Ranked #1112

Gokusen

Along the lines of GTO (Great Teacher Onizuka), this anime focuses on an unorthodox teacher and her unmanageable class... well, they're unmanageable until they realize how bad-ass she is and she helps bring out their inner "good kid." ;)

Original? No. The best ever? No. Amusing? Sometimes. Entertaining? Enough.

Yankumi is trying to balance her goals to be a high school teacher and her life as the future head of a crime family. (In other words, the hoodlums and punks in her class aren't so tough compared to her.) Everyone's kind of someone you've seen before -- down to the annoying, screechy vice principal who's always trying to trip her up and the class ringleader whose middle school experiences taught him not to like teachers (sound familiar, GTO fans?).

The art and the sound wasn't anything to write home (or a review) about, but I have no major complaints either. (And as always, Kenichi Suzumura does a great job. ;) )

Despite the strong deja vu, I thought it was cute and entertaining over all. It's always kind of funny to see the soft, silly side to yakuza (like the way her henchmen fawn all over her or blow the smallest insult to her all out of proportion). And it's kind of funny to see Yankumi trip over things she shouldn't, like using gangster slang and/or metaphors when she shouldn't. It's no where near as good as GTO, but it's not awful. My feeling is that I'd probably have liked this show more if GTO didn't exist.

In other words, if you're trying to decide between watching this or GTO, go watch GTO. (Or even if you're not... watch GTO anyway. ;) ) Or if you've seen GTO and really like that genre and that storyline so much that you'd like to see it again, this is for you!

This might also be worthwhile for people who are a little too young for GTO. This is a cleaner, more superficial version, without the darker edges -- you're not going to find the levels of abuse, horniness and risk of death here that you do in GTO. If you're going to watch both anyway, I'd actually watch this one first and then GTO -- that way you'd be working your way up. =)

Enjoy! read more

Gokusen is about a nerdy looking female teacher named Kumiko Yamaguchi. It's her first day on the job and she got the unlucky duty of teaching the rowdiest class in the school. Unbeknown to the students that they are in for one "hell" of a teacher.



Story - (FAIR)
The story has been done redone and overdone through out the years from actual feature length films to multiple instances in anime. One thing about this one is it doesn't try too hard to be different from the rest, unless you can count a talking dog and a nerdy female crime boss. Throughout every episode it'll pretty much focus on one student and their trouble. Of course the teacher will 'teach' and help them overcome their issues and the student gets wiser. The end. Well repeat that formula for 11 of the 13 episodes and you have yourself a full series of Gokusen. Its not bad, but its not great either.

Art - (MEDIOCRE)
Art work is really average for its time of production. Nothing great at all to be honest. You'll get your standard amount of comedy scenes, mixed with action and drama scenes. All the typical freeze frame character against a moving background will be everywhere. But I must admit this show has more fight scenes than some "so called action anime" which i found to be pretty fun.

Sound - (MEDIOCRE)
The sound is also quite mediocre as well. You'll noticed a few rehashed sound effects and all the typical sound effects. I did enjoy the voice actors as, the mostly male cast was pretty funny (and stupid). But overall just hearing the talking bulldog made me wanna punch my screen.

Character - (FAIR)
Most the characters are your typical roughneck tough high school bully types. The kind of characters people usually grow to hate. So at the start the character cast is not a very strong one. But like any normal anime, they'll begin to grow hearts and have personalities. Unfortunately thats really not my thing (I prefer girl-dominant cast). Oujo was pretty funny though. At least the main main character was definitely the high point of the show. Too bad her supporting cast was more worthless than an anime wall scroll.

Enjoyment - (GOOD)
Overall the characters are pretty forgettable with the exception of Oujo. The stories all had morals and if you're into that give it a shot. Because at least it was fun to watch and you kind of learn something after each episode :)

NOTE: i didn't reference GTO even once ^_^ read more

“Se subestimarem os alunos, não haverá amanhã pra vocês!” – São as primeiras palavras que a jovem Kumiko Yamaguchi (Hayamizu Risa) ouve ao se tornar professora. Ela acaba sendo contratada para trabalhar na “Shirogane High School”. Logo de cara, é prevenida pelo vice-diretor: “coloque uma roupa de ginástica, tênis de corrida, seja séria, brava e, a qualquer sinal de violência, corra!! Esta escola não precisa de presença feminina, precisa de disciplina!”. (ai!)

