Gokusen

Oct 18, 2008

Susurrous

Recommended

Preliminary (119/156 chp)

Gokusen is a great manga, with a unique storyline and hilarious characters. However, it just. Isn't. Quite. There.
I will explain:

Story:
Gokusen has a unique storyline, with the Yankumi being the heir to a Yakuza clan and all. I love how in the early chapters she attempts to keep her yakuza heritage hidden while using her skills to protect her class. It is quite fun humour. However, a lot of the chapters are very similar in that they follows this pattern:
a) her students get themselves into some trouble.
b) Yankumi saves them.
This gets quite boring after a while and so a lot of the past chapters ...

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Jul 7, 2011

MahouShoujoLain

Recommended

Gokusen: A manga that I just can't help but go back to and read over and over again. I dont know why I love it so freaking much. I mean its my favourite manga despite the Mediocre art and the weird style its drawn in. Im still trying to figure out how I, being a giant shoujo fan, Favourite manga is A Josei. Dont get me wrong I like Josei manga to I just dont read it as much which is why Im baffled! What I DO know though is that any person who loves a light hearted story with tons of comedy would love ... this. Throw in a little bit of romance, some awesome fighting skills/scenes, the Yakuza, A school for Delinquent dropouts and A math teacher and you get Gokusen. Thats right The Yakuza and a Math Teacher!

Story 8/10

It starts off fairly simple. We meet Yamaguchi Kumiko, the grandaughter to one of the biggest and toughest Yakuza gangs in Tokyo; The Kuroda Family. They're feared and respected in the Yakuza world. Yet the next heir is a woman! And what exactly is her occupation? A rookie math teacher fresh outta University! And where does she choose to work at? Well at Shirokin Gakuen Senior High, a school for delinquent dropouts who have no where else to go. Follow her adventures as she befriends and earns the respect of her rowdy 2nd year class and kicks ass while doing it! But who finds out her secret right at the beginning of her career? Sawada Shin the smartest guy in the class... No wait make that the whole grade... Or even the whole school... So as you can see "Yankumi", as she is dubbed by her students, is in a little bit of trouble. But this manga does not focus on one plot! We get to learn about some of her students pasts, about her Yakuza family and life, about the hilarious situations she and her class end up in, about her love life which is not going so well and as we do Gokusens comedy will surely make you chuckle throughout the ride!

Art 5/10

Now this would have to be Gokusens weak point. The drawings are fairly simple with basic backrounds and easily drawn faces. Some people would probably think the art is very crude and well... Ugly compared to their fluffy shoujo art. Once again dont get me wrong Im a sucka for fluffy, Cute and Beautiful shoujo art and I nearly didnt read Gokusen because of its simple art style. Yet I gave it a chance and Im so thankful I did. If you dont want to miss out on an awesome manga just give it a go! Also you might be happy to hear that the art does improve throughout the manga. The Mangaka obviously got better at drawing and the art changed a little which is common in long mangas.

Characters 8/10

The cast for Gokusen is quite large so we dont get to find out the history of every character. But the ones we do of are done quite well! Also mangas with large casts are infamous for not developing characters well but thats not true for Gokusen! Each character has a distinct personality and usually an arc or two where they play main roles. The main the characters: Yamaguchi Kumiko and Sawada Shin are developed quite nicely and you can see them grow as the manga progresses. Yankumi is not afraid to fight for what she thinks is right and she hates an uneven battle filed. She protects her students and grows wonderful Teacher-Student bonds with them! Shes an easily likable character that can be a little dense and she can rush into things but thats why Sawadas there to help her! He could be the exact opposite from her. Calm, cool and collected, we rarely see him freak out and if It wasn't for him helping Yankumi all her plans would probably fail... So 2 strong protagonists who are interesting and hilarious!

