Thread: Chapter 208 (*Spoilers*)

Another chapter I really liked. The picture of smiling Eri on page 7 made my day, and I look forward to more Eri VS Tenma.

Tenma surprised me a bit in this chapter, since I didn’t expect her to react so strongly to Eri’s cold shoulder, but I’m confident they’ll work things out. Eri was in a similar situation with Suou at the beginning of the series, and things turned out fine between them.

Originally Posted by -Ajax-

I hope Akira sets things right, or someone...please!

I sure hope this conflict doesn’t get resolved by an outsider. Eri is the one being set up as the flawed character here, and I want Kobayashi to develop her character further by having Eri resolve the dilemma. Getting someone else to resolve their issue is copping out, or “hitting the reset button” as I hear people often denounce Kobayashi for doing.

Originally Posted by ultraness

I sure hope this conflict doesn’t get resolved by an outsider. Eri is the one being set up as the flawed character here, and I want Kobayashi to develop her character further by having Eri resolve the dilemma. Getting someone else to resolve their issue is copping out, or “hitting the reset button” as I hear people often denounce Kobayashi for doing.

It doesn't need to get resolved by the outsider, but the outsider can help point Eri in the right direction, Akira is smart enough to do at least that much. Then Eri and Tenma can talk and clear things up, but right now no progress is being made.

Originally Posted by Mini Jesus

The rift between Tenma and Eri doesn't need to be there to cause a push in the plot. The resolution of the conflict could create a push as well. Think about it, if Tenma found out why Eri is being so cold towards her, she's going to do everything she can to help Eri get together with Harima(unless she still thinks Harima is with Yakumo). Possibly spilling it to Harima and creating a situation where something HAS to happen. The rift could go away before we know it.

I don't think the rift is going to be resolved any time soon. Eri's quarrel with Mikoto took several chapters to fix, and her rift with Yakumo lasted nearly forty chapters and still hasn't fully healed. The current rift between her and Tenma is worse than all the others because it's based on truth instead of misunderstanding, and it's been subtly building up over the entire manga. There have been many, many contrasts of the two and small instances showing the tension in their relationship: Tenma's envy, Eri's superiority complex. Tenma vs. Eri is the true central conflict of the manga, much more so than Eri vs. Yakumo or even Harima vs. Karasuma. Eri is Sasuke to Tenma's Naruto, and she just found out that Itachi, i.e. Harima, is after Tenma and doesn't care about her. I doubt that the rift will be fully resolved until the end of the manga, when Eri either lets go of Harima and pushes him and Tenma together or lets go of her own jealousy towards Tenma if she winds up with Harima.

NeoSapien- We don't know for sure if Eri knows Harima's feelings towards Tenma. We know that she knows he enjoys spending time with Tenma and not her, but I don't think she know the extent of his feelings(unless there's a scene I'm forgetting). I think she thinks he only thinks of Tenma as a friend right now. The only thing that she heard when Tenma was helping Harima was that Harima doesn't share Eri's feelings(again, unless I'm forgetting something right now).

I'm pretty sure that we can assume Eri has pieced together the truth by now. Eri got a huge hint at the end of 202, but she just couldn't bring herself to believe that Harima would prefer Tenma over her. "The nerve of that Hige! Is he saying that I'm not attractive? That can't be! To put it bluntly, there's so much more to me than Tenma! By far!!" So at the end of 205, Eri jumped on the first alternate explanation she could find: Harima loves Yakumo and went to the shrimp party for her, not Tenma. The sidetext said, "Sawachika Eri, an explanation that satisfies her." Eri could accept Yakumo, the one girl in school possibly more desirable than herself, as a rival.

However, Yakumo shot down that theory and all but spelled it out: "You're wrong. You still... you still haven't noticed yet? Harima-san loves shrimp," with "shrimp" being code for "Tenma". Then, in 207, the final straw came. Eri's sudden coldness towards Tenma shows that she has finally accepted the truth and resolved to beat Tenma.

The long wait is finally over...yes it's 2 long weeks.

I feel satisfied with the chapter, it's not another misunderstanding, it's facts. I believe now that Eri has quite an understanding to whom Harima really like...err Tenma. Can't wait for next week's release.

It has begun

This chapter somehow reminds us when there is a misunderstanding between Mikoto and Eri, but at more intesity. Poor Tenma...

But despite of that we look a brand new Sawachika, now she uses all she can to win Harima's heart. And in my opinion there is a possibility that she will confess to Harima in next chaper in the oyster bar.

Originally Posted by Snah

This chapter somehow reminds us when there is a misunderstanding between Mikoto and Eri, but at more intesity. Poor Tenma...

But despite of that we look a brand new Sawachika, now she uses all she can to win Harima's heart. And in my opinion there is a possibility that she will confess to Harima in next chaper in the oyster bar.

Her confession would be shot down immediately...so i hope not, its not time.

