Great Teacher Onizuka

Great Teacher Onizuka (Japanese: グレート・ティーチャー・オニヅカ, Hepburn: Gurēto Tīchā Onizuka), officially abbreviated as GTO, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tooru Fujisawa. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine from January 1997 to February 2002, with its chapters compiled into twenty-five tankōbon volumes. 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 is a continuation of Fujisawa's earlier manga series Shonan Junai Gumi and Bad Company, both of which focus on the life of Onizuka before becoming a teacher.

Great Teacher Onizuka
Cover of the first volume of Great Teacher Onizuka, as published in Japan featuring Eikichi Onizuka
グレート・ティーチャー・オニヅカ
(Gurēto Tīchā Onizuka)
Genre
Manga
Written byTooru Fujisawa
Published byKodansha
English publisher
MagazineWeekly Shōnen Magazine
DemographicShōnen
Original runJanuary 8, 1997 – February 13, 2002
Volumes25
Television drama
Directed by
  • Hiroshi Akabane
  • Satoru Nakajima
Written byKazuhiko Yukawa
Original network
Original run July 7, 1998 – September 22, 1998
Episodes12 + 1 special
Live-action film
Directed byMasayuki Suzuki
ReleasedDecember 1999
Runtime140 minutes
Anime television series
Directed byNoriyuki Abe
Written byMasashi Sogo
Music byYusuke Honma
StudioPierrot
Licensed by
Original networkFuji TV
English network
Original run June 30, 1999 – September 24, 2000
Episodes43
Television drama
Directed byImai Kazuhisa
Produced by
  • Kasai Hideyuki
  • Yamamoto Yoshihiko
Written byMasaki Fukuzawa
Music byHaneoka Kei
Original network
  • Fuji TV
  • Kansai TV
Original run July 3, 2012 – September 11, 2012
Episodes11 + 3 specials
Television drama
GTO In Taiwan
Directed byImai Kazuhisa
Written byJunpei Yamaoka
Music byHaneoka Kei
Original network
  • Fuji TV
  • Kansai TV
Original run March 22, 2014 – April 12, 2014
Episodes4
Television drama
Directed byKen Iizuka
Original network
  • Fuji TV
  • Kansai TV
Original run July 8, 2014 – September 16, 2014
Episodes11
Related

Due to the popularity of the manga, several adaptations of GTO were created, including 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; and a 43-episode anime television series produced by Pierrot, which aired in Japan on Fuji TV from June 1999 to September 2000. A second live-action series aired in Japan during 2012, and two more in 2014. A sequel manga series, titled GTO: 14 Days in Shonan, ran in Weekly Shōnen Magazine from June 2009 to September 2011. Another sequel titled, titled GTO: Paradise Lost, began in Weekly Young Magazine in April 2014.

Both the anime and manga were licensed in North America by Tokyopop. The anime series was re-licensed by Discotek Media in 2012.

The Great Teacher Onizuka manga had sold over 50 million copies as of November 2007. It won the 1998 Kodansha Manga Award in the shōnen category.

Plot
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. 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 of the question, 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 in educating and opening up his students.

Production

When writing GTO, Fujisawa was influenced by the writing style of Kōhei Tsuka. The series was originally intended to run for 10 volumes; however, it was extended at the request of the publisher. Fujisawa began to run out of characters as a result. When faced with writing block he would write stories without Onizuka.

Onizuka's first name, Eikichi, was taken from musician Eikichi Yazawa. When developing Onizuka's character for the series, Fujisawa sought to incorporate real character traits from Japanese gangs often referred to as "Yankees". Onizuka's look is modelled on such gang members and was not intended to convey an "American look". Onizuka acts tough and confident but is actually shy and lacking in confidence to follow through on some of his desires. He is a simple character that stands by his own reasoning and principles and has his own conscience. Fujisawa gave him the viewpoint that you should take responsibility for your actions, something he sees as important.

Onizuka's role in the school is to provide a bridge between the students and teachers. The character of Fuyutsuki reflects the point of view of the average teacher. Fujisawa highlights his own school experience where teachers were mostly focused only on a good performance record rather than the teaching itself. However, he was able to take an interest in mathematics because of the approach of his teacher. He used this experience to build the series.[3]

Tatsuya Egawa has claimed that GTO plagiarized his debut manga, Be Free!.[4]

Media

Manga
Main article: List of Great Teacher Onizuka volumes

The series was published in Weekly Shōnen Magazine from January 8, 1997 to February 13, 2002.[5][6][7] A total of 25 volumes were published between May 14, 1997 and April 15, 2002.[8][9] The series was licensed in English by Tokyopop and was one of Tokyopop's first releases in the "Authentic Manga" lineup of titles using the Japanese right-to-left reading style. In doing so the artwork remained unchanged from the original compared to previous publishing methods.[10][11] The 25 English-language volumes were published between April 23, 2002 and August 9, 2005.[1][12]

Sequels and spin-off
Main articles: GTO: 14 Days in Shonan and GTO: Paradise Lost

