I don't think I've ever been able to point a single clip that so perfectly encapsulated
my issues with a show so effectively before.
It's been a hot minute since I've done one of my reactionary, seasonal rants, but I didn't really have much to talk about in the last season that I hadn't already addressed before. Oh boy, though, this season has already got some perfect rage fuel for me to tear apart with reckless abandon. In particular, I've taken issue with two similar but tonally opposed shows that feature girls doing sports and falling to pieces because of their past and troubles with said sports. I am referring to the shows known as Hanebado! and Harukana Recieve. As thrilled as I'd normally be to learn a little about badminton and beach volleyball, accordingly, these shows feature character strife, aka "edge," as a quick and easy means to make the audience care about these characters and their problems but ultimately ended up failing on the delivery for me. For this little rant, I'll go into what in particular I disliked and why those issues led me to ultimately drop these shows that looked promising.
Before I can do that, however, I think some disclose is necessary since this entire piece is centered around a piece of jargon common to anime and game culture. "Edge" or "being edgy" is a form of characterization that is inherently filled with strife and cynicism that can be both imaginary or real. On the whole, it is a character tactic that is mainly used with teenagers or young adult characters that have, for whatever reason, distanced themselves from the world. Usually, it takes two different forms. First, you have the kind typical of the lone wolf protagonist character who "don't need friends" and is generally out to prove their worth to the world and themselves. Think characters like Sasuke from Naruto or Kirito from SAO, and you'll be on the right track. The second common characteristic mainly centers around those who have actually suffered some terrible or troubled act or past that makes it nearly impossible for them to engage with the world in any normal sense. Often suffering things like PTSD flashbacks or possessing a false personality to protect themselves from further harm, one that can shatter under the slightest strain depending on how bad things are/were, these characters. In either case, edge can be an effective tool in offering the audience a reason to care about characters that aren't that well fleshed out at the start or those that might seem a little off. In most cases, however, it's best to use edge sparingly because it has a natural tendency of being so heavy-handed that believability is either totally lost or is perceived as a brand of absurdist comedy. In the case of these shows, they incorporate the second form of "edge" and similarly suffer from being heavy-handed in their approach, killing my interest in the process.
Throwing caution to the wind, Hanebado! is an anime that is full to bursting with edge right out the gate. From the very start, we are greeted with characters shambling around like zombies that just so happen to be great at badminton. In fact, some of the show's first lines are simply a barrage of questions that amount of "Why am I even bothering with this shit?" a question that, at this point, we have no means of answering. Cut forward six months, and we see this same character taking her frustration over that loss six months ago out on her clubmates to the point that the club as a whole has become a toxic environment. This is, of course, not a great way to introduce a character. In what way are we meant to empathize with a character who is so petty that she starts abusing her supposed friends for six months after a loss? This anger and frustration is only compounded, of course, when the source of her anger, that player she lost to, becomes a first-year student at her school. To take it one step further, that same first-year dropped out of badminton shortly after that same game because she finally caved to her PTSD-inducing past with her family and the sport. As the show goes on, it is made fairly clear that this girl's skill has weighed her down for years and has only warranted abuse from both those who call her a rival and her badminton-obsessed mother.
Yeah, I'm just going to let that statement sink in because it means exactly what you think it does.
This is, to put it mildly, a bit much. Rather than introducing us to these characters in any kind of normal, everyday-life capacity, Hanebado! opted to go for the throat from the very beginning and just kept tearing away at it's two main characters, and a few others for good measure, for three whole episodes until there was nothing left to appreciate. What makes this particularly frustrating, however, is the simple fact that there is a grain of truth to be found in this "edgy to the point of being grimdark" perspective on competitive badminton. Based on the show's opening alone, this show seems to be focused on how competition can be both a good and bad thing--something to drive you further even when things get tough or a pit of despair. Yet it wholly ignores the former to dump mound after mound of the latter on us at the very beginning, likely thinking that that will be a reasonable way for the characters to work up to the former by the end of the show. Rather, I assume that was the intention, given how the two main characters who are made to despise one another at the start look like friends by the end of the opening. Had the show built up to all this edge and sprinkled it in throughout the show via arcs full of highs and lows, I think this show might have stood a better chance of me suffering through it. That just wasn't the case, though. Once the third episode was done and most of this edge had been dredged up and the abusive MC was basically "cured" by the new coach, who just so happens to be a guy, I still couldn't bring myself to care about these characters. I still had no idea who these people were supposed to be because we only ever see them at their worst and when they're playing the sport. I could recognize them well enough and knew their issues, but had no reason to feel invested in them as people. If anything, the only excuse I have to keep watching the show is its stellar animation but now I'm finding that even that's not enough to warrant soldiering on through this mess. Had this show gone to any lengths to flesh out these characters beyond their sports-related strife, I might have cared. Had it gone to any effort to earn the emotional responses and edge that it wanted to convey, I might have cared. But since it did neither of those things and effectively dropped three dumpsters full of dull, rusty emotional baggage on me, I cannot bring myself to care anymore, which means this show is done for me.
Now we come to the second show that follows a couple of sports girls with problems, Harukana Receive. Where Hanebado! went in way too strong with its edge, Harukana suffers from not going in nearly hard enough. Due to both her short stature and possibly even the loss of her parents, Kanata, the Kana of Harukana, effectively suffers from the same issues as the PTSD-suffering MC of Hanebado!. She has lost heart in her sport and can't bring herself to go on due to all the bad memories it drudges up along with her height-based incompetence. Just as quickly as it establishes this issue, however, Harukana immediately tables all that edgy shit for some good 'ol light and fluffy K-On!-esque sapphic nonsense as Haruka, the Haru of the show's name, makes her appearance and strives to just push past all that edge so she and her cousin can play volleyball together.
Yeah, I'll just be honest and say that the misuse of edge isn't my only issue with this show.
While it's certainly less offensive as Hanebado! from a narrative standpoint since it gives us a reason to care for and like the main cast, this show still suffers from the fact that it doesn't do enough with its edge to make it remotely worth its presence. Rather than heaping it on, this show almost seems to disregard it or even say that it doesn't matter because fun will just "cure" the Kanata's anxiety and depression--a message that is insensitive, to say the least. Had we gotten more establishment on Haruka affirming that she wants to help Kanata in spite of her past and other problems, this show just laughs all that off while it sets itself up to be fairly standard queer-bait moe garbage. Had the characters opted to have more motivation beyond "I want to have fun," I might have even bought into the moe garbage but, again, I've just lost any reason to care, and that's all it takes for me to kill a show that pushes my buttons.