Gokusen

This is a delightful series, made even better for this American viewer by the quality subtitling and background explanations provided by the dedicated SARS fan-sub team.

The writing is clever & heart-warming, without plunging into the maudlin. The cast developed their characterizations over the course of the series in ways that are understandable, if sometimes unpredictable (as one would expect from both teenagers and adults on the learning curve.)

The whole package will be especially rewarding if the viewer is familiar with "ninkyo Yakuza" movies, such as the vintage ones starring Koji Tsuruta and Ken Takakura, because, at the core, "Gokusen" is about finding your own family and becoming a faithful and supportive friend to all the members.

I was pleased to come to IMDB and see this series with a reasonably high rating. While this series is often intentionally corny and over-the-top, the characters are enjoyable and well-acted. The teacher is both wise and naive. Her superior is excessively annoying to the point he's actually funny. Some of the characters are cliche, while others have a real foundation to them.

The only downside is the repeated theme of "Kid wrongly accused and thrown in jail or beat up by gang and teacher has to resort to violence to rescue." Rinse. Repeat. One has to wonder if there are any other plot lines in all of literature.

However, throughout all the nonsense one may be surprised to find actual lessons being taught regarding standing up for what one believes, kindness, knowing when to fight and when to not fight. We learn about loyalty regardless of flaws, and that it's possible to change one's ways regardless of past reputation.

Overall this is a fun and excellent series. One thing that amazed me was the transition of the main actress from corny goofball cute to a surprising beauty when she took off her glasses and let down her hair. It's somewhat like seeing Clark Kent transforming to Superman... only she does it better!

I really enjoyed her grandfather. The role was well-played and properly underplayed. His kindness and wisdom despite being the head of the Yakuza family added an excellent touch of maturity to this series. On the other hand it makes the Yakusa look like good guys, which is questionable morality and ethics in a show all about morals and ethics. Somewhat of a paradox.

Overall, very well done. All of the actors work well together to pull this off... even the cornball parts. ;D.

Gokusen is really a nice drama I love it but the most loved season is 1 because in this sawada shin is there.kuma is also loved character in this series if shin was there in two more seasons than they will also my favourite but I love season 1.yamaguchi sensei is a independent woman she is really very nice I love her character too. It is based on a story of school teacher yankumi who is 4 generation boss of yakuza but she wants to become a school teacher and she became she was teacher of 3-D this class students were very naughty but she handles them. Her principal knows that she is boss of yakuza so he appointed her to teach 3-D class.

Watch series 1 thought it was hilarious and really enjoyed but it think it should have ended there series 2 and 3 just the same story over again .

This is a teacher-student relationship between Kumiko "Yankumi" Yamaguchi (Yukie Nakama) and Shin Sawada (Jun Matsumoto). Yankumi was the homeroom teacher of a class of delinquents in the Shirokin Gakuin, a school exclusively for boys. Yankumi has a secret. She was hiding her true identity from her students and co-teachers. She is the heiress to the Oedo Yakuza clan. But Shin Sawada, a very handsome and intelligent guy, suspected that she was no ordinary teacher. So since the first day of the school, he became interested to her. Find out if there could be a love affair between them. Because Yankumi had a crush on someone else. Then find if Shin Sawada will fight for their feelings at the end. Hope you like the story, because it's excellent for me!!!