School Rumble San Gakki - Episode 26 (Completed)

So, this is it, the end of School Rumble, a series that managed to keep me amused (at times majestically) throughout its two seasons, which makes me more than a little sad to see its end cut from a full season down to just this two-episode OVA. What makes me even more sad is that the first of those two episodes was a complete abortion, devoid of humour or anything worth discussing, and coupled with below-par animation to complete ruin what little was left of the experience.


Thankfully, this final episode of San Gakki was at least an improvement, although compared to the instalment that went before that isn't saying much. While the beauty of School Rumble for me was always the intertwining and interleaving of romantic matters with straight-out scenes and episodes played for laughs, this closing episode became a strangely serious affair, once again devoid of much real humour (although it did manage one decent gag towards the end) and instead devoting itself to the Harima, Karasuma and Tenma love triangle. Given that focus, it's rather odd that they still decided to leaves things hanging right at the end of the episode (can't we have more anime that ends things definitively... please?!), although not as odd as the outright depressing outlook of this finale - Eri left alone and bitter? Karasuma with a debilitating mental illness? Harima back to being an outcast ruffian? This is more like Eastenders than School Rumble, and to be honest I didn't like it all that much.

It's probably saying something that the most entertaining part of this last ever episode was the end credits, which took us back over highlights of the series as a whole - Compared to this relatively bleak ending, how fresh, joyous, fun and humourous it all seemed... Why oh why did that School Rumble that we all remember and love desert us on its death bed? I'm not sure I'll ever quite be able to figure that one out, but for now I'll try not to think about it and remember what School Rumble was, not the badly-animated downer that is San Gakki.

School Rumble San Gakki - Episode 25

I know that the response to news of a new School Rumble OVA have been rather mixed since its announcement, due to a lot of people's feeling that the second season of the anime came nowhere near living up to the abilities of the first. However, I have to say that I actually sit in the opposite camp in this particular debate - Although I'd be the first to admit the the second series of School Rumble was rather hit and miss, in its prime it proved to be absolutely hilarious and one of the funnier anime series I've had the pleasure of watching.

Anyway, this particular OVA enters us into a world of confusion - Why is it labelled episode 25 for starters? In short, this OVA is the final two episodes of School Rumble - 3rd Term, an anime which is now (sadly) never going to be produced. Thus, what we're left with is a 'recap' which takes us through everything that would have happened in that series (and has, I assume, happened in the manga that this OVA is sold with), which brings us up to speed for these final two episodes, which will be episode 25 and 26 respectively.


Obviously, this confusing timeline with a gaping hole in it is a pretty auspicious start for the OVA, and as someone who hasn't been keeping up with the manga at all the whole affair felt pretty marooned from the reality I remembered from the second series. Add in to that the rather poor animation and the distinct lack of humour, and all in all the whole thing left me cold. For me, School Rumble was, largely, all about being light-hearted and funny more than it was seeing any of the various relationships brought to a serious head (although of course I did have my favourites as doubtless anyone with a heartbeat does), and thus the almost serious tone of this episode didn't sit well with me at all. Any lighter moments were really just the usual case of Tsukamoto rambling rather than anything actually resembling comedy, which is hugely disappointing seeing as the series typically managed to roll out at least a few decent gags most episodes, or provide some situations that were far more watchable than what was served here.

So, we're left waiting for 'episode 26' to finish the whole thing off, but after this offering it's hard to generate much enthusiasm for it to be honest. If I wanted an attempt at a serious show dealing with relationships, I'd go back and watch True Tears again.