The List
6 Greatest School Teachers
by Lynzee Loveridge,
Teachers are asked to go above and beyond just feeding students information and handing out tests. They're counselors, trusted advisers, and can foster a safe place for troubled kids. These week's list looks at teachers who really care for their students despite being adult delinquents themselves (or a giant yellow alien octopus thing).
6. Aikuro Mikisugi (Kill la Kill)
The bumbling homeroom of Honnōji Academy appears unremarkable. He's shown wearing aviator-style sunglasses and waddles around with a sheepish expression. The entire thing is a cover for the proudest member of the Nudist Beach resistance group. Mikisugi infiltrated the school both to aid Ryūko in her fight against the Kiryūin conglomerate and to discover more about the Life Fibers. This leads him to fighting to protect his charges (and the rest of the world) from the mind-controlling affects of materialism. Like the rest of Nudst Beach, Mikisugi spends as much time in as little clothing as possible. His nipples glow whenever they're on screen, but I'm not sure if that adds to his "greatness" or not.
5. Minamo Kurosawa (Azumanga Daioh)
Minamo "Nyamo" Kurosawa is the beloved homeroom and gym teacher in the classic slice-of-life series Azumanga Daioh. She's very reliable, and her students trust her enough to come to her whenever they have troubles and need adult advice. Her status as the most well-liked teacher fuels the rivalry between Kurosawa and more slovenly Yukari Tanizaki but the two are actually very close, despite their spats.
4. Junichirō Kagami (Denpa Kyōshi)
Kagami is an otaku who ends up putting his collection of nerdy factoids to good use. Initially a 24-year-old anime otaku, Kagami gets on the bad side of his sister and winds up being a substitute Physics teacher to appease her. He specializes in fostering growth in his misfit students in ways only a guy with limitless anime knowledge can, including giving his students weird nicknames like "Potato." Kagami's approach is unorthodox (although not to the level of some others on this list) but it focuses on acceptance of outlying students, like the crossdresser Kōtarō Araki or Kanan Chinami, who suffers from "anime voice."
3. Koro-sensei (Assassination Classroom)
Let's briefly overlook the fact that the tentacled monster destroyed most of the moon and is threatening to destroy all of humanity. Koro-sensei's real calling isn't to be a weapon of mass destruction. What he really excels at is being a positive motivating force for his misfit students even when they're trying to murder him. He teaches Tomohito Sugino to improve his pitch by focusing on his own strengths and pushes Nagisa to value himself instead of throwing his life away at the whims of the class bullies.
2. Kumiko Yamaguchi (Gokusen)
The tracksuit sporting Kumiko Yamaguchi is the homeroom teacher to class 2-4, a classroom populated with juvenile deliquents. This might make most teachers uneasy, but Yamaguchi is right at home. What her students don't know is that she's the heir to a clan of Yakuza and has zero problems holding her own in a fist fight. Under her tough exterior, Yamaguchi is idealistic and really just wants what's best for her students. These abilities earn her the respect of her otherwise troublesome kids and help them better themselves.
1. Eikichi Onizuka (Great Teacher Onizuka)
Eikichi Onizuka was motorcycle gang member. He developed his own philosophy on life from his time as a juvenile deliquent and sets out to share it as the greatest teacher ever (and maybe pick up some single moms on the way). He gets a job as an instructor to a group of students who have driven all their previous teachers to mysteriously unfortunate ends. Tasked with the daunting challenge of whipping a bunch of bullies into shape, Onizuka's special brand of street smarts means he's able to heal each pupil one at a time.
The new poll: Which Spring 2015 anime are you most looking forward to?
The old poll: Last week we asked what version of Dungeons & Dragons got you started. Qyute a few if started with Advanced. Personally, I played my first campaign almost 15 years ago with 3.0.
- Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 32.3%
- D&D 3.5 24.8%
- Original Dungeons & Dragons 22.0%
- D&D 3.0 9.3%
- D&D 4.0 4.4%
- I Started with White Wolf/Vampire: The Masquerade 3.7%
- D&D 5.0 3.5%
When she isn't compiling lists of tropes, topics, and characters, Lynzee works as Associate Editor for Anime News Network and posts pictures of her son on Twitter @ANN_Lynzee.
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