Great Teacher Onizuka
Alternate Titles: GTO
Original Japanese Release Date: June 30th, 1999
Episode Length/Run-time: 43
Summary:
Enter Eikichi Onizuka, ex-biker punk and gang leader. He decides that he would like to persue a career as a high school teacher so that he can have sex with all of the high school girls. However, when he applies at Holy Forest Academy, a private school, the head mistress, Sakurai-san, signs him up to teacher a troubled middle school class has who has already driven off three other teachers. His dreams of nailing sexy high school chicks quickly goes out the window as both the students and Onizuka bite off more than they expect as Onizuka travels down the path of becoming the greatest teacher in Japan.
Review:
Few shows are able to balance comedy and drama as well as GTO. This show that starts off being a bit perverted ends up delivering one of the greatest characters in the histroy of anime, Onizuka. Goofy and perverse on the outside, Onizuka is actually an incredibly deep character that would do and does everything for his students, and in his own way, delivers unique life lessons to them to help them develop as people. Aside from this Onizuka is an incredible badass, a 4th degree black belt in karate. Everything about Onizuka is great, even his English voice actor, Steve Blum, the voice of Spike from Cowboy Bebop and Shishio from Rurouni Kenshin.
The comedy aspect of the show stems largely from Onizuka’s personality. He has a hilarious face for every different situation and really serves as a shining star of comedy. The drama also largely involves Onizuka but it’s the stories of the troubled students that drive many of the show’s story arcs. This perhaps is the shows second greatest asset because just as Onizuka is a terrifically interesting character, his students are nearly as interesting. They each have a unique backstory, that in several cases, justifies their hatred of teachers. Still, in the end it all falls to Onizuka as it’s always a dramatic affair to watch him put it all on the line for his students as he wins them over one at a time. Throughout the show, Onizuka does to great lengths for them; he jumps off a building, takes three bullets in the abdomen, becomes a criminal and much more.
The show does have a couple drawbacks. There are several filler episodes sprinkled throughout the series and one of the latter story arcs has a bit of a decline in quality, however aside from this, there are few negative things to say about a show that is nearly perfect in every aspect. This isn’t a show that can or should be avoided by any anime fan.
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