School Rumble

Hate watching those anime that drag on for too long with boring storylines? Then try School Rumble, each episode is totally random, even though it does try to follow a main storyline.

As the story goes on, it becomes more and more hilarious! I wished my high school was as fun as this. It portrays as guys being very pathetic and always going after girls, this makes them very funny to watch! The jokes are very humorous; some is just silly.

The animation is very beautiful, although it has more beautiful girls and the boys are all very weird. The ... animals drawn are very cute and the main character is such a klutz, her face turns fat all the time.

The background sounds are funny, adds comedy to the scene. The soundtrack is just as good, the music is very soothing. The voice characters are just funny and the voices are exaggerated very much, which give the impression that the character is very dumb.

The characters are very distinct; I get confused sometimes because there are many characters and a lot of names to remember. I only remember Harima Kenji because the English version of this name is Harry McKenzie. But his character was the funniest out of all the boys in the class, he is supposed to be a delinquent but then turns all soft and lovey dovey, and the girl he falls for is an average looking slow girl, which makes it all so much funnier because he is dumb as well.

This is very enjoyable if you like to watch comedy genres, and don't mind the occasional half naked scenes. There were many scenes where I was cracking up; this anime has to be the funniest I’ve seen and the most random.

Highly recommended for boys more than girls because it has a lot of big breasts involved. It’s just too damn funny!

This review is for the entire School Rumble series.That includes both seasons and all of the OVAs. I don’t believe in dividing up series by seasons and I firmly believe series should be treated as a whole and therefore rated and reviewed, and judged in the same manner.

School Rumble is basically the story of a love triangle. The hyper, slow-witted, dense and yet extremely nice and lovable character Tsukamoto Tenma is in love with her strange and seemingly dull classmate Karasuma Oji and at the same time the misunderstood delinquent Harima Kenji is madly in love with Tsukamoto Tenma to the point that he has ... been transformed into a new man because of it.
The series best fits in the comedy genre and anytime you feel the story is about to take a serious turn, it swings back to its comedic nature faster than you can blink.

The characters are probably the best part of this series. While there is really only three or four main characters, on numerous occasions, the series turns its attention to some of the backgrounds characters and lets the viewers get to know them better through some interesting side stories. Tsukamoto Tenma is extremely cute and lovable, Harima Kenji is a brooding delinquent you will love to root for, and Karasuma Oji is the character you will love to hate. The background characters such as Tsukamoto Tenma’s sister, Yakumo (quiet, reserved, and gorgeous girl that almost all men fall in love with at first sight) , Sawachika Eri (the seemingly shallow rich blonde girl sought after by many guys), Suou Mikoto (the athletic and cool tomboy that seems to be good at just about everything), Takano Akira (the quiet, calm, and mysterious girl that seems to know everything) are also very well developed and quite entertaining to watch. There is a character type to suit any viewer’s tastes.

The Japanese voice acting is absolutely fantastic and the voices match the characters well without exception. The most notable are the voices Tsukamoto Tenma which is done brilliantly by Koshimizu Ami (The very talented voice actress who does the voices of Kallen in Code Geass - Hangyaku no Lelouch /R2 and Horo in “Spice and Wolf”), and the voice of Harima Kenji which is done by Takahashi Hiroki (the voice of Kikumaru Eiji in Prince of Tennis and Hisoka in Hunter X Hunter). I can’t comment on the English voice acting due to the fact that I have not watched the dubbed version of the series (…and I have no intention of doing so).

The art and animations are not quite as noteworthy as the character design and voice acting. The art is average and the animations are done well most of the time with a few exceptions here and there. That is about all that needs to be said about the art and animations.

The story itself and the way it’s developed are both very interesting. However, I did find it quite irritating at times where I felt the story should perhaps take a more serious turn. The show is a comedy and above all else it should be funny and in that area there is definitely no shortcomings. The show is absolutely hilarious. However, while it is a comedy, its subject matter is not, and I would have found it quite refreshing if the writers had not shied away from including some serious elements as a complement to the comedy. Instead, they chose to completely slam on the breaks and put it in reverse whenever there was even the slightest danger of any serious development. The only part where things get even in the least bit serious is in the final two-episode OVA where they attempt to conclude the story.

Another area where this show suffered a bit had to do with filler episodes. There are not too many filler episodes and some of the fillers even contribute a little bit to the story. But, fillers are still fillers. While they are not abused to extremes as with some other shows such as Bleach, their presence still adds some annoyance for the viewer.

ATTENTION: The next paragraph talks about the ending. While I will not include any specifics about what happens at the end of the series, I will talk about the style and quality of the ending. If you feel this might spoil things for you, skip over the next paragraph.

This is where the show lost the most points from me. While, I did not know the specifics of the ending, I had a very close guess formed by the second or third episode of the first season regarding how the show would conclude. I knew I was in for at least a bit of a letdown at the end simply based on the nature of the show and how it completely shied away from getting even slightly serious. The ending doesn’t really leave you hanging which is good. However, I did not get the ending I wanted and I am fairly certain most people who have watched the series in the past and those who will watch it in the future have felt and will feel the same way I do about this. It will not catch you off guard. You will know it is coming fairly early in the series. But it is still a letdown. Perhaps, an alternate ending episode might have remedied this.

The two places this series lost marks from me were the filler episodes and the ending. Without the fillers and with the correct ending this show would have scored full marks.

School Rumble is my all time favorite anime series therefore my high score for it and because it actually deserves it.

Story - Basically, School Rumble has no real storyline besides Tenma going after Karasuma and Harima going after Tenma, thats basically it. But the thing about School Rumble is, even if it barely has a storyline it still appeals to many many people, which is something i believe is unique.

