Just as Haruka and Kanata are learning to play beach volleyball together, Emily realizes something is wrong — with Kanata. If the two plan on winning matches, Kanata’s going to have to resolve her past, and Emily knows it. And also Haruka has to get better in overall volleyball experience.
This means she has to learn how to block and yes, wear the right bikini.
Harukana Receive volume 2 picks up where the last volume left off: Haruka and Kanata getting trained by the Thomas sisters. While Emily tries to remind Kanata how she should be playing the game, Claire has to teach Haruka a lot about basic volleyball techniques, from actual defensive alignment to how to block a spike properly. The manga goes a bit into the past for Claire and Kanata actually — both happened to play with Narumi, and the sight of Narumi playing with Claire didn’t make Kanata happy.
But about most of this volume is the young girls in bikinis, and shopping for them. It completely delves into wearing something either normal or sexy. But it also points out that you generally have to wear a matching pair and also choose one that meets regulations. This leads to a fun moment where they meet Mai and Ai, two former indoor volleyball players now playing beach volleyball.
They then meet those two again…in a tournament! And having to face each other.
Harukana Receive is very much a pleasure to look at, but the two things that remain interesting are how the characters interact and the volleyball matches. It maintains a nice level of fun anytime Kanata is embarrassed by whatever Haruka said or when Emily throws a volleyball at Claire when she’s about to say something bad.
When the matches actually start, however, is when the manga takes a turn. All the lessons learned, and what was explained in volume 1, come back to the surface in the pair’s first official match against Mai and Ai. Beach volleyball matches will ultimately go to the more talented and experienced pair. But there’s a level of strategy needed in order to win — especially since you have to accept losing sets. Not always going to get a chance at a 20-0 score here!
Best example of course is Mai and Ai being former indoor volleyball players. As Kanata realizes that, she takes advantage of that to get team Harukana off to a good start (like essentially forcing Mai and Ai to touch the ball four times). Other little things, like knowing the direction of the wind, ultimately can inform you on what to do with the ball.
In watching the anime I already know what to look out for moving forward. Well, maybe until volume 5 or so. The big thing is whether this manga version can continue to be entertaining, if certain moments are better in comic form. Well, so far at least, it’s been pretty solid.