| | Alternate title : Goodbye Mister Despair
Studio : SHAFT
Licenced by : Media Blasters
Length : 12 Episodes
Year : 2007
Genre : Comedy - Drama - Slice of Life
Synopsis :
Based on a Manga. A suicidal teacher, who can see nothing but the worst in life is saved from committing suicide by a girl who turns out to be one of his students. A girl who is unfailingly positive, unable or unwilling to see anything negative in life. Who believes with effort, any obstacle can be overcome.
The teacher with no hope, gets a student with more than she needs, and a class in desperate need of guidance.
Additional Notes: This series ranked #16 in Anime-Source's Best of 2007 poll.
The manga is being scanalated under the title Sayonara Sad Sensei.
Added : 2007-07-12
Synopsis by : Molenir
Last update : 2010-03-12
Last update details : Modify info
Score : 8.5
Number of reviews : 10
Link(s) :
Official #1 : StarChild's Zetsubou Website (Japanese)
Song(s) :
Opening #1 : Kenji Ohtsuka and the Zetsubou Girls - Damn Twisted Person
Ending #1 : Zetsubou Girls - Unparalleled Beauty
Release(s) :
2008-01-03 -- Episode(s) 12 by a.f.k.. BT Link
2007-12-31 -- Episode(s) 11 by a.f.k.. BT Link
2007-12-08 -- Episode(s) 10 by a.f.k.. BT Link
Found 26 releases. Click here to [ Find them! ]
Hits : 36758
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Posted by : Scamp
Posted on : 2009-01-23  
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is an anime that takes one very good joke platform and uses it over and over until they have squeezed every last drop of humour you could possibly get from it. Then they go ahead and make a second season of the exact same material, which is when this show finally gets boring. But for the earlier episodes at least SZS can be very astute and very funny.
One thing you can be assured of is that you will never have seen anything quite like the SZS style of humour. It’s not exactly jokes as such, more like a parody of life itself. Each episode focuses around some part of humans in everyday life that leaves our hero ‘in despair’. Unless you live under a rock or are a politically correct ponce, you will be able to relate to pretty much everything that shows up in this show. They can be flat out hilarious at times, although I do stress can be. While each sketch is undeniably astute, it doesn’t always mean that it’s actually funny. Of course there are also times when a certain joke hits the spot and you won’t be able to breathe for laughter.
While watching SZS you will develop a severe case of pause trigger finger. There is a huge amount of writing in the background and the only way to read most of it is to bash that pause button as much as you can. If you have the patience for this then it can be very rewarding as some of the best jokes only appear on the screen for a second, slightly hidden by somebody committing suicide or something equally random. On the other hand, if you don’t have the patience for constant pausing, the writing in the background will only serve to make it more difficult to read the actual subtitles to what the characters are actually saying.
There is no other anime like SZS. Its style is one of the most bizarre you will ever see, but because of that it is definitely worth watching, unless you are easily offended. Seriously, if you are easily offended, stay far, far away. The main character is a suicidal teacher, and this is one of the less dodgy things. There are also random bits of fanservice thrown in at regular intervals. Actually I never got the joke behind all the pantyshots. It seemed to me that they were some sort of in-joke with the staff running it. Heck, the entire show felt like an in-joke at times, such as plastering the author's face as a weird sort of censorship. And as for the second opening song, that’s just disturbing.
I do recommend checking this out because it just might be exactly your type of thing. If you loved the first season, the second season is exactly the same and you’ll probably love it too. If you just liked the first season, then stay away from the second as you will get bored very quickly. And if you didn’t get the show, then maybe you should leave the house a bit more.
Posted by : kevinchaosvs 
Posted on : 2008-06-08
Story: 78% for originality
Animation/Graphics/Design: 80% for uniqueness
Characters: 80%
Music: 60%
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei sure is one quirky series, belonging to the rare few bunch of anime that features dark/satirical humor.The series is so loaded with references, it makes me think that they (the production team) seem to consider any blank walls/background left blank is a pity; I had to continuously pause the screen to read all the blackboard and other texts related gags.