Enjoyment 10/10

As you can tell from my mostly positive review I absolutely LOVE Gokusen and its humour, Great story with nice plot elements, Unique characters and overall awesomeness make it a highly enjoyable manga. In fact Im pretty sure I red all 15 volumes in 1 day... Aka one sitting so that must of been hours worth of time dedicated to sitting down and reading it! I just could not put it down it was addicting becuase it was just so much FUN to read! The extra bonus chapters are a blast and I definitely recommend reading them to!

Overall 9/10

Overall if your looking for a Light read with some good humour and a great set of characters this is a must read! I'd give it a perfect 10 but because of the mediocre art Im going to have to concede and give it a 9. Still I recommend that you give it a go if your contemplating whether you wanna read it or not because of the art style cause if you do read it you wont be disappointed!

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Apr 26, 2012

rokkugoh

Recommended

I've already seen the drama (and loved it, well Gokusen 1 at least with its glorious Shinkumi and amazing Nakama Yukie/Matsujun chemistry), so I thought I'd read the manga too.

The art is ... LOL, but the story is good. It's a teeny bit repetitive with Yankumi always saving the day, saving the delinquents of her class from troubled paths, beating down all the gangsters, etc, but it's still a fun read no matter how repetitive. There's more Shinkumi development in the manga than the drama, which I enjoyed very much. I don't care how scandalous it is; the Shinkumi is the best ...

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Nov 3, 2021

uptoolate

Recommended

It's tough for me to describe just how much I love this manga. I have read it at least four or five times at this point, over and over again over the course of the past 6 or 7 years. I don't write this review strictly to recommend this manga, more to try and articulate why I like it. By all means, go read it, but just so you know, I'm writing this review sort of just for me (sorry?).

This manga single handedly made me watch the entire existing video canon of this IP. I have seen all three seasons of the J-drama (twice), the ... movie, and the anime. If you enjoy this manga, I do recommend you seek out its other iterations. It's pretty much all fantastic stuff, though imo the manga is the best out of the lot.

The main facets of this manga that I think about when I try to boil it down are truly the characters and the comedy. The manga can be serious, but leans towards gut-wrenchingly funny. It's even more difficult to describe humor than it is to describe why someone likes something, so I will simply say I find it hilarious, even on reread, even when I remember what the punchline will be. The sense of humor also ranges wildly, from straight up physical humor and blue humor, to more clever or stinger/gotcha based humor. One moment characters are farting and laughing about it, the next someone comes up with a quippy double-entendre that actually takes a minute to unravel itself, the next someone does a classic pratfall. It's beautiful.

Yankumi, the main character, is my favorite character in the entire work - which in my opinion shows that the writer did their job, because frequently I can't stand the main characters of manga (even when I'm clearly supposed to like them). Her antics are hilarious, the situations she gets herself into are increasingly ridiculous, she is strong physically, emotionally, and morally, and she can be a little bit thick/prudish/innocent at times. It's such a refreshing characterization of a main female character to find in manga. She is complex, her history and upbringing affect her in clearly understandable ways, and I would even call her a role model, by the end of the manga for sure.

I also love that every single character, at least the main ones, have clearly defined character arcs as well as clearly defined backstories - the world building is seriously well done in terms of character continuity. There are several flashbacks in the story to Yankumi in high school and to her students as middle schoolers, and you can see the lessons they learned then and the actions they took, and how that shapes who they currently are in the story.

I'm not an art critic, nor am I widely read enough in manga to talk about art even semi-confidently, but I will say I like the style. It is sort of dated, at least compared to more contemporary styles I've seen kicking around, but it's so stylistic that for the most part you don't really notice. I admire the strong choice behind the art style, especially as I think it is equally able to service the comedic moments as well as sober up for the more serious or heartwarming scenes. Also, the faces Yankumi makes are some of the best non-verbal jokes I've seen in a manga.

In reality, it's just a really good manga, with solid storytelling that makes sense, likable characters, ridiculous scenarios, hilarious content, and an interesting style. I think the reason I like it can be more easily explained by simply asking: what's not to like?

