Through the events explained in the Great Teacher Onizuka manga, Onizuka decides to become a teacher, even though it is later implied that he has an IQ of about 50 (Though not not necessarily true). His initial teacher training is in the Musashino Public High School, where he meets Nanako Mizuki. His experience taming the rowdy gangs in his assigned class hardens his convictions that teaching is the way to go, and when he learns of Mizuki's problems, he also decides to abstain from sexual experience with his students, opting to solve their personal issues for them, instead.

Unfortunately, he nearly messes up by forgetting to take the public teachers' civil service exam. As a result, no public high school will take him, but he is still eligible for a number of private schools. He manages to get a job at the upper-crust Holy Forest Academy, despite the objections of vice-principal Uchiyamada Hiroshi, whom he continues to aggravate well into his tenure. Of course, one of the conditions of having the job at Holy Forest is that he must sleep at the school - in the storage room at the top floor, with roof access - and it is here that Onizuka officially starts his career in teaching, when he stops Yoshikawa Noboru from committing suicide.

Onizuka is put in charge of class 3-4, a class so bad it has already driven several teachers insane. Not only does he survive the class's brutal bullying tactics, but he also befriends his students, and the backbone to the story of Great Teacher Onizuka consists of his unique experiences in turning his students around and learning lessons of his own.

It is later implied again, during the National Exams, that Onizuka might actually be some sort of genius. His exam results were swapped: once for full marks, and once for just short of full marks. However, when Yoshito Kikuchi is asked whether he is curious about Onizuka's true results, he checks the answers himself and the result amazes him. He checks with Onizuka, who states that he definitely got perfect results from his own effort (which would be incredible, since he did a 5 hour exam in 1 hour, bleeding, and having 4 bullets in his stomach).

Onizuka has incredible physical resilience. On more than one occasion, he has fallen from heights that would instantly kill most people and claims to have a sort of healing factor, as he healed from a broken arm in less than a day, and even endure multiple gunshot wounds, in a short period of time. Onizuka often presents his strength in unintentionally flamboyant ways, such as armwrestling over 100 men of exponential strength in a row and winning (including the character Heihachi from the Tekken series of fighting games, and Jason Voorhees from the films called Friday the 13th (series)). His fighting abilities are not to be taken lightly either, as Onizuka is capable of fending off multiple opponents, even if they are well-armed, and almost never receives any physical damage.

In spite of his impressive fighting skills, Onizuka is often roughed up by his students, and others, whenever he behaves badly. It could be speculated that deep down, Onizuka knows when he's acting immature, and allows others to keep him in line. An example of this is when he forces his students to dig the earth for buried treasure during the Okinawa trip. Kanzaki Urumi kicks Onizuka into a hole, and later forces him to wear S&M garb and has him crawl around on all fours, with Urumi riding on his back. Yet another example is when Principal Uchiyamada has Onizuka over for dinner and hits him upside the head with a wooden bench after finding out that Onizuka was acting a bit of a letch with his daughter one day (Onizuka was playing "where's the nipple" with his daughter, at a karoake bar in town).

His personal mode of transportation is a Kawasaki Z11 motorcycle 750cc type s. The bike itself is also featured heavily in the prequel series to GTO.

The protagonist. At the beginning of the series, Sakuragi was a slacker, always trying to ask girls out but getting constantly rejected (the 50th rejection occurring at the start of the series). He then met Akagi Haruko, with whom he fell in love immediately. This passion led to him joining the Shohoku basketball team. However, as a complete beginner, he was not able to keep up with the rest of the team at first despite his physical attributes (great height, athleticism, stamina, speed and leaping ability). He regards himself as a genius though, with self-confidence that borders on arrogance. His most recognizable trait is his red hair, though he shaves his head as reparation for an error that led to the loss against Kainan.

At first, Sakuragi was known for his poor basketball skills as a beginner; in his first few official matches, he fouled out every game. However, his basketball skills advanced throughout the series. First he developed his basic skills, such as dribbling and layups. Then, trained by Akagi, he became a formidable rebounder; his rebounding became his claim to fame throughout the latter half of the series. He also is seen more than once defining the match for Shohoku in the last seconds, for instance, by dunking a ball that Akagi would have missed in the league round match with Ryonan. His jump shooting was then developed by Coach Anzai, who had him make 20,000 shots in a week. He hit a buzzer-beating jump shot to win the match against Sannoh. However, he also injured his back during the match against Sannoh, and underwent rehabilitation after Shohoku's subsequent loss to Aiwa Academy.

