[color=red][edit by mod, Warning possible spoilers][/color]
I want to ask sorry for the spoilers. Found a way to fix it kinda. Hope its better now. For the ones that want to see the spoilers just highlight the blank area between the tags that says [color=red][/color] The ones that read up to Volume 20 can check the spoilers with no fear.
[color=blue][edit by mod, Fixed the spoilers in a more elegant way][/color]
Forst of all I am glad I watched the Anime first. First reason is that the manga seems to me much greater than the anime. Second is the the manga has so many dialogues that go into such minor details that I would give it up as soon as I started it. Final is because I would probably not watch the anime if I read the manga because both of them have about the same beginning but after a point their stories change so much but if I didn't know that I would probably skip the anime.
Ok lets see. Onizuka is nothing close to being a teacher.. BUT! The subject he is teaching is perfect for him. Probably if my school had such a teacher the things could be different indeed. Communication is hard between children and teacher and its a general truth. Even if the teacher wanted to they could not. [color=red][/color]
I think it was volume 18 or 19 where onizuka saved one of his students from dying from cold. When they return parents are at school waiting to make onizuka meatballs and thats when the bald teacher pops up and apologizes to everyone. In between his dialogue he says that unlike a teacher onizuka hugged the girl half nude/nude and thats something a teacher would never do thinking of what will happen after. Ofcourse this may be a very bold example but its true.
[color=red][/color] So no one is at fault in the end. Not us students, not us parents and not us teachers. Too bad there is not someone like onizuka in every school..
I live in Greece and we have to go through 1 year of serving the army. In this one year I met ton of people. Actually most if not all of them were people I would never hang out with. Diligent ones, playboy ones and even delinquents. You see in there we all wore the same clothes so no one could understand what is who. I was amazed when I first saw them in their everyday clothes. There was a guy that dressed in a way that if I saw him on the street I would probably turn around and take another route. He was one of my best friends actually in there. I also met a guy that seems cool and nice but after a while me and the rest of the people in there realized he just shows a pretty face but he was saying everything we did to the higher ups. In the end every people is brainwashed by tv, parents, teachers and everyone and believes that when a person looks different is bad.
This manga, like previously mentioned by a poster, doesn't only talks about school. It walks about real life. Onizuka has nothing except raw strength. He is not even smart or cunning. He is always taken in so easily and even if people show him with a big neon sign that he is being a fool he will not realize it. He is pure fun and thats all.
Back to the manga. One of the "worst" things in this manga is the endless dialogues that usually go inside the head of teachers or students that can take chapters filled with just thoughts. Ofcourse when I read a manga I do not try to end it fast.. but this one is so good that its like its forcing me to know what will happen next. At the last 3-4 volumes I was reading (i have read up to the end of 19) I started skipping the tiny letters under main dialogues and the endless pages of each person's problems. Endless dialogues especially from that baldy teacher that end up showing how bad his like was. Even if I read them I do not really get all of these and thats because I have not been in these shoes. So yeah all these are tiring me BUT! I am glad they are there. It shows the writer did not pass all them as side characters but he shows to every character consideration and analyses why he is like that. Ofcourse onizuka comes in and solves it with his fists so thats kinda ^^;..
Afar from the endless dialogues that makes me feels that its more of a book than a manga nothing bothers me much. I am not expert in artwork and all but I can say that this one is pretty clear and easy to watch and Trigun Maximum (one of my favs) is pretty hard to even understand what your watch and at some points. So as long as I can understand what the picture shows I am happy. Reading it along some music (that would be light disco music for me) makes it very enjoyable. If I remember I have stopped at volume 9 a long time ago because the dialogues were gigantic and my head was burned. The a period of not watching anime or reading manga came and when I felt like reading again each time I brought this manga in my head there was something telling me to not to (all because of the endless dialogues). Now again at Volume 19 I feel unable to read more since it feels that its like a new season that will start. A new "bad" guy is coming and a lot of things will happen.
I want to comment another poster. He said "Do not be fooled by the masses" because he believes this manga is not as good as everyone seems to say. I can;t comment much on this but only one thing. Please don't say such a confusing thing. The people is not confused by the masses. Votings are there to show if somethi8ng is good or not. So if so many people say its good they are not trying to confuse but tell to the people that never read it how good this manga is. There is nothing you will see in this manga that can exist in reality. A teacher like onizuka is like neverland. A dream. And it doesn't feel repeating to me. Saying this is like saying every person that has individual problem can be counted with numbers. Each person in this life have different problems. So seeing onizuka solving their problems doesn't feel repeating, to me at least.
Anyway I will not continue criticizing what others believe. I will just say something I usually say and believe. When a thing lacks in something but has a lot of something else then the gap can be filled. Sadly I am a Greek and I can't express well myself. I strongly believe that no matter in what you believe GTO lacks there is surely something that makes it great. I would say the storyline but for this manga I can;t say it. Its something else that keeps me stuck to it. This dream Peter Pan that is called onizuka is a dream guy that everyone would love to have as a teacher and when you read though this manga you feel it in your skin.
I won't comment anymore since I feel that if I will say more I will start repeating what I said above. I Usually criticize a manga (or anything else) from its ending.. well except the ones that ofcourse are ongoing. Actually after reaching the first chapters I took a peek at the ending feeling that if I reached it and see something bad I would probably not read another manga ever again. I will just say I saw something good that made me decide that one day I would read all of it.
I am giving this manga a 15 out of 10 and the only reason I am not giving it a 20 out of 10 is because the endless dialogues that I mentioned that feel a bit (or more than a bit) pointless to me and they add a ton of fatigue to me. In other words I love this manga and I will love it no matter what ^^ Hope a lot people read it and I am sure you will love it! ^^ Dats all from me.
PS I mentioned the word "dialogues" 9 times... big scar this manga will leave me.. damn you Onizuka TT.
(-183)
(+209)
