“Great Teacher Onizuka” (GTO) is an anime series that puts an interesting and comedic twist on teaching. The main character is named Eikichi Onizuka who is a second-degree black belt in Karate, former leader of a biker gang, a pervert, and a virgin. Onizuka is a recent college graduate who decided to become a teacher for an unknown reason. It’s like a very comedic version of “Dangerous Minds.” He originally took the teaching job to look at all the high school girls. But that soon changes.
He takes up a two-week trainee job and passes. However, Onizuka forgets to take the required examination and cannot take a job at any public school. However, Onizuka ends up getting a job at the “Holy Forest Academy” which is a private school. The headmaster felt that Onizuka was the best person for the job. What’s comical about Great Teacher Onizuka is that Eikichi Onizuka can be deemed retarded as he scored only fifty on his IQ test.
Despite that, Onizuka strives to be the greatest teacher. But the main focus on Great Teacher Onizuka isn’t sex let alone trying to get laid. It focuses on trying to be the best teacher. However, Great Teacher Onizuka is more of a comedic slice of life anime series as there is really no set plot. Though, Onizuka’s sexual frustration does play a part in the series.
At the Holy Forest Academy, Onizuka deals with more intelligent delinquents which do not compare to the people he had to deal with earlier. But, Onizuka has a talent to catch on who’s plotting against him. However instead of beating them up, Onizuka befriends them. Soon, Onizuka finds many allies in the students and the faculty. Students tend to find out about the hard way. Throughout Tokyo, Onizuka happens to be a legend in the underground.
Onizuka tends to be one of the cool teachers with quite the interesting past. No matter how fierce and bad Onizuka looks on the outside, he’s one of the saddest and most pathetic individuals in the world. It’s very reminiscent to Vash in the “Trigun” series. Though Onizuka became a teacher for ignoble reasons, he grows into the role and becomes more responsible.
It eventually picks up as one female student constantly plots to get rid of Onizuka. The school board itself tries to get Onizuka to resign. Still, Onizuka has persevered and come out on top. He has the most interesting methods of saving students and fellow faculty members. If you enjoy watching Japanese anime, Great Teacher Onizuka is one series you should check out.