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GTO Volume 10 (DVD)

So, here we are at the end of the line – the last installment of Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO). To say I’ve enjoyed this series is a bit of an understatement. With its strange blend of slapstick, drama, serious issues facing young people, and outright comedic insanity, GTO has always managed to be a fun show to watch, even when it dips to the serious side.

This is exactly what we get with the closing episodes. Yes, there are moments of humor (especially the punchline of the last episode) but the subject matter is mostly on the shocking side, particularly when it’s revealed what happened to the previous homeroom teacher of 3-4.

The first couple of episodes on this disc (40,41) the school trip is close to wrapping up. Anko and Yoshikawa’s relationship continues to be explored (after their near death experience during Onizuka’s treasure hunt). It reaches it’s logical conclusion – Anko’s admission of having romantic feelings for Yoshikawa – during a school tradition that has the students searching an abandoned hotel in the middle of the night for a book to sign.

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The search of the hotel is truly hilarious, with plenty of surprises laid by Onizuka to scare the kids.

The vice principal, despondent from having to spend the last few days of the trip in an infirmary, re-discovers why he got into teaching. Although, he hasn’t completely forgiven Onizuka, he comes away with a more positive outlook.

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Most fun is abandoned in the last two episodes.

The former homeroom teacher of 3-4 is nearly stabbed to death and Miyabi – who did not go on the school trip – is the prime suspect. As Onizuka and his student posse attempt to locate Miyabi, a sinister cover-up connecting the school board to a student’s suicide is uncovered. And the school board will do anything to keep the issue quiet and save their asses – even shutting down Holy Forest and sacking the entire staff.

As the school board and school staff meet, the vice principal makes a speech that should be required viewing for all teachers – I don’t care what country they teach in. It’s too stirring to do justice to it in this review; it’s the definite highlight of the episode for me as it reveals that the vice principal and Onizuka aren’t all that different.

Onizuka saves the day once again by alerting the media of the meeting and doing something not altogether unexpected, but still shocking. And then it ends – with a bit of tease of the possibilities, especially when it closes with “See ya next time.”

I’d like to be able offer a summation of sorts for the GTO series as a whole but it’s just too difficult. If you’re a fan of cartoons with mature themes and loads of humor, but never got into Anime thanks to indecipherable plots about invading robots, GTO is an extremely good series driven by interesting characters and situations that will make you laugh and think. I can’t recommend GTO highly enough – just watch it.

- Omni

(October 17, 2003)