First Impressions / Harukana Receive

「私を信じて」 (Watashi wo Shijite)
“Trust Me”

A decent second episode that I think covered a lot of ground.

General Impressions

As if it wasn’t clear from last week’s episode, there was definitely something going on between Kanata and Beach Volleyball. Whether that was something related to Kanata’s parents or some kind of performance anxiety, I think the show would have definitely been hindered if we had to spend any more time than we did trying to resolve the source of Kanata’s lack of confidence. Luckily, this week’s episode revolved around addressing Kanata’s issues and gave us a rather powerful moment even if I did have some gripes around it.

Before diving into that though, let’s quickly talk about the actual beach volleyball which there was a good chunk of throughout the episode. As a show that’s going to spend equal parts with fanservice AND showing off a fun sport, I’m glad to see the actual volleyball not getting throw to the side in favor of something else. Sure we haven’t seen a full match yet since Haruka is still a beginner, but even in these short 7-point sets we’ve been able to see just how great a full match could look. That said, I will be the first to admit that I’m not the biggest fan of the amount of fanservice that’s thrown in randomly. Be it extraneous boob jiggle, sound effects to amplify the boob jiggle, or the obvious butt shots that could have the camera literally anywhere else, I’m hoping it doesn’t get any worse than this since there’s a lot more to this show than just those things!

Wrapping back to Kanata, I was kind of disappointed with how things ended this week. I get that there wasn’t much time to really emphasize the relationship Kanata had with Narumi, but I think we all understand that Narumi isn’t a bad person especially if you’re close with her. Which is probably why I felt more on Narumi’s side when she was feeling real crappy about being unable to help Kanata overcome her insecurities. Something that I felt a little conflicted about since Haruka is the one who I should be focused on. That said, this isn’t any criticism toward Haruka since I think her cherry personality and drive to learn probably helped spark something inside of Kanata.

Anyways, I thought this second episode was a decent follow up to the strong first one. With more emphasis on girls playing beach volleyball and some smaller plot points being tackled quickly, I think things are quickly making their way to a much larger reward for the viewers. For me, I’ll definitely be back for episode three since it looks like my favorite twins will be introduced and if they’re how I remember them, should be a nice addition to the cast we already have. See you then!

15 Comments

  1. I asked my imputo and she says yes what ever that’s said about volleyball here is exactly what it is in real life. She’s a retired volleyballer by the way.

    It’s 2v2 cos the court’s smaller and emphasizes on tactics. While regular volleyball plays on a bigger court and emphasises on tactics and endurance and has more players perside.

    Henrietta Brix
    Reply

  3. I don’t want to indicate that this Anime had a weak beginning but, fanservice to me feels like the driving g force to this sports anime. Although I am not a fan of sports anime or sports in general except for “Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume”, Higa-chan’s reason to quit Volleyball is kind of unrealistic and unrelagable. I could understand repeated failure in performing a spike but once then loosing confidence is a bit random.

    RenaSayers
    Reply

    1. I think someone mentioned that the team is only as strong as the weakest member; therefore, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone quit because they can’t spike. However, right now, we don’t know exactly what is Kanata’s problem. It probably has something to do with spiking, but her skill in it hasn’t been shown yet. We haven’t seen her try nor have we seen her jump yet (I think). She’s short; so, I’m guessing she gets blocked a lot. Maybe even roofed (a block where the ball goes straight down). Assuming that’s the case, if she can’t get her hand above the net to spike, the best she can do is arc the ball over and go for placement. That is not effective in the long run. The other team would learn to just cover the court like their rallying. I’m guessing it’s just self-confidence because of Narumi’s reaction at the end and question 2 below.

      Question 1: If not beach volleyball, why not regular volleyball? Setters and liberos don’t need to be tall.
      Question 2: Ayasa signaled that she was not going to block Kanata. (At least that’s my interpretation of the closed fist.) If so, why did Ayasa and Narumi appeared panicked that Kanata took the serve?

      Anyways… we’ll see what happens.

      Bakapooru
      Reply

  4. Two observations about Haruka:

    1. Did she say she played volleyball? Or just good at sports? She’s not good. She’s incredible. How does a beginner learn to receive and give an accurate pass from a jump serve?
    2. From the translation I saw, on her scoring point, she “dumped” the ball over the net. That’s not a dump. From a standstill, in sand, she jumped and took a full swing at the ball. That was a spike and that was incredible athleticism. I want her on my team (20 years ago).

    Bakapooru
    Reply

    1. Re #2: If you listen to the Japanese voices, Ayasa calls it a “two attack.” All she’s saying is that Haruka attacked with the second hit, rather than setting to let the receiver make the attack.

      Also, the following is from a wikipedia page on volleyball jargon:

      Dump: When on second contact the ball is purposely returned over the net instead of set to a hitter, which may result in a kill when the defense in unaware. Usually enacted by the setter.

      On-Two : When the player making the second contact on the ball decides to play the ball over the net instead of setting up his or her team mate. Most often used in court volleyball by the setter, it is often called a “setter dump” or a “turn and burn”, but on the beach it is colloquially referred to as an “on-two”.

      Wanderer
      Reply

    2. Did she say she played volleyball? Or just good at sports?

      Haruka mentions in the previous episode that:

      1. she’s really good at sports
      2. she plays volleyball in PE class

      So she’s not a total noob. She knows enough about regular volleyball that she asks Ayasa why they don’t toss when setting the ball.

      Bottom line: good skills and athleticism, but lacking in experience– may qualify as “super rookie”. 😀

      That was a spike and that was incredible athleticism.

      I agree. In my eyes, she treated Kanata’s receive as a set so she could surprise their opponents with a sudden spike.

      https://randomc.net/image/Harukana%20Receive/Harukana%20Receive%20-%2002%20-%2015.jpg

      Plucky, happy and wacky. Haruka’s a good main character.

      Magnus Tancred
      Reply

  6. As Galileo is once reputed to have said (although not actually about Haruka’s boobs), “E pur ‎si muovono”. Except that now we’ve gone from them being immovable parts of her anatomy to being subject to jiggling. Oh well, perhaps they’ll get the balance right next week. Not that I really care anyway as my own preference is being amply taken care of with all the butt shots.

    The OP and ED are still AWOL, though. At least Faber’s vibe is beginning to come over in the music now though. And for the real music geeks here, I know that he is a Vienna Symphonic Library user, so I’m pretty sure that the brass solo we heard towards the end was the VSL flugelhorn.

    Angelus
    Reply

  8. The boob jiggle and sound effect is perhaps to show that Haruka’s swimsuit is too loose for sports (hence she tighten it afterwards) I’m not sure though, we will have to watch the coming episodes to be sure.

    SMinstrel
    Reply

    1. Good observation. I actually wondered what this was about:
      https://randomc.net/image/Harukana%20Receive/Harukana%20Receive%20-%2002%20-%2009.jpg
      They explicitly explained about the bottom part, but not the top. For those of us who don’t wear bikini tops, things like that doesn’t really come to mind. Also sure we hardly see any girl fix their bikini for sports.

      Even though I didn’t notice the sounds, I think they did a good balance of explaining things by showing and telling. Probably preferred they switch the methods for the bikini top and bottom, but that would be a real PITA. Both to animate and to explain. XD

      theirs
      Reply

  9. Just started this.

    Given that the show centers around one of the most fanservicey sports in existence, the amount in this show is hardly existant. I barely notice it. I’m both surprised and pleased about it, since it means the show is actually going to focus on the characters themselves, making them more than simple eye-candy.

    Stranger
    Reply

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