Great Teacher Onizuka

"But you need to be prepared... Our school is considered very prestigious, but internally, many problems are mounting... such as delinquency, bullying, problems with the opposite sex, and violence... even toward teachers. It is getting worse each year, and I can hardly handle it myself. Onizuka-kun, what I want from you is exactly what you showed us the other day: the German suplex."

—Chairlady Sakurai

Onizuka Eikichi: Twenty-two years old, current virgin, black belt martial artist, former delinquent, seeking direction. What better job for such a man than teaching? Easy hours, and the potential of after-school study sessions with beautiful high school girls... At least, so go Onizuka's daydreams. The truth is, as a new hire at Holy Forest Academy (surprisingly, not a Two-Teacher School), he's been put in charge of a class who believe it is their sole mission to run any teacher they're given right out of town.

The Manga dramedy Great Teacher Onizuka is the story of this (semi-indestructible) man and his continuing attempts to keep from being fired while straightening out the class which has been placed in his care. The series is humorous, if occasionally over-the-top (as the continual destruction of Vice Principal Uchiyamada's beloved Toyota Cresta will attest). Onizuka consistently gets into worse and worse scrapes, and just as consistently extricates himself with his own unique flair.

Often marketed as simply "GTO." Newcomers unfamiliar with the series should be aware it has (largely) nothing to do with muscle cars.

A Live-Action version has also been made, toning down the abuse Onizuka takes (for obvious reasons) and distilling a number of storylines, leading to the real-life romances of the actors playing Onizuka and Fuyutsuki respectively.

An ongoing Interquel manga entitled GTO - Shonan 14 Days chronicles the adventures of Onizuka as he hides back in his hometown of Shonan, because he accidentally let it slip on national television that he almost buried a student of his alive. Luckily for us this means we get to see him in action once again.

There is another series called Kamen Teacher, involving teachers in masks whipping delinquent classes into shape. It's heavily implied to be the result of Headmaster Sakurai's secret plan, set into motion near the end of GTO.

GTO is the sequel to Shonan Jun'ai Gumi, which ran for 31 volumes (longer than GTO, mind you) and featured the high school adventures of a much more badass Onizuka and his best friend Ryuuji Danma. Currently being serialized by Tokyopop as GTO: The Early Years, even though strictly speaking GTO should be SJG: The Later Years. Second Installment Wins. Between Shonan Junai Gumi and GTO a single volume manga was released under the title Bad Company, chronicling the tale of how Ryuji and Eikichi first met. Thus Onizuka has appeared as the main character of a total of four titles.

Tropes used in Great Teacher Onizuka include:

• A-Cup Angst: Fuyutsuki
• Absurdly Youthful Mother: Kunio's mother, also a Stacy's Mom. Once, Kunio and his buddies come home to see his mom asleep on the couch and wearing very little clothes...
• The Ace: Bordering on the Marty Stu territory.
• Accidental Pervert: Both played straight and subverted.
• Adaptation Distillation: The Live Action version trims the cast down to a small handful, which is also further segregated depending on the episode and makes some remarkably accurate guesses on what some of the students' (then unrevealed) teacher-bullying motives are.
  • The finale of the live action version was at the time the highest rated drama in Japanese history.
    • According to TOW, it still holds the record for most watched episode of TV of all time.
• Adult Child: Our titular character.
• An Aesop: Teachers are human beings, too. They have feelings that are no different than yours, and they deserve your respect. They really do care about you, and are willing to help you if you just let them. Of course, there are bad teachers, but they're the exception, not the rule.
  • Students should be given proper guidance, not used as tools for some dark agenda or treated as enemies.
• Almost Kiss: Onizuka and Fuyutsuki in episode 23. Also happens between Onizuka and Urumi.
• Alpha Bitch: Miyabi Aizawa, with a bit of Rich Bitch, too.
• 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 feels bad to dislike him.
• Armor-Piercing Slap: Julia smacks some sense into Kunio after spouting that Onizuka is nothing but a pervert. Which is paired with one of the greatest lines in the series:

Julia: Kunio, whatever poisoned your mind to start thinking like a loser?