Todos esses conselhos são porque ela é a nova “tanin” (professora responsável) da classe 2-4, a mais problemática de toda a escola. Mas, se a classe é tão ruim assim, por que o diretor contratou justamente uma mulher? Yankumi, como passou a ser chamada pelos alunos, parece uma professora boba mas tem algo mais a esconder... mas o que seria?

É aqui que o anime se diferencia dos animes “bunitinhos” de “High Scholl”. Gokusen se trata basicamente de uma história de máfia “às avessas”, pois a Yakuza tem muito a ver com este anime. A jovem Yankumi nada mais é que a “Ojyou”, ou seja, a filha do chefão da máfia. E, para ela, entrar em uma escola e tratar de alunos mal-encarados seria moleza. Afinal, desde criança ela vive sob os cuidados do “Grupo Oedo”, uma poderosa família mafiosa onde foi treinada e educada pra se tornar muito forte. Mas Yankumi preferiu seguir o caminho mais difícil, que é esconder sua identidade embaixo da roupa esportiva vermelha e encarar os alunos como se fosse “apenas” uma professora comum.Para completar a dupla central do anime temos Sawada Shin (Suzumura Kenâichi), o filho de um policial muito influente na cidade. Ele é um ruivo bonitinho, inteligente e popular entre os alunos. Existe entre eles uma espécie de atração, nada relacionada a romance mas, sim, à força que emana de Yankumi, que provoca em Shin admiração e curiosidade.

Outro ponto interessante do anime é a participação do cão Fuji, o fiel companheiro de Yankumi. Um cachorro velho muito estranho, que anda vestido com uma jaqueta vermelha, e cujos pensamentos podem ser ouvidos ecoando no ar... nenhum humano ouve, é claro! Volta e meia jura defender Yankumi até a morte, se jogando em cima de policiais, bicicletas e resmungando por não ter mais faro para ajudar à sua querida “Ojyou”.

Outros personagens que merecem ser citados no decorrer da série são: Fujiyama Sensei (Matsumoto Rika), a professora gostosona e taradona por adolescentes bonitos, é doida pra formar um coral masculino. Outro que também merece destaque é Shinohara Sensei (Konishi Katsuyuki), a grande paixão de Yankumi, que cuida dos negócios da família e aparece de vez em quando pra dar uma incentivada e, com isso, fazer com que Yankumi vire motivo de gozações intermináveis entre os membros do Grupo Oedo, às quais ela retribui com seções “rápidas” de pancadaria gratuita.

Baseado no mangá original de Morimoto Kozueko, Gokusen bebe na mesma fonte de muitos outros textos que exploram o relacionamento duro entre professores e alunos nas escolas japonesas, os chamados “school mangas”. Foi produzido em 2004 pela associação dos Studios Madhouse, Jack e CATS, e possui 13 episódios.

Para finalizar, o interessante do anime é a força de vontade expressada por seus personagens, e as várias tentativas de Yankumi de se integrar numa comunidade mais “normal” e tentar mudar uma realidade de discriminação dada a seus alunos e que ela mesma vivenciou quando jovem. Um pequeno trecho traduzido do tema de abertura reflete bem a idéia central do anime: “Será que vou conseguir transmitir esse desejo a vocês?”
Apesar da comparação com GTO ser óbvia, é um anime que merece ser visto, pela diversão que proporciona.

Cátia Nunes - Animehaus read more

I first saw this dubbed one day on MoviePlex. I thought at first it was an iffy-anime, but then it showed nudity. If that wasn't bad enough, the story was very...well, it was okay, but I was really confused. When I watched it, I wasn't impressed. I wouldn't recomend it.

I found this quite an original storyline that wasn't too dragged out ( it doesn't run forever - only 13 eps).
Although this isn't the best out there it still has some good points:
its enjoyable
original
and entertaining.

The art and sound are both average as well, and the main characters are perhaps the most enjoyable piece of this anime.

I found this anime a welcome break from all the seriousness of other shows and shows that are currently in the middle of fillers.
Nothing special but still enjoyable.