Kinpachi-sensei

Kinpachi-sensei ３年Ｂ組金八先生
Genre	Drama
Created by	Mieko Osanai
Starring	Tetsuya Takeda
Composer(s)	Missa Johnouchi Ichizo Seo
Country of origin	Japan
Language(s)	Japanese
No. of seasons	8
Production
Producer(s)	Mitsuru Yanai
Broadcast
Original channel	TBS
Audio format	Stereo
Original run	October 26, 1979 (1979-10-26) – March 27, 2011 (2011-03-27)
External links
Website

Kinpachi-sensei (３年Ｂ組金八先生, San-nen B-gumi Kinpachi-sensei^?) is a Japanese television drama.

Kinpachi-sensei is the story of a 3rd year junior high school class in Japan; its teacher is Kinpachi Sakamoto (坂本金八 Sakamoto Kinpachi), played by Tetsuya Takeda. Kinpachi-sensei has a lot of social commentary on issues such as homosexuality, gender identity disorder, and psychological pregnancy--as well as bullying (of both students and teachers), teenage pregnancy, teenage suicide, hikikomori, and the extreme pressure to do well in school.^{[citation needed]}

The series began in 1979, a pivotal year when issues such as delinquency and on campus violence reached a fever-pitch amongst the educational spectrum; "Kinpachi Sensei," portrayed by former singer Tetsuya Takeda of Kaientai fame, attempts to resolve such problems using a blend of charisma, honesty, and humor and wit.^{[citation needed]}

In 2001, the series helped to rocket Aya Ueto to greater national attention after she portrayed a student with gender identity disorder; Kinpachi made it his mission to teach the class about issues relating to gender identity so as to stop Ueto's character from feeling consistently alienated from her peers.^{[original research?]}

In 2011, Keito Okamoto of Hey! Say! JUMP will appear in the drama's final episode as a student delinquent.^[1]

Part of Kinpachi sensei's enduring appeal is the fact that the character's energy and dynamism help to steer him through all of life's difficulties; there never seems to be a single time in the show's history in which Kinpachi is not beset by a host of social or personal problems: teen bullying, Kinpachi's son developing cancer, violence directed against teachers.^{[original research?]}

In popular culture

• In the TV anime Gintama there is a segment which sometimes appears after the ending theme where Sakata Gintoki, the series' main protagonist, portrays a lollipop-smoking teacher called "Ginpachi-sensei," teaching class 3-Z.
• Author Koushun Takami's Battle Royale contains a character named Kinpatsu Sakamochi, a satirical reference to Kinpachi. In Takami's text, Sakamochi is a sadistic individual who seems to gleefully delight in the exploits of the 42 students forced to kill each other in "The Program." Some^{[citation needed]} critics see Sakamochi's sadism as a sardonic attack on the idealized Kinpachi. The manga version of Battle Royale has an evil teacher named Yonemi Kamon, while the film has Kitano.
• In the Live-action version of the anime "Great Teacher Onizuka" ("GTO"), Onizuka makes a few mentions of Kinpachi-sensei, implying that he is a fan of the series, since his complete collection gets stolen in one of the beginning episodes.

References

1. ^ "Keito Okamoto cast in Kinpachi Sensei finale". Asia Pacific Arts. 02/08/2011. http://asiapacificarts.usc.edu/article@apa?keito_okamoto_cast_in_kinpachi_sensei_finale_16353.aspx. 

External links

• Official website (Japanese)