FUNimation Acquires School Rumble

(Source: ICv2)

FUNimation has acquired the rights to yet another popular anime series, Shinji Takamatsu's School Rumble. This includes the 26 episode first season DVD and the two-episode School Rumble: First Term Extra OVA. The second season, entitled School Rumble: Second Term started on Japanese TV last April.

School Rumble, which first appeared on Japanese TV in October of 2004, follows the comedic adventures of several talented high school students as they learn about life and love.

Del Rey already owns the rights to the School Rumble manga in the U.S., and it appears likely that FUNimation and Del Rey will do some form of cross-promotion.

School Rumble has also taken centre stage in the current debate over fansubbing. For the uninitiated, fansubbing (also known as digisubbing) refers to the popular practice of fans making their own subtitled versions of animes which haven't appeared overseas, often for no profit. Critics denounce it as nothing more than video piracy while proponents claim fansubbing helps many animes develop an international fanbase, with no cost to the studio.

In December of 2004, Media Factory Inc., who owns School Rumble, sent several cease-and-desist letters to many fansub groups. The ensuing tepid response to many MFI titles has been cited as a not-so-veiled criticism of this action.

In addition, many fansubbing supporters claim that School Rumble would have been licensed for the U.S. much quicker if fans had been allowed to make their own subtitled versions.

It remains to be seen how successful School Rumble is without this controversial fan-to-fan promotion. The first DVD is scheduled for a January 2007 release.

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