YES!! There is a remake of Great Teacher Onizuka 麻辣教师!!!

GTO – Great Teacher Onizuka 麻辣教师 by Fujisawa Tohru 藤沢 とおる was one of my favorite manga during my secondary school times. The series talks about a teacher Onizuka Eikichi 鬼塚英吉 who has his own unique way in teaching. The manga was turned into a drama series back in 1998 with Sorimachi Takashi 反町隆史 playing as Onizuka. Watched the series back then and loved it to bits, so when I knew that there will be a new series this year based on the same manga series, I was all excited!!!

Synopsis
Through the introduction of his friend Danma Ryuji, Onizuka Eikichi, the former legendary bike gang member, visits Meishu Academy to tend to the trees in the garden as a part-time gardener. Learning that Yoshikawa Noboru, a student in teacher Fuyutsuki Azusa’s class is being bullied by Uehara Kyoko and other classmates, Onizuka befriends and saves Yoshikawa. Seeing Onizuka’s unprecedented but visceral, powerful response to problem solving, the school’s president and principal, Sakurai Yoshiko, overrides resistance from her vice principal Uchiyamada Hiroshi and makes Onizuka a teacher. Onizuka goes on to tackle many issues as the teacher in charge of the most problematic class, Class 2-4.

The series ran on Fuji TV/ KTV in Japan from July 2012 till Sept 2012 with 11 episodes in total. There’s also a 2 hours-long special episode as the series’ finale.

This time round, I personally felt that AKIRA/ 黒澤良平 Kurosawa Ryohei plays a better version of Onizuka Eikichi 鬼塚英吉 compared to Sorimachi Takashi 反町隆史 back in 1998. The series was quite a success back in 1998 and for AKIRA to pick up from it more than a decade later, it’s definitely not an easy job. AKIRA’s version of Onizika is much closer to the original character in the manga. Watch the series and you’ll know what I meant.

Apart from that, the other casts in the series from the teachers to the students of Class 2-4 playing the various characters based on the manga series were quite good. Given the fact that it’s hard to get a real person who have an exact resemblance of a manga character, the list of characters involved in this Japanese drama series were good enough, at least for me. At the end of the day, I guessed the best thing about this series is how I was reminded of the various story in the same titled manga, there were a few slight changes in some parts but the core stories/values were there and I really loved the whole series.

城田優 Shirota Yu as 弹间龙二 Danma Ryuji

Yamamoto Yusuke 山本裕典 as 冴島 俊行 Saejima Toshiyuki

Loved the 2 characters playing as 鬼塚英吉 Onizuka Eikichi’s best friends – 弹间龙二 Danma Ryuji (城田優 Shirota Yu) & 冴島 俊行 Saejima Toshiyuki (Yamamoto Yusuke 山本裕典) especially 弹间龙二 Danma Ryuji because I’ve also read the manga Shounan Junai Gumi 湘南纯爱组, a story which talks about both 鬼塚英吉 Onizuka Eikichi & 弹间龙二 Danma Ryuji (鬼爆二人组) on their lives during their high school days. Epic series I must say!

Takimoto Miori 瀧本美織 as 冬月梓 Fuyutsuki Azusa

Also loved both Takimoto Miori 瀧本美織 as 冬月梓 Fuyutsuki Azusa and Tayama Ryosei 田山涼成 as Uchiyamada Hiroshi 内山田广志in this GTO series, cute & funny!

Of course, the characters which makes this series complete include some of the core students of Class 2-4!!

川口春奈 Kawaguchi Haruna as 相沢雅 Aizawa Miyabi

高田翔 Takada Sho 菊地善人 as Kikuchi Yoshito

森本慎太郎 Morimoto Shintaro as 村井国夫 Murai Kunio

西内まりや Nishiuchi Mariya as 葛城 美姫 Miki Katsuragi

本田翼 Honda Tsubasa as 神崎 麗美 Kanzaki Urumi

宮崎香蓮 Miyazaki Karen as 野村朋子 Nomura Tomoko

新川優愛 Shinkawa Yua 上原杏子 as Yoshikawa Noboru

高良光莉 Takara Hikari 鲸川冬美 as Kujirakawa Fuyumi

If you’re a fan of the manga series, THIS is a drama series that you MUST WATCH!!!
*Some people do not like a remake, but I appreciate the effort of such an execution. Good story/characters deserve to live on and yes though some might think that the classic initial version was perfect, that doesn’t mean that a new version will ruin everything. There should be a newer version of classic stories/series/titles with a slight modern touch in terms of soundtrack, cinematography & etc.

5/5 for 2012′s version of Great Teacher Onizuka 麻辣教师!

