Harukana Receive Manga: Endgame Considerations and Whole-Series Reflection After Volumes Nine and Ten

“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be.” –Douglas Adams

Following their victory at the Okinawan championships, Haruka and Kanata prepare for the Valkyrie Cup, a national-level competition. Akari is surprised to run into another beach volleyball player who’s searching for a partner, and it turns out that this particular volleyball player is none other than Natsuki Fukami, a skilled player whose older sister, Mika, is writing a piece on Okinawan players to keep an eye on in the upcoming tournament. As it turns out, Mika is also a coach for the pro leagues, and she’s interested in bringing both Haruka and Kanata on board. While the pair mull over their decision, Akari also receives invitations to visit a new cafe in the area. To decide who gets to go, Haruka, Kanata, Emily and Claire compete with both their exam scores and then wager on the outcome of the summer beach volleyball tournament. To help Haruka and Kanata grow, Emily suggests that they switch up partners so they’re aware of how capable one another is. In the end, the results are inconclusive, and Akari ends up receiving enough invitations so everyone can visit. Meanwhile, Ayasa reminisces on how she met Narumi, and of the promise they’d made to one another. When the Valkyrie Cup begins in Ehime prefecture, Kanata and Haruka face off against several tough opponents, all of whom have their own reasons for participating. In gruelling matches, the pair manage to earn their victories and end up reaching the finals, where they square off against defending champions Narumi and Ayasa. During this match, Haruka and Kanata initially hold their own, but a change in Ayasa and Narumi’s style throws Haruka off. Having read her opponents to gain a sense of how they play, Haruka is shocked that this pair seems unreadable. Although they lose the first set, Kanata reassures Haruka to trust her own judgement, and the pair are able to tie the series. In the end, Ayasa and Narumi win their third consecutive title. Narumi later speaks to Kanata: although Kanata might’ve lost the finals, Narumi is relieved that she was able to find her way again. Because she and Ayasa are set to fly back soon, Narumi and Ayasa decide to play another match with Haruka and Kanata.

With Harukana Receive‘s manga fully completed, Kanata’s journey finally draws to a close: although she and Haruka are unable to defeat Ayasa and Narumi in the finals to claim the Valkyrie Cup, the journey the pair take to reach this point is ultimately what gives Kanata strength to stand of her own accord. Here in Harukana Receive, the journey is plainly more important than the destination, and while Kanata and Haruka still have a ways to go before they’re able to win, their learnings over the course of a year prove instrumental in helping Kanata rediscover her own love for beach volleyball. Throughout the manga’s second half, this is a topic that is returned to time and time again, and while the volleyball remains at the forefront of events, underlying Haruka and Kanata’s desire to win, both for themselves and those around them is a desire for Kanata to rise above the emotional barriers holding her back. In playing with different partners, Kanata learns that Haruka, although still a novice, is a competent player in her own right. Haruka similarly begins to have more faith in her own abilities and makes an honest effort to lean less on Kanata’s judgement calls, in time, coming to learn how to read other players and help devise a means of overcoming them. While Ayasa and Narumi are still out of reach, the sheer progress that Haruka and Kanata make in such a short time impresses even Ayasa. As such, losing in the finals to Ayasa and Narumi isn’t as large of a blow as it would otherwise be: the fact that Haruka and Kanata could trade with the defending champions shows Narumi and Ayasa that there isn’t anything to worry about anymore. Kanata has overcome the loss of her mother, and in accepting Haruka as a partner, she’s been able to find her own way forward again. This in turn gives both Narumi and Kanata the strength they need to finally speak with one another, face-to-face. In their conversation, there is gratitude and relief, reflection and apology. In this way, while Haruka and Kanata do not win or fulfil their promise to take home the title, they have exceeded expectations in being able to perform so well together, and so, readers are left with confidence that, now that all of the past dæmons are addressed, both Kanata and Haruka are ready to take on whatever the future throws at them together.

Additional Remarks

• This is my first-ever shot at a manga discussion, and it becomes clear that there’s a reason why I typically don’t write about manga: I normally prefer to have screenshots so I can give context to the things I discuss. It’s a little trickier to take photographs from the manga I’ve bought, and the results leave much to be desired, so I wasn’t able to include screenshots for this. With this being said, I do believe that Harukana Receive ends in such a way as to be worthy of a full-scale post. A quick look around finds that there’s zero discussion on what happens from volume six onwards. The anime concluded with volume five, so it’s fair to say that this is probably the only place where one can read about what happens after the anime finished: I hope that this post, while not in my usual format, helps to answer the question, “how does Harukana Receive end?”

• Ever since watching Harukana Receive back in the summer of 2018, I found myself impressed with the series: I’m no beach volleyball player, but the anime had brought the sport to life in a way that was accessible, while wrapping a story of self-discovery and sportsmanship around it. After the anime ended, I learnt that the series had still been ongoing, and therefore became curious to check the manga out to see where Kanata and Haruka’s promise ended up. The end result was a fulfilling one: I’d gotten to the point where I was rooting for the pair in each match, and while I’d long known that Ayasa and Narumi represent the best of the best, I’d always hoped that grit and spirit would allow Haruka and Kanata the win.

• However, even though Haruka and Kanata do not take the Valkyrie Cup, the amount of progress they’ve made in a year is impressive, enough to turn Ayasa’s head and even catch the attention of a former professional player turned coach. Harukana Receive‘s second half places a great deal of emphasis on the characters and provides hitherto unseen insight into how Narumi ended up so close to Ayasa. The focus on back stories meant that readers would become equally acquainted with the other characters’ experiences, in turn giving their raisons d’être more weight. This means that every match is an uphill battle, making them considerably more exciting. The advantage that the anime naturally has over the manga, then, is that it is able to convey the flow of each match better: the manga does an excellent job of showing the energy behind every play, but nothing is comparable to animating each scene and bringing it to life.

• Although Akari had sat out competitions in the anime, Harukana Receive‘s manga has her training alongside Haruka, Kanata, Claire and Emily to the point where she ends up partnering up with someone and beginning her own journey towards playing beach volleyball. Along the way, new characters are introduced, and specifics behind Kanata’s mother are also shown. Further to this, Haruka’s mother also visits her in Okinawa, consenting to allow Haruka to choose her own future. While Harukana Receive has sports as its premise, the series is not a conventional sports story in that victory is secondary to personal growth. Themes of partners being like lovers are even more prominent in the second half, although I contend that it’s not a direct endorsement of romance. Instead, the idea here is that falling in love is broad enough of a metaphor to describe many situations in life, with partners in beach volleyball being one of them.

• Having now finished the manga in full, questions inevitably turn towards whether or not a continuation is likely to occur. Considering that it’s been a shade under four years since Harukana Receive got an anime adaptation, I would suppose that anime-only viewers will not be seeing this series wrap up. Although an excellent all-around series, sales for Harukana Receive weren’t likely strong enough to warrant a second season to wrap things up. In spite of this, I found the journey to be well-written enough so that it deserved to be followed right through until the end: each volume costs 17 CAD, and I’ve been collecting Harukana Receive since the manga became available at my local bookstores in June 2019. Three years and 170 CAD later, I’ve got all ten volumes in my personal library, and with it, the complete experience. I don’t normally collect manga, so any series that I purchase to completion should speak volumes to how much I enjoyed it.

The ending to Harukana Receive is one that some number of the community would consider “realistic”: back when Girls und Panzer was airing, it was noted that the series would fail to deliver on its messages if Miho were allowed to win. However, what these individuals miss is that Girls und Panzer was about how Miho’s conviction in supporting those around her was enough to rally teammates to overcome all odds. By comparison, Harukana Receive‘s central focus in the manga’s second half lies with both Kanata striving to meet Narumi in a match to assague the latter’s worries for her, and Haruka learning to stand of her own accord as a beach volleyball player. The outcome of the finals, then, was never as important as what Haruka and Kanata learn as they train for the tournament and square off against players whose desire to win was no less than their own. All the while, Haruka and Kanata also learn that they have the opportunity to keep playing as a pair in the future; in order to make the most of such a future, Kanata and Haruka must first excise whatever dæmons that remain in their lives. Because this was the foe to overcome, the nationals suddenly become secondary, and Harukana Receive is therefore able to take a more “realistic” route. Had the manga been purely about a sports series, then it would have taken a more conventional route and have the pair win to show how finding the right team is essential towards achieving one’s goals. Because the themes in Harukana Receive are about how finding the right person can help one to accept their past and seize the future, victory was never the endgoal; Haruka and Kanata only needed to win the matches needed so the pair could face off against Ayasa and Narumi to show the latter that by now, Kanata’s recovered and capable of standing of her own accord, allowing Narumi to focus on being the best she can be, too. Harukana Receive thus concludes on a high note, and my four-year journey through this series comes to a close; although the outcomes were somewhat surprising, the series remains successful in conveying its themes.

