This movie is weird. As in, #WEIRD# weird. And hilarious. Even if you don’t know that much about Japanese culture (although the more you know, the better you’ll get some of the jokes).
Ganpachi Chabane, escaping from a genetics lab (he has some of the DNA of a cockroach) takes on the job of teacher at Emperor High School, the most feared institution of learning in Japan. (Well, the place in Abashiri Family was worse, but it got trashed. I think the Spartan Institute of Higher Education might be more hideous, but at least they don’t have gang warfare in the halls.) It’s gotten so the only teachers they can keep are paroled convicts. He intends to Clean Up the school, beginning with Classroom Plum (the place where all the worst delinquents are) and restore Good Teaching and The Japanese Way to Emperor High.
Sounds pretty much like your run-of-the-mill teacher story, right? In the grand tradition of Up the Down Staircase, Dangerous Minds, and so forth, right?
Wrong.
Opposing Ganpachi is Shiratori Hinako. The beautiful, intelligent student whom he saw on his way in and decided to dedicate his clean-up of the school to. Very probably the smartest person in the school (she’s even acknowledged as such at one point in the show).
Did I mention that she’s also the soubanchou (Head Boss) of all the gangs at Emperor High?
How remiss of me.
And she seems to have won the position in the time-honored fashion of kicking all challengers’ asses, too.
Her two lieutenants and most loyal followers are Watanabe Ryuuichi, the school brain, and Matsuri Kansuke, bokutou wielder. Also devoted to her is Umekichi, the typical delinquent-lunk-with-a-heart-of-gold.
She just has one little problem… her psychological dependency on Maneki-neko no buruuma™ (Beckoning Cat / Lucky Kitty Gym Shorts™)… (these are things like ballet shorts, worn over one's underwear; they often constitute part of the summer gym uniform.)
And also pursuing Ganpachi is Karima Burei Hakase, a scientist from the genetic engineering lab the so-called “Ultimate Teacher” escaped from, who has sworn to hunt him down. To better succeed in his endeavor, he has altered his own DNA, combining it with that of a spider.
This is zany. Weird. Hilarious. (The Maneki-neko Pride-Smashing Corps have to be seen to be believed.) There’s supposedly a manga out there by Yamamoto Atsuji, but I’ve never come across sight nor sound of it. In pace and feel, it’s a little like some of the “school” episodes of Urusei Yatsura (if anything).
But this stands on its own merits.
Just watch the show.
You’ll be glad you did.
The Ultimate Teacher is available in the United States from US Manga Corps.