I will explain:
Story:
Gokusen has a unique storyline, with the Yankumi being the heir to a Yakuza clan and all. I love how in the early chapters she attempts to keep her yakuza heritage hidden while using her skills to protect her class. It is quite fun humour. However, a lot of the chapters are very similar in that they follows this pattern:
a) her students get themselves into some trouble.
b) Yankumi saves them.
This gets quite boring after a while and so a lot of the past chapters are not very memorable (however, some parts of the story are, so I am not saying that the whole story is not memorable- just some parts).
Art
This is Gokusen's Achilles heel. I nearly stopped reading it at the beginning due to the art which I thought was not very pretty, or attractive. However, it is clean, crisp, and easy to follow, so I suppose that is why I stuck to it. Then again, this IS a josei manga, so I didn't expect to see insanely beautiful bishounen or flowers popping up in every panel (cough, CLAMP, cough).
Character
I love the characters, especially Yankumi. While Yankumi can be quite dense and stubborn and oblivious to other people's feelings, she kicks butt and I LOVE how she can beat up thugs and then appear totally innocent about the whole thing. Also, it is very cute when she accidentally slips into "Yakuza mode" and has to cover it up by acting dumb or girlie.
Now onto Shin. While Shin's haircut ANNOYED ME TO DEATH at the beginning, I have gotten used to it and actually have grown quite fond of him. He is very cute when trying to cover up his feelings and when he blushes (which is RARE).
Enjoyment and Overall
I'll put these two together since they link closely together. I liked Gokusen very much; it is a very enjoyable josei manga. WHile the romance between them is downplayed, the relationship between Shin and Yankumi as student-teacher is one of the best out there. I have to give Gokusen an 8 because while the art is not one of the best I've ever seen, the premise of Gokusen is unique and memorable.