And That’s Why We Choose Our Irreplaceable Partners: Harukana Receive Finale Impressions and Whole-Series Review

“They push, we push. Every once in a while, we push hard enough that the light breaks through the clouds, and the world beyond the court glimmers.” —Battlefield 1 Prologue

With the match tied, Harukana and Éclair have a furious rally; Harukana pulls ahead in scoring and ultimately, Haruka blocks Claire’s spike, scoring the final point to win the match. Although Claire and Emily congratulate Haruka and Kanata on their victory, it is a bittersweet one. While Emily comforts Claire, who expresses no regrets in having trained Haruka and Kanata, Akari passes news of Haruka and Kanata’s win over to Narumi and Ayasa: they wish Kanata to be happy with their victory and look forwards to the possibility of facing one another in the Nationals. Later, the girls take some well-earned downtime, celebrating the aftermath of the Okinawa tournament with a barbeque on the beach. Narumi calls Haruka and thanks her for having helped Kanata rediscover her love for beach volleyball. After spending the afternoon enjoying the beaches of Okinawa, Emily, Kanata and Akari give Haruka and Claire some time alone, where Claire is able to be truthful about how she feels on the outcome of their match. She is surprised that Haruka was able to block their final spike, and Haruka feels that it was having trained with Claire and Emily that gave her the confidence to block spikes. Claire places her faith in Haruka and Kanata, to win for everyone’s sake. Emily and Kanata thank Akari, feeling that were it not for her presence in the beach volleyball club, they might not otherwise have an opportunity to remain close following that titanic match. When they return to Claire and Haruka with cold drinks in hand, the girls grow fired up and resolve to continue training together in preparation for the Valkyrie Cup. This brings Harukana Receive to an end for the present, and with all twelve episodes in the books, the time has come to look back through the entire series and ascertain what messages the anime intended for audiences to take away. Simple-minded discussions might claim that Harukana Receive is intended to be “intentional homoerotism…achieved through some subtext and an ambiguous comparison of the sporting partnership in the series with romantic relationship”, but the reality is that Harukana Receive has none of this; at the end of the day, it’s a story of friendship, discovery and learning.

Manga Time Kirara series are not known for being subtle about their themes of friendship and camaraderie. In the case of Harukana Receive, the message lies in the importance of supportive company as the motivator for progress and growth. Having lost her interest in beach volleyball from her short stature and other circumstances in her life, Kanata’s decision to leave the sport left an impact on those who looked up to her. Narumi was particularly disappointed, as the two had been partners previously, and similarly, Claire and Emily were left facing an opponent who was a shadow of her former self. When Haruka arrives, with her boundless energy and optimism, Kanata’s desire to support Haruka slowly brings her back into beach volleyball. With a partner who views the world as a place to explore and try one’s strength in, Kanata redevelops her passion for beach volleyball. This resurgence draws the attention of her old friends and rivals, and as she embraces beach volleyball again, Kanata also forms a much closer relationship with her cousin. These changes show the extent that good support can have on one’s well-being, and for Kanata, there is no one better than Haruka to brighten her day up. Similarly, when Claire and Emily are set to face off against Haruka and Kanata, the pairs set their friendship aside to face one another as opponents. Emotions run high during their match, and in its aftermath, the atmosphere is subdued, quite unlike what a victory would feel like. Haruka and Kanata may have won, but there was a price to pay. The toll extracted, however, would have been much heavier had Akari not been present. Rooting for everyone and promising that everyone’s friendship will remain intact no matter the outcome, Akari’s presence grounds both pairs and keeps them from losing sight of what is truly important: the memories and experiences they have all shared together. Because she is not in a pair, Akari brings to the beach volleyball club a new perspective on things, and this is precisely what allows Claire, Haruka, Emily and Kanata to remain on excellent terms with one another.

Placing Claire and Emily as the final opponents for Haruka and Kanata to overcome before Kanata can push ahead and keep her promise with Narumi also serves one important function: throughout Harukana Receive, Kanata’s desire to keep her promise to Narumi is a sometimes-burden, sometimes-motivator. Kanata is evidently someone who holds true to her word and expresses visible regret when she feels as though she might not be able to uphold her end of the promise. When the opportunity for keeping it presents itself, Kanata seizes it; she and Haruka make remarkable progress as a pair over the course of a year, reaching a point where they are able to play on par with the second-ranked players in all of Japan. The power of a promise as a motivator is clearly felt, and ends up being a powerful driving force for Kanata. When faced with the ultimate test of her will, Kanata shows that she is willing to do all that is necessary to keep her word, even if it means vanquishing her friends in competition. This level of determination underlies several interesting facets of Kanata’s character: besides staying true to her word, Kanata is also evidently someone who treasures those around her. Narumi might be paired with Ayasa now, but she still desires to uphold their promise to one another as friends. In an age where one’s word is often worth as little as the air it took to make it, such faithfulness to one’s promises is admirable. As Kanata discovers, there are many ways to keep one’s promises and make the most of the moment; in accepting this, Kanata is above to rediscover her old self and live in the present, finding new happiness with Haruka, Claire, Emily and Akari.

Screenshots and Commentary

• In this finale post, I’ve featured thirty screenshots, as I have done for previous finale posts. However, because I’ve spent the last three posts showcasing screenshots of beach volleyball, I am going to focus less on the final moments of the match between Harukana and Éclair. Looking back, with three straight posts of beach volleyball, it stands to reason that as far as content goes, Harukana Receive has delivered on the beach volleyball aspects as per its premise, and a year into her experiences, it is clear that both Kanata and Haruka found the answers they sought on the court underneath the vivid Okinawan sun.

• After two episodes of play, the match finally comes to an end when Haruka blocks one of Claire’s spikes. The court quiets, and on the viewer’s mind is what Claire’s reaction will be when she faces Haruka and Kanata: it has been established that Claire has a boisterous and competitive nature, switching from being friendly and open to being dead serious in a moment’s notice. Waiting for Claire’s reaction to losing thus becomes a bit of a lengthy one.

• While the crowd cheers for the match’s outcome, amongst the girls closest to Harukana and Éclair, there are no celebrations. Going in, Akari knew with full certainty that there would be the victor and vanquished — now that the moment for cheering on and supporting her friends have passed, she dreads seeing what will happen next. Likewise, Ai and Mai are equally as silent: Mai had been expressing support for Harukana despite her earlier dislike for Kanata, and when questioned, unconvincingly states she’s simply enthralled by the match itself.

• If Akari, Ai and Mai were concerned, it pales in comparison to Haruka’s reaction. Her face is filled with sadness at the prospect of the emotion running through her friends’ minds, and this is mirrored in Kanata’s expression, as well. Haruka and Kanata’s reaction is a natural one, akin to two brothers playing in opposite conferences and facing down one another during a Stanley Cup final. As exhilarating as it is to win, both would always wonder how the other might react if they’d lost or won.

• Aside from a clenched fist signifying her frustration and dejection, Claire gives no outwards sign of the loss, shrugging it off and expressing that she’s exhausted. After they shake hands, Claire rushes off to buy drinks, and the faintest trace of her voice breaking can be heard. Emily takes off after her to make certain that Claire is alright, and Akari calls Ayasa and Narumi to inform them of the outcome.

“Victory costs. Every time, you pay a little more”

– Laurence “Prophet” Barnes, Crysis 3

• It speaks volumes to the strength of their friendship that there is no celebration following their victory; both Haruka and Kanata feel the toll of their victory, knowing that in order to win, they had no other choice but to hurt Claire and Emily. Narumi congratulates them and asks them to enjoy the moment, having understood how strongly Kanata wanted to fulfil her promise, but right now, nothing else is on Kanata and Haruka’s mind except for Claire and Emily. Every success, every victory has a cost attached to it, taking the form of a sacrifice of some sort. Whether it be a time commitment or giving up something for the sake of another, no true victory can be had without sacrifice. Prophet of Crysis 3 put it that victory costs, with each successive victory forcing one to pay more for it.

• This was my site’s tag line for the longest time, and looking back, it’s one of my favourite quotes from any game for the simple fact that it’s a reality. Back in Harukana Receive, it seems that Claire’s had time to compose herself, and for Emily, she puts on a display of bravado. Being her sister, and knowing her better than anyone, Emily voices what’s on Claire’s mind: a part of Claire likely does regret pushing Kanata and Haruka to have progressed as far as they did, but she’s also glad to have helped create worthy opponents to spur them on.

• A million things must be running through Claire’s mind, and Emily simply leans on her, comforting her. Harukana Receive is generally a very well-lit anime, with a bright, vivid palette in many of its scenes, so when a stark contrast between light and dark is established, it is intended to convey the emotional tenour of a moment. A similar effect was used after Narumi realised that Kanata now had someone in her life to motivate her, and here, the bright surroundings of Okinawa are forgotten as the two sisters accept that their shot at playing in the Nationals is over for the present, taking solace in one another’s company.

