Series synopsis
Gokusen, also known as ｢ごくせん｣ is a Japanese drama comedy television series that premiered on Nippon TV on April 17, 2002. It ended on June 28, 2008. It was created by Kozueko Morimoto. It stars Yukie Nakama, Katsuhisa Namase, Jun Matsumoto and Haruma Miura.
Newly graduate Yamaguchi Kumiko an idealistic teacher who entered Shirokin High to be a math teacher. Having high hopes for her students, her world turned up side down when she finds out that she'll be teaching the class 3-D the hardest class to take care of. Class 3-D is a bunch of students who looks more like delinquents and trouble makers. The students show no respect to teachers nor a little kindness. Each and every student doesn't like teacher for almost everyone has no good memories of the ...
Premise
Newly graduate Yamaguchi Kumiko an idealistic teacher who entered Shirokin High to be a math teacher. Having high hopes for her students, her world turned up side down when she finds out that she'll be teaching the class 3-D the hardest class to take care of. Class 3-D is a bunch of students who looks more like delinquents and trouble makers. The students show no respect to teachers nor a little kindness. Each and every student doesn't like teacher for almost everyone has no good memories of them. The leader of the class is Sawada Shin. He is well respected for there are rumors that he beat a teacher to death. The students try there hardest to bully and make fun of her so she'll quit but all there efforts went to waste because Yamaguchi ain't an ordinary Teacher. Yamaguchi Kumiko is actually the 4th generation heir to Oedo group, a yakuza clan. Even though everyone in there clan wants her to the next leader, she made up her mind and so everyone accepted it.
Cast and characters
Leading cast
- Yukie Nakama as Kumiko Yamaguchi
- Katsuhisa Namase as Goro Sawatari
- Jun Matsumoto as Shin Sawada
- Haruma Miura as Ren Kazama
- Shun Oguri as Haruhiko Uchiyama
- Jin Akanishi as Hayato Yabuki
- Yuya Takaki as Yamato Ogata
- Kazuya Kamenashi as Ryu Odagiri
Supporting cast
- Kenji Anan as Hiro Wakamatsu
- Mokomichi Hayami as Hikaru Tsuchiya / Tsucchi
- Junta Nakama as Rikiya Ichimura
- Shosuke Tanihara as Kujo Takuma
- Misaki Itō as Shizuka Fujiyama
- Shohei Miura as Shunsuke Kamiya
- Ken Kaneko as Tetsu Asakura
- Teppei Koike as Keita Takeda
- Ikki Sawamura as Tomoya Shinohara
- Ken Utsui as Ryuichiro Kuroda
- Kengo Kora as Kengo Funaki
- Hiroki Narimiya as Takeshi Noda
Guest cast
- Hiro Mizushima as Hiro Misawa
- Ryosuke Miura as Ryosuke Muto
- Otoha as Hitomi Shiratori
- Toshiya Sakai as Taichi Inuzuka
- Fuyuki Moto as Takashi Kameyama
- Yukiko Ikeda as Sayuri Wanibuchi
- Mikihisa Azuma as Seiga Baba
- Jun Inoue as Ginji Kurokawa
- Yōko Minamida as Matsubara
- Akito Kiriyama as Satoru Kuraki
- Jutta Yuki as Murayama Jutta
- Kosuke Kujirai as Kosuke Ohira
Episodes
This series spans 4 seasons with 36 episodes.
