Cromartie High School

📖 SYNOPSIS

Cromartie High School is a Japanese anime series adapted from the manga by Eiji Nonaka, originally serialized in Kodansha’s Weekly Shōnen Magazine from August 2000 to May 2006. The anime, directed by Hiroaki Sakurai and produced by Production I.G, aired in Japan from October 2, 2003, to March 25, 2004, spanning 26 episodes, each roughly 12 minutes long. A parody of 1970s and 1980s Japanese yankii (delinquent) manga, it draws stylistic inspiration from Ryoichi Ikegami’s works like Otoko-gumi. The series was licensed in North America by ADV Films, with later releases by Discotek Media, and aired on G4’s Barbed Wire Biscuit block in the U.S. and Rockworld TV in the UK. The story follows Takashi Kamiyama, a polite, mild-mannered high school student with a slightly above-average IQ, who enrolls at the infamous Cromartie High School, a haven for Tokyo’s toughest delinquents. Despite being the only non-delinquent, Kamiyama is ironically deemed the “toughest” due to his courage to attend such a chaotic school. Surrounded by absurd characters—including a robot named Mechazawa, a gorilla, a Freddie Mercury lookalike, and mohawked punks—Kamiyama navigates bizarre situations, rival gang disputes, and random tangents like joke-writing competitions and motion sickness woes. The anime’s deadpan humor, surreal scenarios, and satirical take on delinquent tropes create a chaotic, comedic slice-of-life experience that thrives on its absurdity and lack of conventional plot progression.