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Cover of Japanese version of the mangaCover of the Tokyopop's version  of the manga


From : http://www.therossman.com/rrr/anime/gto.html (Ratin', Reviewin',Rossmanin' GTO - Great Teacher Onizuka)

Many things in this world are complete mysteries. Like, why is the sky blue? Why do cows taste so good? Why is prostitution illegal in most States? And, for the sake of this review, why are all teachers such bitches and dickheads? Yeah, I've had a couple of teachers and professors over the years that I didn't truly hate, but they were nothing outstanding. The reason I didn't loathe those few individuals was because they either didn't bury us in homework every night, or, like the bouncy Ms. Trauly, they let us take pictures of them naked while riding a horse. In my entire 16 years of schooling I have never found a teacher who was totally and completely and ruggedly "cool". One who actually made me want to go to class just to hang out with him/her. Well, not until now... And Onizuka Eikichi is fictional.

GTO is the story of a 22 year-old biker/slacker who never grew up. Onizuka likes to get shit faced every night with his pals and sit under escalators every day in order to look up girls' skirts. He likes to beat the living tar out of troublemakers who give him any lip and then he enjoys going out looking for 18 year-old tail while cruising on his hog. But one day inspiration strikes him in a grand way and he finds a goal in life. That goal being making it as a high school teacher and finding some cute pigtailed honey under his tutelage to be his wife... In case you haven't guessed, this show is most definitely from the land of deviants, Japan.

Never before has a show grabbed me and shaken me (like a red-headed stepchild) as GTO has. I watched all 43 episodes of the anime in less than a week. I just couldn't turn it off. It was hysterically superfragalosticly funny. It kept making me wonder what kind of kooky educational plan was Onizuka going to come up with next. It kept me guessing as to how the Vice Principal was either going to get smacked around or how he would plot his pitiful revenge against the bleached Great Teacher himself. And every new character that arrived actually added to the overall plot of the series. It wasn't like any of those pathetic other anime and manga out there that just throws in a new cast member for the old ones to interact with when the ideas run low. The overall feel of GTO in that sense is relative to Urusei Yatsura. By the end of its run it's got an extremely large cast, but each and every one of them feels like a member of your family... that is if you have an enormous and dysfunctional family.

If I ever find that I have no career paths open to me in the near (or far) future I plan to follow my new idol, Onizuka's, example. I'll become a teacher, beat the crap out of my trouble making students, hit on my cute female coworkers (who will all fall desperately in love with me no matter how hard they deny it), blow up my boss' luxury car a few times, and help the rowdy bastards in my class see the error of their ways by pushing them off of bridges, buildings and driving them off of unfinished overpasses on my motorcycle. Watch out! Great Teacher Rossman is about to be born!!!

What did I think of GTO? In the end I find that I must give it a 98% out of 100% of Rossman Satisfaction Points. If only it had done the extra credit, it may have gotten a perfect score. The only problem that I had with it was that it was too short. I needed more Onizuka-sensei and a lot more Kanzaki Urumi. She friggin' ruled!


From : http://www.anime-tourist.com/article.php?sid=60 (Anime Tourist Review - GTO Anime)

Excerpts:-

GTO stands for Great Teacher Onizuka, which is what the main character intends to be. Onizuka is an ex-motorcycle gang leader and high school cheat (someone else took his tests for him), who decides to become a teacher so that he can make time with pretty young schoolgirls. Educated mostly on the street, he is a lech, not particularly bright and rather venial. Not exactly the characteristics which one would expect to find in a teacher. However, if his buddy can settle and make something of himself, then he can do it as well. Besides, how hard can it be to teach?

Surprisingly difficult as he discovers, where the greatest challenge is overcoming the biases of the faculty for "scum" like him. Onizuka is a punk and who better to reach out to the "lost kids" but one of their own kind. Given that opportunity by perceptive school administrators, Onizuka comes to realize that he really enjoys teaching and that he can make a difference, especially to the troubled youths that remind him of his past. GTO is a story about bridging the widening gap between disaffected youth and a society incapable and unwilling to deal with them.

