Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

In this installment I will not cover too much philosophy because I am so plum-tuckered out from helping a friend write an existential literature paper for her English class, that Sarte can shove it.

The current state of the world is tragic. Murder, rape, war, hate, are all commonplace to earth. The true definition of hope is the chance to accept or deny the human condition and turn it around for all of us. The things that make life tolerable, are the opposites of what makes it unbearable. Love is, to those that have experienced it, the ultimate experience and occasionally worth dying for. Rejection is another facet to the human condition, that perhaps even more people have felt than love. Until we can build androids, or fully mechanize our bodies(the ghost in the shell review comes next guys), we are stuck observing and experiencing what makes us human. There’s your fuckin philosophy helping for the day, let’s get onto the review!

Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is about Itoshiki Nozomu, who is a teacher that, “has been left in despair” for various reasons including; japanese culture, politics, and even a massive conspiracy involving credit theft at turnstiles. In the first episode all his despair has gotten to him, and he tries to take his life. All of a sudden an overly positive student who goes by Kafuka Fuura begins to attempt to save his life while blatantly over-looking his reasons for the suicide in the first place. Her optimistic demeanor and high-pitched voice pose the perfect opposite for Itoshiki’s (relatively) low voice and his bleak choice in kimonos. This could’ve been a great pairing if the animators had chosen to take more time to let these character’s play off of each other, alas in SZS style nothing can be discussed at too great a length before we switch gears.

Eventually it is revealed that Itoshiki is Kafuka’s teacher at an all girls school, and in stereotypical anime fashion, he is the teacher of the “bad class.” All the way throughout the series new students are introduced. The characters are a tad one-dimensional, but the dialogue and outrageous situations make up for it. The last two girls introduced(the”apologize for everything girl” and the “she acts like she looks and its implied that shes mean”) are pretty fresh as far as the stereotypes introduced thus far go. A girl who apologizes for everything, and a girl who acts exactly as she looks. While going a mile a minute SZS also manages to offer a crushing satire on the Japanese culture being overly-apologetic, then switches gears to a very mean girl who looks so very mean, that she can’t possibly be as mean as they think she is. Its this kind of convoluted logic that makes you scratch your head, then a picture of a very mean looking girl shoving a stick up a dogs ass only to be declared innocent because she looks so mean that couldn’t have done it, and you just get it.

In short it’s a blazing satire on both culture and the frailties of life. Or I am reading far too much into a very shallow book. either way its a helluva fun ride. The second season is now airing, and it is totally worth your time. I give it a 95/100.

Plus it has the stereotypical normal girl. Shes so damned normal it almost makes my eyes bleed

I just want to hug her out of her normalcy

I really have no idea of what to blog next, I was going to apply Sartre’s absurdism existence to this, but that essay I helped write was mainly about Sartre so screw it. Next I might do editorials over ghost in the shell/the actual ghost in the shell theory or Gurren Lagann/gender stereotypes. Or I might just fanboy out to ghost hound, or perhaps review the new gintama that just came out…Idk what to do?