School Rumble Volume 9

SPOILER Summary: The manga starts by wrapping up the battle over whether the class will have a play or a cafe, with Harima and Hanai being the final players. When all is said and done, both the play and the cafe will be done with class members writing stories for the play that involve their fellow classmates in different situations. Meanwhile, Tenma decides to help Yakumo with Harima (despite Yakumo trying to set the record straight) by having Eri ask Harima some questions. His answers make Eri think that she’s the one he’s interested in when he’s referring to Tenma.

Because the class is spending the night at school to work on the cultural fair setup, they take a bath at a nearby public bath house, where the girls wonder how Eri feels about Harima. Afterward, the girls make onigiri with the guys tasked to pick which girl made which onigiri. Harima takes one which tastes very bad and seeing Tenma give him the thumb’s up, he assumes it is hers. In fact, it was Eri’s and when Tenma brings her square onigiri for Harima to eat, he discovers Tenma’s cooking is even worse than Eri’s.

After an interlude with Nara trying to get tips on getting a girlfriend, it is time for the school festival to start. The class’s cafe does well with the girls being chosen by male customers to serve them. However in the afternoon, business drops off and a crowd forms at the Tea Club’s room. Nara is dispatched to investigate and is snared when he is greeted by Itoko-sensei in maid costume, who calls him “master.” Harima is then dispatched but is snared (unwillingly) by Tae-sensei, the woman whom Harima lived with for a time and who is now acting like the happy, new wife. Finally Hanai goes to see what the deal is, but is greeted by Yakumo in a police woman’s costume, thus Hanai is snared.

Because Harima ordered three sessions of his favorite samurai TV show (where Tae-sensei is in period costume, including a ninja one), he’s forced to wash dishes since he didn’t have the funds to cover all three. Sarah, in her nun’s outfit, relieves Yakumo of her current customer (not Hanai surprisingly) so that Yakumo can attend another customer. Itoko-sensei comes in and relieves Harima because “Sensei” is waiting for him. A small room as been created in the classroom and when Harima enters, Yakumo is there, dressed in artists gear and working on a manga. Harima quickly gets into the role of her assistant and Sarah is happy that she arranged this little event, though she’s puzzled at Yakumo working on a manga and not getting cozy with Harima.

Finally, the 3rd to last chapter deals with Eri’s butler Nakamura’s past (as well as their manly maid). The 2nd to last chapter deals with an event in the school festival, where a real vampire gets roped into helping Sarah’s and Yakumo’s class, where the vampire has to deal with both girls. The final chapter dealt with Megumi, her “obaachan,” and Yakumo’s cat.

Thoughts: I really enjoyed this volume of the manga. The wrap up of the school battle parody was good, especially since Kobayashi-sensei managed to throw in a twist by having Hanai reveal how much he cares for Suo when Harima “killed” her (screaming out “Miko-chan”). I liked the sweetness that is still there for the Yakumo-Harima angle, even though Harima likes Tenma. I can’t quite figure out if Yakumo likes Harima in a romantic sense, but she certainly respects and admires him, as well as liking him on a friendly basis. With Sarah and Tenma both doing things to set up Yakumo and Harima, I’m hoping to see more of this while not forgetting the Eri angle.

Kobayashi-sensei completely ignored the rival class this volume, which is fine with me. I never cared much for that group in the anime. Instead, he chose to bring out more of Tenma and Harima’s fellow classmates, which I liked.

This volume had more humor for me than normal, partially because I don’t remember certain things from this volume being in the anime (such as the bath house). I got a kick out of some of the stories submitted for the play, especially since Mai and Tsugimi were trying to keep others from seeing what had been submitted. However, the funniest stuff was the onigiri food jokes. Granted, food jokes have been around for a long time and it is difficult to make them funny to me now. Yet somehow, Kobayashi-sensei manages to do just that. I think it is in part because you have not just one, but two girls who can’t cook.

Only two more months until volume 10 comes out. ^_^