We liked this series. It had a lot of humor and the art work was really good and done in a realistic style. This is a story that could easily have gone wrong when presented as anime. Based on the manga by the same name and written by Tohru Fujisawa, GTO was published in 1997 by KC Magazine Shounen Comics and has been running for the last couple of years. It's been wildly popular in Japan and has even spawned a series of live action videos. English versions of the manga have been released by Tokyopop, so if you are not sure about getting this series, we advise you to check out the manga. The anime is amazingly faithful to the original manga, though it somehow manages to make him seem slightly less perverted and more likable.

(more at the link above)


From : http://www.akadot.com/reviews/GTO1-1.html (Akadot Review - GTO vol. 1 anime) 2 pages.

Excerpts:

Society in the Funhouse Mirror: What GTO Reveals About Modern Living
GTO (Great Teacher Onizuka) is the story of former teen gang leader turned schoolteacher, Eikichi Onizuka - crass, prurient, the story claims virginal, with a feeble education and a penchant for violence - and his transgression from social scourge to inspired leader.

With as much anime rooted in the obsessive, perverted, repressed Japanese libido as there is spilling off the shelves, injecting one with the mainstream Japanese obsession with the insipid ornaments of street culture would seem to bury a project in low brow dirt. However, GTO culls this multitude of grating anime clichés and channels them into a substantial story about the spoils of urban apathy. Onizuka is a two-pronged hero - one brand of hero that inadvertently (and driven at first by residual adolescent angst) shakes the core of a sterile, regimented society; and the other that defiantly faces down the mind-numbing fancy of anime slapstick, brandishing many of the same tools, but also a heart to boot.

On the surface, GTO's answers to conflict are just as basely savage as, say, Dragonball Z. Brute force will succeed where diplomacy, trust and respect fail, although, this isn't necessarily a bad thing in the world of G.T.O. Workaholic parents grow loveless; disenfranchised kids gangbang; the school system slowly atrophies. The show accepts as its premise that this trio of traits for civilized living has worn away, leaving exposed the cold gormlessness of modern society, something that may need a smack in the face.

Which is also what makes the series so funny, and what infuses meaning into all of the same physical comedy gags that make something like, say, Amazing Nurse Nanako erroneously titled. Director Noriyuki Abe has created a distinctive, but not-jarring, contrast between the rules of GTO's fictional society and how the comedy of the show offends them (something that NieA_7 director Tago Sato attempted but failed to pull off when he paired the wan, empathetic Mayuko with NieA the sociopath). The humor results from the intersection of full-fleshed sectors of society, rather than jokes drawn from a well-spring of hackneyed gimmicks.

Of course, like most anime, subtlety rarely factors into the show, its sentiments displayed as on its arm as boldy as Onizuka wears his tattoos. But they are sentiments that don't ring hollow like the good versus evil trope of less socially conscious anime - parents have to balance their professional lives, their romantic lives and the lives they share with their children; children will fulfill the expectations placed on them - verbal abuse breeds garbage; people are hardly ever how they at first appear. Curiously missing from this list is the futility of violence as a means to an end, an idea that the show definitely does not embrace as it dishes out its prescription for hard love on young punks and acerbic teachers alike. Onizuka gives into his temper, but he learns to fine-tune his brutishness to focus on that which seems impossible to excoriate, a skein on hopelessness.

He is not a great educator, and he is not a great judge of right and wrong. Great Teacher Onizuka is great because he has the capacity to care. And, maudlin as that may be, it's what sets GTO apart from the anime dunces in the corner.

(more at the link above)


From : http://www.animefu.com/index.pl?node_id=8111 (Animefu.com Great Teacher Onizuka Volume 1 Anime)

Excerpts:-

Great Teacher Onizuka is a series that surprised me. Before I saw this DVD, I had heard what GTO was supposed to be about: a former street gang member with a colorful history decides he wants to be a teacher so he can live the easy life: three months off a year and surrounded by young, impressionable girls. Having heard this, I pretty much judged the series immediately (saccharine characters with boring plot elements and lots of fan service), but when I finally saw it, I found out how wrong I was (except for the bit about fan service).

