Title: Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei aka So Long, Mr. Despair Extreme
Genre: Comedy
Company: SHAFT
Format: 13 episodes
Dates: 6 Jan 2008 – 30 Mar 2008

Synopsis: Itoshiki Nozumu is an everyday salaryman who runs a get-rich-quick scheme, but can’t handle women and hates lotuses. However, one day he gets caught up in a secret religious cult called Hamasho. In an attempt to escape from Hamasho’s clutches, he travels over sea by boat, but the island he ends up on just happens to be Hamasho’s headquarters. Captured, he discovers Hamasho’s dark secret: that it is in fact run by altered humans. In order to escape these altered humans, Nozumu casts himself into the sea, only to be captured and tortured by pirates. Somehow he drifts onto land, and is found by Fuura Kafuka, a high school girl. Nozumu is taken back to the infirmary of Kafuka’s school, where he is made a teacher at the school. At first content with the change of pace, Nozumu soon becomes overwhelmed when the students nickname him “left-wing guerilla”. Nozumu decides to cast himself into the sea (again) and end the pain once and for all, but before he does so, Kafuka offers him an ultimatum… (No, it doesn’t make any sense to me either.)

The Highlights
Comedy: Clever, witty, consistent and venomous… what more can one ask for?
Satire: Makes some very insightful social commentaries.
Characters: Completely flat, but so readily useable for a comedy.
Seiyuu: Practically perfect.
Directing: Shinbo sets out all the rules, and then proceeds to break them.

There are some series that are very difficult to avoid being fanboy-ish about, and for me, this is one of them. Believe me, I contemplated writing an objective analysis about this, but putting Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei against any sort of established criteria completely misses what makes it so magical. Not everyone is going to like Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (although the first question one should ask is “do I like the original”), but the fact that it is a completely unique work is one of the many reasons why it happens to push all my buttons. Azumanga Daioh still holds its position as the funniest anime I’ve ever seen, but second place has a new occupant.

Forgive the fanboy slip, but personally I think Shinbo Akiyuki is a bit of a genius. Even before Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, Shinbo has forged a reputation for taking obvious genre pieces and twisting the accepted conventions. But in ZSZS, Shinbo is virtually unrestrained. Not only do we have the obvious visual effects, Shinbo takes the most presupposed aspects of anime, and tips them on their head. One segment has characters speaking in gibberish the entire time, one segment has seiyuu continuously swapping characters and one segment randomly changes animation styles, utilizing techniques rarely (if ever) seen in anime… just to give a few examples. Shinbo refuses to allow the audience to become settled while watching ZSZS. And forget about the fourth wall, there is none.

It’s easy to dismiss Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei’s humour as random, but in reality, it only rarely ever is. Serious thought has gone into almost all of the jokes. Social satire and black humour are unique enough to anime (I’ve wanted to see more black humour in anime for the longest time), but ZSZS works because of the way it utilizes its characters within its brand of comedy. The show could almost be built around Itoshiki, Kafuka and Chiri’s conflicting world views, but the other characters add to make a delicious mix of oddities and social commentaries. There’s almost a shotgun approach to the humour, with a comedy show marathon worth of material compressed into the thirteen episodes. Along with the set up jokes that drive each segment, there are a lot of asides and quips flashed in the background. Spotting all the jokes becomes an exercise akin to finding Wally, with references appearing for a split second, and long lists of single line observational humour momentarily covering the screen. The pause button basically becomes a necessity while watching this show.

For this reason, it’s very hard to not find something to laugh at for any length of time. ZSZS is completely irreverent (and sometimes even venomous) and has a large range of comedic targets. It goes from mocking the universal aspects of human nature, to sending up the most esoteric components of Japanese popular culture, particularly otaku culture and, in a lot of the funniest moments, even itself. This speaks volumes of the show’s awareness, which becomes very evident very early.

I could list this series’ funniest jokes, but it would double the length of this review. Every episode has its moment, but the amazing thing about this series is that some episodes have ten. The animation might be crude (something I’m sure the series has no concern about), but the show’s technical merit lies in the fact that it somehow manages to be both ordered, yet completely manic (not that it always makes sense). The seiyuu, however, are almost impeccable, with each member of the cast taking total ownership of their respective characters. Though the series does ask for a reasonable knowledge of Japanese popular culture, it really is one of the most clever and witty series I’ve seen. My take: Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is hilarious, and Shinbo Akiyuki is brilliant.

The Rating: 9

Reviewed by: Sorrow-kun