High School! Kimengumi


High School! Kimengumi is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Motoei Shinzawa. The 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. A sequel manga, titled Flash! Funny-face Club, was published in Square Enix's Monthly Shōnen Gangan from 2001 to 2005. A second anime television series adaptation produced by Seven premiered in January 2026.

Summary

High School! Kimengumi is an episodic chronicle of the bizarre adventures of a group of misfit junior 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

Written and illustrated by Motoei Shinzawa, High School! Kimengumi started as a series titled Sannen Kimengumi, which was published in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump from October 13, 1980, to April 12, 1982. Shueisha collected its chapters into six volumes published between August 15, 1981, and January 8, 1983.
High School! Kimengumi was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from April 19, 1982, to July 6, 1987. Shueisha collected its chapters into twenty volumes published between April 8, 1983, and February 10, 1988.
Another manga titled Return of High School! Kimengumi was published in Popeye on December 1, 2000. Shueisha later released it in a single volume on February 4, 2004.
A fourth manga, titled Flash! Kimengumi, was serialized in Square Enix's Monthly Shōnen Gangan from October 2001 to June 2005. It was compiled into three volumes published from July 22, 2002, to July 22, 2005.

Volume list

''Third Year Funny-face Club''
''High School! Funny-face Club''
''Return of High School! Funny-face Club''
''Flash! Funny-face Club''

Anime

A 86-episode anime television series adaptation produced by NAS and Fuji TV aired from October 12, 1985, to September 21, 1987, on Fuji TV and its affiliates. Remow licensed the series in English and streams it on the "It's Anime" YouTube channel.
A second anime television series adaptation was announced on October 17, 2025. It is produced by Seven with planning and production by and directed by Kazuaki Seki, with Takashi Nishikawa as chief animation director, series composition by Shigeru Murakoshi, Yuka Abe designing the characters, and Night Tempo producing the anime's songs. The series premiered on January 9, 2026 on the Noitamina programming block on Fuji TV and its affiliates. Amazon Prime Video is streaming the series in North America.

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. Ushiroyubi Sasare-gumi
  2. Zō-san no Scanty
  3. Nagisa no "..."
  4. Waza Ari!
  5. Kashiko
  6. Toki no Kawa wo Koete
  7. ''Anata wo Shiritai''

Insert songs

  • Abunai Sa·ka·na
  • Watashi ha Chie no Wa
  • ''Nakuko mo Warau Kimengumi''

Closing themes

  1. Jogakusei no Ketsui
  2. Banana no Namida
  3. Neko Jita Gokoro mo Koi no Uchi
  4. Not Only ★ But Also
  5. Chotto Karai Aitsu
  6. Pythagoras wo Buttobase
  7. Ushirogami Hikaretai
  8. ''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
;High School! Kimengumi DVD Box 2
;High School! Kimengumi DVD Box 3
;High School! Kimengumi Complete DVD Box 1
;''High School! Kimengumi Complete DVD Box 2''

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:
There is also a series of pachinko games based on the series manufactured by Maruhon

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.