Chapter 265 Discussion Thread

**sandman1008** · 03-25-2008, 08:01 AM

This is expected of Harima. I knew he would do something like this. Of course, I thought that if he beat Karasuma he would drag him to Tenma, but they reached a sort of mutual understanding and Harima pretty much gave Karasuma a "You should go see her, but you gotta do what you gotta do" type of response. Of course, if he can't bring Karasuma to Tenma, then the next best option is to bring Tenma to Karasuma. And surely enough, that's what he's doing. No matter how I look at it, this series is not going to end anytime soon. And something's telling me that there is something else coming up. Maybe a revelation or some event that will bring about the lengthening of the series. Possibly Harima and Tenma going to America to "search" for Karasuma as someone mentioned, but I don't know how hard it would be to search for him unless they fly all the way to the other side of the country, which, considering the two characters, is more than possible.. I personally wouldn't mind seeing that.

I'm not completely ruling out Oodou, but it would require the story to lengthen, which I think is a high possibility. If the series were to end abruptly (as in the next few months or so), then Oodou is done. The only way for Oodou to succeed at this point is to prolong the story. Well, as long as Harima is happy in the end, I'll be happy with the ending.

**Swampstorm** · 03-25-2008, 08:55 PM

Oudou really isn't all that hard to pull off, within the next couple of chapters or so. It'd be terribly forced, of course, but it's so easy to do. Of course, we'd have to be discussing the spoiler for 267 if you wanted a better explanation than that.

I'd suggest the opposite of what you said - a prolonged story is not in Oudou's best interests. For one thing, only Tenma is set to go to New York. Harima is only accompanying her until she gets on that flight. Of course, that's not really relevant if KJ takes the obvious route in 268.

**NeoSapien** · 03-25-2008, 11:19 PM

Originally Posted by Swampstorm

Oudou really isn't all that hard to pull off, within the next couple of chapters or so. It'd be terribly forced, of course, but it's so easy to do. Of course, we'd have to be discussing the spoiler for 267 if you wanted a better explanation than that.

Tiptoeing around the spoiler, do you mean that Tenma could learn of Harima's feelings somehow (confession, recognition of Hentai-san, last-minute e-mail from a sympathetic party) before she leaves? That does seem likely, especially since I doubt Tenma will actually go to America.

I'd suggest the opposite of what you said - a prolonged story is not in Oudou's best interests. For one thing, only Tenma is set to go to New York. Harima is only accompanying her until she gets on that flight. Of course, that's not really relevant if KJ takes the obvious route in 268.

At this point, any resolution besides nobody getting together is going to be somewhat forced. However, Tenma changing her feelings would be the least forced in my opinion, since her feelings for Karasuma have been less developed and, well, emphasized than Harima's feelings for her. Harima is going much further to make Tenma happy than she has gone to make Karasuma happy, and she never got to know him as well as she and Harima got to know each other (or Harima got to know Eri and Yakumo, for that matter).

It is possible that Oudou's final development on Tenma's side could be drawn out and made more realistic, however. If Tenma learns of Harima's feelings but doesn't have a chance to answer them before a misunderstanding (like Harima fleeing in horror after Tenma finally recognizes him), that could give Tenma a chance to slowly assimilate Harima's feelings and return them over a final arc set in spring break. Of course, this scenario could also be applied to Harima learning of Eri or Yakumo's feelings for him and beginning to reciprocate them if Tenma's trip is successful and hooks her up with Karasuma for good. I do think that Tenma needs to learn the truth about Harima's feelings and their origin for any sort of proper end to the Harima-Tenma plotline, though.

**sandman1008** · 03-26-2008, 06:36 AM

Originally Posted by NeoSapien

At this point, any resolution besides nobody getting together is going to be somewhat forced. However, Tenma changing her feelings would be the least forced in my opinion, since her feelings for Karasuma have been less developed and, well, emphasized than Harima's feelings for her. Harima is going much further to make Tenma happy than she has gone to make Karasuma happy, and she never got to know him as well as she and Harima got to know each other (or Harima got to know Eri and Yakumo, for that matter).

I'm glad you said that because I thought I was on an island of my own. Since a majority of the readers seem to favor the Harima x Yakumo or the Harima x Eri pairing, they of course also favor the Tenma x Karasuma pairing for strategical reasons. However, I always favored the Harima x Tenma pairing because I also believed that Harima's feeling for Tenma was more developed and emphasized than Tenma's feelings for Karasuma. And yes, I also believe that he's done more to make Tenma happy than she has done to make Karasuma happy, or than Karasuma has done to make her happy, but you really couldn't expect anything from Karasuma since he was a robot throughout most of the manga. I still sometimes wonder what it is that made Tenma's feelings of infatuation for Karasuma turn into feelings of love. I just didn't see enough to make me believe that she truly loves him. In fact, I would say that I saw more that justified Karasuma's feelings for Tenma turning into feelings of love than vice versa.

Originally Posted by NeoSapien

It is possible that Oudou's final development on Tenma's side could be drawn out and made more realistic, however. If Tenma learns of Harima's feelings but doesn't have a chance to answer them before a misunderstanding (like Harima fleeing in horror after Tenma finally recognizes him), that could give Tenma a chance to slowly assimilate Harima's feelings and return them over a final arc set in spring break. Of course, this scenario could also be applied to Harima learning of Eri or Yakumo's feelings for him and beginning to reciprocate them if Tenma's trip is successful and hooks her up with Karasuma for good. I do think that Tenma needs to learn the truth about Harima's feelings and their origin for any sort of proper end to the Harima-Tenma plotline, though.

