ditmercury wrote:Yankee is based from a real story and the characters are also based on real people...one big point that differs Yankee~ and GTO
I would think both are entertaining and meaningful in its own way.
GTO was brillant as it managed to highlight issues in the Japanese education system but not losing the audience in terms of entertainment value. The pre-occupation of getting into great collages, gang violence, school bullies, parental/child communication difficulties, drop-outs, disillusionment of teachers.... all that against the backdrop of the sometimes crazy antics of Onizuka.
It's hard to top GTO. Just take a look at it's perhaps closest and most popular competition - Gokusen. Besides the great performances by Nakama Yukie, Jun and gang.... Can one honestly conclude that he/she gained new insights (not already presented by GTO) other than laughing at Yangkumi's antics or admiring how cool Sawada Shin is.
I have to confess to being very impressed with Yankee. It wouldn't score as high on purely entertainment value and i do have reason to believe that the producers didn't want it that way too. The best way to enjoy is drama is to understand that it's based on a true story and i guess the intention was for it to serve as a tribute for the staff of that school. I have to say i got quite teary in parts when i saw how hard the teachers were working and how concerned they were.
To compare Yankee against GTO or even Gokusen is mightly unfair.
The GTO formula which is widely copied works this way
1) A misfit new teacher with a new style of teaching
2) The misfit teacher in charge of a misfit class
3) Some (1/2) teachers against the misfit teacher.
Gokusen copies this formula to a Tee.
Yankee on the otherhand offers something a little different.
1) The new teacher was not exactly a misfit. His teacher mtds ain't special. Bascially he imitiated the teaching style of his predecessor who inspired him when he was younger.
2) It was not exactly the misfit class in a normal school. In Yankee, it was normal class in a special school.
3) There were no "evil" teachers against the misfit teacher. It was extremely heartening to see that all the teachers, despite having disagreements at times over methods to use had only one goal in mind at all times - whatever's in the best interest of the students. I half expected Aiba to play the role of the self-centered arrogant teacher, which is the impression one gets from epi 1/2 (a formula presence in all school dramas). Boy was i surprised on how Aiba's role developed over the course of the story.