* Title: ごくせん
* Title (romaji): Gokusen
* Genre: Comedy, School
* Broadcast network: NTV
Season 1
* Episodes: 12 + Special (Graduation)
* Viewership ratings: 17.43% (not including SP)
* Broadcast period: 2002-Apr-01 to 2002-July-03
o SP: 2003-Mar-26
* Air time: Wednesday 22:00
* Theme song: Feel Your Breeze by V6
Synopsis
The story of a young, idealistic teacher who enters Shirokin Gakuen with hopes of making a difference in the students' lives. However, Yamaguchi Kumiko (Nakama Yukie) is in for a rude awakening when she finds that she will be the homeroom teacher of 3-D, the hardest class to maintain in the school. The students have multi-colored hair, sloppy uniforms, and show absolutely no respect to her. The leader of the class, Sawada Shin is lazy but bright and shows some interest in Yamaguchi when he notices that she is very different from other teachers. The students try to bully her to make her quit, but their attempts don't get them very far.
What the class and the rest of the school does not know is that Yamaguchi Kumiko is actually the 4th generation heir to the Ooedo Group, a notorious yakuza clan. Even though her family would like her to take the title of Ojou when her grandfather dies, they have accepted the fact that Yamaguchi would rather be a teacher.
Eventually, the students learn to respect their quirky teacher because of her devotion to them, and even give her a nickname: Yankumi.
Cast
* Nakama Yukie as Yamaguchi Kumiko (Yankumi / Ojou / Kumichou) (Math Teacher/Class 3D adviser)
* Matsumoto Jun as Sawada Shin
* Namase Katsuhisa as Sawatari Goro, Kyoto (School Vice Principal)
* Utsui Ken as Kuroda Ryuichiro (Kumiko's grandpa / 3rd Generation Oedo Yakuza Boss)
* Anan Kenji as Wakamatsu Hiro
* Kaneko Ken as Asakura Tetsu
* Uchiyama Shinji as Tatsukawa Minoru
* Ryogoku Hiroshi as Sugawara Makoto
* Oguri Shun as "Uchi" / Uchiyama Haruhiko
* Waki Tomohiro as "Kuma" / Kumai Teruo
* Narimiya Hiroki as Noda Takeshi
* Ishigaki Yuma as Minami Youichi
* Ito Misaki as Fujiyama Shizuka (English Teacher)
* Nakazawa Yuko as Kawashima Kikuno (School Nurse)
* Nabe Osami as Ando Osamu (Social Studies Teacher)
* Kohmoto Masahiro as Iwamoto Kouhei (P.E. Teacher)
* Okuma Ichiro as Oyama Hajime (Science Teacher)
* Tayama Ryosei as Shirakawa Gonzou (Principal)
* Saito Satoru as Washio Kanji (Japanese Language Teacher)
* Sawamura Ikki as Shinohara Tomoya (Police Officer)
* Sakata Tadashi as Kashiwagi Yutaka (Police Officer)
Class 3D
* Kawai Jun (河合潤) as Akechi Jun
* Minato Kohei (港耕平) as Imagawa Kohei
* Okabe Hiroki (岡部紘樹) as Uesugi Hiroki
* Kamiji Yusuke as Oishi Yusuke
* Izumi Masayuki as Ouchi Masayuki
* Kanazawa Koji (金沢浩司) as Oda Koji
* Matsuzawa Ren as Gamo Ren
* Kitamura Eiki as Shimazu Eiki
* Sainei Ryuji as Sengoku Ryuji
* Tomita Sho as Takeda Sho
* Tomita Shigeo as Chikamatsu Shigeo
* Sasaki Hitoshi (佐々木仁) as Hazama Hitoshi
* Hatanaka Masafumi (畠中正文) as Hattori Masafumi
* Furuhata Katsutaka (古畑勝隆) as Fujiwara Katsutaka
* Nishikawa Yuya (西川祐也) as Houjo Yuya
* Nagayama Hiromi (長山浩巳) as Hosokawa Hiromi
* Morimoto Ryoji as Horibe Ryouji
* Yashiro Shingo as Maeda Shingo
* Onodera Takamichi (小野寺尊允) as Matsudaira Takamichi
* Matsuyama Kenichi as Mori Kenichi
* Nishitani Aruto (西谷有統) as Yagyuu Mitsuru
Guests
* Tanaka Koutaro as Watanabe (student of Ara High School, ep2)
* Inoue Yoshiko (井上佳子) as the thief victim (ep3)
* Asaka Mayumi as Uchiyama Sayuri (Uchi's mother, ep3&7)
* Touma Sora (藤間宇宙) as Teradomari Yuichi (Class 3A, ep3)
* Ooshima Youko as Teradomari's mother (ep3)
* Kurita Riko (栗田梨子) as Morisaki Ami (Momoyuri Girls High School, ep5)
* Handa Kento as the student from Jinguji High School (ep5)
* Wentz Eiji as Yuki Masato (27th student of Class 3D, ep6)
* Otsuka Yoshie (大塚良重) as Yuki Masato's mother (ep6)
* Ohgo Suzuka as the younger Kumiko (ep6)
* Sunaga Chie (須永千重) as Kumai Masako (Kuma's mother, ep7&11)
* Nishioka Tokuma as Sawada Shotaro (Shin's father, ep7)
* Ichikawa Yui as Sawada Natsumi (Shin's little sister, ep7)
* Oki Naomi (沖直未) as Sawada Kyoko (Shin's mother, ep7)
* Tawaragi Tota as Noda Takeshi's father (ep7)
* Yamaguchi Shifumi (山口詩史) as Mori Kenichi's mother (ep7)
* Kobori Haruki (小堀陽貴) as Kawashima Yuuta (Kawashima Kikuno's stepson, ep8)
* Maeda Masaaki (前田昌明) as Kawashima Kikuno's father-in-law (ep8)
Recognitions
* 33rd Television Drama Academy Awards: Best Actress - Nakama Yukie
* 33rd Television Drama Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actor - Matsumoto Jun
Trivia
* Gokusen is an abrevation of Gokudo no Sensei which means Gangster Teacher.
* Teruo Kumai is nicknamed "Kuma" (Bear) not only because it's a derivative of his last name, but also because he tends to look, act and eat like a bear.
* In epi. 11, Yankumi confiscated mangas from her students. Two to three of those were Gokusen mangas.
* The Graduation Special was aired 9 months later in March 2003 after the series ended in June 2002. All of the original cast were retained.
* Season 2 was aired last January-March 2005, 2 years and 6 months after the series and 1 year and 9 months after the special. Some of the original cast were retained.
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