• Ass Shove: The class (specifically Urumi) punishes him for trying to use them as a free work force by forcing him to wear an S&M outfit. The whip naturally goes up his ass.
• Author Appeal: The author seems to have a spanking fetish.
• Badass Teacher
• The Baroness: Misuzu Daimon.
• Beach Bury: Happens to Onizuka, in revenge for taking his students on a treasure hunt they wanted no part of, and lying to get them to come.
• Beyond the Impossible: Onizuka does this every episode. He's been stabbed, been shot, been run over, fallen out of windows, bashed over the head, and seems to be eternally above the law. All of these happen on a regular basis.
• Big Brother Is Watching: The fancy PDAs that Daimon hands out to students and faculty tracks all transferred personal data that she uses to coordinate her Angel operations.
• Book Ends: In the beginning it was Onizuka who kept saving Yoshikawa's ass, but near the end it was he who managed to pull Onizuka from death through a "We need you" speech.
• Broken Ace: Teshigawara's father pushed him to be successful in everything which led to his mental instability.
• Big No: More a big "MY CRESTA!", but the intent is obviously the same.
• Blue with Shock
• Broken Bird: Misuzu Daimon, Ai Tokiwa, Urumi to an extent.
• But Not Too Foreign: Urumi.
• Butt Monkey: Several, but vice-principal Uchiyamada gets especially cruel treatment.
  • Well, he's bullied by his own dog who unfortunately shares the first name of the man who's giving him hell.
• Call Forward: In GTO Shonan 14 Days, Onizuka's nose tends to bleed a lot. It's because of his aneurysm!
  • Also in the sequel, he got in trouble for his story in burying a girl in the forest. Said girl was Urumi back when she was toying with him!
• Car Cushion: Courtesy of Uchiyamada's good old Cresta.
• Catch Phrase: "Onizuka Eikichi, 22 years old." The German Suplex is also something of a non-verbal "catch-phrase".
  • Also, the Vice Principal: "B- Boku no shiroi Cresta!!"
• Caught with Your Pants Down
• Cerebus Retcon: Done gradually. During one of his later admissions to the hospital, the eponymous character gets what looks like a serious nosebleed until everyone comes to the conclusion that it was only because he was turned on by the nurses' uniforms and got a peek under their skirts after "pretending" to fall down. Later in the same chapter, a panel suggests that the nosebleed actually is as serious as it first appeared. In the final story arc, the audience learns that Onizuka has had chronic internal bleeding and cerebral aneurysms in the head for quite sometime, which shines a different light on some of the nosebleed gags throughout Great Teacher Onizuka as well as the various head injuries, comedic or serious, he has gained throughout the entire series.
• Character Development: Most of the cast, thanks to Onizuka.
• Chaste Hero: Onizuka, unintentionally and to his immense chagrin.
• The Chew Toy: Poor Noboru
• The Chikan: The vice-principal was introduced molesting Azusa on a train.
  • Onizuka intended to do the same when he was beaten to it.
• Chivalrous Pervert: Onizuka, of course.
• Chronically Crashed Car: The Vice-Principal's beloved Toyota Cresta, which Onizuka keeps on destroying by accident.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Miyabi, in her backstory; Urumi is pretty terrifying, too, if she thinks that Onizuka is making moves on someone else.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Tomoko, whose trips to cloud cuckoo land is a mask for the loneliness she feels.
• Comedic Sociopathy
• Conspicuous CG: The Cresta in Initial D First Stage-style, maybe as a parody.
• Cool Loser: Onizuka used to be in a gang, rides a motorcycle, and beats people up. But he's also a 22-year old demented otaku virgin who can't hold down a job, and he's so broke he doesn't even know who's on the 10,000 yen bill.
• Cute Bruiser: Tokiwa.
