[Diedrupo]

Originally Posted by Swampstorm

As a matter of fact, although SR is published for a "shounen" fan base, I've always had a suspicion that it is really more of a shoujo series in disguise. I'm not sure why everyone insists on treating this like a harem series built around Harima - not only does he only have one girl who is actually interested in him (a harem of just one girl?), but the organization of the relationships in the series forms a complex web that interconnects all of the characters in the series (there is no absolute centre, as you would find in a harem romantic structure.) The sparkle backgrounds are another device that you often see used in shoujo series. Yet another point to consider is the manner in which the story is treated - the emphasis is taken off of a goal orientated approach to romance to a more relationship orientated approach (ie. romantic "success" is based on gradually building a relationship, rather than "getting the girl"). This unfamiliar attitude is part of what seems to frustrate many viewers, who are used to just getting their catharsis quickly and moving on to another series.

I don't really see anything shoujo about School Rumble. Although it has two main characters (Tenma and Harima) and one of the requirements of non-boy love shoujo is that the main character is female, School Rumble seems to focus mostly on Harima. A lot of the humor is very shounen-like as well. And the art style is not the typical pretty shoujo style.

School Rumble is definately unique in that it is one of the few manga that is really all about the characters. Jin Kobayashi must be really into developing a small world and showing us the lives of his creations, and I really respect him for that. It's something that you don't see in most manga.

Another point that is worth considering is the issue of the "primary protagonist" in SR. At the start of the series, our primary protagonist was Tenma. As a matter of fact, Harima doesn't even appear until the second chapter of the manga. Early on, the primary conflict isn't "Will Harima get Tenma?" but rather, "Will Tenma get Karasuma?" We cannot devalue or reject Karasuma as a male lead simply because we cannot identify with him. Rather, early on, Tenma is the character with whom we are to identify with and empathize with. This is yet another issue that can be difficult to overcome - shounen series often have male protagonists with whom we identify with and project our ideas and attitudes on to. Shoujo series, by contrast, often have female protagonists. Male viewers may attempt to adjust by identifying with the secondary male protagonist of such series, but such an approach can also distort our perceptions of the series. Harima does not automatically become the main character of the series just because we identify with him more easily than we would a female lead.

Even though Tenma was introduced first, I still believe that Tenma and Harima are both the protagonists of the story. And since this is a shounen manga, we have to root for Harima, and not for Tenma. If anything, Tenma's lack of popularity and the lack of popularity for Harima x Tenma is more of a personal failure of the author. I really hope he does not cave into fan pressure to make a Harima x Eri ending, because its clear that from the start he wanted to get Harima and Tenma together.

Later on in the series, when the focus switches from Tenma to Eri, we still have the same problem - although the vast majority of the storyline is concerned with Eri's feelings, conflicts, and her relationship to Harima, we still tend to view the story as if it were built around Harima. While we do have a clear picture of Harima's goals, we rarely get a glimpse into the feelings behind those goals - the "why" of his character. Although there is a shift away from Tenma's character, the storyline is still told from the viewpoint of another female protagonist - Eri.

The structure of SR may be an issue for debate, but one thing we can be certain of is its unpredictability. It may comfortable to label and categorize the unfamiliar in terms of the familiar - but we always risk distorting the story in the process.

Eri is not a protagonist, she is a side character who happens to get a lot of screentime. She is a rival who likely won't succeed in hooking up with Harima. The main chapters have never focused on Eri, in fact, they switch back and forth between Harima and Tenma, it is only in the b chapters that we see other characters headlining. While we do get to see her thoughts and obviously a lot of us sympatize and root for her, in the end she's no different from any other female rival in any other shounen romance manga.

To be honest, I don't really see School Rumble as unpredictable. A lot of what has happened so far really just made sense, and wasn't unpredictable. Unpredictable would be something like Harima and Rinko suddenly hooking up. It may be because of the continual introduction of new characters and the new focus on older characters that make School Rumble so refreshing and different.

I'm still waiting for Unknown Girl 1, Unknown Girl 2, and Kaori to finally get introductions! They are the only girls left who haven't been introduced to the story (not counting Rinko and Mina, cause the anime pretty much gave them the limelight).