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Golden Boy's Tatsuya Egawa Claims GTO Plagiarizes His Debut Manga

Manga creator Tatsuya Egawa (Golden Boy, Tokyo University Story) appeared on the Otona no Yoru no Wide Show Barairo Dandy (Adult Night Wide Show Rose-Colored Dandy) talk and variety show on Wednesday. During the episode, Egawa claimed that Tohru Fujisawa plagiarized his debut manga in the GTO manga.

Egawa said that Fujisawa was once his disciple at a weekly magazine. He laughed as he recalled that "[Fujisawa] had come in as an industry spy. And so he heard so many different things. He listened thoroughly then went off somewhere after three days."

Concerning GTO, Egawa said, "That's definitely a rip-off of my hit debut work Be Free!." When Egawa met Fujisawa again, he claims that Fujisawa admitted to plagiarizing Be Free!. Egawa added, "It's fine because he was a disciple."

The Be Free! manga's story centers on the young high school math teacher Akira Sasanishiki. The teacher has a freewheeling and unconventional style. Sasanishiki tends to go against school policy to do what is necessary to reach his students and educate them about the ways of the world. He is popular with the students, but due to the low quality of his classroom lessons, the school staff evaluate him poorly.

Tokyopop and Vertical published the the various GTO manga titles in North America. Tokyopop describes the original manga's first volume:

Meet Eikichi Onizuka, a 22-year-old virgin and ex-biker. He's crude, foul-mouthed, and has a split-second temper. His goal, to be the greatest high school teacher in the world!

Of course, the only reason he wants to be a teacher is so he can try and score with the hot students? Before Onizuka can become a teacher, he's got to work as a student teacher to earn his credentials.

He may think he's the toughest guy on campus, but when he meets his class full of bullies, blackmailers and scheming sadists, he'll have to prove it.

Be Free! inspired a live-action film in 1986. In addition to manga spinoffs, GTO inspired a television anime in 1999 and several live-action drama adaptations.

Egawa's Bōkyaku no Hate, 16-sai no Jibun e no Tegami (Horizon of Oblivion, A Letter to the 16-Year Old Me) manga abruptly ended on Shogakukan's Club Sunday web manga site in November. The ninth chapter concluded with a "To be continued" message.

Source: Nikkan Sports