“…And then I’ve read Gravitation seventh volume for the 4th time and I wanted to see more kissing, but I felt that the main character wasn’t uke enough so I complained in the forums…”
So, now it’s the time of the bishie looking and chicks magnet of the blog to make his contribution to the 2007 anime reviews (In spite of the rumors, no I’m not a seme, uke or anything that the yaoi fangirls of Impz would scream in delight for… ). I decided to review one of the most witty and sarcastic animes you shall find around, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei.
Story summary
SZS (short name of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei) plot revolves around Nozomu Itoshiki, a very pessimistic high school teacher who seems to be in a permanent depression and tries to suicide on every excuse he can find. He is confronted with a peculiar homeroom class, with students who are wierder than him, specially Kafuka Fūra, a girl who sees everything the most positive way possible (for example, she calls hanging suicides attempts as “trying to become taller”.) The clash between the depressed sensei and his unique class will originate the most wierd and funny situations ever.
Why this show must be watched
He downloaded by mistake some shota yaoi doujin.
SZS is filled with several little details who entrances the viewer closer to the show. One of those details is the style of humor used: it isn’t the easy gag humor normally used in comedic animes but a sarcastic and witty humor remiscent of good old Britcom. The themes are often related to japanese society and values, or simply about trends and values currently in fashion.
The characters itself are satires of several personality types and their names also point to that fact. For example, Nozomu Itoshiki’s name, if written horizontaly, looks like zetsubō (despair) and Kafuka Fūra can be derived from Franz Kafka. (which is known for his apparent absurdity of his works and the difficulty of translating his works without losing or warping their meaning.)
Focusing more about the characters, they are surprisingly moe in the middle of the oddness they are surrounded. From the hikkikomori girl Kiri Komori to the dual nationality and dual personality Kaere/Kaede Kimura, they are all extremely appealing to the sight, which is enhanced by the peculiar artstyle of the show.
Anime characters can read blog anime reviews too.
Speaking of artstyle, it’s really impressive how the show managed to grasp the manga’s original style, who has a emphasis on straight long lines and silhuetting of the characters. Being animated by Shaft, they added the studio’s propension for cinematographic angles and focusing, enhancing the artsy feeling of the anime.
A last thing to focus is the introduction of side marks, texts and pictures hidden in the anime, referencing to random remarks from the mangaka and animators to references of other animes and mangas, like mentions to Gundam models, Kenshin quotes or sneak cameos of fusions of Dragonball Z. The amount is so great that requires several views of the episodes to detect them all.
If you like intelligent humor and wittyness, this is a show to see. And don’t be afraid, a 2nd season is already planned for those who are entering in withdrawal.
As a ending gift, I leave you the OP of SZS, which it is by itself a worthy piece of art, being on the same level of Ef’s OP. It has reached such level of fandom that has spawend several SZS op parodies using several characters from other animes, which i’ll focus in more detail in a future post. (One worth seeing is a SZS op parody with the characters of Persona 3…)
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9 Comments
I like Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei for the zetsuboushita~ lament, which I use liberally to mock all the angsty-heavy stories out there, where Everyone Dies just because This Is Art.
I find it interesting to see how some of the reviews out there call it a satire of the moe harem genre (due to the presence of all the girls), while I see it more as a satire of wangst. Don’t always look on the dark side of life, people, or you’ll end up like Zetsubou-sensei.
I don’t think it’s only a satire of harems or of angst. It’s simply a show filled to the brim with witty dark humor, and I like the show for that. It’s not redemptive, it’s very ephemeral, but who cares? It is funny, anyway.
I think it’s a satire on a lot of things. The over dramatizing of everything by saying it puts him in despair can fit anything from school harem drama #235 to Gundam. But yeah, I would agree that this does effectively parody the moe harem genre, because these characters are just so fucked up, but in a great way. Plus I love the play on all of their names, stuff like that is what I go around and research/figure out for fun. I love random references and puns like that.
Nozomu is just a great lead, he despairs over just about anything, like most harem leads do. But obviously he does it in a funny way. Epic show overall with both a truly epic OP and ED.
Everytime I watch SZS I have to keep a finger on the space bar to pause when some parody comes out. But a lot of times I miss coz it’s just too damn fast.
The OP is awesome enough, but I actually really love the music of the ED.
Can’t wait for Zetsubou Sensei’s comeback =)
I am not anime cultured enough to understand the parodies…the chalkboard…it haunts me…
Oh, yes, I admit that it probably satirizes the moe harem genre among other things. But it’s kind of an affectionate parody, much like the satirization of the angst-filled sort of shows.
What really gets skewered, at least as much as they dared to show on TV anime, is all the references to Japanese current affairs. I was surprised that they actually managed to get it to air at all, even though they mostly poke fun only in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it manner. It’s a bit Monty Python-esque, except, yanno, Japanese instead of British.
This anime is super hillarious especially when Kafuka suggested to call Nozomu as Pink Chief. Nozomu at first resented it as it resembles name in lewd show. I saw the anime in Veoh.
Thank you Metrolollcon Exchange for blogging about this anime which otherwise would not be known.
Nozomu suicide tendencies seems to be triggered by every little event in life and his prone to hopelessness. He have been bugging the student counsellor every now and then.
I sense that Kafuka optimisme is something to alleviate her despair over her parent suicidal tendencies whenever anything goes wrong in their lives. She have a way to describe all the negative into positive.
Hope you will keep blogging for many more interesting anime to come.
“I am not anime cultured enough to understand the parodies…”
You and me both. It’s a shame, I love this show, but I feel the jokes/references flying past me at Mach 3. I need an annotated guide, maybe with pictures and video clips so I can see the original source and then this show’s satirical take on it.
Having said that, what I do understand is awesome. I’m going to foist this show on my brother, first chance I get. He loves this sort of thing, and while he won’t get the references, either, he’ll treat it as a challenge.
Thanks for writing such a good review!