Flunk Punk Rumble

Flunk Punk Rumble, known in Japan as Yankee-kun to Megane-chan (ヤンキー君とメガネちゃん) is an ongoing manga series written and illustrated by Miki Yoshikawa. The series began as a three-part short story that was later developed into a full series and serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine starting October 18, 2006. It is being collected in tankōbon volumes by Kodansha, who has released eighteen volumes and an official guidebook as of June 17, 2010. Reviews of the series have been very positive. The series has been licensed in Chinese and English by the Singaporean publishing company Chuang Yi under the title Flunk Punk Rumble. As of February 24, 2010, they have released nine volumes in Chinese and three in English.

Plot
Daichi Shinagawa was just a Yankee (Japanese term for delinquent) who wanted nothing to do with his high school life. Hana Adachi, the dedicated class representative, however would not allow it and constantly bothers him to be involved in school life. Shinagawa is first confused on why does she keep pestering him until he discovers her secret.

While she may look like a typical class representative stereotype, Adachi is actually not very smart and lacks common sense, and Shinagawa eventually learns that Adachi is a former delinquent. Regretting being a yankee during her middle school years, Adachi decides to change her ways to achieve her dream of becoming the best class representative. She decides to help Shinagawa so he will not continue to make the same mistake that she did. Thus begins the adventures of these two unlikely friends and their classmates.

Mon Shiro High School Student Council

 * Daichi Shinagawa (品川 大地)
 * The male protagonist of the story and known as "Yankee-kun," Shinagawa is a short-tempered delinquent who does not like to be bothered and has no plans for his high school life until he meets Adachi. At first he is constantly annoyed about her repeated attempts at making him come on a school field trip until he learns about her past and her resolution to become a class representative. He changes drastically throughout the series, from major things such as becoming Co Vice President of his class, to small things such as not smoking and avoiding class in his bathroom stall. He is also an honorable person who will try everything to protect others. His best subject is math.


 * He has a love-hate relationship with Hana Adachi, liking her due to her nature to help others no matter what, but becoming annoyed with her due to her idiocy, lack of common sense, and forcing him to help with her bizarre plans and antics. He suspects that she is constantly with him because she likes him, but whenever he asks her about it, she ignores the question or acts ignorant on the subject. In the bonus chapter after 53, It was shown that Shinagawa decided to attend Mon Shiro only after seeing a beautiful girl at his entry exam (confirmed in chapter 61 to be Hana without her glasses and loose hair). Chiba, Izumi, and Akita were also presented. Shinagawa, although he always bicker with Hana, would do anything so that he won't hurt or upset her. Like, not telling her who he likes (which is obviously her, without glasses and with loose hair). At the end he admits he likes Hana Adachi.


 * In chapter 150, his past, before he became a delinquent, is revealed. At the time, due to innate talent and his being very hard working, he was one of the top students in Daishi Chugaku (大紫中学), a reputable private school, where his number one rival (in studies) at the time was a girl by the name of Hachioji Shizuku (八王子 雫). Upon realizing that delinquents were interfering with her ability to study, Shinagawa became directly involved to save her, resulting in his expulsion and his eventual lost of interest in studies. This event also marks his becoming a delinquent and when he got his current hairstyle.


 * Shinagawa's household background is also revealed to be other than what one expects. His father is a doctor and his mother is a lawyer.


 * Hana Adachi (足立 花)
 * The female protagonist of the story. Adachi is the class representative, and later, the student council president, who always hangs out with the delinquent Shinagawa. While she may appear to be the dutiful, respectful, and bespectacled class representative, there is more to her then meets the eye. In reality, she is a poor student, not very smart, absent-minded, oblivious and clueless in present situations, lacks common sense, and actually has great eyesight (her glasses do not provide any eye correction). She always forgets things easily like who's she's met before and stuff. Her strength and fighting skills left over from being a former delinquent overshadow these aspects. She lives with her weird grandmother.


 * Her past is a mystery, other than that she was fearsome delinquent in middle school. Even the mention of her name was enough to inspire fear in anyone. She is even able to influence a group of Yakuza gangsters to release Shinagawa and Nerima. She enjoys blaming Shinagawa for everything. Later chapters past 100, Hana turns out to have a younger sister,Subaru Mito in their rival Aaosuji Academy who has short hair, no glasses, no mole under her left eye and who is two years younger than Hana. Like Hana, her younger sister also appears to have a thing for Shinagawa, choosing to cut her hair to make herself look different from her older sister. Her brother also ran away from home to be with her like Rinka, but was told by Hana to live with Shinagawa instead. He's a genius who pretends to be a yankee.


 * Seiya Chiba (千葉 星矢)
 * A tall, bespectacled, fearsome-looking student with noticeable scar extending across his forehead and left eyebrow. When first introduced, he became a hikikomori a week after he got into trouble with a gang. Adachi and Shinigawa beat the gang (without knowing they themselves were the cause of his self-isolation) which allows him overcome his fears. When they forget about him, he is shattered again. Adachi tries to get him to attend school and take the exams, but he refuses, saying he is afraid of sitting next to Shinagawa. But Shinagawa realizes that Chiba is merely looking for Adachi's attention, and tells him to attend school and take the exams or she will never visit him again. Chiba is very smart and rich, and his mother is young and beautiful. He has a habit of unknowingly glaring at people which often cause a misunderstanding. He is very smart and almost always scores 100 marks for his tests, except for one occasion in chapter 67, where it is shown that he scored 94 marks on a math test, 2 marks lower than Shinagawa.In later latest chapters, it is shown that he has a crush on Makoto which seems obvious to everyone around him, however Makoto doesn't seem to have noticed yet.