“Does anyone have any orange slices?” —Scott Lang, Captain America: Civil War

• At the episode’s halfway point, the mood shifts back to the easygoing, light-hearted one that Harukana Receive utilises outside of beach volleyball. Here, Haruka and Kanata prepare to join the others for a barbeque on the beach, and I take a moment to explain the multiple page quotes. I mentioned in the talk for Harukana Receive‘s penultimate episode that I would be fielding a quote from Captain America: Civil War, and while I originally intended this to be the main page quote, Haruka’s inner monologue during their match, that she wanted to push through and see the world that was ahead of them, was surprisingly relevant.

• Immediately, the quote from Battlefield 1‘s cinematic trailer came to mind. Likely referring to fighting hard for a better future, it fits with Harukana Receive very nicely, more so than the quote from Civil War. However, with the mood in the finale lightening at the halfway point, I figured it would be appropriate to use the quote here. After Scott Lang reverts to his normal size when Stark and Rhodes knocks him down, he asks if there are any orange slices around. His quip is meant to signify that their bout was really more of a competitive one, rather than a life-and-death one. Traditionally, orange slices were handed out at youth soccer games, so by throwing that in there, Lang reminds viewers that the fight between Rogers and Stark’s groups is not all-serious.

• Ayasa and Narumi share a conversation about Kanata while stretching; Narumi feels that their win will now force Kanata to play with more focus and determination than before. She wonders if Kanata will be up to the challenge, but Ayasa reassures her that Kanata will uphold her end of the promise. Ayasa and Narumi are always seen to be training, showing their dedication towards their sport, as well. The price of victory in Harukana Receive is shown in more ways than one, and for me, it also suggests that there is more to the story than what we’ve seen so far.

• I am a big fan of barbeque: during one of my trips to Denver, I stepped out to dinner at a restaurant close to my lodgings and ordered their a delicious beef rib and sausage special. Tender and succulent, the grilled taste was evident in the beef ribs, while the sausage was flavourful and juicy. There’s only really one place back home that compares to American barbeque, and that’s Big T’s. In Harukana Receive, fancy beef-and-sausage kebabs, fish, steaks and even a beer-can chicken are present during the girls’ beach barbeque party. With the emotional match over, it’s a return to the everyday experiences the girls share with one another, and although their dynamics are as spirited and joyful as they’ve always been, audiences will definitely feel that things have changed following the match. For now, the girls are free to enjoy themselves, and in the moment, the exuberant Claire I’ve come to know and love comes out in full force.

• This is what likely comes to mind whenever Okinawa is mentioned: frolicking on the beautiful beaches and warm waters of a tropical island. While Harukana Receive might be at its conclusion for now, Non Non Biyori Vacation and its depiction of Okinawa will step up to fill that void. I’ve been longing to see this movie for quite some time, and it screened in Japan back in August. Naturally, some have flown over to Japan with the singular purpose of watching Non Non Biyori Vacation in theatres and write about how they didn’t enjoy it; as the date for the home release remains a bit of an enigma, I have no estimates of when I’ll be able to take Anime News Network’s writers to school.

• While some have felt Akari to be a bit of an outsider, the time she’s spent with the beach volleyball club means that she’s much more comfortable and familiar with the others now, enough to be on the same wavelength as Claire; the two here are making to prank Emily and shove her into the waters of Okinawa’s beaches. As of now, we are twelve for twelve on weather in Harukana Receive; each episode is marked by pleasant weather and sunny skies.

• Sunlight can be seen glistening on the turquoise ocean surface here, giving a tropical sense that is a world apart from the cold, foggy mists and drizzles covering my area right now. We are only two days from the Autumnal Equinox for 2018, and the weather in my region has definitely been feeling more like autumn. Strangely enough, the trees have not yet begun to yellow; by this time of year last year, most of the trees in the neighborhood and in the aspen groves nearby had already become a vivid gold. Under the deep blue autumn skies, the colour contrast is beautiful, and cooler weather at this time of year generally makes it pleasant for walks.

• In the excitement of the moment, Akari’s forgotten to put sunscreen on, and realises the others have not done so, either. She immediately treats everyone to a lecture on the importance of protection from the sun’s rays. Intuitive for tropical locations, it may come as a surprise to some that UV radiation on an overcast day in the Canadian Rockies can be quite high; even if the sun is not shining, UV radiation penetrates cloud cover and so, application of sunscreen is necessary to protect against the radiation Akari is sensitive to.

• Ayasa is likely running an iPhone X, as indicated by the vertical placement of the two twelve megapixel cameras on the phone’s rear. The iPhone 8 has a single twelve megapixel camera. These are Apple phones in all but name: the logo seen here placed in the same spot as where it would be placed on an iPhone X. Narumi calls Haruka to congratulate her for their win, and wonders how Kanata is doing. Haruka expresses that she’s been looking Kanata well, and Narumi thanks her for being there for Kanata, looking forwards to the day that they can face one another on the court.

• Haruka uses an iPhone SE: with its rectangular edges, it is the smallest iPhone and with the announcement of the iPhone XS and XR, the SE is no longer being offered. Folks who use the SE have found it an attractive phone for its form factor, and I’m surprised that Apple is discontinuing the model. My iPhone 6 is still holding out okay in performance; with iOS 12, things have become a little faster than before. Last episode, I mentioned that Ayasa and Narumi still owed Haruka and Kanata ice cream. Haruka’s memory is as good as mine: she brings it up here, and Narumi promises to treat them next they meet.

• Subtle details such as these convey to audiences that Haruka, like Kanata, is also someone who honours promises, and from the looks of it, is also someone who focuses on her goals with a powerful resolve. She mentions to Kanata here that it’s probably the first time she’s been able to take it easy since arriving in Okinawa. Real life is like this: we become wrapped up in our duties and aspirations, forgetting to take a step back every so often to enjoy the moment.

• Many of my praises for Harukana Receive deal with the big picture aspects of the narrative: I’ve infrequently mentioned the technical elements in animation, artwork and audio in my other discussions. Overall, I’ve found that Harukana Receive has a very clean art style that is detailed enough to bring the environment to life without introducing too much visual clutter, which is important for keeping focus on the characters. Animation is generally smooth, and from a sound perspective, Harukana Receive is also solid; the aural elements are at their best during beach volleyball matches.

• The original soundtrack to Harukana Receive is set to release on September 26, will have forty-six tracks over two disks and retail for 3456 Yen (39.70 CAD). The tracks have interesting names, being rendered in English. On the whole, the music in Harukana Receive has been suitable for the atmosphere the anime presents, although it was otherwise unremarkable. There are a few incidental pieces that capture the feeling of a tropical beach, and one track is named “Lombardo”, whom I quoted earlier in one of my reviews for Harukana Receive.

• Emily turns the tables on Claires by slapping her posterior before taking off for drinks. Of everyone, wave propagation is portrayed with the most detail on Claire, and while I mentioned that I’m satisfied with animation for the most part in Harukana Receive, soft-body physics is something this series does not always nail. In the realm of soft-body physics, an entity with an increased Young’s modulus would be more resistant to deformation and so, bounce less. As such, I believe that oscillations seen here would be quite unrealistic for someone of Claire’s physique.

• Claire is surprisingly adorable when bashful: with this, the number of ass-slapping moments in Harukana Receive goes up to four that I can recall of the top of my head. The count could be as high as six, but given that it’s been some time since Harukana Receive started, I can’t recall all moments with maximum clarity. While such moments might lead smaller-minded individuals to believe it is sufficient to describe Harukana Receive‘s themes as having a significant yuri component, time and time again, these moments are eclipsed. For quite some time, even Wikipedia possessed the misleading, and blatantly false, claim that subtext is a major part of Harukana Receive under the pretense of using an Anime News Network review. Just in time for the finale, it has been removed and rewritten to properly reflect on what the series is about.

• Emily feels that without Akari, their friendship might’ve dissolved following that match. Kanata agrees: Akari’s concern for everyone has indeed forced everyone to look past their desire to win and beyond. At the end of the day, the friendship, memories and experiences that Harukana and Éclair share far outweigh the drive of competition, and while the girls become focused on their goals of winning, having Akari around also serves to remind them of the moments they’ve spent off the court. Admittedly, it does take a few jumps to reach this conclusion, but overall, I find that Akari’s presence in Harukana Receive is an appropriate one.

• As she was truthful and open to Emily earlier, having time alone with Haruka also allows Claire to be honest with her. Relative to her match against Narumi and Kanata, Claire’s become a graceful loser; while expressing surprise that Haruka could counter her, she also acknowledges that she’d lost and places her faith in Harukana now. While they might have lost the tournament, Claire and Emily both win something much more important: the knowledge that they have been able to impart their considerable experiences and skills to Haruka and Kanata.

