yakumo for me..hope she and harima get together in the end...

actually characterization is a bit shallow for me, maybe because they are too many. still i dont really love anyone in the story and i guess they are a bit stereotypical..even yakumo seems to lack depth, and she's a bit boring and cold...and also the artwork is a bit rusty, so its also a depreciating factor...compairing with Majou Negima Sensei, which contains a bigger number of characters this one is worse...sorry!

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The characters are really the strong point of the series. Negima has a larger cast, but the focus is more on the story, with the characters as props. SR may not develop the side cast as much, but the vast majority of the focus of the story is about exploring the thoughts and feelings of a few specific characters.

Perhaps you were basing your thoughts exclusively on Yakumo?

come on man, really?i am currently reading it, at vol16 right now and what you say about exploring the thoughts and feelings of the major characters, i just dont get that at all...i'm pretty sure if you count all pages about the main characters and side casts/stories the latter would still get the larger number...there's too much characters and side stories about the side characters..

and if what you say is true then i should have been captivated by at least one character in the story but i am not...i mean the way it was delivered is not deep enough or complete enought to be captivating for me, sorry..i'm a sucker for shounen romantic comedy but i find this manga a bit lacking...this is even more like a shoujo than a shounen, coz the focus is more on the girls than on the guy(s)..and the plot is just like the title, its a rumble...for a romantic comedy, its not even sweet or funny, i just find it frustrating..the later part of the story is a bit more dramatic than comedic and using misunderstanding is funny at first but its getting painful and tiresome if used repeatively or with a more serious mood...

character-wise, harima should have been cool, but portraying him stupid and weak where it counts just makes him uncool...

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The focus is fairly diffuse for the first 5 volumes or so. As Eri comes more into the focus of the story, she is fairly consistantly developed through the main story arcs. If you piece together all the snippets of information that you've been given, you should have a fairly vivid understanding of several characters' personalities.


Whether or not you feel captivated by the story is a different issue altogether. No matter how deep or how shallow the characters really are, you won't be able to enjoy them if your expectations don't match up with the way the story really is.

In the typical romantic comedy, you're given clear clues as to who the main couple is - once you identify which character is playing which "role", you can just sit back and enjoy the piece. They're not about original ideas so much as they are about stirring the viewer's emotions.

One of SR's strengths is that it isn't so quick to indulge us as most other series seem to be. There are no shortage of traditional romantic comedies - so there's nothing wrong with breaking the mould every now and then. A bit of frustration is good for you.


If he was cool where you would normally expect him to be cool, then he wouldn't be the slightest bit interesting.

good points mavnent.....

I wanna comment on Harima's current situation with Eri. It looks like he won't try breaking up with her again since she managed to reverse it on him the last time. He is also a nice person in general so he will for the most part be at the mercy of Eri. She just has to play her cards the right way. Remember that Tenma won Harima over(unknowingly and in her sleep) by holding Harima and telling him she loves him then trying to kiss him. If Eri does something similar or better she should be able to change his feelings.

@mavnent

points taken...

i think we are different types of reader. as for me, i'm the type who gets involve in the story or the character, so i'm not the type who can just seat back and watch the story unfold..there should be something for me to like at the characters i'm reading...and in my opinion, the characters are a bit 2-dimensional, for a character to be more developed, some backrounds should be provided to understand him/her more..and these things are somewhat lacking in the story, like family backround, or some explanation why they dont have one..its hard to explain, but somewhere along those lines...just lacking for my taste i guess..

anyways peace!!

PS..are you a guy?just wondering if this is liked more by guys or by gals...its a bit shoujo-ish for my taste i guess..the focus is more on the girls thoughts than the guys..so unlike the usual shounen romantic comedy..

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That's how it could work in theory. The tricky part, though, is that everyone is watching Harima fairly closely to see the slightest indication of his feelings changing, so there doesn't really seem to be a subtle way to have him switch, if that's what ends up happening. I suspect the author may be caught in a bit of a trap, here.


There is a lot of backstory to many of the characters - it's just scattered in bits and pieces through the story. Some people have done a fairly good job of compiling it together. Here are a few examples:

http://www.wannabefansubs.info/harima/index.php/Takano_Akir a
http://www.wannabefansubs.info/harima/index.php/Sawachika_E ri

One of the things that I like about the story is that it's fairly consistant on these little pieces of trivia.


I'm a guy.

I'd guess that the split is pretty much 50-50 on this series, to the best of my knowledge. If you look at it, even the typical shounen romcom doesn't have all that much focus on the male lead.

On a very biased level I would say Eri, but stepping back and just looking at actions and character design my vote would be for Ichijou with Yakumo at a not too distant second.

for me , it is Takano Akira. I think she kinda of u know, cool since her mind is just kinda different from others and if she is really in this world i would wanna go out with her.

Eri of course

Karen Ichijou is the cutest.

Eri

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"Let's put a smile on that face."

Eri Sawachika.

Me three. Everyone else is much more mature to be cute in my opinion.

Eri Sawachika