Great Teacher Onizuka

6 reviews - 28.5 total score (Explanation of the rating system)
avg. score: (4.8)

6. Kohlingen

The story of Great Teacher Onizuka is an original and funny one. It is complete with slapstick comedy, embarrassing and hilarious situations, romance, and messages of life. This is one of my favorite series, and at 43 episodes, you get to know almost each and every character pretty damn well.

I would like to first get the shortcomings out of the way first, so I can dwell on the good points. After about 30 episodes, some of the situations and characters tend to get a little dull. Also, I thought some of the characters at the end of the show weren't given a proper send off, from Murai's mother to Ryoji. But maybe that's just me being a sentimental fool for corny, happy endings. Oh yeah, and while I respect the decision to leave the potential love affair for Eikichi Onizuka and Fuyutsuki ambiguous, I wanted closure.

That being said, I just watched the ending again and it was awesome. “Driver's High”, the theme song, still gives me goose bumps. The music is excellent; not the most varied stuff, but it suits the moods of every episode. The characters are all dwelled on and peeled away at. I loved the shifting focus on different students in class 4. Of course, Onizuka is the best character, whose facial expressions alone make him a cut above the grain of comic protagonists. He represents to me the closest thing I have to an anime idol. His message of responsibility is true…well, at least responsibility to your heart and other people and not necessarily cars and the laws of society. Anyways, this stuff is sweet. Check it out and you won't be disappointed.

5. Jin

Great Teacher Onizuka is the story about a gang member turned teacher named Onizuka and his quest to become the greatest teacher ever.

This has got to be one of the funniest anime I've ever seen. The story is just plain awesome in successfully dealing out chances for Onizuka to lay the smack down on your funny bone. The story overall is pretty good and gives you a really good attachment to the characters. The character development is really good and I liked the way it was shown in the anime. You can really relate to how the characters feel because I'm sure somewhere along the line we've been in those students positions before.

The animation can be cruddy looking at times and reminds me a lot of Golden Boy. But within those cruddy animation scenes lies a lot of hilarity because of how messed up it may look. Overall I think the animation was pretty good in conveying good scenes and being funny when it needed to be.

The music was good for the scenes like the intro and ending. Also if you're a fan of J-pop, L'arc~en~Ciel's music is present in the intro scene and in some other parts of the anime. So that's a definite plus. However, sometimes the music got annoying or just felt really out of place. Such as when Onizuka does something "great" they play some trumpet type song that sounds really goofy and sounds out of place. But overall it's great.

Final judgment: Definitely worth a look and should be bought. Very funny stuff here and should be added to any anime fans library of anime. Guaranteed laughter unless you find humor like this stupid.

4. h8er13

This series has no impressive CG and the artwork is decent. However, what makes this anime so amazing is the main character, Onizuka Eikichi. His students are given first priority in his life, which may make this anime sound like a sappy drama, but it's nothing like that. GTO is hilarious. Onizuka always solves his problems in the most unusual, funny, and over the top manner. There is one scene where he is dressed up as a ninja, which I thought was really funny. There's also a live action movie, which has similarities with the anime. I also heard that there is a live action GTO series, and the actress playing Fuyutsuki sensei is really kawaii. There are so many good things to say about this anime...one of my all time favorites.

3. Olmanek

This stuff is hilarious, you'd have to be careful to not watch this too late at night because you'd wake up the neighbours from your laughter. Onizuka is a former gang member, trained in karate it appears that is what he probably did during most of his university life, he has aspirations of becoming a teacher, as the universe goes you always get what you deserve, so he gets a class of social anarchists, delinquents and child terrorists, "Only fools with the luck of fools could have made it this far." Suits Onizuka perfectly as you watch the series. One of the strengths of this series is the huge cast of characters, it stops the series from becoming stagnant, and even though there were some 43 episodes you still feel it was too short because a lot more about characters could have been covered, don't let the obviously crude humour this is a very clever series. In comparison to the Manga this series is very tame, but some of the things that occurred in the Manga understandably simply couldn't be put in the series, there were some scenes which would make even the most evil of us blush and question the type of mind that could come up with something so creative and in it's own way very clever, but so clearly wrong. Fantastic series, and the Manga is even better, couldn't recommend it more.

2. Hentai Sensei

Meet Onizuka Eikichi, a former bike gang member who traded in his bike for the blackboard. This anime basically showed how Onizuka fought to gain the upper hand and control of his homeroom class. All the students in his class had got some sort of problems either with trusting the teacher or getting along with their parents. The duel or match between Urumi Kanzaki and Onizuka is one of the best in recent anime history. The characters are very well developed (from IQ 200 genius girl to filthy rich congress member's daughter and how all of them learned and changes) and the plot is extremely funny, intelligent and just plain amazing (every episode a new problem pops out of no where and awaits for Onizuka to solve and conquer).

The only minor flaw in this anime is that the love story is not really developed between Onizuka and Azusa Fuyutsuki (they show love sparks throughout the anime) and the animation is not very well drawn. GTO is an amazing show that must be watched by everyone.

1. Prep_Styles

Onizuka Eikichi, a former motorcycle gang member managed to graduate from a second rate university (just barely) and has fulfilled his aspirations to become a school teacher. Using unparalleled street smarts he rocks the foundation of a prestigious private Japanese school, influencing both his students and colleagues for the better.

GTO fetchers a cast of unforgettable characters (many of whom you'll love to hate) and some of the most outrageous story elements in anime today. The most rewarding aspect of this title however is the way Onizuka battles the CONSTANT opposition that he encounters while still maintaining a comforting level of compassion. I found myself agonized by his upsets and rejoicing at his conquests. This title has far more heart then one might think, which is accompanied nicely by a surprisingly supportive musical score, and the fact that the opening theme songs are terrific doesn't hurt ether.

My only true grievance is the quality of the animation which ranges from respectable to plain ugly. This is somewhat forgivable however, as it seems the animators where trying to mirror the crude art of the original manga. Highly recommended.