By Toru Fujisawa. Released in Japan as “Shonan Jun’ai Gumi” by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Weekly Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Vertical.

Volume 11 of this manga was fortuitously focused on Onizuka. I say fortuitously because when you’re reintroducing a series via a different publisher that didn’t sell well in the first place, it’s always best to drum up sales by featuring the one character people absolutely love. This next volume, however, reminds you that GTO: The Early Years didn’t just star Onizuka, but his best friend Ryuji Danma, and he gets most of the focus here.

This is not to say there isn’t also plenty of Onizuka. He gets most of the first half, actually, as we resolve the Joey storyline from the previous volume. As you might guess form a delinquent story set in Shonen Magazine, this is not done through graphic violence and killings, but via a motorcycle race. Joey is on one of the best bikes around, Onizuka is on a legendary old bike whose best days are behind it. Guess who wins. It’s notable that, while we all know Onizuka as a cool character who is constantly allowed to be a giant comedic goof, he also works well in the opposite direction: Onizuka is a goofy, horndog teen who can nevertheless back up his boasts with feats of utter badassery. And of course teaching valuable lessons, which he does with Joey here.

Meanwhile, Onizuka gets to cool moments, but Ryuji gets the emotional turmoil. (Not a surprise: Ryuji has always been vaguely more mature than his best friend. Note I said vaguely.) First of all, he’s dealing with his former teacher and first love appearing back in his life again, right when he’s trying to settle down with Nagisa. Secondly, there’s the ongoing issues with Joey, and his girlfriend being used as “bait” to draw out the two leaders. But both of these pale next to the end of his “castle” and idyllic trailer park life, as the cops arrive to destroy everything, and Nagisa’s parents arrive to take their runaway daughter back home. Ryuji, of course, is forbidden to see her.

There’s a lot of teen angst here, which I can’t help but see from a slightly older perspective. For all that Ryuji and Nagisa were living in their happy fantasy, a bus in the middle of a field, with no real prospects for the future is not something to cling to. I think Nagisa gets that more than the others. While Onizuka and Shinomi are wondering why they can’t be left alone, Nagisa’s the one noting that no matter where they run, adults (and by extension reality) will still exist. They can’t face life as a loving couple on teenage terms. Growing up has to be done. And for the moment, that means dealing with her being under house arrest and having to communicate via written messages.

There is still, lest this all sound like a bummer, plenty of humor – this is an Onizuka manga, after all. The catfight between Shinomi and Saya over Onizuka is ridiculous and hilarious, as is the chapter where Nagisa reveals she might be pregnant, and everyone goes completely out of control. (Spoiler: she isn’t.) Best of all, though, is Onizuka accidentally ending up in the middle of a yakuza job, and finding the horrifying things you would expect – all played for comedy, of course. All in all, the series continues to give us what Fujiwara does best: lots of fighting, lots of goofy faces, a few heartwarming/heartbreaking moments, and lots of a future Great Teacher.

By Toru Fujisawa. Released in Japan as “Shonan Jun’ai Gumi” by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Weekly Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Vertical.

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Tokyopop released the first 10 volumes of the SJG omnibuses, but then stopped 3 years ago (they seem to have stopped before they folded, in fact, so we can ascribe it to mediocre sales more than anything else, I expect). Luckily, Vertical has picked up where they left off, and say that if sales are good they may go back and re-release the first 10. That said, this is not GTO: 14 Days in Shonan, where you can simply hop right into the story with minimal info. The series was up to Vol. 21 and 22 in Japan (the volumes collected here), and it shows. New readers are advised to go here to catch up on the characters so as not to be confused.

That said, it’a not impossible to read this without huge knowledge of what has gone before. I had fallen way behind in my SJG reading, but was able to pick up where I left off with minimal confusion, mostly as this is a delinquent manga, and so just expect lots of people hitting other people. When Onizuka was in GTO, and even 14 Days, he still gets into tons of fights, but at least there he’s slightly more successful at not wanting to get involved in them. Here, in high school, there’s simply not enough impetus (beyond “getting laid”, still his primary motivation) to not be the leader of a gang. Mostly as Onizuka and his best friend Ryuji are *really good* at being gang leaders. They don’t do evil stuff, they inspire loyalty, and they protect the weak. They’re the gang you only see in Japanese manga like this.

Of course, Onizuka is still recognizable even if he’s younger (though, being that it’s school, be prepared for everyone to say Eikichi more than Onizuka – it is his first name, after all). Mostly in his complete inability to score with the opposite sex. By now we’re far along enough in the series that his friend Ryuji is living with his girlfriend, the sweet (at least sweet NOW) girl Nagisa, but Onizuka still strikes out, for the exact same reasons as in GTO: he’s an absolute idiot about it. And just like in GTO, there are girls who are clearly in love with him and would be happy to be with him if he’d only get a clue. Chief among these being Shinomi Fujisaki, who clearly likes him but is also far too similar to him for things to work out. (It doesn’t help that he sees her as a little sister.) I like the girls in GTO, who come in many different types and varieties, and the gang aspect of the plot means we get a lot who can kick any guy’s ass. Shinomi is, along with Azusa and Urumi from GTO, one of the most important women in Onizuka’s life. Expect to see more of her.

