Great Teacher Onizuka - Live Action Drama

This is a review on the 12 episode live action drama series that came out in 1998 based on the manga Great Teacher Onizuka.

    Eikichi Onizuka is an ex-motorcycle thug (bosozoku) who is pursuing his life long ambition of being a teacher. He applies for an open teaching position in a private high school but after attacking one of the teachers who is harassing a delinquent student he fears his chances have been eliminated. That is until the schools principle, which see’s a ray of hope in helping the school in Onizuka, hires him for the position. Onizuka isn’t off the hook so easily. He must prove to the principle that he is no longer the delinquent he was in his adolescent days and he must maintain professional and respectable relationships with the rest of the staff and the students. If he is to cause another incident of such magnitude he will be fired. On top of all of the challenges set before him the biggest is the home room he is given, the worst of the worst in the school. While not made up of delinquents, who Onizuka is capable of handling, his home room has the worst reputation out of the entire school and they have already dispatched a number of teachers. They are some of the smartest and more conniving students in the schools body. Onizuka must overcome their hatred for him and combat every plot and plan they put against him to maintain his position as teacher and to overcome his past.

    This was an incredibly popular TV drama in Japan, according to Wikipedia the final episode of the series held one of the highest viewer ratings ever in the country. This is probably one of the better done dramas out there from Japan, which tends to have horrid production abilities. GTO is also the best J-Drama I have ever seen and I was disappointed when it was over with (even though 2 movie length specials aired afterwards). The best thing about the show, aside from the fun story, is the actor who plays Onizuka. He is energetic and contorts his face in interesting ways. I couldn’t really get into the anime version due to the voice being different and the animation not tapping into the extent of what the live action version did…which is odd because the anime came out after the drama.

    Regardless of that, the live action is my favorite installment for this interesting high school juvenile delinquent manga. Onizuka in the drama isn’t as brutal or hard as he is in the anime and manga, but he still dispenses his own form of wisdom upon his good for nothing students. It’s like the Japanese version of Dangerous Minds but with genetic homogeneity and lack of firearms…and well a bunch of other stuff too. While everything falls into place nicely its fun to watch the events take place and you get that warm squishy feeling in the bottom of your stomach that says…it’s ok, there is hope for the lost nation of Japan…if only it had more resolute and strong willed independent thinkers like Eikichi Onizuka…then the final credits role and you remember that this was all just some mangakas’ imagination retranslated to work in 50 minute installments on network TV to bring in cash from car dealers and 24 hour convenience stores hawking their seasonal goods.

    While stuck in a glossy fairytale land it is a fun and enjoyable series to watch. The plots and schemes the shit head children cook up are interesting but what is more entertaining is how Onizuka overcomes them to not only save his face but to convert the haterz. This is a show that anyone can get into who is remotely a fan of Japanese TV, anime or otherwise. You don’t have to have any background knowledge in the manga or be a fan of anime in general to like this show…it’s a broad sweeper in the realm of Japan-o-files and well worth the 12 hours or so to watch it. The special and movie that followed are ok, but with all the changes (Onizuka goes off to a different school) it just isn’t the same story.