Anime [Anime Blog Muyo!] Gokusen: First Look

Kumiko Yamaguchi is a new teacher at Shirokin Gakuen. She seems kind of scatterbrained, clumsy and geeky to most of her thug kids. However, it's mostly a façade to cover up the fact that "Yankumi" (as she's almost immediately dubbed by her class) is actually the heir to a powerful Tokyo Yakuza group and grew up with the knowledge, talents and abilities one might expect a child of the Yakuza to have. However, that will not stop her from helping her students any way she can and to become the best teacher in the world.

OK, wait, wait. Somewhat scatterbrained teacher who's actually a strong thug, ugly art, originally comes from a popular dorama, wants to help students in unusual ways and become the best teacher in Japan...

I've seen this somewhere before...uh...

Oh, yeah!

Actually, on some levels, it's not fair to compare Gokusen and GTO, but the similarities are striking. The primary difference is, of course, the background of Kumiko vs. Onizuka. Kumiko just generally seems to be fleshed out more than Onizuka is. Not that Onizuka isn't an interesting character in his own right, but Kumiko-sensei seems to have the potential for more depth. We see a little bit already in the first episode as Kumiko seems to otherwise be an orphan, living with her grandfather, the leader of the Yakuza.

Of course, the two personalities are also divergent. While Onizuka always had little to no control over his faculties when he got upset, Kumiko mostly manages to keep everything together. Onizuka is actually more of a dolt when it comes to book smarts, but manages to sort everything out through his actions in the end. Kumiko, on the other hand, actually seems to be quite intelligent and is as equally concerned with teaching the students as she is solving their problems.

However, there are certainly plenty of similarities, and it will easily be labeled a GTO knockoff by many. I mean, even down to the fact that both shows were manga first, dorama second and anime third (which is where most North Americans found out about the franchise).

That said, there are worse shows that you could be similar to (and I'm specifically thinking of another show from this season, Cosprayers, which emulates a dozen other shows unsuccessfully). Gokusen is fun and amusing. The concept and artwork will turn off many people. The fact that it's very similar to GTO will turn off still more. However, this show has the potential to be a whole lot of fun. Probably episodal fun (but not as episodal as, say, Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu), but fun nonetheless. And in an otherwise mostly low-key season of anime, that's more than enough.

As it stands, I give Gokusen an A-. Could be the season's sleeper hit.

For more information about Gokusen, check out the official web site or this fan site that also features lots of info on the dorama. As always, you can discuss Gokusen on our message boards.

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