Great Teacher Onizuka

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Great Teacher Onizuka
グレート・ティーチャー・オニヅカ (Great Teacher Onizuka)
Genre	Shōnen, Comedy, Drama
Manga
Authored by	Tohru Fujisawa
Publisher	Kodansha Tokyopop Tong Li Pika Édition Egmont Schibsted Forlagene Dynamic Italia Chuang Yi (Chinese) Waneko Grupo Editorial Vid Tora Aman Publications SDN BHD
Serialized in	Weekly Shonen Magazine Manga Mania Manga Mania
Original run	16 May 1997 – 17 April 2002
No. of volumes	25 [1]
TV anime
Directed by	Naoyasu Hanyu Noriyuki Abe
Studio	Studio Pierrot
Network	Animax, Fuji Television Showtime Animax, GMA Network
Original run	30 June 1999 – 24 September 2000
No. of episodes	43 [2]
TV drama
Directed by	Masayuki Suzuki
Studio
Network	Fuji Television, Kansai TV
Original run	07 July 1998 – 22 September 1998
No. of episodes	12 + 1 Special
Movie
Directed by	Masayuki Suzuki
Studio
Released	1999
Runtime	140 minutes

Great Teacher Onizuka (グレート・ティーチャー・オニヅカ, Gurēto Tīchā Onizuka), officially abbreviated to GTO, is a manga, anime, and live-action shōnen series created by Tohru Fujisawa. It is the story of Eikichi Onizuka, a 22-year-old former bōsōzoku member, and his quest to be the greatest teacher in Japan. GTO is a continuation of Tohru Fujisawa's other manga series Shonan Junai Gumi (lit. "Shōnan True Love Group") and Bad Company.

Both the anime and manga have been licensed in North America by Tokyopop.

[edit] Story

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 bed her fails when her current "boyfriend," her teacher, shows up at the love hotel they are in and asks her to come back. This teacher is old and unattractive, but she is so under this teacher's power that she leaps from a window two stories up and lands in his arms.

Onizuka, seeing this display of a teacher's power over girls, decides to become one himself, and discovers three important things:

1. He has a conscience and a sense of morality. This means taking advantage of impressionable schoolgirls is out ... but their unusually attractive mothers (see Kunio Murai, below) are a different matter.
2. He enjoys teaching.
3. He hates the systems of traditional instruction, especially when they have grown ignorant and condescending.

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 sufficient pressure:

• Taking a standardized test in one hour instead of the normal five, while having three bullet wounds because he used the other four hours to rescue the daughter of a famous government official from a yakuza hideout.
• Hired as a long-shot teacher by a privately operated school to tame a class that has driven one teacher to a mysterious death, one to nervous breakdown, and one 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, ranging from the busty bimbo to the oedipal rebel, to learn to genuinely enjoy life.

[edit] Media Information

[edit] Manga

The original Japanese manga was collected into 25 volumes (tankōbon) by Kodansha's Shounen Magazine Comics imprint. It has been translated into English by publisher TOKYOPOP. Kodansha released a bi-lingual version in Japan.

[edit] Live Action

There are live action TV series in 12 episodes (drama), a TV special, and movie. Takashi Sorimachi stars as Onizuka, and Nanako Matsushima is Azusa. It is directed by Masayuki Suzuki, the music was composed by Takayuki Hattori and the opening song, "Poison", is sung by Takashi Sorimachi himself. There are some drastic changes from the manga to fit the 12 hour format (like Nanako also studying at the Holy Forest Academy, eliminating Anko and making Miyabi the daughter of the PTA president, eliminating Ryuji and giving some of his characters's functions to Saejima (the cop friend), Kunio's mom is now the widow of Onizuka's biker gang idol, as well as a few minor changes) but in the end it accomplishes to capture the spirit of GTO very well. According to Tokyopop, the final episode of the live action series was the most watched TV program ever in Japan.^[3]

Coincidentally, Matsushima is married to Takashi Sorimachi, who played Onizuka in that series. Sorimachi and Matsushima met on the set of GTO, they married in 2001 after a long term relationship and, in May 2004, Nanako gave birth to their first child, a baby daughter.

