Reviews [Anime Review] School Rumble

Series: School Rumble
Release Date: December 22, 2005
Genre: High School, Romantic Comedy, love triangle
Director: Shinji Takamatsu
Creator: Jin Kobayashi
Number of Episodes: 26
Suggested censor rating: PG-13 for sexual situations and occasional fan-service.
Overall rating: 5/5 smileys ( )

Story and characters overview:

School Rumble is centered around Harima Kenji, former delinquent, easily recognized by his dark glasses, mustache and goatee. When he starts showing up on school the first day of classes, everyone fears he might be planning to take on the school. In reality, he wants to study just to be close to a girl he's fallen in love with: Tsukamoto Tenma.

Harima Kenji met Tenma-chan (as he calls her in his mind) for the first time, a couple of years ago, when she was attacked by a robber. Kenji wasn't wearing moustache nor dark glasses at the time. When he saw her being attacked, he defended her (actually he picked up the fight because he was bored), and the robber slashed him in the back. When she saw his wound, she fainted, and Kenji had to carry her to her home after defeating the bad guy. There, in her sleep, she hugged him and was about to kiss him, just when she woke up and mistook him for a pervert, and kicked him out of the house.

That day he fell in love with her, but to prevent her from recognizing him, he grew the moustache and started wearing the dark glasses.

For everyone else in school, Tenma-chan is just a flat-chested hyperactive girl with little body height, and little wit (she's as dumb as Harima, both usually fail in their tests). But for him, she's sweet, beautiful, and almost a princess.

The first day of school he wants to declare his love for her, and writes her a letter, forgetting to write his name.
But Tenma-chan is already in love with another boy: Karasuma Oji, whom she calls Karasuma-kun, a quiet and mysterious fella - which was switching school! To prevent him from leaving, Tenma-chan writes a declaration of love of several pages (actually it was a scroll), but forgot to sign! At least she made Karasuma-kun stay in the same school for the year.

And fate decided that the three would go to the same class: 2C. There, they meet new characters (and rivals), and the fun's just beginning!


A usual comedy situation arises when Harima-kun tries to declare his love to Tenma-chan several times, but fails miserably because: a) He's too shy, b) Something comes up, e) She's too stupid to recognize his indirect declarations, or d) He screws up and ends up declaring to the wrong girl by mistake. This usually ends up in one or more girls being annoyed by Harima-kun, or worse, being trapped in a sexually embarrassing situation, making Tenma-chan think the worse of him, so their relationship is like a rubber band and never stable.

When Harima finds out that his romantic rival is Karasuma-kun, he usually becomes jealous and wants to make things difficult for him, but Karasuma-kun appears to be perfect in everything, turning the situation verytime against Harima. As a scape-vent for his problems, Harima eventually starts making Manga about him and Tenma-chan, usually depicting him as the hero, and Karasuma as the villain. This manga becomes an important plot device later in the story, but I won't go into details.

Things gets more complicated because Harima finds a permanent rival, Hanuki Hanai, a martial artist, who is in love with Tenma-chan's sister, Yakumo. Both call their loved ones by their last names, so they think they're in love with the same person - adding to the situational comedy. They become fierce enemies by other situations, as they usually compete against each other in every school event. Later, when Harima begins asking Yakumo for help with some personal matters, they're rumored to be going out together, irritating Hanai and adding more spice to the fun.

The secondary characters contribute a lot to the story and comedy:

Sawachika Eri, a blonde girl whose father is a famous english tycoon - she usually ends up being at the wrong place, at the wrong time, with the wrong person (and that would be Harima ). These two make a wonderful comedic couple when they're engaged in embarrassing situations.

[YOUTUBE=dfS_flZdMVU]Harima and Sawachika in yet-another embarrassing situation (TM).[/YOUTUBE]

But later she begins to accept him as she sees he's a nice person in heart - and gradually begins to have feelings for him.

Akira Takano, a very intelligent and manipulative girl who secretly works as a spy for some organization. She seems to know who's in love with who, and can decipher the truth from the most complicated situations, saving Harima from problems once in a while, and putting him in others the rest of the time.

Mikoto Suo is a martial artist who is dojo-partner and close friend of Haruki Hanai. She's easily recognized by her D-cup size (it's actually an E-cup), and is always annoyed by Imadori Kyousuke, a young pervert who also has a like for Super Sentai shows like the Dojibiron giant robot team.

Tsukamoto Yakumo, Tenma's sister and Haruki's platonic love, has a secret ability: She can read men's minds (except very stupid ones like Harima ) so she knows when they want just to manipulate her. Her ability also makes her proficient at Aikido fighting (something she rarely does), avoiding Haruki's attacks, since she knows what move he's going to make next.

Osakabe Itoko-sensei, is Harima's cousin and a teacher at his school. Her beautiful body is appreciated by everyone in school, but she is also cold and strict, which adds to her innate sensuality. Apart from Akira-chan, she is the only one at school that knows Harima is in love with Tenma, and usually calls him when he's just about to confess to her (does she have a spycam or something?)

Overall Review:

The story isn't episodic, unlike other high school animes like Azumanga Daioh, but there are no cliffhangers and each episode can be enjoyed in itself.

The characters develop very well, and sooner we start to find out the hidden side of each one of them, some lighter, some darker, and later in the series we start seeing the characters developing sentimental relationships. At some parts (specially in the second season), the anime becomes sad and depressing, but later things become jolly again.

One thing I like about School rumble, are the comedic mini-stories (some fictional, some real) at the beginning and the end of each episode, which contribute to character development. These mini-stories are usually parodies of other anime, for example, there's a very good initial D parody in second season.

There is absolutely no monotony in School Rumble, and in the second half of the first season, new characters start appearing, keeping things fresh. The comedy is brilliant, some times using word-games, and never gets boring even if some situations are very similar.

For more information, there's the character list at wikipedia.

Overall, If you like either drama, romanticism or comedy, School Rumble is for you. I give it a 5 out of 5 smileys.