With much silliness and some campy teenage angst, the fifth installment of School Rumble delivers all the amusement we've come to expect from this very funny series.  School Rumble remains consistently funny, and manages to portray a surprisingly sensitive, if a bit tongue-in-cheek, view of high school life.  While the series has wonderfully drawn, engaging characters, it's the humor that keeps me coming back.  It's just plain funny, and Volume 5 doesn't disappoint.

Tenma Tsukamoto is very much looking forward to starting her second year of high school.  Thrilled to learn she's sharing a class with Oji Kurasuma, the only hurdle she has to overcome is telling him she loves him.  Easy, right?  Not so much.  Tenma tries to share her feelings with a (ridiculously long) letter, but forgets to sign her name.  Intrigued by the idea of a secret admirer, Kurasuma puts his plans to transfer to a new school on hold, much to Tenma's delight and horror.  How is she going to tell Kurasuma how she feels, when he's more interested in a bowl of curry than a cute girl?

Meanwhile, school delinquent Kenji Harima is in love with Tenma.  In an attempt to get closer to her, he begins attending school on a regular basis and tries to clean up his image.  Plan after plan to share his feelings for the oblivious Tenma go awry, and his regular attendance and strange enthusiasm for school is starting to freak people out.  While he still can't manage to tell Tenma he loves her, the two begin a sort of friendship, hampered by misunderstandings.  Tenma is aware that Harima loves someone she knows, she just has no clue it's her.  A bit of a romantic, Tenma tries to help Harima share his feelings.  That is, until she misunderstands and begins to think he's hitting on all of her friends...and her little sister.

Volume 5 continues to follow our star-crossed heroes with more misunderstandings, and some lost appendages.  No, not those appendages, but Harima is rather abruptly parted with his beard, at the hands of rich-girl Eri.  Her attempts at making it up to Harima...don't go as planned.  Class representative Hanai has his heart broken when he thinks Tenma's younger sister, Yakumo, is involved with Harima.  Harima just wants help with the manga he's drawing, and Yakumo has become his impromptu editor.  The arrival of two new characters, Harry McKenzie and Lara Gonzalez just adds to the confusion.  Lara is determined to beat shy wrestler Karen Ichijo in a match, and gets her chance when classes 2-C and 2-D are pitted against one another in a no-holds-barred school sponsored athletic meet.  Forgive me for saying it:  Let the games begin.

Misunderstandings and plans destined for disaster, all with incredibly amusing results, abound in this series.  School Rumble makes me laugh.  A lot.  Part of what makes it so funny are the grains of truth found in the situations and the sympathetic nods to high school life.  Crushes happen.  That one-sided, all-consuming unrequited love with the girl or boy who doesn't realize their admirer exists happens.  Ill-conceived plans for love happen.  It might be helpful to have a flow chart to keep track of all the crushes, which, at least based on my high school experience, is also pretty true to life.  All of this is portrayed in a very tongue-in-cheek, campy fashion, of course.  The angst and drama never get too angsty or dramatic, because there's always that bit of humor to lighten the mood.  

Everything seems to come together and work in this series.  The character designs are as unique as the personalities, which have evolved over the course of the series.  I am particularly fond of Tenma's pigtails.  They have a life of their own, and are very fun to watch.  The series might seem a little repetitive at first, with the two main characters spending all their time plotting for love.  As the series continues, and especially by this volume, the plots have branched out to such a degree that there's always something different happening. 

I greatly enjoyed Volume 5.  It's every bit as funny and entertaining as the previous four.  If you've been following the series, it's worth picking up.  School Rumble is the kind of series I'd buy.  It's consistently funny, and there's a sweetness to it that doesn't rot one's teeth, but is enough to make it endearing.  It could easily become my go-to series to brighten a rainy day.

Details: Runtime 100 minutes, contains episodes 19-22.  Extras include an interview with Anegasaki's Japanese voice actress, TV commercial, textless songs, and trailers.  The case comes with a reversible jacket and a very nifty sheet of magnets.  Magnets!  That's as good as stickers!