Reviews for School Rumble San Gakki (5.94)

The anime School Rumble San Gakki OVA is based on the last part of the School Rumble manga. There's only 2 episodes, which is few when you consider the first and second seasons of School Rumble each got 26 episodes. Lets see what the anime OVA has become.

(Beware, there may be some spoilers in the review!)


Animation=7; the animation is just average for an OVA; they are about the same as those in the TV series; some in-between animations are good, but some are not.

[Comparison with the manga: the designs of the characters, backgrounds etc. are about the same or are very close to the manga counterparts, i.e. a plus for fans, there are some minor differences which are not effecting the story much.]


Sound=7; the OVA uses the first OP song of the first Season of SchoolRumble, "Scramble (スクランブル)" by Yui Horie, instead of a new OP song; nonetheless this song is still very good.

As for the ED songs, it's the 1st ED song is from the first season,"School Rumble 4 Ever" by Ami Koshimizu, Hitomi Nabatame, Kaori Shimizu, Yui Horie, and the 2nd ED song is from the second season of the School Rumble anime: "Onna no Ko♥Otoko no Ko (オンナのコ♥オトコのコ;Girls♥Boys)" by Yuko Ogura, which is still very nice. As for the voice-acting by the Seiyus, it's very good as always.


[Other thoughts about the choice of the OP and ED songs used in the OVA School Rumble: it would be nice if there are an entirely new OP and ED songs,either by Yui Horie or the whole cast of the School Rumble anime; re-using the OP and ED songs form the first and second season of School Rumble anime feels"cheap"]


Story=6; main critisism on this OVA it's that there're just two episodes which is just too short to conclude the story of School Rumble. I don't know how big the budget for the OVA is, but two episodes is just too few. And the decision to compress the the whole last part of the manga into the OVA is a bad choice, because the pacing of the OVA is now way too fast, it feels too rushed. You would be very confused if you haven't read the manga yet. In the anime there's a very short and fast summary what has happened after the second season of School Rumble, which, in my opinion, does clearify things alittle bit, but not enough. The OVA concentrates more at the story between Tenma Tsukamoto and Oji Karasuma, which is in opinion quite well done (except here are also cuts which is needed to fit into the two episodes of School Rumble San Gakki OVA).


[Comparison with manga: many (sub)plots in the manga are cut in the anime OVA, which are quite important for the whole story of the third term and the final conclusion of School Rumble. The promotional poster for the OVA with Mikoto Suo in a wedding dress does not even appear in the OVA, because a chapter from the manga with Haruki Hanai having amnesia does not appear in the anime OVA.; the whole marathon walk for the students of the third term only appears in the summary (in the introduction of the OVA) for a short time, i.e. all the jokes, subplots etc. happened in the marathon are all gone. Also missing: Tenma Tsukamoto is doing her best becoming a doctor in an attempt to heal Karasuma's disease in the United States; Karasuma's disease in the manga makes the story more sad, because Tenma can not do anything while Karasuma only stares before him without a mind; Oji Karasuma admits he loves Tenma before he really lost all his memories about her at the hospital; There's more Harima x Eri; there's hint of Akira x Hanai. There are many other subplots which are left out in the OVA.]


Character=7; character design is good. But character developments are much halted because many (sub)plots are missing in the OVA, e.g. Eri's feelings towards Harima in the end of the actual story, Mikoto's feeling towards Hanai vice versa and the struggle of Tenma because Karasumma's disease is more evident in the manga etc..


Value=6; how much value? For me, it's definitely a must-rent/see, but not a must-buy because the many cuts and plot holes.


Enjoyment=7; I do have enjoyed the OVA, although there are so much things left out. The remaining jokes and serious moments are there, but the pacing of the OVA is just too fast/rushed because there are only two episodes for concluding the story of School Rumble.


Overall, the School Rumble Third Term OVA is enjoyable, but it's a little bit dissapointment for me since there are so many things left out/cut. The decision to conclude the end of School Rumble in just two episodes (25 minutes each) feels just wrong. Maybe it's better to concludes the story of School Rumble via a 75 minutes to 95 minutes movie (i.e. with better animations, movie quality graphics and special effects) or via a 13 episodes TV series, so the cuts can be reduced or the story/plot can remain more or less, or even completely intact for a better understanding and enjoyment of the conclusion/story of School Rumble.

This is the ending of the School Rumble series. If you have not already seen the previous 3 anime please check that out first.

Animation:
Its the run of the mill animation that you see on regular average quality anime.

Sound:
Nothing special here either.

Story:
The primary story was several love stories that they were just dragging along. If we were to think of them as a slice-of-life kind of anime, where the love things that were going on was just for context and comedic effect, it made sense and the previous 3 animes were enjoyable.

These 2 OVAs are there only to sort of bring the series to an end. The ending was not at all good. But I will still recommend that you see it, its just 40mins, and maybe just for the peace of mind and the love for the characters.

Character:
The characters have already been established in the prequels, so this is not applicable here.

Value, and Enjoyment:
Just the opposite. Annoyed would be what I am feeling.

Watch it anyway. Sorry, that it may not be fun. ................

When I first heard that there was going to be a third series, I was overjoyed. This may have caused me to over-hype this series but it was still disappointing nonetheless.

I believe this was supposed to be a full anime series but they cut it to two episodes (the last ones mind you) just to give an ending to the franchise.

Two very important points:
#1: Missing 20+ episodes means you either have to read LOTS of manga or you'll have to just deal with missing context as I did.
#2: The ending totally fails. It is neither an ending nor does it give any sense of conclusion whatsoever.

If you still feel that you want to see an ending for what started out as an unbelievably good show (or if you finished the manga) go ahead and watch. Otherwise, I'd recommend you not watch it as it may very well lower your overall impression of the series.

Animation:
Pretty much exactly the same as the first two seasons. Clarity is okay, colors are fine... not much to say really.

Sound:
Music is the SAME from season two minus the last ED but if you're in love with the soundtrack then I guess it's good? VAs are still what make this show stand out and they still deliver, probably one of the only pluses for this show.

Story:
You start off in the middle of a school marathon and soon learn that Karasuma is leaving for the US. You find the reason why he leaves and why he doesn't want to get close to poor Tenma.

A lot of plot development gets squished into the two episodes and I found myself saying "holy crap" repeatedly as the twists continuously hit. I guess the show succeeds in explaining things such as why Karasuma always looks like he's out of it and such but the ending just totally killed it. If you want to see how to kill a good series, watch the ending as it says well let's fast forward a few years (note that EVERYONE looks the same... which annoyed me).

Character:
There is quite a bit of character development squished into two episodes, so much so that it seems uncharacteristic for the School Rumble name. I won't go into details as these developments are closely linked to the many plot twists that await the curious viewer... However, I will say that not enough background information is given and Harima's actions seem somewhat counter-intuitive. But then again he isn't a very logical fellow to start with.

Value:
You'll find much better elsewhere. Avoid this if you still want to hold a good reputation for the School Rumble series as a whole (i.e. skip this and just go with the manga).