The Great Teacher Onizuka anime television series is based on Tohru Fujisawa's manga series of the same name. Animated by Studio Pierrot and directed by Noriyuki Abe, the series ran for 43 episodes and was broadcast on Fuji Television from June 30 1999, to September 24, 2000.[1] During the original run, episodes were identified as "lessons" and did not have titles. The episode titles in the list below are from the English Tokyopop release.
The anime series uses five pieces of theme music: two openings and three endings. The first opening theme, "Driver's High" by L'Arc-en-Ciel is used from episodes 1–17. The second opening theme, "Hitori no Yoru" by Porno Graffitti is used from episodes 18–43. The first ending theme, "Last Piece" by Kirari is used from episodes 1–17. The second ending theme, "Shizuku" by Miwako Okuda is used from episodes 18–33, while the third ending theme, "Cherished Memories" by Hong Kong Knife is used from episodes 34–42.[2] The first opening theme, "Driver's High" is used as the ending theme in episode 43 and an insert song in episode 17.
Episodes edit
| No. | Title [3] | Original air date [2] | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "GTO – The Legend Begins" | June 30, 1999 | |
| Eikichi Onizuka begins his career as a teacher-in-training expecting that he will get a class of attractive, nubile high school girls. When he is assigned the problem "Class O", a group of delinquents and blackmailers, only his tough love is able to win them over. | |||
| 2 | "Enter Uchiyamada!" | July 7, 1999 | |
| Eikichi applies at Holy Forest Academy, and conflicts with the school's vice principal, Hiroshi Uchiyamada. Disgusted by his condescending attitude, he leaves knowing that they never would have hired him anyway. However, the school's chairwoman Ryoko Sakurai, impressed by his character, decides to offer him a job. | |||
| 3 | "Late Night Roof Diving" | July 21, 1999 | |
| The new school year gets off to a rocky start for Eikichi. To his great consternation, not only was he expected to live in a storage room, he has been assigned to teach middle school instead of high school students. He also had to rescue a student, Noboru Yoshikawa, from suicide. | |||
| 4 | "The Secret Life of Onizuka" | August 11, 1999 | |
| Eikichi learns first-hand what tricks his homeroom students are capable of. Yoshito Kikuchi, a computer expert, releases fake images of Eikichi engaged in BDSM and homosexual acts. Instead of getting mad, Eikichi asks Yoshito if he can create nude celebrity pictures for him. | |||
| 5 | "An Eye for an Eye, a Butt for a Butt" | August 18, 1999 | |
| Anko Uehara and her gang bullies Noboru for hanging out with Eikichi. They manage to tie him up and beat him to a pulp while he is nude, then take pictures for blackmail. After rescuing Noboru from suicide (again), Onizuka realizes the full extent of Anko's behavior. However, Anko's mother is an important member of the PTA, giving her a shield against punishment. | |||
| 6 | "Conspiracies All Around" | August 25, 1999 | |
| Following Anko's "lesson", Eikichi must face the PTA for his actions. During the hearing, Noboru shows the teachers and parents the extent of his pain—physically and emotionally. Anko's mother, still unbelieving of her child's actions, is forced to realize the truth when Yoshito plays a tape recording of Anko discussing the truth about her mother and Noboru with her friends. | |||
| 7 | "The Mother of all Crushes" | September 1, 1999 | |
| While preparing for parent-teacher meetings, Eikichi learns that one of his students, Kunio Murai, has a very young mother. He decides that "dates" are an excellent way to get to know the parents, much to Kunio's dismay. | |||
| 8 | "Bungee Jumping Made Easy" | September 8, 1999 | |
