Cromartie High School Volume 2: Hey Dude - Anime-Planet
- Anime-Planet
- Kim Johnson
- 08/19/05
- click here
"Yet again Cromartie delivers nothing less that pure comedy..."
"...this series is the most hilarious I?ve ever seen."
Synopsis:
At Cromartie High, it?s tough being a delinquent -- a fact that do-gooder Takashi Kamiyama intimately understands. When he?s not engaging in contests of strength and rival gang wars, Kamiyama can also be found submitting punny jokes and planning his own rise to fame within the delinquents? ranks, and that?s just the beginning! With friends like robotic Mechazawa, a giant gorilla, a hairy man from the 80s named Freddie and a clan of delinquents with mohawks that flow in the wind, how can anyone not enjoy high school?
Packaging & Menu: 7.5 / 10
To be honest, I?m a little confused with the packaging. Let?s start with the good points: the back is very fitting and pleasing, just like the first volume. A single shot of the gorilla fills one corner, with a small grid of rectangular screenshots below. Between the two is well written text about the episodes that definitely fits the tone of the series, also. A humorous cartoon character speaks, with a bubble explaining the extra features. I?m a big fan of clean layouts, and this definitely manages to succeed on all accounts. The entire outer packaging has a worn look which works well. The side has a tiny Mechazawa holding the volume number, just like volume 1.
My issue is definitely with the cover, which does some pretty confusing things in my opinion. The picture, like volume 3, is a single grainy image of something in the Cromartie world. In this case, it?s two of the human characters, Mechazawa?s little brother robot, and the gorilla looking over the edge. An interesting if not a little boring image, but still good nonetheless. But then, ADV chose to tarnish the cover with a few things, the worst offender being large blue text that says ?contains episode 9 to episode 14?. Considering the image is brownish, I?m not seeing what this was trying to accomplish. I feel like it ruins the cover, honestly. Perhaps it was trying to portray that this was volume 2, but at the same time, this is already accomplished in a few places: the back cover, where it lists what episodes are on the disc; the side, where it says Volume 2; and most importantly, the other fairly strange choice of design, a box in the upper left corner that says ?CHS number 2?. Why, then, was ?contains episode 9 to episode 14? put in garish blue text on the cover? Needless to say I?m very glad this approach wasn?t taken on volume 1 and 3, and hopefully not 4 as well.
Overall though, good packaging. I?m just hung up on that blue text. I?m wondering if they were trying to make it look like a manga? I don?t read manga much so I?m not sure, but I?m wondering if the box in the upper left and such is supposed to make it look more manga-like. In this case, the reason for putting these bits in might make more sense.
As with volume 1, the insert is fantastic. It?s a black and white booklet that has character sketches and bios about a few characters, fun facts, cultural notes, and funny tidbits. I?m a big fan of this insert as I was with the last one, and it?s definitely worth reading. The disc is a vinyl, just like the other volume.
I enjoyed the realistic take on the menu yet again, this time showing a real person rifling through vinyl racks at a local music store. The text is all situated in the upper left of the screen which makes for easy navigation.
Extras: 7.5 / 10
On the back, the insert is mentioned as an extra so I might have discussed it in the wrong section. As mentioned before, this is a great thing to include with a release. Also included are the usual clean opening/closing, and previews. Like the first volume, we also get to see the Japanese TV warnings which are amusing. The best part is definitely the cultural notes, which are really a big help for anyone viewing the series. Cromartie is full of inside jokes related to Japanese culture, so it?s hard for us non-Japanese to figure out what?s going on. The only thing I would have liked is interviews or something, on video. Or, perhaps character sketches.
Video: 8.5 / 10
Since the video is the same on this release, I'm copying this text from the other reviews:
As with the other volumes, the video was fairly clean with good color and detail. The dancing lines are still a major issue in heavy detailed spots such as forehead lines. No major problems with aliasing, graininess or artifacting. Excellent colors.
Audio: 7 / 10
Same with this section. Same as other volumes, paste below!
The transfer from the Japanese audio was fairly clean, and there were no noticeable distortion or dropouts. Like the previous volumes, the Japanese voices tended to be in the background compared to the sound effects and other music. The problem definitely wasn?t as prevalent in this volume as it was in, say, volume 1, but was still noticeable. Like the previous volumes, the English vocals were quite a bit louder, adding a needed contrast between it and the music. The English seemed to make more use of the right and left channels than the Japanese audio, but both primarily stayed around the center stage.
Content: 9 / 10
Yet again Cromartie delivers nothing less that pure comedy, proving once more that this series is the most hilarious I?ve ever seen. There are plenty of comedy series out there, most of which have the same spastic and overwhelming style. Cromartie excels in the fact that the humor is dry and witty (but also very spastic). Admittedly, you?d have to enjoy this style of humor to really appreciate Cromartie; but if you do, you are set for a hilarious adventure.
Animation is very choppy, but in a good way. Part of what makes Cromartie so funny is how things are animated. For example, all of the characters always pop up facing weird angles, and move around in a jerky fashion. Random things fly all over the place pretty much all the time. Music is minimal and effective. The characters are definitely the highlight of the series, and are all unique and weird in their own ways. From the ventriloquist badass to Mechazawa?s little brother, there?s someone to please everyone.
I don?t have much else to say, since I covered a lot of why Cromartie is great in the first DVD review. Check that out for more information, but in general, check out these releases for something that are sure to please (if you like dry, witty, random humor!).
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Posted on Friday, August 19, 2005 (Archive on Monday, September 19, 2005)