GTO 2026: Pure nostalgia trip. Takashi Sorimachi's charisma carries.

 

The very first drama that I ever watched was GTO way back in 1998. To this day, I still rewatch it from time to time because it still holds up as a pure feel-good drama with optimism and some great life lessons to be learned. Whilst the 2024 revival wasn't the greatest thing in the world, I still enjoyed it simply due to the nostalgia from seeing Takashi Sorimachi playing Onizuka once more. When I heard that there would be a brand new full-length drama in 2026, I was rather sceptical to say the least. Doubly so with it being a Netflix thing and with how censored and watered down everything became in the years since the original was released. 

Set within the Reiwa-era, Eikichi Onizuka is now 52 years old. After having resigned from yet another teaching role at a school, his wife, Azusa Fuyutsuki questions what a Great Teacher is and threatens to divorce him via handing him the papers. This forces Onizuka to truly dive deep into an evaluation of what a Great Teacher is and why he still remains a teacher instead of a vice-principal or more. A chance encounter with a couple of his former students lands him a new teaching position at Seishin high school. Unfortunately, the students at this school spend their days addicted to their tablets, mobile phones and technology in general that never existed back in Onizuka's prime. As such, Onizuka must overcome the student's addiction to technology and bond with them.

Man, as soon as the theme song played, I was hit with emotion straight away. It was awesome to hear Poison once more. The opening was really well done and I loved the blend of the old footage with a sprinkling of new stuff with Onizuka on the motorbike. Iconic stuff, truly. 

On a similar note, the very production values themselves feel very deliberate in having a very nineties style. The camerawork, even with the better cameras being in use, is heavily reminiscent of the 1998 drama. There are certain shots that certainly look like they'd belong back then and I'm not saying that as a negative because there's a charm in the production values, even if some may consider it to be rather cheap looking. In fact, some shots still look gorgeous, such as Onizuka on his motorbike with Kenta as the sun sets in the background. Having the yellow-ish orange sky as a backdrop was an excellent choice.

The social messaging of the drama is nothing ground-breaking or particularly new, but it is a nice, solid and firmly inoffensive message to cherish our youth, our friends and classmates and to make the mist of the time that we have. We really should put our tablets, laptops, phones and every other form of technology aside for a bit to connect better with our fellow humans. Episode 6 features social commentary regarding AI. It's not bad stuff at all with the drama telling us that AI shouldn't be used to do all of our thinking for us or replace human interaction. So, I don't really have a problem with the messaging there.

Schools themselves can feel like corporate training grounds with a lot of teachers not really giving a care in the world for how their students truly feel. They can also be grounds to propagandise and indoctrinate the pupils into believing lies spread by awful teachers. Just take a look at what is taught in Western schools. I didn't believe it until I looked into it. That brings me to my point regarding my apprehension about Netflix having anything to do with the production. There's a cringe moment were the plandemic's very own COVID is brought up and I laughed out loud. It should have been written that Kenta's mother died of cancer or something, because that would be much more impactful and believable. Then, there's a student wanting to fight the mythological climate change. I could spend all day tearing that farce apart with the planet's climate changing being a constant through time and how, even if countries reduced their CO2 emissions, the effects would be incredibly negligible at best. Don't even get me started on the idea of reforming the UN, that incredibly corrupt organisation needs tearing down completely as they offer nothing of value to the world. The most egregious moment of all was saved until episode 9. Kashiwabara had the audacity to straight up lie to Ayano's face regarding undocumented invading foreigners. Don't believe your lying eyes, despite all of the evidence available regarding what is going on in Europe and the world. Another laugh out loud moment, although with how blasé and uncaring Kashiwabara appears on the surface, could be fitting for her character, I suppose. It's also funny due to the social climate in Japan and how foreigners are getting increasingly bad reputations amongst the local population. 

This brings me to the biggest disappointment I have with the drama. The concept of dropping Onizuka into the Reiwa-era with all of the advancements in technology and just how different schools and education have become is a goldmine of ideas. The world in the Reiwa-era, compared to previous eras, has become so lame, so tame, so sanitised and dull that an unconventional teacher such as Onizuka could be the spark needed to prevent slipping further into a Shimoneta world flooded with censorship. The reckless fun of the old drama, the inappropriate humour and the overall tone of the source material is greatly missed and that's a darn shame as the world needs more of it these days. It feels like the drama adopting a formulaic nature that neglects the outrageous, reckless things that Onizuka would do and the lengths that he'd go to for his students in exchange for him simple showing care to flip the students into coming over to his side. 

There's something special about seeing Takashi Soramachi in the role of Ekichi Onizuka. The man just feels born to play the role as it fits him so effortlessly. Even all these years later, he hasn't lost the charisma nor a single step as if he'd been the character this whole time. Thankfully, he has the motorbike this time around, which was one of my only real hang-ups regarding the 1998 drama. Still no bleached blonde hair, which sucks. You have to disagree with all of the sensei's around him as society needs people like Onizuka, the rebellious but kind-hearted delinquent who will put his body on the line for his students and friends. There is nothing problematic about him, it is the society that has regressed to an absurd level. 

It was nice seeing Nanako Matsushima back as Azusa Fuyutsuki, even if it was merely for two episodes. I wished they had a better storyline than her simply threatening to divorce Onizuka, because that was lame. I might just be tired of seeing divorces and couples separating in fiction though, it feels as if it's overdone lately. Nanako and Takashi being married in real life will always be my favourite piece of trivia about the 1998 drama. 

Much like the 2024 revival, several of the old students also made appearances throughout the drama. It was great seeing all of the familiar faces back together. Hiroyuki Ikeuchi and Shun Oguri have carved out great careers between them and so, having them appear was wonderful. 

Meru Nukumi and Mary-Jun Takahashi provide some greatly appreciated eye candy in the roles of Mio Kashiwabara and Motoko Koizumi respectively. Both are quite similar characters in that they are both incredibly selfish and Koizumi even brags mindlessly about herself at one point. 

Overall, the 2026 live-action adaptation of GTO was better than I expected, but not amazing. It definitely didn't reach the same heights as the predecessors. It was let down by being far too sanitized and beyond that, having some ridiculous stuff in it as I mentioned previously. It is hard for me to truly recommend it beyond a nostalgia trip for those like me who loved Sorimachi's performance as Onizuka.