• The notion of a student besting their teacher is reminiscent of The Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise, a Sith Lord who was so powerful he could apparently save others from death. However, because he taught his apprentice everything he knew, his apprentice killed him in his sleep. The irony of this was that he could save others from death, but not himself. However, in Harukana Receive, while Claire and Emily did likely teach Haruka and Kanata quite a bit, they managed to retain some tricks up their sleeve during the final match that surprised Haruka and Kanata, so the comparison ends here.

• I would liken Claire and Emily’s approach to be more akin to the Chinese fable of the cat and the tiger. In this fable, the tiger is a terrible hunter and learns from a cat. Over time, the tiger improves and plans to eat the cat, but the cat reserves one trick unknown to the tiger, using it to save himself from being eaten. From that day onward, the tiger remains a great hunter but is missing one skill that the cat possesses. I am to take it, then, that Darth Plagueis never heard of this fable before, although given what we’ve seen in Harukana Receive, Claire and Emily might be familiar with this tale.

• For Claire and Emily, then, watching Haruka and Kanata advance further is also for their sake because it is a testament to their effectiveness as seniors and teachers. Haruka resolves to do her best with enthusiasm, and the girls begin to train again for the next great journey. With this, I am very nearly finished with the finale post for Harukana Receive — as of next week, I will have Friday evenings free again. It’s been one hell of a journey to write for Harukana Receive every week, and looking back, this was easily the toughest series I’ve ever done episodic reviews for. On top of writing about a topic where my knowledge was largely lacking, my schedule was very tumultuous, making it difficult to sit down and write for this series.

• In the end, I think I’ve done a satisfactory job covering Harukana Receive despite my constraints. This experience also reminds me again of why episodic reviews are so challenging to write for, and in the foreseeable future, I do not think that it is in my best interest to do episodic reviews. With the summer anime season coming to an end, I might write about Cells at Work! once more should there be interest in it, and I’ve got a Terrible Anime Challenge post for Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid in the wings, as well. Beyond this, I’m going to continue with the CLANNAD Tenth Anniversary series as we enter October, dealing with ~After Story~.

• Overall, Harukana Receive scores an A- (3.7 on a 4-point scale, or 8.5 of 10): being far more than just fanservice and slice-of-life, the anime struck a good balance between beach volleyball and life in Okinawa. Although there are many characters, some of which got less than half the exposure than they deserved, and the pacing was less consistent in places, the story and message was solid, as were the technical details of animation, artwork and sound. A part of the reason as to why I enjoyed Harukana Receive to the extent that  I did was because I never approached it as a sports anime – rather than the details of beach volleyball, my expectations were centred around character growth over time, and in this department, Harukana Receive exceeded expectations. Thus, my final Harukana Receive post in the foreseeable future comes to an end, and while it’s been an interesting ride, I’m also looking forwards to getting my Friday evening back for some Battlefield.

Harukana Receive deals with relevant matters on having supportive peers and how this can help one approach their problems in creative, novel manners; it is far from being an empty exercise in female anatomy. During its twelve episode run, Harukana Receive depicts pivotal moments in Kanata’s journey of rediscovery and regaining what was lost. Beach volleyball is an integral part of Harukana Receive, as are the more ordinary moments spent off the court. Because of the focus placed on these moments, as well as the presence of humour, Harukana Receive reminds its audience that life is not about the high-intensity moments. Everyday moments in Harukana Receive are present to humanise the characters, showing that events away from beach volleyball also have a tangible impact on the girls’ journey. Similarly, comedy, in visual and verbal form, lightens moments up and balances a situation out such that when characters encounter problems, they overcome them together. Harukana Receive never gave the impression as being that of a serious anime about beach volleyball, and the interspersion of humour, some of which occasionally takes the form of gentle teasing and flirting, is strictly present to this end. Striking this balance is why Harukana Receive is able to tell a compelling story that relaxes and captivates well when it means to. The serious moments hold weight because audiences have come to see the girls as human, with their own unique attributes and flaws, while the light-hearted moments relax and show that Haruka and the others are ordinary people with stories worth following. For this, I would give Harukana Receive a recommendation: the fanservice and occasional unfaithfulness to reality are eclipsed by the things that Harukana Receive gets correct. As such, unless one had a particularly strong aversions to watching young women playing beach volleyball, Harukana Receive is an enjoyable watch and a pleasant surprise. The source manga is still running, and with Harukana setting their sights on a National tournament, it is pretty clear that the foundations are laid for a continuation. Should sales be strong, one could reasonably expect a second season to materialise, and it would be most welcoming to see what lies ahead for Haruka and Kanata in the future.

At This Point, We’re Basically Playing Head-to-Head: Harukana Receive Episode Eleven Impressions and Review

“The hardest choices require the strongest will.”
“I think you’ll find our will equal to yours!”

―Thanos and Doctor Strange, Avengers: Infinity War

Claire recounts her reason for challenging a Kanata whose heart and mind is fully back in beach volleyball: after they’d lost previously, Claire and Emily befriended Kanata and Narumi, training frequently together. However, when Kanata’s resolve faltered, Claire’s drive to beat Kanata on even footing faded away. Back in the present, Kanata is playing for keeps, and together with Haruka, manages to win the second set, bringing the game to a draw. The final set is a first-to-fifteen, and Kanata decides that they might be able to use the wind direction in their favour. Winning the coin toss, Haruka and Kanata take to the upwind side of the court, where Haruka manages to surprise Claire and Emily with top spins in her serves and spikes. However, Claire and Emily catch on and turn the game around. Fatigue begins setting in, and when Haruka smashes the ball into the net, Claire and Emily come within one point of winning. Even at the brink of loss, Kanata remains collected: she’s realised that Claire and Emily are likely also at their limits, and with this knowledge, she and Haruka score twice, bringing the game to a draw. In its penultimate episode, Harukana Receive shows that moments in beach volleyball can be made to fill the length of a full episode and, despite the focus on one match, can nonetheless hold enough emotional intensity to keep viewers focused throughout the entire episode: it is clear that while they might be friends, Claire and Emily have their own reasons for wanting to come out victorious, and so, with a single point deciding the outcome of their match, it now boils down to whichever team has the strongest will to do what is necessary to win, and what is driving this will.

With only a single episode remaining, Harukana Receive has been simultaneously a pleasant surprise and conventional throughout its run; conventional in its portrayal of friendship, sportsmanship and life lessons, Harukana Receive surprises in how it is able to present beach volleyball in an engaging manner, showing the milestones in Haruka and Kanata’s journey in beach volleyball. It is the case that Harukana Receive is very inconsistent in its progression, but having considered that Kanata and Haruka begin playing in a clumsy manner and advance to playing smartly, and how the anime’s depictions of this are deliberate to reinforce this notion, it is conceivable that the inconsistencies in the passage of time are also intentional; Harukana Receive elects not to show all of the path the pair take towards reaching their promise, but instead, chooses to highlight the more pivotal moments in the girls’ journey towards reaching the nationals. The rough spots in Harukana Receive, then, are intended to mirror life itself: it is rarely a straight shot from a starting point to a destination. Sometimes, things occur sequentially and in a manageable manner, while other times, things can threaten to become overwhelming. Aspirations change, become lost and rediscovered. This is the tumultuous nature of life, and while perhaps confusing from a narrative perspective, Harukana Receive utilises it to show that the slower moments in life can be as critical as the higher-paced ones in shaping individuals: something like a day spent shopping for swimsuits or introducing a younger student to a club is counted as meritorious of exploration to the same extent as a tense showdown between Éclaire and Harukana.

Screenshots and Commentary

• Readers are forgiven if they imagined that this post for Harukana Receive was the same post as last week’s; I do feature many screenshots that are quite similar in composition and colour, after all. As the second set progresses, Harukana put on an impressive showing. The episode opens with a flashback, although I am not particularly keen on showing these again because I’ve already used the screenshots elsewhere.

• Both Éclaire and Harukana are dead set on winning and make their intentions clearly known to their opponents. This determination, a battle of wills, is what prompted me to select the page quote, which is sourced from an exchange between Thanos and Steven Strange on Titan. At this point, I also admit that because Harukana Receive is very easy to predict with respect to plot progression, I’ve been able to determine which quote to use for the upcoming episode, and here, I will note that for the finale, I will be drawing a line from Captain America: Civil War.

• Claire’s competitive nature means that when met with fierce resistance from Harukana, she begins to lose her cool. In practise, doing something while riled usually results in a loss of concentration, further decreasing performance and increasing frustration in a positive feedback loop. I know this feeling well; of late, frustrations with work has caused me to see a decline in efficiency and precision. I am making more typos and clicking on the wrong thing while working, and the slowdown is absolutely infuriating.

