Joseph Luster
March 20, 2012 
With the second collection of GTO: 14 Days in Shonan upon us, we’re out of the setup stage and ready for a full volume of Shonan antics. It’s not all Onizuka running around beating up punks with a horse mask on his head, however. Things take a turn for the serious when Miki Katsuragi—the girl from the foster home who made it her goal to oust Onizuka as soon as possible and by any means necessary—decides to flee the White Swan and give up on life.
This would be par for the course for Miki, who really only wants some attention from her workaholic policeman father, if it weren’t for one sinister man in a black van. Brandishing a katana, he kidnaps her with plans to debut her on a pay site for creeps who want to watch doped-up middle and high school girls strip and get taken advantage of on film. “This is gonna mean major traffic for us today,” they exclaim. Not if GTO has anything to say about it.
For a former delinquent, Onizuka is almost too righteous. That’s part of the series’ charm, though, in that once he sets his mind to protecting someone or something, not even the forces of Hell can get in his way. This time around it’s definitely warranted, but beyond saving Miki, Onizuka really wants to make her father see just how badly she needs him. The lengths he goes to in order to accomplish this and pull off one hell of a rescue mission—from rounding up hundreds of bikers to barreling toward police barricades with utter disregard for his own safety—are as entertaining as always.
Despite the need for the first book’s setup, volume two is a nicely self-contained story, essentially consisting of the Miki situation and little else. Before it gets into the meat of it there are a handful of good laughs, too; it’s clear Onizuka is worming his way into the hearts of the foster children, even when they’re literally sending ants scurrying down his pants. It’s all more or less what we’ve come to expect from creator Toru Fujisawa, but it works, and 14 Days in Shonan is shaping up to be just as enjoyable as the original Great Teacher Onizuka series.
Publisher: Vertical Inc.
Story & Art: Toru Fujisawa
© 2012 Toru Fujisawa
