Tohru Fujisawa's popular manga about a wildly irreverent high school teacher comes to the screen in this live-action comedy drama. Eikichi Onizuka (Takashi Sorimachi), who barely earned his teaching degree at a second-rate college, rolls into Horobonai, a small rural town in Northern Japan on his motorcycle to take a job as a substitute instructor. Ever since the closing of the local theme park, Horobonai has fallen into an economic tailspin, and many of the town's teenagers have sunk into a deep depression. Onizuka, however, isn't the sort of person who respects the town's newly somber personality; willing to mouth off to both his students and his superiors, Onizuka isn't much of a teacher, but he knows how to get people interested, and soon his brash style (and willingness to kick a few butts) brings new life to Horobonai.
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This movie is definitely a treat for all the GTO fans out there. Perhaps, even for those who are about to watch it for the first time. Takashi Sorimachi's portrayal of Onizuka is undoubtedly a delight to watch - it is as if Onizuka came to life through the big screen.The most entertaining thing about it is that it's able to keep its viewers entertained as it contains just a bit of everything you look for in a story. Onizuka will either tickle your funny bone with his comedic and goofy antics, or leave you teary-eyed through its dramatic climaxes (especially in the live action series). Plus, I like how it never lacks essence as it translates the scenes into lessons that everyone can relate to. It's fun, highly entertaining, and will surely leave you asking for more.
Great Teacher Onizuka is the story of Eikichi Onizuka, an unorthodox high school teacher whose decidedly unusual teaching methods make him a hero to the kids, but a menace to the establishment. The saga of Great Teacher Onizuka or GTO achieved phenomenal success in Japan, spawning an animated television series, a twelve-episode TV drama, and a TV special. Finally, the brain trust of Fuji TV brought GTO: The Movie.It stars Takashi Sorimachi as Great Teacher Onizuka together with Norika Fujiwara, Reina Tanaka and Masayuki Suzuki.The film was directed by Masayuki Suzuki.Great Teacher Onizuka takes place as far away from the big city as possible. The setting is the rural town of Horobonai, which is located on Japan's northern-most island of Hokkaido. The local high school has a trouble class, which is mostly due to the presence of Ayano Katsuragi, the local ice princess, whose dad ran a theme park called "Canada Land." Unfortunately, said park went bankrupt and the town is now experiencing a depression, of both the economic and emotional variety. The kids frequently threaten suicide, and the teachers are your usual motley band of useless types. Enter new substitute teacher Onizuka,who rides into town on his motorbike. Within minutes, he bullies a couple of kids, insults most of the teachers, and generally acts disrespectful and obnoxious. Things are the worst for Raku, a mousy kid who has no friends and contemplates suicide of his own. Onizuka steals money from the kid, accidentally pushes him off a roof (don't worry, he survives), and even badgers Raku into giving him room and board.Onizuka may be a societal castoff (he attended a fourth-rate college and is actually dumber than most of his students), but his brash, honest and utterly righteous ways make him a hip youth icon for our troubled times. Considering that Japan's educational system is polluted with corruption, abuse and student-teacher improprieties, Onizuka makes a decidedly refreshing anti-hero.Great Teacher Onizuka provides fun,laughter and entertainment to the viewer.No question that Onizuka,an ant-establishment type teacher and anti-hero continuously will amuse the viewer with his unorthodox methods of teaching and helping students with problems that compound them.Takashi Sorimachi is obviously born to play GTO as he provides charisma and talent to fulfill the traits needed.Although the story of the movie maybe somewhat implausible,the movie provides great comedy as well as pure sincerity in handling different issues that affect Japanese students through their anti-hero.Overall,this is a highly recommended movie for viewers who love student- teacher movies especially as GTO gives another "kind of education" to students.
GTO has always been a favorite series of mine, mostly due to actor Takashi Sorimachi doing such a great job in the live action. The film was actually my first view of the live action, and I must say I was impressed. Sorimachi captures Onizuka's personality extremely well, and having played it out for so many years, he's nearly perfected it. The erratic behavior is there, though his Onizuka is slightly less. However, the personality is there, just as we would expect. It's great and the film is hilarious. What's especially nice is that there are several original elements, like the amusement park angle and the old man on the bench. The film is highly entertaining, fairly original, and translates everything we love very well. Any fan should definitely pick it up. It's a keeper.
Great Teacher Onizuka (aka GTO) was a manga by Toru Fujisawa. In 1998 it spawned a twelve-episode TV drama followed by a TV Special. The year 1999 comes around with an anime series of the same name. Along with that, GTO the movie is released. The movie continues where the TV drama special left off.Onizuka (played by Takashi Sorimachi) ends up at the rural town of Horobonai in Hokkaido, Japan. He is a substitute teacher, there to set things straight at a school where nobody cares. Sound familiar? If you've seen the series, then it should. It's a new story though, and a great one.GTO fans should be satisfied with this movie. You get to see Onizuka's crazy ways of handling things once again. If you are unfamiliar with GTO, go watch the anime or TV drama. It's much more entertaining that way. As a stand alone movie, it's pretty good. But as a GTO movie, it's great!