That seems like a very feasible scenario. I wonder why I never thought of it. And I totally agree that before the end, before the final pairing or anything like that, Tenma needs to recognize Harima's feelings and everything that relates to him, including what he's done for her (maybe not that far, but this would make it more realistic for their pairing). Excited to see what comes next.

**Urameshi-sama** · 03-26-2008, 10:15 AM

It's been so long that I've forgotten what Oudou is...
Anyways, reconciliation through a fight was a tad cliche for me.

The thing I liked about this chapter was how our main characters are finally acting a little more transparently about their beliefs, observations, and intentions. Karasuma, Yakumo, Tenma, Mikoto, and Eri all became much clearer about their feelings in the last 2 chapters.

Unless Karasuma is caught at the airport, I can't help but think that this scene will also devolve into a huge joke in SR style. Something along the lines of, like, not being able to immediately go to America due to forgetting passport.

**Infinite Legend** · 03-26-2008, 04:31 PM

Anyone think that the double release ruined the cliffhanger on chapter 265?
It was like everyone thought that Harima finally confessed then got embarised then bagged tenma and ran off. Then when we found out that he was taking her to the airport it was kinda anti climax.

**Swampstorm** · 03-26-2008, 09:10 PM

Originally Posted by NeoSapien

Tiptoeing around the spoiler, do you mean that Tenma could learn of Harima's feelings somehow (confession, recognition of Hentai-san, last-minute e-mail from a sympathetic party) before she leaves? That does seem likely, especially since I doubt Tenma will actually go to America.

Not from a sympathetic party. That wouldn't resolve the issue of Harima's past cowardice, since that route would basically require someone else to confess on his behalf (not that I wouldn't put it past Yakumo, since she's done it before).

I was thinking more about the consequences of the dialogue made during the first part of the motorcycle ride in 267. That, when coupled with the setup for 268, seems to make for a really convenient opportunity. Refer to the I''s manga if you want a clearer example of the type of scenario that I'm talking about.

Originally Posted by NeoSapien

At this point, any resolution besides nobody getting together is going to be somewhat forced. However, Tenma changing her feelings would be the least forced in my opinion, since her feelings for Karasuma have been less developed and, well, emphasized than Harima's feelings for her. Harima is going much further to make Tenma happy than she has gone to make Karasuma happy, and she never got to know him as well as she and Harima got to know each other (or Harima got to know Eri and Yakumo, for that matter).

That's not true. An ending in which Tenma goes after Karasuma and gets to directly hear how he truly feels about her wouldn't be forced at all. It would be a surprise to see a bittersweet ending where Tenma and Karasuma decide to make the most of their limited time together, but such an ending would definitely show a tremendous amount of depth.

You've probably noticed this already, but the clash between Harima and Karasuma in recent chapters was not so much a fight over Tenma as it was a battle of values. To Harima, the proof of his "love" for Tenma is demonstrated through his actions. By taking action where Karasuma does not, Harima comes to believe that he "loves" Tenma more than Karasuma does. This is also why Harima accuses Karasuma's feelings of being half-assed.

To Karasuma, however, it isn't the "proof" of his and Tenma's love for each other that matters, so much as the knowledge that it exists. Even if he is unable to express those feelings to Tenma, he knows that his feelings for her are very real. Still waters run deep.

Ch.265 is a turning point, in that sense. Harima realizes that he is guilty of the very thing that he accused Karasuma of: cowardice. All his grand displays were nothing more than an attempt by Harima to run from his own inability to either confess and make Tenma happy himself, or to allow her to find happiness with another. While Harima found security for himself in keeping things in limbo, he realizes that he hadn't stopped to consider Tenma's feelings. That's the realization that set Harima on the correct path.

Incidently, Tenma's never really paid Harima all that much attention in all of Oudou's "interactions", which is why she's the only girl who doesn't have a clue what makes him tick (even Yakumo has a better understanding here, when compared to her sister). The only stretch by which Tenma casting aside her feelings for Karasuma and leaping into Harima's arms works is because in the archetypical romance manga aimed at a shounen audience, the girl is "supposed" to cast aside all her own romantic aspirations to make the male protagonist happy. It's easy to overlook the bizarre character shift when the readers are expecting it to happen.

That being said, School Rumble isn't your typical shounen romcom. My main point is just that should KJ decide to just "get the series over with" here, it can be done fairly easily.

Originally Posted by NeoSapien

It is possible that Oudou's final development on Tenma's side could be drawn out and made more realistic, however. If Tenma learns of Harima's feelings but doesn't have a chance to answer them before a misunderstanding (like Harima fleeing in horror after Tenma finally recognizes him), that could give Tenma a chance to slowly assimilate Harima's feelings and return them over a final arc set in spring break. Of course, this scenario could also be applied to Harima learning of Eri or Yakumo's feelings for him and beginning to reciprocate them if Tenma's trip is successful and hooks her up with Karasuma for good. I do think that Tenma needs to learn the truth about Harima's feelings and their origin for any sort of proper end to the Harima-Tenma plotline, though.

Well, it depends on what Tenma feels for Harima. If Tenma was secretly harboring an interest in Harima all along, then the sudden realization of Harima's feelings would make a convincing case for Oudou. The problem, however, is that Tenma is clearly very much in love with Karasuma. So having Tenma switch her feelings (especially given that Karasuma is apparently dying) comes across as either being expedient (ie. find a replacement for the dying boyfriend) or out of pity for Harima. Neither case is particularly romantic (and remember that this was a series that opened with a series of philosophical statements on love).

For a long term approach, the very best solution would be to have Tenma go through the process of grieving and then slowly find love with Harima. But that's much much more long term, and assumes that nothing else changes in the meantime.