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GTO Volume 16

Creator: Tohru Fujisawa

Reviewed by Rob Manuel

Graduating college without any real direction in life is tough.  With the boundless freedom comes questions on what to do next with your life.   If this sounds like you, you know how I feel.  If this sounds like you and you're a former biker leader in Japan just trying to do anything and everything to get into the skirts of young High School girls, then you know how Eikichi  Onizuka feels.
  
GTO, which stands for Great Teacher Onizuka, is the story of one young man trying to find his path in life and hoping that path leads to the girl's locker room.  After graduating from college, Onizuka decides the best way to get young  girls is to become a high school teacher.  His dreams of late night study  sessions with the cheerleading squad are quickly dashed to pieces as he finds out  that he's not qualified to become a high school teacher.  Instead, he takes the  next best thing, a job as a middle school social studies teacher for a class of  students sending teachers home crying or in a body bag.  Onizuka survives  with a perverted sense of humor, dedication to his students, and an "always have  a plan" attitude.
 
That covers about the first two books.  Welcome to Book 16.  

With just about the whole class converted, there's only one girl left stubborn enough not to follow the herd--Miyabi.  Book 16 begins a new story arc  concerning Miyabi.  Steadfast in her hatred of her social studies teacher, Miyabi feels alone in the world and betrayed by her former friends.  She stays at home refusing to go to school.  When she catches her father leaving the train station with another woman, Miyabi makes the drastic choice of running away from it all.  As usual, Great Teacher Onizuka, not wanting to lose that title after all, pursues the lost student and shows her that she still has one friend left in the world, the bumbling Tomoko.
 
The second part to this story deals with Urumi, another girl in Onizuka's class.  Smart as she is beautiful, Urumi feels disconnected with her own mother who works constantly. With Onizuka and his credit card by her side, Urumi travels around Tokyo to escape her mother and spend more time with her wild teacher.  Things might have gotten a little more serious if it wasn't for Onizuka's iron morals and self-induced concussion. Now with two girls after our beloved teacher, something has to give, and one of them will fire the first shot in this war to win over Onizuka's heart.
 
Fujisawa pushes the series in directions that few comics dare.  Edgy, funny,and a bit sexual, GTO is not for everyone.  GTO has a way with dealing with sexuality the same way the Iron Chef can work a knife.  If you were appalled by  wardrobe malfunctions, then this comic isn't for you.  On the same note, don't flip through the book looking for cleavage shots.  Fujisawa knows how to work a story and a strong cast of characters.  As it's reflected in the detailed  expressions and each panel being pushed to its limits with dialogue, GTO is  about the kids and not just the sex.
 
While Book 16 begins a new arc, first-time readers need to start at the beginning.  There's a lot of story to cover as well as a small army of characters to deal with.  Despite the title, this isn't Onizuka's show.  Everyone has a story.  Everyone has a past they would like to hide or a possible future they hope to change.  Onizuka may still be in the spotlight, but it's the cast of complex characters which keeps the story going.  At times during the series, GTO has fallen prey to repeating its own formula, but this new arc starts to take the series in a new direction.  It might be a long trip, but starting from book one is worth the ride. 

Rating: (3 1/2 out of 4 stars)