| When Kunio and his friends are confronted by local punks, they believe they are saved when Eikichi arrives. However, he refuses to help, believing their predicament will teach them about taking responsibility. Faced with a bungee jump, Kunio proves how far he will go to prevent his mother from dating Eikichi. | |||
| 9 | "Onizuka and the Art of War" | September 22, 1999 | |
| Eikichi goes head-to-head with the P.E. teacher Hajime Fukuroda. Meanwhile, Miyabi Aizawa enlists her friend Tomoko Nomura to frame Eikichi as an underwear thief. When she accidentally incriminates Mr. Fukuroda instead, Miyabi berates Tomoko for her stupidity. | |||
| 10 | "Outside Looking In" | September 22, 1999 | |
| Tomoko is depressed that Miyabi no longer wants her as a friend. Eikichi tries to cheer Tomoko up and enters her into a beauty contest to help her out with her self-esteem. | |||
| 11 | "To Be Idolized by a Nation" | October 17, 1999 | |
| At the talent beauty contest, Tomoko's clumsiness makes her a long shot to win, but discovers that being herself is her special talent. Despite losing, she gains newfound respect from her classmates. | |||
| 12 | "The Formula for Treachery" | October 31, 1999 | |
| Suguru Teshigawara, the math teacher, has his heart set only on Azusa Fuyutsuki; however, Eikichi inadvertently incurs Suguru's wrath when he ruins Suguru's plans to win Azusa over. | |||
| 13 | "Only the Best Will Do" | November 21, 1999 | |
| Suguru enlists a parent lobby group to get Eikichi fired. To prove his worth, Eikichi must score the highest mark in a national scholastic achievement test. However, he soon learns that it is no easy task. | |||
| 14 | "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" | December 5, 1999 | |
| Determined to prevent his dismissal, Azusa invites Eikichi to her place for one-on-one all-night study sessions. Meanwhile, believing that studying alone isn't enough to get the highest mark, Eikichi's students attempt to steal the test answers from the school. | |||
| 15 | "The Great Sacrifice" | December 12, 1999 | |
| On the day of the test, Eikichi witnesses the abduction of a Diet member's daughter and pursues the kidnappers to an abandoned warehouse. During the ensuing brawl, Eikichi rescues the daughter, but is shot in the process. He manages to return to the school, but has to write the day-long test in one hour. | |||
| 16 | "Beauty + Brains = A Dangerous Mix" | December 19, 1999 | |
| Eikichi relishes his newfound hero status until he meets Urumi Kanzaki, a mischievous girl who gets him arrested as a pervert. He is less than amused when he finds out that she is actually one of his students. | |||
| 17 | "Falling for The Great Onizuka" | January 16, 2000 | |
| Eikichi learns that Urumi went through a traumatic childhood experience and tries to help her cope with it using his own brand of teaching. He surprises her by jumping after her when he accidentally pushes her off a building. | |||
| 18 | "How to Dine and Dash" | January 23, 2000 | |
| Blackmailed by Urumi for pushing her off a building, Eikichi subjects himself to her whims. After meeting her former elementary teacher, Urumi goes on a classroom terrorism spree. | |||
| 19 | "Private Investigations" | January 30, 2000 | |
| Urumi's teacher admits that she was the cause of Urumi's mistrust towards teachers. When Urumi was younger, she accidentally revealed the secret about Urumi's father. Eikichi decides that only a special lesson across an incomplete freeway will teach Urumi about life. | |||
| 20 | "Love Letters" | February 6, 2000 | |
| Kunio finds a love letter addressed to him, initially believing it is from Akane Fujita, a girl he likes. However, when Akane dumps him, Kunio realizes his true feelings for his platonic friend, Fuyumi Kujirakawa. | |||
| 21 | "Revolution Everywhere" | February 13, 2000 | |
| Unable to cope with the pressures of teaching, Azusa runs away to her former school in Hakuba. Eikichi, Tomoko, Yoshito, and Kunio follow in order to convince her to return. | |||
| 22 | "The Art of Demolition" | February 20, 2000 | |