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Watching TVB Drama series is one of my favorite past times as i remember sitting down with my family in front of the TV during dinner catching up with the episodes when i was still a kid. For a period of time, we stopped doing so and eventually i have no idea on any TVB dramas till college times when exchanging series with college-mates seems to be a norm in TARC.

Since then, i’ve been watching different TVB Dramas (selectively) over the years. The Academy is one of the most successful drama series franchise from TVB which spans over 3 seasons.

The Academy 學警雄心 – 2005, 32 Episodes
On The First Beat 學警出更 – 2007, 30 Episodes
E.U Emergency Unit 學警狙擊 – 2009, 30 Episodes

In E.U Emergency Unit 學警狙擊, a specific character, ‘Laughing Gor’ played by Michael Tse 谢天华 stood out and gained huge popularity where it became the talk of the city in Hong Kong. There was also positive responses in areas around the world where the series was broadcast-ed. Many people who watched the series had a very good impression on ‘Laughing Gor’. I’m one of them. =D

That being said, i just finished a recent TVB drama Lives of Omission 潛行狙擊 (30 Episodes). The movie Turning Point : Laughing Gor 之变节(2009) and this series is a spin-off from the original ‘The Academy’ series with ‘Laughing Gor’ as the main character played by Michael Tse 谢天华.

Characters :
Michael Tse 谢天华 as Laughing / SSGT. Leung Siu-tong (梁笑棠),
the station sergeant of CIB. Before joining CIB in 2011, Laughing worked as an undercover for many years in different triad organisations.

Bosco Wong 黃宗澤 as Michael “Crippled Co” So (蘇星柏),
Laughing’s informant and later main boss of the Yee Fung triad.

Fala Chen 陈法拉 as SIP. Jodie “Madam Jo” Chau (周望晴)
The senior inspector of CIB.

Kate Tsui 徐子珊 as Paris Yiu (姚可可)
A barrister novice and Michael’s girlfriend.

Tat Dik 狄易達 as Aidan Kung (鞏樂勤)
Harry’s teenage son.

Main focus was still on the 4 main characters which consists of Michael Tse 谢天华 as Laughing / SSGT. Leung Siu-tong (梁笑棠), Bosco Wong 黃宗澤 as Michael “Crippled Co” So (蘇星柏), Fala Chen 陈法拉 as SIP. Jodie “Madam Jo” Chau (周望晴) and Kate Tsui 徐子珊 as Paris Yiu (姚可可). Complications of each different characters be it either personality, relationship, mindset & etc were well told in the series itself. The 4 of them represents 2 couples, i prefer Michael So + Paris Yiu.

Loved how they linked Jodie from this series to Karen, Laughing’s girlfriend in the movie Turning Point in 2009. Thought that Jodie’s character could have more space to improve. The experienced actors/actress were as usual, good. The newer ones were pretty weird at times, some of the acting weren’t good. However, to my surprise, Jin Au-yeung 歐陽靖 was cast in this series as Lap Ching / Officer Yeung Lap-ching (蠟青 / 楊立青). He’s the hidden gem in the drama.

Noticed this person many years ago, knew he went to HK in recent years to work on his music. Go YouTube MCJin and Google more about him, a legendary figure to me in the US Rapper/Hip Hop scene. =)

Story Synopsis :
Working as an undercover for many years, Laughing (Michael Tse) escapes from all calamity. Two years ago, he underwent special training to become a mute and worked in mainland China as an undercover. Closely working with the mainland Chinese police, Laughing successfully busts an illegal armed weaponry organisation and resumes his identity as a police officer in Hong Kong. He is appointed as head instructor of the Criminal Intelligence Bureau (CIB), specialising in seeking and training CIB recruits in undercover work.

Laughing, however, is unable to adapt to the stress in the discipline of police life and becomes a rogue cop. To get his jobs done quicker, he hires the gangster Michael So (Bosco Wong) as his informant. On the surface, Laughing and Michael appear to be good brothers, but in fact both have their own purpose, mutually taking advantage of one another. Feeling as if Laughing is holding him back from “moving up” in the triad, Michael betrays Laughing and decides to work alone. To tackle down the triad’s crimes, Laughing applies to be an undercover once again.

Summary :
I loved the character ‘Laughing Gor’ since 2009, so of course, i’ll like this series as well. But hey, if you watch this on its own, it’s quite a good production. First, they have a good storyline with quite a few interesting highlights in it, sub-plots were divided nicely where they all merge back focusing on the main characters leading to the end of the story.

The ending was a bit shocking though, can’t seem to digest it even now that i’ve finished the series since 2 days ago. It could be interpret as a good ending but of course, a lot of viewers (including me) wished that it didn’t end that way.

Can’t wait for the movie Laughing Gor之潛罪犯!!

4/5 for Lives of Omission

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