Follow TV Tropes

Following

Characters / Great Teacher Onizuka

Go To

Characters from GTO: The Early Years and Great Teacher Onizuka.

Warning: Spoilers below

    open/close all folders 

     Characters originated from GTO: The Early Years 

Eikichi Onizuka

Played by: Takashi Sorimachi (1998 GTO), Shinsuke Aoki (Bad Company film), Ryohei Kurosawa (2012 GTO), Kanichiro Sato (2020 GTO: The Early Years series)

Onizuka used to be a yankii, a Japanese delinquent. His best friend is Danma Ryuji and with him he's part of the Onibaku Duo (Oni for Onizuka and Baku for Bakudan, which means Bomb). Back in his younger days, Onizuka used to have a lot of street fights with people trying to be better than him. As the Onibaku was reputedly unbeatable, his opponents were not above going Kick the Dog and Moral Event Horizon on him and his friends. Bad luck for them, Onizuka used to get a little Ax-Crazy when pushed too much. He then left Shonan, faking his death in front of everyone, and moved to Tokyo. Since then, Onizuka became a teacher and softened up a bit.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/onizukabt7_564.jpg
You really want him to be your Teacher!!!
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/young_onizuka_0.png
16 years old Onizuka in Early Years.

  • The Ace: Despite being a frequent Butt-Monkey, he managed to graduate teacher training college, and later gets the highest national score on the national scholastic achievement test. And he took it after being shot, before seeking medical attention.spoiler 
  • Anti-Hero: He cleaned up his act as a street-brawling punk but his tough upbringing still shows up when he gets pissed off.
  • Ax-Crazy: In his younger days, he was really scary when angered. You can see shades of this in GTO and Shonan 14 Days.
  • Badass Biker: Onizuka has been riding motorcycles since he was 14, and has an elaborate custom one befitting a Bōsōzoku. Even years after he left the gang life, he still commands enough respect among the biker gangs to get them to show up when he asks.
    • In the 1998 live-action, he rides a bicycle rather than a motorcycle, but still has connections to the bosozoku scene.
  • Badass Teacher: The Ur-Example. Onizuka takes on two classes who have managed to get every one of their previous teachers to quit, and wins. He jumps off a building at least 3 times to save his students, takes multiple gunshots to protect his students (and even kids that aren't his students), and beats up thugs threatening them, including the very students who were making his own life hell. In the very first episode, he transforms a class full of delinquents into a bunch of respectful students with some tough love.
  • Barrier-Busting Blow: He can punch through walls with his bare hands. In the first chapter, he smashed through a wall and pulled the cables within to make a point to a group of thugs that they're Mugging the Monster.
  • Bash Brothers: With Danma Ryuji, in GTO: The Early Years.
  • Berserk Button: Just try to harm any of his students, pals, or Azusa.
    • Another one is teachers calling their students "trash", since he considers it really damaging and a betrayal of what a teacher is supposed to be.
  • Big Eater:
    • While having lunch at school he gets a jumbo sized portion of curry rice, alongside a whole bowl of coleslaw, an entire plate of crab cream croquettes and several bottles of milk for himself. Incidentally, his appetite inadvertently saves him from a plot to feed him a cockroach when he complains the standard portion they gave him was too small and he pours it back into the pot to show them what he meant.
    • After being blackmailed into treating his students at an expensive sushi restaurant, Onizuka snaps and orders five servings of fatty tuna for himself and starts eating like there's no tomorrow. Then he orders five more servings of abalone and sea urchin. And a sashimi boat. And 10 MORE servings of salmon roe, ark shell, and sweet shrimp. And washes it down with several glasses of green tea. Then, after he gets hit by a car, he's right back at it again justifying himself by claiming he needed to replenish the blood he lost.
  • Blood Knight: When he was younger. He's softened a bit since GTO.
  • Bully Hunter: Even though he's notoriously rowdy and will readily roughhouse his students, he has zero tolerance for bullying and will give no special treatment to female bullies who take it too far. Which Miyabi found out the hard way, see below.
  • Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Would you trust the former most notorious gang leader of your country, who just happens to be a pervert, a Manchild who is also One of the Kids, a slacker, and a klutz whose M.O. is destruction everywhere? That's exactly what Holy Forest Academy did when they hired Eikichi Onizuka to be a high school teacher. It turns out his unorthodox method of teaching is quite possibly the greatest thing to happen to the school.
  • Catchphrase: "Onizuka Eikichi, 22 years old." before declaring his motivations to do something. "Onizuka Eikichi, 24 years old." In Paradise Lost.
  • Character Development: In Early Years he starts as a street punk, but as the battles continue he starts seeing that it's not worth his friends constantly being hurt and on the verge of dying. That's when he starts thinking of giving up being a Yankee.
  • Chivalrous Pervert: He had plenty of occasions to have his way with some female students (like Urumi), but he still prefers to have consensual sex with somebody who really means something to him (and is an adult). Like Azusa.
  • Chick Magnet: Hoo boy, you'd be surprised at how many girls have fallen for the clueless blonde bastard over the course of the series. It's ironic considering that Onizuka constantly expresses wanting to lose his virginity and become popular with women and yet, he already has several trying to win his affection. From his fellow teachers (Ayame, Shinomi and Asuza) to his own students (Nanako, Urumi, Tomoko, and Sadoka); Onizuka's list of growing admirers keeps growing (not that he'll ever do anything to them). And in GTO: The Early Years, he had the chance with Mariko, Aina, Shinomi, Saya, and Hazuki, but through either Open Mouth, Insert Foot, Honor Before Reason, or simply bad luck, never managed to do it with any of them.
  • Dented Iron: He is this in the final arc of GTO and it became a horrifying problem. Onizuka is targeted by a group of baseball bat-wielding motorcycle riders who hit him in the head multiple times. What really makes this fight dramatic is that Onizuka is suffering from a brain condition in which if he suffers one more major blow to the head, he will die. The biker gang is well aware of this information.
  • Determinator: And how! Onizuka will do anything to help his students, no matter how hard and radical it is. Could easily turn into a Juggernaut. Heck, you can throw literally everything at this guy and he still won't be stopped. Not even a broken clotted blood vessel in his brain could keep him down for long.
  • Disappeared Dad: Eikichi's mother raised him alone, he never saw his father for several years. When asked if he'd seen him, Eikichi replied "I don't have a father."
  • Expository Hairstyle Change: In the second chapter of GTO, he goes to a barber to get a new, less delinquent hairstyle, showing he's serious about becoming a teacher. In the anime he starts out with his hair that way.
  • Faking the Dead: Jumped from the top of a building with Ryuji to try and put an end to the endless gang fighting at the end of Early Years. It worked. However, their friends see through the charade because they used a fake knife to stab each other.
  • Famed In-Story: Onizuka isn't well-known outside the Bōsōzoku community, but to them he's a legend. Even in GTO: The Early Years, he was so notorious as the strongest fighter in Shonan that people were constantly challenging him. He also set a record of 185 mph in a motorcycle race.
  • Former Teen Rebel: In Bad Company and GTO: The Early Years, Onizuka led a biker gang, and he still retains many signs of that subculture. Onizuka applies his street smarts to give his students life lessons, and prevent them going down the same path as him.
  • George Jetson Job Security: He's constantly at risk of being fired for his antics, though Director Sakurai usually bails him out. When he finally gets a permanent position, the new principal immediately makes him provisional again.
  • Hands-On Approach: Towards Fuyutsuki, to teach her how to game.
  • Hidden Depths:
    • In the first episode, in a Heroic BSoD caused by wasted sushi, he recites some trivia about sushi.
    • In Chapter 77, he proves to be a quite skilled gardener.
  • Honor Before Reason:
    • When his students come up with an easy way for him to cheat his way through the national scholastic exam, he gently turns them down and makes it clear he plans on acing the test on his own terms. In fact, it was seeing how far his students were willing to go to support him that truly motivates him into giving his absolute best to prove their trust in him isn't misplaced.
    • He refuses every offer of monetary help from his students for coming up with 8 million yen, and won't let them reveal the truth about Miyabi framing him because she's still a member of his homeroom.
  • Hot-Blooded: And how! In GTO: The Early Years he almost never turns down a fight, and even as an adult in GTO he's quick to anger and violence.
  • Implacable Man: Nothing stops him, nothing.
  • In the Blood: His mother is just as stubborn as him. When he was 16, it's been noticed that Eikichi started to turn out like his father.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Less of a heart than usual examples, but unlike most teachers in the show, Onizuka cares deeply about the welfare of his students and will see to it that they become better people under his watchful eye.
  • Knight in Sour Armor: Figuratively. Onizuka probably has as little a reason as anyone to put up with the students of his class, and by all rights probably should have quit teaching from the very start. The fact that he genuinely cares and believes that students should be able to have fun at school (and he's too stupid to quit) allows him to strive to make school a better place.
  • Like Brother and Sister:
    • With Shinomi Fujisaki, which annoys her to no end. Because of this, Onizuka never dates her (though they do have quite the Belligerent Sexual Tension).
    • And according to Shinomi herself, this is how he views Urumi Kanzaki too, which annoys her as much as Shinomi.
  • Lives in a Van: After Misuzu Daimon evicts him from the school, he moves into a dekotora parked on the school grounds.
  • Living Emotional Crutch: For Urumi, who goes so far as to put a box cutter to her wrist when Onizuka flatlines even before the doctors begin resuscitation.
  • Lovable Sex Maniac: He's obsessed with sex, but is too awkward to actually lose his virginity.
  • Luminescent Blush: Whenever presented with the possibility of sex. Or just when Fuyutsuki hugs him.
  • Made of Iron: Onizuka is so resilient the others wonder if he is not really an alien. Every episode he's either been stabbed, been shot, been run over, fallen out of windows, bashed over the head, and seems to be eternally above the law.
    • Notably, this trope is deconstructed for shocking effect during the final few chapters of the manga - while seemingly invincible, all this damage has eventually accumulated on Onizuka. This results in a brain aneurysm, which very, very nearly paralyzes him for life. In fact, his living by the trope might've been one of the reasons things got so bad, as his apparent immortality got him too cocky to get the problem treated before it became catastrophic.
  • Magnetic Hero: Frequently lampshaded by other teachers and his students and is basically the main point of the series. Every teacher that tried to teach class 2-4 wound up severely humiliated or emotionally broken. Once Onizuka showed up however, he not only was able to endure their tormenting, he significantly changed each of their lives and wound up winning each of them over one by one. By the end of the story, every single student in the previous "dreaded class 2-4" has become a dedicated follower and friend of him.
    • This trait is even evident during the new spin-off manga where Onizuka ends up going back to his hometown in Shonan to help kids who have been mistreated by their parents. It only takes one phone call from Onizuka to round up hundreds of street bikers that ride with him anytime and anywhere. Not only that but the new group of troubled students that he meets all end up being persuaded by him fairly quickly and at the end of the two weeks, Onizuka has made friends with nearly every supporting and minor character he's interacted with.
  • Mr. Fanservice: Onizuka has a Shirtless Scene in the very first episode, when he knocks down a wall with a sledgehammer. His nudity is oftentimes Played for Laughs though, and he gives just as much Fan Disservice as fanservice.
  • Mr. Vice Guy: Onizuka smokes, drinks, gets into fights all the time, and is a Lovable Sex Maniac (despite being a virgin), but just try and harm one of his students or friends. He'll introduce you to a new world of hurt. This even extends to people he personally loathes or doesn't even know, as seen in the several times he rescues Vice Principal Uchiyamada. Additionally, despite becoming a teacher in the first place to hook up with Joshikousei, when he has the chance he consistently shows himself to be Above the Influence, even knocking himself out to avoid kissing his student.
  • Naïve Newcomer: Averted. He is in fact pretty Genre Savvy.
  • Of Course I'm Not a Virgin: Onizuka talks a lot about what a stud he is, but it's all bravado. He's too awkward to actually do the deed.
  • One of the Kids: In GTO, Onizuka spends more time goofing off with his students and even cutting class with them than he does actually teaching. Despite the overly familiar attitude, it doesn't stop him from being a Papa Wolf when it comes to his students.
  • One-Man Army: In Early Years, best seen when he went on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against every member of the re-formed Midnight Angels after Akutsu tried to kill Ryuji, Nagisa, and Kamishima. Still is, if the situation calls for.
  • Oppose What You Suffered:
  • Overly Generous Fool: Zig-Zagged. When Onizuka accidentally spends the school's field trip money, he manages to convince the school not to fire him, but only by pledging an even more expensive field trip which he can't possibly afford. He then fails to earn anything near the amount needed, only to win a brand new Mercedes Benz in an unrelated lottery that he can sell for the money he needs. He then gives the car to a down on his luck stranger to use as collateral to prevent the bank from seizing his company, with no guarantees that the stranger will return it on time, if ever. The stranger then turns out to be a conman hired by the person trying to frame Onizuka in the first place, but then it turns out the "conman" was actually telling the truth and returns the Mercedes once he got the money he needed
  • Papa Wolf: May God have mercy on you if you ever intend to cause harm to his students!
  • Pay Evil unto Evil: Sometimes in GTO. Very often during Early Years.
  • Perpetual Poverty: Onizuka may have a steady job now, but he's still living paycheck to paycheck, and often tries a Get-Rich-Quick Scheme or two to get money fast. In GTO: The Early Years, it was impossible for him to hold down a job because he kept beating up rude customers.
  • Proud to Be a Geek: Oh yeah! He bonds with Yoshikawa over their mutual love of gaming, and later exclaims his joy that Miyabi decided to dress up like Rei Ayanami (she just dyed her hair blue).
  • Sensei-Kun: He openly admits to trying to come off as this to his students. Onizuka spends more time goofing off with his students and even cutting class with them than he does actually teaching. Despite the overly familiar relationship, it doesn't stop him from being a Papa Wolf when it comes to his students.
  • Smoking Is Cool: Frequently seen smoking on the roof of the school. One volume even has an omake of a PSA by him. Most of it is included on the quotes page for this trope.
  • Speed Demon: He once set a record of 185 mph in a motorcycle race.
  • Split Personality: Never seen in GTO. But in Early Years, it's often pointed out that a pissed off Onizuka is really a different man that the happy go lucky guy we know.
    • When he met him, Ryuji was convinced that it was a some kind of Superpowered Evil Side or whatnot and that he had to make him fight seriously to see it. They become friends before he sees it, though.
    • He briefly wonders if he has a secret evil side that embezzled the school trip money, before finding out the truth.
  • Suplex Finisher: Fond of doing German Suplexes. It's probably his Finishing Move!
  • Trickster Mentor: He often teaches his students or gets them to grow as people by putting them in dangerous or confusing situations.
    • He once made Murai bungee jump off the Tokyo Bay Bridge to prove his bravery.
    • He signed Tomoko up for a Beauty Contest without her knowledge and then brought the whole class to see her Hidden Depths, to help her make friends.
    • He "kidnapped" Urumi and drove off an unfinished overpass with her to get her to experience the fullness of life and stop being so jaded.
    • In Okinawa, he gets some of his students to pretend to be delinquents and harass Noboru and Anko to get her to admit her feelings for him.
  • Underestimating Badassery: ALL THE TIME in Early Years, bigger opponents underestimate Onizuka because he's a 16 year old kid. Just ask Machida [1]
  • Unluckily Lucky: He's sometimes this. In one example, he comes across a large bag of money (that's good), which he spends all at once. It turns out the money was the school's field trip funds, which was planted on him in order to frame him for embezzling (that's bad). He somehow manages to convince the school not to fire him (that's good), but only by pledging an even more expensive field trip which he can't possibly afford (that's bad). He then fails to earn anything near the amount needed, only to win a brand new Mercedes Benz in an unrelated lottery that he can sell for the money he needs (that's good). He then gives the car to a down on his luck stranger to use as collateral to prevent the bank from seizing his company, with no guarantees that the stranger will return it on time, if ever (that's bad). The stranger then turns out to be a conman hired by the person trying to frame Onizuka (that's even worse), but then it turns out the "conman" was actually telling the truth and returns the Mercedes once he got the money he needed (that's good). At the last possible minute, naturally which means Onizuka has already boarded the tuna boat he'd need to work on for a year to pay off the money (that's bad). Then it turns out he got on the wrong boat and was actually on a cruise ship to Okinawa, aka the exact place where the school was taking its field trip (that's good... sort of).
  • Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Especially in GTO: The Early Years, where he's a Hot-Blooded pervert who even sneaks into Shinomi's room, removes her panties while she's sleeping, and it's implied would have raped her had she not woken up and beaten him up. He's often a Butt-Monkey in his own story, but he usually deserves it. By GTO he's grown up a bit, but not by much.
  • What You Are in the Dark: Onizuka originally became a teacher exclusively to hook up with hot schoolgirls... but when the chips are down and he has an ironclad opportunity to take advantage (such as with Nanako Mizuki in the opening arc) he won't go through with it.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Onizuka is a badass extraordinaire, but if there's one thing he's terrified of, it's the Yakuza. In the original series, he tried to reach out to a student turned hikikomori, but finding out that the guy is a Yakuza Prince, he's shaking nonstop, even pissing his pants at the end of it. When Urumi picked a fight with some yakuza just to see how far he would go to protect his students, he just picked her up and ran.
  • World's Best Warrior: Especially in GTO: The Early Years, Onizuka is Famed In-Story as the strongest fighter in all of Shonan, which makes every wannabe badass want to fight him. The only times he loses a fight, he soon recovers and returns the favor.
  • Would Hit a Girl: A variation. While he isn't the type to beat up girls, Eikichi doesn't go easy on females who cross the line, especially in the live action series where he didn't hesitate to punish Miyabi by holding her by the feet from a building's ledge until she apologized for bullying Noboru.
    • In the anime, he slaps Kanzaki when she attempts to use Genie against Miss Fujimori.
  • Wrestler in All of Us: See Suplex Finisher above.

