School Rumble Z Volume 1 Chapter 02 (manga)
スクールランブルZ Chapter ♮2 Van Helsing

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Set in medieval Europe, Harima is a monster slaying knight and exorcist. After receiving a report that Tenma and some girls have to Castle 2C (a “goblins den”), Harima is determined to rescue Tenma. To his surprise, Tenma, Madoka, Mikoto, Akira, and one other girl are having a dating mixer with Frankenstein (Nishimoto), Dracula (Ryuuhei), the Wolfman (Imadori), and Shigeo. They are playing Demon King where the person who draws the Demon King stick gets two of the numbered sticks drawn to do something (kiss, hug, whatever). When Tenma invites Harima to play, Harima changes his mind about saving Tenma.

The game goes on with Shigeo constantly becoming Demon King, which irritates Harima. The game is down to its last round and Harima finally becomes Demon King. He uses a special technique to learn Tenma’s number. He sees the number “6” and declares that the Demon King and #6 should kiss. Nishimoto produces the number 6 stick and is excited to kiss Harima. Harima freaks and when he learns that Tenma actually had the number 9, Harima decides to end things by taking out the monsters. The town celebrates Harima for removing the monster threat but the girls then want nothing to do with him.

Review/Thoughts: I have to say that I liked this chapter a lot more than the previous one. For starters, I just found it to be more humorous with some of the “B” characters getting face time. The premise of Tenma and girls excited to be in a mixer with some monsters I found humorous as well. Granted, the joke with Tenma, Nishimoto, Harima, and the numbers 6 & 9 were used in volume 1 of School Rumble, but that didn’t bother me.

I couldn’t identify the last girl in this story. She may be someone introduced beyond where Del Rey has released School Rumble or I just may have forgotten her (and since Wikipedia sucks horribly and removes identifier images all the time, no help there). Shigeo looked a lot like Nara to me. I guess I need to re-read the volumes of School Rumble that Del Rey has released to refresh his image in my mind (and to just enjoy the School Rumble goodness).

So, a much better chapter this time than last. See you guys in a month or so.