English Dub Review: Harukana Receive “I Won’t Break”

Playing volleyball in the sand kinda sucks – and so does watching it.

Overview (Spoilers Below):

There’s a beach volleyball match between two teams, made up of Haruka and Kanata versus Mai and Ai. Haruka and Kanata win the first set, but the second isn’t quite so easy. Also, Grandma Sora comes to watch. Yup, that’s about it.

Our Take:

Beach volleyball is completely different than normal volleyball, one of the girls says in episode six of Harukana Receive. I can only assume that means normal volleyball is much more exciting. I may sound a little harsh about the show, and I’m sure that’s partly because I haven’t watched the first five episodes to get the basic building blocks and backstory. Still, though, I Won’t Break nearly broke me.

To put it succinctly, this episode of Harukana Receive was basically like watching a game of volleyball straight through. Even the most mundane of plays was left in for viewer’s to watch. The gameplay itself was fine, I guess? I’m not a huge fan of the sport in general, but Haruka and Kanata’s competition against Ai and Mai just bored me for the most part. By the third shot of the volleyball whirling in slow motion through the air, I was gritting my teeth. (And not because my mouth was filled with sand, which these girl’s mouths certainly were, because seriously, playing sports on the beach sucks. What seems like a nice idea at first just makes for issues with traction and uncomfortable itching later on.)

Without the thrill of an engaging game to pique my attention, I hoped the show would rebound with some comedy. Unfortunately, there’s none to be found. Aside from one attempt at a joke around hand motions, which goes on waaaay too long, this episode was completely straight-laced. None of the characters excited me or made me root for them. I kept expecting to pick a favorite team from the match, but even by the end, I was just rooting for both of them to lose and get it over with. I guess Kanata at least formulated a basic plan of attack, which was to keep her opposition on the defensive and never give them a chance to score on offense. Other than this flash of brilliance, the only defining qualities shown by the girls are their heights (or lack thereof). Apparently, before finding Ai, every person taller than Mai shunned her because of her shortness? Now there’s a good backstory for a villain if I’ve ever heard one.

In terms of production quality, the animation is fine. It’s nothing for sakuga fans to rave about, but I never fully cringed, either. I tend to really love it when shows have good soundtracks, but Harukana Receive’s score is not one of them. Especially the opening scene’s background track, which had lots of trumpeting and played on a loop for a very long time.

The English dub is serviceable, but the only memorable performance came from Grandma Sora, who was the one highlight of the episode for me. Sweet, sweet Grandma Sora. Only a saint with as much patience as he could stay for an entire beach volleyball game like this one. Props to her VA for sounding like a real, live grandmother who’s about to feed me homemade cookies.

Watching the sixth episode of Harukana Receive was about as much fun as watching a volleyball match between random strangers – which is to say, not very much. Coming in halfway through the series likely effects my judgment, but there’s just hardly anything going on here. The character designs are bland and boring, and their personalities even more so. I want to serve this series hard enough to send it far away – I don’t really want to ‘receive’ it again.