Harukana Receive (Episode 11) – At This Point, We’re Basically Playing Head-to-Head

Claire and Emily took the first set, but couldn’t stop Haruka and Kanata from levelling the match with the second set. Now, we’re in the final set and it’s first to fifteen, but can either team keep it up?

What happened?

The episode picked up where the last one ended with Haruka and Kanata trying to catch up to Claire and Emily. After Kanata showed them that she was back to her old self, the game shifted in their favour. However, there was a point where Claire and Emily almost made it back into the set, but Haruka threw herself into the air and made the block. The match was all square once more.

The final set is first to fifteen and after all the effort they’ve put in so far, they’ll be glad it’s not to twenty-one. Haruka wins the toss and decides to pick which side they’ll start on. She’s chosen to use the wind and wants to give something new a go. In their last match, she struggled to stop shots with topspin, however, now that they had the wind, she was ready to see how Claire would cope.

It worked for a while, but after building up a lead of three points, the twins adapted their game plan and fought back. Both teams were struggling and unforced errors were creeping into their games. One from Haruka where she failed to clear the net brought about the first match point for Claire and Emily.

They took a break as the court was swept and Haruka revealed to Kanata that she was struggling with the pressure. This gave Kanata some extra fire and while the others were tired from blocking and serving, her style of play is low impact and she still had plenty of gas in the tank. Kanata managed to pull back the lead and tied the game at fourteen points each. It looks like the game isn’t over just yet!

---

What did you think?

This match is incredible. There’s so much tension and drama as the game swings back and forth. We get to see both teams struggling and both teams giving it their all. It’s hard to pick a winner at this stage because it’s impossible to pick a loser. Why can’t everybody win? Haha! No, I’m absolutely not in favour of the weird trend where everybody wins. Nobody likes losing, but there’s a lot to be learnt from it.

I’d imagine there may be some wondering how they stretched a game of volleyball across three episodes, but the way this one is going, I would have gladly seen it go on for longer. And what a way to end this episode with Kanata showing that she is still fighting fit. We going into the final episode with the scores level. The tension is unreal!

---

What have you learnt?

I’m not sure if I’m learning anything at this stage, and that’s mostly because I am so completely absorbed in the game that I can barely think about things long enough to look for a takeaway. However, maybe that’s it. I often mention characters and how connecting with the audience is essential.

Well, we appear to have reached a point where we’ve connected with the characters, all of the characters and now we find ourselves in this awkward position of not know who to cheer for. If anything we love them all enough that we don’t want to see them suffer. Just seeing Haruka struggling with the pressure was more than enough. This final episode is going to be brutal!

---

Other reviews in the series

• Season One
  • Episode 1 – We Don’t Need Aces
  • Episode 2 – Believe in Me
  • Episode 3 – I Want to Regain My Former Self
  • Episode 4 – Isn’t This Perfect For Us?
  • Episode 5 – Until You Break
  • Episode 6 – I Won’t Break
  • Episode 7 – We’re Already Friends
  • Episode 8 – I’ll Keep Our Promise
  • Episode 9 – This Is How I Feel
  • Episode 10 – The One I Wanted to Fight
  • Episode 11 – At This Point, We’re Basically Playing Head-to-Head
  • Episode 12 – And That’s Why We Choose Our Irreplaceable Partners

You might also like…

---