
I finished editing all the backlogged scripts, sent them back to the group I was working with and while I'm still waiting for a reply on when they're going to release them and for more scripts, I figured it's time for me to read up on manga and then post my thoughts on them. This week, it's the manga that got me into this whole mess, GTO: Shonan 14 Days.

WAAAAAAAY back when I was young and stupid in probably in 2003, Tokyopop ran a blitz campaign to get manga onto the shelves of bookstores and calling it, a "Manga Revolution". At first the choices consisted of the usual girly stuff such as Chobits and Love Hina (I did buy them. I am entitled to release my rage on them in the future) but all of a sudden, something else popped up. That manga was Great Teacher Onizuka. At that time, I thought of anime and manga to be nothing but Sailormoons and Dragonball and if I'm adventurious, probably some Tenchi Muyo but GTO was the manga that grabbed me by my neck and made me stand at the bookshelf and read 5 volumes in one standing. Then I came back the next day and did it again (I'm sorry Borders staff. You shouldn't have provided leather chairs . You know very well I'll treat the store like a library). It's a series that can basically be summed up as, "badass almost invincible delinquent becomes teacher" but with each chapter and with each arc, he just keeps going overboard, all for the sake of getting his students to attend classes. So yeah, thanks GTO, you got me hooked onto manga.
I almost feel sorry for the artist Fujisawa Tohru

. Almost every manga he did after GTO didn't reach the same popularity. Rose Hip Zero/Rose Hip Rose didn't last long but making a manga called
Kamen Teacher where the plot about a teacher taming troublesome student under disguise sounds stttrraaangggely familar to GTO. So 6 years after GTO ended, the artist probably decided that enough is enough and started up a new story. This news almost made me shit my pants in excitement so after reading almost all the currently scanslated chapters, is GTO: Shonan 14 Days a glorious return to form? Well, sorta.

The plot for GTO: Shonan 14 Days is that after the events of GTO, Onizuka has escaped from hospital and went on the run before coming back and all of a sudden, there are wanted posters with his face on it. We find out what happened during those 14 days. Within the first few chapters, everything seemed like everything is right there. Cresta cars getting messed up. Onizuka being a lovable idiot and getting into trouble but the problem is the fact that the first few chapters has him literally fixing everyone's problem within a couple of pages as opposed to some multi chapter arc building up to a mindblowing climax. The later story does deal with the story of a policeman's daughter being ignored by her father which then builds into a kidnapping followed by Onizuka unleashing hell saving her.
So by what I described, does that mean I'm lapping up everything in GTO: Shonan 14 Day? Well, not really. The problem is that I only remember the original GTO with rose tinted nostalgia glasses and since I don't have the time to download and re-read all 25 volumes of GTO (I did want to buy them at one point but now Tokyopop has stopped printing them) it feels like I'm jumping into a series that is aimed at the people who still remember the original with razor sharp memory which is definately not someone like me. Another thing is the fact that 6 years is a long time since I first read GTO and what might seem cool and new is now almost brushed aside when I read other kickass manga. That doesn't mean I'll ever forget Onizuka. But more likely, I'll forget Shonan 14 Days. All together now.... MY CREEEEESSSSTTTAAAAA.
More info on the groups who scanslated GTO: Shonan 14 Days