In spite of the setbacks he has had to face, Sakuragi displays a great deal of tenacity and determination that carry him through and help reciprocate for his other failings, both on and off the court. Although his love for Haruko and rivalry with Rukawa are the main driving forces motivating him to succeed in basketball, his injury during the Sannoh match makes him realize that he has actually come to love the game, leading him to give his all for his team and bring them victory.

Mystogan is a former S-Class mage and was one of the strongest mages of the Fairy Tail Guild. He is also the most mysterious member of Fairy Tail as he does not show himself too much.

Spike Spiegel is a bounty hunter on the spaceship Bebop and a former mobster with the Red Dragon Crime Syndicate.

Height: 5' 11"
Weight: 180 lb
Age: Unknown; over 130 years.

Vash displays two different personalities. Vash usually exaggerates foolish characteristics to make people feel unthreatened and to hide his identity; for instance, exhibiting an almost obsessive love of doughnuts and at one point introduced himself as "Valentinez Alkalinella Xifax Sicidabohertz Gombigobilla Blue Stradivari Talentrent Pierre Andri Charton-Haymoss Ivanovich Baldeus George Doitzel Kaiser III". Vash's reputation as "The Humanoid Typhoon" is legendary, as is the damage and destruction associated with his presence. However, when those around him are threatened, Vash shows complete focus and control.

Vash is a very multidimensional character -- quite literally a walking contradiction. He is often a womanizer, and other times a gentleman. Sometimes he is a coward, yet other times he shows great courage. He is a wanted man, yet he wouldn't hurt a fly. He also appears young, but is actually very old. 

Despite his age, has still not found peace with himself. A point of conflict in the series are the inner differences between Vash and Millions Knives, his twin brother, and their regard for humanity. Though Vash and Knives have gone through the same experience and torment, Vash chooses to remain hopeful and loving toward humanity, where as Knives has fallen into a deep-seated hatred of their race. Their personalities also have key differences: Vash cannot stand the despair of being alone, whereas Knives revels in his loneliness and has no desire for any company.

Because Vash refuses to kill any of his opponents, he often suffers at the hands of very persistent enemies and their attempts at revenge. As a result, his body is a patchwork of large scars, chunks of missing flesh supported by metal mesh, and stitch marks.

After the death of Yukishiro Tomoe, Himura Kenshin became a free wielding swordsman to protect members of the Ishin Shishi. Shishio Makoto became his successor as the shadow hitokiri (assassin) and was responsible for the assassination of Izuka, the man who had betrayed the shishi.

The future Meiji government was more secretive about Shishio than Kenshin; many members of the Chōshū and Satsuma clans (the members of the future Meiji government) would have very little information on him.

Later, the new Meiji government believed it would be in their best interests to eliminate Shishio before he became too powerful since Shishio was a man who desired power. Thus during the Boshin War, Shishio was rendered unconscious by several gunshots, doused in oil and burned alive by the new government formed by the Ishin Shishi. He survived, sustaining severe damage to his entire body. Afterwards, he assembled a group of the best fighters in Japan, called the Juppongatana (Ten Swords), to overthrow the Meiji government.

Shishio envisioned a Japan ruled by him, enforcing the principles of natural selection, or what he called "the strong eat the weak". Using this belief he ran a campaign against the Meiji government, as he felt it was too weak to effectively lead the country. Using his motto, he molded an ideological disciple out of Seta Sōjirō, who served as his right-hand man, and the strongest of the Juppongatana. He planned to strengthen the economy with petroleum once he took over the country.

The leader of Akatsuki is a mysterious figure. None of the other Akatsuki members refer to him by name, instead simply calling him "leader," and his face is rarely shown. He has the respect of most of his subordinates (Hidan is an exception) and is the one directing their actions. He is also the one to initiate and supervise the jutsu that forcibly brings a tailed beast out of its host.

The thirteenth successor to the sword art of Hiten Mitsurugi-Ryu, Hiko Seijuro saved young Shinta from marauding bandits who killed his companions. Hiko then took care of Shinta, and renamed him Kenshin ("Heart of Sword") after claiming that Shinta was not a good name for a swordsman. He became angry and disappointed with Kenshin, because he ran away to join the rebellion against the Tokugawa regime. He shut himself away from the rest of the world; he lives as a potter close to the forest near Kyoto.

Hiko is perhaps the strongest swordsman around; he is way too superior even to Kenshin. Although the two are comparable in speed, Hiko possesses a superior sense of judgement in combat and the superhuman strength (hidden, and even suppressed, underneath his heavy cloak) to wield Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu to its maximum. After fifteen years, master and student meet once more. It is then that Kenshin will complete his training, if Kenshin can survive Hiko's ego.