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New Live-Action GTO Gets New Years Special
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
The new live-action GTO television remake series will receive a two-hour special in January. EXILE dance/vocal group member Akira (pictured at right) will reprise his role as Onizuka, a former gang member who becomes an unorthodox teacher. The "GTO Oshōugatsu Special" (GTO New Year Special) will follow the show's characters during a "troubled" week between Christmas and New Year's Eve.
The special will guest star another EXILE member, Matsu (pictured far right), as a mysterious cabaret club manager who is observing Onizuka. The special will also star Yuta Hiraoka (Mirai Nikki: Another World), AAA band member Misako Uno, bikini model Mitsu Dan, and actor Ren Osugi (The Twilight Samurai).
In the special's story, Onizuka throws a Christmas party for his students before the winter break, but Miki (played by Mariya Nishiuchi) alone feels depressed. Additionally, Miki and her classmates attend a short cram school session during winter break featuring a new handsome teacher (played by Hiraoka). Also, Onizuka's policeman friend Saejima Toshiyuki (played by Yūsuke Yamamoto) rescues a mysterious woman named Maria while on patrol, and he finds three abandoned infants at Maria's apartment.
The special will air on January 2 at 9:30 p.m.
Tohru Fujisawa's original manga has 45 million copies in print, and it previously inspired a 1998 live-action television series with Takashi Sorimachi in the title role. The earlier live-action version garnered an average rating of 28.5% and a series-high rating of 35.7% for the finale. The 11-episode remake live-action series starring Akira aired in July-September, and also received a special in October.
Source: Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web
