First Impressions / School Rumble

OP Sequence

OP:「せんちめんたる じぇねれ～しょん」 (Sentimental Generation) by 時東ぁみ (Tokito Ami)
Watch the OP! Mirror 1 Mirror 2 YouTube

Summary:
In the Bunka-Bunsei period, there is also a shop run by Yakumo and Tenma, but the two girls are in debt. Hanai, a samurai, promises to protect them, but gets quickly beat up by the debt collectors. It’s a mysterious samurai named Mangoku who is able to defeat everyone. It’s actually Harima, and this starts School Rumble.
Harima is riding to school and recaps everything that’s happened so far from his point of view. At school, Itoko gives him a postcard from the publisher Dankosha telling him that he’s been selected for a special prize. Harima gets pumped up enough to confess to Tenma, but she’s on the rooftop lecturing Yakumo about Harima. Harima tries to clear things up, but ends up blabbing about how Yakumo spend the night at his house. He has to beg her to believe him saying that nothing happened before she does. However, he accidentally says that he’ll make Yakumo happy, which further cements his relationship with her in Tenma’s mind.
Coming back from that, Tenma finds Karasuma and his band practicing. She imagines that she’s part of their band, but even in her dream, she gets rejected from a profession debut. Tenma confides to Karasuma that she’s not good with instruments or singing. He cheers her up by giving her a turtle and saying “Kamekichi.” Tenma spends the night trying to figure out what that means, and comes to the conclusion that it signifies Sleeping Beauty. The explanation is that the turtle is slow (noroi), and there’s a curse (noroi) in Sleeping Beauty.
The next day, Tenma requests a special boxed lunch from Yakumo, but also asks that Yakumo deliver it to her during lunch break. Yakumo goes to school with Sara and the two encounter Eri at the gate. She greets them and goes in. Sara feels that Eri really does like Harima. At lunchtime, Hanai goes to see Yakumo, but hears that she’s going out with Harima. His scream can be heard through the school. He returns to the classroom and the two charge each other, but Hanai’s punch has no power. Yakumo brings the lunch that Tenma requested, but it turns out that she wants Yakumo to give it to Harima. Hanai can’t believe that Yakumo would give a boxed lunch with a heart shape to Harima, and Harima is wounded by how Tenma is working to bring him and Yakumo together. They are interrupted when Class 2-D (Tougou Masakazu, Harry Mackenzie, and Lala) come to challenge them for the upcoming culture festival.

ED Sequence

ED: 「この涙があるから次の一歩となる」((Kono Namida ga aru kara Tsugi no Ippo to Naru) by 時東ぁみ (Tokito Ami)
Watch the ED! Mirror 1 Mirror 2 YouTube
The OP and ED were a lot better than I had thought they’d be. Well, not great, but not complete crap either. Tokito Ami is a better singer than I was expecting.

Sukuran is back!
The first episode spends a little bit of time reintroducing the plot, but otherwise picks up where last season left off. Harima is still after Tenma, but it gets more and more complicated since Tenma has paired him with Yakumo. And then there’s the dozens of other relationship pairings that are still here, including EriXHarima, HanaiXYakumo, TenmaXKarasuma, and so on. Mentar pointed out to me that Wannabe Fansubs has a fairly thorough character relationship page up.
The comedy side of this episode doesn’t disappoint either. I found the end of the episode and the after-episode short about the data on the 2-C girls to be the funniest. Technical-wise, the animation is very solid and I heard several familiar background songs. And since they’re covering the beginning of volume eight, that means that the long anticipated survival battle is just around the corner (in other words, next week).
Yay for more Yakumo and Eri! 🙂

43 Comments

  2. ROFL I’m laughing just by looking at the screencaps 😀
    Great to see those faces again…Especially Harima’s. He has to be the coolest character in School Rumble.

    Rasmiel
    Reply

  18. No offense on you guys, SR is nice and all, but for the comedy, i’d go all out for Suzumiya Haruhi. That episode was one of the best comedy eps I ever saw, laughed from the begginng till the end of it.

    Blue-Kun
    Reply

  19. the opening is nice but the ending was kinda boring. looked like the fruits basket OP where they show the figure of the character and you know who it is but they dont exactly show the face. but yay its back!

    crayontip
    Reply

  24. Woooo… SR back… i have been waiting so long for this… in the last cap harima send his finish comic to the compani but i think that harima and yakumo will be a couple!!! that will be very funny!! it was very clear that yakumo is starting to fell in love…!!!

    Trejon
    Reply

  25. Oh Lordy, I’ve never been so happy to see a sequal in many a year.

    Tenma is cool and all, but her obliviosity is excruitiatingly painful. I’d rather see them build a Harima and Yakumo relationship. The OVA’s gave me a lot of hope.

    Kuya
    Reply

  34. you have to give this show a lot of credit for being able to spoof other animes.

    it might be hard to fully appreciate all the references though (for example, initial D from season 1 and especially this epi’s allusions to eva and NARUTO!).

    but still hilarious nonetheless … i think another reason why this show is so successful is because the show’s momentum always leaves you wanting more.

    deshou??!!

    masuri
    Reply

  38. SUKURAN!! I love karen, its funny how she can be so sweet one minute, then kicking ass the next.
    Guruguru without the mawaru still excellent (though i do miss scramble and obaka-san)

    gurugu
    Reply

  41. Man, I wish I could c the episode…Does you tube have school rumble? Anywayz, gud 2 c them back…I miss tat movie. Hillarious man! And really funny! Ur gonna find tis weird but i prefer Harima and Tenma 2gether…dunno y. Sry 2 say tat. This is the best anime show ever! SR you rock! Hope there’s more…^^;

    SayuriKurata
    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *