GTO is a manga where the story matches the main character to a tee: it's not the most pretty or sophisticated, it's crass and not always the most well put together, but it has a heart of gold.

GTO follows the story of Onizuka, an ex-biker gang member that wants to become a teacher solely for the sake of snagging some high school girl. Yet as he goes along in his career, he ends up becoming a role model and teacher who really looks out for his student's well-beings, not just their grades. He represents a radical shift from most of the other teachers we see in the story, opting to see his students as people and to help them as such. He is assigned to the worst class possible at his new school and is tasked with bringing them onto the right path again. The plot is essentially just a series of short arcs where we see Onizuka helping his students with their troubles or trying to keep his job, and all along the way we see his ideals touch the hearts of his students and those around him. It is not an uncommon plot, as there are other stories that are similar, like Assassination Classroom and We Shall Now Begin Ethics, but GTO approaches it in a much more comedic way while still keeping the weight of the struggles the students go through.

The characters in GTO are the main plot drivers and are probably the most important part of the story in general. Besides Onizuka, the main characters are one of his fellow teachers and his students. Each student pretty much has some tragic backstory that has made them who they are now, which Onizuka takes time to undo in his own unique way, whether it be through beating them up for having them almost die. After he wins each student over to his side, you are able to see changes in their behavior, yet also the person that they are at their core. In that way, the characters seem more realistic than they actually are.

Okay, now that all that general stuff is out of the way, we can talk about the heart and themes of the manga, which is where it really shines. The core message of it is pretty much what Onizuka tells each of his students: life may suck at times, but that doesn't mean you can't move forward. Each student he interacts with has been traumatized by something and is unable to let it go. Some lash out violently, some cut class, some play pranks, etc. But Onizuka demonstrates with his own life that these kids are not alone in their hurt and pain, and shows them how to look around at the friends and family they have around them to receive healing. It's a hard message to swallow for people in the midst of their storms, but it is one that they need to hear.
Other core messages in GTO are to not judge a book by its cover, mainly seen through contrasting Onizuka and the other teachers, that it only takes one person or event to ruin someone's life, yet it could take only one person or event to redeem it, that teachers and authority figures have a lot more weight in people's lives than they might think at first, and that above all else, people are people, no matter the circumstance and should be treated as such.

Now, this is all fine and dandy, but there are definitely flaws to be found here. It definitely minimizes the weight of sexual harassment throughout the entirety of the story, it tends to solve problems fairly quickly even though they wouldn't realistically be quick fixes, it spends a bunch of chapters on characters that I could honestly care less about (like the cop, principal or actress), and you could make an argument that the second half is too dramatic and follows too strict a formula. And, while those are valid arguments, I would say that they don't really take away from the core themes nor humor of the story, so I don't really mind them.

Overall, GTO is a funny story about a man changing the lives of his students. It doesn't try to hold back punches when talking about how broken some of these kids are, but somewhere in that darkness a light shines through that pulls them out. It's a story that is funny when it tries to be, serious when it needs to be and tense when it has to be. Like the Great Teacher Onizuka, GTO is not perfect, but its an amazing ride to see unfold.