Now that was a much more understandable first episode.

……..no, not really.

Hahaha but it was an interesting episode, for sure.

This was just an “introduction to the characters” episode. It wasn’t much but now I have a good feel for Haruhi’s crew.

Haruhi is every bit as weird as I read about… and I love it. She hasn’t quite displayed a completely unique personality but she’s definitely not a cliche. Yuki and Mikuru easily fit cliches (for now) but this isn’t called “The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi and some other girls” so no biggie. Heh…

I can definitely see myself enjoying this series since Haruhi is an interesting character… but that’s only part of it.

Kyon isn’t a perverted idiot. He’s well-spoken, patient, level-headed, and almost… mature. Sure, this probably won’t turn into a romantic comedy but it’s so refreshing to watch any type of anime set in a school where the male MC isn’t a complete jackass.

I give him a Haruhi thumb’s up!

I surely hope he doesn’t end up as an idiot, though. Even if Haruhi is the most fantabulous character in all of anime, if he turns into a worthless cliche, I’ll end up dropping this series.

Sonuva, Kyon was a good guy and I still ended up bitchin’ about whiny male MCs… and there was none in this episode… WTF…

(Yes, it’s the Japanese name. I’m using it cuz it’s shorter… plus it rolls off the tongue nicer than The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi)

I put off this series when it first came out then went on my lil anime break and completely forgot about it. Since I’m gettin’ back into things, I definitely shouldn’t pass up something that’s so widely popular, should I? I’ll be watching this on DVD as they get released but will probably blog them by episodes opposed to discs. Or not… we’ll see.

Now without further ado…

Yep. This definitely constitutes as one of the strangest first episodes.

Evar.

Granted, it’s more like a preview episode than anything but even then, it doesn’t exactly preview a whole lot. I did get a solid sense of most of the characters so it wasn’t totally funky.

Oh yeah, it was funny as hell, too. The commentary was the main reason why I was laughing so damn much. If it wasn’t for that, this episode would have been a horrible start. Oh man, I sooo related with the commentary. It’s the same shit I’d talk about with my buddies if we were watching something cheesy. Almost too real I tell ya.

In the end, just a fun watch and it really piqued my curiosity for these characters.

Unfortunately, Haruhi didn’t make much of an appearance until the end.

After all I’ve read about this series, I’m really interested in her character. Her personality and even the bulk of her character seems unique. Plus, she’s voiced by Hirano Aya who’s doing an awesome job as Konata in Lucky Star. Okok… I also really find her voice fun to listen to.

The animation is solid. There’s more movement than just flapping mouths… by far. The jittery and “sloppy” camera effects during this episode were done well. I easily got a sense of watching an amateur video. Of course, I can only expect good things from Kyoto Animation. I won’t expect this to be as impressive as AIR but if it’s at least at Kanon 2006 level, I’ll be content.

See, I just had to watch the anime again. I haven’t seen the second season yet… actually, I don’t think I ever finished the first season… so here we go!

Not sure how much of what and when I’ll blog this series. I’ll probably take tons of caps cuz those are always fun but beyond that… write-ups in bulk or not… meh, we’ll see. Actually, maybe I will blog ‘em by episodes since I lost what I did when I first watched this series. Might be fun.

Onward!

For content, not much was different from the manga. A few lines were switched around and some of the scenes were extended. The bike scene was a riot especially since they added a few scenes compared to the manga.

For quality, The art and such is nice but the animation is rather poor. There was a bit too much still frames with flapping mouths. Thankfully this is a fast moving anime so the scenes switch quickly. I’m just being picky… sorta. It really is kinda crappy.

And after reading all that manga the past week, it’s interesting to note that Eri was making funny faces well before I thought.

This is only a taste of Eri’s many faces.

Given the detail Eri usually gets coupled with the direction School Rumble went off too (shifting focus from Tenma to Eri), one could assume Eri is the mangaka’s favorite. Or maybe he listened to the Eri fanboy outcry and caved…

Wait, shouldn’t that be in the manga entries? Ehh…

I think my volumes may not contain the appropriate chapters. I sorted them into volumes based on the info I got from a site but haven’t been able to find another source to back it up. It’s just strange cuz half the volumes will have a cliffhanger at the end of the volume that gets resolved w/in the first few chapters of the next volume.

