GTO: Special (1998)

Man, they really know how to liven up a special.

This special has everything I love about specials, in that it adds meaningful content to the main series. Usually, I'm bothered by specials because oftentimes, the writers don't know what to do with them and thus turn them into superficial fanservice episodes or fill the screentime up with dumb comedic moments. This special, on the other hand, brings back together all the supporting characters and shows us how they are leading on with their lives. And it's not just Onizuka's students from Seirin Academy either, as the new character development also extends to the teachers. In a way, it's almost like a continuation of the series, which is nice, because I did feel that the last episode of the main series was in a bit of hurry to tie up all the loose ends.

I love that the whole gang of students we know and love from the main series have come back - including Tomoko! There are some very interesting developments among these older students' love lives, making this special a definite must-watch! Unfortunately for Onizuka, his own love life is facing crisis in this special, and he stumbles a lot in his attempt to please Azusa's father.

Meanwhile, with Onizuka being assigned to another school, we get to see him tackling new students and their new problems, specifically a student with a past affair with an ex-teacher, Rika Yamaguchi (Nana Katase). There's yet another attempted sexual assault scene here, which hardly surprises me anymore, and it's even more intense than before. Fortunately, it didn't last long and was barely the main focus.

The central theme of the episode is about love, and what it takes to achieve happiness in a love life. Instead of throwing around mawkish platitudes like how true love conquers all, the subject matter is handled quite realistically by the writers this time round. I also like how the writers subverts Onizuka's style of solving problems in the main series. Without spoiling anything, let's just say Onizuka's recklessness doesn't produce ideal results this time. From these good points, you could feel that this is truly a special episode, and that the writers put in extra effort to make it just as good or better than the main series.

But in spite of the solid writing for the new students, I still feel that the best part about the special is still the character growth the older supporting characters go through. There's just a warm feeling seeing Onizuka finally getting along with all of his Seirin Academy students who used to mistrust him. We didn't get to see such light-hearted moments near the end of the main series because it was too focused on wrapping the story up, especially where Miyabi is concerned since she was the last student Onizuka helped.

Worth mentioning is two special actors from the live action Death Note movies I love - Nana Katase as Rika who would go on to play Kiyomi Takada, and Shigeki Hosokawa as Takeda who would go on to play Raye Penber.

Ironically enough, more than the last episode of the main series, this special has reignited my interest in GTO more than ever! It's a shame this is the only special of the series, as I wouldn't mind seeing a slice-of-life spin-off with just Onizuka and his Seirin Academy students, just having fun together. That was a delight to watch in this special.

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