Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei

Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei is a 12 episode romp of insanity and sarcasm that aired on TV in Japan in 2007. The series follows Nozomu Itoshiki in his adventures as a homeroom teacher for a class of bright and promising high school students. Our first introduction to Itoshiki sensei is when one of his classmates, Kafuka Fura, finds him on a beautiful spring day hanging by his neck from a cherry tree. In a valiant effort to preserve the serenity of the day she struggles to remove him from the tree…by yanking down on him. Itoshiki scolds her for trying to kill him and the pair begins to debate reality. Itoshiki is the most pessimistic person in existence, the weight of society and the world around him presses heavily on his shoulders, leaving him in a constant state of despair which also leads him to attempt suicide to end his psychological suffering over the worlds’ blindness and moronic optimism. Kafuka on the other hand is the shinning example of that blind moronic optimism. She tells him he could not have possibly been trying to kill himself on such a beautiful day and instead says he must have been trying to make himself taller, much like her parents do frequently, such as her father does after losing a job.

    The rest of the class is just as colorful. Some of the students include a quiet, mousey girl who is always texting. When her texts become public you find out that she is a ruthless, hate filled demon. Another is the oft missed class rep, with premature balding and a complex about being invisible. Another character is forever wrapped in bandages, she gets hurt while attempting to play with the wild animals in the zoo she works at. One character is a hikikomori, another stalks Itoshiki-sensei and even tries to join him in death. My personal favorite is an illegal immigrant girl who purchased her citizenship papers from a boy who use to be in the class. She has an odd habit of collecting junk.

Every active member of the class retains some type of personality disorder and as the series progresses the characters are showcased one by one. There is no discernible plot for the series, let alone for each episode. While there is sometimes a vague direction an episode will go in it might not always stay the course. The main point of the series is comedy through satire and social commentary. The series, following in the foot steps of Pani Poni Dash is overflowing with commentary, obscure references and inane inside jokes. While watching this series I had to pause the show more than with Pani Poni Dash to read all of the handy liner notes provided by the more versed fansubbers. Opposed to Pani Poni pausing the show so much did not cause much confusion in the general direction of the show…as there usually is no general direction.

    This is another series to lump into the growing field of insane satirical comedies. Each new series appears to attempt to top the previous one by being more sarcastic, more biting, more obscure and more poignant. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing either. Zetsubo Sensei is fresh and intelligent. It is the darkest of the sub category I have seen, with some things even shocking my hardened senses. My favorite shock was when Kafuka and another student follow the immigrant girl to her house. She talks about all the wonderful things Japan has over her homeland, how the Japanese through out perfectly good things. As she digs through a pile of garbage one of the items she pulls out is a live new born baby. In the same segment she continues to espouse the virtue of her new homeland, saying, among other things, that they treat children well. As she is saying this we see a scene of a creepy wide eyed otaku drooling over a little school girl. The series leaves nothing sacred and no truth hidden when it comes to modern Japan and the problems it faces, but it does all of it in an incredibly funny and psychotic manor.

    The animation is non-traditional and employ’s some interesting techniques that can be jarring at first but grow on you, such as the coloring of sensei’s kimonos. Again, this is a very intelligent series that is quick witted and deeply critical. If you don’t have a penchant for such shows, this is not for you. The show also has no coherent story line to it, which will turn many casual fans away. This is for hardcore fans, people who understand references to current and past events in Japan as well as bizarre anime. If you enjoyed Pani Poni Dash or Welcome to the NHK you can enjoy this series. If you enjoy black humor and can laugh at anything, this series can be for you to enjoy till your hearts content. The biggest problem I have with it is that there is not more of it, but that soon changed After the original series a second TV show was aired, Zoku Sayonara Sensei and a 2 part OAV set Goku Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei is currently (Jan. 2009) being released in addition. The anime has not yet been picked up by any companies outside of Japan, but the manga is being released in America by Del Ray.

UPDATE: The series has been licensed in North America by media Blasters and is available on DVD.  In addition to Zoku Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei, there was also a 3rd series titled Zan Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei and a second OAV.  Nothing beyond the original series has been licensed outside of Japan though.  Perhaps this series proved to bizarre for most audiences and didn't provide enough return on investment.