Dearest mother I have completed my enrollment for Cromartie High School. I hope to get used to the school as quickly as possible and lead a healthy academic life. But. Im surrounded by people who frankly scare me. Annnd Im kinda freaking out. I vaguely remember hearing about this when it came out in 2004 but a show about a high school full of delinquents didnt interest me. Fast forward over a decade and I came across a Tumblr post with the first couple minutes of the first episode while I cant find the video heres a post with screencaps that only manage to capture about 50 of the humor and absurdity. Overthetop exaggerated this wasnt a straightforward show about delinquents like Id thought but rather a parody. I was hooked. The fun thing about it is that you dont really need to know what its parodying. Obviously youll probably get more context if you doI know a few stereotypes about delinquents picked up from 20 years of anime and manga consumption but for the most part I dont know muchbut the narration and animation do a good job explaining the basics you need all the boys look like delinquents. All the boys assume they and others are delinquents while at the same time many of them have other goals weaknesses and/or spend time philosophizing. According to its Wikipedia article its a parody of the yanki delinquent manga of the 70s and 80s. I didnt realize it was parodying a specific thing while watching I just figured it was taking a few tropes and just satirizing them. Like I dont have to have any prior knowledge to see that this guy is trying to be tough and hes got a lackey. And I keep using the word absurd because thats what its doing. One classmate is a gorilla which is neither explained nor something the other characters can figure out. One classmate looks exactly like Freddie Mercury. This is commented on and is as weird to the characters as it is to us. I watched the English dub and it still holds up. And the episodes themselves each clock in around 10 minutes so this 26episode series was super easy to binge and the dub is easily available on freewithads sites like Crunchyroll and RetroCrush. It was a very enjoyable distraction. Verdict English dub? Yes And its totally worth it just for the first episode to hear the main character go He. ate. my. pencil. HE ATE MY PENCIL?? Visuals: About what youd expect for 2004 but the art style is more detailedadapting specific looks from the manga Id assumethat it was visually a breath of fresh air. Worth watching? Yes Its very silly but it knows its being silly.