I first found out about GTO by going through all the top rated manga on MAL, as you do. If you listen to anyone online, you'd think that GTO is one of the best manga ever written, with no doubts. I went and specifically tried to find bad reviews, and it was hard to find any. So I went in with sky high expectations, only to find myself...a little disappointed. That isn't to say GTO is a horrible manga, however. If you manage to stick through it and deal with its problems, I do think that it is a read that is worth your time.

My biggest issue with the manga is has to deal with the overall cynicism and bizarre feeling of the series at times. No one is a good person in this manga (except maybe Noboru). The story starts out with Onizuka wanting to become a teacher just so he can pick up young, underage girls, despite him being already 22. A lot of the series actually has Onizuka and various other characters perving on girls, with basically no punishment, which to be honest, made me quite uncomfortable. At some point, there even is a teacher introduced that spends all his free time installing hidden cameras to videotape and spy on the middle school girls, and no one really does much about it. All the kids are also straight up evil in the beginning. When Urumi, one of the main student characters, is introduced, she tries to murder an old teacher by blowing up a Molotov cocktail in their face. These characters are supposed to be 14, and many of them are already committing felonies on the daily.

Since the story is about Onizuka and how he wants to become a great teacher and reform all these troublemaker kids, the story centralizes a lot on how Onizuka is able to relate to the kids and get them to like him and school in general (from this point on I will call this process getting GTO'd). However, in the beginning of the manga I do have some issues with some of the methods. For example, one of the ways Onizuka manages to get one of the students named Noboru to stop getting bullied by other girls is to strip the other girls naked, write things on their butts, and then take pictures of their said butts.

But, despite my slight dislike of the beginning, I forced myself to keep reading. Everyone loves it, and there has to be a reason for that right? Hopefully it gets better.

And it did get better. Around chapter 130, the story suddenly starts to reach a sort of climax where many story threads that were alluded to before all begin to resolve themselves. Urumi's big secret finally gets revealed, and the fallout is massive. All the while, Suguru, Miyabi, and Uchiyamada finally get GTO'd, which is very, very satisfying. In my opinion, the arc that starts here and ends at around before chapter 160 is the highlight of the series.

And to its credit, there are many things that GTO does do well. Some chapters are just one character talking, and at these times the mangaka manages to show off some impressive writing skills. There is a chapter where Onizuka's corrupt cop friend tries repeatedly to scam him into joining various pyramid schemes, which I found it very entertaining. Certain other little secrets like Urumi's big secret, and the reason why Class 4 became such a troubled class are also hidden and revealed in a very satisfying way.

Overall, I think the manga is somewhat of a 6/10 manga, with 10/10 moments. Moments like when some characters finally get GTO'd are very satisfying, although sometimes the dialogue does become somewhat of a drag to read.

Story: 3/10
Some very good parts, some very bad parts.

Art: 8/10
Very gorgeous and detailed art. However, it can be hard to tell characters apart at times.

Characters: 8/10
Great characters in general, even if they start out as evil pieces of shit in the beginning. You begin to understand every character as the author starts to flush out their backstories.

Enjoyment: 4/10
Personally, not for me. The sexual harassment and perverseness of the series has not aged well and honestly can be quite uncomfortable to read at times.

Overall: 5/10
There are lots to praise about this manga, I value my enjoyment with a manga a lot more than how supposedly "good" it is with qualities such as art, story, or characters. I didn't exactly click with the manga until past chapter 130, when the story became very good. I think it is worth a read, but only if you get the humor. Give it maybe 20 chapters to see if you want to continue or not.