Great Teacher Onizuka Volume 1 Impressions

To cap off the week, I bring to your attention my impressions of the first volume of Great Teacher Onizuka. Since we're only doing the first volume, I can only bring so much to the table.

I gather that most people should have at least heard of Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO). It's one of the classics in the manga world and despite only running for 5 years, has spawned 4 television dramas, an anime, a live-action film and several spin-off mangas. With such a pedigree, you'd have to be an absolute beginner in this industry to not have heard about it.

While I have heard about it, I've never actually read or watched it which was probably why I was quite excited when I drew GTO as my manga-to-read for this week's challenge. I should probably point out that this this manga came out in 1997 and ran until 2002. So some semblance of social tolerance is required for this read in case you do end up checking it out.

The manga's premise is incredibly simple. Onizuka is an ex-biker gang member who, through some peculiar events, has decided to become a teacher at a private middle school in Tokyo. The first volume basically covers the events leading to this decision and the subsequent hijinks of it.

I'm going to be quite honest here. I didn't particularly like it. And it's not because it isn't good. It's just a personal preference I suppose. I don't quite prefer what they're doing with this manga.

The biggest positive (for me) would probably be the art. GTO strays from the caricature-like designs of modern day mangas in favour of a more realistic albeit crass art style. Lines are rougher with dimensions and expressions looking kind of wonky but backgrounds stand out, leading to a richer atmosphere. The setting is immediately established within the first few pages and the machismo of the story bleeds with every panel.

Onizuka is not a very likeable character, at least in the beginning. He's perverted, rash, kind of a brute and lacks quite a bit of tact. Of course, he's 22 years old, lacking in education with no chance at a proper future. Who wouldn't act that way? He's trying to turn over a new leaf but a leopard can't change its spots so easily. Try as he may, his ingrained ex-biker attitude usually gets the better of him and it's not like he even understands what he's doing wrong. He's barely an adult!

His entire driving force for his change to be a teacher is because some hot chick who he wanted to lose his virginity to decided to abandon him for her boyfriend; an elderly teacher at her school. This inspires Onizuka to take up teaching to basically oggle at all the perfect, pre-pubescent girls who will seemingly fall in love with him simply due to his occupation in education.

T-Teacher...?

I can't get behind it. This isn't a manga trying to throw naked bodies at your face. It isn't a manga tapping into the grey zone of the loli fetish. It just is. Onizuka likes young girls and wants to get with them. Yeah, he learns to be a teacher and all that but let's not forget that that all comes after Volume 1.

You see girls willingly try to sleep with him (with ulterior motives of course) and he just goes along with it. If he gets backed into a corner, what does he do? Call on his entire gang to scare a bunch of teenagers into submission....okay, that's actually pretty funny. Gosh darn teenagers!

You saw it didn't you? My panties <3

I just couldn't get behind his motivation and how events seem to play out exactly as he imagines it to obviously subvert itself to then convey a larger message. Maybe I'm judging this a little too harshly for something that came out in 1997. It's at least genuine enough to depict some semblance of realism through its commentary. It's an easy read with an easy message. That's fine for the target demographic (young boys). Unfortunately I don't have such vigor in me anymore.

Would I continue reading the manga? Probably not. Would I recommend trying it out though? Of course! Heck, it probably inspired your favourite shonen. Look at how things used to be done back in the day, learn from your elders and skip school. Clearly the common methods don't work.