Kinpachi-sensei
| Kinpachi-sensei ３年Ｂ組金八先生 |
|
|---|---|
| Genre | Drama |
| Created by | Mieko Osanai |
| Starring | Tetsuya Takeda |
| Composer(s) | Missa Johnouchi Ichizo Seo |
| Country of origin | Japan |
| Language(s) | Japanese |
| No. of seasons | 8 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Mitsuru Yanai |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | TBS |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Original run | October 26, 1979 – March 27, 2011 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Kinpachi-sensei (３年Ｂ組金八先生 San-nen B-gumi Kinpachi-sensei) is a Japanese television drama.
Kinpachi-sensei is the story of a 3rd year junior high school class in Japan; its teacher is Kinpachi Sakamoto (坂本金八 Sakamoto Kinpachi), played by Tetsuya Takeda. Kinpachi-sensei has a lot of social commentary on issues such as homosexuality, gender identity disorder, and psychological pregnancy--as well as bullying (of both students and teachers), teenage pregnancy, teenage suicide, hikikomori, and the extreme pressure to do well in school.[citation needed]
The series began in 1979, a pivotal year when issues such as delinquency and on campus violence reached a fever-pitch amongst the educational spectrum; "Kinpachi Sensei," portrayed by former singer Tetsuya Takeda of Kaientai fame, attempts to resolve such problems using a blend of charisma, honesty, and humor and wit.[citation needed]
In 2001, the series helped to rocket Aya Ueto to greater national attention after she portrayed a student with gender identity disorder; Kinpachi made it his mission to teach the class about issues relating to gender identity so as to stop Ueto's character from feeling consistently alienated from her peers.[original research?]
In 2011, Keito Okamoto of Hey! Say! JUMP will appear in the drama's final episode as a student delinquent.[1]
Part of Kinpachi sensei's enduring appeal is the fact that the character's energy and dynamism help to steer him through all of life's difficulties; there never seems to be a single time in the show's history in which Kinpachi is not beset by a host of social or personal problems: teen bullying, Kinpachi's son developing cancer, violence directed against teachers.[original research?]
[edit] In popular culture
- In the TV anime Gintama there is a segment which sometimes appears after the ending theme where Sakata Gintoki, the series' main protagonist, portrays a lollipop-smoking teacher called "Ginpachi-sensei," teaching class 3-Z.
- Author Koushun Takami's Battle Royale contains a character named Kinpatsu Sakamochi, a satirical reference to Kinpachi. In Takami's text, Sakamochi is a sadistic individual who seems to gleefully delight in the exploits of the 42 students forced to kill each other in "The Program." Some[citation needed] critics see Sakamochi's sadism as a sardonic attack on the idealized Kinpachi. The manga version of Battle Royale has an evil teacher named Yonemi Kamon, while the film has Kitano.
- In the Live-action version of the anime "Great Teacher Onizuka" ("GTO"), Onizuka makes a few mentions of Kinpachi-sensei, implying that he is a fan of the series, since his complete collection gets stolen in one of the beginning episodes.
