For this reason alone, Harukana Receive attempts to add the CGDCT aspect to the sports genre, while giving us the SoL view and despite THAT "Ecchi" tag, there is minimal fanservice to be found (some yuri moments, butt slaps, bouncing boobs and whatnot) that can actually rave wee bits of enjoyment. The end result is an anime that is telling us to just sit back and relax, and watch this while not taking it seriously. Quite honestly, it's a somewhat competent show that while only bears very minimal similarity towards its male-gender focused cousin (Haikyuu!) in terms of the sport represented (it's volleyball, only on the beach instead of in school), it's pretty much its own story and context while representing the female-gender side.
Harukana Receive is, dare I say, an average generic show with nothing to offer but with its busty-boobie girls that kinda resembled like Keijo!!!!! in terms of storytelling and character development. The only kicker that deviates from the norm is the aforementioned CGDCT light-hearted cliche, where characters spend time practicing and motivating each other through their early struggles to make their time spent worthwhile with improving competency. Nothing groundbreaking, but yet stands out like a sore thumb.
This series tells the story (and progressing growth) of 2 (largely-focused MC) girls :
Haruka Oozora, with said troupe of a transfer student (and you can toss that out by the end of Episode 1 because there's no follow-up) and a total beginner towards beach volleyball;
Kanata Higa, the experienced player and pro-status enough to play at competitions, but her waning confidence setting off the chain of events, that cost her to question her motives for playing the sport and recapturing the passion of beach volleyball once again.
So first off, the elephant in the room lies in the story, which isn't really compelling to warrant proceeding episodes, because of a certain scriptwriter: Touko Machida. Her works include the cheap knock-off that is Dive! and the decently-made Akashic Records, to which the stories feel somewhat rushed and/or missing some plot pointers that leaves more questions than answers unanswered. Even going in with the first few episodes, the resemblance to aforementioned series clearly shows, and that doesn't get any better with proceeding episodes, right until the final moments of the series. But this is still an effort that's worth somewhat better than how Keijo!!!!! did.
As for character development, there are a few and then some.
Main girls duo Haruka and Kanata (that's why said title is called Harukana) are basically plot pointers, the anchors to show us viewers that they are not just stepping stones by the others who are willing to see them that way, and persistently with their step-by-step building-up of efforts, they made it count towards the end while having some light Yuri moments with each other.
The supporting cast are the direct contrast to Harukana: plot movers along a not-so-aggressive storyline.
Narumi Tooi, once worked with Kanata as junior pros before Kanata lost her footing and made Narumi become another Ayano (losing at the finals). Unwilling to forgive her partner and (somehow) reasoning with Kanata's progress that she was "too harsh" on her and simply couldn't take her on after the whole fiasco. And with time comes healing, and finally, recognition that both herself and Kanata are polar opposites.
The Thomas sisters, Claire and Emily, the example to follow and Harukana's coach before the next competition arc. This part is easier to discern as hard work makes up for the amount of talent that they have, winning competition after competition and offering both girlish MCs constant practical tips and tricks before the direct confrontation at the end of the series (spoiler alert...).
Last but not least, the somewhat late addition to the team, Akari Ooshiro, a high-school idol that's famous from a certain CM that comes forward to join the 4 girls for the school beach volleyball club (of which not surprisingly there's no progression to it thereafter), and is there to maintain good relations between Harukana and the Thomas sisters, and why not albeit learn some beach volleyball as well!
Overall, where there's good moments, the bad moments reside in as a ripple effect that not everyone has sweet rosy lives to deal with, and the repercussions (or stakes) are significant towards the growth of others, blemishing all that passion into something that will either make or break the characters.
The one thing I am able to give credit for this show is with the insane amount to detail for both the art and animation. This is studio C2C's comeback work in over 4 years as the lead studio (other than co-production with Satelight for SukaSuka in Spring 2017), and credits to director Toshiyuki Kubooka from the expertise of his work on the Berserk: The Golden Age trilogy of movies. The attention to detail from the beautiful, gorgeous and striking 2D background art scenes, to the clean CGI volleyball movements and sand-hit markings from the matches, just makes this appealing to the quality elitists like myself for good art and animation. But as we all know, one good area doesn't make up for the rest of the shortcomings of this show.
The music however, it's really meh, hell, I thought it could be better. Most VAs (with the exception of Claire's VA, Atsumi Tanezaki) are new and upcoming seiyuus, especially Kanata's VA (her very first TV anime work). Despite all that, the light-hearted aspect of the show makes the OST more appealing to those who just want to have a laid-back experience. I think this is a decent job done as it pretty much describes the series in the utmost generalist of terms.
Despite that insane "low" score from MAL (which I think is a lenient joke), is it a great watch though? Hell yes it is...only if you don't see this at face-value, and adding to that, the fanservice intensity, of which there are few.
Harukana Receive is not a show for everyone, with its minimalistic approaches yet solid animation production that divides the audience all around. If you can put up with the rushed storyline and yet watch the characters grow from strength to strength, I say go for it, it's a good time.