Art - I adore School Rumble's beautiful design of characters. Even though its a 2004 anime, it still has considerable good graphic maybe even better then some animes in the year 2007. Also one thing i ... find quite different in the art of school rumble is how KJ ( Kobayashi Jin, creator of school rumble) hides the good-looking appearance of some of the characters such as Harima and Hanai.

Sound - School Rumble has one of the catchiest and most addictive OP any anime ever had 'Guru Guru Mawaru Guru Guru Mawaru....' this song just makes you want to get up dance to the melody. The ED was also very catchy as well, School Rumble's ending is one of the ONLY ones i've watched for all of the episodes. Side from the OP and ED, the voice actor/actress fitted the role very well, from cute and loving Tenma to the complete pervert Imadori, there voice seems to be made for the character. Also Horie Yui is one of my favorite voice actress so i guess that adds up to the score as well.. hehe.

Character - Wide range of entertaining characters all which make you literally laugh out loud. They are all entertaining but they all have very unique personality from the Tsundere Ojou to the Semi-yandere Yakumo. I highly doubt you will hate any of these characters because i certainly didn't!

Enjoyment - If i could give bonus points for enjoyment of this series, i would. First off, as stated before, this series literally makes you laugh out loud. A series that can actually make someone laugh out loud is something I'd think is freaking hilarious. Hilarious = Enjoyable... therefore School Rumble is really hilarious and enjoyable. (Yes that was lame..)

Overall - Overall, this series is definitely something you should watch if something is really bothering you and you want to watch something fun and laugh all the pain away. Even if you like really serious stuff like Death Note, you should still try this, you never know you might actually like this genre of anime.

School Rumble is a romantic comedy that you should watch if you don't want to pay attention to any plot details or you just in it for a good laugh. Meaning school rumble is a show that has virtually no main plot and gets nowhere in 26 episodes.

STORY:7/10
Now i did say that there was not plot but that doesn't mean that the show does nothing but corny humor for the entire 26 episodes(even though its all it really needs to do for the genre). They introduce a variety of characters throughout and give them most at least some back story, character development, and even some ... small story arcs for the larger supporting characters. The main focus was at first for Harima to confess his love to Tenma and for Tenma to confess her love to Karasuma but later on it changes to just watch as they fail at every attempt and laugh while they do it. The only real problem with the story is by the end nothing really has changed since the beginning, sure Tenma now finds Harima to be a nice guy but their relationship is no different. They don't even know they are interested in each other (that goes for every love relationship in this show)and that is what i find disheartening(not because it takes away from the show but because it keeps the show from being better than average in the story section). The story does everything it needs to do to get the job done but not much more to surpass and be a truly great anime.

CHARACTERS:9/10
If you can look past how good the comedy is in this show you will realize how strong the character cast is. First off Harima was one of the funniest and unique characters i have seen(best character in the show), honestly put him in the spot light and its guaranteed a good laugh. But all the characters as a whole is what truly makes this show special. Let me explain, in most high school shows they focus on maybe five characters and they are in a tight nit group with very similar interests. School Rumble on the other hand exceeds the amount of characters that you would expect and they are all from completely different stereotypical social cliches(There is the smart kids, the delinquent, the Marshall arts student, the big boobed bimbo, the dumb kid, the photographer, the pervert, the rich girl, the popular kid, the kid sister, and so many more) that are all pretty well defined, and they ARE ALL CONNECTED. For example how often do you see a show were the main character knows the school nurse on a personal basis. Its like this with almost every character interaction. the only people i found in the show that were not explained were a few people Harima worked for. I also believe that all the different character cliches clashing with one another is one of many elements that makes this anime so funny. They are also able to make all of the characters likable while making them all so different which is something to be proud of(this fact alone is why this show sticks out as one of the better anime out there).

ART/ANIMATION:9/10
The animation in this show was nothing to special at most times but it had its moments(Ex.bike chase in beginning of show,"Matrix" scene, and the Alien ship).
What was the best part in this department was the art specifically the facial expressions on Harima and Tenma when they reacts to specific moments throughout the show. They are able create most the most funny moments in this show using their facial expressions and lets be honest if this show makes you laugh it has served its purpose.

SOUND:8/10
The opening and ending songs for this show were both catchy and were good fits for the show itself. the atmospheric and suspenseful music were both pretty good as well but nothing in this section was supremely good in my opinion.

PROS:
-All characters are likable
-Most characters are connected and are from different school life cliches providing great dynamic moments
-art was effective in amplifying comedy and more


CONS:
-No real results, most things we know in the beginning are the same in the end
-Show thrives off a specific humor so its not enjoyable for all audiences
-Harimas unbelievable fails at love confession get annoying after a while

ENJOYMENT/OVERALL:8/10
My overall enjoyment for this show thrived off of the comedy itself and seeing all the different character personalities. The only things about this show that were not great was the lack of a strong story arc and there was no real change from the beginning of the show to the end.
This is a really Unique Romantic comedy that is TV-PG so all demographics can see it and has no fan service so its great for men and women to watch. But when it comes down to it the only thing this show actually needs to do is make you laugh and it does more than that. If this is your type of humor and you are looking for a show that you can just sit back and relax while watching than this is the show for you.
Thank you for anyone who took the time to read my review, and have a great day!!

This series makes me wonder if they've cloystered off this small region of Japan where they put all the nation's socially inept kids, kind of like what Britain did with Australia except instead of shipping out monstrous deviants like Jack the Ripper, the Japanese would use their packing peanuts on annoyances like that kid you'd invite to your birthday party only because your mom made you. Actually, that's not entirely true. Part of what makes this series work so well is that the characters, for as thick as they are, are also incredibly likable. The other part is just how insanely hilarious this show is, ... in a "giggle at the sociably retarded" kind of way. You know, the kind of people that could only win at a game of hide-and-seek because no one actually wanted to go looking for them...

