Cromartie High the movie

In 2006 the live action theatrical release version of the bizarre and cult like comedy manga/anime Cromartie High was birthed upon the world.

    The live action movie, like the manga and the anime, follows first year high school student Takashi Kamiyama as he enrolls in Cromartie High School for Delinquents. While he is a modest and average student he enrolled in such a bottom of the barrel school to be with his only friend from grade school, who subsequently didn’t even pass the entrance exam for Cromartie. Stuck with no options now that he was enrolled Kamiyama does his best to blend in with Tokyo’s worst delinquents. He quickly makes friends in his class full of hoodlums and even gains their respect. While he is physically unimpressive and mild mannered everyone assumes he is the toughest thug around since no one that appears to be so timid would ever step foot in the school. He soon uses this newly acquired respect to try and shape up the school for the better. He soon gathers a small band of followers; his two real friends form the school and other classmates, one being a gorilla and another being a cross between Freddy Mercury and Hard Gay.

    His efforts are challenged though when a new student arrives and attempts to take over the school. No one pays any attention to him though and the schools stability and possible improvement arn’t put into jeopardy until a band of aliens straight out of Planet of the Apes show up with plans to turn all the students at Cromartie into their mindless slaves to use for world domination.

    This may be one of the funniest live action movies to come out of Japan, that is if you are a fan of childish slapstick and crude humor (which I am from time to time). The entire concept of Cromartie High is its ridiculousness. Every character in the school is a caricature of absurdity. The most notable characters are; Mechazawa, a robot that no one knows is a robot (with the exception of Kamiyama), Gorilla, the aforementioned gorilla and Freddy, the aforementioned Freddy Mercury leather boy clone. All of the other characters are colorful as well, such as the one that ends up eating all of Kamiyama’s pencils or the hijacker who stands in for the first years strongest student after he gets stranded but no one knows it’s the wrong guy because the hijacker always wears a luchadore mask. As stated previously the comedy is inane and childish, but is still incredibly funny. There is little to no coherency with the movie as the anime and manga are both vignette based. One segment flows into another with only a semblance of connectedness. The most important thing about the entire Cromartie story in any form is satire and twisted homage to many things from pop culture, most particularly 70’s rock and wrestling. The name of the school comes from the last name of an American pro baseball player who because famous while playing in Japan. When it comes to Japans movie production things are more often then not B-grade, that aspect helps this movie and it is faithful in reproducing the feel and look of the manga and anime, if not the exact story.

    This movie is perfect for anyone who already enjoys this series or for ones that like inane comedies and childish slapstick such as Ping Pong Club or Bobobo Bo Bo Bobo.