sayonara zetsubou sensei 1
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There is only despair!
(Shaft^n + PPD mangaka^n = despair^n for all n>2. Okay, last time I use that line. For the week.)
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (Goodbye, Mr. Despair) is a twelve episode story about the most negative guy in the world (correction: the most negative guy in the world without a blog, since snobby bloggers are generally the most negative people around) and the most positive girl in the world who didn’t come from the Goddess Relief Office. Their oddball pairing provides most of the… misadventures? comedy? drama? tension? I dunno… help me out… of this series. Zetsubou and the pairing of Kafuka and Pink Supervisor feels a lot like Welcome to the NHK, only more abstract, less conventional, and more subtle.
(Yes, I know about episode two. I’ll write something up about it before Wednesday, k?)
There are some people who can’t stand the Shaft/PPD style, and if got sea sick from PPD and Negima!?, maybe Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei isn’t for you. There’s a lot of weird camera angles, lots of weird scribbles, and an unevenly paced story… all hallmarks from the Shaft-Kumeta pairing. I don’t think that this style works well, just because most of the time Shaft goes into a mode where they must be wacky and overpower whatever comedic or drama value the original material had just to be wacky. Maybe the somewhat less chaotic tone of Zetsubou will help, but I’m planning on following this series until I get sea sick from Shaft.
Dark Clouds of Despair
Kafuka. Awesome character. I’m not sure what is more of her hallmark: her incessantly rosy view of life or the fact that everytime she’s on screen, it looks like she’s posing with her ass sticking out. In either case, she’s like Nia if Nia never got expunged from Spiral King’s side, had a shorter, ass-accenting skirt, and Simon and Kamina never found Gurren Lagann and rotted to death underground. She can also be described as Hayate’s not-so-poor-but-equally-optimistic-and-cheerful twin sister.
Pink Supervisor. I enjoy a.f.k.’s rendition of the name enough that I’m going to refer to Mr. Despair as that from now on. The opposite of Kafuka, he looks negatively at everything in life, only negatively in a non-standard way. He’s like a typical MySpace/Blogspot emo teen full of angst, only he’s supposed to be a role model type as a teacher. But part of me just thinks that he just needs to get laid.
Chiri. She’s like Adrian Monk’s illegitimate Japanese daughter. Reason #13,349 why I like anime to be no other form of entertainment can make serious behavioral issues like MPD and OCD seem moe and normal. Like if Rena and the Sonozakis didn’t go emo on us, it would seem, well, odd.
Scenes like this one remind me, “Yes, the Shaft-Kumeta is hard at work.” I’m just glad I didn’t see Mesousa or the Tri-Force in this episode. Or maybe I just repressed and blocked them out subconsciously.
(I saw that Ichiro got a $100 million extension, and since he’s the greatest singles hitter in my generation, I think it’s a bit overpaid but okay. The $120+ million Rashard Lewis got, on the other hand, is a franchise killer.)
The “It’s definitely possible!” confrontation between Kafuka and Pink Supervisor was pretty good, and I enjoyed her despair points. God? Time traveler? Thingamagig? Damn. I was hoping for esper/alien.
Funny scene with the name, and names have a lot of meaning in this anime (but for most anime, names do have a lot of meaning already so I have no point her, as usual) but I’m still hoping for someone to shop this as Lucky ☆ Star. That would be the right thing to do.
I think this is Shaft’s go-to pose. I don’t know a lot of girls who walk around like that, but I would sure like to meet more.
Sinister ploy to sell more DVDs. Yes, censor Kumeta is kinda creepy. I’m actually missing the police tape effect that they used for Galaxy Angel Rune.
The ear is an erogenous zone, even more so for the Ferengi.
a.f.k. is definitely one of my favorite fansubbing groups… but… Bobby McFerrin! He’s one of the all-time greats. I saw him live twice in SF (once for a SF Symphony event the other a Concert in the Park series), and he’s a great live singer. How the hell do you feel despair with Bobby McFerrin around? He’s like the black, widebody, more musical version of Kafuka.
Silver Lining
The evolutionary Ahoge. I think one of the characters with the most upside for summer 2007.
20 Responses to “sayonara zetsubou sensei 1”
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One of the better shows this season I must say, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed both episodes thus far.
I haven’t seen a comedy in a long time, so this is a definite watch for me. Sayonara, Mr. Despair. I’m going to laugh now!
[quote post=”1125″]Shaft^n + PPD mangaka^n = despair^n for all n>2.[/quote]
Other blogs:
Today I learned that the current batch of Bleach fillers isn’t quite as bad as the previous ones.
Today I learned that yes, J-dorama recaps are just as boring as one would expect J-doramas themselves to be.
