Born in 1967, Toru Fujisawa is a veteran Japanese comic artist and multimillion unit seller. Best known globally for his international sensation Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO), Fujisawa was awarded the 22nd Kodansha Comic Award in 1998 for his work on the hit series. The GTO property would go on to inspire two animated TV series and an internationally distributed live action TV series by the same name. Since GTO, Fujisawa has gone on to thirteen more comic series, with four of those properties (TOKKO, Rose Hip Rose, Rose Hip Zero and Shonan Junai-gumi) landing on American shores. At 44 the Hokkaido native continues to be one of the most beloved manga artists of this generation.
"Cracking open Vertical Inc.'s release of GTO: 14 Days in Shonan
brought back a lot of manga memories... Most importantly, it
reminded me why I used to love GTO so much." - Otaku USA
Magazine
“If I had to boil it down to a high concept, I’d probably say that
GTO is about believing in yourself enough to have a good time in
life. Fujisawa does a pretty good job balancing the more saccharine
elements of the series with the knock-down, drag-out, somewhat
perverted jokes. It’s clearly a comedy, but when it takes a turn
into drama, it doesn’t feel unnatural. 14 Days in Shonan looks like
one of those series that can be brutally funny when it wants to
be…I’ve got high hopes.” —Comics Alliance
“While I’ve largely fallen out of manga for a number of reasons,
there are certain things that will always draw me back. Discovering
that the man behind Great Teacher Onizuka decided to do another
series focusing on the character is definitely one of them… The
opening volume makes things well connected to the original and
adjusts to the new situation with ease in a way that doesn’t
detract or impact what has come before… This is a ride I am
completely enthused about.” —Fandom Post
“I thought I was done with Great Teacher Onizuka. All throughout
college, I plowed my way through the series… All was well and good,
until just the other day, when Vertical dropped the first volume of
Great Teacher Onizuka: 14 Days in Shonan in my mailbox… Suffice to
say, the first chapter grabbed me almost immediately. It was the
same Great Teacher Onizuka humor I remember, and most importantly,
I reacted the same to it as I had when I was stuck in my college
dorm on those long Syracuse winter nights.” —Japanator
“As a character explicitly points out, it’s painfully evident that
parental selfishness has given [these teens] severe reason to
distrust adults and that they’re not about to give Onizuka a second
chance if he lets them down. As a result, the manga is dealing with
the same Onizuka, but watching him walk a much narrower tight rope…
It’s intriguing to consider how the manga might react to the new
twist in its careful balance act and how 14 Days might consequently
develop in subtly different ways than the original.” —Ain’t it Cool
News
“I have never read a GTO comic before this, so the prospect of
reading what amounts to a spin-off was a bit intimidating. Luckily
the premise is pretty simple… I liken this book to Columbo. Anyone
who has ever watched a Columbo episode knows that Columbo is going
to solve the case. The real pleasure comes from seeing how the
bumbling detective puts it all together… The figures are strong and
confident, and the backgrounds are stunning.” —Stumptown Trade
Review
“If one were to travel into the universe of GTO: 14 Days in Shonan
and look up Badass on Wikipedia, I would find the article deficient
if a picture of Eikichi Onizuka didn’t appear as the illustration
of choice on that page… I walked into GTO:14DiS with admittedly
hazy memories of the original story—no plot specifics, just a
general understanding of the overall storyline. It took only a few
pages to get everything straight.” —Genji Press
“I loved it… The most surprising thing about 14 Days in Shonan is
its ability to address serious social problems without devolving
into an Afterschool Special. The hand-to-hand combat and barrage of
condom jokes helps mitigate against didacticism, to be sure, but
Fujisawa is skillful enough to make the students’ personal troubles
a meaningful—and sometimes moving—part of the story, inspiring
Onizuka to new heights of creativity (and silliness) in his efforts
to reach them. Highly recommended.”
—The Manga Critic
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