Okay, I'll drop it, making those jokes was getting to be like rubbing a balloon on the back of a kitten, it's cruel and easy and you shouldn't do it, but it's just so much fun! That's not to say that the show itself is stupid. I thought that at first, but the further I got into it, the more I realized how brilliant it was.

Let me put it this way: this is a story where everyone is madly in love with precisely the wrong person. It starts out simple and honestly, really stupid, but as the number of characters reaches astronomical levels, and all those distinctly dysfunctional characters get intertwined in this ginormous cluster of unspoken infatuation, it gets more and more hilarious and very clever if only for the way the writers kept track of everyone’s crushes and what misunderstandings they had about all the other characters’ crushes and mashed them all together to keep bringing crazy situations where everyone’s horribly mistaken about everything to the whole nutty table.

No matter how close they come to a confession, all our favorite knuckleheads will inevitably be crushed and have to start at square one with the clusterfruck only tightened further. This bizarre and torturous treatment of the characters would only be permissible if the show was really funny and crazy. In case it wasn’t obvious by now…it’s hilarious, and it’s INSANE.

I mean, throughout the ups and downs of the series, and it’s almost all downs as the entire cast of the show was apparently skipped when God was handing out good timing, it retains a “barely” kind of believability. The characters are genuinely lovable, if not broader than a pair of Siamese twins in Weight Watchers, but this is nothing like your typical romance comedy. The series is more like a Bugs Bunny cartoon than anything else, except that it’s set in high school. This makes it hard to accept any kind of drama, so thankfully, the series doesn’t try for any. Just when you think it’s getting sentimental on you, it’s probably setting you up for another gag.

That’s not to say it doesn’t attempt drama sometimes, but usually this is a wasted effort, and the times it succeeds are usually black comedy in disguise more than actual drama. It is sporadically tender in an “Aw, look at the idiots,” kind of way, but yeah, sporadically. Most of the time, it’s just plain goofy. But you know, thank GOODNESS for that. It’s at its best when it’s unabashedly STUPID, and if you enjoy screwy as much as I do, this isn’t just your cup of tea, it’s the entire teapot.

On the technical side of things, the animation and music do their job but are nothing unique, cute girls, cute guys, and lots of chibification, and plinking background tones like every other slice-of-life comedy, with the exception of the hysterically upbeat opener and closer that I could never bear to skip even into the umpteenth episode.

Both audio tracks, sub and dub, are appropriately wacky with just a pinch of “normal” to hold your interest in the extremely caffeinated characters. I also have to applaud the dub for handling the humor well, as a lot of jokes don’t translate directly and creative colloquialisms by the writers make it just as funny in English as it stands in Japanese. Harima’s actor in particular seems to have “grizzled punching bag” running in his veins and Tenma is equal parts cuddly and obnoxious, which is also perfect casting for you.

All in all, a great comedy series, over-the-top and unendingly silly, but it might be just a little TOO silly for some people, and you have to really love all the incredibly blockheaded characters to like the show.

*THIS IS A PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT OF MY VIDEO REVIEW THAT CAN BE SEEN HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdAYycAe55Q

Thanks for reading!

This show is awesome. After a long day at school,college, work etc this is the anime to watch. No heavy mood in there. Although I must say the manga is better than the anime. I adored the story, a not so typical high school story. The only downside to the story was the final episode. It was a bit confusing considering they were jumping back and forth between events. Thankfully the previous episodes made up for it.

The art is wonderful. In anime you often see that some aspects of the images are astonishing whereas some other aspects look horrible (for example the lips). None ... of this is present in School Rumble, the art is great and fits the mood of the anime perfectly.

It took a while to get used to the opening theme but overall the music was quite good. The right songs were played at the right time and it was good to hear the actual characters sing, for a bit.

I love the characters in School Rumble, the only characters I found quite a bit annoying were at times Yakumo, and more often than not, Tenma. Harima was brilliant, he is one of the funniest characters in anime history no doubt. I found the pace at which new characters were introduced fine, not too many characters were introduced at once, which is always a good thing.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this anime with the exception of the final episode which is why the overall grade for it is an 8 instead of a 9 or 10. After all final episodes are supposed to blow you away and this one did not do that. I hope the second season will be as good as this one though ^_^

School Rumble is one of the most wackiest but enjoyable and funniest anime I've ever seen. A pure school comedy-romance anime that had me smiling the entire time with it's hilarious jokes and animations of unrealistic character acts/facial expressions. If you want to just watch an anime that's not anything you have to pay attention to, but just sit back, and get a good laugh out of, then School Rumble is the perfect anime for you. No real plot. Just an episodic series that does build up the character's relationships throughout, but the show is purely comedy. What makes it better is that it doesn't ... use "ecchi" in order to create the comedy.

Story: School Rumble does not have any real plot, it just skips around the completely unrealistic comedy life of highschool kids and... a tough delinquent? The tough badass delinquent, Harima Kenji is madly in love with Tsukamoto Tenma, a clueless and innocent girl who looks and acts like a complete idiot. And.. then there's the whole load of side characters who are all mixed in like a love octagon? Or maybe even bigger relationship. Basically, the guys in the story are all somewhat perverts who are all in love with a specific girl, and they try to impress/win the hearts of the girls by doing the funniest things I've seen in a show. Ah yes, this show is the definition of anime rom-com because it's hilariously unrealistic. How I wish my school days were something alone the lines of what happens in this show... Nonetheless it was a great enjoyable watch.

Art: Normally, I don't know how to grade the art in a rom-com show much, but in School Rumble's case, I'm giving it a 10/10 because of how they drew facial expressions and actions of each character. The portrayal of each character was hilarious, I might have teared up many times from laughter! Beautiful, diverse females, and pretty damn funny males. Perfect art.

