School Rumble Creator Releases New Harima Artwork After 4-Year Social Media Hiatus

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Manga artist Jin Kobayashi, best known for creating the shonen romantic comedy series School Rumble, has returned to social media for the first time in nearly four years. He recently updated his official X (formerly Twitter) account with a new illustration of Kenji Harima, the main male protagonist of the School Rumble manga and anime.

While Kobayashi has created several works since authoring School Rumble, this title is by far his most well-known among most fans. The new artwork, seen below, depicts its main male character, Kenji Harima — a motorcycle-riding ex-delinquent high school student — with his trademark sunglasses, mustache and goatee. The X post immediately attracted plenty of attention, with fans responding enthusiastically to the sketch with comments such as “The legend returns” and “It’s [School Rumble] is complete, but I wonder if there will be a sequel or a new generation of school-related works drawn from scratch?”

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The Plot of Manga and Anime Series School Rumble

Although the original School Rumble manga, published in Weekly Shonen Magazine, ended in 2009, it and its first 26-episode anime adaptation (Studio Comet, 2004-05) are still very fondly remembered by fans of shonen works and high school rom-coms. The story revolves around a love triangle between Tenma Tsukamoto, Oji Karasuma and Kenji Harima. While Tenma struggles to confess her romantic feelings toward Karasuma, who is entirely oblivious to her attraction for him, the stubborn yet bumbling Harima, a burgeoning manga artist, has equal trouble confessing his own feelings for Tenma. His efforts to make his love for her known are constantly thwarted, often in outlandishly comedic or melodramatic ways.

Kobayashi began drawing manga during his university years, with School Rumble becoming his first serialized work. He has previously stated that Harima is his favorite character and that roughly 30% of the delinquent high-schooler is a reflection of himself. The creator even made some cameo appearances in the School Rumble anime, voicing the character Sailor F — a crew member on a fishing ship who only appears very briefly toward the end of the series — and that of the narrator in a specific segment of the first OVA episode special. Along with its first anime season, School Rumble went on to inspire a second 26-episode sequel anime titled School Rumble: 2nd Semester (2006), as well as three separate PlayStation games.

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School Rumble Could Still Receive a Sequel With Its Characters as Adults

Eri, Yakumo and Tenma from the school rumble anime under sakura blossoms

Although it currently seems unlikely that School Rumble will ever see a return, given that it’s now been 15 years since the conclusion of the manga, the idea isn’t entirely outside the realm of possibility. While Kobayashi has given no indication that he is now working on a follow-up, he once stated in 2009 that he wanted to draw more of the series when he had time, exploring the characters as adults in a seinen rather than shonen publication.

The original School Rumble manga is licensed for publication in North America by Kodansha USA, where it is described: “She… is a second-year high school student with a single all-consuming question: Will the boy she likes ever really notice her? He… is the school’s most notorious juvenile delinquent and he’s suddenly come to a shocking realization: He’s got a huge crush, and now he must tell her how he feels. Life-changing obsessions, colossal foul-ups, grand schemes, deep-seated anxieties, and raging hormones-School Rumble portrays high school as it really is: over-the-top comedy!” Both seasons of the anime, formerly licensed by Funimation, are available to stream on Crunchyroll.

School Rumble

A young high schooler is in love with an oblivious classmate; a delinquent classmate is in love with her. Both struggle to confess their feelings and their antics lead to crazy situations.

Release Date: August 28, 2007
Cast: Luci Christian , Brina Palencia , Caitlin Glass
Seasons: 2 Seasons
Creator: Jin Kobayashi
Production Company: Studio Comet