High School! Kimengumi (Japanese: ハイスクール!奇面組, Hepburn: Hai Sukūru! Kimengumi, lit. "High School! Funny-face Club") is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Motoei Shinzawa. A first series Third Year Funny-face Club was serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump from October 1980 to April 1982. High School! Kimengumi was serialized in the same magazine from April 1982 to July 1987. An anime television series aired from October 1985 to September 1987 and an animated film premiered in July 1986.[1][2] A sequel manga, titled Flash! Funny-face Club, was published in Square Enix's Monthly Shōnen Gangan from 2001 to 2005.
| High School! Kimengumi | |
 Manga volume 1 cover | |
| ハイスクール!奇面組 (Hai Sukūru! Kimengumi) | |
|---|---|
| Manga | |
| Third Year Funny-face Club | |
| Written by | Motoei Shinzawa |
| Published by | Shueisha |
| Imprint | Jump Comics |
| Magazine | Weekly Shōnen Jump |
| Demographic | Shōnen |
| Original run | October 13, 1980 – April 12, 1982 |
| Volumes | 6 |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Motoei Shinzawa |
| Published by | Shueisha |
| Imprint | Jump Comics |
| Magazine | Weekly Shōnen Jump |
| Demographic | Shōnen |
| Original run | April 19, 1982 – July 6, 1987 |
| Volumes | 20 |
| Anime television series | |
| Directed by | Hiroshi Fukutomi |
| Produced by | Hiromichi Mogaki Kazuo Harada Kiyoshi Sakai Yoshiro Kataoka |
| Written by |
|
| Music by | Shunsuke Kikuchi |
| Studio | |
| Original network | Fuji TV |
| Original run | October 12, 1985 – September 26, 1987 |
| Episodes | 86 |
| Anime film | |
| Directed by | Hiroshi Fukutomi (part 3) Makoto Moriwaki (part 1) Shin Misawa (part 2) |
| Produced by | Hiromichi Mogaki Kazuo Harada Yoshiro Kataoka |
| Written by | Takao Koyama Motoei Shinzawa |
| Music by | Shunsuke Kikuchi |
| Studio | NAS |
| Released | July 12, 1986 |
| Runtime | 51 minutes |
| Manga | |
| Return of High School! Funny-face Club | |
| Written by | Motoei Shinzawa |
| Published by | Magazine House Ltd. (Magazine) Shueisha (Volume) |
| Imprint | Jump Comics Deluxe |
| Magazine | Popeye |
| Demographic | Seinen |
| Published | December 1, 2000 |
| Volumes | 1 |
| Manga | |
| Flash! Funny-face Club | |
| Written by | Motoei Shinzawa |
| Published by | Square Enix |
| Imprint | Gangan Comics |
| Magazine | Monthly Shōnen Gangan |
| Demographic | Shōnen |
| Original run | 2001 – 2005 |
| Volumes | 3 |
Summary
High School! Kimengumi is an episodic chronicle of the bizarre adventures of a group of misfit junior high school (and later high school) boys who form a club known as the "Kimengumi". All of the character names in the series are puns. For example, "Kawa Yui" is another way of saying "kawaii", and "Uru Chie" is a slang form of "urusai", meaning "obnoxious" or "annoying".
Media
Manga
High School! Kimengumi is written and illustrated by Motoei Shinzawa. A first series titled Third Year Funny-face Club (3年奇面組, Sannen Kimengumi) was published in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump from October 13, 1980, to April 12, 1982.[3][4] Shueisha collected its chapters in six tankōbon volumes published between August 15, 1981, and January 8, 1983.[5][6]
High School! Kimengumi was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from April 19, 1982, to July 6, 1987.[7][8] Shueisha released the individual chapters into twenty volumes published between April 8, 1983, and February 10, 1988.[9][10]
Another series titled Return of High School! Funny-face Club (帰ってきたハイスクール!奇面組, Kaettekita Haisukūru! Kimengumi) was published by Popeye on December 1, 2000.[11] Shueisha later released the series into a single volume on February 4, 2004.[12]
A fourth series, titled Flash! Funny-face Club (フラッシュ!奇面組, Furasshu! Kimengumi), was serialized in Square Enix's Monthly Shōnen Gangan from 2001 to 2005. It was compiled into three tankōbon volumes published from July 22, 2002, and July 22, 2005.[13][14]
Volume list
Third Year Funny-face Club
