School Rumble: 2nd Semester

School Rumble Ni Gakki, along with its predecessor, is a school/comedy/romance anime adapted from Jin Kobayashi's manga of the same name. It continues the story of a group a students from Yagami High School who learn the ups and downs of life and love, in front of a humorous comedic backdrop. Story: Compared to the first season, the story starts off slowly with a bunch shorter stories that don't seem to develop the overall plot as much. It isn't until the mid to second half of the anime does it seem to really get back to the main storyline. The story is mainly about the characterschasing after the people they are in love with only to have their attempts fail leaving them to come up with another angle of attack (metaphorically). This anime is a nice follow-up to the first season and overall it continues the plot well. Animation: Like most anime comedies, there are a lot of visual jokes, so being well animated is quite important. Studio Comet does a good job fortunately and the visual humor comes across quite nicely. Some of the funniest moments I can recall come from the character Harima's reaction to certain things and situations. Sound: Nothing much to say on sound. The seiyuu do a good job and the music fits the anime overall. I like the opening and endings. Characters: In most romance/comedies and in this one as well, there are multiple love webs that exist and are the main motivations for the characters. In the first season of this anime, most of the focus is on the protagonists, Harima and Tenma. However, in the second season the scope seems to widen and greater focus is given to other characters which seemed to have a smaller role in the previous season. I like this expansion, as it makes the plot more complex and intricate. Enjoyment: School Rumble's (both the first season and the second) use of random, sometimes absurd comedy and good utilization of the parody help it to stand out in its genre and create many memorable moments. I dub this show a must see for comedy fans. This was one anime where I basically enjoyed every moment.

So...School Rumble...I don't even know where to begin with this one... First let me say I will review this anime as a whole not only the second season and it might contain some minor spoilers! I will start with the conclusion for those of you who doesn't want to read the whole review. So here it goes: Overall/Conclusion - 7.8/10 Have you ever watched one of those spanish/latin soap operas or telenovelas where the characters never really manages to convey their feelings and say what they mean, especially regarding love, resulting in an never ending circle of misunderstandings and drama ? The difference is, inSchool Rumble, instead of drama you've got comedy. Don't get me wrong, it's a fun series to watch from the beginning to the end and the comedy mixed with excentric characters are, probably, the key elements that will get you hooked on this series. However, if you are person like me and if you are more in the series with good story progression and characters development maybe you'll be a bit disappointed or frustrated. Still that's not a reason not to watch School Rumble, especially when you are in a mood from something relaxing and mellow. Art/Animation - 7.5/10 Although it's nothing you would expect from a recent anime, the art is not bad at all. I like the characters design and I think it fitted well with their personalities. Also I was impressed with the level of animation used is some of the scenes that required more action, although some of them were useless and not needed for this genre. This really shows the animation had more potential but also the fact that the animation buget was poorly used on scenes that don't really matter. Also, they could've work more on backgrounds and characters details but it dosen't really matter anyway, since you'll be more frustrated with other things than art in the end, trust me. Sound - 9.5/10 I think the sound is the best part of School Rumble . The sound is in perfect tune with atmosphere and tone of the series and as a whole it adds great value to this anime. But...man...the most memorable songs are the opening and ending themes from the first season. The feel-good theme of this two songs perfectly complements the first season. and even if you don't like the show I think it will make you wanting to watch the next episodes just to listen to this songs again and, eventually you will find yourself humming along in no time. Although, at first I didn't like the opening theme from the second season, after listening to it a few times, I found Sentimental Generation to be as catchy as Scramble from the first season. I can't say the same thing about the first ending theme for the second season and I'm glad they've replaced it later with Futari Wa Wasurechau which perfectly fits the whole second season ending. As for voice actors, besides Lala, which is way overexagerated character overall, all the voice actors were really good and matched the personality of each character. Special mentions goes to Noto Mamiko and Koshimizu Ami for the voices of Yakumo and Tenma - I loved them both. Characters - 7/10 Here comes the area where I talk about the first problem of the series. There are alot of main and supporting characters in this series and the problem is how they are handled. To be more specific, many of the supporting characters are randomly brought up in the spotlight with some random stories at the expense of the main characters which are sent into oblivion, at times, for 2-3 episodes. This happens mostly on the second season but the first one is no exception. In this way, really few of the main characters get some sort of development or progression and it's disappointing beacuse I wanted to see more of Akira, Eri and Yakumo instead of some random story with some random support character or even worse a filler. Story - 6/10 SOME MINORS SPOILERS HERE! Skip if it bothers you! Unfortunately,this is the weakest part of series and the second problem. There aren't so many good things to say here due to the fact that is no real progression or development on the story. I mean the producers really loved to troll us from the beginning through the end, at least regarding the story. When you think something important may happen that will make the story progress, think twice because your are wrong. If something happens, it happens in such a way that the relations between characters are not affected at all in the next episode. In the beginning it's funny but after a while and through the end this never ending circle gets very frustrating. What more can I say...I think Scramble opening theme describes the best the whole story concept behind this series so...Guruguru mawaru guruguru mawaru!! Enjoyment - 8/10 If you love the anime in the comedy genre you'll have a blast watching this one but if you also love any type of development in anime and you want any type of closure maybe you will be a bit frustrated as I've been.

