Great Teacher Onizuka is one of my favorite anime that I have been neglecting to watch–and collect–for a few years. GTO is a story of a bad boy biker turned high school teacher, which spawned in various formats. There is the manga, (currently available at your nearest bookstore), then the live action J-Drama, and finally the animated masterpiece which we see before us. GTO is the first “slice of life” anime I watched that did not have the stereotypical fantasy elements; giant mecha, magical girls, and/or intergalactic super heroes.

The stunts Eikichi Onizuka performs leaves positive effects, while some find it just plain wrong. In the end, it delivers a hard hitting message, just like an ABC After School Special. For example, in an episode shows one of Onizuka’s female students with the shy, simple minded, big breast complex we see in just about every anime (a’la Orihime Inoue of “Bleach”). Everyone at school makes fun of her appearance, including a long time friend. It’s Onizuka to the rescue! He enters her in a school pageant (wearing a skimpy bunny outfit, different than what the other participants were wearing) to make her feel better about herself, and to tell her so-called “friends” the truth about how she feels about them.

GTO is on the top of my list of anime I must (resume) watch(ing), even if it will take me a few more years to finish. Originally, Tokyopop distributed the DVDs, but FUNimation has taken over the distribution rights. They re-released the DVD Boxsets that TP previously released, which makes it a little easier to buy. Unfortunately, I am stuck with three volumes of the Tokyopop release. How am I going to pick up where I left off without owning the first several episodes twice? Oh, well. I’ll manage somehow…