Cromartie High School Manga Volumes — Full Guide (2026)

Cromartie High School Manga Volumes at a Glance

Here’s the quick version before we go deeper:

Detail	Info
Author	Eiji Nonaka (野中英次)
Japanese Publisher	Kodansha
English Publisher	ADV Manga
Japanese Volumes	17 (published 2001–2006)
English Volumes	12 (out of print)
Status	Completed
Genre	Gag comedy / Shonen (manga aimed at teen boys)

The Japanese edition ran for 17 volumes, with the first releasing in February 2001 and the final volume dropping on July 14, 2006. Eiji Nonaka’s absurd comedy about the toughest (and most bewildering) delinquent school in Japan wrapped up its full story across those seventeen books.

The English edition, published by ADV Manga — a U.S. manga publisher that shut down in the late 2000s — only made it to 12 volumes. ADV closed before the translation could be completed, and the English run was never picked up by another publisher. That means the last five volumes, 13 through 17, have never been officially released in English.

The bottom line: The 12 English volumes cover roughly the first two-thirds of the series. If you want the complete Cromartie High School experience, you’ll need the Japanese editions for volumes 13–17. For the English-only reader, the 12 ADV volumes still deliver a huge amount of comedy — but know going in that you won’t be getting the full finale.

What Happens Volume by Volume

Cromartie High School is a gag comedy — a manga built around jokes rather than a continuous storyline. There’s no traditional plot building toward a climax, no big villain to defeat, no romantic subplot heading toward a confession. Each chapter (and they’re short chapters) delivers a self-contained joke or absurd scenario. That said, recurring characters, escalating weirdness, and references to earlier gags give the series a loose sense of progression that rewards reading from start to finish.

Here’s a qualitative walkthrough so you know what you’re getting into at each stage.

Volumes 1–6 — Meet the Toughest (and Strangest) Delinquents

The series opens with Takashi Kamiyama, a seemingly normal high school student, enrolling at Cromartie High — a school with a reputation as the roughest, most delinquent-filled institution around. The joke is that Kamiyama is by far the most ordinary person there, and yet he somehow ends up as a figure of respect among his unhinged classmates.

These early volumes introduce the legendary cast. Mechazawa is a robot that everyone treats as a normal student. Nobody acknowledges that he’s clearly a machine. Freddie is a hulking, silent man with a mustache who rides a horse to school. There’s a gorilla who is simply a classmate. No explanation is given, and none is needed.

The short-chapter format gets established immediately — most chapters are just a few pages, built around a single gag or escalating bit. This makes the early volumes incredibly fast reads. You can blow through a volume in one sitting without any effort. The comedic tone is deadpan and absurdist. Characters have serious, dramatic conversations about completely nonsensical topics, and that contrast is where most of the humor lives.

By volume 6, you’ll either be completely on board with the style or you’ll know it’s not for you. There’s no “it gets better later” — the comedy hits its groove early and rides that energy throughout.

Volume 1 is a great place to test the waters if you’re curious about the series. Grab it, read it in an afternoon, and you’ll know immediately whether this brand of absurdity clicks for you.

Volumes 7–12 — Peak Absurdity (and the Last English Volume)

The middle stretch of Cromartie is where Nonaka really leans into the absurdity. Rival schools enter the picture, each with their own cast of ridiculous delinquents. Bizarre competitions break out — sometimes physical, sometimes philosophical, always completely unhinged. There are extended debates about who is actually the toughest student, discussions that go in circles for pages and somehow keep being funny.

The jokes from earlier chapters start getting referenced and twisted in new directions. Characters who seemed like one-off jokes reappear with expanded roles. If you’ve been reading from the beginning, there’s a satisfying sense of a comedic world getting richer and more layered, even though there’s no overarching plot.

Volume 12 is the final English-language release. This is where the road ends for ADV’s translation. It’s not a planned stopping point — the story doesn’t wrap up at volume 12, and there’s no sense of closure. ADV simply didn’t get to translate any further before shutting down. Readers relying solely on the English editions will find that the series just… stops. The card below shows Vol. 12, that final English volume — from its product page, the earlier volumes are easy to reach.

That said, because Cromartie is joke-driven rather than plot-driven, the lack of a translated ending is less painful than it would be for a manga with a continuous storyline. You’re not left on a cliffhanger. You’re left wanting more jokes, which is a different kind of frustration — but a manageable one.

Volumes 13–17 — Japanese Only, Series Finale

The final five volumes of Cromartie High School have never been officially translated into English. They were published by Kodansha in Japanese, completing the series’ run in July 2006.

These volumes continue the established format — short gag chapters, escalating absurdity, the beloved cast doing ridiculous things. The series wraps up its long-running jokes and brings things to a conclusion (as much as a joke-driven manga can “conclude”). For longtime readers, the finale ties off recurring bits and gives the cast one last round of chaos.

If you want to read these volumes, you’ll need Japanese literacy or access to unofficial fan translations and chapter summaries that can be found through manga community forums and fan sites. There is no confirmed English digital release and no announced plan by another publisher to pick up the license (the legal right to translate and sell the series in English) as of this writing. The complete 17-volume experience remains a Japanese-language affair.