Zetsubou is also composed of a rather unconventional animation style: the use of very 2-D animation, which makes the entire series look rather flat and also gives the feeling of old traditional Japanese artwork. Another reason for this animation style is to accommodate the fact that it is full of blackboard gags, and hence the simplistic animation style made it easier to read the texts. Also, I will understand if many don’t find this series entertaining, as the most of the references aren’t about anime, but on stabs and cynicism at societal issues and trends in Japan, and the viewers may not get the jokes, if you don’t live in Japan.
What I like most, however, is the play on the names of the characters, as well as Sensei’s signature catchphrase “Zetsubou shita!" (I’m in despair!)
The song for the OP wasn’t exactly to my liking, but I like the OP as a whole for its content which was funny in a weird manner, what with the very ecchi animation, which was totally random. I preferred the song for the ED.
Summary:
While this is no doubt a great show, this series isn’t recommended for everyone, especially if satirical humor isn’t your cup of tea.
Personal overall rating: 75%
Posted by : du5k
Posted on : 2008-05-08
SHAFT (the production studio)’s new unique style made me like Hidamari Sketch, and for the same reason I like this series. Some people talked about how the anime doesn’t translate well from the manga to animation, but I think it’s just different styles of doing it. The show is comedic, filled with many random stories of the protagonist’s class out together. It was a little disappointing though, that after the episodes that introduced the main characters in the class (the first half), the flow of the series seemed to have broken, as they’re being filled with their random comedic nonsense and theories (the second half). I find that I enjoyed the first half of a series a lot more though.
Like most of SHAFT’s recent works, the style of the story made use of very unique two-dimensioned animation throughout the series, which gives off an artistic and light-hearted feel, and in this case, helps the comedic sense of the series. It relies on individual creative frames/scenes to tell the flow of the story, a very different approach from what you’ll expect from Kyoto Animation (another studio), which relies on highly detailed scenes and high frame count to do that.
It took me some time, but I eventually like the OP “Hitotoshite Jiku ga Bureteiru�? enough to put it on my 3rd choice in this year’s OP survey. It’s really good (and somewhat lewd) how they combined it with the SHAFT animation style. The ED is good though it never really spurred my interest.
I really hope to see more of what the first half delivered, though the second half wasn’t bad at all. If you’ve liked ef- a tale of memories, Cromatie High School, etc, I think you’ll like this.
Plot-wise: 8
Story Style: 9
Animation: 9
Music: 9
Value: 9
Posted by : Molenir
Posted on : 2008-04-29
I can easily understand why people would have a negative opinion of the show. I'm rather more surprised that the majority of people who have written reviews, have been positive towards this. Particularly as positive as they are. Its about a teacher who is despairing, about life and everything in it. Who tries repeatedly to commit suicide, and yet always somehow fails. His class which has so many unique students, from the abusive email girl, to the tail pulling bandaged girl, to the unfailingly positive girl who always sees the bright side in every issue. (His exact opposite.) The episodes introduce us to the students, and place them in situations where their unique traits are displayed in humorous ways.
This show is unique in so many ways. From the extremely pessimistic attitude of the teacher, to the animation, to the storyline, everything. Its definitely not a traditional comedy following the formulaic outline of whats expected. That is both its strength, and its greatest weakness, as its hard to judge what has never been done before, simply because there is no frame of reference. In the end you have to judge only by your reaction to it, and very little else.
This is a show in order to catch everything, you have to pause it frequently. They flash jokes, or comments that unless you're quick, you'll miss them. Constantly changing whats written on the blackboard and on various signs posted around. Giving occasional glimpses of the forbidden as Hikkikomori girl is changing, or Chia sensei is doing something...
For me, I found Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei to be funny throughout. Weird often, occasionally ecchi, but so unique as to be a breath of fresh air. Toxic air perhaps, but new air definitely. I definitely recommend this show, but suggest strongly you look for the subs AFK put out, as they translated just about everything.
Posted by : Chikage_Shampoo
Posted on : 2008-04-26
Why does this series have such good reviews?
Though at first Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is a good series, it quickly becomes boring and monotonous. Its charm lays in its over-the-top reactions and the ridiculing of society, which is portrayed by each character that Zetsubou-Sensei contends with.