• A Date with Rosie Palms: Nanako finds a lot of objects in Onizuka's apartment that show he masturbates frequently, even using an instant noodle cup. Fuyutsuki and others even stumble on Onizuka masturbating while watching a porn movie, and he tries his best to tell this is Not What It Looks Like.
• Dating Catwoman: Noboru and Anko.
• Daydream Surprise: When Onizuka is having a job interview with Uchiyamada and the latter is rejecting him with insults, we are shown our hero punching the vice-principal in the face and totally beating him up. He was just daydreaming this.
  • Uchiyamada also has a waking nightmare when Onizuka catches him being The Chikan; in the fantasy, he loses his job and reputation, stabbing Onizuka in a fit of murderous rage.
• A Day in the Limelight:
  • Azusa gets that from time to time, which gives the audience a chance to look into her character a bit, and saves her from being a young, cute and idealistic mate to pair Onizuka with without Squick only.
  • Uchiyamada's personal life gets examined, parts of which build up sympathy for the poor guy.
• Delinquents
• Defeat Means Friendship: Onizuka's main method of converting students to his side. Also happens fairly regularly in Shonan Junai Gumi.
• 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.
• Demon Head
• Determinator: Onizuka will do anything to help his students, no matter how hard and radical it is.
• Dirty Old Man: Most of the male teacher's body. Well, basically almost any male who may qualify as old.
• Driven to Suicide: All the freaking time.
• Effective Immediately: When Principal Daimon fires Onizuka ^{[dead link]} , she adds "Effective this minute".
• Enjo Kosai
• Enthusiasm Versus Stoicism
• Escalating War: Ultra-bitch Miyabi goes further in her plans each time to topple Onizuka.
• Even Bullies Have Standards: Anko strongly disapproved of Miyabi's attempts to get rid of Onizuka not because she supported the teacher, but because she manipulated her friends and the entire class to do so.
• Every Car Is a Pinto: Uchiyamada's car eventually explodes just by having Onizuka and Miyabi fall on its roof.
• Fallen Hero: Arguably Uchiyamada. Flashbacks show that he had the same idealism as Onizuka had when he first started teaching. Only when he became older did he lose all that zest for teaching making him the...
  • Foil: to Onizuka.
• Fan Service: From Male Gaze to Shirtless Scene, everyone is served!
• Fast Roping: When Onizuka decides to have a game of paintball with his, students two of them elect to arrive in this manner.
  • Also done by Onizuka to foil Urumi's plot to kidnap Aizawa and her cronies for ransom in order to fund Onizuka's promise of a field trip to Okinawa.
• Ferris Wheel Date Moment: Urumi drags Onizuka out on a not!date, and tries to kiss Onizuka, but he's too honorable to go through with it and so knocks himself unconscious.
• Festival Episode: Anko and Noboru go on a date to a matsuri.
• Fingertip Drug Analysis: Saejima tries to give Onizuka bags of what looks like cocaine, but Kikuchi pokes his finger in them and tasting it, finds out it is just flour.
• Freudian Excuse: Every single bully/unsympathetic character is given a backstory explaining their behavior.
  • Teshigawara tries to justify his doings to Onizuka and Fuyutsuki by talking about his Freudian excuse. They both refute it and insist that he is just a loser who indulges in self-pity and that this is not a reason to act like a psycho.
  • Shibuya has the most literally Freudian Excuse of all -- he was the victim of incestuous abuse from his mother.
  • Mr. Uchiyamada has his shares of this as well, and unlike Teshigawara, they're actually very effective and really makes you understand why he acts the ways he do.
• Gag Boobs: Tomoko's rack.
• Gag Penis: Good Christ.
• Game-Breaking Injury: Mainly in the final volume of the manga where 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.
• Getting Crap Past the Radar: The Vice-Principal is running around naked (It Makes Sense in Context). He runs into Onizuka. His reaction?

