Yuta Yamazaki Returns as Masaru Watanabe in New GTO Drama
Yamazaki's return as Masaru Watanabe connects the 2026 GTO series directly to the 1998 original and 2024 revival, using a familiar character to bridge Onizuka into a new school setting.
Reporting from 1 sources: Cinema Today.
Yuta Yamazaki will reprise his role as Masaru Watanabe in the July season drama "GTO" starring Takashi Sorimachi, airing on Kantele and Fuji TV from July 20. The new series is set at "Private Seishin Gakuen", a school with a teacher feedback system where students anonymously evaluate teachers. Yamazaki's character, now working as a delivery person, helps Onizuka take the teacher employment exam.
Yuta Yamazaki will appear in the July season drama "GTO" on Kantele and Fuji TV, reprising his role as Masaru Watanabe from the 1998 series and the 2024 "GTO Revival". The new series, starring Takashi Sorimachi as Eikichi Onizuka, is set at "Private Seishin Gakuen", a school with a teacher feedback system where students anonymously evaluate teachers. In the 2026 version, Onizuka reunites with Masaru, now working as a delivery person, who helps him take the teacher employment exam. Yamazaki said the production team of director Satoru Nakajima and writer Kazuhiko Yuikawa has strengthened the feeling of the original era, and that on set the atmosphere with Sorimachi is friendly and fun.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.
Sources
- Cinema Today 「GTO」新作に山崎裕太出演 渡辺マサル役続投「たくさんのサプライズが届く作品」