| Azusa learns that her former school will be demolished. During the countdown, a former student of the school runs into the building to retrieve a precious heirloom. Eikichi pursues in order to rescue her before the school is destroyed. | |||
| 23 | "Superstition" | February 27, 2000 | |
| Eikichi receives a cursed chain letter, but he dismisses it as superstition. After a series of misfortunes, he begins to believe in the letter and does whatever he can (including suggestions from Kanzaki to write spells all over himself) to dispel the curse. | |||
| 24 | "Compromising Positions" | March 5, 2000 | |
| Mr. Uchiyamada experiences a mid-life crisis, wondering if there is any meaning left to his life. His family has grown apart and now fears for the worst when his daughter Yoshiko takes a liking to Eikichi. | |||
| 25 | "Playing Doctor – GTO Style" | March 12, 2000 | |
| An attractive school nurse, Nao Kadena, arrives at the school, much to the delight of Eikichi. However, she soon starts using her looks and the school to fund her money-making schemes. | |||
| 26 | "Onizuka Meets His Match" | March 19, 2000 | |
| Eikichi learns that Nao, a former street racer, was using the school to help pay her brother's medical costs for an accident that she blames herself for. Eikichi challenges her to a game of "No Signals" to teach her about self-worth. | |||
| 27 | "GTO – Agent to the Stars" | April 2, 2000 | |
| Eikichi becomes Tomoko's manager and arranges a series of innocuous commercial shoots to increase her national profile. Her commercials attract the attention of a popular magazine who wants her entered into their beauty contest. | |||
| 28 | "Whatever Can Go Wrong, Will Go Wrong" | April 16, 2000 | |
| From getting bōsōzoku gangs to vote for Tomoko to questionable marketing ploys, Eikichi does whatever he can to make sure that Tomoko will win the contest. However, a contemptuous rival competitor undermines his efforts. | |||
| 29 | "Studies in High Finance" | April 23, 2000 | |
| Before the annual class field trip, Miyabi and her friends steal the school's trip money and blackmails the English teacher, Mr. Sakurada, into luring Eikichi to a fake "underground girls club" with the stolen money planted on him. At the "club", Eikichi was goaded into drinking beyond his limits. Finally drunk, Eikichi was relieved of the money and thrown into a garbage pile on an unfamiliar street. He wakes and wonders why is he there. | |||
| 30 | "Money Talks, GTO Walks" | April 30, 2000 | |
| Led to believe that he spent the school's money, Eikichi attempts to raise the money himself while his students investigate who set him up. The school's faculty decides to hold a student assembly so Eikichi can take responsibility for his actions. | |||
| 31 | "Destination: Okinawa" | May 7, 2000 | |
| Framed as an embezzler, Eikichi promises to make it up to all of the 3rd year students with a trip to Okinawa. He claims that he can pay for it with a winning lottery ticket (obtained as a collateral from Saejima), but when he finds out that the ticket was a fraud, he has to find another way to pay for the ¥8 million trip. | |||
| 32 | "The Law of Probability" | May 14, 2000 | |
| Eikichi wins a Mercedes-Benz E-class sedan in a local contest, worth enough to pay for the trip. Unfazed, Miyabi arranges for a suicidal salaryman to jump in front of Eikichi's car and ruin his chances of selling it. | |||
| 33 | "Search and Rescue" | May 28, 2000 | |
| To teach Miyabi and her friends a lesson, Urumi orchestrates their kidnapping to hold them for ransom. Eikichi literally flies in to save the day and foils Urumi's plans. | |||
| 34 | "Good Cop/Bad Cop" | June 4, 2000 | |
| When Tomoko, Eikichi, and his friend Toshiyuki Saejima find a suitcase filled with gold, they find themselves on the run from the yakuza. | |||
| 35 | "Wedding Bell Blues" | June 11, 2000 | |