• As soon as this assignment is over, and I wrap up a few things on my end, I think I will see about taking a few days off to recharge and regroup, which is what is recommended when performance starts taking a hit. This experience has definitely been challenging and exasperating, but like all experiences before it, has also been very instructive: I feel as though I’ve aged a year in the past month alone. Back in Harukana Receive, Haruka and Kanata celebrate after winning their set.

• Marissa watches her daughters taking on Harukana in a live-streamed match on her iPad with a glass of wine. The time zone difference suggests that she’s back in America: Okinawa is fifteen hours ahead of Mountain Time while daylight savings is active, and given the hour, it would make sense that Marissa is living in either the Mountain or Pacific time zones, with the Pacific being more likely, as California has access to some stunning beaches. Having said this, I cannot readily identify where from California Marissa is presently in just by looking at the houses in this scene; Harukana Receive has been very faithful in depicting its locations, but I would imagine that generic suburbia is used here.

• Narumi and Ayasa’s presence in Harukana Receive was reduced after their first rematch against Haruka and Kanata; eleven episodes and what looks to be a year later, it would appear that they still owe Kanata and Haruka an ice cream. Here, they train for their own shot at the Valkyrie Cup, and express concern for Haruka and Kanata. Deciding to go another round, they feel its best to wait for news from Haruka on the outcome of their match.

• Because Haruka and Kanata played Narumi and Ayasa in a non-competitive environment, the match between them and Éclaire is likely to be the toughest match they play in the whole of Harukana Receive. Here, Kanata tries to invigorate Haruka: while no direct explanation is given, this gesture, the same one Claire made earlier during the match against Ai and Mai, is likely meant to signify a “let’s do this” outlook.

• The final set is first-to-fifteen match, and on the coin toss, Harukana come out ahead. Rather than taking the first serve, Kanata chooses to pick the side of the court they start on. With Harukana Receive very nearly over, Haruka and Kanata’s respective heights never really seemed to have been much of a concern to the extent that it really impeded them, and it turns out that initial guesses, that Kanata would come to find her own way to play beach volleyball effectively, indeed came to pass.

• Kanata’s understanding of environment factors and their ability to influence play is reminiscent of the romanticised version of Chinese politician and military strategist, Zhuge Liang, who is to have credited to be able to predict the weather from natural patterns in Red Cliff. Using his knowledge, he was able capitalise on foggy conditions in order to deceive Cao Cao’s army, covering his sailing a fleet of boats covered in straw men and goading them into firing, providing his army with a hundred thousand arrows. Later, Zhuge determined that south-eastern winds would be conducive towards using fire to torch Cao Cao’s navy. While Kanata’s understanding of the weather is not used to quite the same scale, it is nonetheless effective, allowing Harukana an early lead and bolstering their focus.

• Haruka is quickly able to get the hang of top spins and early on, uses them to give her and Kanata a three-nothing lead. However, Claire and Emily are experienced, and so, manage to close the gap before taking the lead for themselves. Against Haruka and Kanata, Emily and Claire are forced to bring out their best techniques: the match is exhausting on both the body and mind, but Claire remarks later that this is a match she’d wished could’ve gone on for longer.

• I’m with Claire in that facing off against one’s equals is perhaps the most engaging experiences there are. Dealing with easy things are no fun, but neither is getting one’s face kicked in by things well above their capabilities. Having said this, life is not fair, and people often end up dealing with situations that go over their head. It is with a strong resolve, faith in one’s existing knowledge and occasionally, seeking help, that allows one to really grow.

• Insofar, Harukana Receive is eleven for eleven in depicting beautiful weather: every episode, from the first to the present, has showcased Okinawa with beautiful blue skies and inviting sunshine. Meanwhile, the march of the seasons in reality is more unkind. The warm summer days have given in to cold, overcast days, and autumn is not even upon us yet. Despite this, a clear centimetre of snow fell in my area, and I am made to bring out my toque and gloves again.

• Harukana Receive goes out of its way to convey fatigue: as the third set continues, both teams begin making more mistakes in their play. From her comparatively lesser experience, Haruka is hit particularly hard, and she slips in several plays that allow Éclaire to gain a lead that slowly widens.

• For the viewers’ benefit, Mai and Ai explain some of the things they’re seeing on the court, and while Akari’s doing her best to support everyone, the shifting mood on the court is becoming quite tangible, leading her to worry for her friends, as well. From the audience’s perspective, it is impressive that Harukana has lasted as long as they did against Éclaire, speaking volumes to their remarkable progression.

• I understand that with twenty screenshots, I am invariably giving up other moments (and their corresponding conversation topics) whenever I feature fanservice close-ups such as these. The point of such screenshots is really to reiterate to readers that I am very much a fan of Haruka, and, were I to be in a gaming mood, perhaps crack a few bad jokes in my usual manner.

• A glance at my posting patterns this month shows that this is only my third post. Having been firing on all four cylinders almost non-stop since the beginning of August, I have become quite tired, and so, have not felt the inclination to write for anything else. With this being said, Harukana Receive has remained sufficiently engaging for me to find something to say for each episode, and considering my circumstances, I think it is noteworthy that each episode of Harukana Receive has offered something unique and interesting.

• Throughout Harukana Receive‘s entire run, Haruka has always exhibited a happy-go-lucky, go-getter mindset. Very few things seem to weigh down on her mind, and I wondered if there would come a point where Haruka’s outlook would be tested. While only a minor moment, it turns out that Haruka’s main concern isn’t about being beaten, but rather, letting people around her down. She sheds a tear while apologising to Kanata for having made the mistake that brings them to within a point of defeat.

• Kanata is quite unconcerned, and reassures Haruka. When the set resumes, she and Haruka manage to even up the scores, counting on exhaustion to slow Claire and Emily down. Both Emily and Claire have been putting in a considerable amount of effort, counting on their skill and power to overwhelm Haruka and Kanata, but Kanata has evidently picked up on things, and paced herself accordingly. With the ball literally in her court now (this, by the way, is a correct usage of “literally”), Kanata takes control. Her lighter, smaller frame has an advantage here, allowing her to remain swift on her feet where her opponents begin feeling slowed.

• Writing for Harukana Receive has not been a cakewalk, and I was aware of this coming into the series, since it would be about beach volleyball (something I’m not familiar with), but an additional challenge was introduced with work-related matters, which saw me boarding planes and flying all over the place. I was thus fighting exhaustion for the past few weeks while writing some of my episodic reviews for this series. As a result, of the episodic reviews I’ve done, Harukana Receive has easily been the most mentally-taxing.

• With only a single point deciding the outcome of this match, and who will go onto the nationals, the tension in Harukana Receive reaches an all-time high ahead of the finale next week. My prediction is that Harukana will win shortly into the finale, and the remainder of it will be the dénouement as the girls shake hands and continue moving ahead in pursuit of their goals. I’ve traditionally done an extra paragraph and ten additional screenshots for finales: Harukana Receive‘s will be no different, as I will use the additional space to cover series-wide thematic elements and overall impressions of this series.

The outcome to this contest of wills is to be settled in the next episode, and as anticipated, even if the outcome is clear, the path taken to reach that outcome has been a thrilling one. Subtle details, from the small grunts the girls make from each receive and return, to shifts in their facial expressions during the match, show that everyone is playing for keeps for their own reasons. The series has proven to be quite a riveting one, and despite slower moments here and there, like life itself, Harukana Receive picks up and slows down to show that both elements are present in life. To depict the series in this manner augments the sense of realism, and entering the last episode, I find myself impressed that what was prima facie a paper-thin justification to eye Haruka ended up being a very clever presentation on the ups and downs, slower and faster moments in life that might feel disjointed or out of place when considered discretely, but in conjunction, come together to give a very specific message on living and discovery. It is a bit surprising that Harukana Receive has reached its eleventh, second-to-last episode so quickly; we are in the middle of September now, and are rapidly closing in on the conclusion of the summer anime season. For the present, one more episode to Harukana Receive remains, and I look forwards to seeing how this series wraps things up following the intense, close match between Éclaire and Harukana.

