Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Manga / FlunkPunkRumble

Go To

1[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Yankee-kun_and_Megane-chan.jpg]]
2
3''Flunk Punk Rumble'' (original name: ''Yankee-kun to Megane-chan'') is a 23-volume shounen {{manga}} by Miki Yoshikawa, which ran from 2006 to 2011 in ''[[Magazine/ShonenMagazine Weekly Shonen Magazine]]''.
4
5It was originally just a three part short story published in ''Weekly Shonen Magazine''. These chapters are named "Stand", "Bow", and "Sit". Eventually, it turned into a full series, with the story continuing from the original three chapters; therefore, its first chapter is actually the fourth chapter.
6
7It's a SliceOfLife manga that follows the lives of a [[JapaneseDelinquents "Yankee"]] named Daichi Shinagawa and a BespectacledCutie named Hana Adachi, who is also the ClassRepresentative of Daichi's class (thus the name ''Yankee-kun to Megane-chan'', which can be roughly translated as ''(The Adventures of) Delinquent Boy and Glasses Girl''). In the course of the manga, the two soon formed a whole FiveManBand, with the genius and [[Manga/FairyTail Gray]] look-alike Seiya Chiba, Adachi's former kohai Rinka Himeji and the MartyStu wannabe Izumi Gaku.
8
9Expect lots of silly facial expressions, comedic circumstances, and quite a few cool fight scenes as Hana ropes Daichi and the gang into her crazy ideas.
10
11A 10 episode live-action drama was broadcast in 2010. It modified some plot points and added some depth and emotion, but the show kept much of the spirit and goofiness of the manga, at least in the first couple of episodes.
12
13Yoshikawa's next series ''Manga/YamadaKunAndTheSevenWitches'' is set in the same universe, and characters from both have met a few times.
14
15An epilogue chapter was released in 2017, expanding on the last chapter of the series.
16----
17!!This manga provides examples of:
18
19* AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil: Though not your typical definition of "powerful".
20%%* ActionGirl
21* AmbiguousSituation: While it's clear that Shinagawa's favorite show [[ShowWithinAShow ''Boobalicious Bounty Hunter Momoko'']] features quite a bit of sexual content (to the point that Shinagawa points out Chiba wouldn't make his mom buy it for him), it's not clear if it's outright PornWithPlot or if it's more of a regular {{adventure}}/[[ActionGenre action]]-style show that simply happens to have a lot of raunchy {{fanservice}}.
22* ArtEvolution: The art style starts out looking very similar to Creator/HiroMashima's style, which isn't surprising since Yoshikawa previously worked as his assistant. As the manga goes on, the art style gradually takes on more of its own identity, though there are still some elements of Mashima's style in it.
23* AssShove: Subverted. Adachi learned the old Japanese folk remedy of shoving a spring onion up a certain orifice from her grandmother, but when she wants to try it on a flu-ridden Shinagawa, she has forgotten ''what'' orifice - so she shoves it up his nose instead.
24* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: The current student council, the previous one, and the one from the rival school have mostly been composed of people who can kick serious ass when needed.
25** This is definitely the case with the two groups who ran for the new student council.
26** Subverted with the [=StuCo=] of Aosuji Academy.
27* BackForTheFinale: Komaki and Sakura, who had otherwise disappeared from the story after their respective arcs, make brief appearances in the graduation chapter (along with everybody else, of course).
28* BadBadActing: Komaki Howari (turned into a LargeHam after proper training from the student council).
29* BerserkButton:
30** Don't call Akita a girl.
31** Do ''not'' mess with Izumi's former TrueCompanions.
32** Don't mess with Adachi's duties as class rep/student council president. Or with her glasses.
33* BespectacledCutie:
34** Subverted with [[spoiler:Adachi, who seems like one at first, but in fact it's just a facade to hide her delinquent past]].
35** Aosuji's Student Council's president is also [[SubvertedTrope much less]] nice than you would expect from her cute, bespectacled looks.
36* BeachEpisode: Which somehow turned into a HotSpringsEpisode because Adachi forgot her swimsuit.
