GTO: Paradise Lost
GTO Paradise Lost

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GTO Lost paradise is the logical sequel of GTO. We had the latter with a classroom of kids still not in high school. Now we tackle high school and more specifically : artists.

Overall the story is more less "slice of life" than the original GTO because the idea was to recreate the saga and to make it different while keeping the good elements.

While in GTO Onizuka was facing unbearable lost children, it had a sense of daily routine, it was almost realistic because those kids were just everyday kids with troubles. A random teenager could relate to the story because we've all known ... a bullied boy because he was a weird gamer, we've all known a bored genius having excellent grades and so on... It's a part of why GTO worked that well with people.

GTO lost paradise is a little bit different. It's about an classroom of artist high schoolers thus they've got a lot of different issues we cant relate to. While the manga is great if you're into the kind of comedy GTO has always been, i can understand why some seem to be skeptical.

First of all, the story is less "slice of life". We dont follow the everyday life of onizuka and his teens. Onizuka is already locked in jail because he meddled in a big story with some bad guys. It means that we know that the main element of the story isnt about resolving high schooler anymore but it's now about some deeper issues related to those kids in a messed up industry. The story is now about how Onizuka got locked in a jail (thus it gradually shows what kind of issues he had to deal with) and it's also about how is he going to flee to resolve his ultimate task, the task that brought him in jail. We can say that every issues with the students are minor, a sort of side story because everything that matters is that "big task" that brought him in jail.

Now, Onizuka isnt your weird funny teacher anymore, he doesnt help normal students anymore. He's some kind of hero going against the whole industry, the whole yakuzas of Tokyo only to help a student. Issues are deeper and it didnt disturb me.
GTO lost paradise is basically a mix between GTO and young GTO.
Some feel lost because everything feels so grand here. First of all ppl cant relate anymore to the manga because students here ar artists with artist issues and then, those issues are superhero issues in a totally corrupted industry. You're free to start the manga to make an opinion.

Despite that, comedy is still the same and Onizuka just does Onizuka things. He hasnt changed a bit. For me, it definitely worth a try.

This is my first review, so please be gentle on me lmao.

Disclaimer: I loved the original GTO, I genuinely think that it's a top 10 manga of all time. Hell, even I REALLY liked 14 days in Shonan. I think writing reviews is a waste of time, but reading this pissed me off so much that I feel like it'd be a sin not to.

Story: 4/10
Onizuka is now in prison and is retelling everyone how he got there. Simple story, nothing too serious and complex. However, I feel like it really lost its "heart"-- that certain something that really made GTO special.

Art: 6/10
Was never really ... a fan of GTO's art in the first place, but I grew accustomed to it as I read more and more.

Characters: 4/10
This is my main problem with this story. The characters in the original were assholes to a degree, but they were pretty likable. The student-teacher interactions between Onizuka and the students were great and wholesome. You could really feel them changing and slowly warming up to Oni. However, they scratched everything away in Paradise Lost. It seems like the only thing Onizuka has to do is solve one life problems for these students and they magically just love him. There are barely any interactions between them, too. It's like they get an arc, then they're kick out the story. Onizuka's likableness is still there, but he makes some moves that made me question, "Is that really how Onizuka would act?" Everything built in the original was thrown out the window. They added more time with Uchiyamada (which was surprisingly fun), but kicked Azusa out the story. Like wtf happened? Overall, biggest downgrade from the original.

Enjoyment: 5/10
Humor is the same, but suddenly became explicit. I mean, I'm kind of a degenerate too, so I don't mind ecchi and smut, but the transition was pretty weird. However, just because some parts were pretty funny, it doesn't really mean that I enjoyed the whole ride. There are some pretty boring arcs and sometimes they focus on unlikable characters.

Overall: 5/10
Would I have picked this up if GTO never existed? No. Do I appreciate GTO still being published? Yes. However, I can't lie that this is a downer compared to the original. It lost the charisma of the original GTO and it would be an understatement to say that I'm just a little disappointed. I'm VERY disappointed. This won't really affect the original's place in my heart, though. I WILL always love it and will re-read it within a few years' time.

Before writing this review i just want to say that the original GTO is my favourite manga of all time, and that this sequel is a disgrace to it's name. SPOILERS

The storyline in paradise lost is abysmal. While it follows the same blueprints from the original GTO, it executes them in a very poor manner. The arcs themselves mostly feel like stand-alone stories which contribute next to nothing to the overall plot, especially the arcs involving the students. The long running storyline is all about the mysterious Mr. Araragi and how he's the don of showbiz, except half the arcs have nothing to do with ... him at all. Leaving them feeling like unimportant filler to the overall storyline. Even the arcs which mention Mr. Araragi usually have nothing to do with school or being a teacher at all, and take place outside of school which takes away the greatest aspect of this story: Onizuka's unique teaching style. The prison aspect is interesting, however it feels like the author is making up plot-lines as he goes straying from what this manga was originally going to be. The whole plot is a clusterfuck of meaningless story arcs mixed with few plot points that actually progress the story.

Art: While the art isn't terrible I found the characters lacked the original designs present in the original GTO. The students in particular had no defining features and looked very similar. Another thing (this is personal preference) but I found that the bodies were extremely wide with very broad shoulders and I didn't think it matched the vibe of highschool kids. Overall though the art does look nicer as an aesthetic which is an improvement from the original.

Now the most appalling part of the story: The characters themselves. In the original series the characters were what defined the story as a masterpiece. The interactions between Onizuka and his students such as Kanzaki and Miyabi were brilliant and you could see the growth throughout the 200 chapters. In paradise lost characters come and go through a revolving door. After their specific story arc most of the characters disappear and never return. Remember the girl who's apart of women's wrestling, or the guy with daddy issues? Because I sure as hell don't. They were thrown away after their arc and never played any role in the story again. Compare this to someone like Kanzaki from the original series. After her personal story arc she plays a role in nearly every other portion of the story and is kept around as either part of the plot or for interactions between the characters. I could talk all day about how the students themselves are unimportant in this series but I'll move on to the travesty that is Onizuka in this series. Volume 11 (Kirishima arc). This volume completely ruined Onizuka's entire character through the one action of attempting to have sex with a highschool girl. Why include this? Throughout the whole series Onizuka controlled himself (sort of) because he wanted to be a respectable teacher, but in this one panel he's essentially become the very thing he punished for the whole series up to that point. On top of this he gets one-upped by Kirishima in nearly everything this arc ruining the whole unique aspect of his teaching and showing that somebody else can walk in and do everything he does but better. The only saving grace in terms of characters is the vice-principle Uchiyamada (sorry for spelling). He actually gets decent development and his personal arc was my favourite one of the series. In paradise lost he's seen as a respectable educator and human rather than the stingy human failure seen in GTO.


My enjoyment of this series is still a 5 simply because I loved the original so much and this one still provided some enjoyable and comedic moments. However I cannot give it higher than 1 simply because it trashes on the foundations of my favourite manga.

Overall this is a stain on the greatest manga ever written and i urge GTO fans not to put yourself through this hell.