Shonan Junai Gumi!

The first 2 episodes of this really surprised me! I was expecting this to be pretty dark and fighting with yakuza, but its actually a good teenager series, with of course some fighting and action.
Ryuuji and Onizuka are welcoming duo, but even when they re not on the scene some characters are also good. I really feel they rushed it tho with episode 3 and 4 and episode 5 had an abrupt ending imo. But yeah its not that bad
I ll rate it a 7/10 but I can definetly fight u on and on that it s better than a lot of other shits even ... tho they re higher on the ranking (talking about Samurai Champloo they re kinda equally good but one has 7,5 the other 8,5; and its much better than messy psychological wannabe series like psycho pass or ergo proxy)
So 9/10 on animelist

Based on the manga by Fujisawa Tooru, Shounan Junai Gumi, also known as GTO The Early Years in America tells the high school days of Onizuka Eikichi and Danma Ryuji when they were the infamous and (the nearly) invincible duo known as the Onibaku. Initially, the Onibaku leave their school to transfer to a new one in hopes of starting fresh and abandoning their delinquent ways in the ultimate hope of teenage conquest, to get laid. To help in their attempt at reformation, they get part-time jobs at the beach and there they meet two young ladies.

Unfortunately, circumstances make them revert back to their ... brawling habits and to make things worse, those two young lades happen to be teachers at their new school. So after the initial events in the first episode, the Onibaku figure fuck it, stay as delinquents, but still try to get laid and make it through high school.

In addition, the series also introduces Saejima Toshiyuki, who would later become a corrupt beat cop in GTO as well as a small number of characters who will be re-introduced in GTO later on.

As for the story itself, this came out during a period when stories of delinquency such as Bebop High School and Slam Dunk were also big. Like those respective titles, Shounan Junai Gumi has comedy, action, and shares life lessons. Like in GTO, a teenage Onizuka also demonstrates that he can be a psycho but he still has principles. Ryuji is also the more serious of the two as usual. Saejima is still a psycho but more of a violent one as opposed to a perverted one. Most of the focus is the bond and friendship between Onizuka and Ryuji. Their friendship will be tested here and there but they are always there for each other. The show also demonstrates how they compare and contrast and despite that, Onizuka and Ryuji respect each other’s differences. The cast slowly expands beyond Saejima and you also learn about some other friends and other incidents that were also revisited in the Shounan Junai Gumi prequel, Bad Company.

The episodes are mostly episodic but all bring something different. You also get to see Onizuka’s mother and you learn about his past. Unfortunately, this series ended sometime the manga was ending so the anime does feel incomplete like the GTO one so reading the manga will give you a more full circle story. Maybe it will show how him and Ryuji ended up in Tokyo since by the beginning of GTO, it takes place six years after Shounan Junai Gumi. But it is nice to see how GTO was like in his teenage years. In some ways, he has grown up and has gotten wiser by the events of GTO, but many of his silly qualities are still there. As well as Ryuji being the more serious one. And I felt Saejima since Shounan Junai Gumi shows a different side of crazy. In the end, they still don’t get laid as you know in GTO but the cast just expands and all characters do serve a distinct function. It is mostly story driven but some of the stories here and there are formulaic and repetitive but are still diverse.

The character design is pretty much faithful to the manga and the hairstyle Onizuka has is what he had in the beginning of the GTO manga anyway. If your familiarity with GTO is just the anime, then I guess his hairstyle in this one is a fresh change though I believe in flash backs and old pictures in the show, it does show his old hair style anyway. The character design is diverse. Fujisawa knows how to draw beauty and ugliness and Onizuka’s strange faces are in this anime but only a small number of times in comparison to GTO.

The motorcycle scenes work and the action is both violent and comedic. Even though Onizuka is supposed to have a karate background, he is very wild with his fighting but his karate background is not mentioned in this anime. Maybe it was in the manga but I haven’t read it in a long time. But Onizuka in this anime is a teenager and he is more “human” in terms of his tolerance to pain to how he is in GTO, but in the GTO manga, they at least gave him a limit to his pain tolerance.

