Spoilers Ahead...
Chapter 5 Summary: Harima is facing off against a whole gang of punks, and takes them down with ease. He narrates that he refuses to lose because he is a man in love! Later, in class, the other students are shocked and afraid when they see Harima in class, except for Tenma, who tells him to not use his desk to crush briefcases.
Afterward, the class takes a test. Harima struggles with the test, but notices Tenma taking hers, not stressing at all. He also notices that she forgot to put her name on the test. He then tries various ways to get Tenma to notice this fact; mouthing it out to her, yelling that he forgot to put his name on his test in hopes that she would get the hint, but they don't work. He then writes a not stating she forgot to put her name on it, she notices it, but she still doesn't get the hint. Tenma copies what Harima wrote as an answer on the test. Harima's last idea is to place her name on his test, having a fantasy about it and how she would fall for him in finding out that he did this. He goes through with it, but it backfires on him; and Tenma for that matter as the test she receives back has a zero score. She's shocked, and Harima prays for forgiveness.
Chapter 6 Summary: Harima comments on his past and how his life was changed when he fell in love with Tenma. When he arrives at his shoe locker in school, he receives a challenge letter from another student, Tennoji Noboru, and he rips it up. Later, he puts a love letter in Tenma's locker, asking her to meet him behind the gym at 4 o'clock.
At that time, Harima arrives behind the gym, finding Tenma waiting for him. He also finds someone else there, Tennoji, waiting for him as well. While waiting, he notices Tenma, makes some small talk, notices her letter, takes it from her and reads it. Harima is ticked that that he read his letter. Tenma likes it, however; upon hearing that, Harima notes that it is the happiest he's felt ever since falling in lover with her. Tennoji lies to her and says he wrote the letter, but Tenma rejects him, saying that she likes someone else. He's heartbroken. Harima arrives, offers some sympathy, and then beats him up and knocks him out; then mocks him for the way that Tennoji read his letter.
Review/Analysis: Chapter 5 is the funniest I've read in this series so far. The not-quite-direct contact between Harima and Tenma was amazing, he's trying to do a service for her so that she writes her name down, but she never figures it out. The punchline at the end with Tenma receiving a zero grade shows off two things: She's dense, and Harima's a moron, intellectually speaking
I liked chapter six as well. What it served was to introduce a rival character for Harima. Tennoji does fill that role somewhat, but he seems to be a standard-fare, one dimensional delinquent. He mocks Harima's poem, but he does not know that Harima himself wrote it since he didn't sign it. I only wonder what would have happened if he actually did sign it. I think it would have killed the story since 1) Tennoji gets punched out earlier, and 2) Tenma rejects Harima, since she already is in love with Karasuma. Not signing that letter, in fact, continues the story since Harima does not realize (yet) that Tenma is not in love with him.
These chapters primarily featured Harima, with Tenma in the background more or less. He tries to reach out to her in both chapters, but those attempts backfired badly; the zero score on the test that he took, but wrote her name on there, and the misunderstanding with Tennoji and the love letter. Harima's attempts at getting her attention, while they fail like Wile E. Coyote, serves as a source of comedy. Tenma's attempts with Karasuma has a similar effect of failure, but it keeps us laughing. But there is a possibility of these attempts getting old to us after a while, so hopefully a slightly different tract is taken sometime in the future, but then again, the same method's are not being done over and over, which I like in a gag manga. For now though, establishing characters and settings is paramount, as it builds a foundation for things to come (I know what happens later on, so I would think that this is a good assessment.)
I find that these chapters here establish a common theme- misunderstanding; along with the sub-theme of putting your name on something, as seen with the test and with the letter, which leads to Harima placing Tenma's name on his test, and Tennoji lying about the letter. I see the theme of misunderstanding as a primary building block for most of the events in the series.
