PopSyndicate.com

Funny like Azumanga Diaoh

I had the distinct pleasure of actually being able to sit down and watch School Rumble with some friends of mine this week.  I say distinct pleasure because not only is it something that I am not able to do very often, but it is also something that I love to do.  It’s part of the reason I enjoy writing reviews, the ability to tell someone “Hey this is really cool, you should check it out” and actually have them act on it has always given me the warm fuzzys.  Trouble started however when trying to decide the best way to describe School Rumble without telling them to go visit the website and read the thousand plus words I’ve written on the subject.  In short, I needed brevity: I needed a comparison, which took me a little while longer than I’d like to admit.  So long in fact that I decided to just watch the episodes and see if they would like it with no context other than “High school kids and their deeply intertwined interpersonal relationships.”

Turns out I’m no good at brevity.

The idea of comparing School Rumble to something stuck with me.  As much as I love the show it isn’t revolutionizing any genres, so it must have a likewise comparison somewhere.  I had often drawn on similarities between School Rumble and Family Guy because of the offbeat and random nature of the comedy, but telling someone that a show is the Japanese equivalent of Family Guy paints a much different picture than School Rumble, primarily because the Japanese equivalent of Family Guy is in fact Excel Saga.  So I spent a few days thinking about the show on and off, trying to break it down to its core elements: comedy, character driven, emotional undertones hidden by a heavy use of slapstick and word play.  Finally, as I’m driving home from work it hits me: School Rumble compares well to Azumanga Diaoh, and I should have seen it earlier, because “Funny like Azumanga Diaoh” is better than most of the taglines I’ve used for the series thus far.

The chief difference between the two shows is how the story (what little there is) develops.  Azumanga Diaoh focuses on the same group of friends as they attend high school.  As the series progresses, we learn more and more about the six primary characters and watch as they become closer friends than when they started.  School Rumble on the other hand, grows outward.  We are still learning about the deeper motivations of the characters, but new characters are introduced constantly.  Each new character is tacked onto a previous character in some way:  X is Y’s rival, Y is Z’s childhood friend, Z has a crush on A, etc.  While characters in School Rumble don’t get as much screen time as those in Azumanga Diaoh, and therefore are developed less, the number of character lends itself well to a high school setting.  I can’t speak for everyone, but I had over two thousand people in my high school class: the chances of me going three years with the same four people in my homeroom are infinitesimal.  So in a way, School Rumble is more realistic than Azumanga Diaoh, as long as we forget about the mind reading and super strength. 

So I can now say that if you liked Azumanga Diaoh, you should definitely check out School Rumble and vice versa.  School Rumble continues to be the highlight of my anime experience, not enough kind words can be said about the show.  And in case you are wondering, my friends thought the show was fantastic, even without a proper introduction. 

4