The series mostly deals with real life esque issues so CG or whatever isn’t expected or necessary. As pure animation, it just works. Granted the age makes it feel more rough compared to today’s anime but because it is about juvenile delinquency, I think it reflects the mood more.

A soundtrack is virtually non-existant in this series. No opening or ending theme songs. Nothing as energetic as Driver’s High or Hitori no you which makes up a great fraction of the reason why I loved GTO. There is background music, but it is rather generic to the series and mood. But I always love anime because sometimes they get awesome bands like L’arc~en~ciel to do opening songs.

As for the voice acting, unfortunately, Takagi Wataru does not voice Onizuka in the prequel. I really loved his performance in GTO and perfectly nailed the character. Onizuka is played by Futamata Issei, the voice of Godai Yusuke in Maison Ikkoku, Urabe Kosetsu in Code Geass, Higuchi Kyosuke in Death Note, and Urauashima in Yuu Yuu Hakusho. He shows he can play lecherous characters and have a comedic role. He does the tough guy act in his own way as well. But I can see how this performance did have an influence on Takagi Wataru’s approach. He enunciates his words and his tone and pace are still consistent.

Ryuji is played by Hori Hideyuki, to me, THE voice of Ikki in Saint Seiya, my favorite character in that series. He is a good contrast to Onizuka who has a softer voice and more calm. But other famous seiyuus will later take roles in this anime such as Hayashibara Megumi, as the voice of Nagisa, Ryuji’s girlfriend and still girlfriend in GTO. And she is also famous as the voice of Rei in Evangelion and female Ranma. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. But anyway, the voice cast is pretty good but the nonexistent music is not that much of a hindrance to the show.

To me, Shounan Junai Gumi is something that could have been better like a good percentage of many anime out there if it followed the manga to a T. Fujisawa makes excellent manga, but unfortunately, the animes in comparison are rather feel incomplete but not necessarily empty. Voice acting and music does bring a distinct life to it. The voice actors bring more punch to the comedy and the drama and the cast alone makes it worth watching. And just seeing a young Onizuka even at a limited capacity does have its charms. I say this anime is more for hardcore fans of the GTO franchise.

I, as many who found themselves watching this, must've surely at least enjoyed Great Teacher Onizuka to give this prequel (even tho, it's not really, since it came out earlier) a try. I suppose in all respects it can be considered GTO's younger brother. With GTO taking all of the spotlight and attention and also having a stronger narrative and cast of characters.

Whereas, in Shonan Jumai Gumi, the only two characters that I gave a damn about other than Onizuka were Ayumi and Ryuji. The Humor was all consistently funny, however, Story-wise this OVA instantly falls apart. With the Exception of Episode 3, this ... felt really mediocre (story/character wise). Not bad however, some of the amateurish lowbrow humor, from time to time would catch me off-guard with its hilarity.

After finishing watching it I couldn't say that I disliked it, nor could I say that it was very good. Perhaps it was an entertaining shit-show that can reasonably be called a guilty pleasure. Had the last two episodes continued off from Episode 3's plot in a way that if it were vaguely related to it, or even if it ended with 3 Episodes I could've left satisfied with the story.

Alas, the OVA's last two episodes focus on plot points that were vaguely brought up again in GTO, however, it hampers the OVA's quality overall. Since those plots are never really resolved in the OVA itself. It gives it an abrupt ending. Perhaps they planned to do more, however the cliffhanger style ending only really left me a bit confused by the end. Since there was not really any clear direction that the story seemed to want to go into – Switching between Episodes, the Narrative seemed to lack a great deal of focus, there was never any clear direction for the story, which is why although I was hooked on GTO, Shonan Jumai Gumi however: failed to hook me.

If you are a hardcore GTO fan, you'll definitely love this, as the humor holds this OVA together and makes it entertaining overall. And the fights are pretty well done and set-up. Making it enjoyable even despite its lack of overall substance.