GTO succeeds because despite the seemingly (at first) shallow characters depicted, there is a depth and roundedness to Onizuka that really carries the series. Eikichi Onizuka might be a thug or a pervert, but he's a nice guy and deep down he knows to do the right thing.

(more at the link above)


From : http://www.animedorks.com/otaku/21/gto.html (Otaku - Great Teacher Onizuka manga)

Excerpts:-

Great Teacher Onizuki, or referred to as GTO, began as your classic manga series, and quickly became a hit. It in turn spawned not only said anime series, but a live-action drama series as well. While "sweet christ" passes your lips, the story revolves around Ekichi Onizuka, a 22-year old ex-biker gang member with a 2nd degree blackbelt in karate. For some odd reason, he wishes to become a teacher; not just A teacher, but "the greatest teacher in japan". He's crude, foul-mouthed, looks up girls skirts, fantasizes about being a 40-year old husband with a 16-year old wife, and has a split-second temper. Beyond all that, however, he manages to land a job as a teacher at a private academy, where one needs not to pass a general teaching exam to be hired. The rest of the formula is simple in execution, but its results are so varied and wonderful that one can't help but come to see him as an older brother. Handed the worst class in japan's history, well, so they say, it's his secondary duty to quell the corruption that goes on in that class. Of course the class doesn't appear to look as evil as many claim, but then it's never that simple in anime. How he handles suicides, fights and blackmail are all the situations that test Onizuka as a character.

Before I even watched the fansubs, I read up a bit about this series, and knew it would be a great series. It doesn't rely on superb animation or wildly creative plots. In actuality, the animation is rather basic, taking on more of a manga style in certain parts. Heavy, thick black lines chalk certain facial expressions and action sequences. But, it gets the job done, and that's what is important. In addition, Onizuka himself is a very visual character: earrings, rides a motorcycle, and smokes. Plus, his Union Jack styled couch completely rules. He stands out so much as an enigmatic character, whether he's screaming or being screamed at. If there is one aspect of this series that can be difficult to comprehend, it's the heavy use of cultural references. It's fairly common for older men to dream of having a wife that's barely legal, and it's legal to boot. That wouldn't happen here, unless you lived in West Virginia O_o. He occasionally breaks into buddhist ornaments and symbolism; thank God kuronekoanime provided some translation help. It's nothing that detracts from the story overall, but it's much funnier if understood.

(more at the link above)


From: http://www.ex.org/3.1/27-manga_gto.html (GTO Manga)

Excerpts:-

So you like to read manga about many weird and different things? Well, maybe you do not. If you do, however, GTO (GREAT TEACHER ONIZUKA) is an amusing if curious story to read. In many ways GTO is probably rather indicative of many manga currently being written. It deals with a male protagonist who leads a rather blessed life in his pursuit of happiness. Along the way he helps many people around him and makes the world generally a better place. This is despite appearing to be quite the irreverent punk that his character is based on.

So what makes this story enjoyable? GTO is a story revolving around Onizuka Eikichi. He is a 22 year-old lay-about that has not discovered his course in life. His favorite word is "great." Apparently, he has been hanging out Tokyo for six years trying to find some way to fulfill his dreams. Up until the story begins he has been running various part-time jobs, hanging out with gangs and a karate club for whom he is some sort of star.

Onizuka relates to his buddy why they came to Tokyo in the first place. Onizuka, a random punk, had wanted to become a "great" guy. Onizuka realizes that he will never realize his dream if he does not go for a change of career. While engaged in one of his favorite preoccupations, staring up the skirts of girls going up the escalator as he tries to appear nonchalant, Onizuka meets the person who will give him his direction. A young girl stops by and accuses him of staring up her skirt.

She is not put off by Onizuka's act and says that she actually does not mind. That is why she wears such skirts, after all. However, in exchange for what he saw, she would like to be paid with a meal. After feasting well at Onizuka's expense she begins to ask him what he does for a living. Onizuka gives nondescript answers which she manages to fill in for him, such as being a producer for a TV drama, driving a Porsche, etc. Erika, as we find out she is named, states that she would be jealous of Onizuka's girlfriend. Onizuka, totally overcome by his situation, tries to play along as best as he can, getting himself buried deeper and deeper. The meal ends with Erika getting Onizuka's pager number and saying that, the next time they meet, she wants to go for a drive in his Porsche. Onizuka is left saying himself "What Porsche!?"