What we have here is an endless series of complaints and overdone reactions by the main character - which spreads to the other characters in the latter episodes.
Well, it also shows a storyline of all of his students - all of which consist of their own unique, extreme personality. We have a stalker, a quiet girl who is actually quite mean in her text messaging, a girl who has mean eyes and is supposedly misunderstood but who is really mean, a perfectionist, a girl who loves to play with animals and thus gets her bones broken, a freakishly fake optimist, a girl completely oblivious to the ways to the world, an American girl acting mostly as fanservice who supposedly has a Japanese personality that hardly ever comes out except for when she introduced. But what is amusing at first becomes repetitive later.
"I'M IN DESPAIR!" Yes, that's great for the one who says the trademark line, but when all of the other people start doing it, why, it becomes quite boring.
The episodes weren't even interconnected. What seemed like a cliffhanger in one episode was just cast away the next. Yes, ending, I'm talking about you. Talk about disappointment. Of course, this added to the random nature of the anime, but other than that I was not impressed.
And what exactly was the ending?
One must feel pity for the males of this anime. While harems typically contain a main loser guy and two other guys who make the main character seem better by contrast, this one really overdid it. Zetsubou sports a bald male and a fat male (and one other whom was made fun of for liking soccer in the first episode), the first of which is ridiculed for his baldness (and is only noticed when he IS bald).
Random fanservice was also abundant and quite out-of-place. While the series had a kick going in comedy, a random scene would suddenly pop up, or it would occur in the commercial break pictures. Also, the poor American girl - what impression does this series give of all Americans, to have the only girl be rude and only used for fanservice? And I love how pictures of the creator's face was used to block the bad parts.
As for the "main girl," she was downright annoying. She would pop up randomly - EVERYWHERE, like a bugbear - and then rant on about the "good things" in life. Unfortunately, her high voice sounded fake, instead of sounding like an innocent child.
As for the teacher, I wish more would have been done with him instead of the students. The students weren't even worth noticing.
There was no resolution, which is to be expected for a comedy. There only remained a bunch of mishaps that became monotonous after a while.
On the other side, Zetsubou Sensei can be seen as a satire of the wrongs of society. At least, that's what the main character is for. I do not know what to say about the other characters, except that they are probably satires in themselves as well.
Another good aspect of this anime was the animation. Although the only character I really liked was Zetsubou-sensei, the animation for the backgrounds was pretty at times, like the cherry blossoms in the first episode.
I liked some of the background music, but did not really enjoy the opening or ending themes.
In conclusion, Zetsubou-sensei should be seen for its main character, and perhaps if you enjoy satires, you will enjoy this anime.
Posted by : jajajajaja07
Posted on : 2008-01-24
This series is great, though it does have some flaws...
The plot revolves around a teacher named Nozomu Itoshiki. When his name is written horizontally, it looks like zetsubou, which means "despair" in English), which fits his extremely paranoid, pessimistic, depressive and suicidal mindset.
In fact, most characters in this anime have names which derive from Japanese words which describes the character (but in some cases, like for the names of Nozomu's siblings, it is still unknown whether "Dr. Death", or "Ms. Peerless" really live up to their names).
The series begins where, during a suicide attempt, Mr. Despair is "saved" by a girl named Kafuka FÅ«ra, who happens to be a student in his class. Kafuka FÅ«ra is an incredibly optimistic girl, which would make her the exact opposite of Mr. Despair. Where he sees only the bad in people, places, etc., she only sees the good. It's so funny, because Kafuka FÅ«ra is able to make even the most hopeless and evil things that Mr. Despair points out seem good.
We are introduced to other students in his class in the first few episodes, who each have fascinating personalities and characteristics. For the most part, the series was very enjoyable and funny, but there were some episodes where I just didn't get the joke; or even if I did get it, it just wasn't that funny.
Now about the animation, once I saw the animation, I knew immediately that it was done by Shaft Studios, the same studio that animated Pani Poni Dash and Negima!? I am a fan of their style of animation and design; for the most part, they produce very high-quality scenes, and as shown in this series, they can make the scenes very cartoony or have a serious atmosphere.