Onizuka: Thought you'd give someone a scare? Yeah, most people are terrified of earthworms.

• Going to the Store: When Anko goes out to meet Noboru, she tells her mother that she's going to the store. Her mother wonders "You took a shower to go to the store? And is that my perfume?"
• Gonk: Onizuka in intense moments of surprise, exasperation, fear, hunger, or pretty much anything else. A lot of the male cast, in fact.
  • The main examples: other Fukada girl (nicknamed "Jaws"), the biology teacher (nicknamed "Chihuahua") and Takao (aka "Big Red").
• Gratuitous English: Mr. Sakurai often says some English words in his speech.
• Gratuitous French: Urumi is fluent in French in story.
• Groin Attack: Onizuka gets bitten by a snake in his "thing".
  • Anko and her clique used to practice some variations of this on Yoshikawa. Though Anko insists it wasn't her, but Mayuko, and she "just kinda... watched...".
• Hadaka Apron: While cramming under Fuyutsuki's coaching, Onizuka fantasizes about her wearing one while cooking.
• Hands-On Approach: Onizuka once tries this on Fuyutsuki to teach her how to play video games.
• Hard Head: Onizuka's head is the body part he gets hit in the most, and it tends to have little effect. The damage has been accumulating over the years, though (see Game-Breaking Injury above).
• The Heart: Tomo-chan plays this role between her two much smarter and way bitchier friends Miyabi and Urumi.
• Hey, It's That Guy!: Real-life Judo master Hiroyuki Ikeuchi (Kunio Murai in the live-action adaptation) would later test his skills against Ip Man.
• Hidden Depths: Tomo-chan is good at two things: 1) superb acting and 2) impeccable improv.
• High Turnover Rate: Warning: being the teacher of one of the worst classes in the school may be hazardous to your health. Side effects include: madness, suicide attempts, cult-worship, overeating, brushes with death, public humiliation and broken arms.
• Hollywood Healing: Onizuka is able to recover from life-threatening injuries easily, and this surprises the others who emit the hypothesis he could really be an alien or demon.
  • Well, his name is Onizuka...
• Hospital Hottie: Naoko.
• Hot-Blooded: Onizuka. Especially when played by Steve Blum.
• Hot for Student: Played straight with Erika and her lover, subverted in the case of Miyabi and Ogi.
• Hot for Teacher: Miyabi's backstory.
• Hot Shounen Mom: Kunio Murai's mother Julia.
• How Unscientific: Onizuka is momentarily possessed by ghosts after he takes on the very stressful job of picking up the remains of those who committed suicide by jumping in front of trains. Miyabi and Fujiyoshi also meet the ghost of a child killed in a road accident, though they don't realize it after seeing a sign talking about his death.
• Huge Schoolgirl: Fuyumi Kujirakawa. She has a Meaningful Name, as "Kujira" means "Whale".
• Idiot Hero: Onizuka, big time.
• Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Vice-principal Uchiyamada.
• Instant Bandages
• Interquel: Shonan: 14 Days takes place after the Teshigawara arc in Great Teacher Onizuka.
• Interrupted Suicide: Several students try to kill themselves during the series; for that reason nobody succeeds.
• Jerk Jock: Murai, initially.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold
• Joshikousei
• Just a Flesh Wound: Teshigawara empties a gun in Onizuka's chest... he gets better. And not without kicking his ass first, and even jumping from a building to save him from suicide.
  • Not to mention going on a 14-day long adventure immediately afterwards, if the Shonan 14 Days spin-off is to be believed.
    • In which he gets stabbed and shot again.
• Karma Houdini: The kids in Onizuka's class (Anko, Murai, Urumi, Miyabi, etc) get away with terrorizing and generally ruining the lives of several teachers before Onizuka shows up, but somehow it's all swept under the carpet like it never happened once Onizuka won them over.
• Kawaiiko: Tomo-chan.
  • Later Tokiwa fakes one. Complete with a bunny backpack.
• Kick the Dog: Aside from multiple evil actions which are "okay" because they're targeted towards "enemies", Miyabi is quite fond of this, especially with her treatment of Tomoko and once using her good-natured hard-working classmate Fujiyoshi as a pawn in her plan.
• Kid Detective: Azusa's sister Makoto.
• Kitschy Local Commercial: Onizuka makes several low budget local commercials starring Tomoko, in order to give her a start in show business.
