I was a little skeptical at first about this anime. I usually avoid the comedy/slice-of-life genre, but this anime came highly recommended by an old friend and boy am I glad I listened to him. GTO has to be one of the most well made anime package of its time. The story is somewhat cliche: troublesome high school students with peculiar skills or traits trying to rid a teacher who's trying hard to to teach them a lesson in life. However, there are some very clever surprises and plot devices to keep the viewer poised for more. My only complaint is therather hashed season finale (Ep. 42 and 43), but that was to be expected since those are the only two episodes that didn't diligently follow the manga.

The animation is adequate for its time, but that isn't the reason why you should watch this.

Both the opening and ending soundtrack for the series is great.  Although, neither are as good as the GTO Live Action theme, "Poison".  

The reason why you should watch this is simple: Onizuka Ekikichi, 22 years, virgin.  This anime is all about character, rather a character.  Truly GTO is ineffable in that sense.  Watch the first episode and tell me if you're not immediately enamored by Onizuka and his ridiculous ways. 

While there is a certain moral message to the anime, watch it for the sheer fun value.  It will make you laugh, that's for certain, perhaps it might even make you cry.  The live action series, I'm not ashamed to say did make my eyes wet.  

The live action series (12 episodes) is quite good as well but there are certain things one can have liberty with in an anime that is not possible in live action.

Overall, I highly recommend GTO.  Not just the anime but the entire franchise, manga, live action TV series and the movie.

Great Teacher Onizuka Banzai!
      

        Eikichi Onizuka. 22 years old. Even as Japan keeps turning out more new anime, there’s still perfectly good series out there from the past, and that’s especially true for people who might have been introduced to anime just recently. It’s hard to believe that GTO will be 10 years old this June, but age has nothing to do with a good anime. So I’ve devoted the last few days of my life to this series. The premise is simple, if not a bit cracked out, and the first episode serves to illustrate. Onizuka is a former Yakuza who always had a dream of becoming a teacher,and the best one of all time at that. Of course, he ends up drawing quite possibly the most ill-tempered class out of the whole lot, and that’s putting it lightly. This begins a 42 episode long trek to slowly win all students of his class over, and along the way figure out their problems. And in the end, it culminates with the student who has easily suffered the most trauma and the revelation of the event that shook the class to its core.

You know Onizuka’s always going to win in the end, and if you have to ask why, then you still don’t quite understand the premise. What’s important is the journey, how is he going to prevail, and where is he going to screw up along the way. It seems easy but quickly becomes complicated when you realize that the class is actively plotting against his efforts. They’re quite brilliant for a bunch of teenagers. The vice-principal also has a very low opinion of the former gang member and spends a lot of his time antagonizing the situation. On top of that, Onizuka is no pristine member of society; in fact, he’s a wonderfully flawed character. He drinks, he smokes, he’s vulgar, he’s a womanizer, and he acts completely over the top, running on instinct. Despite this you will love him, trust me.

The cast of characters supporting the show are just as important; they are numerous and just as easily flawed. If you’re anything like me, you’ll have trouble remembering most of their names by the end of the series, even the ones that are around from step one. Yet, each of these characters gets to carry the plot ball at some point for their spot in the limelight, and most of them will even have their own crowning moment of awesome. By the end, they’ve all grown significantly under their teacher’s tutelage. It’s the sign of a good series when you can juggle all these characters around and manage to leave none of them in the lurch.

A lot of the series appeal is the ridiculous situations that are generated and Onizuka’s ability to come up with equally ridiculous solutions, and soak up comical levels of punishment. It still delivers elsewhere. This show has the ability to move you, and if you don’t feel anything by the end of episode 11’s dramatic soliloquy, quite frankly you must be dead inside. The great teacher also specializes in life lessons, and if you haven’t managed to learn anything by the time the series reaches its conclusion, then I honestly wonder if we were watching the same show. This naturally lends itself to exploring how the school system is failing to prepare its students for the real world, instead focusing on test scores at the expense of all else. Really the only time this show loses its impact at all are when it veers off the overarching story for a one shot episode, and even those don’t feel terribly out of place and serve as auxiliary character development.

The animation isn’t nearly as pristine as technology allows today. It’s still fun the watch, and the facial expressions in particular are well executed. There’s a lot of action going on in some sequences, and there isn’t any major animation break or loss of what’s going on. The music doesn’t have a tremendous amount of variety; it sets the mood for the situation and then goes merrily away, letting the characters speak for themselves. Steven Blum plays Onizuka to the hilt, and I like the rest of the characters voice work as well for the most part. There were a couple of minor characters I didn’t really care for, but a minor character in this series basically means they get about three lines and then fall off the face of the planet for a few years.

This series is full of greatness. If you haven’t watched it yet, then I don’t care how you do it, watch it. If you have, take a bit of your time to revisit your favorite episodes. It’ll be worth it for all of you.
      