The music for the opening and ending themes are very catchy, though the opening scene which goes with the opening song is less than... wholesome, or... child friendly, to say the least (after the first few episodes you will see what I mean). I believe the voice actor for Kafuka FÅ«ra, as well as other some of the other voice actors, sang for the opening and even the ending themes; I like it when the voice actors for the series can sing too.
Overall, this series was fun to watch, but honestly, some of the scenes were not funny, or interesting. Even so, most of this series was great, so this series deserves a great score of 8.
Posted by : darksimperson01
Posted on : 2007-11-25 
Based on the first 9 episodes. Warning - releases slowly.
A must for anyone who likes originality and something a bit different in their anime tastes, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei shows that a series which combines dark and random humour can create a unique flavour that will make your brain cells tingle for more.
From the first seconds with a rocking opening theme tune that ranks highly on my favourite music list, through the main course with uniquely disturbed characters through to the "graffiti" jokes, sayings and random tidbits, this anime is not to be missed.
Watch it, watch it now.
Posted by : Volt-Dragonhunter
Posted on : 2007-10-17
This series is astounding, though not all episodes have yet been released.
I'm writing this after watching up to episode 7, which is at this point of time the latest one released by a.f.k.
Animation(10/10)
The Animation is very very good, tough it's very special too. All the characters are somehow drawn the same but you can always figure out which of those crazy students it is. Sometimes they bend in real life scenes like they do in Spongebob, which has a very funny effect.
Music(9/10)
The music is great too, I like both OP and ED and the background music, too. Somehow it always fits in the scenes.
Characters(10/10)
The characters in the show are funny, not clichéd like in her series, I have never seen a SMS-abusing girl in a show before, neither have I seen a hikkikomori like that. Of course the characters don't have too much depth, there are too many of them to deepen one.
Comedy(11/10)
What's the best part about this series is its comedy, sometimes it's gotten me to spit out salvia over the whole keyboard, didn't laugh about that matter later, had to buy a new one -.-. The comedy-style is kinda strange, it's a mix between sophisticated jokes(!!Overexaggerated!!) and nonsense runts.
I recommend it to everyone who loved series like "Lucky Star" and similar ones(Like me).
Posted by : Shurka
Posted on : 2007-09-20
I can honestly say this is one series to watch. I've only seen five episodes (...not much progress from the last review...), but I only needed to see the first five minutes of episode one to know I was going to like it.
The art style, randomness, and dialog is really top notch stuff. From the tail pulling fetish girl to the fusion dance gag with "Mr Despair" (Which is what his name spells out horizontally written) and the stalker girl, the quirks are fresh and never get old.
Though it is a bit new to give an accurate rating, I say watch it anyway. I'm sure it'll just get better and better.
Posted by : kaellis
Posted on : 2007-08-13
*******************BASED ON ONLY 4 EPISODE*****************
Adapted from its graphic novel comes a new type of hilarity, which was already nominated an award even before it was released as an anime. The setting of the show seems to be appaling at first, but as time passes by the viewer later finds out that death has its lighter side in life.
Animation: 10/10
The animation is the key highlight for me it really added depth to the scenes and the random spurred word scattered all around the scenery was astounding.
Episodes: 9/10 (Based on 4 episodes)
Basing on only 4, yes FOUR episodes the anime has already promised to be quite endearing set as Azumanga Daioh style one episode is cut to different sections for different students.
Character: 9/10
Mr. Itoshiki has a habit of bringing about the worst possible situations in life, luckily for him he has a student who does the exact opposite. Itoshikis student, Kafuka, defines hanging someone as "growing taller" or stalking as "deep love" seeing as how they act together is how they round-about their comedic values.
Music: 6/10
Probably the only thing that disappointed me was how they didn't have the right music for the right scenes, at some times it even felt blank but seeing as how I've only based this on only 4 episodes I have yet to see something promising for this series.
I really liked this anime as of late no new comedy has come out so come try this one out if you're looking for something new!
Likers of Haruhi are sure to enjoy this series.
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