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I liked Hau. He was fun, and he actually did have interesting moments here and there (like the "you didn't even hear what I was gonna say" in Malie Garden, and BTFOing Faba's logic in Aether Paradise) that give him more of a splash of personality than past rivals have had. And he can have that without being an edgy angsty broodmaster or experiencing some tragic emotional whiplash halfway through the game. He's just an optimistic kid who wants to get strong enough to inherit the Kahuna role from his grandpa.
Plus, the most important thing that people don't get about him is that he's a foil. He and Lillie (and sometimes Kukui) bounce off each other in the early game, and then it truly comes out when you, Hau, and Gladion raid Aether and they start playing off one another. He and Gladion help develop each other, if only slightly (it's a Pokemon game, so take actual implementation of writing techniques where you can get them). Gladion teaches Hau that you need to actually try in order to succeed and you can't just be content with having a fun time, and Hau teaches Gladion that there are things that can't be done alone, and that relying on friends is okay.
This game actually did character interactions well, which lifts it miles above Kalos' buddy squad, who were all a bunch of two dimensional characters who add nothing to each other in any way and all have the same exact personality, and as a result they feel like they're just wasting your time and don't even need to exist.