        Great Teacher Onizuka had some potential, but all of the humor is repetitive and juvenile, while unrealistic dramatic scenes dominate the plot more and more as the series drags on. It basically fails on both fronts. Plot points and devices are reused to the point where they become dull, and they get increasingly ridiculous as the series progresses. Not in a good way, of course. Holy melodrama, batman! This anime is chock full of bullshit backstories that are supposed to make us go “awwwwww, they’re not a bad guy/girl after all!” by the way. Yeah, it’s definitely as irritating and ineffective as it sounds. Characterdevelopment is unfortunately absent from the personality of our bland douche of a protagonist, and he is pretty much the same annoying dumbass for the whole duration of the plot. His way of solving issues with students is completely unrealistic, and while this is sometimes acknowledged and played for laughs, it takes itself seriously far too often. He’s pretty much just there for wish-fulfillment, plain and simple. As for his students, all developments in them come off as completely forced and contrived. Plus, almost all of them are blatant archetypes, who have some deep-seated reason to “bawww nvr trust a teacher again!” to boot. Why should we care about anything bad that threatens to happen when we already know that the Mary Sue genius cool handsome hacker boy can fix all problems that come up easily? Another telling issue with the characterization is that just about all men above the age of twenty are, for whatever reason, portrayed as disgusting perverts. This may be a reflection on Fujisawa himself, given the large amount of poorly-placed fanservice. All antagonists in this series start off completely one-dimensional and unrealistically evil, but they then get some sob-story tacked onto their character and their personality changes completely. That is simply not proper character development.


The art is easily the weakest aspect. Almost everybody has the same exact face; you know, that one face that Fujisawa Tohru recycles endlessly in everything he does. The only face he knows how to draw, basically. Great Teacher Onizuka largely depends on visual humor for its value as a comedy, but all of the "hilarious" facial expressions were used over and over again, when they were never really funny in the first place. At the same time, they contribute heavily to my inability to take Great Teacher Onizuka seriously. The rest of the visual humor is just somewhat lame and, man, I hope you like seeing Onizuka’s ass, because you’re going to be getting a lot of that. The animation is nothing special, and any flaws with it are completely overshadowed by the horrendous art. 


All of the claims made by Great Teacher Onizuka’s rabid defenders about its “societal commentary” are completely untrue. Bullying is not dealt with much better, more interestingly, or realistically than in many other works I have seen. Furthermore, I failed to see what it actually criticized about the education system, other than the fact that not enough teachers are violent gangsters. This theme continues with just about everything else it supposedly comments on. It either just features these things in a cliché manner or does not really say much about them at all. There is no depth to Great Teacher Onizuka; it is just a simple drama and comedy. This would be fine did it do either of those things right, but, alas, it did not. 


I have no idea as to why this anime is so highly regarded. It is just not very good, plain and simple. I get second-hand embarrassment when watching all of those sentimental scenes about teaching, and then I have to wonder why Great Teacher Onizuka didn’t just stick to comedy. Then I remember that it wasn’t funny and I think to myself “ah, that explains it.” GTO started out as a decent parody of all of those stupid shows with a super-teacher who helps his students work out all of their problems and wins their hearts in the process, but it eventually fell victim to self-indulgence and became a stupid story in the same vein. It contributed nothing new nor anything of real value to the genres of school life, comedy, or drama. It never made me laugh out loud, and it never evoked any kind of physical or emotional response. Not in a good way, at least. At its best, it’s okay. At its worst, it’s goddamn painful.
      

        I finished this series a while back but i was bored so i decided to write this.. What happens when you take a situation comedy, a schoolyard farce, and a stiff shot of hard-hitting commentary on modern youth and the issues facing the Japanese educational system, mix them together in one anime series, and shake vigorously? You get something wonderful, and that something is called GTO. The series tempers itself with a grounding in reality and addresses serious social issues, but by mixing raunchy humor with a bit of an edge, Onizuka's lovable-loser-with-attitude persona, and a collection of wild situations that any prime-time comedy would beproud to sport, GTO distinguishes itself as a creative, enjoyable, and very funny show. 

At first, I wasn't quite sure what to make of GTO; the sexual themes come on pretty strong, and between Onizuka's skirt-chasing and torturing his students, this didn't look to be a series in very good taste. Actually, I was missing the point: GTO is less a schoolyard drama and more like a modern-day fairy tale about a very human knight in all-too tarnished armor, fighting against conformity and the "right" way to do things. Once I stopped taking it too seriously, I started having an absolutely grand time. 

The characters are what make almost every good anime comedy work and GTO is no exception, featuring an unusually broad range of minor players. With everything from anime-standard biker-gang members to much more normal folks like Onizuka's used car dealer friend and an assortment of dysfunctional parental relationships, the characters run the gamut from broad stereotypes and hilarious anime favorites to surprisingly realistic everyday folk. What stands out in particular, though, are the kids that Onizuka has to deal with--far from the stereotypical blushing anime schoolgirls, the majority of these normal-seeming kids are world-wise and have a vicious streak that can be downright scary, particularly since their tactics are rarely as simple as mere violence. Aside from being a sadly accurate reflection of modern Japan, it does make for an interesting change of pace, as does Onizuka's less than conventional methods of dealing with them. 

This eclectic collection allows for plenty of humorous situations while also providing the serious ones that give the series its emotional heart. At the center of all of them, however, is none other than the Great Teacher himself, and Onizuka Eikichi is, more than anything, what makes GTO as much fun as it is. 

Onizuka at first may look like a simple skirt chaser, but there's oh-so-much-more to him than your average skirt-chasing creep, even though the TV version has less character development than in the comics. On one hand, his main interest in teaching seems to be the (female) students (and fellow teachers, for that matter), and he's certainly got a wandering eye, summed up in a hilarious scene early on where he surveys a schoolyard filled entirely with high school girls--the pan was captioned with "There are boys, but he only sees the girls." On the other, he's a hard-driving Karate champ badass with plenty of biker gang leader attitude to back it up. In between, he's an emotionally fragile loser with no life, less social skills, a good heart, and an honest desire to give kids a better educational experience than he had. 

