Hattori Hanzou

Hattori Hanzou (服部 半蔵) is a side character of To Aru Majutsu no Index. He's the current temporary leader of Skill-Out, after Komaba Ritoku's death and Hamazura Shiage's absence.

Appearance
Hattori Hanzou is the agile type of fighter and not very big. He usually wears black clothes decorated with white cross patterns.

Personality
Hattori Hanzou is kind of a frivolous character. According to Kuruwa, a kunoichi who is familiar with Hanzou, he is a descendant of a ninja family (the Fuuma clan, though translations differ on the exact clan), who supposedly left when offered the place of becoming the head of the family and strike back at the Koga ninjas. His views on ninjas is that they should just hide in the flow of history, not be out in the open like Kuruwa suggests. He's seems to be pretty informed, even having knowledge of cases such as the Gemstones.

In SS2, after being caught by Yomikawa Aiho in an incident when he, Shiage, and Komaba robbed an ATM, he fell in love with her.

Battle Royale Arc
He is first seen saving Hamazura after he was attacked by some delinquents who recognized him as a former member of Skill-Out. He then tells Hamazura to return to Skill-Out as no one blames him for his failure to keep Skill-Out together. However, Hamazura refuses and the two part, with Hanzou giving Hamazura the lady's hangun that Hamazura later uses to defeat Mugino Shizuri. After Hamazura Shiage defeated Mugino, he offered the leadership of Skill-Out back to Shiage, saying that after that feat, no one would question his leadership. Shiage declined, as he was worried about Rikou and told Hanzou to hold on the leadership for a bit longer.

Freshmen's Attack Arc
Hanzou spend the majority of the volume protecting Fremea from the freshmen alongside Shiage.

Abilities
Hattori Hanzou favors shuriken for combat, since he prefers to end fighting in the first blow. Hanzou is shown to be a very capable fighter and a good planner.

Design evolution
Hanzou's desing remains static throughout the entire series. Haimura designed his clothes to look somewhat like a modern ninja outfit.

Trivia

 * Hattori Hanzou was the name of a famous ninja from the Sengoku Period; the fact that Hanzou comes from a ninja family is a possible reference to that. One of the gates of Ancient Tokyo (possibly inside Academy City now) is named after the historical Hattori Hanzou.

Quotes

 * "I think I'm in love" Said by Hanzou as referred to Yomikawa Aiho at the end of SS Volume 2, chapter 1