A two-hour TV movie followed in August 1999 and a theatrical movie in January 2000.

[edit] Anime

Due to the popularity of the manga and TV series, an anime was inevitable, though strange in this case as it was produced after the other two, similar to Gokusen. It was directed by Noriyuki Abe and Naoyasu Hanyu of Studio Pierrot.

The anime's episodes closely followed the manga's plot up to volume 14. However, by then the anime had reached the end of the manga's storyline which forced the anime to create a new ending. The main characters in the anime are, in general, similar to their manga counterparts but the side characters are much less developed or missing entirely. Nudity, violence, and perversion were toned down for the anime.

The anime is somewhat more comically exaggerating than the manga and drama. Many odd facial expressions that Onizuka makes are modeled after Takashi Sorimachi (who played Onizuka in the drama).

Episode list

Main article: List of Great Teacher Onizuka episodes

Opening Songs

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

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)

[edit] Characters

Main article: List of Great Teacher Onizuka characters

[edit] Trivia

Attempting to be a realistic work of fiction, a great number of cultural references abound in the course of the GTO series:

People & Places

• Eikichi Onizuka shares his name with rock star Eikichi Yazawa and Challenger astronaut Ellison Onizuka.
• The school where Onizuka teaches at, Seirin Gakuen (Holy Forest) is probably based on the high school of Seikei University, a part of a wider educational institute which teaches from elementary school right through to university level, located in Kichijōji.
• Mrs. Sakurai refers to Onizuka as "a young Karl Gotch".
• When Murai makes Onizuka set his hair on fire, he laughs and says "He went up like Michael Jackson! Do the moonwalk!".
• Onizuka calls Principal Maruyama "Francisco Xavier".
• Munakata gives away Tomoko's address so that "she'll be as well known as Anna Umemiya".
• When Onizuka warms up for Fukuroda's swimming contest, he tries to do several clumsy figures in water, including "The Michelle Kwan".
• Murai, Kusano and Fujiyoshi try to break into the school wearing masks of Yasuhiro Nakasone (with "unsinkable aircraft carrier" written on it), John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Mikhail Gorbachev (the birthmark on his head being shaped like Asia), respectively.
• When they are breaking in, they say they have the "heart of Lupin". and sing part of its theme song. Then Murai says "Let's go Kennedy. And bring Gorby.", Fujiyoshi says "Roger, Perestroika!".
• During the revision for the test, Azusa asks Eikichi which Mongolian warlord conquered China (Kublai Khan). Instead, a tired Eikichi mistakenly names famous Japanese wrestler Killer Khan and singer-songwriter Chaka Khan.
• In the chapter title page of Volume 12, Onizuka asks Urumi: "Who is sexier, me or Sorimachi?". He is talking about Takashi Sorimachi, the actor who portrays Onizuka in the live TV show.
• Right before they leave for Okinawa, Asuza is mistaken for albino singer Sonoko Suzuki due to the amount of white makeup she used to cover up her botched makeover.
• In Okinawa, Anko meets Onizuka, Murai, Fujiyoshi and Kusano disguised as masked punks, and they bring her to a van which has a giant portrait of Seiko Matsuda painted on it.
• When Onizuka competes in an arm wrestling match against a hundred opponents, he faces:
  • Misshapen and obese Suzunosuke Akao, whose throat is "thicker than Kazushige Nagashima's". Unnaturally muscular and red-skinned man, he resembles the monster Red King from the classic tokusatsu series Ultraman. When Onizuka defeats him, Onizuka shouts, "Look at my Ultraman's power!!!"
  • Heihachi Mishima from the Tekken fighting games.
  • A man with the facial features of a sphinx and screws on its face (he looks like a mechanical man), with a boy in the background wearing a round white helmet screaming "Go! Robo!"; this is a homage to the classic tokusatsu series Giant Robo.
  • A tall and muscular student wearing an ice hockey mask called "Jason". Eikichi calls him "Freddy" to further antagonize him.
• After Onizuka wins all the challenges, Mayu faints and is sent to the hospital... where a xenomorph busts out of his stomach in blood, which reveals to be just a hand puppet and a trick by Mayu.
• When Onizuka wrestles with a dummy depicting Mayu, he crushes it and stands in a wrestler outfit, saying he is Antonio Inoki.
• In the anime, Onizuka's favorite actress is Nanako Matsushima, who plays his love interest in the live action dorama version.
• In episode 4 of the live action series, Onizuka briefly considers having Nanako (played by Kirari) sign up for a teen idol competition, but quickly changes his mind after she sings horribly off-key. Ironically, Kirari sang the ending song for the GTO anime.

