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I was very surprised when I sat down this week with volume four of School Rumble to find that the first episode on the disk was overall very dramatic.  There was the occasional joke sprinkled within to let me know I was still watching the right show, but it seems that the dramatic events of the last few episodes had final come to a head.  It was excellent to see that the characters that worked so well in a comedic environment functioned equally well in a dramatic one.  I look forward to their next foray into the world of drama, almost as much as I look forward to their future comedic exploits. 

But enough pandering, I decided that after three glowing reviews, I should take the time to try and find something negative to say about School Rumble. To be fair, my reviews thus far have been nothing but “Watch this right now” and “Why aren’t you watching this yet?” so I think it may be time to put on my Critical Reviewer Hat and pretend to be objective. 

For starters, School Rumble is a little weird, so much so that it can be off putting.  What seems on the surface to be a standard run of the mill high school comedy is sometimes interrupted by characters that can read minds, or talk to animals, or have super strength.  Thus far the abilities aren’t explained in any way, merely taken for granted. 

The show also has a rapidly expanding cast that can be hard to keep track of.  As the characters become intertwined with each other via a series of love triangles that combine to form a web of emotion, things get even more blurry.  Harima likes Tenma who in turn likes Karasuma, but Tenma’s sister Yakumo is starting to like Harima because of his love of animals, but the neighbor down the street is secretly in love with Yakumo, etc. etc. 

There, I managed to say two negative things about School Rumble and in truth I really don’t agree with either of them.  The show is no weirder than an average episode of Family Guy, only School Rumble is decidedly less random.  The cast list, while sizable and growing, is supported by the overall high quality of writing and the excellent art and voice work.  It could be easy to confuse two people when they wear the same school uniform every episode, but the voice actors and animators have done a fine job making sure this doesn’t happen.  I enjoy the fact that the characters that could easily have become background garnish are getting flushed out and given entire episodes to themselves. 

So it looks like I failed in my attempt to be overly critical of an excellent comedic series.  What I have tried to make evident is that School Rumble is not without fault, merely that the faults it may have are so seemingly small that they do not in any way detract from the excellence of the overall show.  There are very few things I look forward to more than sitting down with new episodes of School Rumble.

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