Great Teacher Onizuka

Twenty-two-year-old Eikichi Onizuka—ex-biker gang leader, conqueror of Shonan, and virgin—has a dream: to become the greatest high school teacher in all of Japan. This isn't because of a passion for teaching, but because he wants a loving teenage wife when he's old and gray. Still, for a perverted, greedy, and lazy delinquent, there is more to Onizuka than meets the eye. So when he lands a job as the homeroom teacher of the Class 3-4 at the prestigious Holy Forest Academy—despite suplexing the Vice Principal—all of his talents are put to the test, as this class is particularly infamous.

Due to their utter contempt for all teachers, the class' students use psychological warfare to mentally break any new homeroom teacher they get, forcing them to quit and leave school. However, Onizuka isn't your average teacher, and he's ready for any challenge in his way.

Bullying, suicide, and sexual harassment are just a few of the issues his students face daily. By tackling the roots of their problems, Onizuka supports them with his unpredictable and unconventional methods—even if it means jumping off a building to save a suicidal child. Thanks to his eccentric charm and fun-loving nature, Class 3-4 slowly learns just how enjoyable school can be when you're the pupils of the Great Teacher Onizuka.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Onizuka, Eikichi Main

Takagi, Wataru Japanese

Kanzaki, Urumi Main

Mitsuishi, Kotono Japanese

Uchiyamada, Hiroshi Main

Cho Japanese

Kikuchi, Yoshito Main

Midorikawa, Hikaru Japanese

Nomura, Tomoko Main

Kawasumi, Ayako Japanese

Fuyutsuki, Azusa Main

Orikasa, Fumiko Japanese

Yoshikawa, Noboru Main

Okano, Kousuke Japanese

Murai, Kunio Main

Seki, Tomokazu Japanese

Aizawa, Miyabi Main

Noda, Junko Japanese

Danma, Ryuuji Supporting

Chiba, Isshin Japanese

Katsumata, Hideo Producer

Hagino, Ken Producer

Abe, Noriyuki Director, Storyboard, Recording Engineer

Date, Hayato Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

May 1, 2007

amaity

Recommended

I was a little skeptical at first about this anime. I usually avoid the comedy/slice-of-life genre, but this anime came highly recommended by an old friend and boy am I glad I listened to him. GTO has to be one of the most well made anime package of its time.

The story is somewhat cliche: troublesome high school students with peculiar skills or traits trying to rid a teacher who's trying hard to to teach them a lesson in life. However, there are some very clever surprises and plot devices to keep the viewer poised for more. My only complaint is the ... rather hashed season finale (Ep. 42 and 43), but that was to be expected since those are the only two episodes that didn't diligently follow the manga.

The animation is adequate for its time, but that isn't the reason why you should watch this.

Both the opening and ending soundtrack for the series is great. Although, neither are as good as the GTO Live Action theme, "Poison".

The reason why you should watch this is simple: Onizuka Ekikichi, 22 years, virgin. This anime is all about character, rather a character. Truly GTO is ineffable in that sense. Watch the first episode and tell me if you're not immediately enamored by Onizuka and his ridiculous ways.

While there is a certain moral message to the anime, watch it for the sheer fun value. It will make you laugh, that's for certain, perhaps it might even make you cry. The live action series, I'm not ashamed to say did make my eyes wet.

The live action series (12 episodes) is quite good as well but there are certain things one can have liberty with in an anime that is not possible in live action.

Overall, I highly recommend GTO. Not just the anime but the entire franchise, manga, live action TV series and the movie.

Great Teacher Onizuka Banzai!

