Harukana Receive (Episode 5) – Until You Break

Harukana Receive Title

Haruka is excited to be finally playing her first official beach volleyball match and to make things more interesting it’s against the two girls that beat them to Haruka’s first choice bikinis. Now it’s a grudge match!

What happened?

Kanata has come up with a plan for the match and it focuses on the shorter of their two opponents, Mai. She’s also factored in that they are indoor players and that should help them, especially with Haruka being a complete rookie. Things start off well, but after a while, Kanata’s pokey starts to get a little too obvious and Mai and Ai come up with a counterattack that brings them back into the game.

Needing just one point to win the first set, Haruka manages to connect with a spike and fires the ball in. It just about makes up for her poor timing on her blocks, especially as she hasn’t properly blocked a single spike. The second set continues where they left off. Haruka still hasn’t got her blocks down, Kanata is still employing her pokey at every opportunity, and Mai and Ai keep hitting it back.

Meanwhile, on another court, Claire and Emily breeze to a victory and decide to come and cheer on Haruka and Kanata. However, Emily is worried about Kanata’s pokey. They’ve still got a long way to go before they can consider themselves a real threat. Just winning this game is going to be tough enough!

Harukana Receive Episode 5 Kanata Higa and Haruka Oozora versus Ai Tanahara and Mai Sunagawa

What did you think?

I wasn’t expecting the match to continue into another episode, but I sure am glad it did. This is one of the reasons I loved this show the first time. There was so much blue sky, sandy beaches, and the match played out to some chilled music. It’s like being on vacation. On top of that, the match itself was a lot of fun and certainly didn’t go entirely as expected, which was nice.

We’re halfway through the second set so this could potentially fill the whole of the next episode too. I liked that it gave us more of Mai and Ai’s backstory as it had alluded to some of it the last time they met. I did get frustrated with Kanata’s determination to keep using the pokey, but that could work out in the end right when they need it. The next one should be a fun episode.


What have you learnt?

They definitely added a little more competitiveness in this episode, although it was mostly Mai and Haruka that dealt with it in a more animated manner. Makes sense since they are both the least experienced players in each of the pairs. Even with their edge, it fell far short of the usual overly competitive nature of these shows. I think the next episode will be interesting now that we have Claire and Emily to analyse and comment on the game. Hopefully, Haruka will start to get her timings in for the blocks. That would be a big boost for their game.

I just want more of the chilled vibe that this series has in abundance. I certainly want to try to write stories that leave people uplifted and refreshed. Don’t worry, I’m not going to shy away from the darker stuff. There’s room for both in my repertoire.

Harukana Receive Episode 5 Emily Thomas and Claire Thomas

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2 Comments

  1. Without going into spoiler territory, I love how Mai and Ai aren’t just disposable characters after their encounter at the swimwear store. For lightweight sports show, Harakuna unexpectedly excels at some of the finer details of the craft.

    • Agreed. It was nice that there was a purpose to their meeting and brief rivalry over the bikinis. I also thought their backstory was good and made the match that much more important to everyone involved. It really is much more than just cute girls in bikinis playing volleyball.

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