Cromartie High School (魁!!クロマティ高校) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiji Nonaka. It was serialized in Kodansha's manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Magazine from August 2000 to May 2006, with its chapters collected in 18 volumes. It follows the everyday life of Takashi Kamiyama and his odd classmates at Cromartie High School, an infamous school for delinquents. The series is a parody of Japanese manga of the 1970s and 1980s. The style of art resembles Ryoichi Ikegami's works such as Otoko-gumi and Otoko Ōzora. Both the manga and anime have been released in North America by ADV Manga and ADV Films, respectively. However, the manga was not completely published in North America due to restructuring issues at ADV. Discotek Media has since licensed the anime, after ADV's closing in 2009. The series aired in the United States on the cable network G4 on its Barbed Wire Biscuit late-night block and on the UK satellite channel Rockworld TV. It was followed by a spin-off sequel titled Cromartie Kōkō Shokuinshitsu in 2018, launched on Kodansha's Magazine Pocket app. Cromartie High School has had over 4.5 million copies in circulation. The manga won the 26th Kodansha Manga Award for the category in 2002.

Plot

Tokyo Metropolitan Cromartie High School is a highly feared high school and surprisingly full of idiots that has been dubbed "the big league of bad guys" with a selection of delinquents. Takashi Kamiyama, is an honor student, but in order to go to the same high school as his best friend who helped him in high school, he took the entrance exam for Cromartie High School, so Kamiyama ended up entering the school alone.

Characters

Main characters

Other characters

Ken Hirai (平井 健)

Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by Eiji Nonaka, Cromartie High School was serialized in Kodansha's manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Magazine from August 2, 2000, to May 24, 2006. The series is a parody of Japanese "" (juvenile delinquent) manga of the 1970s and 1980s, and the style of art resembles Ryoichi Ikegami's works such as Otoko-gumi and Otoko Ōzora. Kodansha collected its chapters in 17 volumes, released from February 16, 2001, to July 14, 2006. In North America, ADV Manga announced the acquisition of the manga in December 2004. The first volume was published on March 7, 2005. ADV released twelve of the original seventeen volumes, and the last volume was published on November 6, 2007. A spin-off sequel titled Cromartie Kōkō Shokuinshitsu (クロマティ高校 職員室) debuted on October 27, 2018, on Kodansha's Magazine Pocket app. Nonaka authored the manga while the art was drawn by Ino Ichiban. Kodansha released two volumes on March 15 and October 17, 2019.

Anime

Cromartie High School was adapted into a 26-episode anime television series produced by Production I.G. and aired on TV Tokyo from October 2, 2003, to March 25, 2004. The series was collected into five DVDs released from February 25 to June 25, 2004. The opening theme is "Jun" (純) performed by Takuro Yoshida and the ending theme is "Trust Me" (トラスト・ミー) performed by Bi Kyo Ran. The series was licensed by ADV Films in 2004. ADV released the series on four DVDs between March 15 and August 16, 2005. The series aired on G4's Barbed Wire Biscuit (Anime Unleashed) block in 2005. In the UK, ADV Film UK released the series on DVD from April 17 to October 16, 2006, and the series also aired on Rockworld TV in 2007. ADV Films ceased operations in 2009. The series was re-licensed by Discotek Media in January 2016. and released on DVD on April 26 of the same year; A Blu-Ray set was released August 29, 2023.

Reception

The manga has had over 4.5 million copies in circulation. Cromartie High School won the 26th Kodansha Manga Award for the category in 2002. It was one of the Jury Recommended Works in the Manga Division at the 7th Japan Media Arts Festival in 2003. John Oppliger of AnimeNation named the show as one of the best anime comedies of the past 20 years in 2005.