37* BewareTheNiceOnes: See that badass Student Council with the badass Shinagawa and Izumi? Well, they aren't the strongest in the gang. It's ''Adachi''.
38* BookEnds: [[spoiler: The very first and the very last scenes in the series are Adachi bugging Shinagawa while he's sitting in his favorite stall in the men's bathroom.]]
39* ChekhovsGun: The toilet cubicle, the porn show used to lure Chiba out of his room.
40* ChekhovsGunman: A lot of characters who are seen in earlier chapters often end up playing some important role in later ones , even seemingly minor characters.
41** Izumi's first appearance in the manga actually coincided with Rinka's in chapter 23 along with all the other "nerds" of class 2-A. He's seen again in chapter 25 as one of the harassed students in the field trip before his proper introduction at the end of chapter 28.
42* ClarkKenting:
43** For some reason, people only realize who Adachi truly is (and run away as fast as possible) when her glasses come off.
44** Subverted ''and'' played straight in [[spoiler:Chapter 32: Noda recognizes Shinagawa's disguise in Adachi's glasses right away but the older baseball club members and Adachi herself are fooled]].
45** Shinagawa also doesn't recognize Adachi to be [[spoiler:the girl he fell in love with and who was the sole reason for him joining that school]].
46** And he ''also'' doesn't [[spoiler: recognize Adachi to be the girl who gave him the scar on his face after beating him in a fight. After he lost, he even made a promise with her to get back his glasses when he can beat her one day.]]
47* ClusterFBomb: Adachi says "fuck" in English to Sagami and some other thugs when she tries to bring them a message from Shinagawa. She doesn't know what it means but she heard some bad guys in a movie say it, and as such thinks it's appropriate since Shinagawa is a delinquent.
48* ComedicUnderwearExposure:
49** Izumi catches a peek at Himeji's undies in her infamous cover shot.
50** Shinagawa has the chance to catch an eye at Hana's panties when she tries to kick him. Though we spectators see nothing.
51* ContinuityNod: By chapter 112, Shinagawa is still playing that MMORPG in the computer club room.
52* ContrivedCoincidence: What are the chances that the former top delinquent in the country would enroll in the same high school as [[spoiler: the former top student in the country?]]
53* CornerOfWoe: Displayed a few times.
54* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass:
55** You'd never guess that Hana, the sweet, ditzy, BespectacledCutie class rep, could be so terrifying.
56** You'd also never guess that [[spoiler:Shinagawa's idiot childhood friend is a fighter on par if not better than him]].
57* CurbStompBattle: Every time Adachi physically attacks someone. So much that Shinagawa hardly recovers from his extreme surprise after seeing Izumi ''successfully blocking'' Adachi's ''first'' kick.
58* DarkerAndEdgier: Most of it is still PlayedForLaughs, but one of the early arcs features Shinagawa and Adachi meeting a man trying/pretending to commit suicide and soon having to rescue his daughter from being forced into what is obviously prostitution. The other arcs don't generally have "adult" stuff like this.
59* DeepImmersionGaming: Occurs whenever Shinagawa plays the MMORPG with a team.
60* TheDragAlong: Much of the fun in earlier volumes comes from Shinagawa reluctantly complying with Hana and co.'s shenaningans. It changes when the focus of the story drifts from her to him.
61%%* DreamSequence
62* DynamicEntry
63** Adachi does this sometimes by kicking down doors.
64** Himeji Rinka's initial debut.
65** Izumi after the Culture Festival, taking on a group of delinquents who attacked a friend and sent him to the hospital.
66* EveryoneIsRelated: [[spoiler: The girl Izumi has a crush on turns out to be Shinagawa's sister Kairi, and she's dating the former [=StuCo=] President Akita.]]
67** The cute little girl Mayu-tan who keeps messing with Shinagawa in the MMORPG he plays? She's ''[[spoiler: Kitami's]]'' younger sister. She pops up when they visit his place.
68** [[spoiler: Shinagawa's childhood friend Nerima is one of Ageha's Big Four.]]