The One I Wanted to Fight: Harukana Receive Episode Ten Impressions and Review

“You do not truly know someone until you fight them” –Seraph, The Matrix Reloaded

Claire and Emily open the scoring in their first set against Haruka and Kanata, pushing the offensive and coming out to a four nothing lead. However, Kanata remains quite unperturbed, and asks Haruka to have faith in her. A nervous Akari watches from the sidelines, and as the match progresses, Kanata begins picking out patterns from Claire and Emily, allowing her and Haruka to begin closing the gap. The intensity of the match picks up, and Akari decides to perform the shequasar dance, encouraging both teams to perform their best. Emily realises that Kanata plays differently now, but reflects on how her own experiences also count for something: up until now, Haruka and Kanata have played on the assumption that Claire would be the power player, and acclimatised to her actions on the court. However, Emily began taking a more active role in their pair after they’d lost to Kanata and Narumi previously. In the present day, Claire and Emily take the first set, and Kanata expresses surprise that Emily’s taken a more offensive role. When the second set begins, Kanata opens with an offensive receive of her own, and scores the first point, wearing a blazing look of determination on her face. Impressed, Emily and Claire realise that Kanata’s back in full now and they are now playing the rematch they’d longed for since that day when Kanata and Narumi defeated them. Harukana Receive‘s tenth episode is the beach volleyball showdown audiences have longed to see, featuring a much higher degree of skill and dynamic moments than previous matches seen in Harukana Receive.

Whereas previous matches were characterised by inconsistent play, the match between Harukana and Éclaire is fluid, precise and purposeful. Éclaire’s superior overall experience allows them to take the lead over Harukana and overcome some surprises with their skill. However, Harukana does not perform poorly – despite having the disadvantage in experience, they’ve come quite a long way themselves. This is precisely why they were depicted as vanquishing two other teams in such a concise manner: Harukana Receive aimed to show audiences that over time, Haruka and Kanata have learned much, overcome their individual weaknesses and have made substantial progress as a pair. By being able to play against other teams with a degree of finesse, Haruka and Kanata show viewers that they are ready to compete against more experienced opponents, setting the expectations for what is to come when they do finally face off against Claire and Emily. The tenth episode does this very well, and Kanata’s calm, collected manner also helps Haruka to focus: she’s constantly giving subtle reassurances to her, and Haruka is able to keep her head in the game. The match between Harukana and Éclaire also serves to explore the Thomas sisters’ background further: the reserved Emily decided to take on a more proactive role in helping Claire out, and Claire herself is a bit of a hothead who can succumb to pressure on some occasions. It gives the characters more dimensionality and opens the next segments of the match up to more exciting play, as both Harukana and Éclaire strive to win.

Screenshots and Commentary

• This is the deep breath before the plunge: the most intense showdown of Harukana Receive begins with a handshake and a smile. Every fight that I’ve seen involving friends (or former friends) always is thrilling to watch because these are folk who know one another well enough to read one another’s moves. This forces the participants to actively work out ways to counter on the spot to avoid falling predictability.

• Because we’re back to beach volleyball in a big way in Harukana Receive‘s tenth episode, almost all of the screenshots count as having fanservice is some form or another. By this point in time, however, such screenshots can hardly be said to be distracting: the viewer is likely focused on the match’s progression above everything else. This episode delivers on both fronts: the volleyball is dynamic and engaging, and because we are watching Harukana square off against Éclaire, I’ve also had the opportunity to feature some of the most dynamic and engaging screenshots of the season thus far.

• A worried Akari looks on: while Haruka and Kanata resolved to do their best earlier, Éclaire firmly control the match in its early stages. While the outcome is going to be a clear one, the episode establishes that the journey it takes to reach the destination will be one that must be earned. While Akari grows concerned for her friends, Mai’s remarks show that she’s still somewhat antagonistic towards Haruka.

• Given the pacing and speed of this match, I feel that this episode is meant to show the difference between capable players and beginners; if the choice to portray earlier matches as being slower and more restrained was strictly intended to give a point of comparison for later matches, then this was a very clever and well-chosen decision on Harukana Receive‘s part. The manga would not have the luxary of being able to do this, and one of the main reasons why anime adaptations are enjoyable is precisely because motion is added to the narrative.

• The sound engineering in Harukana Receive has always been of a high standard during beach volleyball matches, but the match between Éclaire and Harukana sees every spike, receive, block and impact with the ground with a highly visceral sound. Claire’s spikes are powerful, but while Haruka and Kanata struggle to find an answer early on, Kanata eventually works out a pattern and with Haruka, they slowly close the distance in scoring.

• Claire’s main weakness seems to be that she relies primarily on power as a means of overcoming an opponent, and while effective, over time, opponents will acclimatise to things. Haruka stops marveling at the strength in each of Claire’s shots, and concentrates on her own task of blocking shots, and I’ll leave readers with a screenshot of Haruka to marvel at, as well.

• Both members of the Éclaire and Harukana pair put their fullest efforts into the match; this is the first time we’ve seen the results of the Haruka and Kanata’s training being put to the test by worthy opponents, and for this, the back-and-forth momentum in the match creates a sense of anticipation and urgency not seen in previous matches.

• Pressure in the match becomes tangible, so Akari decides to lighten the mood up with the Shequasar dance. Despite her reservations about showing this to people out of embarrassment, her willingness to perform it here shows her commitment to her friends. Encouraged by Akari, Haruka, Kanata, Claire and Emily respond with a smile, and Akari relaxes, understanding that this match is about being faithful to one’s partner and focusing on winning for one another.

• Because the whole of the tenth episode focuses on the pivotal moments of a beach volleyball match that will decide whether or not Kanata is able to fulfill her promise to Narumi (and Haruka), and because these moments are vividly presented, reception and discussions on the episode have been generally positive, even if they have been somewhat limited. I am therefore unsurprised that few have given this series an episodic review: messages and ideas take a few episodes to flesh out, and for me, it would’ve been easier to write for Harukana Receive had I gone with my quarterly reviews.

• I admit that while a fun episode to watch, the focus on details means that there is less to cover from a thematic perspective; Harukana Receive has further proven to be slightly more challenging to write for, given that beach volleyball is not something I am familiar with. This is why I’ve not bothered with analysing the moves, tactics and patterns the girls employ throughout Harukana Receive: I do not wish to mislead readers because I did not understand something in full.

• The quieter of the siblings, Emily’s presence in Harukana Receive is a bit more muted when she’s beside Claire, whose energy and spirits tend to steal the spotlight. However, in taking a more active role on the court, her visibility is much more pronounced in this episode than before. It strikes me that excluding training sessions, where the Thomas sisters would evidently hold back and work to teach Haruka and Kanata techniques, we’ve not seen Claire and Emily play with their full efforts previously.

• That Haruka and Kanata are able to prevent Éclaire’s lead from becoming insurmountable, then, is an impressive achievement in and of itself. This is less a consequence of skill, and more a matter of progress and effort. Because the progression of time in Harukana Receive is quite uneven, and that the girls are mentioned to have moved up a year, the match here is anywhere from a half-year to a year since Harukana Receive first started.

• In the name of balancing out the screenshots, I figured it would only be fair to also have a Kanata moment. With ten episodes in the books, each of Kanata, Haruka, Claire, Emily and Akari are unremarkable on their own: it is when they are learning and laughing together that Harukana Receive is at its strongest. It is for this reason that I regard series differently depending on their setup with the protagonists. Series with a single central character must work to make this individual relatable and interesting, while series with several central characters must focus on creating plausible, engaging interactions amongst the group.

• Lessons about partners and teamwork are firmly entrenched in the girls’ minds at a young age: Marissa reminds her daughters that an effective beach volleyball pair involves both players stepping up, after Emily remarks she’s okay with playing a support role for Claire; Emily looks up to Claire as a role model, but Marissa notes that having Claire out front means invariably, superior opponents where both partners can step up will best them.

• These opponents end up being Narumi and Kanata, and while Claire is devastated by their loss, it turns out that losing also helped Emily realise she needed to step up. While Claire prefers playing an offensive role as Emily does defense, when the moment calls for it, Emily is willing to do what it takes to help win. Stepping up and making the sacrifice play is a central part of teamwork, although I remark that teamwork does not entail doing someone else’s job for them, either. During this flashback, Claire’s voice actress, Atsumi Tanezaki, delivers one of the most authentic-sounding “what”s in the history of anime in response to Kanata’s remarks that beach volleyball is determined by the skill of the pair, not the individual.

• My favourite “what” moments in any movie, however, still belongs to Jeff Goldblum’s performance as Thor: Ragnarok‘s Grandmaster, after Thor manages to smoke the Hulk in the Contest of Champions. Like this fight, I was too busy enjoying the moment in Harukana Receive to be cheering for anyone. The Contest of Champions in Thor: Ragnarok ultimately ended with Thor taking control of the battle with lightning, before the Grandmaster intervened, so when I hear Thor say that “[Hulk] didn’t smash anything, I won that fight!”, I’m inclined to think that is a fair assessment.

• On the topics of various movies that I enjoyed, the page quote for this Harukana Receive episode comes from The Matrix Reloaded, when Neo meets Seraph and is asked to prove his worthiness to speak with the Oracle. When Neo asks why Seraph does not simply ask his identity, Seraph replies with the quote above: traditionally, it means that one discovers more about another by seeing how they are in a difficult situation or conflict than they would otherwise, and in the context of Harukana Receive, I found that Haruka and Kanata learn more about Claire and Emily by taking them on in beach volleyball than they have previously.

