GTO

DESCRIPTION

CAST

CHAPTERS

ANIME ComedyGTO
MANGA ActionShonan Junai Gumi!
MANGA ComedyGTO: Paradise Lost
MANGA ActionGTO: SHONAN 14 DAYS
MANGA ActionInokashira Gargoyle
MANGA ActionGT-R
MANGA ActionBAD COMPANY
MANGA ActionKamen Teacher vs POLICE

REVIEWS

• 

  GGShang

  90/100
  A crass manga with good comedy and a lot of heart

  I'm a little sad that such a great manga doesn't have any reviews or people talking about it yet. GTO is definitely a blast from the past and a great reminder that some of the older classics still got it today.

  GTO is the story of ex-biker gang leader Onizuka who decides to become a teacher to get snag a nice high school babe. However, as he gets assigned to his first real class, he finds out that his plan won't be that easy since he gets stuck with a class that has purposely made three of their previous teachers resign. Yet for some reason, Onizuka is able to reach the kids like no teacher ever had before, and slowly begins to solve their problems and leaves them off much happier than before. The story feels pretty slice of life since, while everything is in at least a mini arc, not too much passes along from one arc to another. The first third pretty much sets up the pace and the characters while the rest is spent on three longer arcs that further explore major characters and plot points. The major arcs feel a whole lot more intense than the rest of the story, which makes for a nice change of pace.

  The characters are obviously going to be the main point of a manga like this. Every character has their own type of unique charm, with Onizuka being this super rough around the edges guy with a heart of gold, his coworker being a well-meaning but unsure teacher, and each student being their own little, lovable mess of problems. The best part about GTO is seeing these characters who were once burdened by all these problems change and grow to enjoy everything that's happening around them.

  ---Long winded discussion of themes below, skip if you're not interested---

  And with all that basic stuff out of the way we can talk about some major themes in GTO. Now, there are definitely a few big ones like don't judge a book by its cover, but the one that I think GTO does the best job at showing is that life sucks but that doesn't need to matter. Almost every arc in the story revolves around someone who cannot handle the things they are going through and end up getting other people involved in the way they choose to deal with it. Some of the characters attempt to take it out on themselves with suicide, some push it onto others by pulling dangerous pranks, and some deny it all together or try to justify what they've done as being necessary. And in each one of these cases, Onizuka has to step in in one way or another to diffuse the situation.

  The crazy thing about this manga is that it doesn't try to just focus on the good times or advocates to forget about the bad. Instead, it recognizes that the things that these kids went through were terrible, and that they did have every right to lash out for what has been done to them. It's not like you can just take things like ruining someone's professional and romantic life, severe bullying or rape and say that they didn't happen or that they don't matter anymore, because they do. Every wrong thing people do has a consequence and everything done to them leaves a mark, but that doesn't mean they have to stay there.
  The scene that really sticks out to me the most is when Onizuka takes one of his kids on a joyride since they had been dealing with really tough family problems, and at the end of it all he brings here down to listen to a talk between the members of his gang where they all share about the terrible family experiences they all went through. Though they were all ruffians and weren't the type of people you would want to necessarily associate with, you couldn't say that they weren't happy with their lives now. They never once denied the fact that these terrible things happened, but they didn't let those things stop them from living their lives.

  The only people you see in GTO that never get better are all the other teachers. They are legitimately pretty terrible people who face really tense situations in their personal lives. So they use their 'pastimes' like hardcore peeking up girls skirts to justify their actions. They are the only characters who never own up to their problems to face them head on, but rather choose to ignore them all together. GTO is very clear about the message it wants to send: life will bring many hardships, and it's okay to be upset and angry about them. But the one thing you can never do is to stay there with the problem and never face it. The only way to move forward is to accept the bad things that happen and look towards a brighter future. To experience the blessings you have now instead of wallowing in the things you can't change.

  Overall GTO is a crude and crass manga with a whole lotta heart. It's something so unexpected from a manga like this, but I guess that's what they wanted you to think. It's not perfect and there are a few things it could have definitely handled differently, but I really believe that if the comedy doesn't get you, the soul of the manga will.

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• 

  unimportantuser

  100/100
  Why GTO is legendary

  GTO (Great Teacher Onizuka) is absolutely legendary. It’s about a former gang member turned teacher teaching one of the worst classes in his school & turning them around into fine young men & women. Throughout time its been hailed as an all time great & for very good reason. In this review I hope to explain what makes this series so legendary.

