They’ve had their fair share of tough matches, but now Haruka and Kanata finally start their Nationals campaign in the eighth volume of Nyoijizai’s Harukana Receive manga. With the best of the nation gathered there, the girls will have their work cut out for them.
This volume contains chapters forty-four through to forty-nine.
Front cover of the eighth volume of Harukana Receive, featuring Natsuki Fukami
ENEMY TERRITORY
At long last, Team Harukana has arrived in Ehime Prefecture, the stage for the national championships! But before the girls can finally face reigning champions Narumi and Ayase, they’ll have to go up against some tough opponents, starting with an impromptu practice match!
The stage for the national championships has been set, although before getting to the competition proper, Haruka and Kanata decide to scope out the beach. They’ve got to prepare themselves for playing on unfamiliar sand, after all. That leads to a practice match, where they discover the team made up of Sakura Takatsu and Yae Miyayama don’t exactly see eye-to-eye.
The trust a team has in each other seems to be quite a central theme of this volume, and Sakura and Yae demonstrate that it can be there, even if that’s not how it appears on the surface. Obviously Haruka and Kanata have been honing that trust in each other for a long while now, so they’re all good on that front.
The preliminary matches for the national championships are pretty much just a matter of course; all the teams that have been mentioned as worth watching are able to advance into the championships proper. Things start getting a whole lot more interesting after the preliminaries, so it stands to reason we’d get the abridged version there.
One the championships start proper, though, we get much more focus on individual games; in this case, Team Harukana vs. Team SakuYae. I’m just assuming that’s the team name that Sakura and Yae go by, but it certainly doesn’t seem all that far-fetched.
This is where that whole theme of trust really comes to the forefront. It’s certainly interesting to see a team play as well as Sakura and Yae do when on the surface it appears that they are not fond of each other.
On the Harukana side of the court, Haruka has definitely been showing progress in her beach volleyball, too. Seems she is getting a sense for reading her opponents, and that is certainly going to be a key skill with the national level opponents. Kanata is also aware of it, and that is why she can place her trust in Haruka.
The national championships are off to an excellent start with this volume of Harukana Receive. Some strong opposition has been established, and the first major game was a thrilling one. Certain opponents have been built up from even before the championships, so I am very much looking forward to seeing how Team Harukana handles them.
Rory Muses 