Sound: GURUGURU MAWARU GURUGURU MAWARU. That opening song really makes me head spin around (heh...), because of how addicting it is! Every time I watched an episode of School Rumble, I looked forward to watching the opening and spinning my head around humming the tune in my head. The side soundtracks were really funny in their own way, and added to the entire comedy of the show. Voices matched each of the character's ... character. Overall the sound was decent, but far from great since there really was no "good" music - piano like other slice of life shows such as Ano Hana.

Character: So many characters and not a single one that you dislike. All the main character females, like 6 with like 10 side always popping up, were hilarious. And the main character males, like 1 (Kenji Harima, the delinquent is overall main character, and he is one of if not the funniest character in all anime!) alongside like 6 side male characters were soooooooooooooo funny. I loved all the characters, always cheered their love relationship on, except for Tenma and Harima because I wanted Harima to be be with Eri Sawachika, they were perfect for eachother! ♥ Tenma was annoying, but oh well, her sister makes up for her.

Enjoyment: I loved this anime so much purely because of how funny and enjoyable it was. All school-comedies should follow the structure of School Rumble. Definitely a must-watch comedy for everyone, all ages. If you're feeling bored and lonely, then go to Youtube and watch the entire series! It has another season too, and although the ending of the anime was "meh", the overall series was great, despite having no plot. Solely an enjoyable show.

Story: 9
On first appearance, School Rumble doesn't have a story, but this slice of life actually does and it is; 'everyone is in love with the wrong person and they are all a raving pack of morons.' There you go, that is the plot. This show is simply one gag after another with drama that's really just getting you ready for another gag. Many story elements make no sense, so don't even try. The purpose of the show is fun, nothing more. Now how did a slice of life, with such a simple premise, and a just-for-fun attitude get a ... 9? Because it works so well! The timing of the jokes are so near perfection and the utter randomness, and I laughed every episode. Also The ending makes just so much sense and all I can say about that is just wow.
The series also feels longer than it really is because each episode has three storylines, each seem like episodes unto themselves.

Art: 7
Well, it’s lacking. Character designs are good, but overall animation not that great. Backgrounds are typically well drawn but many scenes are just speed lines, especially the fight scenes, yes I did just say fight scenes, plural.

Sound: 8 (dub)
The intro and ending are wonderful, and incredibly addicting. I never skipped the opening, it was just so good. The dub voice acting was hilarious and was oddly even able to convey puns from the Japanese, though perhaps with different words. Harima was hilarious with such precious lines and his voice actor, Brandon Potter, was perfect. Eric Vale who played Karasima was also well cast, having played Yuki Sohma in Fruits Basket using his smooth quiet voice. Background music was, forgettable, and unfortunately there was next to no environment sounds. But I suppose those might distract from the endless comedy. One of the best dubs I’ve heard.

Character: 9
One word describes most of the characters; moron. They are all morons, but such incredibly likeable morons that you just, well, like them. Much of the comedy is simply watching these characters mess up in their everyday lives and in their many attempts to confess their undying love. It would be very difficult to pick a favourite from this cast of character they are all just so great.

Overall: 9
The funniest comedy I’ve ever seen (even funnier than Ouran, my 2nd favourite show). The comedy is never crude and just slightly inappropriate, though oddly anything bad is avoided from being said. Just overall good fun.

Parental Caution:
Rated PG-13
-There's a pool episode and a beach episode, (episodes 11 and 12) that seems to be a staple for slice of life animes.
-In one of said episodes you see Harima's backside... my eyes died.
-Swearing, and Harima uses the middle finger, but it's "censored"
-Comical violence
-There's not anything explicit, but so many scenes make possible innuendos and questionable situations, but no fear they are simply setting you up for a gag.

“To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others.”
-Tony Robbins

Miscommunication happens often in our everyday lives. When we miscommunicate with each other there are several outcomes that can happen. People may laugh, they may cry, or they may become angry and unhappy. Now what do you get when those miscommunications mixed with high school crushes? Well you end up with the insanity that is School Rumble. This comedy anime is one built around the two main characters, Harima and Tenma, as they attempt to ... confess to the ones that they love. Unfortunately, the entire cast, including themselves, are as dense as stone.

Story
Now the story of School Rumble is interesting in how it’s told. It’s an episodic comedy in the sense of Seitokai Yakuindomo, but also has an overarching story of a love triangle mixed in with subplots galore. Each episode has three scenarios which are conjoined at times in a continuous story, yet at the same time it feels like several different comedy skits. At the beginning, the show is all over the place with only one setting in mind, but quickly progresses to an intertwined story that builds on each part. We see Harima's journey to find himself along with trying to win the love of Tenma, while Tenma tries to the win the love of Karasuma, while Karasuma...is just Karasuma. That's the basics of the main story in a nutshell. Sadly, the ending leaves a lot to be desired, and we hope the producers were planning on a second season when they made it. The show left off on one of the best episodes of the series with a cliff-hanger that ultimately could change the story's main purpose completely... But rather than produce a satisfactory conclusion, the episode zooms out giving a sales pitch for another season. This ending left us, as viewers, unsatisfied and slightly perturbed.