Later, at another karate club meeting, when the boys have managed to bring in some girls, Onizuka finds enough reason to leave as soon as possible. While wandering the streets wondering about the story he wove, he gets a page from Erika saying that she wishes to meet him. Onizuka resolves to tell her the truth; that he is no producer nor does he drive a Porsche. However, he finds Erika crying and Onizuka loses all resolve in the face of her sadness. He immediately spots a young well to-do man driving a BMW, talking on his cell phone. Onizuka immediately offers the guy his Air-Max sneakers for his BMW, giving the driver little choice. (You will have to read the manga to see how he got the pair of Air-Max in the first place.) He drives suavely by Erika, offering her a ride. In the background the poor driver is left there, staring with his cell phone by his ear and Onizuka's Air-Max on his feet. Erika is surprised that he is driving a BMW instead of a Porsche. Onizuka covers that he actually has two cars...........

(more at the link above)


From : http://www.needcoffee.com/html/dvd/gto1.htm (GTO Anime volume 1)

Excerpts:-

Eikichi Onizuka, former leader of a biker gang and martial arts champion, wants to be a teacher, mostly because he wants to have his way with the nubile young minds of high school girls. In the process of becoming a teacher and getting started, he has to face blackmail schemes, dysfunctional families, insane students, and more. Along the way, Onizuka discovers that smoking, drinking, and swearing, as well as being violent and under-sexed, might just help make him the best teacher in his school.

GTO does a great job of depicting the comic side of teaching, but it also succeeds in switching from comedy to drama in a heartbeat, and from puerile to serious just as quickly. Unusual, quirky, and amusing, GTO manages to walk the line between silly and serious, and produces an Anime title that works for a wide variety of viewers. Onizuka's office is hysterical - be sure to notice the statues he adds outside the door by the stairs.

On the other hand, American audiences might be uncomfortable with the idea of a physically abusive and sexually predatory teacher. If viewers can appreciate the fact that Onizuka does not actually try to seduce any under-age girls, much less succeed, then perhaps they can appreciate the other aspects of the title. In fact, when given the chance, Onizuka's heart of gold shines through, and he ends up helping the girl in question when no one else could - and leaving her person unmolested. By no means do I or TOKYOPOP endorse child abuse, either physical or sexual, but it isn't impossible to have a fine comedy/adventure that contains such elements when no children were hurt during the making of the film. People who are extremely sensitive to such issues, however, should take warning......

(more at the link above)


From : http://animekakumei.com/kakumei/dvd_reviews/gto_dvd1.html ( GTO Anime vol. 1)

Excerpts:-

Eikichi Onizuka is a 22 years old and wants to become a teacher. A graduate from a third rate college, with some help from his best friend Ryuji, he enrolls in a semester of student teaching at the local high school. Of course, his alterior motives are to scope out the hot high school chick in their uniforms. Something that's on every 22 year old's mind right? Well, when it comes to actually teaching, Onizuka draws the worst class in the school and finds out it's much harder than it seems. With his students blackmailing him with pictures of him and a female student he befriended, Onizuka is learning the hard way. his student, on the other hand, are about to learn something about Eikichi Onizuka. The man who was once a former bike gang leader, doesn't take crap from anybody; ESPECIALLY not punks who want to ruin his chances at becoming a real teacher.

After serving his time student teaching, and missing the required test for teaching, Onizuka applies for a teaching job at the Holy Forest Private School. Along the way, he meets an attractive applicant named Azusa Fuyutsuki and Onizuka gets off in his own little world of teacher/teacher affairs and so forth, but when it comes to the actual interview, Eikichi isn't so lucky. In a strange turn of events and an exhibition of a picture perfect Karl Gotch German Suplex, Onizuka is hired for the job by the school's head chairwoman.

Now, the real work begins as Onizuka is hired on to become the homeroom teacher of the most troublesome class in the entire school, and his student waste no time in attempting to oust him from the school. Teaching isn't all it's cracked up to be, but Eikichi has promised to his students that he will make school fun for everybody, and Onizuka isn't one to go back on his promises.

