The story is so fun and satisfying, just seeing annoying authority figures being put into their place by this loveable ape that is so asinine about teaching actual schoolwork and so genius in teaching people how to be people is incredible. And if it's not that it's Onizuka teaching his students how to learn to value themselves or deal with life. It's just this ongoing thing of here is this new person that either has a problem or is a problem and here comes our main man, all hands on deck, ready to solve it. He puts people in their place, but not in a way that makes the character look like a dumbass, but in a way that shows their humanity. Onizuka finds their flaws, lays them flat out in front of them, says 'Hey motherfucker wipe yourself off and get to work fixing this' while also always actively helping fix those same flaws. Not a single arc in this story is boring, I had to constantly slow myself down so I wouldn't binge the whole manga in 3 days, and I still read it really quickly.
Onizuka himself is a very interesting fellow. He is impulsive, childish and a pervert. His perversion is comedic but it seems like a trait of both the time the story was written but also Japanese culture, as you can still see very perverted characters in todays anime/manga. I'm not a fan of perversion as a comedic trait, I don't find it funny 90% of the time and it makes the character look like a dick. However, Onizuka does shows time and time again that that perversion is just a comedic trait and not actually who he is. Several times in the manga he shows that he is able to put peoples wellbeing in front of his sexual drive, most prominently this is seen (*very minor spoiler here*) in his conversation with Ogi during the final arc of the story. (*end of spoiler*) He is a majorly flawed person, but still his overwhelming amount of good traits always come through. Onizuka is simple and straightforward, he doesn't complicate when it comes to solving problems, there is no beating around any bushes, he just gets to the point. I mentioned before his method of helping people. It's hurtful what he says to people but it's to the point, it's the purest Onizuka way. But what I always like about every character that goes through the Onizuka life class is that there is no judgement from Onizuka himself. No matter if you tried to hurt him, embarrass him or hell, even tried to kill him he forgives and forgets because he puts other people before him every time. Every person that Onizuka 'teaches' has a very well done character arc, Onizuka himself doesn't change much during the story, he fluctuates but ultimately stays the same person he was at the beginning, to me that makes sense, because he is 22 years old, he is well past his character defining years while the majority of the cast are highschool students in their formative years, yes people can change throughout their entire life but it gets significantly harder for those changes to appear once you cross into your twenties as you become pretty much completely developed as a person. I could keep talking about this man forever but I want to talk about other parts of the manga.
I want to touch on the other characters a bit. As I said earlier I feel like everyone has a nicely done character arc, I like where each of the characters stories go. Especially Urumi, Anko, Fujiyoshi and Noboru. Some are there just for comedy (prime example is Uchiyamada), but even some of them get a bit of development.
One character that I changed my opinion on drastically is Saejima. He has 2 or 3 chapters that are just Onizukas conversation with him, but it's just him talking and nothing else, and I wasn't a fan of those. The chapters he appears in, including the few that are JUST him, make Saejima seem like this douche that only thinks about money and he does the worst possible scams to get some cash, he's a just corrupt, greedy cop that wants to get rich quick and I didn't understand why Onizuka was a friend with this dude as I felt that Onizuka could judge him well enough to realize that. However, his last appearance flipped my view of him completely. (*again minor spoilers for the few ending moments*) When he came to see Onizuka in the hospital in the final arc and the one panel of Onizuka laying in bed with Ryuji and Saejima sleeping right there on the corners of the bed barely fitting there just made me stop and think 'Holy shit, Saejima is just as much a real friend to Onizuka as Ryuji'. I don't know how I didn't see that sooner but it made me appreciate Saejima so much more. (*end of spoiler*)
I'm not going to go into much more detail with the rest of the cast as I feel that what I said earlier applies to everyone, I just wanted to touch on Saejima because of the flip I had. I like the cast, A LOT, they are all flawed people that needed help and I love them all.
A brief mention of the art is now in order. It's not great, Tooru Fujisawa isn't some god artist, but it works really well for a comedy manga. Comedies don't ask for super realistic drawings, you want them to be goofy and simple and Fujisawa accomplishes that nicely. A lot of the time for art it's not about just being good it's about context. Does this style fit this type of story, that question is just as important as does this look realistic or does this look good. I'm not saying Fujisawa is a bad artist, far from it, I like the art, it fits a comedy perfectly but it's not gonna get any awards. I don't think anything more than that is necessary.
All in all, GTO is genuinely one of my favorite manga I have ever read. It's marketed as a comedy everywhere but it's so much more than that. It's this amalgamation of great characters that you can empathize with and understand their pain, but also laugh with and at them when you should. It is incredibly funny but knows exactly when to drop the jokes and get serious so it can tug on some heart strings. You will laugh, you will be emotional and you will fall in love with the cast. I fucking love Onizuka and I fucking love this manga. It spoke to me on a level that nothing ever has and I will be coming back to it for the rest of my life.
