Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

[Yukimura]

Lol another crazy head trip. Being a rabid yuri lover my favorite part would have to be the scenes with the Hikkikomori girl and the counselor.

[masamuneehs]

weird episode. way too many quick flashes... i can't imagine anyone actually having to watch this solely on a live broadcast... I like how Zetsubo disappeared when he was detox'ed, or rather pinned to the bottom...

i can't tell what the hell is going on in the way of an overall plot line... we also didn't get introduced to any new characters, for the first time. Still, I laughed a couple times, especially with the numbers and at the end when the girls all went back to being 'toxic' (except ordinary girl)

[David75]

Same as masa for this ep.

This show is a collection of pure non sens most of the time, with a lot of quick scenes from anything...
Yet it's fun and and quick paced, plus the art is as sharp as most of the nonsensical statements
50 yen person
Perfect Girl (Perfect Girl rental is expensive )

This show is about Despair and Suicide, and although this background is quite agressive, I can't help myself ROFL

c u

[shinta|hikari]

Its not about despair and suicide. Thats just the comedy tool they use to deliver a new style of comedy, to the newer audience who can actually appreciate it. If all is stripped away, it is actually a harem comedy show, much like Negima (only instead of action and magic, they put in parodies and insanity).

[masamuneehs]

you bring up a good subject: what is this show actually about?

The one thing that is consistent is that the characters are very extreme personalities, almost as if each represents a way of thinking or some overall type of personality. What's interesting is that alot of them are very recent (and i hesitate to use this word) 'archetypes'. You have a split personality, bi-cultural returnee, an illegal immigrant with a heart of gold, a shy but secretly evil girl who only communicates through e-mail, a yaoi fangirl... these 'types' are all very modern, even though they're also accompanied by classic types like Zetsubo (absolute pessimist), Fuura (absolute optimist) and the Control Freak Perfectionist girl...

Part of me says that the whole purpose of this show is to have viewers laugh at ourselves and the world around us. The characters are so numerous and varied that we can't help but see a bit of ourselves in at least a few of them. The cultural references, especially the references to other anime and manga, also indicate to me that the creator is trying to get us to laugh at the entire stratum of sub-culture that is anime and manga and viewers.

Again, it's all about the modern world. Zetsubo is put into despair not by traditional things such as "greed" or "misleading women", but almost always by things that are new to this age: naming rights, the internet, returning students from foreign exchange programs...

but I still can't tell: is the point some kind of disjointed critique of modern society? Or is it just to make people laugh at it, maybe not take it so seriously? Is it about the comedy or about the twisted people? ... the jury is still out on this one...

edit - rewatched episode 5, saw a couple of those quick flashes... a few jabs at Devil May Cry, a shot at China hosting the Olympics (on list of things people do not becoming of their status: hosting the Olympics in a country where 90% of all executions take place),