Kumiko Yamaguchi

	Yamaguchi Kumiko Our Heroine. She is a 23-year-old college graduate, and is newly hired at Shirokin Gakuen. She is very idealistic, and wants to inspire her students and help them graduate high school. For the last 7 years, after the death of her parents, Kumiko has been living with her grandfather, who is the head of an influential Tokyo Yakuza group. Despite this strange upbringing, and the bizarre mannerisms she has picked up from it, Kumiko is a good-hearted girl who has a strong faith in her students, even when they think the world is against them. Her belief in them (and her kickass fighting skills ^^;) help her earn their respect. They give her the nickname "YanKumi"



	Sawada Shin 18 year old SAWADA Shin is the leader of class 3-D. He is cool, level-headed, smart, and somewhat introverted. He has the highest grades in the school, amazingly enough. Everyone in the class looks up to him (though they can't match his grades ^_^) Shin is feared because of an incident back in middle school, where he punched out a teacher. In the drama, Shin develops an interest in Yankumi after her finds her cellphone one day. He keeps an eye on her. He knows right away that something is not normal about their new teacher. In the drama, Shin has a very strained relationship with his parents that YanKumi helps him with. He also has a younger sister. I am not quite sure if he has the sister in the manga.



	Kumai Teruo Large and tough, Kumai (called "Kuma," or "Bear" by everyone) always seems to be getting into trouble. He's either getting into fights, or being accused of theft, or being attacked by a rival school. In the drama, Kuma's parents run a noodle shop. In the manga, Kuma's mother works at a hostess club. In either situation. Kuma has conflicts with his parents. YanKumi helps Kuma through some tough times. Kuma and Shin are best friends. They grew up together, and Kuma calls Shin "Shin-chan".



	Uchiyama (Uchi) Haruhiko Talk about a difference in looks between the manga and drama! In the manga, Uchi is pretty scary looking. In the drama he is really cute ^_^ He usually has his hair partially bleached, with his roots showing, and all pulled back in little hair clips or a headband. I tend to think of Uchi as the 2nd main student after Sawada. In the drama he is pretty cool, but has had some problems with his mother that Yankumi helps him with. He is also accused of being a purse-snatcher. Poor Uchi is condemmed simply because he is from class 3-D. Yankumi goes to amusing lengths to help Uchi out. He also gets a little romance going in the Gokusen spring special. Uchi in love is really adorable ^_^ Something else I find amusing is that in the drama, the bully Uchi is played by the same guy who played the bullied little student boy Noboru in the GTO drama.



	Noda Noda seems to have a larger role in the drama than he does in the manga. He has a huge crush on the sexy new English teacher. He always wears very colorful scarves around his neck, and after he graduates, he wants to go on to some sort of clothing design school and become a designer. In the spring special, Noda has some conflicts with Yankumi and class 3-D over the graduation ceremony and final exams.In the manga and anime, Noda is very different. He is a lot more tough, and deliquent. He is the one who came up with the nickname "YanKumi".



	Minami A ladies man! Minami always seems to be chasing after high school girls, and can often be found chatting on his cellphone with them or trying to get their numbers. With the way he looks in the manga, I don't think he would be that popular with the girls ^^; Minami faces a crisis that may prevent him from attending the high school graduation ceremony with everyone!


	Shinohara In the drama, Shinohara is a handsome, suave police detective. Kumiko meets him on the bus while running late on her way to school one morning. Because Yankumi's students are deliquents, she sees a lot of Shinohara at work. He is an all-around nice guy but seems slightly oblivious to the huge crush that Kumiko has on him. In the manga, Shinohara is the lawyer that works for Kumiko's Yakuza group. He's handsome and cool. Kujmiko's grandfather helped Shinohara back when he was a law student, and Shinohara works for the Yakuza to repay the favor. Kumiko has had a crush on him for a long time in the manga.