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Feb 25, 2017

anarrowstrail

Recommended

I finished this entire thing in thirteen days which is super rare for me considering how long it takes for me to finish longer manga. I honestly didnt know I would like it this much in the beginning but i slowly realized how much I did. The story is basically super funny with a uniqueness to it that I've never read before. We've all heard of yakuza mangas but this one was just executed so well. Even though the basic plotlines are a bit similar, it doesn't get old and manages to keep you reading until you get tired or until it's finished. The art ...

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Dec 15, 2015

CherryBl0550m

Recommended

Gokusen wasn't exactly the style of manga that I typically go for, but in this case, I am glad I made an exception. The thing that did it for me, that made me keep going despite my hesitation, was the subtle complexity of both the art and the story-telling.

The artwork and writing style was strong and seemed to eschew stereotypes. Instead of falling into the typical manga cliches, it somewhat redefined them. The characters where each multifaceted and interesting in their own ways and they had depth, in a way that wasn't thrown around like a gimmick either. In fact, I felt that the mangaka ...

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Mar 20, 2018

blushinggeek

Recommended

After watching the anime, I hurriedly got myself a copy of its manga so I can try the first chapter and to see whether I will like it enough to continue. And as you can see, I finished all 15 Volumes in just a week (considering of having a very bad dose of Yuri on Ice hangover, *wink). I don’t normally read its manga counterpart after finishing the anime and I usually wait for a month or even a year depending of my mood. But for this case, I think it was because it was so funny even after watching the anime. Every chapter had ... me laughing my head off that I decided to read all the volumes.

The story was really good. I love that it was different than the others that I have read before plus it’s so Japan because of the Yakuza thing and it also drops some cool thing about Japan like the festivals and their culture.

The idea of a Yakuza heiress teaching in an all-boys school which is also known as a school for delinquents is very unique. All the possible questions that you can encounter while reading this story we’re all addressed perfectly in this manga. And not just that, I also love the fact that it also features the story of each side characters so we really got to know more about them. And dropping all those lessons while making you laugh at the same time was epic!

The lines were so good, the scenes we’re properly executed and they can be funny and emotional when the author intends it to be. What I mean is that this manga was done so flawlessly. No dull moments. I actually laughed hard a lot of time reading this manga, I think I laughed on every chapters, or was that even every pages? Hehe. There’s quite a lot of characters and knowing me, I didn’t remember their name haha, I’m really bad with names lol. But even if that was the case, I can really say that I know each of them. I understand what they are going through since they all got the chance to share their story, but I just really can’t seem to remember their names except Shin and Yankumi hehe (and Shinohara too, haha).

The main character Kumiko is really a badass. Well, what can you expect from a Yakuza heiress eh? But aside from physical strength, she also has a good heart. She lost her parents at a young age so she was taken in by her grandpa which is the 3rd generation leader of the Kuroda clan (also referred to as the Ooedo Clan). She grew up with guys so it was really not a surprise that she grew up as a pretty good fighter. She may not look like it but she’s really strong. I love that even with her family background, she decided to pursue her dreams and my, I’m sure so happy for her. Yes, her students were kind of hardheaded but you can really see that they are kind-hearted too. I love how she supports them and give them the lesson that they need to learn. I also love the fact that because she’s true to herself she was able to win over the hearts of those people around her even those that was against her from the start. My! This girl is definitely my hero. Aside from that, she’s very funny and dense at the same time too, haha. But even if that was the case, there’s still this one particular student that has his eyes only for her, ayeii!

Gokusen also had some pretty good group of characters that I really love reading about. There’s no unnecessary characters here, all of them has a role to play and did them well. I actually don’t have any complaints about that. I love the story, I love the characters, I love the settings, I just love everything. And speaking of love, I love Shin here. He really looks hot! Now I can clearly see why the title “The Young Red Lion Master” suits him so well. Plus, those extra chapters were really funny, haha.

