School Rumble, Vol. 2

スクールランブル [Ｓｃｈｏｏｌ Ｒｕｍｂｌｅ] #2

by Jin Kobayashi, William Flanagan (Translator), Liney Li

DOWN BUT NOT OUT!

Harima Kenji has never lost a fight, but his love for the clueless Tsukamoto Tenma is proving to be his greatest challenge. After catching his cherished Tenma-chan and an unexpected rival in a lunchtime tryst, Kenji spirals into the deepest pit of high school Hades–plummeting so low that there’s only one thing left to draw a manga. When Kenji hits bottom, whom will he find there? Meanwhile, Tenma is determined to learn how to cook–this time preferably without setting the house on fire!

Genres: Manga, Romance, Comics, Comedy, Humor, Graphic Novels, Young Adult

175 pages, Comic

First published September 17, 2003

About the author

Jin Kobayashi 小林尽 is a mangaka. His most famous work so far is School Rumble,
He began drawing manga seriously during his college years, and won the Weekly Shonen Magazine's Rookie Award in 2001.

Reviews

[Galadrielė · Rating 5 out of 5]

☆4.75/5☆

▪Plot 5/5
▪Details 4/5
▪Characters 5/5
▪Romance 5/5
▪Logic 4.5/5
▪Artwork 5/5
▪Enjoyment 5/5

♡☆♡☆♡☆♡☆

[Elizabeth (Elzburg) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume was very fun and quite entertaining—more so than the first volume for a couple reasons: My expectations in terms of how much it was going to make me laugh was lowered greatly, and because there was more of a large story going on as opposed to being a volume full of one-off gags.

Because the first two chapters of the first volume were god-tier in terms of comedy, it raised the standard for the whole rest of the volume to a level which it was unable to meet again which is why it ended up being disappointing. This meant that going into this second volume, my standards were a lot lower, so I didn’t mind if it wasn’t making me laugh as long as it was entertaining. Happily, it was that, at least.

I think my prior experience and familiarity with the characters probably contributed to my entertainment (I had watched the anime back when I was a wee little girl), but there was a specific thing that the mangaka (author) did differently that also made this volume more successful: he dropped the gag formula for a more story driven approach. Don’t get me wrong, one of my favourite manga is a gag manga (Kaguya-sama: Love is War), but the essential ingredient for a successful gag manga is to be filled with funny gags, something which “School Rumble” is not. Every chapter in this volume built from the last, which is what made it work much better.

I enjoyed this a lot, and look forward to continuing with this series!


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Click to read my other School Rumble reviews:
Volumes: 1 | 2* | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

*Current review

[Kaede · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

I had School Rumble volume two in my collection for years, but I don't own volume one. I was going to give this manga away but I decided to see if I could understand the plot without reading the introduction, and School Rumble volume 2 does a fairly good job explaining its character dynamics.

The fact that Harima Kenji carries around a lamented photo of a girl, who is at best a casual classmate, is a little off-putting. There's quite a few scenes with aggressive, stalker type behavior over what appears to be the main character's one-sided crush. Personally, the one storyline I would be interested in exploring is Eri Sawachika and her father's relationship. The side characters are fairly decent, but the humor was generally not my cup of tea. Am I suppose to find it amusing that Kenji borderline attacks a fellow student because he misunderstands Hanai's words and remembers that his crush said something nice about him? Is it suppose to be healthy that Kenji hits rock bottom and refuses to go to school when he sees Tenma sitting with another boy for lunch?

These situations are not uncommon for slice-of-life, comedy manga. Perhaps I've just outgrown the part of me that could misconstrue borderline obsession as romantic. Something interesting though was that I just finished Captive Prince and Kenji meets a woman off the streets and she asks if he wants to be her pet? What?? Reading the translator's notes for this scene was so strange because I read two consecutive different stories that touch on the concept of people as "pets".

I don't regret reading it, but School Rumble is the type of manga that would likely better suit another reader.

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[Amara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This feels very much like Azumanga Daiyo, which also makes me think that it will take a while to warm up to the characters and really get into the series. It feels much more character driven than story driven. And as I do think there are some interesting character aspects and story bits, I'll keep reading on for now.