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jan 7, 2009

noteDhero

Mixed Feelings

Animation - 7
Ehh, not much to say, for a show that is as action-packed as Great Teacher Onizuka is, it relies heavily on terrible CG anachronistic for its time, and flashes of still frames with speed lines and directional slashes galore. The character design is kind of uninspired, yet executed very well. The most interesting thing visually about this show is the fantastically conceived opening.
Sound - 6
The same goes for the sound in this show. Out of the entire cast, only two voices stand out as well done, that being of Onizuka, and his student, Kunio. The ... first theme song is undeniably fun and sets a good tone, but the subsequent op and all of the ed are quite forgettable.
Story - 6
The tale is familiar, teacher comes in and changes the lives of his impossible students for the better, inspiring them to have goals and live happily. However, given the character of Eikichi Onizuka, this story is infused with undeniable shounen ecchiness that fans of such genres would find irresistible. Each arc focuses on one of Onizuka's students and how he manages to sway their notions of how a teacher acts, thereby instilling his trust in them. While these arcs progress, the overall narrative painting a picture of Eikichi, the man, slowly comes to the fore. Actually in retrospect, while I found the show quite formulaic, and very predictable, the story is well crafted, and decently paced.
Characters - 6
Well, this show, like many others has its parade of overused stereotypes...blonde guy with a kansai-ben, check, "perfect" love interest, check, dumb bobble head, check, glasses guy, check, diva bitch, check, angry gag man, check. I could go on, but I'll stop there. To me, the show didn't really excel in creating characters that felt distinguishable from any other in their type group, and instead tried to rely on the comedy to make them likable, so for me, I only found Kunio an enjoyable character, since, for whatever reason I don't understand, I find these bleached-blonde misfits to be hilarious. Interestingly enough though, I didn't find Onizuka to be charismatic, likable, or comedically enjoyable at all. I found him much too annoying, and much of his actions far too perverted even with the mantra of "willing suspension of disbelief." He was just a flatly outrageous character with no depth.
Enjoyment - 6
Any scene with Kunio was enjoyable to me, so I especially liked the little arc that he had towards the end...even if it didn't really have to do with him. Other than that it was pretty unfulfilling.
Overall - 6
Overall, I give the show a 6. Though the narrative was well-crafted, the show was very shallow and could have easily been done with probably 10 less episodes.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jul 31, 2013

Polyphemus

Not Recommended

Great Teacher Onizuka had some potential, but all of the humor is repetitive and juvenile, while unrealistic dramatic scenes dominate the plot more and more as the series drags on. It basically fails on both fronts. Plot points and devices are reused to the point where they become dull, and they get increasingly ridiculous as the series progresses. Not in a good way, of course. Holy melodrama, batman! This anime is chock full of bullshit backstories that are supposed to make us go “awwwwww, they’re not a bad guy/girl after all!” by the way. Yeah, it’s definitely as irritating and ineffective as it sounds.


Character ... development is unfortunately absent from the personality of our bland douche of a protagonist, and he is pretty much the same annoying dumbass for the whole duration of the plot. His way of solving issues with students is completely unrealistic, and while this is sometimes acknowledged and played for laughs, it takes itself seriously far too often. He’s pretty much just there for wish-fulfillment, plain and simple. As for his students, all developments in them come off as completely forced and contrived. Plus, almost all of them are blatant archetypes, who have some deep-seated reason to “bawww nvr trust a teacher again!” to boot. Why should we care about anything bad that threatens to happen when we already know that the Mary Sue genius cool handsome hacker boy can fix all problems that come up easily? Another telling issue with the characterization is that just about all men above the age of twenty are, for whatever reason, portrayed as disgusting perverts. This may be a reflection on Fujisawa himself, given the large amount of poorly-placed fanservice. All antagonists in this series start off completely one-dimensional and unrealistically evil, but they then get some sob-story tacked onto their character and their personality changes completely. That is simply not proper character development.


The art is easily the weakest aspect. Almost everybody has the same exact face; you know, that one face that Fujisawa Tohru recycles endlessly in everything he does. The only face he knows how to draw, basically. Great Teacher Onizuka largely depends on visual humor for its value as a comedy, but all of the "hilarious" facial expressions were used over and over again, when they were never really funny in the first place. At the same time, they contribute heavily to my inability to take Great Teacher Onizuka seriously. The rest of the visual humor is just somewhat lame and, man, I hope you like seeing Onizuka’s ass, because you’re going to be getting a lot of that. The animation is nothing special, and any flaws with it are completely overshadowed by the horrendous art.


All of the claims made by Great Teacher Onizuka’s rabid defenders about its “societal commentary” are completely untrue. Bullying is not dealt with much better, more interestingly, or realistically than in many other works I have seen. Furthermore, I failed to see what it actually criticized about the education system, other than the fact that not enough teachers are violent gangsters. This theme continues with just about everything else it supposedly comments on. It either just features these things in a cliché manner or does not really say much about them at all. There is no depth to Great Teacher Onizuka; it is just a simple drama and comedy. This would be fine did it do either of those things right, but, alas, it did not.


I have no idea as to why this anime is so highly regarded. It is just not very good, plain and simple. I get second-hand embarrassment when watching all of those sentimental scenes about teaching, and then I have to wonder why Great Teacher Onizuka didn’t just stick to comedy. Then I remember that it wasn’t funny and I think to myself “ah, that explains it.” GTO started out as a decent parody of all of those stupid shows with a super-teacher who helps his students work out all of their problems and wins their hearts in the process, but it eventually fell victim to self-indulgence and became a stupid story in the same vein. It contributed nothing new nor anything of real value to the genres of school life, comedy, or drama. It never made me laugh out loud, and it never evoked any kind of physical or emotional response. Not in a good way, at least. At its best, it’s okay. At its worst, it’s goddamn painful.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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