69** Even the ''cat'' doesn't escape this trope. Shinagawa randomly comes upon a little girl in the park (who he doesn't know is Mayu-tan) looking for a stray cat she nicknamed Shina-chan after him (not that he realizes). When they finally find the cat, it turns out the cat's owner is Rinka, who also named it Daichi after him.
70* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Parodied in chapter 119 during the second [=StuCo=] beach trip. [[spoiler: Rinka undoes her pigtails and temporarily reverts back to her old hairstyle, claiming that since the Student Council, she has been holding back her true persona as the "Bloody Pantheress." She immediately capsizes the boat they are on.]]
71* {{Fanservice}}: While there are some not-so-blatant examples, there usually is not so much of this. It does happen, but pales compared to...
72* FanDisservice: Especially when Nerima's flirting around.
73* FlatWhat: Izumi reacts this way after the student council finds a necklace that claims to grant three wishes... [[spoiler:and Chiba immediately suggests wishing that 5th-period PE get cancelled]].
74* FlockOfWolves: The student council, [[spoiler: this year, and apparently every other year as well]].
75* {{Foreshadowing}}: The fact that Shinagawa didn't know about Monshiro's special delinquent track [[note]]This means the school has a special system where they take in students rejected by other schools[[/note]]means that despite being a delinquent, he didn't get in through the special track like Adachi and Kagawa did but by actually studying and passing the entrance exams. This foreshadows [[spoiler: how he used to be Japan's top junior high student and was actually good at studying.]]
76** [[spoiler: Shinagawa's surprisingly high grade on his math exam in the earlier chapters also foreshadows the same.]]
77* GenerationXerox: Every male in Izumi's immediate family.
78* {{GIRL}}: [[spoiler: Inverted]], to the shock of the gang.
79** Subverted in Chapter 69 when Shinagawa assumes this to be the case regarding a rival merchant whose avatar is a cute little girl. It turns out, the rival player actually is a cute little girl.
80* TheGlassesComeOff: Happens several times in the first chapters when Adachi decides to kick some serious ass.
81* GoodEyesEvilEyes: If [[EyesAlwaysShut Akita]] opens his eyes, it will be likely the evil variant, 'cause you just pushed his BerserkButton.
82* GoodScarsEvilScars: Chiba actually has the 'good' kind, though it's a little more ambiguous than he would like.
83** Makoto's avatar in ''[[ShowWithinAShow Battle]] [[DeepImmersionGaming Legend]]'' has a big scar upon his left eye.
84* GreenEyedMonster: It first seemed that Chiba's interest in Makoto was unrequited. However, when Chiba has to practically carry Himeji during the three-legged race because of their height differences, Makoto is less than pleased.
85* GyaruGirl: Anna Ichinomiya (also [[spoiler: a former top cheerleader]]).
86* HappilyAdopted: Eventually, [[spoiler: Adachi Yoh, by Shinagawa's family]]
87* HotBlooded: Sliding doors are no match for Himeji Rinka!
88* {{Honorifics}}: See the Japanese title.
89* HypocriticalHumor : There's a certain amount of humorous irony derived from Shinigawa thinking Adachi obviously likes him when his feelings for her are far more objectively clear. That's projection for you.
90* IdiotsCannotCatchColds: When the whole school comes down with the flu except for Shinagawa, this is Adachi's explanation.
91* IntercontinuityCrossover: With ''Manga/FairyTail''. Note that Miki Yoshikawa was actually Mashima Hiro's (Fairy Tail's author) assistant in his past works.
92* JapaneseDelinquents: Just take a look from this spoiler quote:
93--> [[spoiler:The moral in chapter 36: In Flunk Punk land, [[AC:EVERYBODY]] is a delinquent.]]
94** To Chiba's chagrin and repeated misfortune, his height and naturally glaring eyes automatically causes others to assume he is a delinquent. Him hanging out with Shinagawa, Adachi, and their group has only exacerbated this.
95* KidAnova: Seiun Nerima, though his tastes for women are rather... [[{{Gonk}} questionable]]...
96* LiveActionAdaptation: A 10-episode live-action drama based on the series aired in 2010.
