Teacher Banzai

// Synopsis: Eikichi Onizuka age 22, is a retired legendary biker gang member who has decided to become a teacher in order to meet girls. His plans go awry when he is assigned a middle school class that hates teachers and plays mean spirited tricks until they all quit. Being a highly unorthodox teacher, GTO deosn’t give up on them and ends up teaching each of them more than just what’s in text books in this 43 episode series.

// Review: This anime is sort of like Stand and Deliver meets Animal House. Onizuka is the type of guy that kicks status quo in the groin and will literally do anything for his students; whether it’s endangering their lives or taking a bullet for them. At the same time it has the ecchi that you come to expect from the Japanese. I was immediately hooked on the series. Onizuka is a fascinating character. He’s a pervert and not too bright, and yet at the same time isn’t naive but extremely street smart. He’s very confident and an absolute beast when it comes to fighting, but extremely awkward when it comes to girls.

/ His plan for becoming a high school teacher to meet high school girls quickly ends, and he is stuck with the middle school class from hell. Apparently for some reason they despise all teachers and have played cruel and defamatory pranks on their last several to get them to quit or be fired. The big mystery reason behind this is finally revealed in the last 2 episodes but it is pretty weak. Mainly because the anime outlasted the manga and a few episodes had to be made up. Regardless it sets up the formula for the series where Onizuka has to win over each of the worst students including the vice principal whose personal mission is to see him axed.

/ Even though his students do some particularly evil things to him (all of the girls are especially bitches), he takes it all in stride. Because of his extremely high sense of justice when another student is wronged he exacts revenge on their behalf. But when he is the object of the attack he takes it on the chin. Not because he is naive or scared of reprisals from the school board, but because he understands there is a drama behind each student that has been scarring and takes it upon himself to redeem each one of them since no one else ever tried.

/ This ranks up with one of the funniest anime I’ve ever seen with Azumanga Daioh (although a much different type of humor). Onizuka is a pervert and pretty much a kid at heart. Every episode is consistently funny and you can always count on a few laugh out loud moments.

/ Wow this thing is spectacularly ugly. I thought Berserk was the most hideous thing out there, but my scale now has to re-calibrated. The last 1/2 dozen epsiodes were also very different by becoming more student centered and dramatic after Onizuka has won over his entire class. Fun Fact: the same actor plays Onizuka in the anime and in the wildly popular live action tv series that holds the highest ratings ever for a Japanese show.

// Wrap up: As horrible looking as it is, it’s so good and funny that it leaps into the pantheon.

Entertainment rating: 5