Disc 5: Following up on the interview in the previous volume, we get another ten minutes of time with series creator Tohru Fujisawa. He continues to provide some interesting insights into the series and his general work ethic, making me more and more interested in seeing some of his other works. The new openings and endings that started on the last volume appear here as well and we've got the original eye-catches as an extra too. The outtakes section runs just about a minute and a half and has a few amusing pieces to it.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Based on the manga by Tohru Fujisawa which ran for twenty five volumes and was released completely by TOKYOPOP, GTO is a forty-three episode series. This box set contains the first five volumes which encompasses episodes one through twenty three. It's actually a slight bit more in a way since the first episode is a double length episode that introduces the basic premise before the show shifts into its true setting. Serving as a follow-up to Shonan Junai Gumi, Great Teacher Onizuka took Japan by storm and earned quite a reputation abroad as well. When TOKOYPOP picked up the series it was certainly worth rejoicing over as they really did treat it right for the most part. Enough so that it stands the test of time even now and comes across as a solidly entertaining release.
Great Teacher Onizuka is the kind of show where you wonder how the kids ever really learn anything academic. The entire premise is centered around life lessons which is done in a very amusing and honest manner but it's the kind of show where you have to suspend disbelief to a strong level. If you can do that though, you'll find an incredibly entertaining show. The series revolves around twenty two year old Eikichi Onizuka, a former gang member and big name boss from his teenage years. Having lived through a whole lot of trash times and being called worthless and trash by teachers, he and his best friend Ryuji made their way to Tokyo in order to change their lives for the better. Ryuji has turned into a rather solid motorcycle shop owner with a beautiful girlfriend while Onizuka has decided to pursue an academic career by becoming a teacher.
Barely passing the course requirements at a third rate college, he's hardly qualified for that kind of position when it comes to the nuts and bolts of teaching. What he does offer is something that certain schools require in droves, and that's an honest connection to the students. The show opens with a standalone piece that shows the audience how easily he connects to troubled kids, saving one girl from committing suicide and dealing with bullying that goes on within the student population. His belief that teachers have been treating kids wrong for years is what drives him to change the status quo and that naturally rails against both old and new teachers who see teaching in a particular way. Where his luck kicks in is when he tries for a position at the Holy Forest Academy where the chairwoman is looking for someone very different to deal with a very difficult class.
Through a bit of luck, something that Onizuka has in weird spades, he ends up hired into the academy to take on Class 3-4 which has managed to get something like four teachers removed so far. The class has grown to distrust teachers for various reasons and they've made it their mission to ruin any new teacher that comes in. So it makes sense that Onizuka is given that class to deal with. Like most school based shows, and comedies in particular, this is really a big ensemble piece where the numerous students and faculty all get involved in the stories. Across the first twenty three episodes, there is a slow but steady progression through the various kids wherein Onizuka gets caught up in their quirks and issues and finds unusual ways of solving them. When timid Yoshikawa is getting beat up by girls, he actually sets it up so they get held against their will for a bit so Yoshikawa can photograph them in compromising positions.
The students surely give Onizuka a lot of trouble along the way. The entire class is out to get him at the start, but once he starts working his strange charm on Yoshikawa, it starts a spiral of events that gets him to touch upon the lives of every student. It's corny and predictable in its own way but it works. It works beautifully because Onizuka is such an odd character who comes to realize that he loves teaching - even if he is bad at it - and because he realizes he has a strange sense of morals that keeps him from going too far. He may go too far in the view of others but he has his own moral code. When one of the girls finds herself being picked on regularly by the others because she's a bit slow on the uptake, he works his magic to get her into a beauty contest that launches her on a new career. At the same time he does it so he can see her in her bloomers while also selling merchandise based on her. Onizuka always looks out for himself but he also takes care of those in his charge.
The faculty side of the story is no less diverse or interesting either. Onizuka's arrival and entrance to the school has him getting involved with a new teacher named Azusa Fuyutsuki. She's in the same boat he is in that she wants to be a good teacher and grow into the job but she has her own set of challenges. Onizuka sees her as quite compatible once he realizes that an affair between teachers may hold more allure than one with a student. The two have plenty of challenges along the way in learning about each other - especially when Onizuka is subjected to some wonderful photoshopping - but it is a relationship that does grow and change. That often comes through the interference of others, such as the vice principal named Uchiyamada who has absolute distaste for Onizuka and his methods and does his best to expel him. Toss in the creepy math teacher Teshigawara who is intent on making Fuyutsuki his own as well as the P.E. teacher who is more man than anyone until he meets Onizuka and you have a fun quirky cast to accent the student relationships.
GTO isn't a series that shines with beauty but that's part of its charm as well. The characters have a real feel to them in that there aren't any truly exceptionally beautiful people but a lot of attractive characters mixed into a sea of average looking characters. Onizuka himself is no prize but he has a very distinct design that makes him ideal within this kind of situation. Some of the students are similar in their own way, such as Murai, while others fall into the mild yanki territory. The men tend to look worse than the women though which is pretty normal since you imagine a lot of this being told through Onizuka's view. Uchiyamada and other male staff members just look awful which is amusing, particularly when it comes to the science teacher who looks like a Chihuahua. The women tend to look quite good, though it's an interesting mixed bag among the older set that's brought in. Fuyutsuki is his ideal and she has a certain kind of simple beauty to her but even the other older women such as the mothers vary wildly and have their own beauty. Murai's mother in particular is amusing since she's so young and Onizuka plays after her a fair bit, much to Murai's discomfort. Add in the busy Tomoko and the strangely alluring Urumi with her blue and red eyes and you have a very distinct looking cast of characters that don't stand out as all buxom beauties from a cardboard cutout.
In Summary:
The release of GTO by TOKYOPOP many years ago was like lightning in a bottle for me as I got to see the show and read the manga relatively close together. The show just clicked in a way that few others of this kind of genre do simply because it has such a great heart to it and a lot of unpredictability even with it playing to a rather standard storyline. You know Onizuka will luck out somehow and save the day and guide the student on the right path, but it's how he gets there that's just so damn fascinating and funny. The way he comes to care for them all while railing against the education system of the day is spot on as he attempts to make these best years of the kids lives just that all while having fun doing it. This is really the kind of character that you want in every school for at least one or two classes a day. While FUNimation hasn't done much more than repackage the release, it's one that definitely need to be put back out on the market for more exposure. High recommended and worth having on just about everyone's shelf.
Features
Japanese 2.0 Language,English 2.0 Language,English Subtitles,All extras from individual volumes
Review Equipment
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70" LCoS 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
Mania Grade: A
Audio Rating: B+
Video Rating: B
Packaging Rating: B
Menus Rating: A
Extras Rating: A
Age Rating: 13 & Up
Region: 1 - North America
Released By: FUNimation Entertainment, Ltd.
MSRP: 49.98
Running time: 575
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Disc Resolution: 480i/p (mixed/unknown)
Disc Encoding: MPEG-2
Series: GTO