If you put it all together, you get a dirty-minded punk who's not too bright, but can't help being a good guy from time to time, and more importantly he's one heckuva funny guy to watch. The most memorable (and funny) moments in the series revolve around Onizuka's unending capacity to absolutely freak out--aside from a variety of near breakdowns we're treated to sudden interjections of Onizuka's flights of fancy, usually offset immediately afterwards by harsh reality. He also seems to get that his interest in the students isn't exactly a good thing (but amusingly hard to resist), and his violent outbursts and "unorthodox" (read: "Suplex!") methods aren't something he's necessarily proud of later--he just gets carried away from time to time, and violence is the only way he knows how to solve things. Fortunately for him, his unique style is just what some of the kids he meets up with need, and his determination, street-earned wisdom, and bottomless idiocy are enough to make it work. 

Although things settle into more situation-comedy territory once the series is well underway, the early plot of GTO looks like a classic--a teacher who really isn't comes into the "tough class" and busts some heads, whipping the students into shape and earning their respect in the process. But unlike the action movies that make the rounds on late-night cable, GTO brings together wacky anime-style sensibilities, an edgy sense of humor, and enough meaningful drama and social commentary to keep things plenty interesting in one confidently directed episode after another. The more dramatic scenes are sometimes a little on the stereotypical side, but were still well handled and at times surprisingly powerful, and more importantly the series never seems to take itself too seriously--it's all one big romp in the end. Perhaps most impressive of all was how comfortably the series flowed; the episodes effortlessly weave between drama and outright slapstick, and each has a lively pace that keeps you wanting more but never feels the least bit hurried. 

GTO was not without flaws, though even the worst of them was only minor for me. My biggest problem was with the dub, but I'll cover that later. More generally, I was bothered by some of the art; the series is stylistically similar to adult male-targeted "businessman" manga (artists like Ikegami Ryoichi), which was most noticeable in Onizuka's frequently exaggerated facial expressions. I personally find that particular style of exaggeration unpleasant to look at more than funny, but in this case the situations were good enough that I was more than willing to forgive once I got used to it, and I wasn't even noticing after a half dozen episodes. 

The only other fundamental complaint that comes to mind is with some of the rather dirty-minded subject material; those sensitive to that sort of thing, particularly as it relates to student-teacher relationships, might not be able to see past it. The first two-part episode in particular featured several scenes that seemed to pander to the male portion of the audience that thinks the same way as Onizuka does, but it didn't really bother me. In fact, that was probably the best way to establish his character (and to snag a TV audience), and as long as you don't take it seriously it should all be very funny (Akemi, to offer one female viewpoint, didn't find it offensive at all). In any case the rest of the series isn't all like that, though it doesn't lose its edge either, and it's all tempered by dealing with some real (and often related) social issues. 

The artistic style is, as I mentioned, in the same general vein as a lot of other manga series aimed at older males. This means that the characters tend more toward realistic faces and proportions, although in this case the influence is mostly visible in the exaggerated facial expressions. Even so, there is still a wide variety of character looks, made even more impressive by the fact that they all look, more or less, Japanese. Even Onizuka's blonde hair is pointed out as being dyed, and is a distinctive part of his rebel character. The backgrounds tend to be rather bland, but if anything that puts more focus on the antics of the characters. The animation, at least, is smooth enough, and the character animation was extremely expressive, not to mention very funny. 

The background music consists of a variety of amusing mood-enhancing tunes, and the intro and end themes were decent modern selections. The first season's intro animation, by the way, is the most artistically creative part of the production--an edgy, hard-edged, black and white montage of scenes capturing Onizuka's bad-boy persona. 

Now for the one thing that made or broke GTO: The acting. Let's start with the Japanese, which is, in a word, perfect. The casting and acting in the variety of bit players is funny, but Takagi Wataru truly put the Great in GTO. Covering everything from mildly dramatic to ultra-stud to bad boy to blubbering idiot to near-breakdown hysterics, the quality with which every single facet of Onizuka's personality is portrayed was absolutely brilliant. I rarely heap praise that freely, but Takagi's performance alone was worth the price of admission. The subtitles, incidentally, were translated quite accurately, though the English is a bit stiff and does a poor job of capturing just how rough Onizuka's dialogue is. 

The dub is an entirely different matter. Serious creative liberties were taken with the translation, which I was willing to forgive since the dialogue was fairly witty and had some modern flair, although much of it also seemed to be noticeably more gross. More importantly, though, David Lucas's take on Onizuka just wasn't great. Not that there was anything wrong with it, but his range wasn't particularly broad, so much of the humor in the series was based on his antics, and Onizuka's Japanese voice was so good, that anything less than a truly amazing performance would have felt like a major letdown. Slightly choppy directing may have also contributed to this. 

I'm an established sub fan, so maybe I'm being too harsh on the dub, but what I found particularly interesting was how much less funny the English version was. Part of it was the acting, a little bit was due to choppy writing, a little more came from the fact that the background music and sound effects were quieter in relation to the dialogue, which drained some of the mood out of several scenes, but more than anything the English version just felt more... embarrassing. Maybe it's just in my head, but it seemed to me that the combination of less broad acting, less noticeable music, and somewhat more crude dialogue gave the whole production a less silly feel, which in turn made Onizuka's behavior less funny and more distasteful. Perhaps I'm reading too much into it, but at least I'm confident in saying that the Japanese version is much funnier than the dub. 

