Thanks to barnesandnoble.com for the image.

SCHOOL RUMBLE, VOL. 8

DEL REY
CARTOONIST: Jin Kobayashi
TRANSLATION/ADAPTATION: William Flanagan
ISBN: 978-0-345-50143-1; paperback; Rating “T” for “Ages 13+”
170 pp., B&W, $10.95

School Rumble is a romantic comedy of exaggerated proportions from manga-ka (creator), Jin Kobayashi.  Set in a high school, the students turn to battling when they want to settle even non-violent disputes.

It’s the cultural festival at Yagami High School, so that means war in School Rumble, Vol. 8.  One group of students wants the festival’s theme to be a café setting, and another group wants to perform a stage play.  Rivals Harima Kenji and Hanai Inaba are on either side of the divide, and no one is willing to compromise.  So the “café army” and “play army” pick up BB guns, and bring war to the hallways and classrooms of Yagami High!

THE LOWDOWN:  While School Rumble could be described as a comedy about high school romance, it’s more a shonen manga (boys’ comics) set at a high school full of willful, imaginative, creative, smart, and eccentric kids.  In fact there are so many characters, competing plotlines, conflicting motivations, and intersecting conflicts that the reader might need a scorecard or two or three to keep up.

Vol. 8 is strange in that half of it is about awkward teen love, but the other half is comic action featuring an exceedingly strange but intriguing mock war between the students.  Obviously, this is meant to be humorous, but seeing students running through the halls of a high school shooting each other, even with BB guns, is still eerie and a bit unsettling.  Of course, that battle is the best part of this mostly uneven book.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE:  Readers who enjoy shonen comedy on the wacky side will like this.

B-