A side story series, titled GTO: 14 Days in Shonan, began in the 2009 28th issue of Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine, published on June 10, 2009.[13] The manga finished in the 2011 42nd issue of Weekly Shōnen Magazine, published on September 14, 2011.[14] Kodansha compiled its chapters into nine tankōbon volumes, released from October 16, 2009 to November 17, 2011.[15][16] A three-chapter spin-off, titled Black Diamond, was later published in Weekly Shōnen Magazine in November 2011.[17][18]

A spin-off manga, titled GT-R, focused on Onizuka's friend Ryūji Danma, was published in Weekly Shōnen Magazine from June 27 to October 3, 2012.[19][20] Kodansha published a compiled tankōbon volume on November 16, 2012.[21]

A sequel, titled GTO: Paradise Lost, began in the 2014 twentieth issue of Kodansha's Weekly Young Magazine, published on April 14, 2014.[22] The manga went on hiatus in June 2015 and resumed publication in December of the same year.[23][24] The series' first part finished in October 2017, and went on hiatus due to a staff shortage.[25] The manga resumed its publication on May 27, 2019.[26][27] Kodansha has compiled its chapters into individual tankōbon volumes. The first volume was published on August 6, 2014.[28] As of July 6, 2020, thirteen volumes have been published.[29]

In North America, Vertical announced the English-language release of GTO: 14 Days in Shonan in May 2011.[30] The nine volumes were published from January 31, 2012 to May 28, 2013.[31][32] Crunchyroll published GTO: Paradise Lost digitally in English.[33] In April 2017, Kodansha USA announced the digital release of the manga.[34]

Live-action

A 12-episode live-action Japanese television drama adaption was broadcast from July 7, 1998 to September 22, 1998.[35][36][37] The series starred Takashi Sorimachi as Onizuka and had an average audience share of 28.5% with the final episode recording a rate of 35.7%. The final episode was the 8th-most-watched broadcast in the Kantō region during 1998.[38][39] Several changes were made for the live-action adaption. For example, Fuyutsuki (Nanako Matsushima) is an eager teacher who supports Onizuka in the manga, whereas in the live-action adaptation she initially dislikes Onizuka and wants to leave teaching to become an Air Hostess.[40] A television special was broadcast on June 29, 1999.[41] This was followed by a theatrical movie in January 2000.[42] The film was successful at the box office grossing ¥1.32 billion, becoming the tenth-highest-grossing film of the year.[43] The movie was released in North America by Tokyo Shock on July 26, 2005.[44][45]

During 2012 it was announced that a new live-action series would be broadcast in Japan. Produced by KTV and Media Mix Japan, the series ran from July 3, 2012 until September 11, 2012.[46] Originally, Jin Akanishi was to play the role of Onizuka; however, he was forced to withdraw by his management. Instead, Akira of Japanese band Exile was selected to play Onizuka.[47] An Autumn special was broadcast on October 2, 2012, followed by a New Year's special on January 2, 2013 and a Spring special on April 2, 2013.[48][49][50]

On March 22, 2014 a 4-part mini-series aired in Taiwan, before being broadcast in Japan at a later date.[51][52] The mini-series places Onizuka in a Taiwanese school as part of a training program and is a joint Japan/Taiwan co production that contains both Japanese and Mandarin Chinese dialogue. The series has been announced for English subtitled release via the Crunchyroll streaming service.[53] A new series set in Japan aired from July to September 2014.[54]

Anime
Main article: List of Great Teacher Onizuka episodes

A 43-episode anime adaption was produced by Studio Pierrot and was broadcast from June 30, 1999 to September 24, 2000. It was directed by Noriyuki Abe and Horiyuki Ishido.[55][56] Yoshiyuki Suga provided scripts, having also written scripts for the live-action adaption.[40]

Tokyopop licensed the series for release in North America and released it across 10 DVDs between March 22, 2002 and September 16, 2003 and for American TV broadcast on Showtime's SHONext channel in 2004 and Comcast's Anime Selects on Demand network in 2006.[57][58] The series was re-released in a 7-disc box set by Discotek Media on September 24, 2013.[59][60][61] Crunchyroll began streaming the series in January 2015.[62]

Reception

As of November 2007, the manga had sold over 50 million copies.[63] Great Teach Onizuka won the 1998 Kodansha Manga Award for the shōnen category.[64]

In Manga: The Complete Guide, Jason Thompson refers to the series as "Shameless, frequently sexist and totally hilarious". He praises the series for staying fresh through imagery, detailed art and pop culture dialogue even though the formula repeats itself. Lastly he states that it "approaches true social satire". He gave the series four stars out of four.[7]

In The Dorama Encyclopedia, Jonathan Clements and Motoko Tamamuro note that the subject and humorous approach to the series was well received by the teenage audience.[40]

In The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917, Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy noted the use of computer cloud and water effects in the anime adaptation. While appreciating the advantages of the anime adaption allowing for more violence, they call the first live-action adaption the "quintessential GTO".[55]

References
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