School Rumble

Warning: vague spoilers for the ending ahead.

School Rumble is a rom-com masterpiece that unfortunately suffers from a poor conclusion.

The narrative is straightforward but well-executed. The two main characters' attempts to get closer to their crushes are bolstered by excellent comedy, outlandish scenarios, and an endearing ensemble of supporting characters. It's packed with parodies of Japanese rom-coms, which can be highly entertaining if you catch the references. I advise holding off on reading School Rumble until you've experienced a few romance manga or anime, as missing these references will result in losing much of the humor.

The characters are the manga's strongest asset. None of them are overly complex, but they don't need to be. They're enjoyable, distinct, and weave an absurd yet delightful web of infatuations. Harima, in particular, stands out as one of the most uniquely amusing protagonists in rom-com history, combining his tough delinquent exterior with surprisingly pure romantic ideals.

Toward the manga's conclusion, the tone becomes slightly more serious, which it manages quite well. However, the ending itself leaves many loose ends and appears almost contradictory between its final chronological chapters.

If you have a basic grasp of rom-com tropes and can accept that several plot lines remain unresolved, you'll adore School Rumble. Everything present is fantastic. The sole issue lies in what's absent.

First review here, I felt compelled to write a review after finishing this very lengthy manga because the anime holds a special place in my heart.

I decided to read the manga after rediscovering the anime and falling in love with it all over again. My goal was to continue the story from where the second season of the anime left off, and I had heard that reading the manga was preferable to watching the two-episode OVA for the third season. So, I embarked on this journey.

Story - 6
Honestly, reading this manga was quite frustrating for me. Its length made me yearn for it to be over already. Additionally, the manga often repeated itself, which only added to my frustration. Let’s be clear: the manga does have an ending, but many readers were unhappy with it. Personally, I found the conclusion fitting, so I can't complain too much. However, I do wish the story hadn't taken 300 chapters to reach its end. I understand why some people were upset about this.

Art - 7
I don’t have much to say about the artwork. It was decent but didn’t particularly stand out.

Character - 9
I absolutely adore the characters in School Rumble (Miko-chan, I love you), and they were the main reason I wanted to continue the story through the manga. The issue is that they have very little room to grow because their primary role is to set up punchlines. This might be nitpicking, but I genuinely care about these characters and wished they had more depth.

Enjoyment - 6
The repetitiveness and length truly highlighted what I perceived as poor or lazy writing in the story. I believe this manga would be far more enjoyable if the story had been tighter and better planned. Alternatively, I dream of a world where there’s a main manga with a condensed version of the story and a separate side manga where we could explore the characters' lives more deeply. Of course, I understand that real-world factors shaped the manga we got, but dreaming doesn’t hurt, right?

Overall - 6
Despite everything, I still love School Rumble. But the manga did take its toll on me. It worked well as an anime, but in such a long manga format, it falls short. There are still many good stories in the manga that didn’t make it into the anime, and I’m glad to have experienced them. However, I’d probably recommend skipping the manga and letting the story of School Rumble end after the second season of the anime without a conclusion. It's better to end strong rather than drag on unnecessarily.

School Rumble brings an innovative concept by featuring two protagonists of opposite genders, each given equal plot time. However, in this particular book, they are not equally engaging as characters, for better or worse.

Firstly, the show functions well as a comedy, occasionally eliciting a decent chuckle. Nonetheless, it doesn't stand out strongly as a good romance.

The series follows the "infinite romance" trope where characters exert considerable effort to win over their crushes, but ultimately achieve nothing. This pattern continues throughout most of the book and while it serves its comedic purpose, it becomes repetitive and boring from a romantic perspective.

Returning to the two protagonists, one is significantly more interesting than the other. You might be highly tempted to follow the story of one character but feel indifferent towards the other, leading to a loss of engagement and increased boredom when the less interesting character dominates the scenes.

Although there are two main protagonists, the narrative shifts through various perspectives. Each character has their own problems and offers a unique outlook on the passage of time and portrayal of other characters, adding a bit more life to the story. Thus, it provides a decent zest.

In summary, School Rumble is a solid comedy but only a moderate romance. There's a clear disparity between the two main characters in terms of how enjoyable their stories are, and readers may find the plot repetitive or be dissatisfied with the rushed ending that leaves much to be desired.

tl;dr: A humorous manga with a vast array of characters and an intricate relationship web, but it doesn't progress much and ultimately feels like it just sort of ended without resolving anything.

School Rumble is a manga that revolves around a large cast of characters and their complex relationships, mostly presented in a lighthearted comedic style. The variety of characters is impressive, each bringing unique qualities to the table. The intricate web of relationships features two main intertwined love triangles, generating plenty of engaging stories. The comedy is solid overall, and the writing also manages to incorporate some powerful serious moments that delve into the deeper aspects of character relationships.

However, the biggest flaw in the manga is its lack of change over time. While it excels at developing a fascinating network of crushes, none of these develop into actual relationships by the end, leaving everything unresolved. One would expect at least one couple to emerge from such a rich ensemble, but this never happens. Additionally, there's minimal character development, with most characters remaining static throughout, leading initially amusing and likable characters, particularly Harima, to become frustrating.

As a result, even though the stories are generally good, they start to feel aimless and repetitive, making the narrative drag. Similarly, the humor relies heavily on misunderstandings involving relationships, which eventually becomes less funny despite consistent quality. Part of this is due to the manga's length and slow pacing, using many small panels and lots of text, despite being only 23 volumes long. It also includes numerous unrelated side stories, further elongating the experience.

This culminates in an ending that resolves little. It addresses one of the main relationship triangles but leaves the other entirely untouched. An epilogue series called School Rumble Z attempts to tie up loose ends, but it's so rushed that its effectiveness is questionable. Even if the content is fine, how rushed it feels makes it unsatisfying. Z does touch on another side relationship slightly, but most of the relationship web remains unresolved. Consequently, the ending feels abrupt and inadequate, making the entire manga seem pointless and stagnant. The artwork wasn't particularly strong either.