Manga Review – Gokusen

March 25, 2018
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Gokusen by Morimoto Kozueko | Blushing Geek

Gokusen by Morimoto Kozueko
Published from Dec 15, 1999 to Feb 15, 2007
Genre: Slice of Life, Josei
15 Volumes with 156 Chapters
Format: eBook
Manga Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars (MAL 9/10)
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Get it on Amazon: https://amzn.to/30hBBLZ

Fresh out of college, Kumiko “Yankumi” Yamaguchi becomes a math teacher at an all-boys high school. Unfortunately for her, she’s assigned by the school board as the homeroom teacher for class 3-D, which happens to be the class of delinquent students. When the class attempts to make a living hell out of Yankumi’s career, they fail as her persistence and aggression gain her respect. However, little does anyone in the school know that Yankumi is actually heir to the Kuroda Ikka—one of Tokyo’s most powerful yakuza clans.

Review

After watching the anime, I hurriedly got myself a copy of its manga so I can try the first chapter and to see whether I will like it enough to continue. And as you can see, I finished all 15 Volumes in just a week (considering of having a very bad dose of Yuri on Ice hangover, *wink). I don’t normally read its manga counterpart after finishing the anime and I usually wait for a month or even a year depending on my mood. But for this case, I think it was because it was still so funny even after watching the anime. Every chapter had me laughing my head off so I decided to read all the volumes.

The story was really good. I love that it was different from the others that I have read before plus it’s so Japan because of the Yakuza thing and it also drops some cool things about Japan like the festivals and their culture.

The idea of a Yakuza heiress teaching in an all-boys school which is also known as a school for delinquents is very unique. All the possible questions that you can encounter while reading this story we’re all addressed perfectly in the manga. And not just that, I also love the fact that it also features the story of each side characters so we really got to know more about them. And dropping all those lessons while making you laugh at the same time was flawless!

The lines were so good, the scenes we’re properly executed and they can be funny and emotional when the author intends it to be. What I mean is that this manga was done so flawlessly. No dull moments. I actually laughed hard a lot of time reading this manga, I think I laughed on every chapter, or was that even on each page? Hehe. There’s quite a lot of characters and knowing me, I didn’t remember their names haha, I’m really bad with names lol. But even if that was the case, I can really say that I know each of them. I understand what they are going through since they all got the chance to share their story, but I just really can’t seem to remember their names except Shin and Yankumi hehe (and Shinohara too, haha).

The main character Kumiko is really a badass. Well, what can you expect from a Yakuza heiress eh? But aside from physical strength, she also has a good heart. She lost her parents at a young age so she was taken in by her grandpa which is the 3rd generation leader of the Kuroda clan (also referred to as the Ooedo Clan). She grew up with guys so it was really not a surprise that she grew up a pretty good fighter. She may not look like it but she’s really strong. I love that even with her family background, she decided to pursue her dreams and my, I’m sure so happy for her. Yes, her students were kind of hard headed but you can really see that they are kind-hearted. I love how she supports them and gives them the lesson that they need to learn. I also love the fact that because she’s true to herself she was able to win over the hearts of those people around her even those that were against her from the start. Aside from that, she’s very funny and dense too, haha. But even if that was the case, there’s still this one particular student that has his eyes only for her, ayeii!

Gokusen also had some pretty good group of characters that I really love reading about. There’s no unnecessary characters here, all of them have a role to play and did them well. I actually don’t have any complaints about that. I love the story, I love the characters, I love the settings, I just love everything. And speaking of love, I love Shin here. He really looks hot! Now I can clearly see why the title “The Young Red Lion Master” suits him so well. Plus, those extra chapters were really funny, haha.

Aside from the lessons this manga gives, it also warms my heart because it also highlights family love. You see, this manga explains to us that just because they’re a Yakuza it doesn’t mean they’re bad entirely. That they also have some good sides too. You really got to know someone first before judging them.

But even with all those nice words, why am I giving this manga a 4.5 rating? Well, you see, I think there should have been more. The confession was made (finally!) so I really want to see what will happen after this particular student finally graduated and become a lawyer. So yep, that’s my only reason, haha.