Aside from the lessons this manga gives, it also warms my heart because it also highlights family love. You see, this manga explains to us that just because they’re a Yakuza it doesn’t mean they’re bad entirely. That they also have some good sides too. You really should know someone first before judging them.

But even with all those nice words, why I am giving this manga 9 rating? Well, you see, I think there should have been more. The confession was made (finally!) so I really want to see what will happen after this particular student finally graduated and become a lawyer. So yep, that’s my only reason, haha.

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Jan 23, 2017

angelsreview

Recommended

I don’t think I ever found an anime that, after watching it, made me want to read the manga as badly as the Anime of Gokusen did. That is why I am writing this review slightly along side my review of the anime. I do have to say this though, I feel the manga was actually a little bit better then the anime, and I think it’s because we got to connect more with the characters, especially the students.

A lot of what I have to write about the characters has been said in my Anime review but for those that don’t want to read ... that, I guess I will summarize it here a bit. We first should talk about our main character Kumiko. The whole manga is based around how the two sides of her life clash together. When I talk about two sides, I am talking about the well mannered school teacher side of her life, and the fact that she is heir to a Yakuza group. I did not talk about this much in my anime review as it was not really that big a thing, but Yankumi (as the student’s called her) lost her parents at a very young age and was sent to live with her Grandfather who is also the head of a Yakuza group with very strong ties to a lot of other branches. Because of this, she has a very strong moral code to both Family and the Yakuza life style, something that she tries and ‘fails’ to hide in her passion of being a school teacher. She ended up being hired to work at Shirokin which is an all boys High School where basically the ‘Delinquents’ are put. Surprisingly, her Yakuza life style is like the perfect match for the school.

The second main character I would like to bring up is Shin Sawada. Without going into much spoiler for one of the arcs, the most I could say about his family life is complicated. Because of this, he lives mostly on his own and is a very well put together kid; a lot more mature then his other classmates. Just as with the anime, he finds out Kumiko’s secret very early on and ends up with this odd obsession with it, butting into a lot of her business. It was very odd reading the manga because at first, Yankumi was very against him getting involved with anything dangerous but then slowly he became someone she could sort lean on and talk things out with. She seemed to end up sort of relying that he would always be there for her, and that sort of feeling seemed to rub off on him at some point.

I can’t talk a lot about the students as most of it is spoilers for the situations they get into, but I can say that there is one main group that stood out among the rest. That would be Shin’s strange band of friends, Minami, Uchi, Kuma, and Noda. Kuma stands out a bit more as being sort of Shin’s side kick but the others end up getting their own arcs and their own sort of identity making them very relatable. I wish the same could be said for the Yakuza members but sadly, I can’t remember any of them off the top of my head except her Grandfather, her two ‘brothers’, and the second in command. The others are a bit harder for me to pin point in that I remember the stories, but the first moment I see them, I forget who they are. (And then there are some I just choose to forget because I just didn’t like the character to begin with.)

And now I do have to bring up her dog, Fuji. Where I fell in love with him in the anime, I sadly did not get much with him in the manga. It was half way through the books when Fuji actually started acting like how he acted in the anime but it was only when he and Shin were alone and in the bonus chapters. Every other time, he was just a normal dog doing normal things. It made me a little sad that he just ended up being this strange side character that felt like he was put in for those who liked him in the anime.

The manga is a lot more… mature then the anime. There are many more adult themes put into the story line with talks of Rape, prostitution and under age drinking. The nice thing is that it is not put in there for shock value. It just showed that school life isn’t really as beautiful as people try to make it out to be. Although this is not in any way a ‘slice of life’ type of manga like Azumanga Daioh (Yes, I know Azumanga is a girls show and this is a men’s show), it does show a slice of life that we do not glorify. That’s one reason why I consider this much like GTO, where they will show problems in broken homes and then a teacher will come in to try and fix it. It actually made me laugh a little that of all the families that are shown in the manga, Yankumi’s seemed more perfect out of them all and it was a family built around being Yakuza.