• 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 a Badass Out of Hell: "I've come from hell just to get you."
• Loveable Sex Maniac: Onizuka
• Made of Iron: Onizuka is so resilient the others wonder if he is not really an alien.
• Manipulative Bastard: Mayu, bonus points for being the Chairlady's grandson. Also proud and perpetual Karma Houdini receiver.
• Manipulative Bitch: Miyabi lives the trope, and God, she's gifted for it.
• A Man Is Not a Virgin: Onizuka is evidently a virgin and greatly wants to lose said virginity.
• Mismatched Eyes: Urumi.
• Mistaken for Gay: Invoked by one of the students by putting a convincing poster of Onizuka and vice principal on the school board. It took another photo that was suspicious on closer inspection to have this jossed.
• Monster Mash: Played for comedy as Mayu's arm wrestling challenge escalates into this.
• More Teeth Than the Osmond Family: The shark-toothed small people who often show up.
• Mugging the Monster: A couple of punks try this on Onizuka right at the beginning of the first episode. Counts as an Establishing Character Moment.
• Mukokuseki: The series is famous for subverting this. It is used as an advertising quality: "NO big eyes, NO magic powers, NO giant robots".
  • It's exaggerated to say it is subverted: most of the attractive young female characters still look anime-ish with Generic Cuteness; the female characters that are drawn realistically? They're not supposed to be attractive. At least they are not uglified, as in the prequel.
  • It is subverted, just not completely. It says "No big eyes," not "No anime characters." Many anime fans would lose interest if it completely non-anime-ish.
• Murai's Mom
• Naive Everygirl: Surprisingly in this series full of schoolgirls, a teacher, Azusa Fuyutsuki.
• Nerd Glasses: Hiroshi Uchiyamada/Various students.
• Noodle Incident: What happened to class 2-4 to make it full of problem students, though the incident does eventually come to light in the final chapters.
  • Also, what happened to Mayu to make him sickly.
• Nosebleed: The North-American manga edition bothers to explain the Old Wife's Tale about sexual arousement giving nosebleeds.
• No Swastikas: Surprisingly, the American dub kept the swastikas on the bosozoku's scarves in Episode 19. And it's not a manji backwards Buddhist swastika either (卍). It's a full-on tilted Nazi swastika.
• Not So Different: It's mentioned in chapter 107 that Mr. Uchiyamada used to be a idealistic teacher who wanted to help his students with their problems, just like Onizuka, but after had helped too many ungrateful bastards to count, and becoming more self-aware of Japan's declining morals, he got tried of being the helper.
• Oedipus Complex: Sho is very loyal to Miss Daimon, to the point of insanity when Daimon disavows her relationship with him.
  • Kunio to his mother Julia. This pertains to an interesting variation of the trope as he never knew his father but, because his father left his mother while she was still pregnant, Kunio is adamant on believing that all older men are skirtchasers and will do everything in his power to protect his mother. His stance is put to the test when Onizuka dates his mother. This logic ultimately backfires when Onizuka states that Kunio is simply running away from his problems while dragging along his mother. When Kunio's actions almost kill Julia by oncoming truck, she is saved by Onizuka, lowering his stance. Kunio's pride is reduced even lower when Onizuka says the date was a one-time deal.
• The Ojou/Lonely Rich Kid: Miyabi makes a mild version of a mix of these. Arguably, Urumi has traits of this too.
• Old Maid: Ms. Fujimori
• Omniscient Morality License: Onizuka is a Class S holder of one! No matter what crazy, illegal, unethical, immoral thing he has in mind, it always turns out for the best for his students and all is always forgiven.
• One Judge to Rule Them All: Warning Productions during the talent search Onizuka sets up for Tomoko, though she also does give the best, and most moving performance (ad-libbing completely off script and using action figures as props).
• One-Man Army: Onizuka - so Badass he arm-wrestled 99 local hardcore delinquents (some of them not exactly looking human) one after another. Talk about Marty Stu...
• One-Sided Arm Wrestling: Look up at One-Man Army