| Season | Episodes | First aired | Last aired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 0 | 3 | March 26, 2003 | March 28, 2009 |
| Season 1 | 12 | April 17, 2002 | July 3, 2002 |
| Season 2 | 10 | January 15, 2005 | March 19, 2005 |
| Season 3 | 11 | April 19, 2008 | June 28, 2008 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Gokusen Special: Goodbye Class 3D ~ Yankumi's Tearful Graduation Yankumi's students finally enter their graduation. But before that happens, the students prepare for a trip, having to be very cautious that they don't get into trouble or the students may be expelled and Yakumi may be fired. Yankumi, Kawashima and Shizuka also go on a trip. Turns out that the students and Yankumi went to the same onsen. |
March 26, 2003 |
| 2 |
Gokusen Special 2 Yamaguchi reunites with her students after the end of season 2. |
October 8, 2005 |
| 3 | Graduation Special '09 - Yankumi's Last Graduation! | March 28, 2009 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
A zealous teacher goes on a rampage Yamaguchi Kumiko, a new teacher at Shirokin High School, has been assigned to teach a class full of the school's most notorious delinquents. Unbeknownst to her fellow teachers, Yamaguchi is better equipped to deal with her rowdy students than most: as the granddaughter of the head of the Oedo family, she grew up around yakuza gang members and has learned to fend for herself. When one of Yamaguchi's students, Kumai, is accused of stealing a bag of money from the head teacher, she is forced to intervene to keep him from getting expelled. But is he really as innocent as he claims to be? |
April 17, 2002 |
| 2 |
Don't abandon your friend When the students create posters making fun of her and the head teacher, Yamaguchi learns that they have given her a nickname, "Yankumi", which she unexpectedly embraces. One of the students, Minami, is seeing a new girl. One day, he arrives badly beaten and gets into a fight with another student, Sawada. It turns out that the girl Minami is seeing was also going out with a boy from another school, who calls him out on the matter. Inspired by her grandfather's yakuza values, Yamaguchi encourages the boys to stick up for their friend. |
April 24, 2002 |
| 3 |
Don't judge only by appearance A serial purse-snatcher is targeting women in the neighborhood near Shirokin High School, and Uchiyama, one of the students in Class 3-D, is a prime suspect. Determined to prove Uchiyama's innocence, Yankumi and a few of her students set out to catch the real thief. |
May 1, 2002 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Highschool is a once in a lifetime experience, do not waste it! ...That zealous teacher has returned! In the first episode, two characters are introduced. Hayato and Odagiri. Hayato is the leader of class and childhood friend of Odagiri. For some reason, Hayato and Odagiri fought and now Odagiri Ryu quit school and is now working to some dangerous guy. Odagiri refuses to go to school as well. How will Yankumi bring back her precious student back to school? |
January 15, 2005 |
| 2 |
A person's power is not decided by his physical strength, there's a much more important thing within. Yankumi has convinced Ryu to go back to school but Hayato is still against him. The atmosphere in class suddenly changed when the two met. Although Ryu isn't against the reconciliation thing, Hayato still holds grudge of what Ryu did in the past. While Yankumi tries her best to let the two make up, Hayato took Yankumi as an annyoing teacher leading him to challenge her. |
January 22, 2005 |
| 3 |
You guys are my one-and-only students!! How can I desert you? Some guys are around the neighborhood beating people up and claiming that if they have any problem, they can go to Kurogin high. They also say that they are Hayato and Odagiri. One night the two were set up on a crime they didn't commit and the worst is no one believes them and the police officer wants them arrested. How will Yankumi find the impersonator and clear her students name? |
January 29, 2005 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
That Yankumi has returned. Finally, the revival of the legendary school drama!! Three years after her resignation from Kurogin Academy, Yankumi returns as the new homeroom teacher of Akadou Academy's 3-D! Upon her arrival, she discovers that the class is full of delinquents, and is divided into two opposing groups that are always at each other's throats. One of the students, Kazama Ren, is suspected to be behind a series of muggings, and while the rest of the class doesn’t seem to care about his predicament, Yankumi resolves to prove Kazama's innocence. |
April 19, 2008 |
| 2 |
From now on, you guys are my friends!! Determined to teach class 3-D the true meaning of comradeship, Yankumi seeks out different ways to relate and get closer to the students, yet all her efforts seem to be thwarted. Meanwhile, the two heads of said groups, Ogata Yamato and Kazama Ren, decide to have a one-on-one fight to finally determine who's the better boss, but when this turns out futile, they find themselves settling their differences in the most unusual of means. |
April 26, 2008 |
| 3 |
Start over anytime!! The Spring Inter-Class Competition is nearing, and now that Ogata's and Kazama's sides have already made peace, Yankumi is more fired-up to have the whole class join and conquer the rugby match. Ichimura "Ichi" Rikiya, Yankumi's student, meets an old classmate from junior high, Takasugi, who seems to be a quiet, studious boy, but actually has a dangerous side to him. |
May 3, 2008 |
Production
Release
| Original network/platform | Nippon TV |
|---|---|
| First aired | April 17, 2002 |
| Last aired | June 28, 2008 |
| Runtime | 45 minutes |
| Status | Ended |
| Schedule | Saturday at 22:00:00 |