The animation style is pretty simple for the most part, although the titles to the chapters and the odd page out would be very well shaded. I do love the artwork even if the designs are strange. Again, we have the really odd delinquent style designs for all the characters, pretty much dating the manga. When I say dating, I don’t mean of when the show came out. I do feel that I have to explain a little bit more as I never quite got into it with my anime review. In a lot of older anime and manga, there is a stereotype style that has been around for the delinquents and bullies. Most of the time, its large hair, thick gangster accent, and the school outfit worn slightly out of code or something. It has been that way even in the 90s and though that design has been reworked and made to fit a more nutrual style in most newer manga, this feels as though it is giving tribute to the old designs. When you look at it that way, the manga does very well in keeping that feeling alive even if it was written rather new in comparison.

Unlike the anime, I was able to sit for longer reading the manga without the cheesy dialog being voiced. I don’t really understand why as the dialog was still cheesy and designed like an old school manga and yet I kept on turning the page. I think it might be the fact it wasn’t being voiced that made it less embarrassing to read. Whatever the case, although I liked both the anime and manga, the manga feels like it explains a lot better and makes you feel more connected to the characters. There are a bunch of live action movies and TV shows but I do doubt that I will be getting to those any time soon.

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Jun 24, 2013

RoodyChan

Recommended

Gokusen, it's one of the few manga that doesn't completely revolve around a love story that I've liked.

It's the story of a high school teacher whose family is from the Yakuza, but she has a dream of her own to become the best teacher for her students, regardless of her background and outstanding fighting skills. She has this strong bond with her students that is really admirable, and her love story with Shin is the cutest of all. The way they ended up is amazingly cute!

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Apr 18, 2022

typewritermonkey

Recommended

Gokusen is a feminist riff on GTO. Daughter of a powerful yakuza gang become teacher to a (all-male) class of bad apples. The protagonist isn't pervy and there's two male romantic interests, but the formula is much the same: a random hoodlum decides to mess with our demure looking sensei or her beloved students, and she opens a can of whoop-ass to save the day. With a cast of yakuza and yakuza-tolerant characters, there's plenty of idiosyncrasies to go around for running gags.

Gokusen takes its time, meandering, so don't expect to binge thru the 150 chapters. The story and drama are light, each "lesson" ...

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Feb 17, 2014

Neonfun

Recommended

The story has no direction. It's that simple, but it's compensated by it's refreshing and vast variety of characters.
The teacher doesn't really have a goal, so neither does the story in my opinion. But the story does have short arcs where we can see her getting closer to her class, and by the end she's practically their second mom. Yay!
This is not to say the story wasn't hilarious at points and that it thoroughly entertained me as we can see through 159 chapters development in all the characters.
Don't expect too much from the romance tag in the bottom although there is a sweet, if very ...

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Dec 3, 2023

LuxuriousHeart

Recommended

I actually remember watching the anime with my older sister, and then reading the manga. I never even realized it was a Josei anime tbh.

It was a cute anime with an funny plot. Gokusan is basically about a Yakuza woman becoming a teacher. She's there to help her students pass and be successful. The twist to this is that she doesn't want her students to know that she's a Yakuza, which leads to hilarious moments.

As a character, Yamaguchi Kumiko (Yankumi) is very stubborn and stuck in her ways. She has values that she will not bend with. She believes ...

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May 24, 2014

AZ1087653

Recommended

This is one of my favorite series. Doesn't matter whether it's the manga, television show, or the anime, I adore this series because it's about a teacher who knows how to handle herself. She doesn't need a man to help her since she was raised by a man who taught her to be self-reliant; something quite a few people in anime and manga seem to be lacking.

The main characters in this series play off one another extremely well. Yankumi seems to meld into any role she's presented with. As an educator myself, I admire her attitude toward her students. All any of them needed ...

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