GTO

Great Teacher Onizuka (aka GTO) was a manga by Toru Fujisawa. In 1998 it spawned a twelve-episode TV drama followed by a TV Special. The year 1999 comes around with an anime series of the same name. Along with that, GTO the movie is released. The movie continues where the TV drama special left off.

Onizuka (played by Takashi Sorimachi) ends up at the rural town of Horobonai in Hokkaido, Japan. He is a substitute teacher, there to set things straight at a school where nobody cares. Sound familiar? If you've seen the series, then it should. It's a new story though, and a great one.

GTO fans should be satisfied with this movie. You get to see Onizuka's crazy ways of handling things once again. If you are unfamiliar with GTO, go watch the anime or TV drama. It's much more entertaining that way. As a stand alone movie, it's pretty good. But as a GTO movie, it's great!

Once again we see Takashi Sorimachi take on the role as the Great Teacher Onizuka. I must start off by saying that you should probably not watch this without having seen the TV-series first.

So, what is there to say? This film is a lot better than the confusing TV-special but still lacking compared to the TV-series. Also I find Onizuka's logic alot fuzzier than normal. Usually you kind of understand how he's thinking but in this movie it seems he's just randomly freaking out.

The best part about this movie might just be the new version of the song "Poison", which is sung at the end. Except for that, this is OK but not as good as the series. Still, if you're a fan you pretty much need to watch this anyway, right?

GTO has always been a favorite series of mine, mostly due to actor Takashi Sorimachi doing such a great job in the live action. The film was actually my first view of the live action, and I must say I was impressed. Sorimachi captures Onizuka's personality extremely well, and having played it out for so many years, he's nearly perfected it. The erratic behavior is there, though his Onizuka is slightly less. However, the personality is there, just as we would expect. It's great and the film is hilarious. What's especially nice is that there are several original elements, like the amusement park angle and the old man on the bench. The film is highly entertaining, fairly original, and translates everything we love very well. Any fan should definitely pick it up. It's a keeper.