Right off the bat, GTO's hook is it's comedy. Onizuka is one hilarious guy with the ability to switch between serious and comedic in an instant. Of course, you know there's more to him than thar, but that's what hits you straight off. Of course, the other characters introduced in this volume add to the appeal. Good, real characters with flaws and actual situations that shape their character. His best friend Ryuji, who runs his own bike shop and acts as Eikichi's voice of reason. Azusa, Onizuka's potential love interest is a sensitive sort that has a habit of jumping to conclusions, but is a real sweet woman. The school's odd chairwoman, and Uchiyamada the vice-principal with the strange love for Crestas.

(more at the link above)


From : http://www.thecasualspectator.net/anime_and_manga/2001/gto.htm (GTO Manga vol.1-5)

Full article:-

Great Teacher Onizuka #1-5: The Journey of a Megalomaniac
"But he looks like a rapist," said I. When I first saw a picture of Onizuka-sensei.

It turns out that I was evidently mistaken, for he is a twenty-two-year-old virgin, and probably remains so for a large part of the series. But of course he evinces fervent interest in any living creature with two moulds on the chest. Being constitutionally lazy, methinks most things he does are merely ornamental, even in cases where he happens to be manhandling the problems of the teenagers under his charge by the neck. It's easy to mistake mooning about for real heroism in this sort of manga, though it must be said that it is a scathing satire of Japanese society. You don't have to relish all his sick jokes, but they are all the byproduct of life in recessional Japan.

Great Teacher Onizuka, not to be confused with Mitsubishi's motorcar GTO, is a miracle man of sorts who utilizes seemingly baneful ruses to reform young persons on the brink of revenge suicide, among other things. Considered a failure of society himself, he mixes and stews with problematic youngsters who are a little slow in the head to attend the best schools, or the best class in a fifth-rate school for that matter. Sufficient to say, there are many insurmountable oppositions that he has to contend with. The dialogue of this manga is fairly sharp, which leaves me wondering if the English translation thereof even comes near to rendering in full those cultural nuances that belong to Japan and Japan only.

You realize that I think that the manga is outrageously hilarious only because I am no longer in high school.


From: http://www.otakurevu.com/gtosection.htm (Tokyopop GTO Anime DVD).

Volume 1:-
Cover of Tokyopop GTO DVD 1
We all wish we had a teacher like this!

Onizuka wants to be a High School teacher for two reasons: One: to help kids out Two: .... to look at hot babes all day long!!! Of course, there is no place for a teacher like that in a school, or is there. Onizuka has a bad temper, and when he gets pissed, you better not mess with him. Lucky for him there's a need for a "problem" solver.

Onizuka ends up with every bad class in every school it is. He has a nack for helping children that seem to be over violent, or mischievious.

Ultimately, throughout the 4 episodes we learn that not only is Onizuka a pervert, and that he has a very dark past, but that he is also caring and apparently a very good teacher. You'll love all the sexual innuendos and references made like video game freaks. There's a scene where some student manipulate photos of Onizuka in a sexual way. Parents beware, there is no nudity, but take the over 13 age to heart, unless you want to answer some pretty sticky questions.

Just like Onizuka, with his shady past, the animation can be shady at times. Some times you'll fall in love with the character, while other times, you'll wonder who drew it.

Unlike most anime who choose to use the ultra simplified faces for comic relief, GTO takes a change to the more realistic, giving the song "I think I'm turning Japanese" new meaning.

You might recognize one Spike Spiegal as Onizuka, (we really should learn these actors' names) which is just a joy to listen to. In addition, the supporting cast can't be definitively called all stars but they certainly get the job done the way any anime fan would like.
The first double episode really pushes the dvd into a whole new level. You get 4 episodes, but it'll feel like 5. If that wasn't enough, the menu design by Nightjar makes you just want stare at it all day long, increasing the value rating.

This series has a ton of potential, it's hilarious, ultimately has a good point. This is just the kind of show that could take over a prime time slot on a network if anyone had that kind of juevos. Since that won't happen you owe it to yourself to see what should be an instant classic. This one will definitely have you rolling.