Ryuji Danma

Voiced by: Isshin Chiba (JP), Hideyuki Hori (GTO: The Early Years), Kirk Thornton (EN)
Played by: Hiroshisei Amano (Bad Company film), Yamaguchi Yoshiyuki (1995 GTO: The Early Years live-action) Yu Shirota (2012 GTO), Daichi Kaneko (2020 GTO: The Early Years live-action)

Best friend of Onizuka and the other member of the Onibaku Duo. Met Eikichi in High School, they started as enemies when Danma saw Onizuka's Ax-Crazy self beating someone to a pulp. He then wanted to anger Onizuka enough to see it again and fight him. They became friends since and he used to be The Lancer to Onizuka. After finding a girlfriend and moving to Tokyo, he took his family's bike business.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/danma_1772.png
Get on his bad side and you're in for big trouble.

  • Adaptational Nice Guy: Downplayed. In the film version of Bad Company, he adopts a dog he found in a box, and rushes it to the school nurse's office when it's injured. He's just as mean and violent to humans, though.
  • Badass Biker: He's just as awesome a biker as Onizuka, and actually stays more connected to the biker scene than he does.
  • Badass Driver: He's also a skilled driver, leading the police on freeway chases for fun in Great Transporter Ryuji. This is what sparks Mimon Ishikawa's interest in him, and she talks him into being her Getaway Driver.
  • Bash Brothers: With Onizuka.
  • Blood Knight: Definitely in Bad Company, and to some extent in GTO: The Early Years, though he tries to tone it down for Ayumi's sake.
  • Composite Character: In the 1998 live-action, he's combined with Saejima as "Ryuji Saejima".
  • Defeat Means Friendship: How he and Onizuka became friends in the first place.
  • Demoted to Extra: in Early Years, he was a main character. Since GTO, he just makes cameos.
  • Faking the Dead: Jumped from the top of a building with Onizuka to try and put an end to the endless gang fighting at the end of Early Years. It worked, though their friends see through the charade because they used a fake knife to stab each other.
  • Manly Tears: In Early Years, when his first love, Ayumi, his teacher (8 Years older than him) left him after they got married. He's left a broken mess, sobbing against Onizuka's chest.
  • Teacher/Student Romance: With Ayumi in Early Years. They both loved each other but she left him because she's way older than him.
  • The Lancer: To Onizuka, in his younger days.
  • Lives in a Van: In GTO: The Early Years, he and Nagisa ran away from home and moved into an abandoned bus.
  • Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: He's more sensitive than Onizuka, but he's as much a badass as him.
  • Would Hit a Girl: In SJG, Ryuji punches Yasha in the gut when she's trying to kill him, and then takes her prisoner. It's important to note that Yasha is the Hyde of Nagisa, who he loves, and he tries to make it an "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight.
  • You're Not My Father / Archnemesis Dad: When his father comes to see him, Ryuji knows well enough his father never liked him. He tells him that straight.
    Ryuji: As far as I'm concerned, my father might as well be dead.
    • It's worth mentioning that Ryuji ended up taking his family's bike business in GTO, so maybe they made up.

Ayumi Murakoshi

Voiced by: Hiromi Tsuru
Played by: Yurina Yanagi (2020 live-action)
Teacher in Tsujido High School, where Onizuka and Danma attended. She met Ryuji during summer vacation before they moved to Tsujido and fell in love with him. After many trials she decides to date Ryuji, despite her troubled past (her boyfriend died in a bike crash a few years before, on Christmas day). She finally marries Ryuji, with just the two of them, during a summer night before leaving him, finding it unfair to rob him of all his teen years and friends.
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ayumi_9064.jpg
Ryuji has good taste in women, indeed.

  • Dark and Troubled Past: Her boyfriend died on Xmas day in a bike crash, and she still has trouble dealing with it, even when she's with Ryuji. And then her old boyfriend's brother comes back to attack her for falling in love again.
  • Hot Teacher: More on the cute side, but still very attractive.
  • Love Interest: Well, she's Ryuji's first love after all.
  • Morality Pet: Ryuji's, he really changes after he got with her.
  • Put on a Bus: Takes a train and leaves Shonan and Ryuji for good.
    • The Bus Came Back: Comes back to Shonan after living 6 months with her parents, and meets Ryuji again as friends.
  • Reason Before Honor: Why she leaves Ryuji. It's more reasonable to let him live his youth than living with him and rob him of his teenage years.
  • Teacher/Student Romance: With Ryuji.
  • Tender Tears: When she rides a train and leaves Ryuji.
  • Will They or Won't They?: They did kiss. They never had sex though, she left before and Ryuji backed out when he got the chance.

Nagisa Nagase

Voiced by: Megumi Hayashibara (GTO: The Early Years), Kae Araki (JP), Cindy Robinson (EN)
Played by: Kasumi Yamaya (2020 live-action)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nagisa_1233.jpg
Ryuji's wife, for real this time.

Ryuji's current girlfriend. She was the girlfriend of Akutsu, leader of 2nd Generation Midnight Angels. She was so scared of him and of everything he made her do that she created a literal Split Personality named Yasha to protect her from the trauma. Ryuji and Onizuka break the curse and she turns out to be a very cheerful girl. She lives with Ryuji in GTO, studying to become a therapist.

