Cromartie High School - which I came into because of the anime - is one of those series that you either love because of its absurdity and lack of coherent plot or hate because of its absurdity and lack of coherent plot. I haven't read past this volume in the manga (don't own any others), but the anime (made up of 12 minute or so "episodes") doesn't ever settle down to a plotline like say [b:Excel Saga, Vol. 1|2153735|Excel Saga, Vol. 1 (Excel Saga, #1)|Koshi Rikdo|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1349084995s/2153735.jpg|2159237] does so I doubt this ever develops a serious plot line.

Which you know sometimes is a good thing. Each chapter is really short and other then some character situations that make more sense reading chapter to chapter (like why Maeda is looked down upon, why Kamiyama is considered a 'badass', who the hell "Freddie" is) you can randomly start a chapter and read it and drop the book again for weeks or months. I had apparently read as far as chapter 4 in the book before I put it away (years ago) and picked it back up again with little problems. ( )

Truly bizarre, but really funny. Not sure if the series can keep it up for 16 more volumes, but I'm willing to find out! ( )

Weird humor at it’s finest, not your typical manga, even if you don’t like manga and love bizarre humor, you’ll probably like this ( )

This was such a weird manga. It was really all B.S. and crack situations without any substance to it at all. It's not a manga that I can take with any seriousness because there's perhaps one moment where that seriousness can be applied at the beginning of the volume, and then after that measly eight pages, we see it pop up maybe on one other page throughout the entire volume.

The entire read is a series of normal situations that are made ridiculous by a constant run of the same bad--and eventually, old and tired--jokes that get recycled throughout the entirety of the volume. Considering the handful of lines for the preview to the next volume is promising nothing much else either, I can say for certain that this is a manga series you should read if you're absolutely bored and want something with nothing to offer you in order to fill up the time. I laughed a couple of times at a situation or two, but it was such a brainless event that there's really nothing to come away with from this.

I'll probably take out the other volumes if I ever see them. Probably it'll be one at a time, just to randomly read some blatant bull in between books with actual stories to offer. But it's a series I would never consider buying, at all. If for some reason this changes as I lazily stroll my way through these every so often, I'll let you know, but for the time being, it's really almost not worth your time to even pay attention to. Unless, that is, you're looking for some mindless (and I am emphasizing the 'mindless' for a reason here, folks) distraction.

Don't waste your money on this one. Library it if you're really curious. And I'd say don't even buy it if you like the first one. It's not worth risking your money on if it continues to be the same crack it's been in this first volume and you grow bored of it.

Recommended then? Not really. There are other things to read. This is like the mental moment of rest between things that actually require me to pay attention or care.

Either way, happy reading! ( )