The School Rumble manga and anime series features a cast of characters designed by Jin Kobayashi. The story takes place mostly in a Japanese high school and revolves around various love triangles and polygons. The manga series is followed by a short parallel world story, School Rumble Z. The manga alternates between several main protagonists. In the main storyline chapters, the protagonists are and . The side chapters focus on many of the side characters from the main chapters, with most of them focusing on . While many of the chapters are gag stories, the central theme of School Rumble is relationships, mostly because of love, and as the series progresses, characters are introduced, and situations are misinterpreted. Hence the relationship web becomes more complex. Since the characters are unable to let their true feelings be known to the one, they like tension, and rivalries build. (en)