Toshiyuki Saejima

Voiced by: Ken Narita (GTO: The Early Years), Kazuki Yao (JP), Jack Aubree (EN)
Played by: Naohito Fujiki (1998), Yusuke Yamamoto (2012), Eita Okuno (2020)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/toshiyuki_saejima_s_6600.jpg
Ax-Crazy yankee becomes a Corrupt Cop, seems legit.
Former Rival of Onizuka during his delinquent times, Saejima was the kind of guy who would do anything to accomplish his goals. He destroyed the lower half of the last guy's face who challenged him, everyone was then scared shitless of him after that. A while after, he tried to challenge the Onibaku. He managed to force a good friend of Onizuka to betray him but he was defeated anyway by Onizuka himself. 5 years later he became a cop. He makes cameos in GTO.

  • Anti-Hero: Nominal. He is possibly the most corrupt and violent cop that can be found in any manga. However, at the end of day, he is still one of Onizuka's best, most trusted and loyal friends. If Onizuka somehow has to call for his help, he would be by his side until the end. Was already just as crazy and violent, even before becoming a cop.
  • Ax-Crazy: Like a good deal of the Early Years villains, he was.
    • Still is. In fact, if you somehow manage to push Onizuka to the point of running to this guy for help, you are basically fucked. God has mercy, Onizuka knows mercy, HE DOESN'T!
  • Composite Character: In the 1998 live-action, he's combined with Danma as "Ryuji Saejima".
  • Dirty Cop: Even when he's in the police station, he offers to sell Onizuka drugs or other contraband.
  • Defeat Means Friendship: After he and Kamata fought the Onibaku, they became some of their fiercest allies.
  • Demoted to Extra: Only makes cameos in GTO.
  • Embarrassing Nickname: Saejima hates it when people call him "pencil sharpener" after he got pencils painfully shoved up his nose.
  • Empty Fridge, Empty Life: Men Can't Keep House and he lives on his own in high school (since his own family is terrified of him). He comes back to eat a home-cooked meal, and his parents flinch every time he raises his chopsticks.
  • Face of a Thug: His whole family is scared shitless of him, even when he behaves. In Chapter 74 of SJG, Saejima finds out that the woman he thought was his girlfriend already had a boyfriend, but she was too scared of his appearance to say no to him. Depressed, he walks around town and notices how his face scares everyone (and even makes a child cry), but a girl asks him to defend her from some guys, since she assumes due to his scary face he must be a tough fighter (she's not wrong).
    • After Kamata leaves, Saejima finds Kiwamezawa, a Replacement Goldfish who's even bigger and scarier than him, to make him look better by comparison.
  • Mirror-Cracking Ugly: In one scene he tries to practice his smiling, but the mirror cracks, making him smash it in anger.
  • Red Baron: Kamakura's Wild Dog.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to Kamata's red.
  • The Rival: To Onizuka in Early Years, before Defeat Means Friendship.
  • Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: "Yo Eikichi, mind if I sit in on your class here? I can help make your point! Son of a bitch can't demand nothing from me!" Welcome to your nightmare, Suguru...
  • The Un-Smile: Realizing girls are scared of his face, Saejima tries to smile, but it comes out as a horrifying grimace.

Jun Kamata

Voiced by: Nobuyuki Hiyama
Played by: Ku Ijima (2020)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jun_kamata.png
Saejima's former partner when he was a street punk. The other Kamakura's Wild Dog. Teamed up with Saejima against the Onibaku. He got beaten by Danma and became friend with him and Onizuka. He's mostly a secondary character, but receives a lot of character development during the Natsu Return Arc (told mostly from his point of view), dealing with his best friend, the thought-to-be-dead Natsu. He moves to the USA after that. He's a straight up guy but is not above fighting dirty if the situation calls for it.

Shinomi Fujisaki

Voiced by: Akiko Hiramatsu
Played by: Misato Morita (2020)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/99154_8864.jpg
Eikichi, a teacher? Yeah, right. Gimme a break.
Friend of Onizuka, Danma and all of the gang in Early Years. She met them in middle school, where she was the fat kid everyone mocked. But she fell in love with Onizuka. Two years later she came into Onizuka's new High School after a big diet making her really beautiful. However, Onizuka treated her much the same way as before, with utmost respect, going as far as treating her like a sister. Which Shinomi hated since it ruined her chance to get with him. When Onizuka and Ryuji fake their death at the end of Early Years, she's left heartbroken and doesn't appear in GTO at all. Until GTO Shonan 14 days when Onizuka returns to Shonan and meet up with her again.

  • Belligerent Sexual Tension: First it seems like he only sees her as Like Brother and Sister, then he gets desperate to lose his virginity and tries to do it with her, but his case of Open Mouth, Insert Foot and inability to act mature about sex make her refuse, then she wants him again once he's found someone else... This keeps going back and forth.
  • Demoted to Extra: Appears sporadically in GTO as Tomoko's makeup artist, though doesn't reconnect with her until Shonan 14 Days.
  • Formerly Fat: As hot as Shinomi is in Early Years and Shonan 14 Days, she was fat when Eikichi met her. After saving her from rape when she was 13, she fell in love with him. 2 years later she came back in the same High School as him, now smoking hot.
  • Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: To Onizuka after he considers giving up fighting for good.
    • Big Damn Kiss: Yes, she did. It did put Onizuka back on track. He gives her one when he and Ryuji are about to go fake their deaths.
  • Hollywood Homely/Hollywood Pudgy: From the "before" picture of Shinomi in chapter 82 of SJG, she really doesn't look ugly at all (definitely not gonk like some female characters) and not that fat either. Of course, the Comical Overreacting of the boys saying "Who's that monster!?" could be intended to show how immature and shallow they are.
  • Like Brother and Sister: How Onizuka sees her, despite the Belligerent Sexual Tension.
  • Love Interest: For Onizuka in Early Years.
  • One of the Boys: After the Idaten arc she starts hanging out with the Onibaku, but none of them, not even Abe, see her in a romantic light or try to hit on her.
  • Plucky Girl: Goes without saying.
  • Rape as Drama: She fell to that during Early Years, courtesy of Akira Takezawa from the same gang as her, the Idaten.
    • Furthermore, if a girl leaves the gang, she's to be raped by all the male members. As a way to make sure no girls try to leave. Shinomi leaves anyway.
  • Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Straddles the line between this and straight-up Lad-ette. Shinomi is often seen wearing male clothes and drinking beer or doing other "guy stuff" with the boys, and can fight alongside them. By GTO, she's Tomoko's makeup artist, a decidedly feminine career.
  • Troll: When she meets Nagisa at the public baths, she decides to prank Ryuji by making him think Yasha's returned, drawing a tattoo on Nagisa's shoulder and talking her into holding a knife to scare him.
  • Tsundere: A very strong Type-A.
  • Unlucky Childhood Friend: She realizes that Onizuka will never see her as more than Like Brother and Sister.

Kyosuke Masaki

Voiced by: Shūichi Ikeda
Played by: Shunsuke Daito (2020)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/masaki_kyosuke.png

Legendary Leader of the Midnight Angels Gang, Senior of Onizuka and Danma. He first met them in Bad Company, a short gaiden published in Early Years' last volume. He died two years before Early Years started. Was rumored to be unbeatable in street fighting and in bike racing. Onizuka inherited his bike and coat, making him his successor.

  • Badass Longcoat: Masaki used to wear a bosozoku coat with the names of "all the badasses in Shonan" written on it. He gave the Oni-Baku the coat, on the condition that they make sure "Midnight Angel never rides again". When Akutsu returns, he tries to get his hands on it, believing it will legitimize his leadership. Eikichi puts it on, becoming a One-Man Army, and Akutsu's cronies think that it's the avenging spirit of Masaki come to punish them.
  • The Cameo: He's a important part of Onizuka's story, but he only does cameos. In the final arc of GTO, he appears as a hallucination to Onizuka when he's on the verge of death, which is a little confusing to GTO-first readers who have no idea who he is.
  • The Dreaded: Out of all Shonan gangs.
  • The Faceless: His features are never seen except his hair and mouth. Averted in the live-action, which shows his face.
  • The Hero's Idol: Onizuka's idol is the legendary biker Kyosuke Masaki, who died before the start of SJG. In the prequel Bad Company, Masaki welcomed Eikichi and Ryuji into the Bōsōzoku scene, and was a huge influence on their ethos of what bikers and biker gangs should be. In GTO, despite being dead for more than half a decade, Masaki shows up in a Dying Dream when Eikichi is in critical condition in the hospital, and gives him the motivation to recover.
  • The Leader: Of his gang.
  • Posthumous Character: In SJG, though he actually appears in Bad Company.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: Was this in his gang, and for the Onibaku too.

Mariko Izumo

Voiced by: Masako Katsuki
Played by: Shiori Yoshida (2020 live-action)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mariko_izumo.png
A teacher at Tsujido High School, she and Ayumi met Onizuka and Danma on summer vacation. Eikichi tries to get lucky with her, but the girls figure out that he and Ryuji aren't college students and leave after they start a gang fight. When they start school, the boys discover she's their teacher, and try to get revenge for deceiving them (and for an escalating prank war). Eventually they reconcile, though Eikichi never scores with her. She is the daughter of a Yakuza boss, and a former member of Kadena Nao's 'Purple Haze' gang.

  • Hot Teacher: Even after learning that she's a teacher, Eikichi still has the hots for her.
  • Hypocrite: Mariko and Ayumi leave after finding out Ryuji and Eikichi were high school punks, not Kyoto University medical students like they claimed (they were also destroying the disco through their fighting). However, they also lied to the boys, telling them they were college students when they were actually teachers at their new school.
  • Mafia Princess: She doesn't seem to be involved in her father's Yakuza activities, but she was able to borrow a couple of his goons to get back at Eikichi and Ryuji after they tried to blackmail her and Ayumi.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: Once she and the boys reconcile, she shows herself to be a good teacher and fiercely protective of all her students.

Youkou "Nanno" Minamino

Played by: Togi Makabe (2020)
Tsujido Class 1-F's new teacher. He's bald, ripped, and a sadist.
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yoko_minamino.png

  • Adaptational Early Appearance: In the 2020 live-action, he appears in the second episode, while in the manga he didn't appear until after Ayumi left (Episode 5 in the live-action).
  • Adaptational Wimp: In the manga, he's one of the few fighters the Onibaku can't physically win against at all. In the 2020 live-action, the two of them easily suplex him and knock him out.
  • Evil Teacher: Not only is he a Sadist Teacher, he's also a pedophile.
  • Gender-Blender Name: The students think their new teacher is the famous actress of the same name, but he turns out to be a stern male teacher who's not attractive at all.note 
  • If I Wanted You Dead...: When Abe chews out Minamino for punching him "as hard as he could" for being one minute late to class:
    Minamino: If I had hit you as hard as I could, I would have decapitated you and your head would be rolling... 30 meters away...
  • Mugging the Monster: The Onibaku are about to beat up Minamino, when another gang confronts him and he wipes the floor with them, revealing that he's a master karateka.
  • Pædo Hunt: Onizuka discovers that he was fired from an elementary school for Playing Doctor with a little girl there. They use this to blackmail him into Throwing the Fight against Ryuji.
  • Sadist Teacher: He's a hardass who Tsujido hired to reform Class 1-F, the problem students. His methods include beating his students with his bare hands (he's a 5th dan karateka) or with a shinai and making them swim in a cold outdoor pool in April. It's likely that he influenced Eikichi on what not to do when he became a teacher himself in Great Teacher Onizuka.
  • Villain Decay: After the Oni-Baku blackmail him, he turns into a Butt-Monkey and grows increasingly unhinged, trying to kill Eikichi and blame it on a gang, but ending up in a hostage situation with the little girl from the school he used to work at.

