Cromartie High School

Publisher
ADV
Director
Hiroaki Sakurai
Production
Kodansha, Production IG, TV Tokyo
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
26 episodes
Year
2003

Cromartie High School Episode 2 Preview

By David Rasmussen
20th Mar 05

Once again the drill - I've been getting Anime Network on Free On Demand for weeks now and I haven't even once thought of reviewing any series from that... until now.
Now that I found a series with an English dub that I'm not dreading to listen to I am happy to introduce the second week of my Cromartie High School review... otherwise that's it. Maybe I'll watch Peacemaker next to see what I think of that dub. And, yes, once again there is no information on the DVD since this is not the DVD review, but I think we can get through this fine... especially since it means a review a week.

Episode 2
Previously on Cromartie High...
You've met Takashi Kamiyama, and heard his tale of woe... well, it‘s not really a tale of woe but for the sake of getting this off the ground let‘s pretend it is! Seems he went out of his way to enroll in this high school, Cromartie High, only it seems he has ended up in the land of the delinquent and doesn't know how he got there... well, he does, but then he expects you to read the manga to find out.

Anyway he then tries to fit in by taking the seven rules of the High School Debut System, then he's dragged into a "struggle to discover who the strongest of his class is, then he meets three strange people at the end of the first episode. One is "Freddie", the strange guy who may in fact be THE Freddy Mercury.
Second is a gorilla, third is Mechazawa (the robot everyone thinks is human) and that is where we start.

After listening to a minute of Kamiyama whine we go back to the end of Episode 1, and start an entire episode dedicated to the one and only Mechazawa, he who was created in a rather futile attempt by the series' creator to draw Elementary school kids into reading the manga... which didn't work.

Watch as Mechazawa speaks plainly and spares nothing in his observations.
Watch as Mechazawa tells it like it is and shows his down to earth-ness.
Watch as he speaks out against the mechanization of humanity... well, actually that does make sense since he is old school robotics so he would be kind of turned off my the modern technology.
Watch as he bravely holds on even when he's being beaten down by a bunch of punks from Cromartie High's rival school Bass High.
And watch a lot of people draw so close to saying he's a robot and then botch it. Yes, you've seen these moments coming from a mile away and you didn't even have to read the manga for that 4-1-1.
And... that's it. Hmm... that was quick. Let's wrap it up... have to find a way to kill time if future reviews end up being this short.

Cromartie High School Breakdown Episode 2
What's Hot? - Once again I have no complaints about the series, despite the fact Kamizawa complains about something to that effect about viewers having problems with the series at the start of the episode.
Once again the all male cast turns in a solid performance, and the episode is as well done as the manga itself. I can see why it's #1 in Japan, mostly because it deserves the spot.

What's Not? - By now you've probably gathered that the episodes are starting to shape up similarly to what they did with Azumanga Daioh the Anime (in other words the episodes are theme based instead of a straight linear feedback of the manga). Last episode was Kamiyama, this one was Mechazawa... next episode might be Freddie for all we know. Somehow I don't think that thinking works as well as it did with the comic strip styling of Azumanga Daioh, and they should have stuck to a different format.

Not saying this diminishes the series, yet somehow it also means you're missing stuff at the same time while they stick to this format. Your going to need Cromartie High School GN1 (and probably 2) when you get the first DVD to compare notes so you know what you're missing at times.

Moments to Remember? - Since it's all about the Mechazawa then everything to remember is all about the Mechazawa. Nuff said.

What to Ignore? - If they could have been a little more obvious about the whole "There's been something we've been meaning to tell you" and "Wait! You're a r-r-r-" moments since, yes, you don't need to have read the manga to know they will, at no point in any of these moments, tell Mechazawa he's a robot.
Tad obvious, isn't it. Maybe you should ignore it.

Overall? - Yeah. Kamiyama's right at the end of Episode 2... It feels as if I've been reviewing this title forever... yet it's only Week 2 and there's at least a few months worth of reviews to go (not counting certain weeks when no new episodes are posted on Free on Demand)... sigh.
Next week is Episode 3 and... something happens... not sure what. Think I saw Freddie riding through the school on a horse or something... tune in next week to find out.

-- David Rasmussen 20th Mar 05

Cromartie High School Images