Cromartie High School Volume 1: Cromartian Rhapsody
Thus begins the story that parodies every cliché of tough-guy anime that you've ever heard of - "Cromartie High School" or, as it's Image 1 of 8. Click to enlarge
What ADV says
Mild mannered student Takashi Koyaman finds himself enrolled at Cromartie High, where everybody is a delinquent! Logically, therefore, he must be the toughest in his class - by the rather twisted logic that only a really tough rabbit would lie down with lions. Thus begins a story that parodies every cliche of tough-guy anime that you've ever heard of... and some you haven't!
Review
The first thing that strikes me about Cromartie High School is the sheer weirdness, I’m a big fan or weirdness, but this takes it up a level. Cromartie is in fact an awesome show. it is so good that I really was surprised how much I enjoyed it. Cromartie is a show that executes it's strangeness in such a brilliant way that I cannot help but fall in love with it..
Kamiyama soon aspires to change things around Cromartie High, but finds that the local delinquents are not only strong, but most are just plain strange.
Perhaps now is a good time to issue a warning: It gets a lot more bizarre from here on in. From delinquents with a desire to eat pencils to an entire episode about trying to figure out the title of a song through its repeated humming, Cromartie High School is not a show for those who cannot appreciate strange senses of humour.
Another thing you should be mindful of is Cromartie's Image 2 of 8. Click to enlarge
The dub is good all round, but nothing to write home about. This is backed-up by a great soundtrack, albeit very quiet in the background.
Cromartie High School is probably one of my favourite shows to come out of Japan in the last couple of years, not the best, but definitely up there and completely contrasted to anything I have seen., the most similar thing is probably GTO.
There's no intensely deep plot here, but it is the first volume, primarily it is a series of episodes or sketches designed to be funny. Usually they succeed, sometimes however; you're left scratching your head. But the anime doesn't try to take itself seriously - it even anticipates that many of its viewers won't get it. For instance, in one episode, a wannabe comedian Yamaguchi, struggles to keep secret his greatest passion - writing comedy for late night radio.
He is the Image 3 of 8. Click to enlarge
Thoughts
The first time I watched it I just didn’t appreciate the efforts that have gone into producing the awkward feeling the show gives you. I had read the manga first and to be honest I wish I hadn’t, it seems to have reduced my ability to take the show for what it is, I find myself comparing it constantly to the manga. The manga is truly fantastic, but for those of you who haven’t read it, I recommend watching the anime first.
The Cromartie High's DVD insert warns viewers that they shouldn't think too deeply about this - take things at face value and you'll be entertained.
Each episode is about 12 minutes long and don’t follow any particular order or style. The DVD contains 8 episodes, or approximately 100 minutes of viewing time. While it's a little lacking at points, there is just no faults I can really find with it, especially upon second viewing.
The features on this DVD are well thought through, i especially like the cultural notes, this allows access to enjoy some of the jokes, which could have been missed if you were not familiar with some customs in Japanese culture.
Cromartie High School

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