  I’ll start with the concept. A manga about turning into delinquents into fine people, giving them a figure in their life to look up to. It’s not the most original set-up in story telling but because of this we get to see ourselves in a variety of different situations ranging from down to earth & realistic, to completely out-there bat-shit insanity. Below its surface, GTO is a manga with a heart of gold about teaching life lessons & finding ones place in life. I don’t want to oversell it because GTO at its core is a comedy manga. But with GTO, I come for what’s seemingly a good comedy manga at first glance, & then I stay with it for the life lessons & characters that, while I don’t necessarily relate to. I’m sure many do & I can imagine there’s someone out there who were like at least one of the characters in this manga at some point in their life that not only relate to these but Onizuka transcended just being a character in a comedy manga & turned into somebody they looked up to.

  I surely look up to Onizuka as cheesy as that may sound. I really do though, while Onizuka as a character obviously wouldn’t work in a real life scenario given how many school rules & at times laws he outright breaks. At one point to “teach his students a lesson” he ties them up, dunks them in water, & basically scars them for life. Another point early in the series as a means of getting back for one of his students, he stalks the victims bullies to a karaoke bar, ties them up, takes pictures of the girls in erotic positions & threatens to post the pictures on the internet (which he doesn’t actually do). So Onizuka isn’t exactly the most orthodox, or even morally right teacher out there, but at the end of the day he’s still a man I can never the less look up to for his ability to really teach those lessons he wants to get across.

  On the opposite end, you can also understand where the students are coming from, why they’re assholes, & why they hate authority above all else. Take Nana for example, she’s a lonely girl who once lived a very happy family life in a small 5 tatami matt room. Once her father actually gained a new job & an increased level of wealth, the family became more distant with each other & see become less & less happy overtime & wished things could go back the way they were as she hardly feels like her family is a family anymore. When Onizuka learns of this story he decides to go to her house & put a giant hole in the wall with a sledge hammer. Metaphorically but also literally tearing down the walls that separate this family so that they may become reunited & learn to bond again. It’s moments & stories like that placed throughout that really make this manga into the legendary work of fiction that it’s become.

  But Onizuka isn’t a manga that’s always tackling some of these heavy themes, it also knows when to lay back & just be a good comedy, & I give it serious credit. Onizuka is a pretty funny series that had me laughing at 90% of its jokes & situations. I remember one moments when Onizuka was trying to get this Yakuza boss’s kid back into school after a nearly 3 month absence. He puts on this heavy tough guy front calling out the Yakuza’s kid whilst being respectful about his situation. It actually works thanks to Onizuka treating the kid with respect, his speech convinces the kid to come back to school. Because of all the guns pointed directly at him during the speech, we then cut to reveal that Onizuka feared for his life so much that he actually ended up pissing his pants in fear. While some may look at that as juvenile I look at it as funny & grounding Onizuka back to reality because although he may be a Great Teacher, he’s still just a regular person at the end of the day, he may’ve been a former gang member but he’s still a man who values life (well, his own life in this instance) so of course he’s piss his pants out of fear of death.

  I do need to bring up the art which is honestly the weakest part of the series. I don’t think GTO is necessarily badly drawn (I consider badly drawn to be art so bad that I genuinely can’t tell what’s supposed to be going on) & in that case GTO gets a pass because I can tell what things are supposed to be, action scenes don’t have too much going on to where things become a mess, & the faces are actually really well drawn a lot of the time (I should stress the comedic ones). But a problem with GTO’s art is that characters can kind of blend together from time to time, specifically the women, sometimes I can’t tell who’s who’s unless they call out the names which is very much a bad thing. I don’t think this necessarily detracts from the major character moments that I come to this manga for but nevertheless it can be pretty distracting.

  GTO’s pacing is reasonably well, it’s largely a 50-50 split on text to art ratio & it took me about 40-50 minutes to read a volume give or take. I don’t think jokes overstay their welcome, beat to beat the story flows well & arcs last for just long enough as to feel satisfying but not truncated. It isn’t like Astro Boy where some stories have this problem in that they reach their climax & then the falling action happens to quickly, leading to some of the stories feeling truncated which GTO thankfully doesn’t suffer from.

  It’s a combination of GTO’s absurdness, funny moments, down to earth character moments, but above all else heart of gold that turn this series into a legendary work of fiction. While it is a pretty simple manga in concept it thrives in the simplicity & uses it to create some layered-ness to its characters & story. I highly implore anyone to check this legendary series out if only for Onizuka himself he really lives up to that moniker of Great Teacher Onizuka.

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• 

  akibora

  90/100
  He's bold & brash. He's a horny 22-year old virgin. And he's the greatest teacher in all of Japan.

