Great Teacher Onizuka

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Great Teacher Onizuka
GTO manga.jpg
The first volume of Great Teacher Onizuka,
published by Tokyopop, featuring Eikichi Onizuka.
グレート・ティーチャー・オニヅカ
(Gurēto Tīchā Onizuka)
Genre Comedy-drama, School, Slice of Life
Manga
Written by Tooru Fujisawa
Published by Kodansha
English publisher
Demographic Shōnen
Magazine Weekly Shōnen Magazine
Original run 16 May 1997 – 17 April 2002
Volumes 25
Television drama
Directed by Masayuki Suzuki
Written by Tohru Fujisawa
Network Fuji Television, Kansai TV
Original run 7 July 1998 – 22 September 1998
Episodes 12 + 1 Special
Live-action film
Directed by Masayuki Suzuki
Released 1999
Runtime 140 minutes
Anime television series
Directed by Naoyasu Hanyu
Noriyuki Abe
Studio Studio Pierrot
Licensed by
Network Animax, Fuji Television
English network
Showtime, Anime Selects
Original run 30 June 1999 – 24 September 2000
Episodes 43 (List of episodes)
Manga
GTO Shonan 14 Days
Written by Tohru Fujisawa
Published by Kodansha
English publisher Vertical Inc
Demographic Shōnen
Magazine Weekly Shōnen Magazine
Original run 2009 – 2011[1]
Volumes 9
Television drama
Directed by Imai Kazuhisa
Produced by Kasai Hideyuki, Yamamoto Yoshihiko]]
Written by Tohru Fujisawa
Music by Haneoka Kei
Network Fuji Television, Kansai TV
Original run 3 July 2012 – 11 September 2012
Episodes 11 + 3 Special
Portal icon Anime and Manga portal

Great Teacher Onizuka (グレート・ティーチャー・オニヅカ Gurēto Tīchā Onizuka?), officially abbreviated as GTO, is a Japanese shōnen manga written and illustrated by Tohru Fujisawa. It was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Magazine from May 1997 to April 2002. The story focuses on 22-year-old ex-bōsōzoku member Eikichi Onizuka, who becomes a teacher at a private middle school, Holy Forest Academy, in Tokyo, Japan. It won the 1998 Kodansha Manga Award for shōnen,[2] and is a continuation of Tohru Fujisawa's other manga series Shonan Junai Gumi (lit. "Shōnan True Love Group") and Bad Company, both of which focus on the life of Onizuka before he becomes a teacher in Great Teacher Onizuka. As of 9 June 2009, a sequel to the GTO manga was released in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine, under the title "GTO - Shonan 14 Days". North American publisher Vertical Inc will begin publishing "GTO: Shonan 14 Days" globally in English, as GTO: 14 Days in Shonan beginning January 2012. Vertical will also be continuing the Shonan Junai Gumi manga series, from volume 11 onwards, as "GTO: The Early Years" starting in February 2012.[3]

Due to the popularity of the manga, several adaptations of GTO were made. These adaptations include a twelve-episode Japanese television drama running from July to September 1998; a live-action film directed by Masayuki Suzuki and released in December 1999;[4] and a 43-episode anime television series, aired in Japan by Fuji Television and Animax from June 1999 to September 2000. Both the anime and manga have been licensed in North America by Tokyopop.[5] The Tokyopop version of the manga is out-of-print as of August 31, 2009.[6] A remake of the television drama began airing in July 2012.

Contents

Plot [edit]

Main article: List of Great Teacher Onizuka characters

Eikichi Onizuka is a 22-year-old ex-gang member and a virgin. While peeping up girls' skirts at a local shopping mall, Onizuka meets a girl who agrees to go out on a date with him. Onizuka's attempt to sleep with her fails when her current "boyfriend", her teacher, shows up at the love hotel they are in and asks her to return to him. The teacher is old and unattractive, but has sufficient influence over her that she leaps from a second-story window and lands in his arms.

Onizuka, upon seeing this display of a teacher's power over girls, decides to become a teacher himself. However, he earns his teaching degree, just barely, at a second-rate college.[7] In his quest, he discovers two important things: he has a conscience and a sense of morality. This means taking advantage of impressionable schoolgirls is out, but their unusually attractive mothers are a different matter. He enjoys teaching and, most of the time, he teaches life lessons rather than the routine schoolwork. He hates the systems of traditional education, especially when they have grown ignorant and condescending to students and their needs.

With these realizations, he sets out to become the greatest teacher ever, using his own brand of philosophy and the ability to do nearly anything when under enough pressure. He is hired as a long-shot teacher by a privately operated school, in Kichijōji, to tame a class that has driven one teacher to a mysterious death, another to nervous breakdown, and one other to joining a cult. He embarks on a mission of self-discovery by breaking through to each student one-by-one, and helping each student to overcome their problems and learn to genuinely enjoy life. He uses methods that would be unorthodox, against the law, and also life threatening, yet somehow, he manages to succeed to educate and open up his students.

Shonan 14 Days [edit]

During summer vacation, Onizuka tells a particularly bad story on live TV about how he once nearly buried one of his students alive (Urumi Kanzaki) and decides to lie low until the outrage blows over for two weeks. He goes back to his old stomping grounds in Shonan and runs into a friend of Azusa, a colleague of his from school, named Shiratori. She is a caregiver at the White Swan Youth Home which houses kids from broken homes. Shiratori invites him to stay with them and help out, and Onizuka obliges her in order to help the kids in the same manner he does at school.

