GTO: The Early Years (Shonan Junai Gumi) volume 2
by Tohru Fujisawa


Story (may contain spoilers)

Welcome to the high school life of the most bad ass high school teacher ever, Ekichi Onizuka!  This is the story of the Oni-Baku gang, Onizuki and best friend Ryuji Danma, and the various gangs that they encounter through misfortune in urban Japan.  However, their main goal in life is losing their virginity, not locking fists with the goons that they encounter.  In this the second massive volume, the Oni-Baku gang meets several enemies turned friends and are on their way to finally getting laid (????).

The first new friend that Onizuki and Ryuji meet is Abe, a promiscuous ladies man who has been with hundreds of women.  Originally thinking him an old SOB, the Oni-Baku are willing to set that aside to learn the 3 rules to pick up chicks through their new classmate.  After finally learning the 3rd rule, they realize that they just don't have the tolerance to be the ladies man that Abe is.

The Oni-baku gang then hears of the Valentine's Parade, an event were contestents drive their hotrods and the best entry gets to "do it with all these hot chicks."  Eager to get laid and steal the women away from Abe, the Oni-baku beg their mechanic friend to convert their stolen 430 into a German Koenig Benz.  Although unwilling to complete the task, he paints it up for them although the Oni-baku took the wrong car.  They took a real Koenig Benz that belongs to a big mob boss converting the Benz doors into gull wings and painted razor teeth on the bumper.  Easily stealing the contest, they realize these girls are not as "hot" as they expected however that's the least of their problems.  The mobster, Takashi is hot on their heals as the Oni-Baku escorts his women on a high speed case.  Eventually the Oni-Baku realize this mobster's true identity and threats him with an embarassing picture and they are off the hook for good.

The rest of this volume deals with the return of the legendary Saejima and Kamata to the Oni-Baku's own school.  These two badasses have put the Oni-Baku on their hitlist and plans to take care of them both individually.  After ambushing Abe and other Oni-Baku allies as examples, Onizuki and Danma both go out without the other's knowledge to defeat Saejima and Kamata alone.  After Danma was caught and tied up, Saejima and Kamata plan an ambush on Onizuki.  They did not however plan on the strength of the Oni-Baku gang and fell to their knees at the hands of Onizuka.

The last few chapters include a humorous one-shot of the Oni-Baku gang and Saejima and Kamata comparing penis size in a public bath and yet another plot for the Oni-Baku gang to get laid.  Onizuka and Danma plan to set up friend Tsukai with Ito, the girl who has a crush on Onizuka, at a party.  After Ito invites ugly friends, the Oni-Baku gang and Abe concentrate on a new honey that unexpectedly enters the bar.  Who will this mysterious girl go home with tonight?

Packaging and Art

This is the second volume of Tokyopop's massive 400 page GTO: The Early Years graphic novels.  At only 3 dollars more than the average 200 page volume, this is quite a steal.  The only problem with the packaging is that the spine is not as strong as I've come to expect from Tokyopop titles.  This is of course due to the large amount of pages in the volume.  I often found myself reading this title, turning the page, and having the book fall down in my lap.  This is somewhat of a minor problem, it's not like I want them to reduce page count, it's just annoying trying to find where I left off when it falls out of my hands every few minutes.

Since this title was created in the early nineties, it's safe to safe to say that the style and fashion of the characters in this title is way out of date.  At the end of the volume, Onizuka brings back his pompadour from last volume, who knows how long it will stay this time.  Despite the time difference, the art is well done and is drawn in the same style that it's sequel GTO was done in creating a uniformity between these two quite large works.

Comments

Although not as hard hitting as GTO, this prequel still packs a humorous punch.  After finishing the sequel, we know that Onizuka's chance of getting laid doesn't bode well but that's the fun part, seeing the trouble he gets in while he's trying to lose his virginity.  These 400 page editions are cheap and a great way to blow an entire afternoon.  Onizuka may have always been a pervert, but his Oni-Baku days shows the human side of him and his "bros before hoes" mentality.



M.G. Rating: B