Nao Kadena

Voiced by: Michiko Neya (GTO: The Early Years), Kaya Matsutani (JP), Dorothy Elias-Fahn (EN)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nao_kadena.png
Hello, Nurse!
A former car club member and street racer, Kadena is a teacher at Tsujikou, taking over from the absent Nanno. She uses her beauty to inspire her male students to work hard, and entices the girls with attractive university guys. She feels responsible for her younger brother Kazuhito being in a coma, because he crashed his car in a race with her. Onizuka lifts her out of her bad mood by racing her, showing that it can be fun if you aren't too reckless. She later 'helps' set Shinomi up with Eikichi, but things don't quite go right.In the anime adaptation, she takes the role of the school nurse played by Naoko Moritaka in the manga. Her techniques and past are remarkably similar to her character in GTO: The Early Years - though she was clearly introduced as a brand new acquaintance to the existing cast. In later storylines her actions were adaptations of Moritaka's from the manga.

Kaoru Kamata

Played by: Yutaro Goto (2020)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kaoru_kamata.jpg
Jun Kamata's sister. Onizuka and several other guys fight for the right to go out with her, but Jun tries to stop them, knowing what they're like. He also doesn't want them to discover Kaoru's secret: "she" is actually his crossdressing brother.

Onizuka's mom

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ms_onizuka.png
The long suffering Mrs. Onizuka tries her hardest to tolerate Eikichi’s punkass behaviour, but eventually has to kick him out to keep her apartment. She herself is rather a tough lady, and apparently had her son at a young age. She works as a club hostess, according to the GTO B.A.D. Action guidebooks. Eikichi’s dad- the former head of the SPEED motorbike gang- is never seen, but he doesn’t seem to live with them. Mrs. Onizuka is still an attractive looking woman, with long brown(?) wavy hair. She does seem to dress older though.In GTO: Shonan 14 Days it is revealed she has moved to Hawaii; in chapter 7, Onizuka mentions that his father was a womaniser, which probably explains his absence during the original GTO: The Early Years series.

  • Stacy's Mom: Several of Eikichi's friends comment on how attractive she is.
  • Tough Love: She puts up with a lot of crap from Eikichi, but when his behavior threatened to make her be evicted, she kicked him out.
  • Unnamed Parent: Her first name is never given.

Makoto Hashiri

Voiced by: Nobutoshi Canna
Played by: Mizuki Maehara (2020)
A classmate of Eikichi and Ryuji, he used to be bullied in middle school, and now hangs out with popular or powerful people like the Onibaku duo.

  • Butt-Monkey: Eikichi and Ryuji bully him a lot, like forcing him to drop his pants in front of girls.
  • Gag Penis: At the public bath, the boys are all comparing dick sizes. It seems like Saejima has the biggest dick in the room, but then Abe shows upnote  with his "Galapagos tortoise" to the others' "baby turtles" and "medium turtles". Then Makoto shows up, with a Kaiju turtle appearing behind him.
  • Lovable Coward: He's pretty cowardly, but his status as a Butt-Monkey means you almost always feel sorry for him. And he does support his friends, just usually while hiding behind them.

Tsuyoshi Tsukai

Voiced by: Takumi Yamazaki (Ep. 1, 2), Toshiyuki Morikawa (Ep. 4)
Played by: Kazunori Mimura (2020)
A friend of the Onibaku, he was one of the "Four Emperors of Enoshima PS 4". A quiet guy, he's always willing to support his friends, but doesn't want to rely on their name to get out of trouble. He has a crush on Itou, but supports her efforts to get Eikichi to notice her. After Ryuji and Eikichi find out, they try to set the two of them up together.
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tsuyoshi_tsukai.png

  • I Just Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Tsukai has a crush on Itou, but she likes Eikichi. He decides to support her goal of winning Eikichi's affections.
  • Mr. Exposition: Tsukai serves as this in the Midnight Angel arc, explaining to uninformed characters (and the audience) the history behind the Midnight Angel gang and the Shonan War.
  • Nice Guy: When compared to the rest of the Onibaku? Definitely.
  • Only Sane Man: When Ryuji and Eikichi are at each other's throats, Tsukai is the only guy to not take sides and try to get them to reconcile.

Hiroshi Abe

Voiced by: Masaki Aizawa
Played by: Katsuya Takagi (2020)
A New Transfer Student at the Onibaku's school, he's suave, good-looking and has a way with women. Ryuji and Eikichi beg him to teach them his secret. He later joins the Onibaku gang.
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hiroshi_abe.png

Katsuyuki Tsumoto

Played by: Yuki Takao (2020)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/katsuyuki.png
The leader of the K.T. Butai (Katsuyuki Tsumoto Fighting Group), a kind of ‘sub-unit’ of the Oni-Baku gang, consisting of Yasuo, Atsushi, Saegusa, Kitamura and numerous other students. He has a hair-trigger temper, and as such can cause a lot of trouble without thinking about it. He once fought Eikichi, but was beaten and decided to adopt him as a role model. He is loyal to the Oni-Baku and will fight anyone who badmouths them, but his main allegiance is to Eikichi. He has a rivalry with Tamura, and a long-standing grudge against Kenkichi Hino, who is loyal to Ryuji like how he is loyal to Onizuka.

  • Blood Knight: Katsuyuki is so violent (beating people up as a greeting) that even the Onibaku are embarrassed to be associated with him. He idolizes them, though.
  • Overzealous Underling: He starts fights in Onizuka's name, always talking about "conquering the nation", and even started leading his "elite guard" in the last few chapters of SJG, none of which Onizuka wanted.
  • Rugged Scar: He has a scar on his eyebrow that he did to himself, to look more badass. The scar on his side from when he fought Eikichi is real, though.

Yui Itou

Voiced by: Hekiru Shiina
Played by: Karin Ono (2020)
A student at Tsujido High who previously attended the same junior high as the Kamakura Mad Dogs. She is the first girl to be part of the Oni-baku Gumi and appears at their numerous gatherings. She initially has a crush on Eikichi but outgrows her shallowness by being able to see a guy's inner qualities, and starts going out with Tsukai. They're married by the time of GTO.
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yui_itou.png

Tsukai: Isn't your skirt a little short?
Itou: Who cares if they see? I might even make some money out of it!
Tsukai: Th-that's not the issue. Aren't girls, y'know, shy?
Itou: If you want, I can show you. Lookie here!
[Starts lifting skirt]

Yoshio Tamaru

Inspired by his grandfather's dying words to become a 'strong man', the small and bullied Yoshio decides to change his life by joining the Oni-Baku-gumi. However, his overzealous approach to fighting gets him in trouble with Eikichi and Ryuji. He then takes control of the Atsuki Yagyou gang, who have been ruining the Oni-Baku's reputation, leading to a confrontation. He pulls a gun on Eikichi, but because it is old it misfires, injuring his hands. He never appears again after this.

Kunito Nakajo

The main leader of all the Enoshima gangs, and a student at Enoshima Shogyou High School. He was Tsukai’s senpai at Enoshima Yonchuu Junior High, and controlled the Enoshima subdivision of the second-generation Midnight Angels. In the past, the Oni-Baku beat his entire gang, which means there is some tension between them, but Nakajo is a useful ally in many conflicts, such as against the Yokohama Kihei and the Atsuki Yagyou. Despite the constant ill will between the Enoshima and Tsujikou students, Nakajo remains detached from most of the fighting until later volumes, and at the end of the story he challenges Eikichi to a one on one fight. In Ino-Head Gargoyle he is in Tokyo with Akutsu helping Kamata in his revenge.

  • Covered in Scars: His face has several prominent scars across it.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: Despite being a delinquent, he's pretty level-headed, preferring to not get involved in gang wars unless the other side attacks first.
  • The Unfought: From his introduction in the Midnight Angel arc to the end of SJG, he was built up as a dangerous enemy, so much that the Onibaku took steps to avoid fighting him. In the end, he demands a one-on-one fight with Eikichi, but Ryuji interrupts it and stages a fight before they both fake their deaths.

Fumiya Shindoji

Played by: Atom Mizuishi (2020)
The younger brother of Ayumi's deceased fiancé, Fumiya wants to destroy her new relationship with Ryuji. A student at Kyokuto High school, Fumiya has a large gang who do his bidding, one member of which is Asakura Yoshiaki. Fumiya is defeated by Ryuji after kidnapping Ayumi, and later appears as an ally. He rides a Yamaha V-Max. In GTO: Shonan 14 Days he helps Onizuka and he is revealed to have become a Tokyo Artists Production Representative.

  • Arc Villain: For the eponymous arc.
  • Big Brother Worship: Fumiya had this for his brother, Ayumi's boyfriend who died in a road accident. After he died, Fumiya twisted it into taking revenge on Ayumi for "betraying" his brother by falling in love with Ryuji.
  • Blood Knight: Fumiya and his cronies from Kyokuto High School are more violent than any previously seen in the series, and Fumiya actually brings a knife to a fist fight (and uses it).
  • Defeat Means Friendship: After getting out of juvie, Fumiya becomes an ally to the Oni-Baku.
  • Put on a Prison Bus: He's sent to juvie for his crimes.
    • The Bus Came Back: In Chapter 187 of SJG, Fumiya gets out of juvie and meets up with the Oni-Baku again. He mentions helping Akutsu break out, and Akutsu is seen in Chapter 193. Fumiya and Akutsu also reappear in the sequel GTO: Paradise Lost.
  • Reformed, but Not Tamed: After he returns from juvie, he's ostensibly an ally of the Oni-Baku, but hasn't changed his violent ways (though compared to them, he's not that much more violent.
  • Sibling Triangle: Sort of. He was a kid when his brother was dating Ayumi, and then died. When he comes back from juvie, now that Ayumi and Ryuji are no longer together, he shows signs of attraction towards her, and there are hints she may reciprocate.

Junya Akutsu

Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu
Played by: Kaito Yoshimura (2020)
The second leader of the Midnight Angels gang, Akutsu was a friend and kohai of Kyousuke Masaki, and was jealous of Eikichi taking some of Masaki's attention years before. He reappears full of plans to reclaim the Midnight Angels' place as the greatest of all Shonan gangs, with the Idaten (previously led by Akira Takezawa) under his control. He kidnapped, raped, and abused Nagisa so much she developed her Split Personality Yasha, and tries to get her to kill Ryuji, although she ends up injured herself. He is beaten by Onizuka and Kamishima, and returns later in the series assisting the Oni-Baku in times of need.In GTO: Shonan 14 Days he is seen driving a sports car at the head of the reborn "Midnight Angel". Katsuyuki points out he hasn't changed a bit and he is still crazy. In Ino-Head Gargoyle he is in Tokyo with Nakajo helping Kamata in his revenge. He is sometimes followed by members of his gang.

  • Always Someone Better/Green-Eyed Monster: How he feels about Masaki Passing the Torch to Onizuka over him.
  • Arc Villain: For the Midnight Angel arc.
  • Blood Knight: He likes hurting people, especially with fire or sexual violence.
  • Cool Bike: He rides a Kawasaki FX-ZII.
  • Defeat Means Respect: He becomes not quite an ally, but not quite an enemy either after the Oni-Baku defeat him.
  • Falsely Reformed Villain: When he was in prison the first time (for nearly burning Kamishima to death), Akutsu was a model prisoner and served his time. As soon as he's released, he reforms the Midnight Angel gang and starts a gang war.
  • Irony: In Shonan 14 Days, he shows up to help Onizuka track down a kidnapped girl. He says the thought of a kidnapper riding the 134 "makes him feel sick".
  • Karma Houdini: Downplayed, since he does go to juvie for a while, but he later breaks out and is apparently never recaptured. By the time of Shonan 14 Days, he's apparently leading a gang called "Midnight Angel" again, despite all the trouble the Oni-Baku went through to make sure that wouldn't happen. Plus Onizuka doesn't seem to hold much hatred for him compared to other villains (for example, Okubo, who was also a rapist and attempted murderer).
  • Put on a Prison Bus: He's sent to juvie for his crimes.
    • The Bus Came Back: After he gets out of juvie, Fumiya mentions helping Akutsu break out, and Akutsu is seen in Chapter 193 of SJG. Fumiya and Akutsu also reappear in the sequel GTO: Paradise Lost.
  • Pyromaniac: Akutsu has a penchant for setting petrol fires, and has made a nemesis of Toshiki Kamishima of the Satsuriku Butai (Butcher Fighting Gang) for causing him serious injuries via Gasoline Dousing when they were both members of the second-generation Midnight Angels. He does it to Kamishima again when he gets out, and also does it to Ryuji in the 2020 live-action.

