School Rumble Ni Gakki – 20

More than friends…

Less than sweethearts…

Before that…

More than friends…

• This act starts out with Karen’s brother, Kousuke pestering a very tired Karen while she is brushing her teeth. He reminds her about a Dojibiron event that would occur later that day. Karen is very tired from her part time job, and just wants to sleep for some of the day. He then tells her that he is inviting someone else over to play. She walks in on her brother playing in her room, and Kousuke mentions that he is going to play with someone calling themselves Dojibiron Blue. Karen then goes to sleep, asking Kousuke to keep it down while she is sleeping. She has a dream about Imadori suddenly ringing her door bell and asking her to go out with him. She wonders if she is good enough for him, to which he responds that he has fallen for her. When they are about to kiss, she wakes up. Sitting up suddenly and hitting her head, Karen wonders why she had that dream, but says that it was a pretty good dream. She then looks out of her bed to see why Kousuke and his friend is making so much noise, and it turns out the friend is Imadori. She immediately punches Imadori in the gut, knocking him out. Karen wants to know why he is there, and she finds out that he was Dojibiron Blue. She then goes and tries to clean up the room, having Kousuke help her. Imadori gets back up and asks Karen where to put what he had, which turned out to be her mother’s bra; Imadori remarks that her mom has a nice body. He then grabs her pajamas and tries lifting the dumbbells that she has, which are only 5kg. Imadori notices that her goal is to be able to lift 40kg, and wishes her luck on her diet. She starts to break down from all of these events, so Imadori cheers her up and they have her play as Dojibiron Pink. Imadori acts as the villain and they have a mock fight. Their fun lasts until the night, when Imadori leaves for home on his bike. Kousuke thinks that Karen should date Imadori, expecting her to react to that statement, but she just stands there with a happy look on her face. Kousuke then asks about the mask that Imadori brought, which Karen had thought that he put it into his pocket. Actually, Imadori has one of her mother’s bras in his pocket, and so Karen goes and stops him.

Less than Sweethearts…

• This act starts off with a scene between Yuuki and Fuyuki at sunset on a rooftop. Fuyuki is setting up a telescope so that she and the rest of the band members can look at the stars. Karen and Sagano arrive a little later, with Sagano bringing snacks for all of them to share. After they eat, Sagano uses the opportunity to talk about their relationships, causing Karen to become flustered. Sagano goes first and says that she set up 10 couples that year, a new record for her. She then puts the heat onto Karen, who says that she didn’t really do anything that year. Sagano disagrees, citing how Imadori came over to Karen’s house, though Karen says that was Kousuke’s doing. Sagano then asks how Yuuki’s year for relationships was, and Yuuki says that nothing really happened with her – mostly just her sitting here with the rest of them looking at the stars. Fuyuki thinks that it is pretty cold, and stands up to go get coffee, but Sagano stops him and says that she and Karen will go, leaving him and Yuuki alone on the rooftop. Yuuki feels that the other two girls must be misunderstanding something, but Fuyuki was hoping that there was a little something. Yuuki thinks that they should stay the way they are, as close friends. They then talk about each other’s characteristics and traits, with Fuyuki stating that he is a pretty down to earth guy, though Yuuki says that he tries too hard to get praised, and is somewhat dishonest. Fuyuki remarks that she is harsh, and now knows what she thinks of him. Yuuki doesn’t like people who look down on her, even though she is just a simple girl studying the arts. Fuyuki feels that that side of her is very cute, to which Yuuki remarks that that was the exact same line that he said to Eri. To Fuyuki, it’s not just Eri – all girls in love are beautiful. When Yuuki wonders if that’s why he takes the pictures, he says that he just wants those qualities to stay within the pictures. Yuuki remembers how she had been standing still in the middle of the city while there are couples that are moving everywhere around her, with her having no one. What’s more, she had seen Mikoto pulling Hanai by the arm. These memories cause Yuuki to tear up slightly. Fuyuki remarks that he can see the stars, and Yuuki agrees, commenting on how far away they are.

