School Rumble: Volume 4

Introduction

Hiatuses aren't good. They are especially bad for relationships, and when we last left School Rumble, Mikoto and Eri had just had a falling out during a study date at Tenma's, over a misunderstanding about who Kenji Harima was more interested in. That raised Tenma's ire, which is why Kenji happened to overhear her loudly proclaim that he was the lowest of the low, sending him hurtling towards depression. The thing about relationships and friendships is that you have to patch them up quickly, lest they fester and turn into righteous resentment. Then you end up on the Jeremy Kyle show. Determined to save the characters from a fate worse than a fate worse than death, I did the only thing I could; I bought volume 4 to find out what happens next. Alas, with Revelation currently stuck in neutral, and with no sign of more School Rumble on their immediate schedules, I have had to import the Region 1 Funimation disc instead. Now do as I say. Don't do as I do. Support your local anime industry and wait for the UK release… I typed that without a hint of irony. I think I'll run for parliament next.


School Rumble is a slapstick, laugh-packed comedy, something that the UK anime scene could always use more of in my opinion. What's more, it's not one of those 'teenaged boy, surrounded by a harem of girls, crossed purposes, compromising situations' comedies. It's the second year of high school for Tenma Tsukamoto, and it's time for her to confess her feelings to model student Oji Karasuma. Unfortunately he doesn't know she exists. Kenji Harima is a teenaged delinquent, known for his gangster tendencies, his aggressive attitude, and his motorcycle, who has up till now been a school dropout. That's until he fell for Tenma Tsukamoto. Now he's a full time school student, attitude and all, determined to make his feelings known to Tenma. Unfortunately she doesn't know he exists. The battle rumbles on.


This is the US Funimation release of volume 4 of School Rumble. The next four episodes are presented on this disc, along with some extra goodies.

15. Summer, Friendship, and Fireworks!
Harima's trying his hand at manga again, although this time producing something a little more touchy-feely. It's the sort of thing he'd like to keep discreet, but bumping into Eri isn't a good thing. In fact his instincts cause him to run. Then he bumps into Mikoto, and things go from bad to worse, as Eri and Mikoto are still angry at each other. It doesn't look like watching the fireworks together will be any fun, but when it turns out that Mikoto's childhood crush Masahiro Kouzu is coming back to town, it seems that Tenma will be watching the fireworks all by herself.


16. But It's the Tea Club… It's the Tea Club, But… It's the Tea Club, So…
Tenma, Yakumo, Akira, Mikoto and Eri are going camping. It's a tea club outing, and Akira has made sure that Tea Club member Hanai has the wrong date. When he finds out that Yakumo is there, he's determined to catch up, and he hitches a ride with Harima and Imadori, who have their own particular female interests to pursue. After meeting Harima when he repaired their air conditioning, Yakumo has become fascinated with the enigmatic boy, but Tenma doesn't want her little sister talking to him, especially as she's still mad at him for apparently toying with Eri and Mikoto's feelings. Harima doesn't know any of this, he's still only got eyes for Tenma, so when she sets up a scavenger hunt with him as her partner, she thinks it's an opportunity to give him a piece of her mind. For Kenji Harima, it's as if all his Christmases have come at once.


17. Mid-Summer Giraffe's Night Out! End Of Summer Party! Summer's Over - Back to School!
They're all home from camp now, but they have a problem, there is a giraffe named Pyotr in the school gym. It's not the best place for such an animal, and Yakumo and Sara decide to take Pyotr for a walk, which is when Pyotr is reunited with his master Kenji. Harima had a menagerie gravitate to him when he became a fortune-teller, and now the animals are causing a problem for everyone. The news choppers are hovering overhead, and hunters are beginning to flock to the area. They will have to come up with a plan.


18. Karen's Love, Not Yet! Karen's Love, Little by Little! Karen's Love, and Then!
Way back in the previous volume, as they worked together for a removals company, Imadori had somehow asked shy, timid, wrestler Karen Ichijou out on a date. It's time now for him to deliver, but he's completely forgotten. It's okay, as just five minutes in her company causes him to ask her out again, it's almost a Pavlovian reflex. Tenma's determined to make Ichijou's date with Imadori a memorable one, going as far as donning a wrestler's mask when a match conflicts with their date. To help Ichijou, she gives her three bags of tricks to use when the conversation appears to dry up. Meanwhile Kenji Harima is growing his beard.

Picture

It's a 4:3 regular transfer, NTSC for the Region 1, with no immediate problems visible. Everything is clear and sharp, there are plenty of primary colours, and I noticed no compression, or even the aliasing that usually rears its head in the credit sequences. It's a fine transfer. The animation, as you would expect from a comedy, remains straightforward and simplistic, with pleasant character designs, and fairly non-descript artwork. It's all very energetic, and does more than enough to get the comedy across.

Sound

You get a choice of DD 2.0 English and Japanese, along with translated English subtitles and a signs only track. The show gets a catchy and quirky set of themes that are impossible to get out of your head once you hear them. The dialogue is clear, and the stereo sufficient for the show. Which language you choose depends on your usual preferences, but for what it's worth, I found the show much funnier in Japanese, the timing and the flow just seemed to work better.

Extras

School Rumble comes in an Amaray style case with a reversible sleeve. It also has, slipped inside with the usual advertising bumf, a set of Christmas themed, School Rumble fridge magnets. You'd never get those with VHS tapes.