     Characters originated from Great Teacher Onizuka 

Teachers and Staff

Azusa Fuyutsuki

Voiced by: Fumiko Orikasa (JP), Wendee Lee (EN)
Played by: Nanako Matsushima (1998), Miori Takimoto (2012)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Fuyutsuki_Azusa1_3720.jpg
  • A-Cup Angst: Despite her modest endowments, she is still a pretty lady.
  • Almost Kiss: Interrupted in the last minute with Onizuka.
  • Plucky Girl: Mostly something that she developed by hanging with Eikichi, who continually taught her to assert herself and be more confident.
  • Protectorate: Of Eikichi, much like his students, if not more so. Let's just say trying to hurt her in front of him is a very bad idea.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: Of all the other teachers, she is notable for her cool and collected persona.
  • Satellite Love Interest: To some readers. She gradually grows out of it over the course of the manga, however—her personality, backstory, motivations, and insecurities, are all explored, and none have to do with Onizuka.
  • The Smart Girl: She is a little naïve but far from stupid.
  • Stepford Smiler: Initially behaves this way all the time towards her students in class, thinking it to be the only way to be a proper teacher, even as her female students hurl insults toward her. She eventually learns this is only hurting her, and that it's best to just open up and be herself.
  • Tsundere: B-type towards Onizuka. And he likes it!

Principal Ryoko Sakurai

Voiced by: Yoshiko Okamoto (JP), Wendee Lee (EN)
Played by: Yumi Shirakawa (1998), Hitomi Kuroki (2012)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ryoko_sakurai.png

  • Adaptation Name Change: Akira Sakurai in the live-action.
  • Badass Teacher: She saved Misuzu Daimon from the school she set on fire.
  • Big Good: She saw Onizuka's potential as a teacher and gave him an interview after witnessing him having the beginnings of a true teacher. And she's also one of the few people on the teaching staff that have faith in him from the start, the other being Azusa and is always going out of her way to make sure Onizuka keeps his job.
  • Cool Old Lady: She's chill with most of Onizuka's antics and generally the opposite of the stick-in-the-mud board of directors.
  • Scars are Forever: Has a scar on her back from saving Misuzu from the burning school, it matches the scar Misuzu also has.

Vice-Principal Hiroshi Uchiyamada

Voiced by: Yuichi Nagashima (JP), Bob Papenbrook (EN)
Played by: Akira Nakao (1998), Ryosei Tayama (2012)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/uchiyamada.png
A rare image of him smiling

  • Anti-Villain: Uchiyamada clearly becomes one in the run of the series. Why else would so much focus be given on his inner stress? Chapter 107 just makes you feel bad to dislike him.
  • Butt-Monkey: His Cool Car never catches a break!
  • Dirty Old Man: His Establishing Character Moment is him being The Chikan to Azusa.
  • Fallen Hero: Arguably. Flashbacks show that he had the same idealism as Onizuka had when he first started teaching, even pushing the same idea of focusing on the students first over personal reputation. Only when he became older did he lose all that zeal for teaching, making him Onizuka's Foil.
  • Freudian Excuse: His mother insisted that he put his all into becoming a great educator, even to the point of making him leave her at her deathbed to go teach a class.
  • Grumpy Old Man: He constantly complains (mostly in his head) about kids these days and the downfall of society.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: Just the mention of Onizuka is enough to drive him up the wall.
  • Heel Realization: He seems to have one in the Okinawa arc, but it doesn't stick until Onizuka gives him a "The Reason You Suck" Speech at the ski park. Later in the manga, around the end of the Teshigawara arc, he realizes that Onizuka really is a good teacher and he's the one who's failed as an educator.
  • Jade-Coloured Glasses: What is arguably the saddest thing about him is that when he first started out as a teacher, he was every bit as idealistic about helping his students as Onizuka but 29 long years of working in the system had jaded him into what he is now.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's usually nasty tempered and deliberately unpleasant. After his Heel Realization, he also becomes (somewhat) more accepting of Onizuka's antics since he recognizes that, at his core, Onizuka genuinely wants to help his students. While their dynamics don't ultimately change that much, during more serious moments he reveals the heart of gold such as during GTO: Shonan 14 Days when Onizuka couldn't prevent a girl from the juvenile care centre from being forcefully returned to her abusive mother. He buys Onizuka a drink and tells him a story about a similar thing that happened to him with one of his past students and a violent father ending with the student murdering the father. He admits he regrets not intervening in the situation enough, and his realization of the limitations that teachers like him have in helping their students. A more concrete example shows up when Miyabi is accidentally pushed off a building after being convinced to back out of suicide and Onizuka jumps after her in order to help cushion the fall with his body. Uchiyamada uses his uninsured (no longer replaceable) and brand new Toyota Cresta to help cushion their fall, even leading up to it exploding and Uchiyamada blasting out of it with some minor injuries.
  • Kicked Upstairs: He gets promoted to Assistant Principal of Holy Forest's High School section.
  • Knight Templar: He really wanted Onizuka out of school because of his delinquent appearance. And he doesn't feel at peace unless Onizuka is out, regardless of the good impact he was having on class 2-4.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: After Onizuka calls him out on being more concerned with his career than saving Urumi, seeing her as only a mere 1/400 of the student body. He realizes how far he drifted from his mother's beliefs as an educator and realizes how far he's fallen. He's left lying in the snow blooded, wondering how he feel so hard and asking his mother when did it happen.
  • Pet the Dog: Towards his daughter.
  • Pose of Supplication: To his insurance company whenever his Cresta gets destroyed, and to PTA members or other high-ranking officials who he hopes can help him get Onizuka fired. Later to administrators and angry parents to beg for them not to fire Onizuka.
  • Took a Level in Badass: He has most of an arc to himself in Paradise Lost where among other things he manages to scare off a wild bear with nothing but an umbrella. He then spends the rest of the arc searching for a young woman lost in a national park, whom even the rangers have given up on, alone, at night, with more wild bears roaming around the forest and a gang of young thugs chasing after him.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: After his Heel Realization, he becomes much nicer to Onizuka, having around the same level of approval to his teaching methods as Sakurai does. The other times after that he's shown to be angry at Onizuka are much more justified. He slides back a bit during Paradise Lost but he does respect Onizuka enough to go to him for advice (framed as a hypothetical of course) during a very distressing situation.

Suguru Teshigawara

Voiced by: Tōru Furuya (JP), Doug Erholtz (EN)
Played by: Kunihiko Ida (1998), Masato Yano (2012)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/teshigawara.png

  • Adaptation Name Change: He's Yuu Teshigawara in the live-action.
  • All Crimes Are Equal: When he steals a police officer's uniform and gun and goes Drunk with Power, smashing up cars for being parked incorrectly and beating up people for perceived violations of decency.
  • And Now You Must Marry Me: His goal with Azusa, going so far as to kidnap her and tie her to Molotov Cocktails.
  • The B Grade: His father was never satisfied with anything less than perfect grades.
  • Broken Ace: He was always told to never fail at anything because it would be shameful to the family. This pressure erodes his sanity.
  • Creepy Crossdresser: At one point he wears Azusa's underwear after kidnapping her.
  • Defeat Means Friendship: When finally foiled by Onizuka, one motivational speech from the guy later, Suguru warms up to him and agrees to a drink after he is out of jail.
  • Egopolis: During his unhinged rant he declares that he's making the school the independent republic of "Suguruland".
  • Falsely Reformed Villain: When he gets back to Holy Forest after a nervous breakdown following the scholastic aptitude test, he acts like he's willing to let bygones be bygones. His inner monologue and villainous plan to kill Onizuka (typed on his laptop, at school) prove otherwise.
  • Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: He was constantly compared to his brother growing up, taught that only perfect academic performance mattered. This turned him into a Broken Ace and creepy stalker who apparently never thought to simply ask Azusa on a date instead of coming up with a convoluted scheme to kidnap her. Onizuka and Azusa directly call him out for this.
  • Friend to Bugs: When he was a child he was fascinated by insects and wanted to grow up to be an entomologist. Traits of this still show up in the present, such as how he compares his growth to an insect maturing from a cocoon in his diary.
  • Friendless Background: His only friend when he was a child was a Cool Old Lady who lived in the neighborhood, and after she died he focused entirely on his studies, not making any efforts at friendship with his peers. Azusa suspects that deep deep deep down, this was the real thing he wanted in his life.
  • Identical Stranger: To Kikuchi. In the Live Action, not so much. He also looks like an older Noboru with glasses.
  • I Just Want to Be Special: He's obsessed with how he's superior to everyone else because of his intellect and family. Mrs. Sakurai calls him out for being unable to accept being an ordinary person. He himself realizes the true reason he hates Onizuka so much was envy for living a free life on his own terms rather then having to obediently follow his families legacy.
  • Impoverished Patrician: He honestly had no idea that the family name has become worthless after his politician father got into a scandal.
  • Inferiority Superiority Complex: Constantly goes on about how being a graduate of Tokyo U makes him better than everyone around him. In reality he clings desperately to the idea of superiority because he's lived his whole life being put down by his father for not being as good as his older brother, a belief that was cemented in his mind when he failed to pass the state bureaucrat exam and he couldn't become a statesman like the rest of his family (in reality he passed, but his score was sabotaged by a rival faction).
  • Neat Freak: Obsessed with cleanliness, to the point of it being a revealing clue: Makoto recognizes someone has been in Azusa's apartment cleaning it, and notices the intruder bought mouthwash (since her sister hates it).
  • Revealing Cover-Up: When Azusa's sister Makoto arrives and quickly figures out that Azusa has been kidnapped, he panics and behaves highly suspiciously, proving beyond a doubt that he did it.
  • Sanity Slippage: He wasn't exactly the sanest individual in the first place but he goes completely off the deep end once he realizes his plans failed thanks to the intervention of Onizuka and Azusa's Badass Adorable Amateur Sleuth younger sister. He comes back to his senses after a well-deserved beating from Onizuka and an intervention from his older brother. It seems to run in the family given that his father became similarly delusional after he was sacked from his ministerial position for a scandal.
  • Sharp-Dressed Man: Always wears a suit.
  • Stalker with a Crush: To Fuyutsuki, complete with one heck of a Stalker Shrine.

Hajime Fukuroda

Voiced by: Kazuhiro Nakata (JP), Richard Epcar (EN)
Played by: Masahiro Kobayashi (1998), Sugichan (2012)

  • Adaptation Name Change: He's Hajime Hakamata in the live-action.
  • Adaptational Nice Guy: Subverted. In the live-action, at first he seems friendly, offering to help Onizuka get his students to stop boycotting his class. However, at the end of the episode he starts beating up Murai for what he perceived as disrespect. Onizuka doesn't find out, but Fuyutsuki does, and it destroys any chance he might have had with her.
  • Creepy Gym Coach: Mr. Fukuroda has an unhealthy attraction to his female students, taking every opportunity to ogle them in their gym clothes (or even feel them up). When he gets framed for being a Panty Thief instead of Onizuka, it's a case of Right for the Wrong Reasons.
  • Fan Disservice: The students are not pleased to see him in a speedo.
  • Large Ham/No Indoor Voice: Is almost always shouting or speaking loudly.
  • Paper Tiger: He talks a big game about how hard he works on his body, and he may be a decent enough athlete, but when it comes to actual physical confrontations against people his own size he folds like a wet bag.
  • Small Name, Big Ego: Constantly talks about how he's the best at every sport.
  • Straight Edge Evil: Subverted. He says he doesn't drink or smoke, keeping his body in top physical condition, but has no problems chugging steroids like they were energy drinks in a (futile) attempt to prove himself stronger than Onizuka.