| When Kunio finds a wedding dress catalog at home, he suspects his mother will marry someone behind his back. Overprotective of his mother, Kunio will stop at nothing to stop her wedding. | |||
| 36 | "Self-Improvement" | June 18, 2000 | |
| Nao helps Azusa choose a bathing suit for the trip to Okinawa. Azusa tries to get a makeover in order to impress Eikichi, but ends up getting carried away in the process. | |||
| 37 | "Living Together" | July 16, 2000 | |
| To make it a trip to remember, Eikichi assigns his students to co-ed rooms. Noboru is perplexed with Eikichi's decision to assign him with Anko and her friends. Eikichi helps Noboru make the most of a bad situation with a good old-fashioned prank on the girls. | |||
| 38 | "Great Treasure Okinawa" | July 30, 2000 | |
| Eikichi learns of a hidden treasure somewhere on one of Okinawa's islands and decides that a special class trip is in order. During the expedition, Anko and her friends tie up Noboru to leave him in the jungle, but end up getting lost in the process. | |||
| 39 | "Alone in the Dark" | August 13, 2000 | |
| Separated, Anko and Noboru are forced to find their way to safety together. Eikichi, however, believes their disappearance was a ruse to conceal their discovery of the treasure, and searches for them in hot pursuit. | |||
| 40 | "Matters of the Heart" | August 20, 2000 | |
| Following her ordeal, Anko is conflicted over the new emotions that she feels for Noboru. To teach Anko to be true to her heart, Eikichi plans a special nighttime lesson for the class. | |||
| 41 | "Confessions" | August 27, 2000 | |
| Eikichi orders his class to walk through a derelict hotel as a test of nerves. Anko and Noboru make it past Eikichi's test, but when confronted by four local hooligans, Anko stands up for Noboru against the bullies and confesses her feelings towards him. | |||
| 42 | "Old Wounds Revisited" | September 10, 2000 | |
| Miyabi confronts Noboru Saitou, the class's former teacher, about the incident that drove them to hate teachers. When Mr. Saitou is later found stabbed, suspicion immediately falls on Miyabi. | |||
| 43 | "Onizuka's Final Battle" | September 17, 2000 | |
| Miyabi's friends and teachers work to protect her from the corrupt teachers' union whose pressure on Mr. Saitou over his unprofessional relationship drove his student lover to suicide. Eikichi decides to take the blame for the stabbing to clear Miyabi of any wrongdoing. Azusa also confesses her feelings towards Eikichi. | |||
References edit
- ^ "GTO" (in Japanese). Pierrot. Archived from the original on August 8, 2021. Retrieved August 8, 2021.
- ^ a b "GTO". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on August 8, 2021. Retrieved August 8, 2021.
- ^ Episode titles from English DVD volumes:
- "GTO Volume 1 Great Teacher Onizuka". Tokyopop. Archived from the original on October 10, 2002. Retrieved August 8, 2021.
- "GTO Volume 2 The Bully". Tokyopop. Archived from the original on October 10, 2002. Retrieved August 8, 2021.
- "GTO Volume 3 Outcasts". Tokyopop. Archived from the original on October 10, 2002. Retrieved August 8, 2021.
- "GTO Volume 4 The Test". Tokyopop. Archived from the original on October 10, 2002. Retrieved August 8, 2021.
- "GTO Volume 5 Betrayal". Tokyopop. Archived from the original on October 10, 2002. Retrieved August 8, 2021.
- "GTO Volume 6 Holy Forest". Tokyopop. Archived from the original on August 19, 2004. Retrieved August 8, 2021.
- "GTO Volume 7 Showbiz". Tokyopop. Archived from the original on August 19, 2004. Retrieved August 8, 2021.
- "GTO Volume 8 Transformations". Tokyopop. Archived from the original on August 19, 2004. Retrieved August 8, 2021.
- "GTO Volume 9 Field Trips". Tokyopop. Archived from the original on August 19, 2004. Retrieved August 8, 2021.
- "GTO Volume 10 Accusations". Tokyopop. Archived from the original on August 19, 2004. Retrieved August 8, 2021.
External links edit
- Studio Pierrot website (in Japanese)