HaruKana Receive #01 — Mixed Messages

July 6th, 2018

 

"You need a partner to win!" says the girl who just skunked the other team by herself.

Impressions:

Completely flubbed ending moral message aside, it's certainly more positive about its sport of choice than the badminton show is, and despite the bikinis, fewer wildly flailing boobs. Both things make it more palatable overall, as does Haruka's enthusiasm and confidence in general, at least moreso than the other characters who veer more towards the arc of the melodramatic with the usual sports show "how dare you take a break, don't you care about volleyball!?" nonsense. It could probably stand to tone down the over-reactions done in the name of 'humor', but it doesn't jam them into every crevasse or scream constantly so probably deserves a pass just on the relative scale of obnoxiousness in anime 'jokes.'

It's certainly not breaking any molds in the sports show schtick though, which doesn't do it any favors. Haruka isn't anywhere near a strong enough character to carry things on her own and behind her is just Generic Sports Show #852. The last one of those I got into even the slightest was that pool sumo one about girls slapping each other senseless with boobs and butt. This lacks any kind of gimmick to elevate it as well as a similar reservoir of energy. It seems harmless enough, but this was an eminently forgettable episode in what I suspect will be a harmless but eminently forgettable show. 

Next Episode:

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Posted in HaruKana Receive | 3 Comments »

3 Shouts From the Peanut Gallery

  • Fed says:
    July 6, 2018 at 9:33 am

    At least there are no male characters like comic relief

  • anise_punter says:
    July 6, 2018 at 10:49 am

    I’m not going to sell anybody on the series but it’s worth noting that the comic does actually feature a lot of beach volleyball matches, as opposed to your usual manga time kirara show that would be “ostensibly a beach volleyball setting but doesn’t have any beach volleyball happening in it”

    wake me when the eccentric blonde shows up though

    • anise_punter says:
      July 6, 2018 at 11:09 am

      What I don’t know is whether the volleyball company pays for product placement or whether the author just really likes their product making it basically a free advertisement. It can kinda ruin the immersion at times you’re not being distracted by butts.