SCHOOL RUMBLE VOLUME 10
February 7th 2010 22:31
Category: Graphic Novels/Comics
Publisher; Del Rey Ballantine Books
Story & Art by: Jin Kobayashi
Translated & Adapted by: William Flanagan
Lettering by: Michaelis/Carpelis Design
Cost: AU$20.95/US$10.95
Zany, wacky are two terms that immediately spring to mind after reading this particular high school romantic comedy penned and illustrated by Jin Kobayashi. This particular work I managed to pick up at my local library on a weekend that looked like it was going to be full of torrential rain and was, fortunately the deluge from the heavens managed to occur after I had borrowed this and several other works and gotten home. Talk about good luck, especially as I said to the librarian it was no doubt going to pour as I had a) no umbrella and b) no jacket, two ingredients that on a severely overcast day can lead to getting a drenching. Still as I said the Force was with me and I managed to make it back to my humble abode dry and begin to read this work.
Essentially much of School Rumble’s drama revolves around a love triangle, albeit one with a marked difference as the various members of the triangle are for the most part completely unaware that they are actually in this particular situation. Our main female protagonist, Tenma Tsukamoto is deeply in love with Oji Karasuma who has no idea of Tenma’s feelings for him, meanwhile badass Kenji Harima has fallen for Tenma; the only problem is that Tenma has no idea that she is the object of his affections. Fertile ground for a traditional comedy of errors, but like I say the various members of the triangle are completely oblivious to the fact that they are in a triangle for the most part, only Kenji begins to see something of the situation when he finds out that Tenma has a thing for Karasuma. Of course in the case of Karasuma he has no idea what’s going on at all, in fact for someone who is so intellectually savvy he is completely oblivious to the other things.
Added into the mix are Tenma’s friends Eri, Akira and Mikoto along with her younger sister Yakumo. Then there are the rest of the characters who comprise class 2-C at the high school which the three attend, people like Imadori, Yoshidayama, Hanai, and Ichijo. Then there are students from other classes, Togo and Lala from class 2-D as well as teachers Tani sensei, Itoko sensei and Tae sensei just to make you realise that this is a work with a cast that would put a Cecil B DeMill production to shame. Normally such a cast could be potentially unwieldy and actually cause more problems than it would solve, but it just goes to show that the artist is not only a talented illustrator but a master storyteller as well. He effortlessly weaves his various characters into and out of the multitude of little vignettes that he presents for our entertainment.
The two key portions in this particular volume are a Sleeping Beauty play staged during the school festival and the emergence of a woman’s basketball team. These two arcs comprise the bulk of the drama and frankly they’re a real hoot, laugh I almost rolled off my bed in paroxysms of hilarity. No doubt you’d be wondering just what I would find so funny and my answer to that is its best if you read this particular work yourself, I don’t think I could sufficiently explain it well enough for the humour to remain. Or maybe I just have a strange sense of humour; I’m one of those few people who doesn’t find someone getting hit in the genitals by a plank, small child on a bike or with a football to be amusing in the least. Nor do I find Funniest Home Video shows to be funny; in fact I’d go so far to say its false advertising to put the word funny in there at all. Here endeth the sermon.
Another interesting little aside is the fact that one of the characters, Aso, looks like a younger version of Colonel Roy Mustang from Fullmetal Alchemist. Perhaps I’m reading to much into, but in my opinion he does look like the infamous Flame Alchemist from that series. School Rumble Volume 10 was a good read, although I have to say at the price it sells for I’m glad the library had a copy of it, twenty dollars for a single volume of manga is a little bit too much frankly.
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