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First Impressions of Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei: Random, much?

Posted by blissmo 15 August 2008 7 Comments

Slice-of-life never ceases to humour me.

Confusing rather than hilarious would be the most suitable description for the first few minutes of Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei’s initial episode. After the strange and somewhat dull opening theme, the sudden turn of events that tumbled one after the other seemed to make better sense. The characters obtain an overly exaggerated persona of “ordinary” humans, which only adds more sweet comedy to the honey. Regardless, the artwork, while unique, is also beautifully austere that I can’t seem to stop myself from admiring the simplicity. Since all the characters were introduced so abruptly after the other, I can’t seem to remember any names. “Even the simplest of events can have the deepest of meanings”, but in this case, the characters are the ones who seem to have a prominent message behind their attitudes.

One good example of this would be Hito Nami (God bless Wikipedia), who claims to be a truant and despises it when people refer to her as a “normal” girl. In this episode, she also tried to desperately make her classmates show sympathy towards her — why? I’ve never been much of a philosophical fan like good man newgeekphilosopher, so the only reason I can come up with for her acting this way is that she wishes to be noticed. She could have tried other methods of gaining her classmates’ attention, so it’s a real puzzle why she wanted to lie in order to have people pity her. While Nozomu always looks at life through despairing eyes, I’m beginning to wonder if he’ll ever rid his pessimistic character.

Unfortunately, I would have liked to write more about this, but I felt that I needed to get it over and done with lest I lose my spirit later on. I’m back to being busy again because I’m preparing the constume for the character I’m going to cosplay as for Manifest (that explains the poll on the side-bar, plus cosplaying is a dress-code for my group, so I have no choice). Summing it up, overall this episode was funny, especially when Nami was challenged to remain in school until night befell. Actually, staying after-school is really not that horrible, but I’ve never tried staying back so late either. I’d like to see how the next episode turns out soon! And what are you waiting for — Dragonica is finally out!!

7 Comments »

issa-sa said:

Actually I find it more random that you chose to watch this episode over the entire first season which would’ve explained amongst other things why Hito Nami is Hito Nami. You do realize there’s a whole first season of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei before Zoku?

issa-sas last blog post..More Weeaboo Places to Visit in Osaka

# 15 August 2008 at 4:24 am

manga said:

That’s what I dislike with Shafts anime. They are just so damn random you get left out. For a show like Hidamari Sketch I can accept it, but for a show like Negima I hate it.

For Zetsubou Sensei, it started out ok but then for me it got out of hand.

Oh well. I love their animation so I have to keep watching.

# 15 August 2008 at 5:15 am

tealovertoma said:

I never felt like I got left out. I love how they analyze situations and end up being social critics while at the same time remain funny. Their stabs at moe, tsundere and stereotypical characters are something I’m sure any anime watcher will enjoy. The Sayonara series (2 seasons so far, really hoping for a third) are easily in my top 10 of favourite anime ever, definitely the most clever comedy series I’ve ever seen. That it’s a dark comedy only adds to the awesomeness.

But yeah, like issa-sa said, don’t complain about not knowing any of the characters if you haven’t even seen the first season >>;

Oh, and before I forget, there’s also an episode where they analyze their own anime and even flatout tell you that they’ve been too random. And then continue, of course.

# 15 August 2008 at 7:18 am

jp_zer0 said:

The opening theme? RUMBA grew on me good after a while
jp_zer0s last blog post..Fall 2008 Anime Season Preview

# 15 August 2008 at 9:51 am

IKnight said:

I’m with manga’s comment, at least in the case of SZS (I can’t really speak on Shaft’s shows in general): too much random in the mix for my sense of humour. As for dark comedy . . . from the five episodes I’ve seen, none of the characters are despicable enough for truly dark comedy.

IKnights last blog post..Stranger in a Strange Land

# 15 August 2008 at 2:14 pm

blissmo (author) said:

@issa-sa: Haha, I totally did not know that

@manga: I can’t seem to get enough of the animation either

@tealovertoma: I’ve never been much of a fan of researching about anime before watching it — the pictures were nice so I couldn’t help myself.

@IKnight: I don’t think I’ll be able to remember the characters much either.

# 16 August 2008 at 6:10 am

lostty said:

It’s worth seeing the first season before this one. I preferred the first season a lot more.
I actually really like the opening X) Though, I do particularly like how this series does differentiate itself from other animes. It’s at least worth the watch.

losttys last blog post..Hidamari Sketch x365 episode 6

# 20 August 2008 at 12:47 pm