Media information [edit]

Main article: List of Great Teacher Onizuka chapters

Live-action [edit]

1998 Version [edit]

A 12-episode live-action Japanese television drama was aired, based loosely on the manga. Takashi Sorimachi stars as Onizuka, and Nanako Matsushima as Azusa Fuyutsuki. It is directed by Masayuki Suzuki, with music composed by Takayuki Hattori and the opening song, "Poison", sung by Sorimachi himself. There are several drastic changes from the manga to fit the 12-hour format of the live-action series, such as the following:

  • Nanako Mizuki also studies at the Holy Forest Academy.
  • Uehara Anko does not appear in the live-action (on 1998 Series); instead, her characteristics are merged into Miyabi Aizawa's character, thus making Miyabi the daughter of the PTA President. Most notably about Miyabi is that she is not nearly as vicious and antagonist to Onizuka as she was in the manga and anime.
  • Ryuji Danma does not appear in the live-action (1998 Series), but rather is combined with Onizuka's police friend, Toshiyuki Saejima, and becomes Ryuji Saejima.
  • Julia Murai, Kunio's mother, conceived Kunio at age 17, instead of 13.
  • Onizuka has his own apartment away from the school, but chooses to sleep at the school during the summer (he states his home has no air conditioning)
  • Yoshiko Uchiyamada, the daughter of Vice-Principal Hiroshi Uchiyamada, has a serious love interest in Onizuka (though not reciprocated).
  • Many of the events in the live-action appear out of sequence to the manga and anime adaptations

Because of these changes fans of GTO are divided on how well the series captures the spirit of GTO. According to Tokyopop, the final episode was the most watched television program ever in Japan.[8]

A two-hour television special followed in August 1999, and a theatrical movie in January 2000. The comic GTO (Grand Teacher Onizuka), about an ex-delinquent who teaches delinquents, became a popular drama series in Hong Kong and Taiwan in 1999.[9]

2012 Version [edit]

An 11-episode remake of the television drama began airing on July 2012 on Fuji TV, with the titular character played by Akira of Japanese band Exile.[10] Akira cut his hair short and dyed it with blond highlights in order to play the role. A special 2 hour episode has been aired on October 2, 2012.[11] In this remake:

  • Both Ryuji Danma and Toshiyuki Saejima appear as the best friends of Onizuka's, and they appear to live together in the same house.
  • Kanzaki Urumi, a student of the Class 2-4, has shown as a love interest in Onizuka. As the exceptionally clever student that she is, Kanzaki is the one person to guide Onizuka through his studies before his taking the national exams. However, Onizuka was involved in a brawl just before taking his exams, and copious bleeding over the exam papers prevent his answers from being assessed.
  • Events from both the manga and "GTO Shonan 14 days" are shown throughout the series.

Anime [edit]

Main article: List of Great Teacher Onizuka episodes

The running time of Episode 1 was 45 minutes. After that, episodes 2-43 are 25 minutes.

 This section may contain original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. (February 2008)

Opening Songs [edit]

  1. "Driver's High" by L'Arc-en-Ciel (Eps. 1-16)
  2. Hitori no Yoru (ヒトリノ夜, A Lonely Night) by Porno Graffitti (Eps. 17-43)

Ending Songs [edit]

  1. "Last Piece" by Kirari (Eps. 1-16)
  2. "Shizuku" (しずく, Droplet) by Miwako Okuda (Eps. 17-33)
  3. "Cherished Memories" by Hong Kong Knife (Eps. 34-42)
  4. "Driver's High" by L'Arc-en-Ciel (Ep. 43)

As a result of the popularity of the manga and live-action series, an animated adaptation was developed. It was directed by Noriyuki Abe and Naoyasu Hanyu of Studio Pierrot.

The anime closely follows the manga plot up to volume 14. However, it ran past the story arc of the manga, resulting in a new ending. The main characters are similar to their manga counterparts, but side characters become underdeveloped; some did not appear in the anime at all. Nudity, violence, and perversion were toned down for the anime.

Music [edit]

Two volumes of the original soundtrack were released.

Song Title Artist
Opening  "Driver's High" L'Arc-en-Ciel
Closing "Last Piece" Kirari
Opening "Hitori No Yoru" Porno Graffitti
Closing "Shizuku" Miwako Okuda
Closing "Cherished Memories"   Hong Kong Knife

References [edit]

  1. ^ http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-08-29/gto/shonan-14-days-sequel-manga-to-end-in-japan
  2. ^ Joel Hahn. "Kodansha Manga Awards". Comic Book Awards Almanac. Archived from the original on 2007-08-16. Retrieved 2007-08-21. 
  3. ^ http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-05-26/vertical-adds-gto-prequel-sequel-manga
  4. ^ "GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka Critic Reviews", Rotten Tomatoes, 1999, webpage: RTgto.
  5. ^ "GTO Volume 1". Tokyopop. Retrieved 2008-09-26. 
  6. ^ "TOKYOPOP Inc. Out of Print Titles." Tokyopop. 1." Retrieved on September 10, 2009.
  7. ^ "GTO-Great-Teacher-Onizuka-The-Movie - Trailer - Cast", New York Times, 1999, webpage: NYT87.
  8. ^ Tokyopop, Archived July 1, 2007 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2007-02-11.
  9. ^ "Cute Power!". Newsweek. 1999-10-08. Retrieved 2008-09-23. 
  10. ^ "Exile's Akira Replaces Akanishi on GTO Remake". Anime News Network. 2011-05-05. Retrieved 2011-05-06. 
  11. ^ "GTO to air two-hour special episode in October". Tokyo Hive. Retrieved 2012-10-03. 

External links [edit]
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