97* LoveTriangle: Confirmed, with the revelation that Rinka likes Shinagawa, who likes Adachi, who likes her glasses. Possibly morphing into LoveDodecahedron or UnwantedHarem as some girls later introduced to the story also seem to have a thing for Shinagawa.
98** [[spoiler: Adachi's glasses are "inspired" by a guy she fought back in middle school, who made a promise with her to take back his glasses one day when he can defeat her. So you could possibly say she likes the guy who gave her his glasses. The guy in question? ''Shinagawa.'' And they both don't realise it]].
99* MagicSkirt: Adachi had some Panty Shots in the first chapters, thanks to frequent kicks. In typical FPR fashion, it wasn't [[FanService fanservicey]] nor [[ComedicUnderwearExposure comical]], but rather realistic wardrobe moves. It quickly faded away, having Hana (or Himeji) always drawn in an angle so the readers won't see any underwear when that happens. The characters, though...
100** There's a single, rare {{Fanservice}}y exception to the MagicSkirt rule in one of the late chapters when two trouble-maker students flip up Anna's skirt, and we get a flashback panel of how it looked like.
101* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Subverted. Hana forces Shinagawa to help under the pretext of being the class president, making this loner life a hell with her hare-brained attitude and well-meaning schemes. But she's only bugging him because she used to be a delinquent herself and can't relate to anyone else.
102* ManlyTears: In chapter 209, [[spoiler:Shinigawa as he delivers the last lines of his graduation speech.]]
103* MaybeEverAfter: Mixed very well with NoRomanticResolution.
104* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane:
105** The wish-fulfilling necklace. The way it fulfills wishes could be a completely non-magical coincidence, but how about the way it disappears after all three wishes are fulfilled...? It's lampshaded at the end.
106** Some aspects about Adachi's existence. It's a mystery in-universe why she is so strong, and why her parents restrict her so much, and her little brother implies that there is a very unique reason for that. It's never explained since Shinagawa didn't want to hear it. It could be something related to yakuzas, but it could also be something weirder. [[spoiler: Furthermore, while it's flimsily explained why Adachi is back as a Monshiro student at the end, it's not explained why she apparently hasn't aged.]]
107* NerdGlasses: The two recurring computer club students.
108* NeverMessWithGranny: Adachi probably got her insane fighting skills from her grandmother.
109* NobodyPoops: Averted to the point that it's an early RunningGag. Even the very first scene of the manga is Shinagawa sitting in his favourite cubicle.
110* OfficialCouple: [[spoiler: Not who you're thinking. It's Makoto and Chiba in the end.]]
111* OffscreenTeleportation: Adachi has a habit of doing this.
112* OnlySaneMan: Shinagawa, Izumi and Hana ''tries'' to be this, God bless them, but failed utterly for various reasons. Shinagawa is too HotBlooded, Izumi always find himself being targeted and challenged and [[HonorBeforeReason can't do much but accept it]], and Hana... [[NoSocialSkills well]], [[CloudCuckooLander Hana]]. The bulk of the workload ends up falling on Chiba, who is ineffective at actually stopping anybody else in the council from doing stupid things.
113* PassingTheTorch: From Student Council to Student Council.
114* RelationshipUpgrade: [[spoiler:The epilogue shows Adachi and Daichi living together, despite the fact that [[TeacherStudentRomance they're teacher and student now]].]]
115* RhymingTitle: The first two words of the English title rhyme.
116* RiddleForTheAges: Adachi's background. As the writer, Yoshikawa does know the exact details, but since she intends for the manga to be solely about enjoying high school, she decided against revealing anything, since revealing/focusing on Adachi's background - whatever it is - apparently would make the story "not about school". It's also because Adachi, despite her simple and ditzy nature, according to Yoshikawa is supposed to be a somewhat mysterious character.
117* RivalsTeamUp: Shinigawa and Izumi as Co-Vice-Presidents. They continue to live out their rivalry in the most trivial ways possible.
118* RunningGag: Adachi has a habit of peeking into Shinagawa's favourite cubicle in the boy's bathroom. This actually created a rumour in their school that there's a ghost in the said bathroom. One chapter actually had Adachi using the said cubicle.