Tadashi Sakurai/Sakurada

Voiced by: Katsumi Suzuki (JP), Dave Wittenberg (EN)

  • Adaptation Name Change: His name was changed to Sakurada in the anime to avoid confusion with Chairlady Sakurai.
  • Karmic Butt-Monkey: Given his pedophilic tendencies, it's hard to see him as anything but an Asshole Victim when he gets beaten up or covered in sewage. And yet he's never fired.
  • Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Despite being an English teacher, he clearly doesn't know the meaning of half the Gratuitous English words he peppers his speech with.
  • The Peeping Tom: Mr. Sakurai has been spying on and secretly recording women, especially underage ones, as they go to the bathroom, for 28 years. He even gets to the point of getting in a special waterproof suit to hide inside the septic tank of the girls' toilets.

Principal Misuzu Daimon

Portrayed by: Nishida Naomi
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/misuzu_daimon.png

  • The Baroness: Sexy and totalitarian.
  • Best Served Cold: You have to give her points for all the planning and dedication to trying to bring down Director Sakurai.
  • Evil Principal: She believes she's making a positive difference when she takes over as principal of Holy Forest Academy, but her methods involve monitoring all electronic communication between students, trying to get teachers she doesn't like (i.e. Onizuka) fired (or make his life so miserable he'll quit), and unleashing a student Secret Police of "Angels" to infiltrate the school and punish "bad seeds" through rumors, social ostracism, and even physical violence.
  • Four Eyes, Zero Soul: At first. All she is concerned with is her revenge and she thinks of the students at school as nothing more than gears to move a business forward and believes school is nothing more than a business, the complete opposite of Sakurai. Then finding out that Sakurai saved her from the fire she caused and Onizuka saving her from a second fire kickstarted her Heel–Face Turn.
  • Pyromaniac: She set her school on fire! Though to be fair, she was also having a breakdown.
  • Tyrant Takes the Helm: She's brought in to replace one of the principals and immediately starts making significant changes.

Students

Kunio Murai

Voiced by: Tomokazu Seki (JP), Tony Oliver (EN)
Played by: Hiroyuki Ikeuchi (1998), Shintaro Morimoto (2012)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kunio_murai.jpeg

  • Berserk Button: He's already easy to piss off as it is, but if you have even the slightest of funny ideas with his mom, Kunio will wreck you.
  • Celebrity Paradox: He cons the nickname Doraemon for Onizuka in episode 8, when the latter’s hands get stuck in two bowling ball holes. His voice actor Tomokazu Seki would go on to voice Suneo in the 2005 Doraemon reboot.
  • Defeat Means Friendship: At first, very antagonistic towards Onizuka and then becomes one of his most devoted followers.
  • Dye Hard: A childhood photo of him shows that he bleaches his hair blond.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: Very easy to anger him.
  • Jerk Jock: Initially.
  • Momma's Boy: And a rather fierce one at that.
  • My Mother Is Off Limits: Forbids Onizuka to hit on his mom.
  • Reused Character Design: Some fans have noticed his resemblance to Tsukai from SJG, especially the hairstyle. Less noticeable in later chapters.
  • Ship Tease: With Miyabi in the Live Action series. Coincidentally, Miyabi states that Kunio had a brief crush on her at one point.

Yoshito Kikuchi

Played by: Yosuke Kubozuka (1998), Sho Takada (2012)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yoshito_kikuchi.jpeg

  • Badass Bookworm: Even when the whole class wasn't happy that he got chummy with Onizuka, they can't do anything to him because he knows Karate (we never get to see it in action though). Later he received a beating from a Tae Kwon Do champion, prompting him to re-train and making him even more of a badass.
  • Defeat Means Friendship: Pretty much one of the only students who wasn't humiliated. He goes along with Onizuka's plans cause Onizuka's an interesting guy.
  • Identical Stranger: To Teshigawara. In the Live Action, not so much.
  • I Know Karate: Said verbatim to Murai when Kikuchi says he's giving up on making Onizuka's life hell. Also provides the page image.
  • I Know Mortal Kombat: When they steal the Cresta, he says he can drive since he's aced Gran Turismo.
  • Platonic Life-Partners: With Urumi, considering how often they appear together. The fact that they're both geniuses probably contributes to this. He also has a few bits of this with Mayu and Takumi.
  • Playful Hacker: He's skilled with computers and photo manipulation, but mostly uses this to prank Onizuka.
  • Ship Tease: With Ai Tokiwa.
  • The Smart Guy: Along with Urumi.
  • Stoic Spectacles: Always wears glasses and usually keeps the coolest head in the group.
  • Tall, Dark, and Snarky: But still very kind all in all.
  • Teen Genius: Got the second highest scholastic test score in the nation and the highest score — he made a second answer sheet which he switched with Onizuka's, beating Teshigawara, a Todai graduate.
  • Took a Level in Badass: After Training from Hell with Mayu, he completely neutralizes Tokiwa's Tae Kwon Do, which kicked his ass earlier.
  • Undying Loyalty: Like Urumi, Kikuchi is among the most loyal of Onizuka's students and will always lend him a hand whenever he needs it.

Noboru Yoshikawa

Voiced by: Kousuke Okano (JP), Kirk Thornton and Doug Erholtz (EN)
Played by: Shun Oguri (1998), Taishi Nakagawa (2012)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/noboru_yoshikawa_s_8130.jpg

  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Saved Anko when she fell into the ocean, and helped find a way out of the cave with her.
  • Driven to Suicide: Twice. Onizuka saved him both times.
  • Extreme Doormat: At first. By the time the Okinawa arc comes in he's shown some serious ballsiness.
  • Friendless Background: Only Kikuchi seems to have been his friend before Onizuka, and even he didn't help stop the bullying until Onizuka stepped in.
  • Fun T-Shirt: During the Okinawa trip, he literally wears a shirt that says "LOSER". Ironic, since that's when he shows he Took a Level in Badass.
  • Godlike Gamer: Nobody, not even Onizuka, is able to beat him at any video game he plays.
  • Nice Guy: Is one of the most unambiguously good characters in GTO, with only Tomoko and Azusa being nicer.
  • Shameful Strip: One particularly bad incident had him be stripped naked by Anko and her Girl Posse, who doodled on his body and mocked him for having an Teeny Weenie.
  • The So-Called Coward: Noboru is introduced as a Bully Magnet Driven to Suicide by abuse from his classmates, particularly Anko and her Girl Posse. Onizuka helps him make friends and gain confidence in himself, and during the Okinawa trip he and the very same girls who bullied him (and are still doing it) get lost on an island. Despite everything they had done to him, he dives into the water to save Anko from drowning, and is able to keep a cool head and find a way out of the cave they're in.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Ever since the holidays in Okinawa, he is much less prone to accepting being treated like shit.

Tomoko Nomura

Voiced by: Ayako Kawasumi (JP), Philece Sampler (EN)
Played by: Miki Koroda (1998), Karen Miyazaki (2012)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tomoko_nomura.png

  • All of the Other Reindeer: When she's first introduced, her only "friends" are Miyabi and her Girl Posse, and they drop her when she screws up the plan they'd manipulated her into to frame Onizuka. The next chapter shows them throwing stuff at Tomoko and calling her a trash can. And we know how Onizuka feels about anyone calling students "trash".
  • Buxom Beauty Standard: She has a well-endowed figure, which makes her attractive with some guys but unpopular with many girls who are envious of her.
  • Character Development: From a ditzy girl, to a passionate actress. She's gone a long way.
  • Companion Cube/Surrogate Soliloquy: Tomoko is a Lonely Doll Girl because of her Friendless Background. Onizuka connects with her by playing dolls together, communicating through them at first rather than talking to her directly. In the Live-Action Adaptation she makes a duck puppet called Dakko that she talks to Onizuka through, and has an improv conversation with at the pageant.note 
  • Cute Clumsy Girl: Along with her ditziness, she's pretty clumsy, at least when helping out in her family's restaurant.
  • D-Cup Distress: Tomoko has grown her breasts early and it's making her miserable; she's still a child at heart and not at all ready for the attention they get her.
  • The Ditz: In the manga, her classmates nickname her Toroko (Slo-mo-ko in English) since she's so "slow".
  • Former Friend of Alpha Bitch: Though she never stops thinking of Miyabi as her friend.
  • The Heart: Tomo-chan plays this role between her two much smarter and way bitchier "friends" Miyabi and Urumi.
  • Hidden Depths: She is a surprisingly good actress and exceptional in improv!
  • Hot for Teacher: She wants to be a good wife for Onizuka some day.
  • I Just Want to Have Friends: When Onizuka asked her if there was anything she wanted, she thought for a while and then said "Okay, I know one thing I want. A friend. Can you make me one?" Onizuka being Onizuka, he made her some sand sculptures of aliens, but did end up becoming her friend.
  • Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Is probably the most unambiguously good person in the series. Even when she becomes popular, she never treats her classmates badly for their bullying of her before, and still believes that deep down what Miyabi needs is a friend (even though Miyabi was a terrible friend to her). The only others who come close are Noboru and Fuyutsuki.
  • Kawaiiko: She's 14 and still collects dolls and Gundam models, and likes cute things.
  • Lethal Chef: When she tried to make soup she almost burned down her kitchen.
  • Literal-Minded: She brought an actual potato to dance the mashed potato, and when they were dissecting frogs that had been "put to sleep", she tried to wake hers up.
  • Lonely Doll Girl: To make up for her lack of friends, she plays with dolls. One of her dreams is to have the largest doll collection in Japan.
  • Male Gaze: In-Universe, a phone commercial she's in focuses almost entirely on the cell phone nestled between her breasts.
  • Malicious Misnaming: Her classmates call her "Toroko" ("Slo-mo-ko" in the translation) because she's "slow".
  • Meaningful Name: Her name means "friendly child", appropriate for a child at heart who just wants friends.
  • Minion with an F in Evil: Briefly, when Miyabi tries to get her to frame Onizuka and get him fired, but she messes it all up and her "friends" kick her out of their clique.
  • Minor Living Alone: In Chapter 126, we find out she's gotten her own apartment since she became an actress.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Very, very good looking.
  • Picked Last: She mentions always being picked last for sports.
  • Put on a Bus: In the 1998 live-action, she leaves to attend an idol school in Okinawa. But she sends her classmates a video, and comes Back for the Finale to celebrate the School Festival with them.
  • The Runner-Up Takes It All: Subverted. She was the true winner in the contest held in the anime, but only lost because all the postcards that were sent to vote for her had her name covered up. In the manga, it's played straight. She didn't win, but most of the attention was on her after her amazing acting and improv, more so than the actual winner.
  • "Silly Me" Gesture: Is prone to this.
  • So Beautiful, It's a Curse: Tomoko's big boobs are considered beautiful by most males but unfortunately, they're also a source of bashing and jealousy.
  • Sprouting Ears: When Miyabi and Onizuka visit, Tomoko briefly sprouts cat ears when Miyabi says she'll stay the night.

