School Rumble “Diamonds on the Inside”

The second of the four School Rumble extra chapters is “Diamonds on the Inside”, which was published November 30, 2016.

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

The adult Eri, Akira, and Suou meet up at a cafe and are waiting for Tenma. They discuss keeping up with each other on social media. Suou asks why Eri won’t leave comments. Eri replies that she has no interest commenting on the post of some housewife doing her shopping.

Akira and Suou asks Eri about Harima, whom she denies dating. But she apparently does go out with him for drinks and such. However, she does recount a recent “date” where Harima complains about a meeting he attended at Eri’s request. Eri wonders if Harima still has feelings for Tenma.

Meanwhile, Tenma shows up with Yakumo and Sarah in tow. The girls then head to the high school reunion. Tenma is posed with the question about seeing someone they liked in high school.  She gives her answer. The girls run into Harima on the way to the reunion, who greets them.

Thoughts/Review

Initially, I thought this chapter wasn’t from Kobayashi-sensei. The character designs are a bit different. However, it had been six years since Sensei did a School Rumble chapter. Further, he was trying to make the girls look older, yet still young. I believe the chapter is set 8 years after they graduated.

One of the nice lore elements is seeing how Eri and Harima still see each other. The sad part is that they are just casually dating from time to time. Obviously they like each other, otherwise they wouldn’t still meet up. And Eri did get Harima to come to the reunion. I just kinda wish they were more of a couple. That’s because in School Rumble Z, they have a kid together.

The other lore element was Suou being an apparent housewife. I base this on Eri’s snide remark on why she doesn’t comment on Suou’s social media posts. Not sure where Hanai was though. If there’s a reunion, one would think Hanai would join his wife, even if she was hanging out with her best friends.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, School Rumble “Diamonds on the Inside” was a fun chapter. The new character designs depicting older, but still young characters was a bit different, but okay.