Review #80: Cromartie High School

• Episodes: 26
• Published: 03 (JP) 06 (US)

Antispiral – Welcome back readers, new and old! I’m the Antispiral, and with me I have Tenjobito the Shy One. Last time we brought you the adventures of amnesiac women that barely knew how to dress, so we went quite different for today’s anime review with the tale of a robot, a gorilla, Freddie Mercury, and more high school delinquents and ruffians than you could beat with 100 baseball bats; Cromartie High School.

Tenjobito – Cromartie definitely belongs in the “random humor” category of animes.  Things like Excel Saga or Pani Poni Dash! come to mind.  In addition to the kooky cast of miscreants there are manly moms, horses biting peoples’ heads, aliens who come and go in the space of a minute, a motion sick street tough… the point is, the series is clearly trying to juxtapose a lot of things, most notably the idea that a bunch of tough looking hooligans can have a softer contemplative side right along the street toughs.

Antispiral – Where to start then? Well, the main character is mostly Kamiyama, a good-guy type that ends up at Cromartie High and wishes to improve the students there. A lot of his humor ends up being from the difference between his easy going mama’s boy attitude and that of all the ruffians around him. Still, there are a lot of other side characters that have their own episodes, coming in and out of the “plot”, as it were. Keep in mind, Cromartie episodes are only 10 minutes long each, standing apart for the most part as well, making for smaller, 10 minute jokes that are more self contained.

Tenjobito – It definitely feels more like a series of sketches than a true plot per say.  But that’s ok, that works;  With the aforementioned 10 minute episodes the jokes don’t overstay their welcome all that much, and the series has the feeling throughout that there ~isn’t~ supposed to be a plot.  It’s even discussed at one point;  Despite all the craziness that happens at Cromartie, to them every day is boring and the same.  Just another day at high school, no more meaning than any other day.

Antispiral – That’s really the part that makes Cromartie good, but it’s also the thing that holds it back from being great. Having watched it my first time, I was left unimpressed, and only rewatching it for this review did it stick more. Without a strong central plot, and without a real sense of anything getting done, the show rides on the humor and jokes almost entirely. While that works for the episodes where the jokes are great (and there are definite laugh out loud moments), the episodes where the humor falls flat just feel bland and boring.

Tenjobito – The humor is the core of it.  I was going to mention how there was no real ending and how it left it feeling incomplete in a way despite there being no plot.  But I realized another series it’s like in a way;  Azumanga Daioh.  And that’s the thing;  Azumanga is just a funnier series.  When a series depends so deeply on it’s humor like those two do, the entire perception of the series comes down to how consistently it gets you to laugh.  Of course that also means it’s harder to grade, since humor is a very subjective thing, even compared to other things.

Antispiral – Well Cromartie has SOME other things going for it. While the art style is fairly simple, it works well as a parody for the serious “tough guy” anime it plays off of. The music is kooky and out there, but fits the kooky out there nature of the series. Plus, the voice acting is just spot on great for pretty much everyone. I think that’s what makes the series keep up enough to give it a recommendation. There’s a great charm to it overall that works, enough that even with the things that fall flat, it keeps itself up enough and gives enough genuine laughs that it’s well worth a look.

Tenjobito – Yeah;  Overall Cromartie is an acquired taste.  Not a bad one mind you, but I can see how it’s off the wall style and strange humor isn’t for everyone.

Antispiral – So overall, a weirded out but laughter filled recommendation! Tune in next time for an anime sure to be even weirder somehow. Until next time pitiful Spiral Beings!