I like where the series is going, but the only thing I find wrong is the lack of a continuous story. It's all self contained in each single chapter; not a bad thing in a gag manga, but not so much in a romantic comedy. I see this story taking on more of a romantic comedy genre at some point. I think Kobayashi-sensei understands this as well, but we'll see what happens.
Let's see what happens in the next two chapters. Until then, God bless.
Spoilers Ahead!
Chapter 3 synopsis: After class assignments have been determined, seat assignments are next and will take place the next day. Tenma, of course, is anxious, as she wants to be close to Karasuma. Later, at home, Yakumo doesn't quite understand her sister's anxiety, stating that seat assignments are based on luck.
Afterward, Tenma decides to show off her (lack of) psychic power. The next day, at school, she contemplates the best possible seats within Karasuma's vicinity (from most preferred to least: behind him, next to him, diagonal behind, diagonal in front, directly in front). However, he is seated in the back corner, thus, sadly for Tenma, limiting her options. She can only draw one lot in order to obtain her desired seat (in front), and she does, lot 6, in fact, but she finds someone else sitting there. The unnamed student tells her that she drew lot 9 as shown my a marking showing such, and she is assigned to the front and center seat, much to her dismay. Fortunately for Tenma, the unnamed student asks to switch seats with her, citing poor eyesight. Tenma is overjoyed at being seated by Karasuma.
In a bonus segment, Harima managed to convince the faculty to let him advance to the second year. Not only that, he was also placed in class 2-C, same as Tenma. During seat assignments, he notices Tenma in the front row, and he asks another student to switch with him, citing his own poor eyesight, but is shocked to find the student who switched with her. He quickly changes his mind, noting his sunglasses, and decides not to switch, and returns to his original seat, next to Tenma in fact. He promises himself that he would not cause anymore trouble.
Chapter 4 synopsis: After the class and seating assignment ordeals, Tenma goes to the library to read up on love, ranging from romance novels, to love psychology, to...The Art of War by Sun Tzu (misread by Tenma as Sonko). After reading a passage of knowing one's self (from aforementioned title), she describes herself, average/normal in looks and style, below average/substandard in everything else. Although she feels down, Tenma decides not to give up. While reading further, she has trouble understanding one phrase, and asks someone for help, that person being Karasuma of all people, shocking her. She then decides to ask his help on pronouncing the word "beloved", but her answer comes from someone else, frustrating her. She picks up another book and asks him a question regarding what a beekeeper's extractor is for, hoping to hear him say "honey", but she shows him the wrong piece of equipment in the book, and Karasuma answers "Chaff", sending Tenma into a mental abyss of despair.
Review/Analysis: Short form review: gag manga, it does have a subtle plot, however, I do like the direction. Long form: Kobayashi-sensei in chapter 3 further establishes Tenma's character, she tries to use psychic powers on cards, which isn't successful, but she can bend spoons. He also demonstrates the Tenma is a very lucky person as shown in the seat switch with the unknown student. Kobayashi might be setting up future plot lines with the characters in their current seats. Harima didn't make an appearance outside of the bonus page, but he somehow managed to get promoted to the 2nd year. This segment is all comedy in showing his seating ordeal, with him ending up next to Tenma after his own switching antics, which I found interesting. Chapter four appears to be designed to give Tenma additional characteristics, for instance, we now know she is not athletic or academically proficient, in addition to her determination already established. There are a few comedic moments here, all of which are interesting, showing the wrong book chapter to Karasuma, or misreading the kanji for Sun Tzu (Chinese pronunciation) as Sonko (Japanese pronunciation) thus showing why she thought The Art of War was written by a woman (ko indicates a female Japanese name). The downside of this chapter is that it does not accomplish anything other than providing additional characteristics for Tenma, and reinforcing her determination, the situation, while realistic, seems very gaggy. The same goes for chapter 3, involving both Harima and Tenma with the seat assignment gag, but the upside is that it appears to be a set up for future plots and gags (they aren't always bad). I do look forward to more, but I would like to see something more plot oriented, as opposed to gag oriented; ideally, I would like to see a reversal where the gags are secondary to the plot, but as I mentioned earlier, I do like the direction so far. Let's see what happens in chapters 5 & 6.