I believe that someone will indeed make a heart-breaking entrance that will ruin the confession, I even doubt that she will even can confess to Harima her feelings given the opportunity...worse I even doubt they could even actually go to an oyster bar, This is School Rumble...that's why I believe someone out their is destined to ruin it

Originally Posted by -Ajax-

It doesn't need to get resolved by the outsider, but the outsider can help point Eri in the right direction, Akira is smart enough to do at least that much. Then Eri and Tenma can talk and clear things up, but right now no progress is being made.

The less an outsider gets involved with the conflict, the more Eri's character can develop. Tenma is trying desperately to clear things up with Eri, and she'll have succeed eventually if she keeps it up. Kobayashi chooses not to show us Eri's face on the last page after she sends her reply to Tenma, so we can't be certain Eri is not feeling guilty for her cold answer.

Originally Posted by NeoSapien

I don't think the rift is going to be resolved any time soon. Eri's quarrel with Mikoto took several chapters to fix, and her rift with Yakumo lasted nearly forty chapters and still hasn't fully healed.

The Eri-Mikoto rift lasted about five chapters, albeit one chapter was much longer than the average chapter. The rift between Eri and Yakumo did heal and was non-existent for about eighty chapters, but Yakumo re-opened the wound recently with the potato shrimp. I guess you could say the shrimp gave the rift scurvy.

Originally Posted by NeoSapien

Eri is Sasuke to Tenma's Naruto, and she just found out that Itachi, i.e. Harima, is after Tenma and doesn't care about her. I doubt that the rift will be fully resolved until the end of the manga, when Eri either lets go of Harima and pushes him and Tenma together or lets go of her own jealousy towards Tenma if she winds up with Harima.

The comparison to Naruto is kind of ridiculous. I seriously doubt Eri will ever give up on Harima now and Tenma has her own love interest in Karasuma, so the scenario with Tenma ending up with Harima is getting more and more unlikely by the chapter.

Originally Posted by NeoSapien

I'm pretty sure that we can assume Eri has pieced together the truth by now. Eri got a huge hint at the end of 202, but she just couldn't bring herself to believe that Harima would prefer Tenma over her. "The nerve of that Hige! Is he saying that I'm not attractive? That can't be! To put it bluntly, there's so much more to me than Tenma! By far!!"

I think Eri having trouble that Harima likes Tenma more than her has more to do with Eri misunderstanding that Harima liked her for 150 chapters than Eri having a superiority complex.

Originally Posted by Snah

But despite of that we look a brand new Sawachika, now she uses all she can to win Harima's heart. And in my opinion there is a possibility that she will confess to Harima in next chapter in the oyster bar.

Eri has had her most success with Harima when she simply acts like herself and disregards her pride. Thus, I find Eri’s thought that “In this situation I have to be forceful no matter how it makes me look!!” to be critical.

Originally Posted by -Ajax-

Her confession would be shot down immediately...so I hope not, its not time.

Harima's become a bit of a wildcard in recent chapters, so we can't be too sure how he'll react to everything anymore. We’re not shown what he’s thinking as often before, and almost never when his thoughts concern Eri. Nonetheless, Harima seems to be changing his attitude towards Eri slightly. For example, earlier in the series, Harima would have turned down Eri immediately if she asked him and she would have had to tried harder to convince him to come with her to the oyster bar. Also, during Chapter b43, Harima hesitates when Eri asks him to go with her house when the alternative is going to Tenma’s house. Then add the times Harima has gone out of his way to do nice things for Eri (without Tenma as his ultimate motivator), and that’s enough evidence to argue that it’s possible Harima unconsciously likes Eri and any time he denies it is just his ego mentally suppressing this knowledge from himself.

If that’s the case, Eri just needs to do something strong enough to cut through his ego in order to make Harima realize this. A confession just might be enough to do this. To simplify my message, I used math:

Sigmund Freud FTW + Freudian Psychology supporting Flag = Flag FTW

... And just to make my Freudian psychoanalysis of Harima complete, I’ll mention that Itoko serves as Harima’s surrogate mother figure, and that Harima treats Eri and Itoko very similarly, implying that Harima views the two as similar. This leads to the conclusion that Harima views Eri as a surrogate to his surrogate mother figure. Thus, due to the Oedipal Complex, Harima must love Eri.

Originally Posted by NarutoFan :D

Eri is Sasuke to Tenma's Naruto, and she just found out that Itachi, i.e. Harima, is after Tenma and doesn't care about her. I doubt that the rift will be fully resolved until the end of the manga, when Eri either lets go of Harima and pushes him and Tenma together or lets go of her own jealousy towards Tenma if she winds up with Harima.

The big difference here that Eri isn't going to kill Harima and Eri is not so annoying character as Sasuke and far more smarter and pretty

I feel the next chapter won't be in any way rumble - a serious approach from Eri, maybe not the confession - but next day in school a victory look over Tenma : "See, he likes spending times with me as much as with you..no..more than with you !!".
She will forgive Tenma when she will be deafeted 0 although Tenma doesn't know she is fighting, but this way she is so crushed and down she won't interfere Eri with her plans (maybe that's what Eri planned - It seems I underestimated her )