GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka

This series is based on the Japanese manga, "GTO" aka "Great Teacher Onikuza". I must say the TV series certainly did the manga justice and Sorimachi brought the lead character of Onizuka to life. The series is immensely funny and it is filled with many examples of Japanese school life.

Onizuka who has been a deliquent all his life is suddenly thrusted into the role of a teacher which is his lifetime dream. The concept of a gangster type person being a teacher is already comical. Though it is funny, GTO has some serious moments as well. When he first started out as a teacher, the class he was in charge of were all against him but slowly as the series progressed, he came to earn their trust and teach them valuable lessons on life they would never have learnt in the classroom. For anyone who's after a good laugh and a peek into the Japanese student culture, I recommend watching this great series.

When I first saw the cover of this anime I thought it was some kind of action/adventure type anime, and the "GTO" title definitely threw me off. It is in fact a comedy, about a reformed gangster turned school teacher Onizuka. The story basically revolves around Onizuka's early career as a school teacher and how he manages to overcome obstacles given to him by students and faculty members. I'd say its a light-hearted anime, with a few dirty jokes and sexual innuendos here and there. I definitely recommend it to any anime fan who wants to take a break from sci-fi (or hentai, whatever you watch more often) and is looking for a good laugh. I give this one a 10/10.

GTO seems like another semi-hentai ecchi series for 14 year olds at first glance but it definitely is not. While this is definitely a man's show (women tend to not get it) it isn't dumb or overly crude. Onizuka is a great teacher. Beginning as just a pervert he evolves quite quickly into a radical who believes that the students shouldn't undergo the boredom and humiliation he did. While full of weird, sex driven scenarios, GTO doesn't turn into a porno and uses them for laughs rather than sick titilation. I can't express enough how much fun this series is. It's currently my favorite anime and I recommend it to all anime fans and especially the non-fans who think anime is just giant robots and fighting. (Did I mention there's a bit of fighting here too? But I digress.) 10/10

Unbelievably good series starring Takashi Sorimachi as Eikichi Onizuka, a guy who was a former biker gang leader became a teacher because he had no other job offers. His future wife Nanako Matsushima also stars in this series as Fuyutsuki Azusa an English teacher in the same school.

Students in his class are outcasts in one way or another, and in the beginning sees him as another teacher who only cares about rules and formalities and tries to kick him out. Actually, Onizuka is far more "out there" than any of the students, and starts to win their respect one by one.

Romance between Onizuka and Fuyutsuki starts to form, as Fuyutsuki begins to realize that Onozuka is a truly unpretentious character that she couldn't find amongst posers that she used to date. What's interesting is we're probably seeing a real life romance between them unfold before our eyes, as they will be married in real life 3 years later.

Takashi Sorimachi and Nanako Matsushima looks great in the beginning, but as the episodes wears on, you can see them getting tired, and it starts to affect, fun of watching the series. Also, the heroics of Onizuka starts to become cliché, as they starts to run out of fresh ideas.

Based on a comic GTO by Tooru Fujisawa, the series does good job translating the characters and episodes from the comic that inspired it.

Although not well known in the U.S., this is one gem of a TV series that's worth seeing.

I was sort of a sceptic when I first heard of this show. The manga series is highly entertaining and full of surprises I was wondering if the TV series can deliver the same punch. And Yes it did. Onizuka, the main character himself, is same kind of badass as he is in the manga, oh, the bilingual (English) version is available for those who are learning Japanese and vice versa.

I will have to say that the TV series is very original. I was hoping that it would follow the manga story line but it didn't, which is a good thing in my opinion, because after the 1st episode, I left my manga aside and I was able to cast away my expectations.

Everyone episode has a point, or moral value that which Onizuka was able to stir up in people's heart. A value in all of us once but long forgotten. But Onizuka, being contrary to societal norm, was able to prevail and bring people back to who they are, via, of course, unconventional means of course. I can not recommend this series enough. But if Japanese is not your first language and you are not fluent in Chinese characters, I then recommend the manga. Watch it, or read it, you won't be disappointed.