• One Steve Limit: This is subverted with Mr. Sakurai and Mrs. Sakurai, who are unrelated (in the manga only), and two female characters named Naoko, though one is just of those two girls hanging with Anko.
  • Two girls named Fukada are the focus of one chapter in which Kunio gets hooked up on a blind date with one of them.
• Only a Flesh Wound: Our lead shrugs off being hit by a truck, jumps off a building onto a car (twice), receiving only a broken arm that he doesn't even notice until it's pointed out the next day (and does push-ups on it), and even then continues to play computer games like a god (while keeping track of his winning streak on his still-untreated and horrifically swollen arm). He's also survived a number of gunshot wounds that should have been fatal.
• Ordinary High School Student
• Otaku: Yoshikawa Noboru - a gaming otaku; Yoshito Kikuchi - a computer otaku, and Onizuka has his otaku moments.
  • Not to mention The Gundam Brothers.
• Panty Shot
  • Hell, that's the very first shot of the show! (in my version, it was even before the OP in the first episode!)
• Papa Wolf: Woe betide to those who dare to harm Onizuka's students.
  • Somewhat justified, in that in Real Life, if something happens to one's students, it can end up being your fault no matter what. Lawsuits abound, you get a bad reputation, etc.
• Parental Incest: It's very, very heavily implied that Sho Shibuya was sexually abused by his mother; nobody believed him when he went to the authorities, so he murdered her (or at the very least attacked her with murderous intent) and then attempted suicide.
• Pay Evil Unto Evil: Onizuka's revenge on Anko and her clique for Noboru.
  • Though to be fair, that revenge was quite tame compared to what they did to him...
• Pet the Dog: Tomoko serves as the "dog" for both Miyabi and Urumi (somewhat literally in Urumi's case, as Lampshaded by the observers), and Urumi herself gets one at the end of her arc when it's revealed that the picture she hid behind a massive firewall was a picture of young Miyabi, Tomoko, and Urumi as friends.
• Proud to Be a Geek: Quite arguably Onizuka.
• Purely Aesthetic Era / Present Day Past: The fashion trends, pop culture, and level of technology in the original manga is implied to be from the late-1990s and the early-2000s, during the original run of the manga. Shonan 14 Days, however, feels more at home in the late-2000s and early-2010s, which is jarring as it's supposed to be set between major events in the original manga.
  • One noticeable example is Uchiyamada's Toyota appearing as a late-2000s Crown Royal in the opening pages of Shonan 14 Days. It inexplicably reverts to the original Cresta design in following appearances.
• Put on a Bus: Maruyama. Tomoko in the live action.
• Quickly-Demoted Woman: Ai Tokiwa.
• Rape as Drama: Again, Ai Tokiwa.
• Refuge in Audacity: Most of what Onizuka does. The first example that springs to mind being in episode 1 when a gang is holding and threatening the students who tried to blackmail him. Not only does he get them out safely he does so after having a serious man-to-man chat with them about the relationship between teacher and student in between torturing them with two flashlights strapped to his forehead for no clear reason. All with the willing assistance of the gang in question. As a result of this he is praised for being the first teacher to reform that delinquent class. The entire class praises him for his hard work, voluntarily cleans the school each day and commends him to the school as someone who must graduate as a teacher.
  • In the manga, Onizuka snapped and called the gang out himself; he realizes it was a mistake the next morning. Then he gets praised.
• Reverse Mole: Kinoshita.
• Road Apples: Onizuka's. Rarely has a character shown as often his "business" in the world of fiction.
• Rule of Cool: Onizuka personified.
• Running Gag: Principal Uchiyamada's beloved Toyota Cresta being damaged.
  • Onizuka referring to his Nakama from his high school days while saying how they'd always be there for each other... only to be turned down.
• Scary Shiny Glasses: Suguru Teshigawara and Yoshito Kikuchi.
  • And Uchiyamada when he's talking about his beloved Cresta. And Anko's mom.
• Sensei-Kun: He openly admits to trying to come off as this to his students.
• Seppuku: Urumi threatens jigai with a pen (or mechanical pencil) to get her way, even drawing blood.
• Schmuck Bait
• Shipper on Deck: Makoto for Onizuka x Fuyutsuki

