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crack_van2008-12-01 03:48 pm
anenko.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2008-12-01 03:48 pm
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Fandom Overview: Gokusen
Gokusen is a manga, anime, and live drama series. There are significant differences between the manga and drama versions, but the basic story remains the same: Yamaguchi Kumiko, the heiress of a yakuza family, has long dreamt of becoming a teacher. Her very first class is full of unruly thugs who want little to do with school, and even less to do with a painfully dorky math teacher.
Fortunately for her students, Kumiko (named "Yankumi" by her class) doesn't give up. She's been raised as a member of a yakuza family, and no high school toughs are about to scare her off! The story follows Yankumi as she gains the respect of her students, deals with her family business, and kicks the ass of anyone who dares to threaten student or family.
There are many reasons to love Gokusen, but I’ll keep it simple: everyone is a giant DORK. How could a series of dorky thugs not be awesome?
Most fanfic is based on the jdrama, although many writers cheerfully pick and choose elements from the manga to incorporate into their stories. The vast majority of the fanfic for Gokusen is ‘shippy in nature, and centers around Yankumi and her student, Sawada Shin (a ‘ship popularly referred to as “Shinkumi”).
The jdrama has two sequels (Gokusen 2, and Gokusen 3). While Yankumi remains the center of the latter two series, the majority of the cast changes with each new series. Gokusen 2 and 3 have nothing to do with the manga. There is some small amount of fanfic based on Gokusen 2 (mostly slash dealing with two of Yankumi’s students, Ryu and Hayato), but my focus here is on the manga and original jdrama adaptation.
The characters are quite different in the manga and jdrama, especially the students. Storylines and personality traits are switched between the guys in the drama and the manga, and class 3-D is significantly prettied up for the jdrama.
I didn’t include images from the manga for most of the characters. If you’re interested, check out this chart.
Kumiko was raised by her maternal grandfather after the death of her parents. Her grandfather is the head of the Ooedo clan, and Kumiko grew up as the group’s recognized (and badass) heiress. However, Kumiko’s dream was always to become a teacher. In the drama, Kumiko is removed from the yakuza lifestyle; in the manga, she continues to play an important role in the family business, even as she attempts to keep her background a secret from school authorities and her students.
Shirokin’s class 2-4 (manga)/3-D (jdrama) is Kumiko’s first opportunity to prove herself as a teacher. Kumiko doesn’t limit herself to teaching the delinquents in her class math; she also teaches them important life lessons, and helps get them out of trouble. . . frequently with her fists. While initially suspicious of their dorky new math/homeroom teacher, even class 3-D couldn’t fail to be impressed by a woman capable to taking out groups of angry thugs barehanded and all alone.
Kumiko has an (unrequited?) crush on Shinohara (a yakuza lawyer in the manga; a cop in the drama). She is an utter dork when it comes to romance, and is oblivious to Shin’s crush on her.
Shin is class 3-D’s undisputed leader, the smartest student in class, as well as being the best looking one. Shin ended up at Shirokin after striking a teacher at his previous school who was bullying one of Shin’s classmates. This led to a falling out with his father, who had very high expectations of his son. In the manga, Shin’s father is the head of police; he has an older brother who ran away from home to escape parental pressure. In the drama, Shin’s father is a politician; he has a younger sister named Natsumi of whom Shin is quite protective. Shin’s apartment (where he lives alone) is a frequent setting for Shinkumi fanfics.
Usually bored by school, and distrustful of adults, Shin quickly becomes intrigued by his new homeroom teacher. He is the first of Yankumi’s students to realize that there’s something not quite normal about her. Shin is Yankumi’s most trusted student, and is frequently of help to her when dealing with class 3-D and yakuza matters. In the manga, Shin is sometimes referred to as “Young Master Red Lion.”
Shin is in love with Kumiko (obvious from early in the manga, and very low-key subtext until the last episode of the drama). Manga!Shin wants to become a lawyer for Kumiko’s family when he gets older; Drama!Shin leaves to do volunteer work in Africa after graduating. Fans spend a good amount of time bringing Shin back home--sooner more often than later--so that he and Yankumi can fall into dorky, badass love.
In both the manga and drama, Kuma is the first of Yankumi’s students to accept her. He is one of Shin’s oldest friends.