Volume 2:-
Cover of Tokyopop GTO DVD 2
Why anyone who has seen the first DVD would even need to read the review of the second is beyond me.

A quick look at the back of the DVD will give you a pretty good overview as to what happens in the anime. If you watched the first DVD, then you'll already have a basic understanding of how each episode will go down. However, this is where Onizuka separates itself from every other B anime out there.

Great Teacher Onizuka finally gets those awful girls back for bullying their classmate, by taking pictures of them. Of course, he gets in trouble and in typical perverted Onizuka fashion, he gets out of it with a little help from some unlikely classmates.

Following that incident it time for the parent visit. One question? What's the worst thing that could happen from someone meeting your mother? That's right! Murai is desparate to stop Onizuka from meeting his Mom, and all indication is that Onizuka wants what Murai thinks he wants. It's no surprise however, the Onizuka is up to ... good.

Finally, Onizuka save Murai from some thugs, and outswims the PE teacher in hilarious fashion.

Simply put GTO is a keeper.

It's classic Anime style animation. It's limited frame, highly stylized, and ultra cool, that is if you're into classic looking anime.

Sometimes you'll question the casting choices of some of the supporting characters, in particular, the girls, however, overall GTO features a stellar soundtrack and cast.
Getting 4 episodes is usually enough for a good score here at Otaku Revu. Especially with alot of companies putting 3 episodes now. However, when you get 5 episodes or more for the same price as a 4 episoder, you really have feel good about the purchase. In addition, the menu system and extras make it feel even better.

If you don't know by now, you better ask somebody. This is one great series, about one great teacher. Onizuka is simply too funny, and too good of a series to pass up. This is one the whole family 13 and over can enjoy.

Volume 3:-
Cover of Tokyopop GTO DVD 3
What's in store for Great Teacher Onizuka this volume? More children trying to get him fired? Yep, and everyone else too.

This DVD starts what appears to be a larger story arc. When Onizuka helps out Nomura after she's been shunned by her classmates, he sets her up to participate in a pop star contest, which reveals Nomura's feeling to her once best friend. Following this event the math teacher, who secretly stalks Fuyutsuki, tries to get him fired by having him take the equivalent of the SAT. Onizuka then enjoys a full episode of studying with Fuyutsuki, and has problems controlling all his somewhat demented urges.

More characterization really endears these characters to you. You'll learn more about the students and their great teacher. In fact, with this DVD it's official, this is the single best Teacher/Student genre film/series ever.

As stated in earlier reviews. Onizuka won't win awards, but it does its job just fine in the animation dept.

Sometimes you'll question the casting choices of some of the supporting characters, in particular, the girls, however, overall GTO features a stellar soundtrack and cast.
Five episodes yet again, make this purchase soo much easier.

At first this series seemed like another crazy character teaches about life anime, but it has ended up being one of the best reasons to be an anime fan in 2002.

Volume 4:-
Cover of Tokyopop GTO DVD 4
You know him, you love him. Onizuka, is everyone's favorite teacher.

You'd think that Onizuka could find enough trouble by simply working at a high schoool, but apparently trouble finds him, all too easily. This DVD picks up where the last one ended. Onizuka breaks up a little brat's kidnapping, ruining his chance at passing the test. If you know Onizuka though, then you know he passes in the end much to everyone's dismay. Not to mention he passes out from being shot.

The next few episodes feature Onizuka battling Urumi, another spoiled student who holds his future in her hands. She forces him to buy a large sushi dinner with no cash, in one of the serie's most hilarious moments. After some fun with Onizuka, it's finally revealed that she really DOES want attention, and her bomb threats are much more serious than it would seem.


The five episodes are truly great, and if you've been watching this long, then you know you'll enjoy every minute. Nothing has changed in the animation or soundtrack department, but this series is one of the few so well written that it doesn't matter.

Competing with only Hellsing as the single best series release of last year (2002), Great Teacher Onizuka is certainly well worth the money to watch.


 

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Great Teacher Onizuka GTO © Touru Fujisawa, Shukan Shonen Magazine, Studio Pierrot, Fuji TV, SPE Studioworks, Kodansha Publishing Ltd. 1997-2002.