School Rumble review

I’m a little late watching School Rumble but better late than never I guess…

*Just to note, this is a review of the first TV season of School Rumble only*

School Rumble is one of those comedic, slice-of-life high school series that’s never too serious nor too plot-centered (if you could say it has a plot). Like most other anime in its genre, there’s no real central conflict; it basically follows the individual relationships and antics of the different characters in their day-to-day high school lives. It may sound like a very typical high school comedy series but School Rumble manages to distinguish itself by having humor and characters done right.

A lot of humor in anime tends to fall short when it relies on having normally serious or neutral characters suddenly doing randomly hyperbolic, comedic slapsticks purely for the sake of putting humor in an otherwise serious and realistic show. Some anime can get this humor to come out right (even if the show isn’t a comedy series), however most humor like this fails pretty badly. But one thing that makes School Rumble unique is that even though the humor can get pretty silly (like the wacked-out sports festival or Harima’s pirate adventure) it never gets too wildly hyperbolic or slapstick. Instead of having humor derived from the characters “cartoonish-ly” abusing each other or going ballistic over this and that in a cartoony way, most of the humor in School Rumble relies on well-timed gags and the viewer’s knowledge of the characters’ little quirks and flaws, much like the humor of other good slice-of-life comedies like Azumanga Daioh and Lucky Star (however I find the humor in School Rumble to be a bit more universal and much less subtle than those two).

Another plus for School Rumble is that it faithfully sticks to being a comedy series and never gets too serious. That’s not to say it can’t get a little dramatic, which is always the case when you have a show with so many unrequited love relationships and love triangles, but it never gets too angst-ridden. The characters also stay within this mood and never get too seriously emotional. Some anime comedies can pull off major drama or violence without it feeling too out of place (though most can’t). But being just a light comedy through and through suits School Rumble fine =) I’ll admit that the show can get kind of silly for my taste and some of the jokes don’t always work out, but there’s definitely enough hilarious parts to keep it going!

And besides the well executed humor, the other main good point about School Rumble is that it has a very entertaining cast of characters. There’s enough characters, both main and supporting, to always give the show something new to do, but not too many that it gets complicated. Most of the characters are not extremely well-developed, but they’re definitely developed enough to suit the roles they play. And of course there are a few good memorable characters too. Yakumo is my favorite; the perfectly sweet, thoughtful sister. Harima is also a great character; despite being a delinquent, he is not your stereotypical obnoxious, arrogant, yakuza-type. Instead he’s actually a very decent guy with unique attributes, like his manga work and his connection with animals. It takes a handful of episodes but once you get to know the School Rumble cast they’re quite likable and fun too watch ^_^

Well, I guess that’s all I have to say about the first season of School Rumble. Aesthetic-wise, the animation is pretty good and the music is okay, but the show’s real charm is its well-placed humor and enjoyable characters. It’s not the funniest anime comedy, but it’s definitely funnier than most other shows of its type =D

By the way, I’m planning to watch the first OVA and I know the second OVA is now airing and is being fansubbed but it doesn’t seem like the second TV series has been released in English yet. Does anyone know where I can find it subtitled online?