Characters
The characters, with the exception of a few, were quite interesting. Harima evolves as a character through all of his crazy antics, yet at the same time, he manages to retain his usual thick-headedness. He grows from the people he interacts with and shows himself to not be a delinquent, but rather who treats those he values with care. Characters like this are common and well-developed throughout the story. Though in every great cast there will always be a few characters that feel like they don’t fit for people. Tenma and Karasuma are the two we agreed upon as those outliers for School Rumble. Tenma is thick-headed to the point where it isn't funny anymore. Karasuma, though, is the main offender. His character was made to be a bland stereotype, however, the producers went too far, or rather, left too much lacking. He was, to put it mildly, just a weird focus for Tenma’s affection. The writers even realized this and stated that they will have to bring him back at some point since they've had him in the background him for too long. Despite these flaws with two characters, they do go well with the overall group dynamic, and help to produce a few extremely funny scenes at times.

Animation
School Rumble had a generic animation, with rough lines at times. However, all the while the anime never takes itself too seriously, which does show When they want to show an important or touching scene, everything gets brighter and the scene seems to have more work put into the drawings of the background. This animation style branches out into other types like a comedy does at times—going from realistic, to simple, to rough lines, to smooth lines. With these constantly changes, it will keep your attention fixed on the show.

Music
All in all, excluding the music during important scenes and opening and ending, there is nothing memorable about the background music. The more sappy music has an enjoyable soft pop feel to it that is emotional yet uplifting at the same time. This results in not a somber atmosphere, but allows the listener to be happy with a tear in their eye. The opening is a quite catchy song, and easily brings you into the anime as a whole. The opening allows you to see both the serious and comedic nature behind the show. The ending is merely fan service with a surprisingly realistic song. If you pay attention to the lyrics, it talks about what happens throughout the entire show, "Boys will not understand girls." which is how an ending should tie in.

Enjoyment
The comedy was fun and did a lot to give to the overall impression of the anime. The number of Japanese jokes was large, which was both simplistic and funny ranging from cultural to stereotyping; as well as school humour and various religious references. We enjoyed it thoroughly as we followed this tale of growth for a young man.

School Rumble was an enjoyable romp of miscommunication. It was able to entrance you through the characters crazy antics coupled with their relationships with one another and their struggles with said relationships. This cast didn’t need the most well detailed story to bring themselves to life. Despite being well planned with a basic overarching story, we felt that it needed more impact in order to bring out the show’s full potential. The comedy was refreshing and executed, with very little characters giving hiccups in execution along the way. The songs are quite catchy as well, but are certainly nothing remarkable. School Rumble is an exceptional comedy, but if the producers had made some tweaks here and there, it could have been one of the best comedies currently made.

Value
“It takes time to understand people.” And in this show, the cast all seem to have a pre-conceived notions of the ones they love. This anime shows the negative side of crushes—for even if you are attracted to someone, you should never assume you know them entirely. As this series shows, making that mistake will lead to pain in the future, which is a message that everyone can relate to.

A VIA rifle review written by:
Schizoidmouse
Co-reviewer:
Imabooterfly

Scores
Story: 8.3, 9 = 8.6
Characters: 9.3, 9 = 9.1
Animation: 8.2, 7 = 7.6
Music: 8.6, 8 = 8.3
Enjoyment: 9.3, 9 = 9.1
Overall: 8.7, 8.4 = 8.5

in my opinion it is one of the best series for the romantic comedy genre.

the series is set in a high school setting, it may seem a bit boring to some people, however the strength of the series is from the individual character. each of them have unique traits and when mix together the series became interesting and funny. simple setting is sometimes is the best way to make a good series

the jumble up love triangle and crushes between the characters made me laugh. however in the second season, the writer seems to have lot some creativity and the plot is a bit "choppy", but ... still it is fun to watch. the characters a well drawn, the girls are beautiful and the hero is cool(in a weird gangster kindda way)

this is one of the series that managed to reach the finishing line, and have a proper ending to it. in other word it is complete.

i have re watched it several time...and still find it funny every time. it is worth watching if you are in the mood for a light romantic comedy without stressful scenarios

i like the main character(hero@harima) he is so funny, he had several awkward moment with erin which are hilarious and to me their relationship is much more memorable if compared to the harima/tenma relationship which is quite"plain".

salute to the author and the anime team

This anime is great, its sorta just about a bunch of highschoolers lives and random funny things that happen. The main story basicly revolves around kenji harima (one of the main charecters) and his "love" for a girl at school named tenma. He is always getting annoyed(not at her) when she go's all crazy over her major crush karasima (which just happens to be one of the wierdest guys in school.) I highly recommend this anime and really wish they could have made a season 3 (they couldnt because the manga ended.) I think i became sorta attached to it because it was one ... of the first animes i fineshed. One of the things i didnt like was the fact that the second season made me miss the first one. overall id give this anime a 9.0 and i hope you will enjoy watching it as much as i did. Thanks for reading ^_^

If you're looking for a documentary to sate your curiosity about the obscure phenomenon of rumbling schools, look elsewhere. Unfortunately, School Rumble is NOT a show about a school that rumbles. Thankfully, it's a damn good romantic comedy that's actually funny! Don't let the word "romantic" fool you into thinking that it'll be anything like Clannad or Chu2 either. There's no annoying melodrama to be found anywhere, no teenage angst to put a damper on your good mood, or any of that bullshit. There's also no overarching story that forces you to sit through every episode either. This is the kind of show that you ... can sit down and enjoy with your friends whilst laughing your asses off and eating some pizza (even if they're not into anime), and that's the kind of show I just love to watch!

In terms of story, School Rumble is the anime equivalent of a late-90s Cartoon Network show like Dexter's Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, Ed, Edd n Eddy, or The Powerpuff Girls: there's no overarching plot, it's mostly episodic, and nothing of significance happens by the time the season's over. Whereas most romantic comedies to come out in recent years focus more on the romance, School Rumble just tries to make you laugh and if my results are anything to go by, I'm sure you'll get more than just a quiet chuckle every now and then. Then again, comedy is purely subjective and I know damn well there some popular comedies that failed to make me laugh even once (cough cough The Big Bang Theory cough cough) but let's not open up that can of worms right now.

