▪	RELEASED BY:		FUNIMATION ENTERTAINMENT
		▪	ASPECT RATIO:		4:3 FULL SCREEN
		▪	AUDIO:		ENGLISH AND JAPANESE DD 2.0
		▪	RUNNING TIME:		125 MIN
		▪	RATING:		TV PG
		▪	RELEASE DATE:		08/21/2007
		▪	REVIEW DATE:		09//17/2007
		▪	REVIEWED BY:		HOLLY ELLINGWOOD

Crazy love. Crazy funny. Or just plain crazy? You be the judge in the zaniest romantic comedy to hit the block – School Rumble. This anime is out to lunch in the greatest way.

It’s high school and one of the less brightest bulbs in the box, a cute girl named Tenma, is in love with the oddest guy in the school, Karasuma. He doesn’t know she exists. But then again he doesn’t seem to register too much in regards to reality, he’s pretty clueless himself. The guy who has Tenma in his obsessive little heart is reformed bad guy Harima. He’s a thug with a big soft spot for the ditziest girl in the school and she doesn’t know he exists. So to recap – Tenma loves Karasuma, Harima loves Tenma, and Karasuma loves…curry? Confused? So are they! They wouldn’t have a clue even if you bought them one and bopped them on the head with it! It’s one of the zaniest, funniest romantic comedies in anime in ages. 

They aren’t the only ones involved in the lovey dovey kooky mayhem. There are Tenma’s girl posse including Eri the spoiled rich girl, Akira, the frightening self-sufficient one, and Tenma’s older sister Yakumo who is as sweet as she is pretty. You know they’re going to get mixed up in this already messed up situation. And sure enough they do! It seems an Akido freak named Hanai is love-crazed for Yakumo and will follow her anywhere. And this is just the start of this wacky and off beat comedy.

The anime is done what I call fun style. Each episode is split into three parts like three separate stories. So in five episodes you get about fifteen stories. Wow! Out of the huge list in this first volume there’s the first day of school, Tenma having a sleepover to get love advice from her girly girlfriends, MANY attempts from both Tenma and Harima to confess their love to the one they love and their MANY failures, softball games, field trips, rainy days and umbrella schemes, and way, way more! This is an anime comedy that throws in everything except the kitchen sink. But give it time, it might just have a kitchen sink thrown in there too! It all becomes this growing ball of laughs while the series hops, skips and jumps through the romantic challenges and challenged characters of School Rumble!

It’s based off of the manga by the same name by Jin Kobayashi. My favourite part in this first volume is when the anime shows just who thug Harima is living with. Seems his cousin is the school’s science teacher and she is one foxy devil! She’s trouble with a capital “T” with that mischievous glint in her sexy eyes. Then again, everyone is trouble in this anime. The animation is super charged with vivid colors and wacky expressions. It’s love gone wild hilarious style in School Rumble.

EXTRAS:
Bonus goodies include a reversible cover, original Japanese TV spots, FUNimation trailers, textless opening and ending animation, video interviews with Japanese voice actresses Ami Koshimizu (Tenma) and Mamiko Noto (Yakumo), and a sheet of magnets of the characters that you can put on the starter set metal tin locker or anywhere you want. The starter set includes a spiffy yellow metal tin to hold the entire series that is in the shape of a yellow mini-locker. It even has entertaining writing all over the locker box and images of the characters. The starter set also holds a Yagami High School Year Book. This booklet has some doodles and writing from classmates, room for autographs, photos and names of the student body and list of student activities – just like a real year book almost. It’s a short booklet, about only 8 pages and is exclusive to the starter set along with the cool tin.

IN SUMMARY:
Zany animation, zany fun, and just plain zany! School Rumble has off the wall comedy that’s off the hook! It’s crazy love in the funniest way!