Another something that we don't get with the UK release are multi-angle credit sequences, and depending which language you select, you'll see the credits in that language as well. You'll also find the usual jacket picture and textless credits (a new end sequence too).


The disc autoplays with a trailer for Kodocha, and you'll find further trailers for My Santa, Instant Star, Peach Girl, Suzuka, The Clamp Double Feature, Ragnarok, School Rumble and the Z-Store.

Once again there are two interviews, the first lasting 8 minutes with Ichijou's voice actress, Yuuka Nanri, and the second with Itoko's voice actress, Yuu Asakawa lasting 5 minutes. These are pretty standard EPK stuff, with questions about the show, and their characters repeated for both actresses.

Conclusion

The UK hiatus between volumes had let School Rumble fade from my mind somewhat, so as a preparation for this fourth volume, I watched the first three over again. There is certainly rewatch value in this show, although I did find the gags and humour had diminished a tad the second time around, something that is apt to happen in comedy. What I wasn't expecting was that I was able to appreciate the story a lot more, and see that there is some heart underneath the comedy when it comes to the various relationship shenanigans. That certainly bodes well for the rest of the series, and it meant that I started off looking forward to this fourth volume.


The first thing that has to be done is to resolve the tiff between Mikoto and Eri. As I said, it's unwise to leave a friendship hovering at the brink of an eternal grudge, and quite frankly 11 months is more than enough. But it does take a while to accomplish in a gentle and rather melancholy first episode. The comedy here comes from the fact that it's Kenji Harima who is responsible for the tiff, and he's utterly unaware of the fact, blissful in his single-minded devotion to Tenma. We finally meet the object of Mikoto's affection, the upperclassman she aims to be reunited with in college as he returns home. Of course, a schoolgirl fantasy never stands up in the face of brutal reality, and as is so often the case, where all of Tenma's peacemaking failed, Eri and Mikoto are reconciled by Mikoto's need for a consoling hug.


This leaves Kenji's depression over Tenma's rejection to resolve, and that happens in the second episode, easily the funniest on the disc, as the gang continue their summer vacation and go camping. The girls attempt to ditch the guys for a little peace and quiet, but it isn't long before Kenji, Hanai and Imadori show up to show them just how useful boys are in the campsite. Tenma's sister Yakumo became fascinated with Kenji when they first met, as here was a boy that her telepathic abilities didn't work on, and who had a preternatural affinity for animals. She wants to talk with him some more, which rings alarm bells for protective Tenma, who failing to pick up on any of Kenji's hints, thinks that he is a player who is toying with Eri and Mikoto's affections. It takes a rain soaked scavenger hunt to resolve things.


By far the most surreal development in School Rumble was Harima's almost biblical wanderings after his first rejection from Tenma, leading him to meet an attractive older woman, create a manga, and then become a fortune-teller surrounded by a menagerie of wild animals. It turns out that this wasn't just a fevered dream, and that the menagerie is real, and poses quite a problem in the third episode. A career as an urban Tarzan is pretty unrealistic, and when the press get wind of the story, things look bleak for the animals. Fortunately Kenji's brother Shuuji has a plan. We're introduced to Kenji's younger brother in this episode, and just like Kenji, Shuuji's drawn to the Tsukamoto household. He's totally bewitched by Yakumo, and turns up on their doorstep one day during a downpour, drenched and looking like a runaway. What's surprising is that Yakumo takes him in, even though she knows what he's thinking.


Akira's by far the most enigmatic of Tenma's friends, and that isn't helped by the mini-movie at the start of the final episode, which purports to explain what she did on her summer holidays, although it is surprisingly funny. Otherwise this is another funny episode focusing on Ichijou and Imadori. Ichijou is the unfeasibly strong wrestler who is also utterly girly and bashful. Imadori is the serial girl-hound who is constantly annoying the female population of the school and the surrounding area with his unwanted approaches. The funny thing is that while he's utterly intimidated by Ichijou, he can't help but ask her out, even when he has absolutely no intention to. And so the two end up on a date together, with the help of Tenma's good-natured meddling.


School Rumble is still delicious character comedy, but the more it progresses, the more I realise that the supporting cast are just as interesting, if not more so than the central trio of Tenma, Kenji and Karasuma. In fact, Karasuma only shows up in one scene on this disc, only for a quick sight gag. It's the people around them, the fluid relationships and the fast paced way that their stories evolve that are so engaging. Eri and Mikoto's troubled friendship is much more emotionally engaging, while Yakumo is the more interesting of the Tsukamoto siblings. She has greater chemistry with Kenji, and I have more interest in seeing how their encounters progress than I do with Kenji's brick wall of a pursuit of Tenma, funny though it usually is. School Rumble works because of its extended cast, where many series could easily be hamstrung by it. There's so much going on in each episode that it's hard not to have moments that you appreciate more than others. I find that while the Kenji, Karasuma, Tenma triangle may provide much of the comedy, it's actually pretty dry emotionally, especially as 'A is unaware of B is unaware of C' appears to be an inviolable rule of the show. There's much more emotional satisfaction to be had from the other characters, whose relationships and friendships actually do progress. Volume 4 maintains the quality of the series with another set of engaging and entertaining episodes.