GTO Revival 2024 review

One upon a time in jdoramaland, Kinpachi sensei was the prototypical teacher dorama. The wise grizzled veteran teacher giving advice and helping troubled students. Then came GTO, featuring a former yankee Onizuka who knows nothing about teaching, thinks about sex all the time and is entraped by a female student in the first episode but wins her loyalty by smashing a wall in her house. (It will take too long to explain, just watch GTO ep1 and it will make sense)

To me, GTO popularised the rebel main character  who was also perverted who could say what everyone could not and would solve problem using outrageous means. It started the formula of every teacher being against the main character and every episode he would get a new ally until the last episode would be the assistant principal who of course was after the principal's chair.

The original 1998 jdorama series is legendary. It is one of the top 10 greatest jdoramas over. The dorama SP was not bad, the movie was eh and then they tried a revival in 2012 which was so bad.  Many years later, is Japan ready for more Onizuka or is this Sorimachi role past his due date?

At the start of the dorama SP, Onizuka is now an uber eats driver and I liked how the audience is tricked into thinking he is coming to teach only to be revealed as the food delivery person. 

It is great to see Oguri Shun, Kunozuka Yusuke and Murai Kunio back in their old roles and them talking about what happened in the original series. Its been so long since Oguri Shun was in Summer Snow and GTO.

Wasn't Fujiki Naohito a policeman in GTO?

So how does GTO who still uses a clamshell (garakei) phone connect with students in 2024? They tell him they don't have any dreams and I call bullshit because everyone wants to be TicTocker, youtuber or some sort of influencer.

You have your compensation dating story (enjou kousai) the staple of all teacher jdromas which is now known as papakatsu.

It is very disappointing that Onizuka's solution to papakatsu is to employ an underage student at a bar for above minimum wage? I can hear all the people slaving away at combinis for 1,113 yen an hour crying that this is bullshit! It goes to show its about who you know and now what work experience you have.

The villain for GTO Revival 2024 is a youtuber who exposes people involved with the school. On a side note, the most prolific youtube expose person is GaaSyy ガーシー who become a politician from doing expose videos on the Japanese entertainment industry. He won a seat in parliament representing the anti-NHK party and Japanese politics is something else. 

So happy to see Fuyutsuki sensei!

It was a nice nostalgia trip including callback to a teacher using the word scum (kuzu) but the chainsaw stunt is just not cool.

Ultimately while it was fun to see the old faces, I don't think there is no need to revive GTO for a whole series. Fun nostalgia for fans of the original series but nothing to see here for everyone else. Thanks to skewed translation for the sub. Made me want to rewatch the original series which I can do every year.