All in all, GTO is not a wildly original series, but like some of the best modern anime it takes tried and true concepts, gives them a good, hard shake, and shoots in a stiff dose of fresh, funny attitude to create a thoroughly enjoyable show. It's definitely not appropriate for younger viewers, and it's going to appeal more to the older male fans, but if you give GTO a chance, almost anyone who enjoys some mature (and relatively intelligent) but silly fun with should have a grand time. Personally, I can't get enough.
      

        Great Teacher Onizuka... heheh and what a great teacher he is. A really original and good anime filled with comedy, action, and a few serious moments, an animation that has given life to one of the most memorable characters i've seen, Onizuka Eichi. The animation is good, different from what you see elswhere but fits just right with the mood the show aims to give you, the funny faces Onizuka or Uchiyamada make are a real blast of comedy, ones i can always remember and still laugh about. The sound is great, great voice acting from everybody and a really cool soundtrack. Just watch the OP themeand you'll see what i mean, and later on the second OP/ED themes become even cooler. Maybe the best themes i've came across till now.

The story? funny, action packed and exagerated, really exagerated, i don't think students in Japan can be that bad even if they think they only get betrayed by their teacher... but this exageration gives birth to a really hilarious anime with some serious parts that concern the teacher-student relationship, all seen through the eyes of a very different and incredibile teacher Onizuka, an ex-bike gang leader who wants to be the mentor and teacher that he never had. And what sorts of things can happen in a school? you have no idea untill you watch this semi-episodic story... you can't really categorize this anime, it doesn't really look like something you've sen till now...

The Characters? Onizuka is the coolest character ever, the ex-bike gang leader with dyed hair and ear rings and muscles, tough and careless and always looking for fun on the outside, but with a big heart, trust in people and responsability on the inside... i'm shure any school student would give anything to have a teacher like him. Or the schools Uchiyamada-Sensei... hahah what a funny character. And Murai, Urumi, The PE Teacher, Kukuchi or Anko just make a great character cast.

The only thing that i want out of it is a sequel, they could add one since the ending doesn't really look like an ending, not the ending i wanted... so that's why i'm gonna give the story a 9 instead of a 10... because of the ending.

How can you call yourself an anime fan if you didn't see GTO? this is a real classic, different from everything you've saw till now, the perfect combination between action, fun, coolness and deepness... Just watch the first episode and i bett you would want to watch it all.
      

        _|_ Yoroshiku _|_ hahah xD When you complete the series you\'ll understand the humour ^^ First of all let\'s go backwards in reviewing. It\'s NOT a waste of your time to watch this title...really! Don\'t read stupid reviews, like mine. Just go there,buy the DVD set and start watching it! Overall-> oustanding! why ? hehe, yosh! I\'ll explain... I\'ve just completed the TV episodes and the enjoyment afterall is great. A superb comedy plotline -> not-ordinary guy(a former Gang member) who\'s teaching hard-time kids as their Homeroom Teacher. Well it\'s nothing special about the \'set\', but it\'s just perfect for comedy plotline. And when i say comedyi really mean it! 43 episodes of Hearty laugh!!!! The hilarious situations Onizuka\'s falling are so funny that you literally will "roll on the floor laughing"!!! And finally the outcome is really a  "life-teaching" for the students. A comedy, followed by wise advices for the life!! 
These advices are given by Great Teacher Onizka,22 years old, bachalor. The records for Onizuka are really funny -> the basics are simple - powerfull ex-gang member, not qualified enough for teaching but makes astonishing contact with his students. Onizuka has really deep involvement with their life-problems. Oustanding score for development the characters and their emotional relationship!. 
Let\'s go to the \'sound\'. The both openings are near perfect! The songs are really really good, even now i\'am listening Driver\'s High! Great job for L\'arc-en-ciel and Porno Graffiti!!!! But i don\'t like the endings... They\'re depressing me, for a comedy of this high level they should be more full-of-life ^_^
Lets don\'t stop on the art for too long. There\'s nothing special in it. It\'s Good enough! Nothing bad at the animation and nothing so good to rise the score up. It\'s good enough to represent the funny story :) The real funny story indeed! There aren\'t philosophical twists in the plotline. Everything is perfectly and well made, simple to follow and enough hilarious to stop breathing from laugh. And really - in some moment your stomach muscles will hurt from laughing!! The story is oustanding from every point of view - slice of life,comedy,drama ... EVERYTHING! :D The major aspects in the story are easy to define - hard time for Onizuka who\'s trying to become "Great Teacher" in Tokyo.... With that comes the laughtable situations :D

It\'s "MUST WATCH" title!!!!!!
      