119* ScareDare: ''School'' the evening during the holidays. [[spoiler:It's the guys from the supernatural research club. And the head teacher's mother, visiting.]]
120* ScaryShinyGlasses: Adachi and Chiba at times. It's more often OpaqueLenses, though.
121* SeriousBusiness: The rivalry between the Red and White teams during the school athletic festival is so intense that friendships and couples have been known to break up for the duration of the competition should the friends or lovers find themselves on opposing teams.
122** The stall at the back in the boys' bathroom is Shinagawa's only.
123--->'''Chiba:''' [[LampshadeHanging That stall is serious business!]]
124* SheCleansUpNicely: Inverted in Volume 6's bonus chapter. Shinagawa originally meets Adachi in cleaned-up mode, and then doesn't even recognize her the next year. In chapter 134, [[spoiler:Adachi plays this trope straight when she starts going to school unbraided and without glasses, with the entire school in awe.]]
125* ShoutOut: "He's the legend, [[BadassBack everyone who sees]] [[PowerTattoo the dragon]], ''[[Manga/SaintSeiya won't live to tell a tale]]''...."
126* ShowWithinAShow: "Boobalicious Bounty Hunter Momoko". [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Buxom female bounty hunter in skimpy outfits]].
127** The play in which Komaki Howari has a part. It's named "[[SelfParody Yankee-chan and Megane-kun]]".
128--->'''Hana Adachi:''' [[SelfDeprecation What a lame name for a play.]]\
129'''Shinagawa:''' YEAH!
130* SuperDeformed: Adachi becomes chibified (with accompanying OpaqueLenses) whenever she's doing or saying something weird.
131* SpoonyBard: Shinagawa played as a merchant who can't even fight when the gang tried to play a [[DeepImmersionGaming Deep Immersion]] {{MMORPG}} in order to [[ItMakesSenseInContext get a certain student to go back to school]]. True to Adachi's characterization, she picked the merchant class for Shinagawa. Despite having a useless class, Shinagawa still became addicted to the said MMORPG and became a highly successful merchant.
132* TheStoic: Kagawa always has a straight face, even when he fights.
133* SurroundedByIdiots: Izumi makes this observation when the rest of the student council starts fighting the gang he'd tried to take on himself. His friend points out that he too is an idiot.
134** Chiba says this to himself pretty much every day.
135* StraightMan: Shinagawa to Hana, Seiya to everybody.
136* ThemeNaming: Author Yoshikawa states in one of her commentaries / Q&A's that she names all of her characters after places.
137** With the exception of the first two chapters ('Stand' and 'Bow'), the chapter titles are (almost) always something picked up from the dialogue inside the manga. This could also count as TitleDrop.
138* ThisIsSomethingHesGotToDoHimself: The point of the whole story is to subvert this trope, as nothing is as strong as ThePowerOfFriendship. Specifically subverted a couple times, such as when [[spoiler: Izumi tries to quit the student council so that he can get revenge against a gang for beating up his middle school friend, without involving anyone else. They reject his resignation.]]
139* ThoseTwoGuys: Two students keep criticizing the various posters the student council come up with.
140** The two students from the computer club.
141---> ''"The computer club is 'the computer club;' there's nothing more to it! [[LampshadeHanging Even if I did know, I'd still want to call them 'computer club!' Even as adults, they'll still be called the computer club.]]"''
142** Nacchi and Macchi. After the [[spoiler: Student Council election]], they [[AscendedExtra ascend]] into secondary characters.
143* TitleDrop: See ThemeNaming of the chapter titles above.
144* ToiletHumor: Loads of it in early chapters - not only are there numerous gags about the boys' restroom and Shinagawa's favorite stall, there are also several short, plot-irrelevant scenes where Shinagawa meets an old and [[{{Gasshole}} constantly farting man]], Izumi gets [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything chocolate ice cream on the seat of his pants]], and so on. Toned much down in later chapters when the series tries to be a bit more refined, though the gags about the boy's restroom never entirely die out.
