Story - 10/10
The story of GTO is rather unique. It centres around an ex-gang biker who’s decided to become a teacher. Not only a teacher, but the greatest teacher in the world. Now you’re wondering how could he pull this off, he’s an ex criminal with a second-rate college teaching degree. Eikichi Onizuka surprisingly gets himself hired by a school to teach, despite his unconventional and rule breaking teaching methods. The reason why he is hired is because the class that he is assigned to is the delinquent class 3-4 of Holy Forest Academy.
Now throughout the series Onizuka will venture into the world of self-discovery. He’ll learn what it is to become a great teacher through his students. And because of this, each story arc is focus on a student he is dealing with. Now some arcs can sort of drag on more than it should, for the most part it is very enjoyable.
The thing this series does very well is how realistic it can be and how overly the top fun it can be. GTO has a great balance between real life drama and exaggerated humour. Which I think is the series strong point. The show doesn’t take itself too seriously, but in a way still feels like this could actually happened without that exaggerated humour added towards it.
Now even though each story arc Onizuka deals with another student, it is not episodic by any means. There is a good progression as Onizuka starts as the hated teacher then becomes the great teacher he sets out to be.
Characters - 10/10
Lets start with the main star of the show. Eikichi Onizuka, 22 Years old also known as Great Teacher Onikuza or GTO for short. I don’t have to get into too much detail about Onizuka’s background as I’ve already done that. Now even though Onizuka is a teacher, he hates forcing the traditional teaching methods on students as he believes it’s better to solve their problems and their needs by making them enjoy life.
Now even though Onizuka solves most problems probably the dumbest ways possible, he somehow manages to pull through. And it’s the path and methods he chooses which make it so enjoyable, he turns every day activates into something fun. I think this is why Onizuka is such a loveable character he’s the cool teacher friend you want to have, because he’ll always side with you. Despite how much you annoy him.
The class that Onizuka teaches is class 3-4 which is known as the worst class in the school’s history. Now the students of class 3-4 come in a range of different personalities. You have weak unpopular kids, the smart kids, the bullies etc. Now no matter how different each kids are, they all have a common goal, which they succeeded on every occasion. That goal is, to get rid of Onizuka. The class is known for being a group of misfits who prey on teachers and just try to get whoever teaches them fired, because they simply cannot trust teachers and you’ll learn later on.
Because of the variety of characters, the story goes through many arcs, which can make it feel very episodic, but there is a progression, because through each story line Onizuka gains more respect over time.
Animation - 9/10
GTO an anime originally being released in 1999, its art style is rather dated. It’s quite hard to review animation coming from the late 90s compared to these days. But what I think what the animation does so well, is the expressions on the characters faces, they come out with the funniest, retarded most over exaggerated face faults I have seen in anime which is a huge plus adding towards their funny writing as well. The animators weren’t shy in breaking that wall to make it over to, even though the setting is slice of life.
Enjoyment - 10/10
This is the type of anime you’re going to have to watch, if you’re an anime fan. It is one of the funniest anime I’ve seen ever, in my opinion. Everyone has their own taste. The story may seem simple, a teacher tries to gain the trusts of his students, but it gets rather deep and the execution is perfect. Onizuka gets things done in a cool way, but while accomplishing them, he makes it look stupid as well. The jokes are great, you’re going to laugh. The Openings and Endings don’t really fit the show’s sense of humour that much, but they feel rather inspirational just like the teacher Onizuka is. He is the teacher you want to look up to
Verdict
Great Teacher Onizuka probably one of the best anime’s a I’ve seen and definitely one of my favourites I’ve seen, despite its out-dated graphics it still blends very well with its genre. I’m going to give Great Teacher Onizuka, GTO a 9.5/10. There is no such thing as a perfect, only some story dragged on more than it should, but it’s because the series is so engaging fun and deep, it gets you really hooked.