*This a review of both seasons of School Rumble School Rumble was a series that I was interested in, but had putting off for a while. However, after I had finished watching Kokoro Connect, I was in mood to watch something similar, so I finally decided to watch School Rumble. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this series. Partially because it’s a romantic comedy that some people listed under the shounen genre, and that the name of the series is School Rumble. I was also hesitant to watch this series in part because the series was originally released in 2004, and I was very skepticalabout the quality of the animation. But series definitely surprised me, and it ending up being the one of the most entertaining anime I’ve watched in a while. Story: School Rumble’s story revolves around the popular TV theme of unrequited love, but it approaches it from a mostly comedic prospective. A lot of the comedy in this series comes from unfortunate misunderstandings between the characters. The two main characters, Kenji Harima, who is in love with Tenma, and Tenma Tsukamoto, who is in love with their classmate Karasuma, both can’t ever find a way express their feelings to one another. Their efforts often result in horrible misunderstandings or bitter failures. Their efforts, along with other characters love interest and interactions, make for some hilarious moments throughout the series. The show doesn’t take itself too seriously, and usually substitutes drama and angst for comedy. While there are moments in this anime where the tone is more serious, and even sad at times, it doesn’t take long for it to bounce back its generally upbeat atmosphere. The story isn’t deep or thought provoking, but it serves it’s purpose by giving the characters a motive for the actions they take in every episode. My only issue with the story is its lack of an ending. As I pointed out in a previous article, the “conclusion” OVA was incredibly rushed, and didn’t cover everything that it was supposed to cover so I didn’t, and don’t plan to, watch it. So I’m judging the story based on the ending of the second season, and there wasn’t one. There were so many things left wide open, and it was very disappointing to see the series end without a proper conclusion. Animation: The animation is definitely School Rumble’s weakest point. While it’s not bad, it’s definitely not very good animation. It gets the job done, with decently well-defined characters and backgrounds, but it’s not anything noteworthy. Sound: The sound in this series is very well done. The music definitely fits the atmosphere and tone of the scenes that they are used in, and all of the tracks sound really good. But the stars of the soundtrack are the openings and endings. School Rumble’s first opening and ending are probably the catchiest opening and ending themes I’ve ever heard. They are both really enjoyable to listen too. I’ve probably watched and listened to the first ending more than any other ending I’ve seen. The other openings and endings are all well done, entertaining, and fit the style of the series. Characters: The characters in this series are all very likeable and fun to watch. From the main characters, Tenma and Harima, to the wide cast of supporting and side characters. While there some characters get more development and backstory than others, we are given some background information and development on all of the major supporting characters. The wide cast of characters is pretty diverse with several different personalities. This could lead to you loving, and or hating several characters in this series, but that is definitely not a bad thing. The main theme in the story is struggling in love, and that’s where a lot of the changes in the characters come from. Their successes and failures have a big impact on them, and we get to see how they all progress through the two seasons. Enjoyment: School Rumble was absolutely hilarious. It found myself constantly laughing, and I couldn’t wait to get to the next episode. The humor can feel somewhat repetitive, but that feeling never last for very long. Verdict & Breakdown: Story: 3.4/5 Animation: 3.2/5 Sound: 4.2/5 Characters: 4.3/5 Enjoyment: 4.4/5 Verdict: 3.9/5 You will love School Rumble if you’re into romantic comedies, or slapstick comedies in general.

A sequal that is better than its prequel? Yes. School Rumble Ni Gakki delivers in a better way than its prequel did. With better animation and art and funnier side plots aside from the main plot, which by the way is almost non-existant, made this anime better than the first in the series. It also made it one of the top animes in its genre. In the second season we are introduced to nothing new really, only more of what was before, more of Harima which is this animes one truly redeeming character. You have to agree with me that sometimes you get slightly frustrated with howthe main character woons after someone who is fundamentally so boring and dull that it's an abomination he is allowed to breath the same animated air as Harima Kenji. Still, when these small fits come over me I just remind myself that the storyboard and screenplay wanted the viewers to feel like this and it calms you down, a bit. Truly, the one thing that makes School Rumble, both the first and the second season, good are every single character except the female lead and her love interest. This accomplishment is worth mentioning by itself and could only have been accomplished by not having too much of a story/plot. Then again this genre (love/comedy/parody/slapstick) does not need too much of a story/plot to become satisfactory enough to be worth watching. What you need are characters and as I previously stated characters and character interaction are this animes main features. Harima Kenji together with most other characters that exist for comic relief (which basically is every single one) holds this anime up and carries it to an end that isn't an end, this is of course no surprise, first of all it's hard to make real endings at all in anime, secondly it is especially hard for this particular genre and let us not forget that they need to leave room for a possible third season.