        Animation - 7 Ehh, not much to say, for a show that is as action-packed as Great Teacher Onizuka is, it relies heavily on terrible CG anachronistic for its time, and flashes of still frames with speed lines and directional slashes galore. The character design is kind of uninspired, yet executed very well. The most interesting thing visually about this show is the fantastically conceived opening. Sound - 6 The same goes for the sound in this show. Out of the entire cast, only two voices stand out as well done, that being of Onizuka, and his student, Kunio. Thefirst theme song is undeniably fun and sets a good tone, but the subsequent op and all of the ed are quite forgettable.  
Story - 6
  The tale is familiar, teacher comes in and changes the lives of his impossible students for the better, inspiring them to have goals and live happily.  However, given the character of Eikichi Onizuka, this story is infused with undeniable shounen ecchiness that fans of such genres would find irresistible.  Each arc focuses on one of Onizuka's students and how he manages to sway their notions of how a teacher acts, thereby instilling his trust in them.  While these arcs progress, the overall narrative painting a picture of Eikichi, the man, slowly comes to the fore.  Actually in retrospect, while I found the show quite formulaic, and very predictable, the story is well crafted, and decently paced.
Characters - 6
  Well, this show, like many others has its parade of overused stereotypes...blonde guy with a kansai-ben, check, "perfect" love interest, check, dumb bobble head, check, glasses guy, check, diva bitch, check, angry gag man, check.  I could go on, but I'll stop there.  To me, the show didn't really excel in creating characters that felt distinguishable from any other in their type group, and instead tried to rely on the comedy to make them likable, so for me, I only found Kunio an enjoyable character, since, for whatever reason I don't understand, I find these bleached-blonde misfits to be hilarious.  Interestingly enough though, I didn't find Onizuka to be charismatic, likable, or comedically enjoyable at all.  I found him much too annoying, and much of his actions far too perverted even with the mantra of "willing suspension of disbelief."  He was just a flatly outrageous character with no depth.
Enjoyment - 6
  Any scene with Kunio was enjoyable to me, so I especially liked the little arc that he had towards the end...even if it didn't really have to do with him.  Other than that it was pretty unfulfilling.
Overall - 6
  Overall, I give the show a 6.  Though the narrative was well-crafted, the show was very shallow and could have easily been done with probably 10 less episodes.
      

        Heh, I didn't even know whether to bother with this anime or not. It seemed like it would be reli dull. But an old friend of mine told me that it was one of his faves. after watching 28 episodes of this anime i have one word to discribe that friend of mine and the makers of this anime, "Brilliant". GTO is by far one of the best anime's and definatly one of my favorites so far. Not much story to it after the first 3 episode, after those its basically more like a slice of life anime. but some amazing and entertaining things happenin this anime. So far i have never ran into a dull episode. This is the type of anime that u can pick up at any point when u have the time and realize that u should have checked it out much sooner. Onizuka Sensia is difinatly one of the most memorable anime characters i have ran into by far. And there are quite a few other characters in this anime as well u will have a hard time forgetting. 

Give it a try, this is an anime that doesnt disappoint ^_^
      

        While I usually steer away from ecchi anime, this an anime I will ALWAYS make an exception for. Yeah, the art is dated, and the dubbing is so bad it's good. It's the story and the characters that shine though. the jokes are spot on, the running gags are spot on, and the lessons he teaches his students are just amazing! I love the idea of student and teacher relationships (I mean the idea of being trapped in a room with a stranger that you don't know on the first day and gradually either love or hate them yet either way you're forcedto respect them, it just fascinates me.) But he's the type of teacher we would have all wanted in school. He's fun, cool, and doesn't take crap from anyone, and never let's his students get treated by crap. And he helps them in whatever means necessary (even if it and almost always does, risks him losing his job.) He's the kind of teacher I would have killed for in middle school. But anyway, this anime is and will always be one of my all time favorites. And if you like heartwarming comedies, watch it. You won't regret it.
      

        If I had a teacher like Onizuka I would actually have enjoyed school and looked forward to attending every day. The show itself is good but he makes it great. For those of you who have yet to watch it, please let me try and convince you with a short review to give it a try. This is my review. Contains Minor Spoilers Story The story of GTO concerns Eikichi Onizuka, a reformed biker gang leader that strives to be a great teacher and meet chicks. The story of the teacher that reforms delinquents has been done countless times but the story of GTO feels fresh. For one,instead of taking place in a lower class public school district, the students are of a higher class with wealthy parents. And Onizuka doesn’t come from the same privileged and sophisticated background as his students and this provides an interesting comedic dynamic. The story has a few heartfelt moments that’s scattered throughout the show. The only complaint I have the with the story is that it began to feel repetitive near the end with the same “Onizuka wants to turn student’s life around but student hates Onizuka” formula being used over and over again.  

Art
The art style looks really 90’s from the character designs to the background and it fits the style and tone of the show like a glove. Onizuka has one of the most flexible faces you’ll see and it provides a lot of laughs on its own. Watch the second opening and try not to laugh when Onizuka gives the finger, I dare you.

Sound
Steven Blum is fantastic. He gives Onizuka an inherent goofiness and likeability but also makes him come off as cool, menacing and bad ass. However some of the voice actors sound off and don’t really sound natural. One of the students talks with a surfer accent and sometimes it’s so bad that you end up laughing. The show has one of the best soundtracks you’ll hear. Both openings of the show are excellent. Upbeat rock songs that you’ll want to listen to over and over again.

Characters
Eikichi Onizuka is well known among members of the anime community for a reason. He’s funny, vulgar and caring. He looks after his students and never gives up on them. His methods can be unorthodox and he does a lot of things real teachers would never do but that just shows how far he would go for his pupils. Since Onizuka wants to help his learners throughout the story expect a lot of character development. The supporting characters are well developed but they are not nearly entertaining as Onizuka with the exception of vice principal Uchiyamada.

Enjoyment
GTO is amazing. It has a lead that’s impossible to hate, a really fun soundtrack and a funny and dramatic story, even if it does start to lag during the second half.

8/10
      

        "A brat who is afraid to be hurt isn't qualified to love someone." - Eikichi Onizuka Going into this I was a little unsure of what to expect. I was looking for something funny to watch, and the synopsis of GTO as well as the MAL score caught my attention. GTO did not disappoint. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but nonetheless I was so glad I found Great Teacher Onizuka. By the way, this reviiew is for the dub, which I think was very well done. After watching the first episode, I was immediately hooked. It was very funny, but it also brought me to realizethat the show wasn't going to just be some comedy. 

Great Teacher Onizuka is more than just a comedy, it is a story about life, growing up and maturing as a person among other things.

