School Rumble, Vol. 6

Developers: Kodansha Ltd.
Licenser and Translator: FUNimation Productions, Ltd.
TV Rating: TV-PG, for Light Violence and Light Suggestive Dialogue
Release Date: March 18, 2008
Review Date: August 21, 2008

Note: The following review contains spoilers of the first five volumes and some from this volume. If you intend to see any of them at some point in the future, do not proceed past this point! You have been warned!

After an enjoyable year, the first season of "School Rumble" comes to an end. Numerous understandings and tons of laughs later, is it still "The absolute funniest show you'll ever see that's not about anything that rumbles... ever?"

Let's do a quick recap for those of you who aren't up to speed. In the first volume, Tenma Tsukamoto was trying to admit her feelings for Oji Karasuma, while Kenji Harima was trying to admit his feelings for Tenma Tsukamoto. Karasuma doesn't even seem to notice Tenma's advances, while at the same time Tenma is too dense to see Harima being smitten with her! Got it so far? When Harima first sees that Tenma is after Karasuma, he falls into a bout of sadness that allows an older woman named Tae Anegasaki to hit on him. He manages to ward of her advances, but gains the confidence to admit his love to Tenma... only to accidentally confess to her classmate, Eri Sawachika, instead! But on a summer trip, unspoken actions lead Tenma to mistakenly think Harima likes a different friend of hers, Mikoto Suô. Mikoto seems to have a thing for an older boy that tutored her a couple years back, and thinks of him as she wards off the perverted glances of Kyousuke Imadori, who is in turn liked by quiet yet powerful Karen Ichijou. Meanwhile, Tenma's a little upset when suddenly Harima is connected to her younger sister, Yakumo. This is all while Yakumo is desired by pretty much every boy in school, particularly Mikoto's childhood friend, Haruki Hanai. And Harima isn't the only guy after Tenma... so is timid classmate Nara Kentarou! Needless to say, trying to figure out who wants to be with whom isn't easy, much less deducing who actually makes a real good couple.

As Volume Six begins, the show picks up in the latter stages of the school's annual athletic festival, which began in the last episode of the previous volume. Class 2-C, which contains most of the show's cast members, has been locked in a dead heat at the top of the standings among their year with their rivals in Class 2-D, which are led by a trio of non-Japanese students. The competition will come down to the girls' and boys' five-member relay races to determine the winner. But Eri puts 2-C's dreams of winning it all in danger when she refuses treatment for her injured leg from the new school nurse. Who just happens to be Miss Anegasaki, a supposed 'rival' in the battle for Harima's heart. She's unable to stand the pain when she goes down during the race, and the outcome of the day comes down to the boys, whose team is anchored by Harima. Can the so-called delinquent strike forward and win it all for his classmates?

While I won't spoil the outcome, I will say that the aftermath leaves everyone thinking that Harima and Eri are an official couple. Matters are made even worse when Tenma thinks it to be true, making Harima finally, though unfortunately, realize that she's never loved him to begin with! It's so heartbreaking that Harima decides to run away to spend the rest of his life on a fishing boat. All while unknowingly getting Eri to discover how close Yakumo is to Harima (she had been helping him with his manga) and putting two and two together, to the shock of Tenma and the others.

The season could certainly end here, but a near-death experience and a confrontation with the boat's captain forcibly brings Harima back home to take his disappointment like a man. But it may be too hard to stomach, between helping Tenma shop for a gift for Karasuma's birthday and Yakumo realizing that Harima's manga features him and Tenma as a happy couple. Things come to a head in time for the final episode, as the show tries to definitively name who should be with Tenma... Karasuma or Harima.

One thing you may notice after watching this final first season volume is that the laughs are in short supply this time around. Not that the jokes are horrible, it's that there aren't many to begin with due to the fact that the last four episodes are filled with so much drama. The outcome of the athletic festival, for one, to Harima's departure after learning the truth about Tenma and his subsequent forced yet much-needed return. There is so much emotion rooted in these last four episodes that you'll find yourself practically wishing that everyone gets what they want.

On that note, relationships play a huge role. There's something to be said about the writing given Harima's 'travels.' You look at Episodes 23 and 26 and are given evidence that, despite their differences, Harima and Eri make a nice couple. Then you turn to 24 and 25, and note how good Harima and Yakumo look together as they rush to caringly finish his manga. Finally, upon viewing 25 and 26, it starts to become obvious that Harima and Tenma deserves every bit of its canon billing given some sweet and heroic moments. How many shows can say that any viewer would be happy if two girls, by all standards, seem right to couple with a male lead? Not many, and "Rumble" has three! Sure, none of the three couplings is mutually confirmed between the parties involved, but it makes for some interesting speculation down the road. There is a second season coming, after all. It'll be fun to see if any of those relationships develop.

But for now, it has to come down to Tenma being with Karasuma or Tenma being with Harima. The final episode attempts to provide an answer, while simultaneously not derailing the still-running manga and going back to the out-of-the-ordinary hyjinks the series is known for. There's a number of twists and turns that'll leave you guessing until the final minute. To be fair, though, the results must leave you polarized. You'll either love it or hate it... and then you'll remember once again that FUNimation is bringing Season Two over in a few months, resulting in most people enjoying the ending for what it is.

Studio COMET has been responsible for the animation since Episode One, and they continue to do a decent job. Nothing out of the ordinary, but they do manage to show characters' overexpressiveness when needed. Characters stay on-model, and there are some pretty 3-D background in several scenes, even if a little on the dull side.

"Scramble" is still around to open the show with upbeat excitement, while "Onnanako Otokonoko" is an effective summarizing closer. Coupled with some good background music and a couple of sweet insert songs, along with the ending theme "School Rumble 4 Ever" to close the show, there's very little to complain about in the music department.

The casts are pretty even on both sides. As noted previously, it comes down to the main characters. Ami Koshimizu, Hiroki Takahashi, and Ryôsei Konishi deliver better-sounding performances, but give credit to Luci Christian, Brandon Potter, and Eric Vale for putting more energy in on the dub side. It comes down to personal preference, pretty much.

Extras won't surprise anyone for the most part. The last set of Japanese VA interviews are featured, these ones being with Harima (Takahashi) and Karasuma (Konishi). It's a bit amusing to hear Konishi readily admit he doesn't understand Karasuma either, like the rest of us. Textless versions of the opening, "Scramble," and the ending for the final episode, "School Rumble 4 Ever" are provided, as well as the standard selection of FUNimation trailers. Let's not forget, one last set of reusable stickers to decorate the locker-shaped artbox.

With the first season complete, "School Rumble" has won its way into our hearts. An anime full of understandings provided some payoff after 26 episodes of crazy high school students searching for love. It's been a fun ride with Tenma and the gang, and all of this leaves viewers wanting more. No need to worry... the second season is just around the corner, and more romantic hyjinks are on the way.

So could someone please pick Tenma off the floor and tell her the good news? Please?

Enjoyment: 9
Writing: 8
Design: 8
Extras: 7
 THE FINAL SCORE
88888    33333
8      8            3
88888    33333
8      8 ..         3
88888 .. 33333

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