random urge to watch gto

so it’s a 3 day weekend here due to good friday (read: the teachers and students all want a break. thank god for holidays as an excuse to take some time off), and at about 3 in the morning i randomly had this urge to watch gto. i have no idea why.

in any case we start off on episode 2 because 1 is simply an introduction. i remember that every person i’ve ever recommended this to started off with the impression that “ok i don’t like this it seems like it’s just gonna be about some perverted guy making jokes”. which i guess could be conveyed from the context but it’s just too bad that people use that as the cause to not continue watching it. as murai’s mom puts it well, “it doesn’t matter what how he is, he gets what he needs to get done, and that’s how a guy should be”.

i stopped for the night on 15, which is the end of the techisawagurareshira chapter, right before the infamous urumi kanzaki makes her apperance. urumi has to be on my list of favorite and most powerful single characters ever. the reason for her existence is quite beautiful. a pretty and elegant girl that doesn’t fit into society due to her great intellectual abilities but in exchange sacrifices compassion. with the world placing such a great importance on modesty since human pride cannot stand a complete realization and acceptance of being a lesser being to another, it seems that this take on another of society’s problems is fresh, but at the same time overused. there are plenty of people that use this approach in order to make themselves look/feel better, which is terrible as it lets them dig themselves into an even deeper hole. in urumi’s case, irony is present in that she is afraid of being not a perfect being, and tries wholeheartedly to prove herself wrong, but in the end with onizuka’s assistance does she realize that she is right once again in how much she has yet to understand. oh the curse of being right. it is a painful one.

this is a small but significant part of the tale of onizuka. the show focuses on comedy as a satire of society. the traditional roles of people (government workers, teachers, students, businessmen, and the media are all presented in this show) are displayed accurately (“it’s funny because it’s true”) while onizuka just punches through it all. he defies these laws that he finds ridiculous, the same ones that most of us find ridiculous, but we don’t do anything about it simply because of fear of a greater consequence. and he knows about the consequences too, but he doesn’t care as long as he is being honest to himself. when you get to that point, the point of being completely honest with yourself, that’s a great thing. realistic? maybe not. maybe that’s what this show is trying to say.

without getting too analytical, though, it is hard not to appreciate the satire presented of the japanese school system, great toroko oppai (japanese female idol concept), and that which is urumi kanzaki.