• The first set ends with Éclaire taking the lead, and Kanata expresses surprise that Emily’s taken on a forward role as the situation calls for it. However, in the process, Claire’s become pretty riled: ever-drive by a desire to triumph and win, Claire can become frustrated when things go sideways for her. The reason why Éclaire succeeds is because Emily is there to reassure her and dial things back some for her. Conversely, we’ve yet to see Haruka and Kanata exhibit any major pressure so far, which means that the upcoming episode will almost certainly see the pair face their most trying times in the series yet.

• We are moving into the final two episodes of Harukana Receive, and I am brought back to memories of Girls und Panzer, whose final two episodes stand among the best I’ve seen. For the remaining two episodes, I am anticipating that I will be able to write about this series as I have previously and publish Friday evenings. With this post in the books, I am going to focus my efforts towards completing the Tides of War assignment in the Battlefield V open beta, which unlocks a special dog tag: I was absent for a day of the beta, but in the two hours I’ve got so far, I’m almost done with the assignment.

• In any other anime, Kanata could be said to have an awakening of sorts, and will be fighting full force for Haruka and her own promise. Claire and Emily look forwards to what’s coming, having long promised to face Kanata again, and my prediction from last week still stands: Kanata and Haruka will win in a very close game, although the outcome this time will be that Claire and Emily are proud to have been able to both play at their hardest against a worthy opponent and bring their friend back into beach volleyball.

Harukana Receive has been inconsistent in places with its pacing and development, sometimes focusing on minor elements in great detail, while at other times, skipping over things and leaving audiences to accept that there is a certain bit of magic happening behind the scenes. In spite of this, where it counts, Harukana Receive is consistently good in conveying emotional intensity during each match; especially amidst a match amongst friends, the stakes are high, with each team exploiting their knowledge about one another’s strengths and weaknesses to gain the upper hand. However, emotional intensity and friendship are not mutually exclusive – the match sees Harukana and Éclaire being impressed with one another’s performance, and the girls also learn more about one another in ways that they could not under more relaxed conditions. Like Akari, audiences will find it difficult to root for one team or the other, and moving ahead into the penultimate episode, I am certain that a fantastic showing awaits all viewers, as one team must vanquish the other in order to fulfil their dreams in a thrillingly close match that will be quite suspenseful to watch.

This Is How I Feel: Harukana Receive Review and Reflection at the ¾ mark

Stephen Strange: “I went forward in time, to view alternate futures…to see all the possible outcomes of the coming conflict.”
Peter Quill: “How many did you see?”
Stephen Strange: “14 000 605.”
Tony Stark: “How many did we win?”
Stephen Strange: “One.”

—Avengers: Infinity War

While Haruka and Kanata train tirelessly ahead of the qualifying competition for the Valkyrie Cup, Akari learns that owing to a lack of participants, only one Okinawan team will participate in the Valkyrie Cup. She hesitates to tell Haruka and the others of this news, fearing that the beach volleyball club will disintegrate from the pressures of competition, but after a call with Ayasa and Narumi, Akari decides to let the others know. Haruka, Kanata, Claire and Emily are not particularly worried about the news, and Akari gives everyone matching scrunchies, before they resolve to put their efforts into the qualifying tournament. On tournament day, the girls run into Mai and Ai: Ai’s become a post-secondary student and is helping out as a referee. Haruka and Kanata set off for their first match, as do Claire and Emily. With their training, Kanata and Haruka put on a strong performance and advance to the next round. After this match, they run into Youna and Kanna Aragaki, sisters who had faced off against Claire and Emily previously on the court and saw defeat. Vowing revenge, Haruka announces that they’ll have to best her and Kanata first, since that’s who they’re slated to play in the second round. Kanna employs a top spin in her spikes, and Akari feels that the two seem to be playing against Haruka entirely. As the match progresses, Kanata asks Haruka to place her faith in her, and when one of Kanna’s spikes gets past Haruka’s block, Kanata is able to receive it, allowing Haruka to send it back over the net and scores them the match point. Kanna and Youna resolve to return, and Haruka and Kanata march towards their inevitable match against Claire and Emily.

Three-quarters of Harukana Receive is now in the books, and things have accelerated wildly towards the march onto the Valkyrie Cup; by now, Haruka and Kanata have improved their play substantially, leaving the playing field open for exploring notions of sportsmanship, friendship and the strength of one’s word as the series marches into its final quarter. The focus of the ninth episode lies predominantly in Akari’s fear of having to watch Harukana play against Éclaire: although Harukana Receive has only seen Akari join the beach volleyball club recently, Akari’s concern about her friends shows that in the time that she has spent with them has been very meaningful to her. This fear leads her to worry about delivering news of the two pairs having to face one another to reach the nationals, and Akari decides to get in touch with Ayasa, who tells her that being honest with Haruka and the others is best. Narumi appends that everyone will understand that in a competition, there will be a victor and vanquished. Akari is able to thus put her feelings into hand-made scrunchies for everyone, and as it turns out, the prospect of having to face one another has little impact on Haruka, Kanata, Claire and Emily. They simply resolve to do their best and see what happens, thanking Akari for looking out for them. That everyone approaches things with this clarity is meant to reiterate that the bonds among everyone are such that the prospect of competition has done nothing to diminish the strength of their friendship. When the time for the competition arrives, both Harukana and Éclaire score victories in their matches, setting the stage for friends to compete against one another on the court. Their friendship will now be set aside for the moment, as both of Harukana and Éclaire will be playing for keeps to fulfill their own aspirations. However, regardless of how the match turns out, each of Claire, Emily, Haruka and Kanata will come out all the stronger, and closer together than before.

Screenshots and Commentary

• The progress that Haruka and Kanata makes becomes apparent by the ninth episode, once Claire remarks that she’s come quite a way in blocking. Exposure and experience are among the more effective of the conventional teachers: constantly doing something eventually turns it into a reflex. For molecular biologists, knowing the names and structures of all twenty amino acids comes as intuitively as a software developer might know their way around a particular stack. In Harukana Receive, things that Haruka might’ve had to think about now come to her much more quickly.

• The endless energy and cheer that Haruka and Claire bring into Harukana Receive is quite infectious: I am constantly driven and encouraged by people like these in reality. Being a bit of an introvert myself, extroverts who bring positive energy to the table also motivate me to push myself harder and do better – Emily and Kanata similarly draw encouragement from their more energetic friends. This is why Emily refuses to play with anyone other than Claire: despite Claire trolling her in various ways, the fact remains is that when things get serious, the two sisters know how to work together.

• When Akari receives word that the Okinawa qualifying tournaments will only send one team out to the nationals, she struggles to bring news back to her friends, worrying that things might become strained should Éclaire be made to play against Harukana. Having found it difficult to make friends, Akari’s worries are quite natural; she’s worried about losing everyone, rather similarly to how Yuzuki wanted to put her friendship with Komari and the others in writing during the events of A Place Further Than The Universe. However, like Yuzuki, Akari learns that genuine friendships are not conditional, nor are they contingent on a little competition.

• Encouragement from Ayasa leads Akari to create a solution of her own: she crafts scrunchies modelled after the Hibiscus flower. Akari chooses the flower in Harukana Receive to symbolise treasuring of memories: the yellow Hibiscus is indeed a symbol of friendship and happiness. The flower also represents a perfect wife in North America, and in China, the flower signifies transient glory or success in the moment. It is a well-chosen flower for what Akari wishes to convey with it, and after hand-crafting scrunchies, she finds her friends wrapping up their practise by evening.

• The passage of time in Harukana Receive appears very inconsistent: slice-of-life anime tend to follow a very steady and slow progression of events, allowing viewers to really slow down and take in the moment. This holds true for many Manga Time Kirara series, but Harukana Receive seems to be the exception on first glance, with things jumping forward in time and then depicting some moments in great detail. Because Harukana Receive is meant to show the girls’ development over time, the series consciously chooses to highlight milestones in their growth, which, similar to how real life can be, occur in irregularly-spaced intervals.

• After Akari breaks out in tears and Claire consoles her, Haruka joins the party and happily declares that everyone will remain friends. Her actions dissolve some of the tensions of the moment, and are a constant reminder to audiences that at the end of the day, Harukana Receive is intended to be, first and foremost, about friendship, promises and themes that are standard to Manga Time Kirara series. The series is serious where it needs to be, but otherwise, is a very light-hearted one that does not warrant getting into lengthy disagreements with others about. On this note, I will be, on request from readers, be doing a post on 2016’s Captain America: Civil War as an example of where the serious co-exists with the comedic and the elements in the film that merit more serious discussions than, say, Harukana Receive.