Manga & Anime

• In the first anime episode, Hidero Ohsawa sees Onizuka's eagerness to date teenage school girls. He tells Onizuka, "Take it easy Golden Boy."
• When Murai tricks Onizuka into wearing bowling balls stuck to his hands with superglue, he calls him "Doraemon", due to his round hands, which make him look like the earless robot cat. Onizuka later completes this look with "Doraemon" written in Kanji on his forehead, painted whiskers on his cheeks and a helicopter fan (Doraemon's trademark gadget) on his hair as he goes rescue Murai, Kusano and Fujiyoshi from punks. He later changes his disguise again, impersonating Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star, with the same Ursa Major shaped scars (drawn with a marker) on his bare chest, "Kenshiro" in Kanji on his forehead and swollen veins drawn on his face.
• When Onizuka investigates a female teacher who joined a cult after her students bullied her, he discovers her overweight, eating junk food, and watching Speed Racer on TV.
• That same cult is shown with its members praying to a shrine to the SDF-1 from Macross.
• Onizuka makes Tomoko dress up as Cutey Honey for a talent audition.
• Onizuka cosplayed as Devilman during a class.
• When Onizuka tries to cheat at the pachinko game, the machine he uses is Lupin the 3rd-themed.
• When Onizuka suggests a way of making money for the Okinawa trip, he suggests to go to Mount Akagi and dig the lost treasure of the Tokugawas. His student friends reply "What do you think this is, the Kindaichi Mysteries?"
• Initial D references:
  • After Onizuka and gang escape the police in a big carchase, Fujiyoshi says it was "just like in Speed". Onizuka adds that "the best drivers always get away. Don't you read Initial D?"
  • When Onizuka drifts the Mercedes-Benz SL that Mayu gave him as a gift, he wears a headband labelled "Onizuka Tofu Shop(For private use)"(just like the sticker on the side of the main character of Initial D's car).
  • When Mr. Uchiyamada was chasing Onizuka who was on the way to a skiing court (he was chasing Urumi), he was drifting his Cresta. Onizuka remarked: "You're too old to play Initial D!"
  • During the chase with Onizuka to save Urumi, Uchiyamada passes a Nissan Skyline GT-R whose driver comments that they have just been passed by the "Phantom Cresta."
• Neon Genesis Evangelion references:
  • When Onizuka rounds up a biker gang to scare a student straight, he is wearing a mask with a swastika and the symbol of the SEELE organization from Evangelion.
  • Noburu has several Evangelion posters in his room.
  • When Onizuka wins the swimming contest against Fukuroda, he says he wants to buy Evangelion trading cards with the award money.
  • After shaking hands with Fuyutsuki-sensei, Teshigawara wears white gloves and glasses, like Ikari Gendo, and also fixs up his glasses on his nose and grins like this character.
  • When Miyabi dyes her hair light blue in volume 14, Onizuka believes she tried to look like Rei Ayanami.
• Mobile Suit Gundam references:
  • Upon visiting the Nerima Ward while searching for Ms. Kahara he bears witness to "alien prayer verses" which cultists chant a stream of gundam references "dom-dom-murick-dom. zaku-zaku-bigu-zom. zogock-zogock-agga-ii! azunaibel, azunabiel, sha-sha-sha"
  • In Okinawa, Urumi is forced to share her room with three Gundam otaku. They talk non-stop about it and even call Urumi "Sayla Mass". They even point out that their room number, 0080, is a reference to "Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket. When Urumi confronts Onizuka about her room assignment, she complains that she had dreams about a boy named "Heero". In the "haunted house" game, they impersonate Gundam characters and wear Gundams V-fins (one of them even dressed himself like the Turn A Gundam).
    • Coincidentally in the GTO anime, Kikuchi's seiyuu is Hikaru Midorikawa, who also did Heero Yuy's voice in New Mobile Report Gundam W. Kotono Mitsuishi, Urumi's seiyuu, has appeared in three Gundam series herself (After War Gundam X, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED and Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny).
  • When Urumi makes her first run of school vandalism in the manga, she is confronted by a trio of female upper classman who are collectively known as the "Black Stars". They are an obvious play on Mobile Suit Gundam's Black Tri-Stars ace team, from their names (Gaia, Masha and Ortega), their dark skin and their notably wide loose socks, which are described as Dom-styled.
  • When he and Noboru set out to rescue Urumi from her attempted suicide, Onizuka is wearing a t-shirt with the text "Mono-Eye Series" and a Zeon cross etched in.
  • Among Onizuka's belongings that were trashed by Daimon is an action figure of Char Aznable's MS-14S Gelgoog Commander Type, complete with its trademark beam naginata and shield.