Keeping in line with that late-90s Cartoon Network comedy feel, every episode of School Rumble is told in three ~7-minute long segments that have next-to-nothing to do with each other. Each segment tackles a simple dilemma that one (or both) of our airheads in love will have to put up with like Harima trying to sit next to Tenma during the school field trip or Tenma trying to sketch Kurasama during art class. I can safely say that this approach worked incredibly well to School Rumble's favour. The concept of each segment is incredibly simple, which makes room for a lot of jokes to be told and the segment's just short enough to prevent that concept from getting stale and repetitive. Another upside to this is the fact that you don't have to sit through the entire episode either. I mean, I like to watch segments from episodes of School Rumble on my phone when I'm on the bus to class and by the time the segment's over, the bus is already at the college.

Really, the only complaint I have with the show is that I can't really sit down and watch more than 1-2 whole episodes at a time but that's basically the way I am with comedy shows in general. Whilst I have no problem with comedy, I enjoy shows that have much more to offer than the comedy alone. If I was given the choice to watch an episode of GTO or an episode of School Rumble, I'd probably go with the former since GTO has a lot more to it than just the comedy. But then again, everyone's different so maybe you might be the kind of person who can just sit down and marathon 12 episodes in one sitting.

If you're expecting multi-faceted individuals that parallel the kind of questionable morality that real humans tend to have, look elsewhere. School Rumble's characters aren't compelling individuals in the slightest, nor do they undergo any significant change throughout the course of the series. You know what? That's okay! I mean, Dexter's Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, and The Powerpuff Girls had static characters and yet people love the everliving Christ out of those shows. This doesn't mean that the characters in School Rumble are terrible. In fact, they're far from it. Tenma and Harima are quite possibly some of the most endearing and hilarious airheads in all of comedy anime. If School Rumble ever took itself a little more seriously, you'd bet your sweet ass I'd be shipping the hell out of those two (oh fuck it, I still do!). All of the supporting characters play off of Tenma and Harima exceptionally well too. I never get tired of Tenma's friends and their reactions to her latest scheme to end up with Kurasama. Speaking of Kurasama... there isn't much I really can say about him except he reminds me of Octavius Rex from that episode of Spongebob where Spongebob takes Pearl to prom.

There isn't a lot I can really say about School Rumble beyond the fact that it's funny. I mean, the jokes are well-timed and they actually work, the English dub is some of Funimation's best work to date (especially given that we have amazing voice actors like Her Highness Lucy Christian as Tenma and Brandon Potter as Harima), but that's basically it. Sure, I can go on and talk about the artwork, the animation, and the soundtrack but I'm pretty sure most people don't go into a comedy show for the pinnacle of audio-visual quality.

Overall, I give School Rumble an 8/10. It's not the epitome of comedy gold like Gintama apparently is, but it's still pretty damn funny! If you're in the mood for a comedy show that you can watch with your friends and have a damn good time watching it, this show fits the bill and then some. I mean, you don't even need to know anything about Japanese culture to even understand the jokes in the first place and there isn't much in the way of fan service or juvenile humour at that. This is something you can actually watch with your family provided that they're willing to give it a shot. Unless you have some sort of long-standing visceral hatred of romantic comedies (or comedies in general), there's no reason why you shouldn't give this show a chance. Anyway, that's it for this review. Feedback is always welcome and with that, I'm out. Peace :)

***

Since I haven't done any alternate recommendations in a while, here are a few shows you should check out if you're in the mood for something like School Rumble:
- Ouran HSHC (the English dub is some really hilarious stuff)
- Azumanga Daioh (the quintessential slice-of-life comedy)
- Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu (another hilarious slice-of-life comedy with Luci Christian as the leading lady)
- Great Teacher Onizuka (much more crass and vulgar than School Rumble, but every bit as hilarious. Plenty of sweet and heartwarming moments to go around and hey, it actually has character development! Steve Blum was even cast as Onizuka, what's not to like?!)

You all must understand that I cant stand most Romance animes actually I cant stand any (except for this one), for some reason School rumble defied all logic and immediately became… yes it immediately became my favorite anime of all time.This anime is unique compared to others, it doesn’t fallow a set linear storyline rather its very random, you could say its formula used for success was to endlessly surprise fans like any good comedy should. This is by far the funniest anime I’ve ever seen but to be fair I will point out the good and the bad in this anime.

Story
If you are ... looking for a very sweet, slow and dramatic anime look else where because School rumble takes viewers for one hilarious ride, but the amazing thing is that even though it is primarily a comedy anime, its has heart wrenching moments of drama and romance. Not the kind you will see on soap operas, but the sweet yet sour kind. It has a tragic romance twist to it which keeps fans tuned in for more School Rumble. School Rumble is a Comedy first romance second anime about a 17 year old clumsy girl named Tenma who looks to win the heart of her high school crush Karusuma who happens to be the most boring character ever created. Harima Kenji(some call him the real main character) is the high school delinquent, he actually happens to be my favorite anime character of all time, a very rough and dumb guy yet with a big heart. Harima is in love to with…. Tenma, you can see where this show is going as it starts with a long triangle immediately. Now both Harima and Tenma are trying to win the hearts of their respective crushes but fail miserably every time in the most hilarious way. What really drew me into this show were its side characters fine development, Sawachika Eri friend of Tenma and Tsukamoto Yakumo the sister of Tenma somehow begin to have feelings for the male lead Harima Kenji. That’s when the story gets interesting. Multiple love stories unfolding in the funniest way, with the most random twists and jaw dropping moments.