[Kurtis Burkhardt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series starts off pretty decent and I’m pretty hooked😻😁👌💕

[Hannah Revesz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't really like the first volume of School Rumble but this one is actually much better

[Katia Tosco · Rating 3 out of 5]

C'est mignon et drôle mais il y a beaucoup de clichés, et l'histoire part un peu dans tous les sens... pas sure d'avoir envie de continuer la série.

[Ren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious! Reading this manga helps me get out of low moods ✨

[Ruben · Rating 3 out of 5]

Manga que te arranca carcajadas, sin duda para despegarte de cualquier pesar, en este numero descubrimos como es que Harima se ha enamorado de Tenma, también aparecen nuevos personajes como Sara, amiga de Yakumo y la batalla en la piscina que tanto me hizo reir, "No te olvidaremos Goleador Fantasma!" Jajajaja...

[Conan Tigard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having really enjoyed School Rumble: Volume 1, I was quite excited to read the second volume in this series. Wow, was I ever happy that I did. School Rumble: Volume 2 is better than the first volume because the focus of the story changes from Tsukamoto to Kenji, who is a much cooler character. He is the rough and ready punk that has had his heart stolen by the pretty Tsukamoto, even though she doesn't have a clue about it. He is so cool, except for when it comes to her. He just doesn't know what to do our how to act. Kenji usually puts on a show hoping that she will finally notice him, but she doesn't. Someday, he is just going to have to go up to her and actually talk with her and tell her how he feels. For now, he will just have to act like a bumbling fool . . . but at least he looks cool doing it.

Once again, the artwork is splendid and the storyline is funny and full of action. School Rumble is turning out to be one of my favorite manga series. I absolutely love that there are a ton of short stories in these volumes, rather than one long story.

So, overall, I really enjoyed this great manga book and look forward to seeing if Kenji can win Tsukamoto's heart in School Rumble: Volume 3.

I rated this book an 8½ out of 10.

[Starry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Itoko-Harima's gaurdian,cousin
Harima saves Tenma when he was little, and the little incident at the hospital where he ended up being tackled by Tenma, was love at first sight for him:that was their first encounter
Harima misunderstands Tenma's lovestruck gaze as her in love with him, so he planned to tell her/confess, but before he got to her he was hit by a truck and is now recovering in the hospital! HAHA so Ironic the truck came right at that moment. And messed up.
Harima realizes that Karasuma is Tenma's crush. This book is filled with so much comedy, and the crushes are just so cute and funny. <3
You can tell that Harima is going to end up with the blonde girl because they have a few encounters, and even though they havn't realized it yet, it was fate.
Tenma's sister has encounters with this ghost girl, whom i think is her conscience. not sure..

[Nyie Rombeng · Rating 4 out of 5]

ugghhh.......selalu jadi histeria jika menyimak tiap cerita per episode dari school rumble.manga ini unisex banget,pria wanita or cowok cewek bisa ngikutin alur ceritanya.
yang unik & menarik ialah tema dalam setiap episodenya mirip kayak judul film2 luar negeri,contoh:rain man,speed,close encounter of third kind,dll.dan yang ndk boleh dilewatin ialah suka & duka kejadian sehari-hari tiap2 tokoh dischool rumble yang SEABREK banyaknya(tapi aku lebih suka tokoh harima kenji & tsukamoto bersaudara:tenma(kakak) dan yakumo(adik)!) NGEGEMESIN DECH!!!

[Sylvia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another manga series that I love to read.

[Lord · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still as good as the first volume. A bit forgettable book but funny.

[Indah Threez Lestari · Rating 4 out of 5]

#Program BUBU

Pertama dibaca 4 September 2009.

[Muhammad Rajab Al-mukarrom · Rating 4 out of 5]

makin suka tokoh-tokoh di komik ini.
terutama Tenma dan Harima.
:D xoxo

[Crystal (VanillaHearts62) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took me forever! But it was a good one. :)

[Marielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love people can be so dense haha!

[Roselyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't really enjoy this volume as much as the first one. Still, all was really great and Tenma's really adorable haha. I enjoyed it all the more when I watched the anime right after!!

[Marina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is such a silly manga.Lol.

[Onispen · Rating 3 out of 5]

J'aime vraiment de plus en plus le personnage de Yakumo. Autrement, l'intrigue évolue peu.

[Emmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I watched the anime last summer. Reading the books brings back so many good memories ^_^