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I've now covered the first 71 chapters of The Early Years.

The art has gotten a lot better. Fujisawa has switched from cartoony, impossible to copy in real life faces to realistic ones. It's not quite GTO level yet but it's getting there. The character artwork on the covers (clearly done for the 15 volume re-release) is finally starting to match what's inside the books.

But what's really impressed me is the switch in maturity levels, the change in direction having started during the last half of volume three. Going from a story of two best friends trying to lose their virginity and failing in comical fashion, it's reached the heights of GTO level drama.

It started with Ryuji confessing his feelings to the teacher he'd had a thing for (and she for him) since the start (when they almost got it on at resort after they both lied about their ages) after he saved her from the insane brother of her ex/dead husband. Long story short, he proposed to stop her going through with an arranged marriage and she accepted. Ryuji then decided he had to drop out of school and work to get money, which meant his ties with Onizuka had to be cut also.

During Ryuji's 'changing' phase, a kid who got put down by Oni-Baku during the Ryuji confession part previously turned to an infamous guy who was rumoured to have been expelled for killing someone - Okubo. When he visited Okubo, Okubo saw a picture of his girlfriend and told him if he wanted his help he'd have to lend him his girlfriend for the night. Surprisingly, he did, luring her to his place and letting Okubo rape her.

That's right - the story has gone from pure comedy to rape. Serious business indeed.

It turned out that Okubo had left Onizuka both a physical and mental scar in the past. Despite his strength and invincibility in GTO, he actually seemed scared...

...I'm not going to cover the whole story. You get the picture; it's no longer 100% comedy anymore. The story has, in true Fujisawa fashion, gone to one-shot chapters covering the supporting cast now that an overly serious arc has ended, and those are focused more on comedy, but if it's anything like GTO then more drama is just around the corner.

Because of the last few volumes, my rating has jumped from 8/10 to 9/10. When I can read 400 page volumes in one sitting, it means what I'm reading is at least 9/10 worthy. On the whole, it isn't on the same level as GTO yet, but the previous Ryuji arc certainly was. The only thing that made me want to keep my rating at 8/10 was how, despite letting his girlfriend of two years get raped (mentioned above), the guy is going to get married to her - yeah, work that one out!

I'm looking forward to reading volume five tomorrow. Volume six is on the way, too, so I'm not going to run out of chapters just yet. And if Amazon hurry up and send volume seven, that should arrive in time for me to get started straight away. I am, however, soon going to run into a gigantic Tokyopop wall, though - Tokyopop have only released 10/15, and 11 was supposed to have been released back in May. With Tokyopop seemingly close to going under and the series not being a seller, the omens do not look good. I'll probably have to finish the series the e-pirate way.

(up to chapter 143)

I was starting to lose interest in the series, halfway through volume eight. Ryuji had been fully fleshed out, Nagisa had her back-story explained and Onizuka doesn't have much to do in the series outside of fight and cry over him being a virgin. Everything I started the series to see I've seen (though I'll need to read Bad Company to see how Oni-Baku got started). But, like in volume four, it's took a very serious turn, and I'm interested to see where this current arc is going.

Following a chapter where Onizuka, depressed over him now being the only virgin in Oni-Baku, gets rejected by every girl he ever had a chance to bone, eventully (after a chat with the owner of the local video rental store) deciding it's better to fap over 30 perfect porn girls instead of having the real thing, Natsu got introduced. He reminds me of Luca Blight from Suikoden II; a cold-blooded killer who enjoys killing. Even though no-one else in the series has been a killer (or, at least, hasn't killed), this guy has killed people - he took on 18 guys hired to kill him at once, killing all but two. Some seriously intense shit.

I say I'm getting Luca Blight vibes from him, and I can see his past matching up to Luca going on what's gone before in the series. Luca Blight, as a boy, was forced to watch his mother being gang-raped and, if my memoy serves me, killed. Natsu has been shown in flashbacks as a nice boy with an attractive mother. Using my deductive skills, I think I see where this is going to go.

I'm looking forward to starting volume nine. Right now I can't predict how Natsu's story is going to end - Fujisawa would struggle to make a killer into 'one of the guys'.

Well i only read the manga through the web, and im not really into manga reading ( i only did it for GTO series ). I finished the Bad company and 80 chapters of the Shonan Junai Gumi and i really loved it so far ( dont know what happened but i heard there where 15 volumes while i cant find anything after the end of volume 9 )

:(

Well im not sure if there are more but if there n`t, im gonna start the GTO manga.

till now my rating to those i read is at least 9.5/10 :D