145* TwoGirlsToATeam: The first Monshiro High student council -- our main characters -- consists of three guys (Shinagawa, Izumi and Chiba) and two girls (Adachi and Himeji). [[GuestStarPartyMember In the first half of the series, Makoto often joins up with them for trips, and in the second half Hachiouji helps them prepare for university entrance exams]], so there are many chapters where it's de facto a GenderEqualEnsemble instead.
146* TwoGuysAndAGirl: Itsuki Kagawa, Akira Kitami and Anna Ichinomiya
147* TwoTeacherSchool: The only prominently featured teacher is Sakai, who is also the coordinator for the Student Council, and even then he is just a side character.
148* VitriolicBestBuds: Shinagawa and Izumi. They spend much of their time together either viciously staring each other down or outright brawling. But they make a good team, and even if they clearly don't get along, they both grumpily admit that doesn't mean each would inarguably (and demonstrably) go to the ends of the Earth to save the other from danger.
149* WigDressAccent: The usual way the characters disguise themselves is to change the hairstyle and clothing style and possibly to put on [[ClarkKenting some glasses]].
150* WillTheyOrWontThey: Shinagawa asks himself this on a chapterly basis... [[spoiler:They don't.]]
151----
152
153!!The Drama provides example of:
154
155* AdaptationExpansion: The first episode gives an explanation of how Hana Adachi became class rep and a different and hilarious take of how Shinagawa and her first met ([[spoiler:save for the test they passed to enter Monshiro high]]).
156* AdaptationDyeJob: Himeji isn't blonde, but has a pink stripe in her black hair.
157* BeYourself: Kind of a leitmotiv throughout the whole drama.
158* BeautyInversion: You wouldn't believe the plain-looking Chiba is actually the handsome [[http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Koyanagi_Yu Yu Koyanagi]].
159%%* BittersweetEnding: Episode [[spoiler:6]].
160%%* CloudCuckooLander: Shinagawa's mother. And Hana, of course.
161* GeckoEnding: Shinagawa finally [[spoiler:sees the girl he fell in love with at his school, confesses to her]], then asks her name...
162* GenderFlip: Hana lives with her grandfather rather than with her grandmother.
163* GoofyPrintUnderwear: Hana Adachi.
164-->'''Shinagawa''': Ha! Strawberry-print panties!\
165'''Hana''': They're [[ComicallyMissingThePoint tomatoes]]!
166* [[spoiler:HeroicSacrifice]]: [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]]. Shinagawa [[spoiler:fights the yankees who went at Monshiro for Hana. He takes the blame and face expulsion so her past won't be revealed in front of everyone]]. Various characters discuss what attitude Hana should have over this. Finally, she [[spoiler:reveals her past to the whole school, what is intrumental in Shinagawa's reintgration]].
167* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: [[spoiler:Himeji]]'s reaction towards the ending.
168* LargeHam: Almost EVERYONE is required to be given the nature of the show. Riisa Naka particularly does her best at looking as dumb as she can. Even [[spoiler:in the last episode in cleaned-up mode]]. Special mention also goes to Kanata Hongo as Izumi.
169* LonelyAtTheTop: [[spoiler:Izumi's situation before he decides to join Hana's gang and become vice-president of the student council]].
170* MaybeEverAfter: For [[spoiler: Adachi and Shinagawa]] at the end.
171--> [[spoiler: '''Adachi:''']] Sensei, [[spoiler: Shinagawa-kun]] confessed to me!
172--> '''Sensei:''' I see, I see! Something to be glad about, isn't it?
173--> [[spoiler: '''Adachi:''']] Yes!
174--> [[spoiler: '''Shinagawa:''']] *cutting in, referring to her answer* You said yes just now.
175--> [[spoiler: '''Adachi:''']] Yes?
176--> [[spoiler: '''Shinagawa:''']] Which is it?!
177* PublicDomainSoundtrack: Beethoven's ''Music/OdeToJoy'' appears almost OnceAnEpisode.
178* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: Shinagawa's reaction to the house of {{Youkai}} made for Monshiro High Festival. Nerima's too.

Top