Sport is a very popular genre among anime fans, and there are some really great sports anime that capture the hearts of both critics and fans.
The most common sport featured in sports anime is baseball, followed by soccer. There are even some great volleyball anime. But are there any beach volleyball anime out there? Find out the answer.
Table of Contents
What Is Beach Volleyball?
Beach volleyball is a team sport that is played on the sand at the beach. There are two teams, each consisting of two or more players, and are separated by a net in a court.
The goal of this sport is to keep the volleyball in the air and prevent it from touching the ground. If the ball touches a team’s court, then the opponent team gets a point.
Similar to indoor volleyball, there are various plays in beach volleyball, like serving, setting, spiking, receiving and blocking. However, unlike indoor volleyball, the role of a player is not set beforehand.
Players make gameplays based on the current of the game. But most professional players prefer to have either a defensive or an offensive role.
Are There Any Beach Volleyball Anime?
Though there are a lot of indoor volleyball anime, sadly, there are not a lot of beach volleyball anime out there. In fact, the number is almost non-existent with only one anime completely focused on this sport. Harukana Receive is the only anime to have beach volleyball as the central sport.
However, some anime have special beach episodes where we see the characters playing beach volleyball. In our list here, we’ll be discussing Harukana Receive as well as those anime with beach volleyball scenes.
1) Harukana Receive
The only beach volleyball anime out there is Harukana Receive. The plot centers around Haruka Oozura who moves to a beachside town and meets her cousin Kanata Higa.
When Haruka stumbles upon girls practicing beach volleyball, which soon turns into a competition when Kanata enters the picture, Haruka learns that her cousin stopped playing beach volleyball because of her short height.
Determined to make Kanata go back to the sport she loves, Haruka dives into the intricacies of beach volleyball, and finds her passion in the sport herself.
2) Today’s Menu for the Emiya Family
This spin-off series of Fate/Stay Night is a lighthearted turn from the intense incidents of the parent story. The series has the Masters and Servants enjoying everyday lives after the Holy Grail War.Â
There is an intense beach volleyball scene in Episode 7 where Shirou Emiya, Saber and Rin Tohsaka go to a water park.
With Shirou and Saber in one team, and Archer and Lancer in another, this volleyball match is just an opportunity for the Servants to show off their skills.
Ufotable has also gone great lengths for the animation, and it is breathtaking for such a small, insignificant scene.
3) Carnival Phantasm
A special spin-off series of Type-Moon, Carnival Phantasm has all Type-Moon characters coming under one roof.
From Saber of the Fate series to Arcueid Brunestud of Lunar Legend Tsukihime, this anime has everyone. During Episode 2, the group plays beach volleyball.
4) Maid Sama!
The story of Maid Sama! revolves around Misaki Ayuzawa, the strict, man-hating student council president who also secretly works as a waitress at a maid café. When the school’s heartthrob Takumi Usui finds her secret, love unexpectedly blossoms between them.
During the beach episode on Episode 16, Misaki and her co-workers go to a beach to help with the restaurant of the manager’s sister. In that episode, the group plays beach volleyball, with Misaki and Aoi on one team, and Usui and Erika on the other.
Conclusion
As we’ve seen so far, despite appearing as lighthearted fun in a few anime, a complete beach volleyball anime is extremely rare. Hopefully, there will be more good anime focusing on the sport, and not just the fun part of it, but the athletic part of it too. Until then, we’d just have to see Harukana Receive to satisfy our beach volleyball cravings.
Do small things with great love.
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Anamika loves words and stories and putting them to pages. She also loves anime, manga, books, movies and everything fantasy. She has been a fan of anime since childhood and her admiration for it only grew with years. Her passion for writing is even more elevated by writing about the things she loves.