There’s also some terrific comedy here – the author likes to break up all the gang fights with one-shot chapters that are hilariously silly. Here we have two opposing tough guys trying to outbluff each other, only to have everything completely ruined by the escalating war between their respective girlfriends. Possibly the funniest chapter, though, was seeing Golgo 13-esque huge guy Usagi and his family, who are all named after Sailor Moon characters – and all look like they stepped out of Fist of the North Star. Despite having a punchline that you can see from space, it still works beautifully.

Be warned – with GTO and 14 Days in Shonan, you can sit through the manga without necessarily being a fan of big, epic fights. (well, just about.) That’s not something you can do here. GTO The Early Years shows us how Onizuka came to be the guy we know, and that means a lot of gang wars, fights, and blood. No one is killed – this still runs in Shonen Magazine, after all – but it’s a manga about young kids who get into a lot of fights. If you can respect that, there’s a lot to love here. Well, except maybe Onizuka’s hair. He did himself a big favor when he lost the perm.

By Toru Fujisawa. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Weekly Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Vertical.

In the beginning, there was Shonan Jun’ai Gumi, a 31-volume series about the adventures of two young delinquents in the Shonan area, and their amusing attempts to try to lose their virginity and change their ways. (Only one succeeded, and he’s not the star of this manga.) Then we had a 1-volume prequel, Bad Company, showing how Onizuka and Danma (the stars of SJG) first met in middle school. Following this came the most popular entry in the series, and the ones most North American fans know about, Great Teacher Onizuka. The ‘delinquent/gang leader becomes a teacher and teaches students to stand upright and be proud’ type of series is its own genre in Japan, but Onizuka took this to new heights of comedy, outrageousness and heartwarming.

When GTO ended in 2002, after 25 volumes, Fujisawa tried various other series that were unrelated to the Onizuka saga, for better or worse. (Some of them came over here via Tokyopop: Rose Hip Rose/Zero, Tokko…) There was even a series about a mysterious masked teacher that looked very much like GTO with the serial numbers filed off. But apparently it was impossible to stay away for too long, as in 2009 Fujisawa decided to take Onizuka back to his roots.

This 9-volume series is what’s awkwardly known as an ‘interquel’, which is to say it takes place entirely within the GTO series proper, during the time that Onizuka recovered from the gunshot wounds he received from insane stalker Teshigawara. Of course, mere bullets are not enough to stop our hero, whose ability to take fatal blows and still laugh is something you’re just going to have to accept. Unfortunately, after accidentally bragging about nearly killing one of his students on live television, Onizuka’s in a lot more trouble than usual, and he has to try to stay low. (This, by the way, gives the regular cast of GTO a chance to make a cameo, including Urumi, the aforementioned student who was almost killed. For those wondering about the bizarre translation ‘mate with me’ and ‘I want your seed’, no, that’s really how she talks.)

So Onizuka has to lay low for the next 2 weeks, and decides to go back to Shonan and hang around with his old gang members. This leads to another old GTO gag, where Onizuka brags about how his old gang are still brothers who’d make any sacrifice for each other, then finds reality is not so bright. Luckily, he’s taken in by a young woman who recognizes him; she’s a friend of his fellow teacher and not-quite-love-interest Fuyutsuki, and wonders if he can so something about the kids she has at her local boarding house…

And so we prepare for Onizuka to do what he did in GTO, only with a different group of kids. Let’s not mince words: there’s not a lot of originality here. But Kodansha didn’t approve a revival because they wanted to see something different. Onizuka changing the hearts and minds of troubled youngsters is what people want, and this series gives it to them. The beauty of GTO is the way that it combined comedic juvenile gags, gang violence, and heartwarming scenes to give an overall impression of “the world is not as unfair as you think it is”. And since he’s only got 9 volumes this time round, he makes an impression right away, winning over the eccentric and somewhat suicidal Sakurako and punching the lights out of her abusive father. Onizuka tends to believe in the powers of “I will change your mind with my fists if necessary”, and his defense of Sakurako (which earns the approval of her abused mother) is beautiful.

For those worried that they won’t understand the series without having read GTO or SJG, don’t worry about it. The GTO cast appear for about 6 pages and then are gone, and Onizuka’s type of teaching is pretty universal. There’s a few anachronisms (Onizuka draws Haruhi Suzumiya at one point, which is rather prescient given that GTO is supposed to take place in the late ’90s), but nothing game breaking. I will note that Onizuka can be crude, and talks a lot about finally getting laid. (It’s not going to happen.) And for those who hate cockroaches, a scene towards the end may freak you out. Otherwise, GTO: 14 Days in Shonan does exactly what we wanted it to do. Onizuka is back, and he’s redeeming the souls of rebellious teens through sheer force of personality – and sometimes just force. Welcome back.