Cardcaptor’s Blog

If I learned something from watching Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei (hereby referred to as SZS), then it’s the fact that SZS is not a great show to marathon.

While this picture has something to do with the content,
it is clearly a shameless attempt to attract readers.

Because it’s so repetitive.

Here’s how the show works. Nozomu tells the class that he’s in despair because of something. Then he gives a list of examples he found in the Japanese soceity of those things. Next, Fuura-chan denies Nozomu’s negative idea by saying that the thing is another positive thing. And she also gives examples of how her principle applies. Things go like this two times almost every episode.

Almost like I’m watching Doraemon again.

Not that Doraemon is bad. It has some great moments. SZS has some great moments too. But it’s just repetitive.

One more thing I’d like to complain: the show started strong with a lot of dark humors: suicide, stalking, and illegal immigrant issues. I hoped to see more of these as the series go, but the humor become more absurd and harder to understand instead.

For example, I didn’t like any one bit of Episode 10 in which Nozomu blabbered about “minimum culture.” I didn’t understand any examples he cited. Episode 6, the one with the if-your-eyes-meet-you-shall-get-married, is just a big pointless pun on the word “miai.” The “criticism drill” (Episode 8 ) and the “mistakes of life” (Episode 9) felt really stretched to me: the guy from the fire department’s insults were too random or obvious, and Nozomu said pretty much the same thing over and over again.

Fuura-chan is win though. Her ironically positive remark introduces unexpected turns into the narratives. My favourite Fuura-chan’s exploit would be claiming that Kiri is a zashiki warashi and luring her out by shutting her in. Also, if you notice the episodes in the last paragraph, most of them are episodes where Nozomu solos. Yep. I think Nozomu alone sucks. Fuura-chan is much needed to break his monotonicity.

All in all, I’m not impressed with SZS. This may largely due to the fact that I marathoned it and became bored with its repetitive format. I might have had too much expectation because it was Akiyuki Shinbo. Or maybe because I’m just a gaijin who doesn’t understand Japanese humor.

Lastly, although I find Kiri cute, random fanservice featuring her was annoying.