Eikichi Onizuka is 'reformed' biker gang member who has had the lifelong dream of becoming a teacher - he says so he can pick up high school babes. But we find that to Eikichi being a teacher is about more than just the hot girls who are supposed to come with the job. 

While Eikichi is a sex crazed freak (who is actually a virgin), he also is a very genuine person who cares deeply for his students and the people close to him in his life.

Story 10/10

Art 9/10

The anime is from 1999 or 2000 so obviously the art/animation are dated but I still think it is very well done. I personally really liked all of the character designs. Not to mention some of the best facial expressions in all of anime.

Sound 9/10

The openings and endings are really neat and fit the show really well (the animation of them as well). The soundtrack is solid as well.

Characters 11.5/10

Eikichi Onizuka is my new all time favorite character in anime. He is the funniest, most genuine, incredible person. All of the other characters in the anime are very good as well. You will learn all of the backstories of the students, who are all great characters. None of the characters are forgettable, they all have meaning and substance to them.

Enjoyment 12/10

As I said earlier this may be my new all time favorite anime. After finishing all 43 episodes I was so sad it was finished. GTO flew by for me and I found myself wishing for more. 

Overall 12/10

A true masterpiece - please, if for some reason you are unsure about this, give it a try, you won't regret it.
      

        Anyone who is reading this sorry for bad English and auto correct 1. Repeated pedophilic jokes on teenage girls I thought it's ok cause the anime is from 90s so it would have different themes 2. The kids class 3-4 be doing some crazy shit and In the next scene everything is ok there are no consequences Like some girls bullying the kid so much he tried suiciding 2 times. Next some girl planted bomb in school I mean wth I heard this show was suppose to teach life lessons I don't know I don't see any life lessons 3. Onizuka doesn't have any characterdevelopment atleast from what I know 

4.i only watched 11ep but from what I see it's seems like until ep 43 I would be seeing every individuals backstory in class 3-4 I mean i don't give fuck about what they been through in past and if they have trauma still doesn't justify to bully someone until they try offing themselves I was here for slight comedy and life lessons atleast that what I was told in reviews

5. After ep 5-6 idk what was happening ignoring the repeating sexual jokes towards teenage girls call me pussy but I can't tolerate people sexualizing teenage girls 

The female teacher that got admitted with onizuka most of the time she is good 
But whenever class 3-4 does something to troll onizuka for example the edited pictures of him she believed them 2 times after knowing yes they were indeed fake and photoshopped and I also she doesn't change she still act like that whatever trolling class 3-4 does to onizuka she believes that 

Well that's that 

This show did not hooked me up I can't waste my time on it I would not recommend it but I guess you can try it atleast once and know if it's your style or not
      

        Let me start off by saying I'm a huge fan of GTO's manga, the source of all its zany, raunchy material. It's easily my favorite manga of all time, and because it is such, I have high expectations for the anime. Perhaps my expectations were unreasonably high, but regardless, I wasn't nearly as happy with the anime as I was with the manga. Story: 5 The anime did a somewhat good job at adapting some of the earlier chapters of GTO. They were definitely outstanding in the episode where Onizuka dresses up as Doraemon (and that's as far as I'll go for spoilers). However, it allstarts to go downhill during the middle of the series. A lot of this has to do with the manga running longer than the anime, but they could've either ended it with a "to be continued" instead of finding an improvised way to wrap up the anime. 

Art: 6
The artwork feels too flat to me, and that's saying a lot coming from someone that's read the manga. The times where Onizuka's face contorts according to his emotions are pretty spot on, but the rest of the artwork doesn't inspire as much awe and even looks washed out in some frames. 

On another note, the openings and endings of Onizuka deserve a high score on their own. Very stylish and aesthetically appealing, they totally gave the right kind of feel to what the Onizuka anime should've been. 

Sound: 2 in English, 8 in Japanese
The English dub is atrocious. Even the great Steven Blum feels miscast as Onizuka. This series was definitely meant to be heard in Japanese. Onizuka's seiyuu is easily another class of its own, as he brought life to the character better than anyone else. You can also tell he's enjoying it as he goes. 

The OST of the series, however, is another thing holding this score back. A lot of it feels very generic and hammy. The melodramatic moments in the series look even more hokey with the OST playing in the background. (all of this excludes the sublime opening and ending theme songs, by the way)

Enjoyment: 6
It had its moments, but coming from the manga, it was a little harder for me to enjoy. So many things were missing, and the mood the anime was trying to convey didn't quite match what the manga achieved. Viewers that didn't read the manga beforehand will enjoy this series more than I did.

Overall: 6
Not much to say that hasn't already been said. Onizuka's opening videos and music were some of the most creative and inspiring works of art I've seen. The rest of the animation left more to be desired. GTO will still entertain casual anime fans, but if you're a manga reader like me, you'll cross your fingers and pray they do a reboot to GTO to give it justice, much like they did to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
      

        Sometimes you have to ask yourself two big questions- "Why do I watch anime?" "What is the point of watching?" Other than those good marketing present anime titles we are interested to recently, there is still some hope for the people who have started anime a little late.. Great Teacher Onizuka, is one of the few novels out there that can mentally change the heart, the thinking of ones human being (thus, both regular people and otakus). Even a greater impact toward Japanese people, for those who have went through the same things, faced the same things, did the same things that had happened in this unique storyline.You will happen to know how big the impact is; those memories of the things you have done before.

This is life, and there is nothing to be afraid of.
This is life, and we will face many hardships everyday
Life is a struggle. Both mentally and physically.