Either they purposely broke them up so they can get some cheesy cliffhangers in or I screwed up. I call it “cheesy” cuz it only takes a couple more chapters to finish off the story arc PLUS it happens way too often.

‘Nuff babbling, on to this volume. (Oh, btw, there were soooo many fun pics from this volume. I did what I could to cut it down but there’s still a good amount. I can’t help it… it was too fun.)

I don’t know what it is about Eri but she’s always in fun pics.

As is Tenma (and a lil extra Eri).

Okok, maybe I’ll actually type some shit about this volume. Suffice to say, it blatantly answered the burning question of Eri’s feelings. She only (barely) admits it to herself but at least it’s obvious now.

It’s such a shame though. Not only does Harima have no feelings for her, he pretty much doesn’t like her at all. He’s always annoyed by her and brushes her off. Honestly, I pegged her as being observant yet she’s never noticed Harima’s feelings for Tenma.

In fact, I don’t think anyone has. At one point I thought Akira knew but subsequent scenes seem to show that she doesn’t.

Well, Mikoto might. Either she knows somethings up with him or she’s just trying to protect him from all the misunderstandings… or something.

Lately, she’s taken extra notice of Harima so something is up with her.

Ehhhh… besides all that, where the fuck is more Mikoto stories! They keep dropping hints for Mikoto and Asou and even brought that thing about her wanting to go to the same college as the one she likes… which could be… well hell, I have no idea. She’s been flyin’ solo for a while but this better be a sign for things to come.

Of course, I’m lovin’ Eri’s story. She’s a great character and has the best facial expressions. Her story with Harima is just startin’ to run a bit dry and Mikoto’s been overlooked for a while now.

Hell, even Karen is gettin’ some love.

She’s been appearing a bit more often and I’m lovin’ it. Her story hasn’t extended past her dealings with Imadori and Lala but they’re so fun to see… especially when it’s that trio.

Which begs the question I have yet to ask: why the hell does she like Imadori? Hahaha, I have no idea why I didn’t think about it until now. She’s such a wholesome character yet she goes after him.

And he’s so mean to her.

Hahaha… but I don’t think he’s doing it on purpose. He really is just a… a… lazy slacker.

Aw shit, now that I really think about it, what was up with that bullshit that happened in volume 12? Karen brushed off Imadori after he came over that one night… then shit went right back to normal.

Fuck, I totally forgot about that. There was no point to it, was there? Blah.

So where does everything stand? In a nutshell:

Eri > Harima > Tenma > Oji
Asou > Mikoto > ??? (WHO DAMMIT?!)
Yakumo >???> Harima (Is she really that nice or curious or…)
Karen > Imadori > NOTICE KAREN DAMMIT

The rest I don’t care as much about. They’re all nice stories but only the one’s above drive me nuts. I WANT SOME CLOSURE OR AT LEAST PROGRESSION.

And dammit, Harima needs to notice Eri. He doesn’t have to fall for her but he needs to notice her… or maybe that’ll make things worse? Haha… Idk… if it’s not obvious I like Eri better than Tenma but just by a bit. Mikoto is about the same as Tenma which is why I want more Mikoto lovin’.

And of course, Karen beats them all, hehe.

On a final note, I give up.

After bitchin’ and moanin’ the last few chapters for some story development or OMG some resolution, I give up. Since much of the silliness involving non-primary or non-secondary characters is subsiding, the main stories are getting dragged out. What’s worse, much of it is still due to misunderstandings.

Therefore, from this point on, I’m gonna try and not get so into the stories and enjoy School Rumble like I did when I first started reading. Just an entertaining, incredibly funny series with a host of fun characters.

But sadly, that will have to wait. This manga is gettin’ a lil angsty and I hate that. I definitely don’t want to lose interest so I’m gonna take a small break.

Plus, I wanna start watching the anime again, hahaha.

Now, to wrap it all up…

Enjoy Yakumo’s true smile.

I wanted to put this entry up with volume 15 but after reading it and given the number of pics I grabbed from it… it might turn into a long post. Soo~ I’ll just leave this one with these two volumes.

Ahh, the many fun faces of Eri.

