Ranked #104

School Rumble Ni Gakki

STORY
7/ 10
Rumble's second season kicks off in high gear, burning through more reversals of romantic fortune in its first episode than most series manage in an entire volume. From there it plows straight into one of the finest extended parodies in years, a glorious tribute to the balletic excesses of John Woo that applies unapologetic melodramatic flourishes to pitched BB-gun warfare. AGenuine hilarity is everywhere, the thickheaded romantic silliness never flags, and a melancholic undercurrent is ever on hand to lend a touch of emotional weight. For all its full-throttle pacing, the second half feels much longer than the more serious first. Likely as not the series is wandering a bit, as it is prone to doing, before winding up for another bout of focused romantic mayhem, but with every such slump the chances of it definitively resolving its proliferating love polygons grows ever more distant.

ANIMATION
7/10
Studio Comet's bursts of CG-enhanced slickness are gag-centric, while most of the remaining visuals are faithful to manga-ka Jin Kobayashi's aesthetic—which is a nice way of saying that backgrounds disappear at will and that characters languish in various simplified forms long enough to make their sharp non-SD designs look incongruously realistic. Not to worry though: simplified art, normal art, super-detailed hatch-worked art, art borrowed from other sources, obvious CGI art—everything, sloppy and clean, is wound tight together and then caffeinated to the gills, leaving little time and even less inclination to pick at its obvious shortcomings. During the series' more stable moments Shinji Takamatsu proves capable of convincingly aping a wide variety of directorial styles—choreographing kinetic gun battles, letting Yakumo's quiet interludes unspool amidst poetic atmospherics, and coaxing stinging emotions from Eri's clear animal eyes during her confrontation with Yakumo—and all on a budget that is far from top-tier.

MUSIC
8/10
It's only now that they've been replaced by generic anime songs that the importance of the first season's get-up-and-boogie candy-pop opening and closing themes becomes clear. There was no better primer for an episode of pure depression-stomping good times imaginable, and without them it's that much easier to notice when the series starts going nowhere fast. The in-show soundtrack remains the same pleasantly goofy beast it has always been.

CHARACTERS
9/10
New characters are introduced, sports anime is dabbled in, and all the while the series runs desperately in place. Laughs are plentiful and varied, and the enormous cast is juggled to allow lesser characters to take center stage, but with all of the major relationships firmly on the back burner, the series' whirlwind of jokes and unrequited romance feels listless and undirected. Each episode is a frenetic jam of events, but nothing really happens. Established characters such as Harima, Eri and Hanai get solid scenes to dig into, shakier characters such as Yakumo and background players like Aso get fleshed out, and most importantly it's all very, very funny.

ENJOYMENT
8/10
Don't let the lack of my usual School Rumble fanboy gushing fool you: even in the inferior second half of this set, School Rumble is rarely anything less than a bracing shot of pure fun. But after the slowly emerging romantic dramas of season one (and the first leg of this season), it's disappointing to see the series fall back on discontinuous humor, dulling the series' sad edge by cutting back on the outrageous romantic disasters that previously marked the relationships of likeable folks like Ichijo, Hanai and Harima. With luck, the fanboy gushing will recommence shortly, but only time will tell. read more

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 characters chasing 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. read more