By all means, GTO had brought some real life points into the eyes of the otakus that are fantasied with ecchi and hentai.
-There is shit happening in the real life world, involving the bullying, the hacking and the suicide between men.
-There is endless "shit" that will happen throughout the lives of men.
-There is Onizuka. You are the one who will become the next Onizuka, the one man that is not afraid of all sorts of "shit" that happens in reality
-There is the otakus, who happen to watch all those ecchi and hentai everyday. There is the otakus, who happen to watch popular titles like Naruto, One Piece and Bleach. Now there is one thing you will notice after watching GTO. 
"All that 'shit' I watched before.. " This will rephrase the first two lines from the beginning- 
"Why do I watch anime?" "What is the point of watching?"

I can confidently explain to you how GTO can become quite the psychological anime- 
-In every single episode of the series, there is always one thing you will learn. The hardships of life. The endless chaos happening today. How will you manage such a responsibility? 
The ideas you receive inside the hidden moral of the story may be hard to discover, but eventually you will notice after you have watched this amazing title.
-Decisions and Choices is an important message this anime is sending to you as well. If you make a mistake, can you overcome it? Do you need your own Great Teacher Onizuka? There are many questions you will ask yourself-
From
("Onizuka is an anime character, not in real life. If only he was...")
To
("Shall I become the next Onizuka?")

You are the Meister of your own life. Will you want to end up like all those otakus? Or will you decide to become Onizuka?
      

        This is my first review. To begin with the title doesnt lie at all. You may not understand it form the first episodes but when you watch the final episode everything will become clear. GTO has everything - comedy, action, romance, drama, and some pervert characters. I enjoyed every single minute of it and its now one of my favourite animes. At first it looks like a shounen comedy, but after 10-15 episodes it shows some important social problems. There are a lot of things that wont be clear to you until you see the last episode but you will definitely enjoy it. Its reallystrange that a funny and perverted character like Onizuka can be so serious and can even teach something the older people. You will be able to see the matureing of the character throughout the episodes. Its amazing that a teacher like Onizuka can win the respect of his students, who all hate him because ... You will see why (I dont want to spoil). 
All in all GTO is an amazing anime full with excitement, fun and entertaiment. If you're a true anime fan you must definitely watch it!!! You wont be disppointed!!!
      

        For the past few decades, schools have been plagued with higher student dropout rates, increased juvenile delinquency, and child disobedience. Increasing numbers of students care less for their future and education, resorting to violence, gangs, drugs, and sex. Things that degrade society. What is the purpose of an education then? To excel in the academics, attend a prestigious university, and find a well-paying job. But what happens to other students who are not capable of achieving the expectations that society has placed on them? Simple. They are left behind. They become subjected to delinquency and are frowned upon by the upper class of thewell-educated society. 
Are the students to be blamed? Or, perhaps, are the teachers the ones to blame?

“The relationship between a student and a teacher is a sacred one.” 

Taking place at the reputable Holy Forest Academy, the Great Teacher Onizuka, a 22 year old virgin and former mischievous bike gangster, arrived to save the school from these problems! 

GTO attacks the education system in Japan. Onizuka, with a flawed and shady record, makes him the most unqualified teacher. But the bureaucrats were not seeing past the true Onizuka. The story shows Onizuka avoiding being expelled by his students, and eventually solving his students’ problems, which cover life lessons and society problems in a subtle but deep way. Each and every character's problems are issues that you can relate to as a student and in real life as well. There are occasional clever surprises and cliff hangers to keep the viewer engaged in the show.

GTO also features comedy, often sexual and perverted. Ranging from skirt chasing to sexual fantasies, the perverted comedy will occasionally give you a laugh. The stupid, ugly faces that Onizuka usually makes will, initially, disgust you, but you will eventually find it quite humorous.  As common in anime, especially during GTO’s time, some of the intended comedy is not at all funny and turns out to be cheesy and barfing, “smh” comedy. But there were times when I caught myself laughing out loud at the things Onizuka did with his students. 

Occasionally, you will cringe at Onizuka’s unorthodox teaching and discipline methods such as the torture of his disobedient students. The sexual themes are also part of the complaint. Those sensitive to these kinds of materials may not be able to see past it and automatically declare GTO trash and fanservice. This was the best way to describe Onizuka though. He does not hide any faults. He explicitly reveals them. He boldly walks with the words “pervert”, “pedo”, “gangster” on the back his shirt not worrying about how others judge him. In spite of his imperfection, Onizuka perfectly exemplifies the true man and teacher. Onizuka is basically Hester Prynne from Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter but in a far more humorous and contemporary way.

The OST was relatively good, with some really memorable soundtracks. The OPs and EDs were nice to watch and listen to as well. I was not fond of the sub, most particularly because of Onizuka's voice actor. Try out the dub for the legendary Cowboy Bebop Spike's voice actor, Steven Blum, who does Oniuzka's dub. 

The art/animation was pretty decent for its time. 

GTO suffers from technical problems such as occasional bad writing. Some arcs ended abruptly or had a random filler episode in a few arcs. Some dialogues were poorly written, making intended emotional scenes sound pathetically dumb and extremely cheesy. 

Overall, you will find GTO enjoyable and fun to watch. With the frequent comedy, deep and emotional scenes will give a change in pace and catch you by surprise. It was a show that revealed the problems in a diploma-based society and the issues of the current education system. It’s silly. It’s stupid. It’s deep. It’s fresh. 

So remember, if you think you can expel tor outsmart teachers, then you haven’t seen Great Teacher Onizuka!
      