 * Rinka Himeji (姫路 凜風)
 * Adachi's kohai from middle school who transfers to Adachi's high school in Volume 3, Chapter 23. Known as "The Bloody Pantheress", she was a Yankee and Hana's right hand man back in middle school. She is still very devoted to Adachi, and has been ever since Adachi saved her and they became friends. While Adachi has reformed herself to become a good student, Himeji on the other hand still acts like a delinquent and believes that Chiba and Shinagawa are her subordinates. She has a bad relationship with her family because she is adopted, and when she told them that she wanted to move to Adachi's school, they kicked her out of their home. Adachi took her to live at her house after finding out about it, after Himeji had spent a night sleeping in Shinagawa's bed. In chapter 56 she is shown to have a crush on Shinagawa. Like Hana, she has very strange way of thinking.


 * Gaku Izumi (和泉 岳)
 * Student council Vice President along with Shinagawa. The two often fight over being the better Vice President. He is very good at fighting, even being able to block Adachi's kick, but he cannot beat Adachi in a fight. He is also good at studying (his grades are second in the entire grade) and he gets really hyped up over the smallest things. He used to be in a motor cycle gang and still loves to wear his old gang outfit. He is close friends with Kagawa.

Mon Shiro High School Students

 * Kasukabe (春日部)
 * A fellow classmate of Shinagawa and Adachi. She is one of the few girls that talks to Shinagawa without being afraid of him. She is dating Sagami, a student from another school.


 * Makoto Kumagaya (熊谷 真)
 * Student in Shinagawa's year, first appeared in chapter 39 and was thought have been a boy because her game avatar was male. Since she wouldn't come out of the game world, she was helped by the student council (especially Chiba), and thus became good friends with the student council members. It is mentioned in Chapter 50 that she still occasionally plays the online game with Shinagawa. She's a very outgoing type of girl.


 * Kawasaki (川崎)
 * Kumagaya's childhood friend who is concerned about her playing games and not attending school. She was upset that she would lose him as he grew apart and started having interest in girls.


 * Hikaru Akita (秋田 光)
 * A third-year student who is the former student council president, he is always seen with a fan in his hand. He seems to be an easy-going person. Like most of the cast, he is also a former delinquent, and will fly in a rage upon being called a girl - when he is in this state, even Shinagawa and Izumi fear him. It is shown that the only way to get him to calm down is for a girl to kick him in his private parts. Akita's girlfriend is Shinagawa's older sister and they both attend the same university.

Other Characters

 * Sagami (相模)
 * A delinquent from an all boys high school. He first appears when he and his gang try to find Shinagawa at his highschool after having a fight with him. Adachi helps Shinagawa escape but were soon found by Sagami's gang. He tries to harass Adachi, a fatal mistake when he suddenly realizes who she is and she attacks him. When the gang realizes who they are dealing with, they flee in terror. He is dating Kasukabe, thanks to Adachi helping him confess his feeling for Kasukabe, on the condition that he cleans up his act in the future.


 * Seiun Nerima (練馬 青雲)
 * Shinagawa's childhood friend who attends the same school as Sagami. He finds ugly girls attractive and gets into trouble with the Yakuza after unknowingly dating a gangster's wife online. He is secretly saved from this situation by Adachi.


 * Arisa Oomiya (大宮 有砂)
 * A blonde teen aged girl introduced in Chapter 11. She is a hotheaded but honest girl whose attitude is reminiscent of Shinagawa. Adachi and Shinagawa meet her when her father (who Shinagawa has saved from committing suicide) asks them take money to her at the Shibuya District so that she can come home to celebrate New Year's with her family. But she refuses, instead staying with her friend Misora. However, it becomes clear that Misora is extorting money from her. Oomiya had become friends with Misora because she made her "cool" and because she didn't mind giving Misora money. When the money given by Oomiya's father isn't enough for Misora, and Misora fails to use Adachi for more money, she has Oomiya kidnapped and sold into a prostitution ring at a Love hotel. Oomiya is saved by Adachi and agrees to go home to her father with Adachi and Shinagawa.


 * Kairi Shinagawa (品川 海里)
 * Shinagawa's older sister. She and her brother share the same lazy, stubborn, and brutally honest attitude, but Kairi tends to be a bit nicer than her brother. Her boyfriend is Akita, the former student council leader.

Live Action
A live action drama began airing on April 23, 2010 and ran for a total of 10 episodes. The theme song "Loose Leaf" was sung by Hilcrhyme.

Cast

 * Shinagawa Daichi: Hiroki Narimiya, Amon Kabe (young)
 * Hana Adachi: Riisa Naka
 * Gaku Izumi: Kanata Hongo
 * Seiya Chiba: Yū Koyanagi
 * Rinka Himeji: Haruna Kawaguchi
 * Seiun Nerima: Ryōhei Suzuki
 * Mr. Sakai: Sarutoki Minagawa
 * Shinagawa Chūta: Arata Furuta
 * Shinagawa Kiyo: Chiemi Hori
 * Shinagawa Kairi: Miho Ōwada
 * Tetsuo Adachi: Shirō Itō

Guests


 * Sagami: Kazuki Namioka (ep1,2)
 * Chiba Eriko: Mizuno Maki (ep2)
 * Kobayashi: Shu Watanabe (渡部秀) (ep2)
 * Tanaka: Nishi Yosuke (ep2)
 * Saito: Osada Seiya (長田成哉) (ep2)
 * Kagawa: Sometani Shota (染谷将太) (ep4,10)
 * Miyagi Jun: Anna Ishibashi (ep6)
 * Nagasaki: Yūta Furukawa (ep9-10)