Gokusen

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The daughter of a yakuza boss gets a job as a teacher at a very problematic school. In spirit... it's a female variation of Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO).

It's a good manga. It's amusing how the manga as a whole isn't really similar to GTO, but it has a similar vibe. The school here is an all-boys school, and there were no female teachers before. At the start of the school year, two teachers appear. One is our heroine, and another girl who teaches music, and that's essentially the setup for the comedy.

I won't go into too much detail about the positives, as there are plenty. ... I'll just note that the art is pleasantly minimalist, yet one student has very detailed hair. It's immediately clear that he's going to be the sex symbol for the female readers.

The manga's problem is that it's long, and the author couldn't come up with different ways to resolve conflicts. There are many situations, but in 90% of cases, everything is resolved by a brawl between the teacher and the bullies. Over and over again, and it becomes noticeable. The beginning and middle of an arc are interesting to read, but then you quickly skip through to the next plot development. I also felt it lacked more development for other characters, for example, the second teacher. Yes, she's not the main heroine, she appears rarely, and there was one storyline with her. I would have liked more story's about het, as many comedic situations could be created that are different from the main ones, because her schtick is her boobs.

I have a small issue with the romantic subplot. It exists, and it's slowly built up. In the end, closer to the manga's conclusion, when it needed to be wrapped up, this part felt rushed, and even then, they left the ending open to interpretation, but it was fairly obvious, in my opinion. Eventually, a separate volume with a couple of chapters was released, which spelled everything out. Given the outcome of this romantic storyline, I think it was necessary to spell it all out, considering our modern society, otherwise many would have been furious about a certain thing, like in Domestic na Kanojo (don't worry, the similarity is only in the first few chapters regarding this point).

This volume is called Gokusen Kanketsu-hen (2007-2009); it has a couple of chapters, and they are bad. It delves into complete absurdity, and it's not even funny. I don't recommend reading it.

There was also an extra chapter. It must be read strictly after the entire manga. It's very short and funny, and a nice addition to the story.

As usual, a successful manga has more content. There is an anime, and it's pretty good. There's also a live-action drama (dorama) consisting of 3 seasons + a movie. Only the first season is based on the manga; the rest is original. I haven't seen it, but I'm very tempted by the actress in the lead role; I've seen her in other dramas, and she's cool.

I don't understand the reason that why the fuck its animated series was never continued ever again, I mean it was better than Drama bcz in Drama many arcs were missing which could fill as a gap in animated series and plus animated series was far more comedy than drama, BTW this manga is best and I loved it as an Indian who is a hardcore anime fan since class 9th.

I loved the part when they wanted money so Carlos told Yankumi's student to bet money on bike course race and also another incident when her students reached Hokkaido and wreaked havoc, this manga is ... indeed hillarious.

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 ... that all students have a future, and despises teachers and adults who give up on kids. She hates when kids don't even try to do better. She hates when fights are unfair. Those are great qualities to have, and it's a great juxtapose to her Yakuza life. She's unintentionally funny because she tries to pretend that she's not a good fighter, or a Yakuza, so she acts dimwitted. "How did I dodge that thing you threw at me? Must've been an accident!"

Though other than the funny moments from Yankumi, it's a manga that portrays the reality of students. Students who skip school because the teachers have given up on them. Students who come from a harsh life. The peer pressure to act tough. It also touches on suicide caused by bullying. Even though it's funny in moments, it doesn't shy away from the depressing topics, and reality.

I'm mostly going on memory, and I read this manga years ago, but I definitely remember enjoying it. I highly recommend this manga to anyone. It's got slice of life, gang fights, and comedy.