High school anime are so common that they have become cliché. Well here is a high school anime with a different angle – from a teacher’s point of view. But GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka does have some other hurdles to overcome.

The main character is an ex-gang leader who now wants to become a teacher. He comes to work at an exclusive high school and is put in charge of a problem class. These are clean-cut looking kids, but with a habit of breaking their teachers to the point of having them quit the profession. Onizuka however proves a match for them winning over his pupils a few at a time.

The series reminds me of elements from two later series. Cromartie High School is a dumb, but fun anime about a good boy who mistakenly ends up in a school for juvenile delinquents, and becomes a leader thanks in part to his knowledge of yogurt. Then there is The Way of the Househusband, about a former yakuza boss who quits the mob when he marries a career woman, and then applies the lessons of his criminal life to running the household – also dumb, but fun.

GTO unfortunately is a bit dumb, but not so much fun. There are some good stories here, which run about 2 or 3 episodes, but the premise of a former gang leader turned teacher does wear thin before too long. Onizuka is profane, perverted, and undisciplined, which makes up for most of the comedy. But it is like hearing the same joke over and over again. Of the 48 episodes, I got through the first 20. At that point, I figured I’d seen enough.

The animation is pretty awful, even if I don’t compare it to the animation we see today. Too often, just the mouths move. It is hard to believe any of these characters are nothing more than ink on paper.

I’d like to see a good school anime focused on the teachers. But not one like GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka. I want to see on which is well made.