"maybe you could be his super-sucker, then he wouldn't buy that kind of stuff anymore"

• Shower of Angst: Miyabi, after being "betrayed" by her teacher.
• Showy Invincible Hero: Guess who.
• Shout-Out: Tons, although a standout moment is when Onizuka draws Kenshiro's scars on his chest (plus some Cross-Popping Veins) and loudly says "I'm Kenshiro!" (and after saying "I'm here to save Yuria!" in which 'Yuria' (Kenshiro's Damsel in Distress of a lover) can also be spelled as 'Julia', the name of the mother of Kunio (who himself, is a shoutout to the Kunio-kun games), his student he's currently trying to save), then beats up some thugs with the Hokuto Hyakeretsu Ken. This is after he (with bowling balls on his hands) had drawn whiskers on his face and claimed to be Doraemon. He also once cosplayed as Devilman for no apparent reason in class. And in GTO - Shonan 14 Days, Onizuka paints a portrait of Haruhi Suzumiya on the hood of good ol' Uchiyamada's Toyota.
  • Anko and Noboru are practically expies of Asuka and Shinji from Neon Genesis Evangelion. Furthermore, when Miyabi dyes her hair blue, Onizuka geeks out and attempts to rearrange it in Rei Ayanami's style.
  • This is made even more obvious in episode 39 where Anko falls unconscious and has a Evangelion-esque flashback, complete with a doll and a religious symbol at the end.
  • It helps that Noboru has the walls of his room plastered with Evangelion posters.
    • Teshigawara is practically a walking reference to Gendo, what with his glove and constant Scary Shiny Glasses.
  • Not to mention the Gundam trio, one of whom is even voiced by Tohru Furuya himself and says many lines lifted straight from Amuro Ray - complete with a 'newtype flash' effect - as well as referring to Urumi as "Sayla".
  • Also in Shonan 14 Days, the abusive father of one of the girls calls himself "a walking Death Note".
  • In Lesson 127, Urumi's Otaku private tutor uses on two occasions a "DokuDoku Memorial 2" handkerchief. Three guesses on which famous Dating Sim the author threw a Take That at.
  • He also wears a yellow jumpsuit a la Bruce Lee at one point.
  • During the Summer Festival mini-story with Anko and Noboru, Anko wears a mask on the back of her head that is clearly supposed to be Pikachu.
  • In chapter 112, the student is carving a statue that is clearly Belldandy without her facial markings, right down to the Hair Antenna.
• Silent Scapegoat: Class 2-4's former teacher, accused of taking humiliating pictures of a handcuffed and naked Miyabi, resigned rather than explain that he'd been framed by her, jealous that he was going to marry someone else.
• Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Aside from Onizuka, Mrs. Sakurai and some good, but ineffectual people, the society shown in the series is quite sick. Good thing the "Idealism" end's got a Marty Stu Deus Ex Machina in human form on its side.
• So Beautiful It's a Curse: Tomoko's big boobs are considered beautiful by most males but unfortunately, they were also a source of bashing and jealousy. Urumi is a variation as her intellect used to make her feel alone and misunderstood.
• Spank the Cutie
• Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace: Kunio thinks his mother's getting married, so he hurries to the place where it's being held and starts a rampage. She's just posing for a photo shoot.
  • In the live action adaptation, Onizuka drags Miyabi to interrupt the wedding of the teacher she has a crush on, even pounding on the windows a la The Graduate. She, however, Cannot Spit It Out until Onizuka motorbikes her off a bridge (there was a net underneath).
• Stalker with a Crush: Teshigawara.
• Statuesque Stunner: Fuyumi Kujirakawa
• Steve Blum: Onizuka, Fujiyoshi, and several others in the dub. As usual, he's playing the badass
