Cromartie High School, Vol. 1 - Softcover

Eiji Nonaka

Softcover

ISBN 10: 141390257X ISBN 13: 9781413902570

Publisher: Adv Manga, 2005

Synopsis

After befriending a motley crew of thugs, a gorilla, and a trashcan-shaped robot, Takashi Kamiyama won't just learn his ABC's --- he'll learn everything there is to know about being a juvenile delinquent. Age 13 and up.

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Reviews

Grade 8 Up-Tokyo's Cromartie High is famed for having the dregs of humanity as its students. Takashi's classmates spend an inordinate amount of time trying to discover which one of them is the strongest, and the teen has to use his wits to avoid being pummeled. One of the funniest stories involves his efforts to change his image using the book Advice for Your High School Debut. Readers see him heeding its wisdom, including bleaching his hair, shaving his eyebrows, and practicing his menacing glare. Only when he gets to the end of the book does he read the most crucial step: to take these steps BEFORE coming to the new school! In addition to the usual incorrigible students, there's also a gorilla, a robot, and a strong silent type who looks like a cross between Freddie Mercury and Deadwood's Al Swearengen. "The Delightful Students of Cromartie High" profiles serve as both entertainment and exposition, and the translator's notes will help to explain the Japanese jokes to American readers. The story is often driven more by text than images (the word balloons are occasionally so large that they eclipse the pictures), but the black-and-white images deftly capture the humor of the story lines. This is a witty, surreal, and entertaining read.-Andrea Lipinski, Kingsbridge Library, Bronx, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Some jokes translate well; some don't. The first volume of Nonaka's Japanese school comedy (which has also appeared in anime form) has a lot of both kinds. The setting is a high school for the toughest boys around, where everyone's always trying to prove how bad they are and figure out who's strongest among them. But the students are also not the swiftest bunch, with the exception of this story's more-or-less normal protagonist, Takashi Kamiyama. Hijinks ensue—mostly in the form of six-page blackout sketches that end with an all-but-audible rimshot. Nonaka's favorite stratagem is to introduce a character who looks so tough that everyone chatters about how tough he is: there's a bare-chested pro-wrestler type who looks a few decades too old for high school; a gorilla; a metal-covered student named Mechazawa (no one can get up the nerve to ask if he's actually a robot); and so on. Nonaka's deadpan drawing style turns this tale into an absurdist farce—one student looks like Freddie Mercury, complete with hairy armpits; another is undone by motion sickness. But much of the humor (like drawn-out arguments over one character's blood type) can't help flying over the heads of Western readers, and the awkwardly colloquial translation doesn't help. Despite all that, this humorous take on manga's stereotypical high school setting does provide some laughs. (Mar. 7)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Gr. 8-10. Nonaka's comical graphic novel begins as Takashi Kamiyama enters Cromartie High, to which he had applied hoping that his best friend could meet the school's low academic standards and be accepted, too. Unfortunately, that's not what happens, and Takashi finds himself alone among pencil-eating, fist-baring, ready-to-wrestle lowlifes. Surprisingly, everything turns out just fine: Takashi wins friends and influences people (and an occasional gorilla) by being moderate, honest, and hardworking. The goons settle down, show their softer sides, and engage in some hilarious G-rated high jinks. Nonaka's wit is generous and varied, and he includes riffs on the culture of manga reading and rampant irony aimed at youth and school culture. He also supplies a few truly silly vignettes, which he admits are ideas that he wasn't able to develop properly. This is pure, good fun, featuring, along with tidy Takashi, a host of sweaty boys, a robot interloper, and a Yakuza-clad rich guy who tries to bully the wrong school. Francisca Goldsmith
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Adv Manga
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 141390257X
• ISBN 13: 9781413902570
• Binding: Paperback
• Illustrator: Eiji Nonaka
• Number of pages: 158