That blonde yellow hair…looks strong…looks like a thug… …Onizuka EVERYBODY!!!!
Last week’s GTO had Serizawa overcome a debilitating injury and, while he can no longer accomplish his goal of playing basketball in America, he can still play the game he loves.
Summary of Great Teacher Onizuka Episode 9
- After Saejima confronts Miyaji Meiri (Ayaka Miyoshi) on a rooftop, Onizuka learns the reason she is no longer in class: she used to date the former teacher, Kihara (who you remember way back in Episode 1 was on “vacation”), their relationship was exposed, and everyone tried to stay away from them, including Meiri’s best friend, Ayuna. After being confronted by Onizuka, Meiri exposes Ayuna getting pregnant from Kuzuki to the whole school, and then later on says she’ll take her life, for all to see. She is stopped by Onizuka and the class, and, once Onizuka reveals he met Kihara to learn more about Meiri and delivers Kihara’s message to her, she relents and returns to the class. And that is the conclusion of GTO 2014…or is it!??
My Take
- This week’s GTO predictably solved an issue that I was wondering about — what would happen to the story after Onizuka manages to get all the students on his side? I guess I’ll have to address that, even though I could wait until next week. But first, Meiri’s story!
- I guess I WAS right in some aspects regarding Meiri’s attitude in GTO. The Kuzuki-Ayuna-Meiri thing wasn’t plausible, but Ayuna and Meiri were friends. That’s the thing — were friends. But I missed out on the revelation that ultimately seemed dropped as the series went on: Meiri having a relationship with Kihara, the teacher who was “on vacation”. There were probably little hints that, if I were to go watch the series from the start, I would’ve seen that aspect coming, but nope! So, the two were in a relationship, their relationship got exposed by someone (whoever that someone is), and everyone decided not to trust her…including her friend. That ultimately was not the reason Meiri ended up getting her revenge on her students — it was because everyone lost faith in Kihara, and in turn, Kihara couldn’t handle the stress of what was going on.
- It was interesting how this episode made it out to be that Kihara was essentially Onizuka — he got along well with his students, he made his classes fun, etc. The only obvious difference comes down to values (and morality): Onizuka understood where he stands with his students, especially since he’s a teacher. Kihara, on the other hand, may have just been the opposite. I could be wrong by saying that, but having to deal with kids who still have a lot to learn, and dealing with adults who have their own biases and stresses, he should have known better since he was popular and well liked by all. The moment you show a problem — especially as big a problem as this — people will look to bring you down. The only recourse after that is to respond and handle that problem. Kihara not only could not handle that problem, he then ended up leaving Meiri isolated, with nowhere to go. So ok, yes, Ayuna is pretty complicit in why Meiri ended up doing whatever she wanted, but there were stronger factors that put her in that situation.
- I guess just a brief commentary on the student-teacher relationship: it’s obviously been stressed in the GTO series, but having a relationship hasn’t been broached yet, so might as well give my two cents. Inherently, you’re always told you love who you love, but at the same time, there are limits to that as well, depending on the situation. In this situation, a teacher is expected to teach, but to also guide a student so they can succeed, and especially at the high school level, they have to be responsible. After all, even Kihara told Meiri that they shouldn’t be in an open relationship until graduation. Anything more than that just leads to stigmata, which this episode showcased. How you handle that is of course also a thing too — what exactly was the two of them supposed to do after that? Well, try and survive of course. Not exactly easy, but like a lot of things, you can’t run away from your mistakes, or from a lot of things.
- Just a few things: damn did Kihara look broken…I mean geez!
Also this is so anime it hurts, it hurts
- Now onto the bigger elephants in the room, which will obviously make next week’s GTO the first must watch episode this season: Onizuka’s past, Sawamura, and Ayuna. As I said at the beginning, I wondered halfway through the series what would happen next after Onizuka got his class together, and the only theory would be that it involves Sawamura, a friend that Onizuka has said he killed. As expected, I was right!
- …What I DIDN’T count on was Fujikawa somehow getting tied into Sawamura, who she says was her older brother…somehow. Considering they have different last names and all, that requires further explanation.
- Whatever the case, now you have that angle tied with Onizuka, and now you have quite possibly the darker side of Onizuka’s past tied with him too! My guess is that this interaction may involve Sawamura, but it also may just be something from his Onibaku days. Either way, while GTO 2014 has been tame with fighting so far, that’s set to change next week. It’ll be interesting to see the responses from people in the show.
- And then we…we’re still not done with Ayuna!?? Didn’t she say she had an abortion? Is this some sort of complication I don’t know about? What is going on here? Welp, I had been wondering why Ayuna, while she has been a main player in this series, hasn’t gotten her focused episode yet, and that…that may be coming after all.
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Justin
Justin is the founder of Organization Anti-Social Geniuses. Anime & manga fan that likes to blog about anime and manga, is addicted to sports, and weak to crossovers. You can follow Justin on Twitter @Kami_nomi.Latest posts by Justin (see all)
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