        Great Teacher Onizuka is a heart-warming show, it's one of my personal favorites, but I will sincerely try not to be a biased reviewer. That being said, Great Teacher Onizuka is a hilarious, laughable roller-coaster ride centering around a perverse ex-motor-bike gang-leader gone teacher who teaches life-lessons to his students. GTO maintains an awesome balance between establishing morals such as owning up to your personal mistakes and being more self-confident with humor, which, to me is why it's one of my favorites; one of the shows that I always seem to come back to every other year or so. While the showdoes have a slow start, once it picks up it's quite funny; Onizuka's straight-forward, semi-gullible attitude allowed the writers to write humor in easily as well as offer a distinctive contrast when Onizuka is serious; that is, teaching his life lessons, though, not always in the most round about ways (which is why it's funny).

The story falls into "Arcs" each with its distinctive person/persona who may or may be having trouble with something with their life.  The story itself is fairly average at first, it's nothing "ground breaking", but it's averageness allows for more empathy between the audience and the characters.  The beauty of GTO lies in how realistic the situations are.

The art in GTO ranges around a 7-8, (I gave it an eight, first off, because the art fits the story and the persona's of the characters).  The animation (may or may not be) akin to around the 80's animation period, once you watch enough anime you  may come to the conclusion (as I have), that art/animation is only tantamount to the balance it has with the rest of the show.

Sound wise, the music in GTO is fairly decent, nothing terribly memorable; the sheer wackiness of scenes (such as the beach trip where Onizuka fires a harpoon gun) make up for sound/music.  GTO is far more action/drama based than anything else.

Character wise, GTO is average; static characters are brought into perspective through distinctive Arc's that serve to emphasize and tell a greater story or teach a lesson, then sooner than naught the story moves on.

GTO is 43 episodes long, it's a show to compliment others; I wouldn't recommend watching it as a primary show unless you know what your getting yourself in for; it's an extremely enjoyable show once the Arc-format picks up, but it does feel as though it ended early (Well, it did in-comparison to the Manga I hear) which is why my final rating is a 9/10.

The true value in GTO is that it's the story of a fuck-up (excuse my language) who's still able to connect and impart life-knowledge and lessons with a younger generation.  Think of GTO (Onizuka) as that teacher that made a difference in your life.
      

        GTO is one of the funniest and most touching anime I've ever seen. Onizuka is one of my favorite anime characters. He may be a pervert, but he has a big heart and it shows in every episode as he shows his students how to enjoy school again (even though they are all trying to bring him down). We get to know a lot about the students in his class over the course of the anime. As each of their problems are solved, there is a visible change in their attitude. There are just enough episodes for us to get to know and care aboutall of them. The only thing that felt out of place was the ending, but I'll get back to that later.

The music which is played matches the scene greatly and definitely helps a lot. Onizukas' theme is one of my favorite anime songs. Every time I hear it, I can't help but smile.

The animation is pretty good, considering it was made in 1999. I especially liked all the funny faces Onizuka makes.

It's a shame that it had to end the way it did, but the anime ended before the manga did, so I can forgive them. There is no better thing to do than watch it again since you will be wanting more. Great Teacher Onizuka deserves its spot as one of my top 5 anime.
      

        If you want a sub-par anime that is extremely episodic in nature, you need to watch GTO. The episodes had absolutely no connection to eachother except for the occasional episode referring to the previous one. The lessons learned in each episode made me almost think of Pokemon. The occasional ecchi was the only thing that spiced up the anime IMHO, so that significantly lowers the score in any case. I skipped about 10 episodes in the middle due to the fact of the constant roll-back each and every episode. It seemed at times they were just telling the same story of a day from different people'sperspectives (Extremely repetitive). 

This anime was almost slice of life, with a relatively PG-13 mind-set.

The ending was the feeling I got in a 'boring' episode of more successful anime.

The immaturity of Okazaki was another bummer. The only time he showed any intelligence was in EXTREME cases. Most of his actions included April Fools pranks to 'teach the kids lessons'. 

I don't know, but this anime seemed a lot like Trigun (terrible) so if you like it, you might like the other. :/
      

        Firstly, this is my first review from this site so don't expect much. Story: 10 In a nutshell, it's about a biker gang leader who becomes a teacher and transforms problematic students that are self-centered, bullies and delinquents that are trying to get rid of him, into a more friendly and mellow young students. Eikichi's class is the most problematic class in school because his predecessors all quit due to the students unprecedented behaviors which drives them out. Sound: Fantastic voice actors really suited the characters and also the music/sounds for all scenes were superb in terms of for example scary situations, it would have an eerie-likemusic illustrate suspense.
Character: 10
 Eikichi the main character of the anime, portrays what teachers should be doing in the real world to overcome individualistic problems with students that are being bullied or how to deal with delinquents. His background of being a biker gang leader is what made his teaching methods very hilarious and enjoyable to watch. The students in his class thinks he's crazy and stupid, but that's the thing that the students like because he's an "interesting teacher" and makes them amused and entertained most of the time, which changes their behavour.
Instead of making rational choices, Eikichi takes the opportunity to use force, unethical acts and somewhat irrational decisions to discipline his students, and in the end turns their life around.
Enjoyment: 10
Sure Eikichi is somewhat a perverted, courageous and likable man, but it's these characteristics which made the whole anime very funny. I laughed so hard at some of the scenes that it made me cry and my stomach was hurting.
GTO is an anime that will surely be one of my best animes of all time.
I really recommend this anime to everyone and overall i gave it a 10