GTO
GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka

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I've hunted this manga for quite a while but there were always problems with the order. The translation was poorly done because it had a lot of spelling mistakes in it and failed to use proper use of the English language in some scenes.

That aside, this is by far the best manga I have ever read. I am stunned, the concept is so simple but so well thought out.

Well let’s start with a quick introduction to the story. Eikichi Onizuka is a 22 year old virgin and ex-gang leader of the dreaded motorcycle gang “Oni-Baku”. He’s a street punk with piercings and bleached hair, a ... graduate from a fifth rate university and was captain of his karate team. Not exactly what you would call teacher material. Despite all this Onizuka manages to convince the principal and gets a job as a teacher, he’s assigned to class 4 who are notorious for having driven every homeroom teacher to insanity. However Great Teacher Onizuka isn’t such a pushover and he’s determined to win them over one by one. Onizuka stumbles from one mishap to another, saving kids from jumping off rooftops, reuniting them with their parents, just making a difference. Though this all may seem very trivial, this is the most amusing story I have read.

Moving on to the art, the art is very detailed and nice to look at. It’s got that 90’s drawing style that I appreciate very much. However if it weren’t for the characters different personalities you’d have trouble telling them apart. Especially the girls all have somewhat the same face, and the only way you can tell them apart is by their hairstyle, which can be a bother sometimes. Overall there are quite some scenes were someone is standing on a rooftop looking over the city at dawn. It’s these scenes that really get you into the art. Of course there are the infamous many faces from Onizuka that are just hilarious and make up for a lot.

About the characters, I really like the characters. I’ve fallen in love with a few of them. But one thing bothers me.. They’re supposed to be 14 years old, yet they’re so darn evil. I remember being 14, I wouldn’t go as far to torture a teacher as they would, then again they have their reasons. Moving on to the character Eikichi Onizuka. Quite simply he’s one of the best characters ever created. He’s an inspiration, he’s cool, funny, stays true, and above all he’s human (though this can be debated). Onizuka is one of the most instantly likeable characters you will ever read about. If I were ever to sit down and have dinner with any character real or fictional, it would without a doubt be Eikichi Onizuka. Though I wouldn’t be willing to pick up the bill.

I cannot remember the last manga I enjoyed this dearly, I hold this manga close to heart and it is definitely one that I won’t be forgetting. Hell I’ll just say it, I’m an Onizuka fan, and you could be too. Take it from me, reach deep in those pockets and get this manga, you won’t regret it. And while reading you might even learn a thing or two from the greatest teacher in all of Japan, Great Teacher Onizuka.

I first found out about GTO by going through all the top rated manga on MAL, as you do. If you listen to anyone online, you'd think that GTO is one of the best manga ever written, with no doubts. I went and specifically tried to find bad reviews, and it was hard to find any. So I went in with sky high expectations, only to find myself...a little disappointed. That isn't to say GTO is a horrible manga, however. If you manage to stick through it and deal with its problems, I do think that it is a read that is worth your time.

My ... biggest issue with the manga is has to deal with the overall cynicism and bizarre feeling of the series at times. No one is a good person in this manga (except maybe Noboru). The story starts out with Onizuka wanting to become a teacher just so he can pick up young, underage girls, despite him being already 22. A lot of the series actually has Onizuka and various other characters perving on girls, with basically no punishment, which to be honest, made me quite uncomfortable. At some point, there even is a teacher introduced that spends all his free time installing hidden cameras to videotape and spy on the middle school girls, and no one really does much about it. All the kids are also straight up evil in the beginning. When Urumi, one of the main student characters, is introduced, she tries to murder an old teacher by blowing up a Molotov cocktail in their face. These characters are supposed to be 14, and many of them are already committing felonies on the daily.

Since the story is about Onizuka and how he wants to become a great teacher and reform all these troublemaker kids, the story centralizes a lot on how Onizuka is able to relate to the kids and get them to like him and school in general (from this point on I will call this process getting GTO'd). However, in the beginning of the manga I do have some issues with some of the methods. For example, one of the ways Onizuka manages to get one of the students named Noboru to stop getting bullied by other girls is to strip the other girls naked, write things on their butts, and then take pictures of their said butts.

But, despite my slight dislike of the beginning, I forced myself to keep reading. Everyone loves it, and there has to be a reason for that right? Hopefully it gets better.

And it did get better. Around chapter 130, the story suddenly starts to reach a sort of climax where many story threads that were alluded to before all begin to resolve themselves. Urumi's big secret finally gets revealed, and the fallout is massive. All the while, Suguru, Miyabi, and Uchiyamada finally get GTO'd, which is very, very satisfying. In my opinion, the arc that starts here and ends at around before chapter 160 is the highlight of the series.

And to its credit, there are many things that GTO does do well. Some chapters are just one character talking, and at these times the mangaka manages to show off some impressive writing skills. There is a chapter where Onizuka's corrupt cop friend tries repeatedly to scam him into joining various pyramid schemes, which I found it very entertaining. Certain other little secrets like Urumi's big secret, and the reason why Class 4 became such a troubled class are also hidden and revealed in a very satisfying way.

Overall, I think the manga is somewhat of a 6/10 manga, with 10/10 moments. Moments like when some characters finally get GTO'd are very satisfying, although sometimes the dialogue does become somewhat of a drag to read.

Story: 3/10
Some very good parts, some very bad parts.

Art: 8/10
Very gorgeous and detailed art. However, it can be hard to tell characters apart at times.

Characters: 8/10
Great characters in general, even if they start out as evil pieces of shit in the beginning. You begin to understand every character as the author starts to flush out their backstories.

Enjoyment: 4/10
Personally, not for me. The sexual harassment and perverseness of the series has not aged well and honestly can be quite uncomfortable to read at times.

Overall: 5/10
There are lots to praise about this manga, I value my enjoyment with a manga a lot more than how supposedly "good" it is with qualities such as art, story, or characters. I didn't exactly click with the manga until past chapter 130, when the story became very good. I think it is worth a read, but only if you get the humor. Give it maybe 20 chapters to see if you want to continue or not.

This series was a waste of time. I have to give myself a pat on the shoulder for actually sitting through the entire bullshit. Man, what was I even doing? I dropped this series halfway few years ago, so I thought I'd give it a chance again to see if I had a different opinion of it now. I was wrong.

In a sea of positive 10/10 reviews, I find it hard to believe if we are all reading the very same GTO. Ecchi has never been my favorite genre but sometimes I do come across certain series where the fan-service was done tastefully (and this ... is coming from a female). The ecchi in this manga was just outright disgusting and criminally offensive (well, isn't this every ecchi manga basically?). I think that ALL of the male characters in this manga should just get arrested and die off somewhere.

The one thing that pisses me off is the fact that there were not even ONE female character who were genuinely outraged whenever they got sexually harassed. I've never thought it was funny though. No one seems to question that these are bunch of grown ass men lusting over 14 year olds. The portrayal of rape victims were also done unrealistically. This manga- in other words, is a 101 on sexually objectifying women. It was just so uncomfortable.

I don't care if this was a manga about a guy trying to start over. I don't give a fuck about the things he's done to save his students or all the life-changing moments he had. Anyone could do that shit. I'm never reading another series from this author. GTH.