School Rumble Volume 7

Rating All Ages Genre manga Publisher Del Ray External Links Official School Rumble Website

Somehow, the painful misunderstandings never get old in School Rumble. Just when you think that you can’t take enough, you’re suckered back into the world of the students of class 2-C. In this installment, Harima has to deal with first the misunderstanding that he and Erika are dating and then that he and Yakumo are dating. Naturally, all his attempts to get closer to Tenma are thwarted by these misunderstandings. It gets to a point where Harima gets frustrated and tries to become a sailor. Of course, he eventually ends back on land as the captain tells him to follow his dreams of becoming a mangaka.

Like the other volumes, the entire series is based off of one misunderstanding after another. Harima can’t catch a break, and Tenma keeps cheering him on to date either Erika or Yakumo. At least one of the girls does have feelings for him. Erika tries to deny her feelings for him, although she does admit that she is happy with him. She even goes to the trouble of sewing his nametag back onto his sweater, even though she’s horrible at sewing. When Erika hears that Harima and Yakumo might be dating, she becomes jealous and acts cold towards the younger girl. The relationship between Yakumo and Harima is strictly platonic as Yakumo is secretly helping Harima with his manga. She spends the night at his house to help him ink in time for the young manga contest. Of course, when the two show up to school together, the rumors start spreading that they are dating. After all, it seems suspicious that a girl and guy would spend the night together and not be dating, even by American standards. It’s a fairly light-hearted volume. Tenma is still completely oblivious to Harima’s advances, and Harima has no idea that there are other girls interested in him (not that he cares). The relationships are developing nicely and we can see that there are going to be a lot of Harima x Yakumo shippers. The art seems like a blend of two different manga styles. In the school scenes, the style is very girly; with the large female eyes, small mouth and nose, and delicate background. The scenes with Harima, especially when he is on the boat, are very reminiscent of shonen, or boy, manga. The drawings and language use is a lot rougher. It’s this interesting combination that makes the story a bit more readable and acceptable, despite the typical plot of boy likes girl but girl likes a different boy.

Overall, it’s a nice progression of the story. We get to see Yakumo and Harima interact more and also see Erika come to terms, in some respect, with her feelings for Harima. Of course, it’s become even more frustrating since it’s become a love square. Who will end up with who? Who knows? Will Tenma ever realize Harima’s feelings? Probably not.