• The last time I saw a group of friends with matching scrunchies was in Wake Up, Girls! – I had compared Harukana Receive negatively to Wake Up, Girls! previously on account of the CG, but because this moment was so jarring and out of place, one cannot help but wonder if this was deliberately done to capture the anime idol feeling from something like Wake Up, Girls!. For its shortcomings, I greatly enjoyed Wake Up, Girls!, as it was a plucky anime about overcoming adversity. While there were more tears than strictly necessary, and the animation is famously bad, it’s got heart.

• The total spanking count in Harukana Receive goes to a total of three when Claire hits Kanata’s lower half, eliciting one of the most adorable squeals and reactions I’ve heard in a while. While earlier episodes gave the impression that this was going to be common, Harukana Receive has been remarkably disciplined with this. Notice here that the girls are wearing competition tops over their standard tops: frills would indeed make it difficult to keep them in place, and their bright colours makes it immediately apparent as to who’s who.

• Haruka and Kanata run into Ai and Mai; Mai’s lost none of her edge and can provoke the normally easygoing Haruka, while Kanata and Ai end up being exasperated at their friends’ immaturity.  I’ve not read the documentation for Ai’s height as of yet, but she seems slightly taller than Haruka. Despite this, Haruka is never frustrated in her presence the same way she reacted to Marissa. By this point in time, Ai’s become a post-secondary student and is a referee: Haruka and Kanata are now in their final year of high school, as well.

• Haruka and Kanata’s first match results in a victory, although because the specifics were not shown, it stands to reason that it was a fairly pitched battle. I will address one of the elephants in the room that has appeared in discussions elsewhere, and this is the near-total absence of men in Harukana Receive. Aside from Kanata and Haruka’s grandfather, who appears briefly without any speaking roles, male characters do not have any sort of presence in Harukana Receive. This is the polar opposite of a vast majority of first person shooters, which have traditionally had all-male casts and is, from what I gather, a major point of contention for the upcoming Battlefield V. I admit that, if Battlefield V has a customisation system sophisticated enough to let me play as Kanata, that would hilarious, since I would have a smaller hitbox.

• While some folks of old would be tempted to wonder about population dynamics in Harukana Receive, I have a simpler explanation that does not involve ecology or anything of that sort. The absence of males in this series is probably an artistic choice, rather than a practical one. Strange it may be, it’s not impeded the narrative in any way as of yet, and so, I see no need to look at the population traits in Harukana Receive and then attempt to prove that it would not work in the real world using a modified version of Conway’s Game of Life. Males exist in the series, but simply aren’t present. Moving away from this topic, I have a feeling readers would enjoy this still of Claire: this should make up for the Claire screenshot shortfall I mentioned last time.

• Kanna and Youna are sisters who have faced Claire and Emily previously. Walking into the competition with a chip on her shoulder, Kanna holds out a declaration of revenge that is tantamount to a glove slap. While Claire welcomes a good challenge, it turns out that Kanna and Youna are set to face Haruka and Kanata first. Haruka steps in and states that a shot at the Thomas sisters will necessarily entail going through them first. A part of the fun in Haruka’s personality is how quick she is to accept challenges, and her occasional immaturity, which makes her a more credible character.

• One of the most amusing aspects about animation in Harukana Receive is the notion of level of detail, or LoD. In computer graphics, LoD refers to increasing or decreasing the complexity of geometry and shader detail depending on the camera’s distance to an object, and this is done to optimise resource usage: there is little point in rendering an object and then keeping it in memory if a user is not going to be looking at all the details. In Harukana Receive, details on the swimsuit bottoms have inconsistent levels of detail – Claire and Emily sport a colourful diamond pattern, and these seem to be properly rendered, but the stripes on Youna and Kanna’s swimsuits seem to change in weight and number depending on the scene.

• Outside of the junior tournament, this is the first time we’ve seen Haurka and Kanata play together in the competition setting, and by this point in time, the advances the pair have made since their first game. While slow motion shots are still being used, they show the girls as having a much more dynamic range of motion, indicating that Haruka and Kanata are comfortable with utilising a wider range of techniques now to keep the game going.

• It would prima facie seem that Ai and Mai put up a more impressive showing against Haruka and Kanata than do Kanna and Youna, but one must recall that Kanata and Haruka have progressed substantially since their participation in the junior tournament, at least reaching a level of skill such that they can win over other teams. At one point during their match, when facing Haruka, Kanna briefly sees herself taking on Claire; this visual indicator might also be seen as hinting to viewers that Haruka’s play-style has evolved into a bit of a hybrid between Claire’s and Kanata’s.

• The teams that face Éclaire get schooled, and audiences are meant to think that Claire and Emily have no trouble with defeating local teams. This creates a sense of anticipation: while audiences have seen Claire and Emily play against Haruka and Kanata, the lack of a competition and the attendant emotional weight of the match means that we have yet to see Claire and Emily going all out. With Haruka and Kanata wanting to win to help Kanata fulfil her promise to Narumi as Harukana’s raison d’être, the series foreshadows that the match will be titanic in nature from an emotional standpoint (I personally feel that from an animation perspective, we will be treated to more of the same).

• In the match’s final moments, Kanna manages to get a spike through that bests Haruka’s block. However, Haruka is not worried: as Kanata has promised, she will be there for Haruka whenever needed. Utilising the way of thinking picked up from their time spent training under Marissa, the two move as one, and Haruka sends the ball over the net, scoring the final point that wins Harukana the match. Owing to the focus on Haruka, I find that this match was depicted in detail to show how far Haruka has come since the earlier episodes.

• I’ve heard that some folks wish for Kanata to get a bit more of the spotlight, as well; I imagine that Kanata’s growth is more related to interpersonal components rather than beach volleyball, and we’ll have a chance to see Kanata excel as she strives to fulfil her word to Narumi in the upcoming episodes. As a result, I now will explain the page quote: Infinity War is remarkably quotable, and today’s quote comes from a dialogue in the film after Stephen Strange uses the Time Stone to explore outcomes against Thanos, seeing only one among the fourteen million six hundred and five where they prevailed. It is logical, then, that all of the illogical decisions made for the remainder of Infinity War must be leading up to this one outcome. The number of outcomes in Harukana Receive are not quite as numerous, but because of how prominent Kanata’s promise is within the narrative, it is not difficult to see the outcome of the match between Éclaire and Harukana.

• This post is very nearly in the books, and my schedule for the upcoming while is a bit clearer: I will be flying out once more for work in the first week of September. Consequently, I will be delayed in watching and writing about the tenth episode, which is one I look forwards to seeing. As I have done before, I will aim to publish a discussion for it before the weekend is over. Subsequently, I am likely to be able to write about episodes eleven and twelve as I have for the others. Harukana Receive‘s been an interesting ride for me in more ways than one – doing episodic reviews while flying around all over the place is not a trivial feat, and bloggers who can do so have earned my respect several times over.

• The last screenshot I will feature for this post will be one that I’m certain readers will find aesthetically pleasing – this twentieth screenshot marks the end of the talk, and with it, the end of August, as well. Tomorrow, we will be entering September, and looking back, this summer’s disappeared in the blink of an eye. I would’ve wished it lasted longer, and that I had a few more lazy days to do nothing, but the flow of time is relentless. It suddenly strikes me that three quarters of Harukana Receive has aired, and that we are very nearly into the final quarter of 2018, as well.

With Haruka and Kanata facing the toughest opponents they’ve played since Narumi and Ayasa, where both Emily and Claire will be going in with nothing less than their best, the upcoming episode of Harukana Receive will be an intense one. While Haruka and Kanata have improved beyond recognition as a pair since the series started, Claire and Emily have the advantage of experience in their corner. They are not opponents to be taken lightly, and so, the tenth episode will likely see the onslaught that brings out the best in Haruka and Kanata. This is their story, after all, and as such, while it is clear that Kanata and Haruka will prevail, the path it takes to reach that point will be a difficult one. This is the only outcome that allows for the narrative to move on, to allow Kanata a shot at fulfilling her promise, and so, while the result is predictable, as with every slice-of-life anime before it, Harukana Receive‘s greatest strength is showing the process it took to get there. Even knowing in advance that Haruka and Kanata will have to best Claire and Emily to make this promise possible, what I look forwards to watching most will be just how intense of a match that will ensue in the upcoming episode. Showdowns between friends are powerful in fiction: to watch people who understand and know one another fight each other creates a highly suspenseful, thrilling moment that keeps audiences on the edge, especially if there is an emotional component as well. Well-known showdowns in fiction have been the subject of no small discussion: from Obi-Wan and Anakin fight on Mustafar, to Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes squaring off against Tony Stark, such moments have always been powerful from a cinematic experience, and so, with the stakes in Harukana Receive known, one has to wonder if something like beach volleyball can command the same level of anticipation from viewers.