Until then, God bless.
Alright, before I get on with the review, a few notes- I'll give a synopsis of each chapter, then I'll give my thoughts after that point; also, there will be spoilers, so read with caution. By the way, all names will be in Japanese name order, family name then given name.
Chapter 1: It all begins with one phrase: "Love...what a weird word!" It is here that we are introduced to our main character, Tsukamoto Tenma, a second year high school student, a young lady in love. She hopes to be in the same class as her love interest, Karasuma Oji. And, in fact, they are in the same class, 2-C. But her hopes are apparently dashed when Karasuma says he will be transferring out in two days, leaving Tenma devastated. She will not give up, however; but she does not know what to do. That is, until she decides to simply write exactly how she feels. Now, she has some trouble at first, but eventually writes her note, or rather, book, much to her dismay. She then rewrites it, this time as a scroll, and places it into Karasuma's locker. He reads it, and reads it, and reads it some more; he then rereads it, finding that the person who wrote it didn't write their name on it, again leaving her devastated. But, her depression is assuaged when she finds out that Karasuma is going to delay his transfer for one year.
Chapter 2: This one begins the same way, but with a slightly modified phrase: "Love...what a weird friggin' word." We meet our other main character, who just finished beating up a bunch of hoodlum. His name is Harima Kenji, a delinquent who goes to the same school as Tenma, and is in love with her as well. He, like Tenma with Karasuma, hopes to be in the same class as her, but he is told by an unknown student that he is in 2-D, but it's actually someone else whose name sounds very similar to his own. Harima punches out the unknown student, looks again for his name, and finds that it isn't with any second year classes. Harima wonders why, but is told by a teacher that he was held back as a first year student, and he remembers, disdainfully.
Thoughts: The short form of this review would simply state that these first two chapters served to establish the two main characters as well as establishing a contrast between them, and was done very well. I will give you a deeper version...right now! In chapter 1 we were introduced to Tsukamoto Tenma, a nice, determined girl, but seemingly nervous and forgetful, as seen with her note to Karasuma, first a book, then a very long scroll. That note, though, changed Karasuma's mind on transferring right away. We were also introduced to Tenma's younger sister, Yakumo, and that's really it, although, it is shown that she doesn't quite understand her sister's anxiety, but is supportive of her older sister.
In chapter 2, we are introduced to Harima Kenji, who is, fo all intents and purposes, a delinquent. We first see him after beating up some guys in some alleyway, he shows up to school in a not-school-approved t-shirt under is unbuttoned uniform coat, and punches out a couple of people. Kobayashi Jin-sensei did a very good job establishing these two characters, along with their contrasting characteristics. However, they do have a common trait, love, Tenma with Karasuma and Harima with Tenma. This would suggest a common theme that should continue throughout the series, but otherwise, no additional plot lines are formed here, though, but oh well, it's only the beginning. Now, I've read several volumes ahead, so I know much of what happens, but I (try to) look at this as though I'm reading it for the first time. One last point on the characters, I'll say it flat out, they're funny, the situations seem logical (maybe), which amplifies the hilarity. I look forward to more laughs.
The artwork in these first two chapters is nothing really remarkable, it could be better, but this is Kobayashi Jin-sensei's first go at a manga, so I'll cut him some slack. I can tell you though, from reading further, it becomes much better. But looking at it from a first time reader's perspective, it's not bad, but leaves a little to be desired.
That's all for the first two chapters of School Rumble. I'll post the review for the next two chapters tomorrow. Until then, God bless.
Chapter 5 Summary: Harima is facing off against a whole gang of punks, and takes them down with ease. He narrates that he refuses to lose because he is a man in love! Later, in class, the other students are shocked and afraid when they see Harima in class, except for Tenma, who tells him to not use his desk to crush briefcases.