In the manga, Kuma is an only child. His mother works as a hostess for a club associated with Yankumi’s family. In the drama, Kuma is the oldest child of three. His father owns a small restaurant, which Kuma takes over after his death towards the end of the first series. Kuma is the only one of Yankumi’s first series students to appear in Gokusen 2 and 3. In Gokusen 3, it’s revealed that Kuma married his high school crush, and is expecting his first child.
Uchi is one of Shin’s closest friends in the jdrama. While he tries to act tough, Uchi is a softy at heart--especially when it comes to cute puppies, and his mom. Uchi is frequently seen carrying a guitar case.
Noda is the most fashion-conscious of Yankumi’s students; his goal after graduation is to get into the fashion industry. Noda has a crush on his English teacher, Fujiyama.
Minami is class 3-D’s ladies’ man. This doesn’t actually mean he wins over many ladies, of course.
Kumiko’s grandfather. He is very supportive of Kumiko’s teaching career. In the drama, he spends most of his time at home, dispensing words of wisdom whenever Kumiko and/or her students get into trouble. He was also the one to teach young Kumiko to fight when she was being bullied. In the manga, he is more involved in yakuza business and is still impressively fit.
A manga/anime character only, Kyo is second in command of the Ooedo group. He is the man who trained Kumiko to fight when she was being bullied as a child. Kyo also takes Shin under his wing, introducing Sawada as “Young Master Red Lion” to various yakuza-types.
Members of the Ooedo group. In the manga especially, Minoru and Tetsu are Kumiko’s younger brothers/underlings. She adopted them after they were found wandering the group’s territory, both abandoned by their parents. In the manga, Kumiko decided to become a teacher after seeing how Tetsu was denied the right to go to school because of how he looked. In the drama, Tetsu is hopelessly in love with the oblivious Kumiko.
In both anime and drama, all of the guys love Kumiko dearly, and fear her anger.
In the manga, Shinohara is a handsome young lawyer. He joined the Ooedo group as a lawyer after Kumiko’s grandfather was arrested in order to return a favour. Kumiko has an (unrequited?) crush on him. In the drama, Shinohara is a cop. He is still the object of Kumiko’s (unrequited?) affections. When she isn’t saving her students from themselves, Kumiko can usually be found battling her female coworkers for Shinohara’s attention.
Manga/anime character only. Fuji is the family dog, deeply devoted to Kumiko, and with a strange man(dog?)-crush on Shin.
In the manga, Fujiyama is a very busty and very earthy music teacher. She likes pretty, younger men and wants to recruit them for her choir group. Despite her attitude, Fujiyama is a dedicated teacher, especially after the suicide of a student at her previous school. In the jdrama, Fujiyama is cooler and more distant. She is an English teacher who uses her looks to keep her student’s attention. The boys at Shirokin think she’s hot, and love her classes. She worked as a hostess for a period of time to make extra cash, until Noda exposed her in a fit of anger after she rejected his romantic feelings.
Kawashima is a drama-only character. She’s the school nurse, and both a friend and rival to Kumiko. She is a single mother.
The vice-principal at Shirokin. He appears in all three seasons of the Gokusen drama. Not fond of Kumiko at first, Sawatari eventually warms up to her--or, at the very least, recognizes that she can be useful in dealing with uncontrollable students. He desperately wants to be promoted, but Kumiko and her students keep on putting his dream at risk.
The Gokusen manga can be read online at OneManga. Individual chapters can also be downloaded (MU and MF) at Bishounen Project.
If the drama is more your speed, you can find episodes online at MySoju. You can also find downloads at
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jdramas and asian_doramas (both communities are members only). If you want to cheat your way into the fandom, I have a pretty extensive number of screencaps of Gokusen 1 and 2 at my journal.
shinkumi should be your first stop of Shin/Yankumi goodness. 3_d_special is a general Gokusen fan community. brokemycaps is a general drama fic community, with a nice showing of Gokusen fics. The most plentiful source of Gokusen fic is probably at Fanfiction.net.
Wiki and Drama Wiki are both good sources of basic series information.
I apologize if this overview is a bit muddled. I forgot how difficult it is to write these things!
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Thanks for the great overview!!