Cromartie High School, Vol. 1
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.