is being lame.

In Future Diary (aka Mirai Nikki), Yukiteru Amano is lame, but he becomes cooler himself, not his avatar, though he doesn't even have an avatar to begin with. That is to say at some point in the series Yuki stops being lame, while Haru has not, yet, stopped being lame.

But hey, look, Haru still has some episodes to get cooler, right? Yes... but, he will still be lamer than Yuki. Because Yuki has gotten cool at episode #18. And it's Accel World episode #18 now. And Haru is not even in that episode!