Fuji TV announced on Sep 15, 2023, that 1998 Takashi Sorimachi starrer Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO) live-action adaptation will be returning after 26 years as a part of the broadcast station’s 65th anniversary.
Takashi Sorimachi will once again portray the role of Onizuka in the new drama.
The anniversary special drama will be titled GTO Revival, and will air in Spring 2024 on Kansai TV, Fuji TV.
The plot for the GTO Revival is described as follows:
Onizuka will be assigned as a teacher to a troubled high school, where he will deliver his passionate teaching methods to students facing their own problems. In an era transitioning from Heisei (1989-2019) to Reiwa (2019- present), where social issues such as online harassment and troubles on social media have increased, the divide between the rich and the poor has grown, and life has become more challenging, can Onizuka become a new hero for the Reiwa era? How will the man once known as the Great Teacher interact with high school students in the Reiwa era, and who will be part of the cast? Stay tuned!
Takashi Sorimachi’s comments were also revealed along with the announcement.
Actually, I’ve been approached with the idea of doing “GTO” again a few times before, but this time, I felt that there was significance in bringing it back at this moment, so I decided to reach out myself. It’s been 25 years since the last broadcast, and now, as someone who has raised two children, I wondered what kind of Onizuka I would be able to portray. I’m also curious about how Onizuka’s way of life, dealing with the unique problems and worries of modern-day high school students, will create a chemical reaction and convey something to the viewers. I believe that one’s student life is the most important period, and when I look back on my own life, I feel that it was during my student days that I laid the foundation for who I am today. So, I hope to convey how to spend that period developing one’s character and what is truly important.
Sorimachi also talked about the essence of his character, Onizuka, and other topics. It can be read here.
Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO), is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tooru Fujisawa. It was originally serialized in Kodansha’s Weekly Shonen Magazine from January 1997 to February 2002, with its chapters collected in 25 tankobon volumes.
A sequel manga series, titled GTO: 14 Days in Shonan, ran in Weekly Shonen Magazine from June 2009 to September 2011. Another sequel, titled GTO: Paradise Lost, began in Weekly Young Magazine in April 2014.
A twelve-episode Japanese television drama ran from July to September 1998, a live-action film directed by Masayuki Suzuki released in December 1999; and a 43-episode anime television series produced by Pierrot aired in Japan on Fuji TV from June 1999 to September 2000.
A second live-action series aired in Japan during 2012, and two more in 2014.
Source: Fuji TV