  
   Eikichi “The Great” Onizuka
  <img width='' src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b9/GTO_volume_1.jpg'>
  
  __He's bold. He's brash. He's a horny 22-year old virgin (with pretty concerning habits). And he somehow landed a temporary teaching position at a private school. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: Eikichi Onizuka, The greatest teacher in all of Japan!__
  
  What do you get when a former delinquent full of attitude crosses paths with a homeroom period full of students aiming to cause nothing but trouble? You get GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka. A tale that is so full of crass, you’ll learn how to spread your butthole. (Please don’t take me down, it’s merely an allusion.) 
  
  Across the 200-chapter filled story you’ll encounter troubled youth, each with their own personal struggles. Watch as Onizuka resorts to the extreme and unorthodox in an effort to teach his students lessons that you can’t get from just staying inside the classroom.
  
  After all, he is none other than Onizuka the Great! And he will stake his life on the line for the sake of his students.
  -
  ____Pacing____
  <img width='' src='https://dezpolycarpe.files.wordpress.com/2020/12/2552f1d72ab46e93b9b52df8843a3b27-3.jpg?w=1021'>
  
  The plot goes from 0 to 100 faster than you can finish reading this review. It doesn’t hesitate to throw you off guard. One moment, you’ll see Onizuka getting off to some explicit material; the next moment, you’ll see him falling onto a car. And usually, a story with pacing that goes all over the place tends to become an overwhelming experience for me. My poor small brain can only handle so much stimuli at once.
  
  But GTO makes it work.
  
  Maybe it adds into the immersion of Onizuka’s hectic life as a teacher, or maybe seeing him perform physically-impossible stunts consistently just adds more charm. Seeing how he willingly and aggressively inserts himself into the lives of his students, and making their issues his concern as well, is awe inspiring. Onizuka is the type of teacher that demands only the best for his students, and the crazy plot devices are woven in a way that leaves you wanting to see more of Onizuka and the rest of Class-4’s antics. 
  
  I enjoyed the pacing of GTO. Never did I have a “woah, what the heck is going on?” moment. As the storyline of GTO continued to get more and more intense, I found myself getting really into it. The pacing works in tandem with the writing to create that sense of urgency in those moments when it is needed. My heart would be racing and I found myself praying and rooting for those characters. Speaking of which…
  -
  ___Characters___
  <img width='' src='https://i.pinimg.com/550x/b2/02/ff/b202ffe1e0f8db22c5b379f842f0833b.jpg'>
  
  The cast in GTO are a colorful bunch. Aside from Onizuka, you have the members of Class-4, the administration of Holy Forest Academy, and more down the line. But the main focus will be on Onizuka and his dynamic with the students of Class-4. 
  
  I think what surprises me the most with this group of rascals is that they are, more or less, fleshed out individuals with their own arcs/mini-arcs. From what I could tell at least, there isn’t one character who is solely based on a school archetype. Sure, you have the dumb blonde, the jock, the gamer, etc. But I feel like those ideas are just used as a blueprint for the character, and then turns it on its head! Each of these characters has their own flaws, and through the intervention of Onizuka; they all learn something very important that correlates to them.
  
  One of my favorite characters in the manga is definitely Urumi. This is where I go a bit into heavy spoiler territory, so just a heads up. 
  
  <img width='' src='https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fvignette.wikia.nocookie.net%2Fgreat-teacher-onizuka-gto%2Fimages%2Fe%2Fe5%2FUrumi_Kanzaki_Manga_3.jpg%2Frevision%2Flatest%3Fcb%3D20170725104611&f=1&nofb=1'>
  
  <span class='markdown_spoiler'><span>Urumi Kanzaki is known as the class terrorist (much like the rest of Class-4). Due to some past trauma, she absolutely despises teachers. To that end, she aimed to make every day for Onizuka feel like Hell on Earth. This slowly eats away at Onizuka, and he is only further driven to frustration because he’s not allowed to physically harm her (I mean, you shouldn’t be physically harming/harassing a student to begin with). 
  
  Eventually, Onizuka decides that enough is enough. He orchestrates a “kidnapping” with some of his biker buddies. After he “saves” her and proceeds to ride his motorbike over a gap and nearly falls down. This incident opens Urumi’s eyes to see past her trauma and prevent it from blinding her in the present. 
  
  “You can’t spend all your time bitching and moaning about the past… ‘cuz you cheat yourself out of the present.”
  
  This inspires Urumi to move on and live a little. Before you know it, she’s enjoying her days at school. Albeit, maybe a bit too much now. It’s heavily implied that she becomes infatuated with Onizuka. </span></span>
  
  Urumi’s whole arc is only scraping the surface. It has a certain beauty to it that made it one of my favorite arcs. There are other characters you’ll meet, and hopefully, grow attached to just as much as I did. Rooting for them every step of the way!
  
