Cromartie High School Volume 4 DVD Review

By sothis Published: August 18, 2005

PACKAGING AND MENU

7 / 10

Like the third volume before it, the Cromartie V4 cover is composed of a single image that spans the entire space. In this case, it’s a picture of Mount Rushmore with the faces of the Cromartie gang instead of the presidents. Due to the randomness of the series, a random image such as this fits perfectly with the series. The side has the same tiny Mechazawa with version number. The back is bright blue, like the color of the sky on the front cover. Sketches of the characters accompany the synopsis and funny commentary. Tiny screenshots are lined up in a pleasing rectangular grid along the bottom of the back cover.

The insert is the same as the other volumes: fantastic. Character biographies, useful facts and other tidbits are inside. The disc, like the others, looks like a vinyl.

Luckily for volume 4, the menu is nowhere near as bad as volume 3, but still is very disappointing. The super simplistic look has been done yet again, with graffiti outlines of some of the characters. Considering the record store theme was heavily prevalent in the first two volumes (including the menu and discs), I just don’t understand why the menu was deviated from this theme. Maybe there weren’t any other clips of video stores? Or someone on the staff decided to try to be creative? Whatever the case, I would really have preferred a uniform design to the discs. Or at least something more than a plain wall with two light outlines of characters on it. Had the menu been better, the score for this section would be way higher.

FEATURES

9 / 10

The cultural notes and comments are quite useful. I praise ADV for including this in all of the volume. It’s useful because the staff explains why they translated things why they did, which is a big plus for fans out there who are quick to judge professional releases and translators. Also included is a group of very funny clips that seem to have been shown before, during, or after the episodes. Dejiko and Puchiko even make a cameo! TV warnings are included, as well as a clean opening and closing. I never know if the inserts count as features, though I already mentioned it’s fantastic!

VIDEO

8.5 / 10

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

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

10 / 10

As I’ve mentioned time and time again, Cromartie is the most hilarious series I’ve ever seen. Its dry humor and randomness appeals to me every time I watch it, even with episodes I’ve seen over and over. The final volume wraps up this wonderful series with laughs and a bang. From Kamiyama in the bathroom twice to conversations about names, to visiting the scary looking girls at a rival school, there’s hilariousness to be found in every episode. By far the most hilarious episode is definitely the last episode, which is a parody of the first episode of the series. The same dialogue and things take place, except the cast are now girls. Very VERY funny!

Animation is random and static, with all the faces looking in the same direction in every shot. Colors are simplistic and thick, and backgrounds are minimal. Music is quirky and random, ranging from random synthesized keyboard sounds to guitar riffs. The characters, like always, each have their own quirks and characteristics. But hey, I’m pretty much just repeating myself, since there’s nothing in this volume that’s unique to only it.

If you’ve already watched Cromartie, you know that you either love it or hate it. Thus, you should already know if you’d like this volume or not. Definitely funnier than volume 3’s episodes, and a good end to a fantastic show. I only hope they’ll do a season 2 someday! Now if only ADV would release the Mechazawa hat…