Today I learned that Teresa is OMGWTFBBQ teh HAXX.
AoMM:
Today I learned that if an integer n is greater than 2, then the equation a^n + b^n = c^n has no solutions in non-zero integers a, b, and c.
Anime on My Mind: Bringing mathematics to the anime-loving masses.
This show is gold. I know you’ve already seen ep2 but wow… The Despair+Hope thing works really well. I like it and afk just makes it better
I loved this show… mostly just how “clean” the art is, and some of the characters are just flat out adorable (the hikikomori girl, for one).
They sort of cut out with the creepy censor thing in ep3, but you’ll still see his face around an awful lot.
~mawaru mawatteku~ casting Nonaka Ai (“Honey” Ichijou-san from PPD) as Kafuka = sheer genius. Just waiting for her to spring a ‘Kafuka Matsuri’ on us =P. And the ED for Zetsubou Sensei is even more spine-chilling enjoyable than Higurashi Ni Kai’s (BTW, what IS Horie Yui and her ~Uguu~ voice doing in Higu… For a while I thought that it must’ve been a trick by the subbers…)
Not as awesome as I had imagined… I really don’t like how SHAFT works anime. (I’m currently having a hard time going through Tsukiyomi MOON PHASE and I have to listen to the OP every time because the *music* is great.) In any case, the second episode contains some even more great stuff!
And this series really needs a swimsuit episode or something similar. Throw one in for fun.
pink supervisor= person after watching eva marathon + eps 25&26. Or he’s secretly hideki anno and he’d just finish directing eva.
didnt find it that funny, but animation so far’s pretty good.
This show’ll definitely get my vote as the sleeper hit of Summer ´07. Initially I was somewhat wary of the simplified, flat art style but they’ve made it work with all the… quirky animation things they have going on. The rapidly changing, completely off-topic blackboard comments are gold… and that student counselor is teh secks.
[quote post=”1125″]but I’m still hoping for someone to shop this as Lucky ☆ Star. That would be the right thing to do.[/quote]
Faeries grant wishes:
http://img457.imageshack.us/im.....tarvo0.jpg
Quick 5-minute hack though, with the letters ripped straight outta LS OP. I’m sure someone with kanji truetypes on their rig will be able to do a more thorough job.
[quote post=”1125″](I saw that Ichiro got a $100 million extension, and since he’s the greatest singles hitter in my generation, I think it’s a bit overpaid but okay. The $120+ million Rashard Lewis got, on the other hand, is a franchise killer.)[/quote]
Dude, you live in the Bay Area. Barry Zito hits closer to home, and he’s WAY overpaid, and totally not living up to it.
That looks great Northernshadows.
I just hope Zetsubou Sensei doesn’t go Negima!? on us.
I was a little skeptical about this series, but after a quick pick and some funny scenes, I get to love it. As an old friend said, you got to love or hate Shaft’s work; in my case, I love their work as far as I can handle a Negima with such a sucked ending…
Episode 2 was awesome in many ways… keep with it until you get sick of it
episode 2 is definitely FTW.
all i can say is… 0.1428
too funny
Well it’s not my type humor – I’m more the moe blob guy. But I definitely like Kafuka Fuura aka Seifuku chan, she’s even hotter than a wet souske.
kafuka is so datealicious… >.>
I like the anime but dislike Shaft’s style. Next ep has some awesome characters, though! Loli-hikikomori! Stalker-chan!
[quote comment=”152303″]Not as awesome as I had imagined… I really don’t like how SHAFT works anime.[/quote]
I’m pretty sure I wrote something like, “There are some people who can’t stand the Shaft/PPD style, and if got sea sick from PPD and Negima!?, maybe Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei isn’t for you.” For those people, I’d say go watch some Umisho.
[quote comment=”152308″]Faeries grant wishes:
http://img457.imageshack.us/im.....tarvo0.jpg
Quick 5-minute hack though, with the letters ripped straight outta LS OP. I’m sure someone with kanji truetypes on their rig will be able to do a more thorough job.[/quote]
Awesome, I may use this image as part of the thin slicing post… if I ever get around to it instead of watching old Simpsons episodes.
lol
[quote post=”1125″]The $120+ million Rashard Lewis got, on the other hand, is a franchise killer.[/quote]
Nothing can ever top the money we wasted on Grant Hill and T-Mac, Jason. The only thing we have left from that deal is Trevor Ariza, thankfully he’s decent. Actually, something does top that. We lost Shaq TWICE. Basketball in Orlando…well, at least we’re better than Heat fans. Fairweather hacks.
Probably would not have heard/given this series a second glance without this post, so thanks for that.