  In my opinion, the characters are handled pretty well in the manga. Of course, Onizuka being Onizuka, is pretty reckless when it comes to putting his students first. But who is to say he is in the wrong here? Sure, he has plot armor, but his heart is in the right place when it comes to helping his students. After all, he is a teacher. It’s his job to make school fun and to concern himself with this rowdy bunch.
  
  Of course, that doesn’t mean Onizuka is without his flaws too. I’ll go a little bit into this spoiler section as well. Feel free to skip on over to the next bit if you wish.
  
  <span class='markdown_spoiler'><span>Later on in the story, Onizuka gets acquainted with someone named Ms. Daimon. She introduces a point system to the school administration, which affects staff pay. Of course, this is done with the intent of bringing Onizuka down. And this action begins to have side effects on the man himself.
  
  Teachers don’t get paid a lot, unfortunately (actually not sure what the case is like in Japan, so it could be different. But hey, this is a piece of fiction we are talking about right now). So to a man like Onizuka, every point counts. Especially if he’s on the verge of losing that paycheck. 
  
  He (along with other staff) gets corrupted with the idea of more points = more money. Thinking of nothing but money and feeding into the corporate system. He’s turned into the exact type of teacher he despised when he was in high school. And he doesn’t realize this until his fellow teacher, Azusa Fuyutsuki, calls him out on it. No longer was he Great Teacher Onizuka, rather he turned into Greedy Teacher Onizuka. 
  
  This moment was powerful. Honestly, there’s no words to do the scene justice. You’ll just have to read it for yourself. </span></span>
  
  The cast is handled in such a fashion that even the most cliche actions can have such strong emotions attached. Whether you tolerate this group of rascals or not, you can definitely walk out feeling something (unless you just have zero emotions).
  -
  ___Plot___
  <img width='' src='https://realotakugamer.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/vlcsnap-2010-09-01-21h25m04s117.jpg'>
  
  GTO is and will forever be a timeless classic. The lessons you can take out of it can definitely be applied to your viewpoint and mindset on life. For some individuals, the story of GTO is an inspiring tale of Onizuka’s adventures. In rare cases: it influences someone to change their life around for the better. Case in point: this video (minor spoiler warning for manga panels and anime scenes).
  
  <div class='youtube' id='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzWy4I5g7po'></div>
  
  The manga is raw with Onizuka’s character. You’ll see this cool side to him that makes him feel like someone you could genuinely enjoy being around. And other times, you’ll encounter habits of his that don’t really age well (like his perversion towards some of the students, that’s a major yikes right there). Does it sit well with me? No, no it doesn’t. It makes me feel all sorts of icky. 
  
  And yet…
  
  I kept reading. Something about the honest, uncensored, and limitless Onizuka that appears in the manga made me want to keep reading onwards. I’ve mentioned it before, but the lengths he goes to for his students is a wonderful thing. When was the last time you saw a teacher, let alone a high school teacher, actively try to support and engage with their students? 
  
  And I think that sentiment is what allowed me to appreciate the overall story a lot more than I expected. (Though, I have/had some wonderful teachers over the years, don’t get me wrong.)
  -
  __Final Thoughts__
  <img width='' src='https://i.pinimg.com/originals/4e/a5/3b/4ea53bb4a6c00f3fe233a20e22fdc354.jpg'>
  
  __Long story short: I love GTO. __
  
  If it weren’t for my club advisor, I probably would not have discovered the treasure that is Great Teacher Onizuka. It was the series that inspired him to become a teacher.
  
  And after reading, it only further motivates me to pursue my future career path in that field as well. The drive is higher than ever, and I have faith in myself that I can reach it.
  
  And it’s thanks to Onizuka that I have a renewed sense of vigor. 
  
  Hands down, one of the most inspiring and motivating stories I have ever read. 
  
  Minus the random perverted moments. Though I have to say, it does make Onizuka feel less like a fictional character and more like a person you could find in real life. I mean, is there a single person who hasn’t experienced being horny, or something similar, at least once?
  
  Don’t get me wrong though, I still dislike those scenes. Catches me off-guard, and not in a good way either. By no means am I trying to justify those moments. 
  
  GTO is definitely worth a read. Uplifting moments? Check. Comedic moments? Check. Just need a good read? Definitely scores a check in that category. Extreme facial expressions?
  
  <img width='' src='https://uwanime.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/onizuka.jpg?w=360'>
  
  Need I say more?
  
  I’ll end things off with a quote from the man himself.
  
  __“Being afraid is natural. It’s part of being alive. Without it, you’re already dead.”__
  <img width='' src='http://www.beatzo.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/Onizuka-Cover.jpg'>~~~

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