"School Rumble" is a twenty-six episode Japanese anime that is a high-school themed romantic comedy. It is adapted from the ongoing manga authored by Jin Kobayashi and published by "Kodansha." There are three different series. One is merely "School Rumble." The second is a two-episode OVA called "School Rumble – First Term Extra" which looks to be an extension of the first season. And then is "School Rumble – Second Term." The first season and First Term Extra is directed by Shinji Takamatsu and produced by "Studio Comet" and aired on "TV Tokyo." It’s also classified as a comedic slice of life series as School Rumble focuses on the everyday lives of high school students.
Everything seems to be very exaggerated and melodramatic for the sake of comedy as it is the genre of School Rumble. The setting takes place at Yagami High School. While there are two major protagonists: the hero and the heroine, School Rumble doesn’t completely focus on those two characters. It tends to focus on developing all of the characters of Class 2-C where most of them belong in the story of School Rumble. The hero is a girl named Tenma Tsukamoto and the hero is a delinquent named Kenji Harima. The beginning tends to focus on Tenma’s love interesting in a dull and dense classmate named Oji Karasuma.
Kenji Harima is in love with Tenma but still acts like a delinquent riding his motorcycle to school. It looks as if Harima enjoys fighting with other people. He is very much portrayed as a ruffian due to his rugged biker looks. His main goal in the series is very much getting closer to Tenma. However, he keeps his identity a secret for various reasons which will be revealed later. Harima is just as melodramatic as Tenma is. He may look like a bad boy, but Harima can be very sad and pathetic in a comedic way. It’s his personality that makes School Rumble one of the most comedic Japanese anime titles out here today.
But it focuses on a bunch of other characters as well. School Rumble seems to not neglect any of its characters in terms of development. There’s Oji Karasuma who looks stonefaced and very emotional, Eri Sawachika who is beautiful and popular, Mikoto Suo who is a friend of Tenma and a black belt in Kenpo Karate, Akira Takano who is intelligent and very mysterious, Kyousuke Imadori who is the resident pervert of the school, Haruki Hanai who is keeping students in line, along with many others. School Rumble has a very diverse cast of characters that have different backgrounds and very different upbringings.
Everything from the story to the characters is well done. But, a series like this is very hard to find in any store.
A comedic series such as School Rumble is good to watch if you need to wind down and/or looking for a bunch of good laughs. This is a series mainly aimed for teenagers. Luckily, there is an English dubbed version of the anime series. However, it’s unknown if it will actually be aired on network TV across North America. If you enjoy watching School Rumble, definitely watch the OVA and the second season.