[Anime] Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

I had thought to make a thread on this series, but thankfully, someone managed to beat me to it.

It's been awhile since I've gotten a chance to watch a series with some really dark humor and this series managed to get me hooked from the get go with the most awesome way for two characters to meet up. It feels somewhat like Pani Poni Dash mixed in with a slice of Welcome to the NHK in the topics it addresses (or will seemingly address as this series goes on). I also enjoyed the way Nozomu and Kafuka's personalities just bounce right off of each other to create a pretty good dynamic.

After watching it, there's going to be a lot of good old sarcastic humor floating around in addition to the chalkboard scribbles that are going to be a blast to catch. The reference to Pani Poni Dash with :Generic Character: was also hilarious.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Sakabadger

You've got like no sense of humor, dude.

Also, I think the censorship in this series is inherently awesome because of the facial features. While Hayate uses a static image to do the censoring, the expressions on the censors in this one made for a good laugh because of how appropriate it was based on the parts they were trying to cover up.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Agreed with the above. Furthermore, I'm starting to get some Welcome to the NHK vibes out of watching this. Unlike NHK though, the series doesn't put the depressing stuff out front and give humor a secondary role. In fact, it's just the complete opposite.

Also enjoyed some of the references. I believe Lucky Star might've gotten a few references, but Hidamari Sketch was definitely present, which isn't a surprise since Shaft also did the work for Hidamari.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Loved episode 4 and how they showed Abiru Kubushi's weird fetish as well as pretty much ruining her dad's reputation through Nozomu's antics. Meru Otonoashi's introduction wasn't as good IMO since we already had an idea of how sarcastic she was when entering mail messages from the earlier episodes. I kind of wish they had set that aside to make it more shocking during this episode. Oh well.

Originally Posted by Sakabadger

Now that all the characters have been properly introduced, I guess the action will be picked up a notch. I'm a little disappointed the character introductions are done, though, since I find the character name explanations at the end fascinating.

Do you mean all of the main girls have been introduced? Because I don't think Harumi Fujiyoshi or Nami Hitō have had a segment that dealt with their situations. At least, I don't remember one.

How ya doing, buddy?

I watched episode 6 and I can say that you should definitely watch Guerrand while waiting for afk to get off its hiatus.

As far as the content for episode 6 goes, this time they tackle a whole new issue.

Spoiler:

Highlights include the sordid backstory of Nozomu's older brother who has a hilarious name when it's written in a certain way. I believe that their father may have an odd sense of humor when he named his children since Nozomu's sister is also affected by this weird naming scheme. They also throw in a humorous look at an odd arranged marriage ritual which turns into a madcap event which goes pretty horridly wrong, but it's great to see the way characters react to it all.

The major problem with this episode though was the barrage of movie-like promo posters that kept popping up. I'm pretty sure you have to be Japanese to even understand the references, but to people like us, it's pretty easy to get lost.

So all in all, a good episode though it might not be as good as some of the others because this one isn't quite as strange. The detox episode is still my favorite one though and I'm not sure whether they can top that anytime soon.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Episode 11 was a bit of a downer. The first half was really good because it was something that people could totally relate to and they managed to achieve a pretty good gag with that bit.

As for episode 12, this one was a pretty fitting ending and you could see why they introduced those characters when they did as they're nothing more than one-trick ponies. OK, admittedly most of the characters in this show were one-trick ponies, but they at least had the ability to do variations on their own theme.

Spoiler:

The first girl, Ai, highlighted the guilt complex that I've seen stereotyped in Japanese culture. The presentation of the guilt complex as a syndrome that grips all of Japan is a hilarious thought to entertain, probably because it's true that's what happens when Japanese people interact with each other and one of them becomes upset. At least that's the stereotype I've absorbed.

Of the two characters introduced, I definitely enjoyed the presentation for the first one the most though the second one had her moments as well. I just thought that particular gag was a bit drawn out with fewer variations to throw into the mix. But it was still good overall.

It's only a bit longer before we can expect Season 2 to start, but Season 1 ended on a very satisfying note. Despite Japan's reputation for having an export culture, it's refreshing to see a show that focuses so much on Japan's often-hidden social ills. Because of being able to take on a lot of taboo issues and handling it really well, I'd have to say that this is definitely the best comedy of the year.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?