My lord, this volume went all over the place. As I was reading, I was lost half the time. It starts off with some closure to Eri’s lil ordeal then kinda goes all over the place with it’s stories.

The most interesting parts were about Harima. It seems he’s (VERY) slowly taking notice of Eri… well, more specifically he’s taking notice that Eri is taking notice of him. He still doesn’t like her since she’s been such a bitch to him but hey, it’s a start.

Then there’s Harima finally telling Tenma about his manga. Though, I never understood why it was such a big deal. He equates showing her his manga as if he’s confessing to her and I don’t know, seems a bit silly. Ah well, at least he finally did it. It didn’t lead anywhere but he did it.

For other stories, It seems Asou is really love-struck. He’s so hung up on Mikoto and she hasn’t really shown any sign of interest. That flashback chapter when he visited Hanai’s dojo didn’t make much sense. So he felt dissed and decided to fight Hanai… umm, nope, didn’t get it. Mikoto needs more lovin’! At least show me she’s interested in someone.

And then there were some other stories but nothing worth talkin’ about. Haha, I will note that I feel sorry for Tanai-sensei. Hahaha… poor guy. Every time he gets a story, he gets screwed.

Lastly, obligatory Karen (and co.) pic.

Ehhh, now that I think about it, I suppose these were just recaps/extensions/updates/etc… of current stories to set up the New Year (and new term). A way to round things out for the next story arc, I guess.

WTF Tenma has a talent?

That chapter was so random, it makes me think it was thrown in just to give her a talent. Kinda cheesy but it was quite a funny chapter so it balances out.

The scan quality is getting really inconsistent so it’s gettin’ harder to find clean pics. Sadly, I’ll have to deal with it but… they’ll be worth it! Cuz, like…

I can’t pass up Mikoto in a ponytail.

Anyway, this volume was confusing as hell like that last one. It wasn’t as random as the last one but there was some random shit thrown in. Ahh, but let’s go in order.

It started off with a series of one-shot valentines stories which kinda linked together but was a bit messy. The stories were nice though cuz it pretty much confirmed Eri has feelings for Harima. Up until now, all her inner monologue’s kept going back and forth but when she used that magazine’s advice and tried to give Harima chocolates, it was subtle but it has to mean she’s interested.

Then there’s Tenma wanting to give Harima chocolates. That didn’t really make sense but at least she ain’t hatin’ on him so much. Plus, she’s starting to learn more of Harima’s “secrets”… umm, I don’t really know what that means either but if they’re gettin’ closer, then it’s a good deal.

Just a random Yakumo pic cuz I couldn’t get too many nice pics in this volume. It has no relevance to anything. She’s just cute like that.

Next we go to the Europe story arc… which WASN’T EVEN EUROPE… and 2-C is now in Kyoto but it’s not even a big deal to them that shit got changed… WTF, I so didn’t get that. I hope I missed something cuz that was beyond nonsensically random.

Oh but that’s not enough to mess with me. Now we got some random story going on with British foreigners that are trying to mess shit up with the class and… fuck. I totally don’t get it. There’s been plenty of funky chapters so I figured this was one of them at first.

At first.

Then it kept going. Hell, there hasn’t been a “villain” for class 2-C since the 2-C and 2-D rivalry waaaay back in volume 5-6 so this felt like a cheap way to introduce some. Unlike the guy’s in 2-D, these foreigners do come off as genuine punkasses so that much isn’t too bad. The whole thing is still crazy random though.

Most of the lil stories within it weren’t that interesting until the end. Who is Eri talking about? Is it Tenma? Is she referring to herself? Is it vague on purpose? Eri is perceptive so I can assume she knows Harima likes Tenma but at the same time, I don’t think it was shown that she ever confirmed it… or really even acknowledged it beyond a simple “hmm” scene.

Ahhh, I’m lost. I still get plenty of LOLOLOL moments but the story is going in a funky direction. My interest has gone down a notch… which isn’t horrible since it was soooo high up there but still, it’s a bit disturbing.

I should stop typing and read the next volume before my wall of text gets worse.

Ahhh but one last note. Why the hell is Oji so pimp at everything he does? I swear, he’s gotta be the pimpest guy in the whole class.