Urumi Kanzaki

Voiced by: Kotono Mitsuishi (JP), Michelle Ruff (EN)
Played by: Tsubasa Honda (2012)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/urumi_kanzaki.jpg

  • All Love Is Unrequited: In Shonan 14 Days, she describes her affection of Onizuka to Shinomi as this because he only views her as a middle-schooler.
  • Berserk Button: Just try to harm Onizuka in any way. She will come after you.
  • But Not Too Foreign: She has blonde hair and one blue eye, due to her father being non-Japanese, but is otherwise like her classmates culturally and appearance-wise.
  • Child Prodigy: Left school because she found it boring. and her hidden past...
  • Crocodile Tears: She uses these to manipulate adults, especially Uchiyamada.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Subverted. Urumi has a terrible secret, whom she's desperate to keep, and would go to absolutely psychotic lengths to take revenge on anyone who so much as threatens to reveal it: she was a test tube baby, and does not know who her biological father is. That's it. Onizuka actually gets her to stop her ridiculous revenge games by introducing her to some of his old friends - people who've grown up with prostitutes for mothers, had to sell drugs to buy food, were raped and beaten up as children or spent years in prison before ever finishing highschool - putting her own problems in perspective and making her finally understand just how crazy she's acting.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: For years, she's been engaging in "classroom terrorism", including acts which ultimately risked the lives, jobs and/or reputations of both numerous teachers and classmates... because several years ago, a favorite teacher of her, in a moment of anger, let out a secret she asked her to keep. Discussed in the manga: while Onizuka admits that this isn't a nice thing to do, he points out the absurdity of the scale of Urumi's revenge.
    • This trend continues later on, with her plan for getting back at Miyabi and her posse. Sure, they're all tremendous bitches whom both the audience and every sympathetic character in the cast has already come to hate, and they've caused tremendous trouble... but to sell their virginity to a group of rich old perverts to be raped in a private suite? That's... harsh.
  • Hot for Teacher: She has quite the crush on Onizuka, and even introduces herself to Shinomi as "Onizuka's future wife" when she thinks she's a romantic rival.
  • Improbably High I.Q.: Urumi has an IQ "over 200", which gives her free rein to do pretty much whatever she wants in the school.
  • Intelligence Equals Isolation: Urumi's intellect used to make her feel alone and misunderstood.
  • Gratuitous French: Uses it to confront her childhood nemesis.
  • I Have Boobs, You Must Obey!: Often uses her feminine charms to get her way, like when she seduced Onizuka when they first met, or when she teased her tutor by offering him her panties if he could solve an impossible math problem.
  • Insufferable Genius: Much more in elementary school, which led to her falling-out with Ms. Fujimori. By the time she's in high school she's weaponized it to drive teachers nuts.
  • It Amused Me: While her actual reasons for hating adults are more complicated, she states her classroom terrorism to be a means of "killing time". Being a child prodigy leaves her often bored with the usual lectures, leading her to spend her class time giving teachers very hard questions, sabotaging their equipment, and other pranks. She eventually stopped coming to school altogether, until brought in by Miyabi to "kill time" with Onizuka.
  • Karma Houdini: Isn't even called out for her role in arranging Miyabi and her cronies' gang-rape.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Very good looking.
  • Nerds Are Sexy: A particularly sexy nerd girl. Just never, ever bring up Gundam around her. Unless its something about Heero.
  • Omniglot: She speaks at least five languages fluently, including French and Chinese.
  • Pyromaniac: Urumi likes to blow things up. She considers a Molotov Cocktail to be a "practical joke", and gets a "look" that's a mix of glee and malice when she blows up a building. Being a super genius, she never leaves any evidence, though everyone who knows what she's like knows it couldn't have been anyone else.
  • Reused Character Design: She looks exactly like Saya Minazuki from GTO: The Early Years.
  • Teen Genius: A more grown-up Child Prodigy. She's noted for being the smartest kid in the school, even surpassing Kikuchi, and has a standing invitation to any university in Japan.
  • Teens Are Monsters: She doesn't blink an eye at selling Miyabi's and her groups' virginity to a group of dirty old men with disturbing fetishes to save Onizuka's job and she's alright with making a snake bite Onizuka's privates.
  • Token Evil Teammate: After she comes over to Onizuka's side. She crosses the Moral Event Horizon when she sells three of her classmates' virginities to rich perverts without batting an eye, but she gets off scot-free. Her other classmates and Onizuka are glad to have her on their side rather than working against them as she used to.
  • Undying Loyalty: Towards Onizuka. It makes sense though considering everything he's done for her and his students and if it wasn't for him, she would have frozen to death. Her loyalty towards him runs so deep that she'd rather kill herself if Onizuka were to die as a world without him isn't worth living at all.
  • We Used to Be Friends: With Miyabi and Tomoko. Although she still gets along with the latter and despite everything, deep down she always considered Miyabi a friend.
  • Yandere: A serious enough case that she was ready to commit suicide if Onizuka didn't survive his aneurysm.

Anko Uehara

Voiced by: Akemi Okamura (JP), Dorothy Elias-Fahn (EN)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gto_ankouehara_2027.png

  • The Chain of Harm / Dark and Troubled Past: Her father abused her brother, who abused her, which led to her own abusive tendencies towards Noboru.
  • Character Development: Grows from being your usual high-school bitch to a more balanced, harmonic girl.
  • Composite Character: Her character was fused with Miyabi's in the Live-Action series.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: Anko was probably more this before she became what's now considered a Tsundere, since she was violently bitchy to Yoshikawa before the events in Okinawa.
  • Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Actually averted because her bullying Noboru was in secret. And had it been played straight, Onizuka would have defied this trope, too!
  • Even Evil Has Standards: It goes to show that despite her picking on Noboru, even she's not as cruel as Miyabi. She also revealed Miyabi's plot to frame Onizuka and offered her credit card to help him come up with the money. She made clear that she wasn't on his side, she just didn't like how Miyabi was manipulating her classmates to do her dirty work.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Towards the end of the story.
  • Humble Pie: Onizuka's approach to punish her, Naoko and Mayuko for bullying and humiliating Noboru involves tying them by their hands, spanking them (in the anime only) and take pictures of them butt-naked after letting Noburu write apologetic words on their ass (on their panties in the anime). He then uses said pictures to bargain them into giving up the ones they did of Noburu. Needless to say, this severely damages her pride.
  • Loving Bully: Eventually with Noboru, though she tones down the bullying.
  • Rescue Romance: With Noboru after he saves her from drowning.

Miyabi Aizawa

Voiced by: Junko Noda (JP), Wendee Lee (EN)
Played by: Aimi Nakamura (1998), Haruna Kawaguchi (2012)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/miyabi_aizawa.png

  • Adult Hater: Especially in the anime adaptation. She not only hates teachers, but also adults. It all stems from her family problem and her dearest friend's mysterious death or lied by her crush teacher (in manga) that she considered all adults are liars.
  • Alpha Bitch: Even meaner than Anko!!
  • Attempted Rape: Her backstory for why she hates teachers with such passion. Subverted because she fabricated the story. Then happens again for real this time, only averted at the last second by Onizuka.
  • Bitch Alert: She doesn't hide for a second the fact that she's a complete and utter bitch. In fact, she thrives on it.
  • Bullying a Dragon: See her Smug Snake entry below? Said confidence stopped her from realizing you just do not mess with Urumi.
  • Composite Character: Her character was fused with Anko in the Live Action series.
  • Debt Detester: After Onizuka rescues her and her friends from Attempted Rape, he tells her "this one's on credit." Hating to feel like she owes him anything, she gives him 4 million yen, enough to cover what she framed him for stealing in the first place.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: After being saved.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: She hurt many people who have nothing to do with her problems or her miserable family situation.
  • Dysfunctional Family: Her parents are always busy and barely there for her, despite her mom tries to act as if everything's alright. Until she snaps and calls her mom out for considering her childish as if she knows nothing about her father's affair.
  • Don't You Dare Pity Me!: She has a fiercely independent streak and hates feeling like she's relying on someone else, especially Onizuka. He still gives her Unexpected Kindness when she runs away from home.
    Miyabi: If I get any more pity from either of you, I'm gonna throw up!
  • Driven to Suicide: Twice. Saved by Onizuka both times.
  • Expository Hairstyle Change: After the Okinawa trip (which she didn't go on), she shows up at school with blue hair. She says the new look is because she's been "betrayed" by everyone else, who enjoyed the trip Onizuka got them. Later on, as her home life deteriorates further, she dyes it blonde.
  • Gone Horribly Right: After discovering that ÅŒgi, the teacher she had a crush on, was already engaged and that he had only invited her to dinner to introduce her to his fiancée, a scorned Miyabi takes illicit photographs of herself (knowing that his hobby was photography) and tells the class that he took advantage of her. However, Miyabi's plan works too well; her classmate Takumi Ishida takes matters into his own hands and assaults ÅŒgi, resulting in Takumi being expelled and ÅŒgi being fired.
  • Jerkass: Very much so. She really likes picking on people.
    • Aizawa can probably be called an all out sociopath with how quickly she resorts to manipulating everyone around her and breaking them down psychologically. Her cruelty knows no bounds and she's willing to stoop to any low to keep everyone under her thumb and get what she wants out of them.
  • Karma Houdini: Remember that time she failed to seduce a teacher so she ruined his reputation instead?
    • Well, she does suffer a lot throughout GTO (resulting in 2 suicide attempts) which could be considered as her punishment, even though most of that suffering stems from her family's messed up situation, and alienation of her friends as a result of her bitchiness.
      • A better example of Miyabi being a Karma Houdini is probably the fact that even after Onizuka and her classmates come to know that she fabricated the whole molestation story, destroyed a teacher's life and led the whole class into an insane anti teacher campaign (which in turn destroyed the lives of at least 2 other teachers) based on that lie (not to mention the mean way in which she treats her classmates), she still gets their sympathies and full moral and emotional support.
  • Lack of Empathy: She never had second thoughts in harming others' lives.
  • Lonely Rich Kid: Despite having a few friends, her parents (especially her dad) have hardly any time for her, and she hates how they pretend to be a perfect family even though her father's obviously having an affair.
  • Manipulative Bitch: Miyabi lives the trope, and God, she's gifted for it.
  • Parental Neglect: It takes Onizuka staging a Faked Kidnapping of her and holding a knife to her throat to get her parents to care.
  • Rape Portrayed as Redemption: Attempted Rape, anyway. After that, and especially after the end of the Mayu arc, she has a noticeable personality shift now that she's alone against Onizuka, and is forced to admit to herself that he's not such a bad person, given he rescued her from that attempted rape and shows her kindness when she runs away from home.
  • Rich Bitch: Her father is a bank manager and her mother owns her own business.
  • The Runaway: For a while she runs away from home. Onizuka helps her find a place to stay (Tomoko's apartment).
  • Ship Tease: With Kunio in the Live Action series. With Fujiyoshi in the manga.
  • The Sociopath: She bullies everyone just out of pure evulz.
  • Smug Snake: Very confident about her level of bitch.
  • Supreme Chef: Compared to Tomoko's abysmal cooking, she can make delicious food.
  • The Unapologetic: Only after seeing Onizuka's "selfless act" (taking the blame of all her crimes) can she finally apologize to him.
  • The Unfettered: She'd do anything to bring down Onizuka.
  • Ungrateful Bitch: After Onizuka saves her and her posse from the attempted rape set up by Urumi, she still claims that she owes nothing to anyone, including Onizuka, of course.
  • Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Tomoko and Urumi reminisce about how the three of them used to be friends. And in the near-end of the series, she is shown to used to be a model student who is friendly with teachers. Until her dearest friend committed suicide...

