GTO 1 - Great Teacher Onizuka

Teaching: A profession I just can’t fathom. Boring, middle-aged losers who have never really left high school, (and have no desire to), they work a minimum wage job just so they can feel superior to a bunch of 15-year-olds. Well, at least that was the case with the idiots I shared a uni lecture theatre with. So just imagine the titter in the teacher’s lounge if a former street-punk and karate-champion with a violent temper set about joining their clandestine ranks. No trimmed moustache, no tightly coiled bun, just piercings, tattoos and lashings of attitude.

Once known as Eikichi the Evil, Eikichi Onizuka, the former leader of the legendary Onibaku motorcycle gang from Shonan, is a student teacher. Chain-smoker, fighter and seemingly only interested in perving on female students in mini-skirts, the lecherous Onizuka isn’t your typical educator. But who better to reach out to the delinquents and assorted no-hopers that the teaching establishment have neglected, than one of their own? Given the opportunity to ply his craft by a perceptive school administrator, Onizuka finds that, unfetted by the uptight conservatism of his peers, he just might make a difference. If he can overcome the prejudices of the established faculty, that is…

Lesson 1: GTO - The Legend Begins.
In an initial double-length episode (48 minutes), we follow Onizuka for his first two-week stint as a student teacher. Arriving with dreams of 15-year-old brides, Onizuka’s bubble is burst when he’s landed with the school’s most troublesome delinquents. With too many rough-necks and not nearly enough mini-skirts, Onizuka is left to fix things the only way he knows how; fighting fire with fire and administering a little ‘tough love’ to his young charges. Basically, he beats the living piss out of them. With the establishment duly impressed, it looks like he’s well on his way to achieving his dream. Teacher Banzai!

Lesson 2: Enter Uchiyamada
When a clueless Onizuka misses the teacher’s employment exam, it looks like he’s missed his chance at becoming GTO. No matter, he’ll take to the highway in an 18-wheeler and become GDO instead. But when his long-suffering friend Danma finds him one last opportunity - a private school that is still hiring - he seizes his chance. But almost immediately he comes head-to-head with the school’s stoic vice principal.

Lesson 3: Late Night Roof Diving
With a new job at Holy Forest Academy, Onizuka moves into an on-campus broom cupboard. With his new nemesis, the incumbent vice-principal, vowing to get him fired and another delinquent class to babysit, it looks like an uphill climb for the new teacher. But there’s still the small battles to win; Onizuka befriending a bullied and suicidal teenager.

Lesson 4: The Secret Life of Onizuka
When photos displaying Onizuka involved in deviant sexual acts begin appearing around the school, his reputation with the foxy young teacher Fuyutsuki (on which he has his eye), takes a hammering. Can Onizuka find the source of the photos before his chances with Fuyutsuki are dashed forever?

Based on an original manga by Tohru Fujisawa, GTO is an immensely popular franchise in Japan, and even on the basis of these first four episodes, it’s easy to see why. For despite a first installment that is little more than schoolboy fantasy, (almost embarrassingly so) filled with panty-shots, lecherous ravings and testosterone-fuelled rage, it is in the second, third and fourth episodes that Onizuka’s more positive qualities begin to be borne out; conveyed on a wave of overt, slapstick humour. A classic fish-out-of-water tale, the mixture of gags, sexual innuendo, martial arts bravado and plain-old schoolyard shenanigans will strike some chord or other with many a male viewer. When the other faculty members of the Holy Forest Academy begin to be introduced, the series quickly establishes several engaging subplots, including a schoolyard romance and a hotly contested feud with the vice-principal. Meanwhile, the main question raised by the series - just why Onizuka wants to be a teacher at all - remaining elusively unanswered.

In all, GTO is a well written and engaging series that takes a look at a section of Japanese society that is rarely seen in anime. While there remains no question that Onizuka is an immature dickhead (in fact he’s the better for it), there is a duality to his personality that is both repulsive and intruiging. Certainly these first four episodes provide an addictive and entertaining introduction to this young hot-head’s exploits, and I eagerly await Madman’s future releases.

In terms of the quality of its animation, GTO is a rather interesting beast. Conveying a minimalistic, almost grungy feel to the series, the artwork - and reportedly following the style of the original manga - often descends into rather rough line drawings; especially when Onizuka becomes enraged or excited. Focusing on a male protagonist, GTO’s characterisations are in general more realistic than your typical anime series, but at the same time there’s also a generous helping of super-deformation in terms of facial expressions and slap-stick body movements. The level of animation detail meanwhile suggests a rather modest production budget for the series and, with the exception of the opening credit sequence, the animation is rather rudimentary. While character movement is very Saturday-morning, panning stills and other cost-cutting methods can also be seen in abundance.

In terms of Madman’s transfer, the story is typically impressive with the full-frame image, taken from perfect source material, displaying no traces of the compression process whatsoever. In keeping with the grungy style, colours are rather muted, but remain well-balanced throughout. The image is sharp without introducing aliasing-related nasties; what detail exists in the production’s artwork is here for all to see. Basically another perfect job from Madman.

In terms of audio, GTO’s rather minimalistic style is again in evidence, offering simple Dolby Digital surround soundtracks both in the original Japanese and an English dub produced by Tokyopop. Both mixes are almost exclusively front-channel affairs, with few directional effects and, apart from the catchy opening and closing themes, a noticeably sparse use of backing music. When the surround channel does get a look in, it’s to provide limited ambient sound such as police sirens and the rumble of motorbikes, or in the whooshing exclamations that support Onizuka’s rather excitable personality.

Dialogue, thankfully, is clear and distinct throughout; both in the original and dubbed versions. The Japanese voice talent is very good, especially the voice of Onizuka which conveys his working-class, street-wise background. The English voice actors, while reasonable, are certainly less impressive. Most annoyingly, the English script has been altered markedly from the original; containing all major plot points, but losing the subtlety of the Japanese version and managing to water down Onizuka’s sex-fantasy musings that add much to the duality of his character.

Nicely animated, full-frame menus provide access to a small number of extras. The Japanese Opening (1:44) provides a slightly altered opening sequence to the series, free of titles and credits. Meanwhile, Onizuka – Gone Wild provides shortcuts to nine of Onizuka’s more erm excitable moments from the first four episodes; each segment lasting from a few seconds to a minute or two. Typical of Madman releases, we also get nine pages of character designs for the first volume’s main characters, including Onizuka, Fuyutsuki, Namura and Danma, as well as previews for current Madman releases Real Bout Highschool and Vampire Princess Miyu, as well as upcoming releases Spirited Away (yippee!) and the weirdly named FLCL that also looks pretty darn good!

While the first episode of GTO, almost entirely the realm of immature schoolboy fantasy, left me rather unimpressed, by the end of the fourth episode I was hooked. Certainly not a title for our younger anime fans - GTO easily earns its M15+ rating - I eagerly await the further exploits of great teacher Eikichi Onizuka. Teacher Banzai!