• Stun Guns: Used several times. By Miyabi on a 'customer' when she goes Enjo Kosai, by Kikuchi on Uchiyamada to steal his car and by Onizuka on himself to stay awake.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: Lots of times, usually amounting to: "It's not like I was looking through your underwear or anything".
• Take That: When the three "Gundam Brothers" are using various Gundam series to analyze Urumi's personality,one of them says "the ones who watch that are kids" about G Gundam and another says that Zeta Gundam indicates "destructive impulses",a reference to the very high angst-quotient of that show. Additional humor is lent to this by the fact that one of the three is voiced by Amuro Ray himself.
• Tall, Dark and Bishoujo: Aizawa
• Teen Genius: Urumi, of course. Also Kikuchi.
• Teens Are Monsters: One of the reasons Onizuka's often quite extreme form of punishments are even tolerable, outside of Rule of Funny, is the sheer unrepentant cruelty displayed by many of his students.
• Those Two Guys: Murai's two friends.
  • Also two pairs of Those Two Girls - Naoko and Mayuko for Anko, and Saeko and Chikako for Miyabi. They fit the trope even better than Murai's friends, since the guys sometimes do get to play more important role on their own, especially Fujiyoshi.
  • Those three girls who dabbe too much in witchcraft.
• Trickster Mentor: Who do you think?
  • Add the Chairlady Sakurai.
• Tsundere: Anko is a rather hardcore example, in that the object of affection, Noboru, is driven to the point of attempting suicide. Twice, in the anime. If one separates her character development before and after the Okinawa incident though, before she was an ice queen still in winter, and after she becomes something of a Type A Tsundere.
  • The whole suicide attempt, when you think about it, makes Anko a deconstruction of a tsundere.
    • Anko was just a bitch before the Okinawa incident since she had no love interest until said incident.
  • Azusa Fuyutsuki is a Dere type.
  • Shinomi in Shonan 14 Days.
• Ugly Guys Hot Daughter: Subverted: it is hinted that Yoshiko Uchiyamada may be the butcher's daughter, not the vice-principal's. Which makes sense, since her mother is not too hot, either.
  • Or it's another of his paranoid delusions. And maybe her mom was a looker back in the day.
• Undead Child: Fujiyoshi and Miyabi stumble onto one at a road crossing late at night. They don't realize it until they wonder why a kid would hang around so late alone and they see a signpost telling about a child being killed here in a road accident.
• Wacky Homeroom
• Wallpaper Camouflage
• Wendee Lee (in English dub): Azusa Fuyutsuki, Miyabi Aizawa, Mrs. Sakurai, Tadashi Sakurada. Therefore, she is Talking To Herself.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Murai and Fuyutsuki call Onizuka out in two separate occasions when he forgets his morals in favor of his career.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Tokiwa doesn't even bother to get a bruise or two, being an innocent-looking little girl, while her victims are mostly male deliquents. Onizuka's stupidity helps a lot.

Onizuka (after looking at a bunch of guys covered with blood and the obvious culprit faking crying): Girl's tears win!

• • Whereas Miyabi's gambit backfires horribly, causing one student to be arrested for assaulting a teacher and said teacher quitting the school rather than explain his innocence.
• Wrestler in All of Us: Onizuka sure loves that German Suplex. So does Makoto Fuyutsuki!
• Yakuza: Mentioned briefly, GTO became a teacher because the only other path he thought he could succeed at was organized crime.
  • Well there is that part where he stops a kidnapping and beats up five Yakuza guys. And then aces an exam with multiple bullets in him.
• Yandere: Urumi showed signs of this when she slit her wrists when she discovered Onizuka had his Game-Breaking Injury.
  • Not to mention Sho Shibuya.
  • And Teshigawara for Fuyutsuki.
• You Would Make a Great Model: Averted. Tomoko thinks this is what's going to happen to her, but ends up getting discovered by a real talent agent.