Kouji Fujiyoshi and Tadaaki Kusano

Fujiyoshi voiced by: Jun'ichi Suwabe (JP), Steve Blum (EN); Played by: Yuki Yamada (2012)
Kusano voiced by: Naoki Yanagi (JP), Brad Rowen (EN); Played by: Nobuyuki Suzuki (2012)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kusano_and_fujiyoshi.png
Kusano (left) and Fujiyoshi (right)

Mayu Wakui

Played by: Shono Hayama
  • Break the Haughty: When he comes back to school he's fully confident he can drive Onizuka away, having done so with numerous other teachers. To do so, he arranges for Onizuka and a number of the other teachers to attend a club filled with grievance filled former students as part of an elaborate revenge scheme. Instead Onizuka turns it around on them, calls out the crowd for their whining and proves his talk isn't all hot air by defeating 99 of their strongest in an arm wrestling match. By the end Mayu, who has nobody else to turn to, is left a shivering wreck who feebly attempts to save face by telling his Number Two that nobody can be trusted in life. She bluntly replies that Onizuka simply beat him.
  • Cool Board: He's a skateboarder and sometimes uses it in his pranks.
  • Dirty Coward: After Onizuka trounces ninety-nine men in an arm-wrestling match he demands Mayu be his final opponent given that he was the one who orchestrated everything. Mayu refuses and declares they're all going to attack at once and beat him senseless. The entire crowd turn against him and demand he take his turn like he's supposed to.
  • The Dreaded: When everyone hears he's coming back they all pretty much freak out. According to them, he' driven out more teachers by himself then the entire class put together. He was also effectively the last major obstacle Miyabi was able to muster against Onizuka and after Mayu bows out she becomes someone to be pitied rather than a real antagonist for the remainder of the story.
  • Graceful Loser: After briefly having some fun taunting Onizuka after his plot is foiled, he thanks him for their meeting and tells him he wishes he could have met him earlier.
  • Karma Houdini: He often uses a Wounded Gazelle Gambit or just plays on his grandma's tendency to let him get away with stuff.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Bonus points for being the Chairlady's grandson. Onizuka calls him out on it, pointing out he's really just a weasel who's only good at getting other people to fight his battles for him.
  • Reused Character Design: He strongly resembles Jun Kamata from GTO: The Early Years
  • Teen Idol: He's a rich and famous idol and musician.

Ai Tokiwa

Played by: Bando Nozomi
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tokiwa_side_view.png

  • Broken Bird: Her gang-rape left her scared, traumatized, and angry at the world, which she dealt with by becoming strong so it would never happen again.
  • Cute Bruiser: She's a tae kwon do master who adopts a fake cutesy appearance.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: It's revealed that she was raped by her classmates.
  • Deliberately Cute Child: She fakes a Kawaiiko personality, complete with bunny backpack, to get Onizuka and his class to let their guard down. She manages to beat up dozens of male students and get away with it through Wounded Gazelle Gambits before the truth comes out.
  • Does Not Like Men: Justified given her backstory. But she isn't above using her feminine charms to trick them.
  • Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: Her girl gang (sanctioned by Ms. Daimon) is literally called the Angels.
  • The Fake Cutie: She fakes a Kawaiiko persona, but is actually a smart and dangerous fighter.
  • Girlish Pigtails: Adds to her cute and innocent appearance.
  • Heel–Face Turn: After Onizuka saves her from the Brute Club, she comes over to his side.
  • I Was Beaten by a Girl: She exploits this by assuming boys will be too embarrassed to admit she beat them.
  • The Mole: Daimon planted her in Class 3-4 to spy on Onizuka and destroy him.
  • Panty Fighter: Gives quite a few Panty Shots when using her tae kwon do.
  • Pay Evil unto Evil: It's hard to argue that the Brute Club didn't deserve the No-Holds-Barred Beatdown she gave them, given how they were attempting to rape her and may have already done the same to other girls. Significantly less so for her other victims though, especially since she goes out of her way to engineer situations to beat them up with impunity.
  • Vigilante Woman: Uses her innocent appearance and martial arts skills to get "bad seeds" kicked out of school.
  • Waif-Fu: Despite her small build, she packs a mean kick with her tae kwon and is fully capable of beating up multiple boys at once, even curbstomping Kikiuchi, a karate enthusiast. Subverted, when her martial arts prove useless once some of her previous victims bring along reinforcements who are much older and larger and manhandle her with ease. Kikuchi himself also returns the favor once he retrains himself and she no longer has the element of surprise.

Sho Shibuya

Played by: Shuhei Nomura
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sho_shibuya.png

Other

Julia Murai

Voiced by: Megumi Ogata (JP), Cindy Robinson (EN)
Played by: Rikako Murakami (1998), Yo Yoshida (2012)

  • Absurdly Youthful Mother: Julia had Kunio when she was 13, and was subsequently disowned by her parents. She somehow managed to get a job, an apartment, and raise a baby as a teenager in Tokyo, one of the most expensive cities in the world. By the time of the series, she's 27, and most of Kunio's male classmates (and Onizuka) regard her as a Stacy's Mom. This has naturally become a Berserk Button for Kunio. The Live-Action Adaptation age lifted her to 34, having had Kunio at 17 (and making him 17 rather than 14).
  • Hard Truckin': In the 1998 live-action, she's a trucker rather than a crane operator.
  • Romantic False Lead: Onizuka shows interest in her and they go on a few dates, but it seems most of it was in Kunio's head or Onizuka deliberately messing with him.
  • Stacy's Mom: Murai's friends all note how attractive his mom is, and Onizuka goes on a couple dates with her.

Yoshiko Uchiyamada

Voiced by: Atsuko Bungo (JP), Kate Higgins (EN)
Played by: Erika Mabuchi (1998), Mizuki Komatsu (2012)

  • Abhorrent Admirer: She spends much of the 1998 live-action trying to get Onizuka to date her again after they went out once or twice. It's not that she's unattractive, she's just not Fuyutsuki.
  • Age Lift: In the manga, she's around 16, but in the 1998 live-action she's a college student.
  • Dating What Daddy Hates: In the 1998 live-action, Uchiyamada's daughter Yoshiko dates Onizuka, though none of them know how the other two are related.
  • Gyaru Girl: After her first appearance, she adopts this look.

Makoto Fuyutsuki

Azusa's younger sister. She goes to a different high school.

  • Kid Detective: Makoto is in her high school's detective club and manages to solve her sister's kidnapping with uncanny speed.
  • Shipper on Deck: For Onizuka x Azusa.
    "Maybe you could be his super-sucker, then he wouldn't buy that kind of stuff anymore."
  • Tomboy: She dresses femininely (though most of the time is just in her Joshikousei uniform, but goes to a female oil-wrestling show with Onizuka, which she enjoys.
  • Wrestler in All of Us/Suplex Finisher: She takes out Teshigawara with a forward suplex, making her enthusiasm for the wrestling match in the previous chapter make more sense.

    Characters originated from 14 Days in Shonan 

Ayame Shiratori

One of the caretakers at White Swan foster home.
  • Plucky Girl: She's determined to be as close to a parental figure as she can to the kids at White Swan, and goes so far as storming a yakuza house armed only with a wooden sword.

Miki Katsuragi

The daughter of a high-ranking police officer, she entered foster care because her father put his work ahead of her.
  • The Bully: She breaks the toy gun Onizuka gave Sakurako, just to be mean.
  • Crying Wolf: Miki acts out and uses the emergency button her father (a high-ranking police officer) gave her, to get his attention. Unfortunately this makes him not respond when she really is kidnapped, until Onizuka arrives and tells him in person.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: After she's rescued from being kidnapped, she becomes much nicer and happier.
  • When You Coming Home, Dad?: Her father prioritizes his job over his daughter.

Seiya Dojima

He entered foster care after his mother's abusive boyfriend forcibly gave him the same tattoo as him. He's extremely bitter that she chose her boyfriend over him.
  • Revenge: His primary motivation, going so far as to get a gun to shoot his mother's boyfriend.
  • Tattooed Crook: Not a crook, though he seems to be headed that way, and the tattoo wasn't his choice.

Sakurako Sugawara

  • Cloudcuckoolander: A little bit. Onizuka helped her deal with a fear of roaches by telling her they were actually Martian spy robots, and giving her a rubber-band gun to shoot them.
  • The Cutie: Seems to be the youngest of the White Swan kids, and sometimes speaks in a cutesy accent.
  • Self-Harm: She has slit her wrists multiple times.

Ryoichi Mizuhara

  • Doorstop Baby: Ryoichi was left in a basket in front of a church.
  • Otaku: A videogame and airplane enthusiast. One short arc involves him entering a bike-powered airplane contest.

Ikuko Ogaki

  • Abusive Parents: Her mother beat her and burned her with cigarettes and boiling water.
  • Broken Bird: She's reduced to a sobbing mess when her mother arrives to take her back.
  • Covered with Scars/Every Scar Has a Story: She always wears long sleeves and pants to hide the burn marks all over her body. When she's forced to go back to her abusive mother, she wears short sleeves so everyone, especially the cameras, can see the extent of the abuse.

Keiichi Satomi

One of the few kids at White Swan without a Dark and Troubled Past. He and his sister Mio live there because their father is too injured to provide for them. Keiichi likes baseball and plays for his middle school.
  • Love-Obstructing Parents: Not his parents, but his girlfriend's parents don't approve of their daughter dating a guy living in foster care, whose father was a boxer.

Mio Satomi

Keiichi's older sister, she lives at White Swan because their mother is dead and their father can't provide for them.
  • Big Sister Instinct: She took the initiative in checking herself and her brother into foster care, realizing that there was no way their dad would be able to take care of them with his injuries.
  • Flat Character: She doesn't appear much, and gets the least characterization out of all the kids.

Miko and Riko Sakaki

Identical twin girls who used to live at the Smile Duck group home, before being unofficially adopted by a yakuza boss.
  • A Day in the Limelight/Hero of Another Story: They got a 3-chapter miniseries, Black Diamond, focusing on them after the events of Shonan 14 Days.
  • Combat Haircomb: In Black Diamond Miko has combs that she can combine to use as spiked brass knuckles.
  • Fille Fatale: They use their yakuza foster father's inappropriate interest in their bodies to wrap him around their little fingers.
  • Freudian Excuse: Their parents were both clear that they didn't want children; their mother only had them to get their father's attention, and to try and get him to leave his wife for her. One day they came home to find their mother had hanged herself.
  • Little Miss Badass: Downplayed, since they're not so "little" as high schoolers.
  • Mafia Princess: Even after they've left the Moryo household, they can still call up their "dad" or one of his guys whenever they need some help.
  • Ms. Fanservice: In Black Diamond, there are a lot of shots showing off their bodies, and the first chapter even opens with them doing Workout Fanservice in lingerie.
  • Parasol of Pain: In Black Diamond, Riko uses an umbrella that telescopes into a metal baton.
  • Pyromaniac: Burned down a relative's house they were staying at, and attempted to burn down White Swan.
  • Reformed, but Not Tamed: In Black Diamond, they're very much of the Pay Evil unto Evil school when it comes to discipline.
  • Trickster Twins: A dark version. They're involved with the Yakuza and go as far as trying to burn down the White Swan.

Hironosuke Fukumizu

The headmaster of the White Swan, Smile Duck, and other group homes. At the end of Shonan 14 Days he becomes the new mayor.
  • Amusing Injuries: At one point he breaks all his limbs when a test flight of a bike-powered airplane goes awry. Then he falls down the stairs and ends up in a full-body cast.
  • Dirty Old Man: Has a very one-sided attraction to Miss Shiratori, a woman twenty years younger than him. He also goes to a cosplay club with Uchiyamada. However, he never shows any sign of desiring underage girls.
  • Expy: Looks and acts very much like Uchiyamada, though he's a little younger, a bit less jaded, and doesn't have a family. The two of them bond over their mutual dislike of Onizuka, though.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Less of a jerk than Uchiyamada, but he always puts the kids first when it really matters.
  • Otaku: Of the model airplane variety. He also helps Ryoichi enter a contest with a full-sized bicycle-powered plane.

Top