Forum - View topicNEWS: Gokusen Reaches Record Popularity
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drone9
ANN News Staff
 Posts: 25 |
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it's a fun series. imo much better than the anime.
hope a western company picks this one up. |
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AlDim
Posts: 16 |
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Gokusen's just a GTO ripoff with a few tweaks here and there (no wonder it's successful, more of the same usually sells well).
Btw the manga is the ugliest thing I've ever seen. |
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drone9
ANN News Staff
Posts: 25 |
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While the GTO manga was great, the anime was a total letdown.
Haven't seen the drama, so can't comment on that. As for Gokusen, I haven't read the manga, but saw the anime and the drama. Well, I actually only saw the first two episodes of the anime. Didn't keep me interested. But the drama is fun to watch. And it feels very different to the GTO manga. Even if they share many similar aspects. Than again, I might think different after seeing the GTO drama. |
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sacchan
Posts: 277 Location: Okinawa, Japan |
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Actually, the most recent ratings for Gokusen are even higher than what's reported here. It reached 30.0% for its 8th episode.
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Emichan
 Posts: 83 Location: SF Bay Area |
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Gokusen is a great great series
 I am talking about the Drama version. The manga is okay, fairly amusing (the art is so-so, but not nearly the worst manga art ever, I have seen MUUUCH worse) and the anime is fine (not spectacular), but the drama... now the drama rocks Season 1 is awesome, and Season 2 is shaping up to be fun also. She fights a lot more in season 2!
Gokusen always gets compared to GTO, but they are alike only on the surface. There are a lot more differences than similarities. (I really enjoyed the GTO drama too) I like how Yankumi is actually book smart  She can actually... TEACH MATH if required! Heh. The Gokusen drama is worth watching just for the sound effects and background music 
Anyway, I made a website for the Gokusen series (mainly the drama) so if you want to learn more about the show, check it out. |
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darkhunter
 Posts: 2992 Location: Los Angelas |
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But you can't deny that GTO and gokusen share a lot in commons compare to the many other popular series. They got evil princible, bad school kids, well-meaning teachers and so on and many more. I'm not even gonna mention the Yakuza ties and thier motivation. You can write a whole essay on the similaries between both series even if it's just scarce. I always thought gokusen (anime and manga) would appeal more to girls than GTO because gto does have that crude humor that can turn girls off. But when we're talking about live action, gokusen is pretty good. I didn't think it was better than the gto live action, but it's entertaining. The blonde fat head guys looks like a freak of nature. |
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Emichan
Posts: 83 Location: SF Bay Area |
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Well, this is obvious, as Gokusen is a josei series I love both GTO and Gokusen. Mmm Sorimachi Takashi.....
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AlDim
Posts: 16 |
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Why exactly do you think the anime was a "total letdown"? Because they cut its ending when they ran out of manga? That has happened many many times. While the anime is nowhere as great as the manga, it is very nice nonetheless. As about the live-action, it is very different from both the anime and the manga and adapts an even smaller part of the storyline. On a side note, the GTO manga after volume 17 is craptacular with occasional chapters that are worth reading.
Yeah, yeah, after all it's not an exact copy, just a ripoff. I'd classify it as "GTO lite". Similarly to how Rahxephon is an "Evangelion lite".
Btw even the release strategy was the same as GTO (manga -> live action -> anime). At least to me the whole thing looks like a TV network (Nippon TV) trying to copy the success of its competitor (Fuji TV). |
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drone9
ANN News Staff
Posts: 25 |
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Lets put it that way, while I own and have read the Japanese manga several times and think it is great read (true some of the later volumes drag a bit), when I picked up a the first couple of dvds of the anime assuming that this was a nobrainer, starting with Takagi Wataru as the lead voice cast, I couldn't get into it and stopped watching after a couple of episodes. GTO is why I started previewing 2-3 episodes of every series prior to purchase. |
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Emichan
Posts: 83 Location: SF Bay Area |
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Hahaha I liked Rahxephon a lot more than Evangelion ^_- I tend to think of Gokusen as a "Smarter GTO" Obviously if a formula works you're gonna get a lot of variations on it. (hence the gazillion harem shows) It's not like there aren't other series with a GTO-like premise too. Look at Salaryman Kintaro, which also went manga -> drama -> anime (then drama again and again.. there are now what, 4 Kintaro drama series?) Gokusen is a series aimed at women and yes, while it is like GTO, there are enough fun things about it to make it worth watching too. I am happy that the 2nd drama season is doing so well!
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DriftRoot
 Posts: 222 Location: NH |
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This is one of the only live action series (or movies) I can stomach. As far as comparing it to the manga/anime, I saw one or two of the live action episodes first, then checked out the other versions and was terribly disappointed.
One thing I love about it is how long and interesting the episodes are. I'm so used to 1 hour American shows actually being about 35 minutes long when you account for commercials, credits etc. that one hour of Gokusen almost feels like watching a short movie. They pack a lot into that time, too, and regardless of its GTO similarities - if it's not broke, don't fix it. I can't believe someone would NOT like the series just out of spite if they liked GTO. In terms of live action, it's a very refreshing change from stylized, often exaggerated anime people, places and plots. No overly-busty women or panty-flashers here, although it's easy to imagine certain characters being depicted this way in anime (which I believe they were). This live action series ranks a lot higher than many anime series on my "To buy" list. |
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AlDim
Posts: 16 |
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I see. Well, the thing is, it is not a very valid statement when you outright declare that something totally sucks after seeing "a couple of episodes".  To me it looks like your experience with the manga prevented you from enjoying the TV show.
Did I ever say anything about "NOT liking out of spite" when the live action show is concerned? I said it's a ripoff and that's it. Though I can honestly say that the manga and anime are ripoffs AND suck. |
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drone9
ANN News Staff
Posts: 25 |
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read again. I said: it was a total letdown = didn't meet my expectations. you are not saying I have to see the whole series to tell whether I like it, are you? but you are probably right about the manga. without knowing it, I might have enjoyed the anime a bit more. not that I would have actually liked it. |
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jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief
 Posts: 1685 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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Agreed -- this is one of my favorite dramas right now. It's just so deleriously genki. And Yankumi is really, really gorgeous. I'm not the type to fall in love with TV stars, but...
And nothing beats the ridiculously happy ending theme. "I say, feel your breeze! Never stop walking now, oh!"[/i] |
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ParaParaJMo
 Posts: 333 Location: Gilbert, AZ, USA |
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I'm surprised they are willing to develop Kumai's character further in the second season. I think the first one did enough of that already. Anyway, I guess he's in the 2nd season for the sake of Akanishi Jin's character.
I think Yankumi's grandfather looks way too nice and acts too nice in the drama. He doesn't seem threatning enough to be a yakuza boss. In the anime, he at least looks and acts threatning. I wonder why they didn't bring back Shinohara in this season. I'm going to be a teacher in Japan starting this summer so watching Gokusen, GTO, and Kinpachi-sensei is giving some idea what to do  . Like how to say "watashi no daiji na oshiego ni, TE NI DASUN JANEE!!! (DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH MY PRECIOUS STUDENT!!!")" when they're in trouble 
I wonder if they're going to a do a live action I, My, Me Strawberry Eggs at all. I would defenitley love to see that. |
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