Characters
What can I say about the characters in this show, they are by far in my opinion the most well thought out and detailed characters I’ve ever seen. Not just the main characters, but even the side characters have deeper story lines and real life like problems in conveying their feelings to the one they like. Everyone in real life has experienced the inability to confess to the one they love, and school rumble takes that into the anime world and this show takes a slice of life and mixes in comedy to keep itself appealing. My favorite characters Harima, Eri and Yakumo who are all very unique and personalities I haven’t seen in other animes. Other side characters like Hanai, Mikoto and Akira are even appealing and interesting. You will certainly fall in love with at least several of these characters before this anime ends.

The Bad
The bad part would be the lack of speed in developing the story line but that was inevitable in a comedy oriented anime, where entertainment comes before storyline. So some viewers will feel like the story isn’t going anywhere I would argue that this is a good thing though, the show builds up the story through all the funny situations to create a feeling amongst fans for a certain outcome calling for a climactic conclusion.

Overall
School Rumble took me on one of the most enjoyable rides I’ve experienced. The re-watch value is very high since there is mountains of comedy in each episode and it just doesn’t get old. The situations are funny and even intensely dramatic at times.

School Rumble is a romantic comedy anime about a delinquent boy who loves a normal looking girl but that girl loves someone else, pretty typical looking plot huh. But if you mix that typical plot with hilarious misunderstanding scenarios, unexpected turn of events, and a vast amount of character development in one show; the result: satisfying experience.


The good
- Character driven anime. You will care more about the main characters as you watch, even the minor characters have proper screen time to get to know them.
- Each episode can make you laugh.
- While each episode has random scenarios, the story still moves forward.
- For a Comedy anime, it shows ... serious scenarios from time to time.
- Very minimal fanservice.
- Very good timing when executing a funny scene.
- There are fighting scenes that meets the standard of awesomeness.


The bad
- Almost a decade old anime
- Noticeable moments that defies the laws of logic
- If you are looking for a more structured story anime, this is not for you.


This is a show that you need to just sit back, relax and enjoy the comical and romantic moments unfold as you watch. In my case I just let my instinct do the laughing and it was enjoyable. If you have an unproductive time to burn and needs to replenish your entertainment thirst, then I recommend you to watch this.

If you excuse you, I’m going to watch season 2 now.

School Rumble is an anime that comes by every so often that has the ability to make you laugh out loud. This can't be accomplished easily by most since comedy is a hard thing to do. Yet, School Rumble is able to successfully accomplish such.

PROS

The best thing about School Rumble is the comedy. It contains some of the funniest jokes that you will ever come upon in any anime. Tenma, the main girl in the story, is the one who seems to be the funniest out of all the characters. She has a dimwitted charm to her that is interesting, yet questionable. Other moments ... and characters have their time to shine as well when the humor comes along, but Tenma, for the most part, contains most of the humor that will make you laugh.

I really enjoyed how each character looked. It made the anime have a very laid-back feel that is often missed in other romantic anime series. At first, I was a bit confused with the choice of style for each character, especially the main male, but I got used to it later on as the series progressed.

CONS

This is yet another anime with a cliche storyline. Guy loves girl, but doesn't know how to tell her. It's been done to death. I have tried to find a way to put this aside, but it is impossible to do. This wasn't a big problem for me since I was so entertained with the humor in the anime. I kind of lost track of the story at one point because I didn't care much for it. Of course, the story never completely goes away.

OVERALL

There isn't much to say about School Rumble. It's a show that is meant to make you laugh. Their is some drama here and there, but I never was invested in such. I didn't care for the characters motivations or goals. This series is all about the comedy. I can't say that enough. Please, if you are planning to watch School Rumble, only do it for the laughs. Everything also is pretty much okay.

I didn't have much expectation for this anime. I was expecting a romance slice of life full of boring filler and cliches.
But this is actually one of the best comedy romance slice of life anime I've ever seen. Im talking 9/10.

Its a funny anime about love triangles and unrequited love.

Harima Kenji the super tough school delinquent is in love with the super cute and childish Tenma Tsukamoto.
But Tenma is in love with the always stone-faced Ouji Karasuma.

And the love triangles dont stop there. There are many more supporting characters also dealing with their own love problems.
But thankfully this is a comedy. The anime ... is not here to try to depress you, instead it has fun with its setup. With crazy hijinks and misunderstandings.
However it is still an endearing story.

All the characters are likeable and well written. Harima Kenji being the most entertaining of them all. The lengths he will go to in order to try to confess his love to the clueless Tenma.
Everyone keeps guessing wrong the girl he loves, no one realizes Tenma is the girl for him.

How can you not like School Rumble!?!

Honestly random plots and twists and of course the miss communication that makes this series a killer to watch.

Nearly most comedies that i have seen in anime have always needed to express or elaborate on sexual innuendos, not school rumble

This is a freash new blend of comedy that i'm going to enjoy for a while

School Rumble, it was said that this was somewhat the inspiration behind Kaguya-Sama. I can see that. What I did not expect was how goddamn good it was going to be.
Look everyone that I know knows that I love a good comedy. The dubbed comedy in this? Out of this world.
Comedy is always subjective, so it cannot always be said my humor will taste the same as yours. What I can guarantee though is you will laugh at this show!
This is up there, if not better than the likes of Nichijou and Danshi Kokose Nichijou. This had the same gag-humor style of SKET-Dance ... and Gintama.