| No. | Release date | ISBN |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | August 15, 1981[5] | 4-08-851341-X |
| 02 | November 15, 1981[15] | 4-08-851342-8 |
| 03 | March 15, 1982[16] | 4-08-851343-6 |
| 04 | July 15, 1982[17] | 4-08-851344-4 |
| 05 | October 8, 1982[18][19] | 4-08-851345-2 |
| 06 | January 8, 1983[20][6] | 4-08-851346-0 |
High School! Funny-face Club
| No. | Release date | ISBN |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | April 8, 1983[21][9] | 4-08-851347-9 |
| 02 | July 8, 1983[22][23] | 4-08-851348-7 |
| 03 | October 7, 1983[24][25] | 4-08-851349-5 |
| 04 | December 8, 1983[26][27] | 4-08-851350-9 |
| 05 | February 10, 1984[28][29] | 4-08-851351-7 |
| 06 | April 10, 1984[30][31] | 4-08-851352-5 |
| 07 | July 10, 1984[32][33] | 4-08-851353-3 |
| 08 | December 7, 1984[34][35] | 4-08-851354-1 |
| 09 | March 8, 1985[36][37] | 4-08-851355-X |
| 10 | March 8, 1985[38][39] | 4-08-851356-8 |
| 11 | September 10, 1985[40][41] | 4-08-851357-6 |
| 12 | February 10, 1986[42][43] | 4-08-851358-4 |
| 13 | May 9, 1986[44][45] | 4-08-851359-2 |
| 14 | August 8, 1986[46][47] | 4-08-851360-6 |
| 15 | December 5, 1986[48][49] | 4-08-851365-7 |
| 16 | February 10, 1987[50][51] | 4-08-851366-5 |
| 17 | April 10, 1987[52][53] | 4-08-851367-3 |
| 18 | August 10, 1987[54][55] | 4-08-851368-1 |
| 19 | August 10, 1987[56][57] | 4-08-851369-X |
| 20 | February 10, 1988[58][10] | 4-08-851370-3 |
Flash! Funny-face Club
| No. | Release date | ISBN |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | July 22, 2002[13] | 4-7575-0735-6 |
| 02 | July 22, 2003[59] | 4-7575-0981-2 |
| 03 | July 22, 2005[14] | 4-7575-1475-1 |
Anime
A 86-episode anime adaptation produced by NAS and Fuji Television was broadcast in Japan from October 12, 1985, to September 21, 1987, on Fuji TV.
Songs
The theme songs, with the exceptions of the fifth ending and insert Nakuko mo Warau Kimengumi, were performed by various sub-groups or former members of Onyanko Club:
- Opening themes 1–5, ending themes 1, 3–4, 6, insert songs 1–2 by Ushiroyubi Sasaregumi
- Opening themes 6–7, ending themes 7–8 by Ushirogami Hikaretai
- Ending theme 2 by Onyanko Club and Ushiroyubi Sasaregumi
- Ending theme 5 by Musukko Club
Opening themes
- Ushiroyubi Sasare-gumi
- Zō-san no Scanty
- Nagisa no "..." (Kagi Kakko)
- Waza Ari!
- Kashiko
- Toki no Kawa wo Koete
- Anata wo Shiritai
Insert songs
- Abunai Sa·ka·na
- Watashi ha Chie no Wa (Puzzling)
- Nakuko mo Warau Kimengumi
Closing themes
- Jogakusei no Ketsui
- Banana no Namida
- Neko Jita Gokoro mo Koi no Uchi
- Not Only ★ But Also
- Chotto Karai Aitsu
- Pythagoras wo Buttobase
- Ushirogami Hikaretai
- Tatsutori Ato wo Nigosazu
Video releases
Kimengumi has been released on DVD in Japan in two different box set releases. The movie was released as part of the second DVD set in 2008.
- High School! Kimengumi DVD Box 1
- Pioneer LDC, 2001-05-25
- High School! Kimengumi DVD Box 2
- Pioneer LDC, 2001-07-25
- High School! Kimengumi DVD Box 3
- Pioneer LDCA, 2001-09-21
- High School! Kimengumi Complete DVD Box 1
- E-Net Frontier, 2007-12-21
- High School! Kimengumi Complete DVD Box 2
- E-Net Frontier, 2008-02-22
Video games
There is a traditional boardgame based on the series titled High School! Kimengumi Game, released by Bandai. Three video games have been based on the series:
- High School! Kimengumi for the Master System, an adventure game[60]
- High School! Kimengumi for the MSX2, a port of the Master System game
- High School! Kimengumi: The Table Hockey for PlayStation[61]
There is also a series of pachinko games based on the series manufactured by Maruhon[62]
Reception
In a 2006 survey of celebrities by TV Asahi, High School! Kimengumi was listed as #87 on a list of the top 100 favorite anime series.[63]
References
External links
- High School! Kimengumi official anime website at Fuji TV (in Japanese)
- "Haisukûru! Kimengumi" at IMDb
- High School! Kimengumi (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