Before that…

• This act is completely tangential to the normal School Rumble story, with Karasuma acting as the Chief of some sort of all-female cyborg taskforce. It starts out with Mikoto whispering to Yakumo asking her what she thinks of the new chief, who is Karasuma, to which Yakumo has no answer. Eri pipes in that he is pretty handsome, and better than the previous chief, who she says was a bit of an annoyance. She also comments that Karasuma’s clothing is slightly suspicious though, being sort of dull. Tenma is sitting here quiet during all of this time but finally stands up to speak her mind, saying that it is fine. The girls look at each other smiling, with Yakumo being direct and asking if it is love at first sight. Karasuma then says he is a bit thirsty, and so Tenma offers to go make tea. After she leaves, Eri speaks up that it bugs her a little bit, as Tenma is new and yet already looking at her superiors. She then tells them to begin the new member welcoming plan. It seems that Tenma is a cyborg, though her job at the moment is to make the tea, which she wants to use to get Karasuma’s heart. She apparently has amnesia for any memories more than 6 months ago. Tenma had been all alone during that time period and was brought in by Yakumo. They also sort of acknowledge that some people think Yakumo should be older than Tenma, with her calling Yakumo Onee-Chan. As Tenma is heading over to give Karasuma his tea, she sees Eri hanging onto Karasuma asking if he wants to go to a hotel that night for dinner. This causes Tenma to become surprised and fall over with the tea. Eri tells her to do it over and bring her some too. The next time around, Tenma walks in on both Eri and Mikoto hanging onto Karasuma. The third time, it’s Eri, Mikoto, and Yakumo by Karasuma, which causes Tenma to run away crying. She spills the tea onto Harima’s head, who comments on how hot it is. Lala then pulls him back into reality, as he is now in charge of her and Karen. He wonders why he has to be a superior to them, a statement that causes Karen to start crying and causes Lala to put him into an arm lock. Harima stares at Karasuma, thinking about how dare Karasuma tease Tenma. In the process of doing this, Eri starts to think that Harima is looking at her and so she gets flustered and turns away. Harima notices this, and he says no, not her, sticks out a middle finger. The scene then shifts to a view of Tenma on a balcony of the building and Akira asking her what is wrong. After Tenma tells her what happened, Akira states that this isn’t like Tenma to be upset; it is usually in her nature to always be happy and energetic. Eri, Mikoto, and Yakumo then appear to apologize for the event, with Eri being stubborn and not doing it at first. Tenma bursts into tears, with everyone around supporting her. Karasuma then appears and claims that he must say something to Tenma. This has Harima seething at the window, wondering what Karasuma is going to say. However, an alert sounds, breaking the moment and causing everyone to rush to see what happened. The control room is filled with girls who look like Yuuki, all typing away at a computer. Karasuma decides that it’s time for everyone to move out. After all the girls salute, Harima mouths off saying that that’s his job. Hanai then appears on a screen and has his minions attacking them. Each person deals with it in a different way: Akira shooting them while the rest are defenseless while Lala assumes a wrestling stance and lets loose a battle cry. The minions then shoot their stingers at all of the girls except Tenma, causing them to fall down. Before disappearing, the girls tell Tenma to forget about them and to focus on the fight. Tenma does this and prepares to fight, but Karasuma stops her to once again claim that there is something he must say to her. Actually, he just wanted to point out that she is wearing mismatched socks. Of course Tenma had no idea and this causes her quite a bit of grief. Harima then wonders about her past, and then remembers the time in the past when he first met Tenma, with her trying to get away from Hanai. She got hit by a van, which caused her to lose her memory. The current Hanai confirms Harima’s memories, but he says that she should be fine since he made her. Tenma, however, becomes angry and cannot forgive Hanai. Her Otome heart is awakened, which coincidentally causes “Suga” to be flashed on all the screens. In the end, Karasuma is standing in a large area with a gigantic robot. He remarks that the time has finally come – it’s the robot’s turn.

Overall Summary and Thoughts…

• Overall, I found this episode to be fairly interesting, and although it was obviously a fluff piece, I think it fit in rather well. I thought that the Karen act was especially cute, which was the only act that I could recognize directly from the manga. It was an excellent intro to the episode, and in my opinion, sold the episode completely. It was pretty cute to see Karen so flustered and Imadori sort of poking fun at her. The various jokes involving Imadori and Karen’s personal belongings was pretty amusing too, with Imadori trying to lift her dumbbells, which were only 5 kg. Also the dream that she had in the beginning I’m sure Karen fans will like. The ending of it was very characteristic of Imadori, with him trying to steal her mother’s bra. The middle Yuuki act I felt was a bit on the boring side. Though that is just me speaking personally; people of the Glass Shard faction – if I remember the factions correctly – might enjoy it. It plainly showed that Yuuki liked Hanai, and was pained to see Mikoto hanging dragging him around to places I believe on some sort of errand. The ending act was completely unrelated to any School Rumble material, as it was just the characters in a completely different setting. It was amusing to see Tenma become so shaken from all 3 girls hanging onto Karasuma. I especially liked the fact that there was the nod of acknowledgement for the Flag Faction from the producers, with Harima talking about the woman he loved, meaning Tenma, but the screen zooming in on Eri, who notices this and becomes flustered. Some aspects of the parody I didn’t get too well, though it was still enjoyable in any event. I have previewed the next episode, which I should have a summary for within the next couple of days, and looks like it will be fun, as it is a Mahou Shoujo parody. I have watched my fair share of those types, so I sort of can understand the jokes with it a little better. Well, this is it for my first post, hope everyone enjoyed it. This post might be a bit on the long side, I will have to decide how to approach it, as this took a considerable amount of time to type up, but let me know what you think of the length. Well, hope you enjoyed this, and look forward to School Rumble Ni Gakki 21!