The Story:
It is about a gangster named Harima who likes a girl called Tenma. What unfolds is an insanely hilarious story. Tenma lokes this other guy, and while Harima likes Tenma Harima is always roped into some other love "affair" even though he does not love this other girl. It is hilarious, and questionable that nobody denies love affairs.
The only problem I have with this show is the story is not *as* polished as Aka Akasaka's gem of Kaguya-Sama. The Story is literally carrying Kaguya-Sama.
One thing to note though, I can absolutely tell you that the humor is better in School Rubmel than in Kaguya-Sama. The thing is, Ishigami was my favorite character in Kaguya and he is amazing. The problem is he does not have that many lines.
In School Rumble? Both Harima and Tenma are my favorite characters. AKA the main characters

The Humour:
I cannot understate how good the humor is. The thing is, some people might like it cuz of the "degenerate" humor, or the over-the-top humor used.
I loved it though. I laughed at almost every joke. This era of anime was so good, both this and Sket Dance.

The Animation: This is where it falls a *little* short as it is an older show, but the character design is amazing, and the expressions are AMAZING too. If it was animated modernly, I feel like the animation style would have taken a more conservative approach so I do not think this show would have the same zeal and style as shows back then have. That is why I am glad it was made when it was made. If there was a little better animation, that would have been good.
Also 4:3 was the norm, glad I have VLC that can change that to 16:9 by zooming in (A sin in the anime community maybe but made the show much more watchable)

The Music: It was alright not much to comment. The OP was super good and the first few seconds of ED was quite good as well.

All in all, this was an amazing amazing show. Seriously underrated, and the humour is amazing! Might be a one-time watch as it is not that rewatchable but amazing nevertheless.
8/10!
Thanks!
-CyanCheetah

Main
School Rumble is an awesomely funny show. There are a lot of scenes that are laugh out loud funny and therefore it's worth watching.

Art-Style
Don't expect mind-blowing stuff, it's supposed to be very clean and simple so the animation is average in some parts, but then they do use CG here and there so you can see they are capable of going wild with the art and animation. My guess is they kept it basic looking for it to look more manga-like and the CG is just for visual effect or to really show a character's emotion thru visual experience. Just ... like how they will change the art-style just for dramatic and humorous punctuation.

Sound
I LOVE the OP. Very cheery, positive and happy. It's the type of song that will stick in your head or maybe get you to try to learn the lyrics so you can sing it for karaoke but it may not be a song you would buy and listen to on a daily basis, since it is a bit like children's music. The ED is also a very child-like, but it's a very cool song, it's only child-like on the surface but if you listen to the song and the arrangement it's really sophisticated. That's why I like it.

Story
Again, very simple show using a very simple formula. There are no huge theatrics or confusingly, dramatic plot twists and that's why I love it. Even though there are a lot of dramatic art and stuff sometimes it's really just to accentuate the feelings of the characters within that certain moment. But it's really a light funny story, like reading a comic strip......Kinda like Azumanga Daioh!

Cast/Characters
There are no ugly or annoying characters, they were all attractive and likable in their own way. Sometimes I get confused when it comes to shows with a lot of school girls, because I can't tell if it's for the purpose of it being shoujo or to attract a lot of male viewership. Either way all the girls were very cute and each had their own unique traits so you won't get confused, I liked all 5 of the main girls: Tenma, Yakumo, Akira, Eri and Miko [I also love Lala...she was so aggressive]. There are also so cute guys in this series which I hope come back for part two....if so then I will talk about them more in the part two review.

Worth it or NOT?
This a very funny show. I would recommend this to people who like funny and simplistic shows like Azumanga Daioh, you can watch this and chase those blues away!

Yeah.. It has been veeerry long time since i wrote my latest review. This time, School Rumble! One of my favourite comedy anime so far. Overall, this anime fulfill my needs. Needs of laughter. Yep, I laughed so hard. Many times. The story and characters were awesome. Alright, that’s for short, and.. here are the details.

First, the story. It seems ordinary though, just telling about high school life of Harima Kenji and his friends. He entered high school, met new friends, etc etc. But wait, the main plot of this series is about romantic comedy. Okay, sounds ordinary. The interesting thing was its character relationship. ... Triangle love everywhere, awkward moment everywhere, and unrequited love everywhere. And wow.. just WOW. Hahaha.. many moments made me laughed so hard, especially when it comes to WRONG TIMING that made awkward moments xD. But well, actually this series have random plot. Not really random though, still easy to understand and have interconnections. And you will definitely laugh if you realized it, LOL.

Next, the character. This series have very good character development. Seems real, hilarious, and didn’t look stupid. The main protagonist, Harima, for example. He looks manly, have big motorcycle, and looks tough. Very typical for a delinquent. But once he must face THIS one thing: LOVE, he changed into a different person. He couldn’t express his feelings at all, and got depressed very easily when he got love problems. His trait often trigger misunderstandings. Many misunderstandings means many awkward moments. The final result is.. LAUGHTER. That’s School Rumble. For example, imagine a situation when you were naked in a room and then a girl accidentaly entered your room. What will you do? And then the situation came worse: another girl came and saw you with that girl. That’s awkward. Very awkward but really funny xD.
Third, the artwork and sound. I like both of them. The shounen-style artwork looks very good. The boys look good, the girls look cute and sexy. That’s really satisfying for such an old anime. Not really old, by the way.. LOL. Animation? THIS. I loved it. Very nice and fluid. Just look at the bicycle scene or the arrow scene. They were well-done and awesome! About the OST, not really good, IMO. The only song I liked is “Scramble” by Yui Horie (Sawachika Eri’s seiyuu). Very good and catchy/

Enjoyment? Well, as a fan of comedy anime, if an anime can made me laugh, I enjoyed it VERY much. This series somehow always found a way to make me laugh so hard. The joke, punchlines, were just.. really funny and epic. Moreover, its story is quite close to real life. I liked that kind of anime.. xD

Last, this anime is very recommended for you who loved comedy anime. I mean, real comedy. Not just shitty fanservice-based perverted jokes. Meh. This series offered much better jokes than those “comedy” animes. LOL xD

Enjoy! :D