• The ex-students attending the tournament say that Onizuka is like "Cyborg 009", like "Space Apeman Gort", adding "so where the hell is Spectreman?" (Gort is a villain from the sentai Spectreman series) and "anyone read the old Tetsujin 28 comics?"
• When Murai suspects his mother is going to marry an elder man with balding curly hair, he nicknames him "Professor Elefun", a character from the Astro Boy manga/anime. Later, Kusano even makes fun of Murai saying that if his mother married "Professor Elefun, that would have made him Astro Boy".
• In one of his rests at the hospital, Onizuka rolls on a hospital bed on wheels and screaming, "I am Ultraman!"
• Onizuka has a Sailor Moon figurine among his belongings when they get trashed away by Miss Daimon.
• Shun Oguri, the actor who played Noboru Yoshikawa, also played as Uchiyama Haruhiko in Gokusen. In GTO, he is the one being bullied but in Gokusen, he is one of the bullies in class.

Film & Television

• In episode nine, Onizuka wears the same jumpsuit that Bruce Lee wore in Game of Death.
• When Fujiyoushi and Kusano are looking for Onizuka in a movie theater The Ring can be seen playin on the screen.
• During the "haunted house" challenge in Okinawa, when the Gundam Otakus find and watch "the tape" Azusa, disguised as Sadako, scares them. Incidentally, the actress who plays her in the live-action drama of GTO (Nanako Matsushima) played the reporter Asakawa, in Ring and Ring 2.
• Murai goes to watch a Jaws movie with a young girl called Fukada.
• Urumi tricks Miyabi and her two friends into being seized as sexual maids for horny masked sadomasochistic clients. The clients wear masks of different color mimicking the visors of the Sentai series Himitsu Sentai Goranger and call themselves the same names as this series' heroes.

Video Games

• Murai is seen playing an arcade fighting game against a bear named Kuma, who constantly wins. Kuma is also a bear and fighting character that was first introduced to the popular fighting video game series, Tekken. Kuma is also apparently Onizuka's favorite character in Tekken.
• When Tadaaki Kusano shows up tired at class, he claims he played Onimusha all night, although he doesn't "even have a PlayStation 2" as well as playing "Ape escape" without an analog pad.

[edit] References

1. ^ Great Teacher Onizuka (manga) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia. Accessed 2007-02-12.
2. ^ Great Teacher Onizuka at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia. Accessed 2007-02-12.
3. ^ Tokyopop, http://www.tokyopop.com/S-1034/. Retrieved 2007-02-11.

[edit] External links

• Tokyopop's GTO section