Marathon Reading Plan — Natural Break Points

One of the best things about Cromartie High School as a reading experience is how perfectly it fits into short bursts. The short-chapter, joke-per-page format means you can pick up a volume, read three or four chapters in ten minutes, laugh, and put it down. Or you can plow through the entire English run in a single weekend without breaking a sweat.

Here’s a suggested breakdown if you want to pace yourself:

• Volumes 1–4 (Introduction and Hook): Meet the cast, understand the tone, decide if this is your kind of comedy. This is one sitting for most readers.
• Volumes 5–9 (Deepening Absurdity): The world expands, rival schools appear, and the gags start layering on top of each other. Two sittings, maybe three if you’re savoring it.
• Volumes 10–12 (Peak Chaos and English Endpoint): The last English volumes. References to earlier gags fly fast and the series is at full comedic speed. One sitting — you won’t want to stop.
• Volumes 13–17 (Japanese-Only Finale): For those reading in Japanese. The series concludes its run.

The entire 12-volume English run is a comfortable weekend read. Each volume is short, the chapters fly by, and the humor keeps things moving. Cromartie also works well as a change of pace — if you’ve just finished something emotionally heavy or plot-dense, a few volumes of Cromartie will reset your brain completely. It asks nothing of you except a willingness to laugh at a gorilla attending high school.

Manga vs. Anime — What the Adaptation Covers

Cromartie High School does have an anime adaptation — a 26-episode series that aired in 2003–2004 — and it captures the deadpan absurdist tone of the manga well. However, the anime covers only a portion of the manga’s material. It doesn’t adapt the full 17-volume run, pulling primarily from the earlier volumes.

The manga goes significantly further than the anime and is the more complete experience by a wide margin. If you watched the anime and enjoyed it, the manga has a lot more material waiting for you — including gags, characters, and scenarios the anime never touched. Starting from volume 1 is still recommended even if you’ve seen the anime, since the reading experience hits differently and the manga includes material the anime skipped even within the volumes it did adapt.

For the full Cromartie High School story, the manga is the way to go. The anime is a fun companion piece and a decent introduction to the series’ style, but it’s not a substitute for the printed version.

Which Edition Should You Buy

This is where things get tricky, because Cromartie High School is not a series you can just walk into a bookstore and grab off the shelf.

English Edition (ADV Manga, 12 Volumes): Out of print. ADV Manga shut down, and these volumes have not been reprinted or re-released by any other publisher. The only way to get them is through the secondhand market. Prices vary — some volumes are relatively affordable as used books, while others (particularly later volumes in the run) can be harder to find and more expensive.

Japanese Edition (Kodansha, 17 Volumes): This is the only way to read the complete series. All 17 volumes were published under Kodansha’s Shonen Magazine Comics label. Japanese editions are generally easier to find through import retailers, though availability varies.

Digital English Edition: There is no confirmed current digital release of Cromartie High School in English. No legal digital option has been announced as of this writing.

Re-license Status: No publisher has announced plans to pick up the English-language rights or reprint the English edition. When a manga’s license expires and no new publisher acquires it, the series stays out of print until someone decides to bring it back. This could change in the future, but there’s nothing concrete to point to right now.

Tips for Collecting the English Volumes

If you’re set on building the English collection, here’s what to keep in mind:

• Check used-book marketplaces and manga resale communities. Sites like eBay, ThriftBooks, and AbeBooks, along with local used bookstores and manga trading groups, are your best bets. Listings come and go, so checking regularly helps.
• Earlier volumes tend to be more available. Volumes 1 through 6 or so had wider distribution and more copies in circulation. The later you go in the run, the scarcer the volumes tend to get.
• Inspect condition carefully. Out-of-print manga can show up in anything from pristine to heavily worn condition. If you’re buying online, ask for photos of the spine, cover, and interior pages. Yellowed pages are common for manga from this era and aren’t necessarily a dealbreaker, but water damage and missing pages are.
• Be patient. Building a complete set of an out-of-print manga is a long game. You might find volumes 1–8 quickly and then spend months hunting for volume 11. That’s normal. Set alerts on resale sites if they offer that feature, and don’t overpay in a panic — another copy will usually turn up eventually.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many volumes of Cromartie High School are there?

There are 17 volumes in the original Japanese edition, published by Kodansha from 2001 to 2006. The English edition from ADV Manga ran for 12 volumes before ADV shut down, leaving the final five volumes untranslated.

Is Cromartie High School finished?

Yes. The manga is fully completed. The final Japanese volume was released on July 14, 2006. This is a finished series with a definitive ending — though that ending is only available in Japanese.

Will the remaining volumes ever be translated into English?

There is no current announcement from any publisher about picking up the English-language rights or completing the English translation of Cromartie High School. It’s always possible a publisher could bring it back in the future, but nothing is confirmed.

Who is the author of Cromartie High School?

Eiji Nonaka (野中英次) wrote and drew the entire series. It was published by Kodansha in Japan.

Is there an anime adaptation?

Yes, there is a 26-episode anime adaptation of Cromartie High School that aired in 2003–2004. It covers a portion of the manga’s material but doesn’t adapt the full series. The manga contains significantly more content and is the more complete way to experience the story. If you enjoyed the anime, the manga has plenty of additional material to enjoy.