History Headscratchers / SayonaraZetsubouSensei

[[CatchPhrase I'm in despair!]] Things bugging people [[OverlyLongGag have left me in despair!]]

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[[CatchPhrase I'm in despair!]] [[ItJustBugsMe Things bugging people]] [[OverlyLongGag have left me in despair!]]

* I just thought of something, what would it be like if Itoshiki found the JustBugsMe page?

** There are hints that she's not so much a hikikomori as she is extremely agoraphobic; she quite happily interacts with other people (unlike a typical hikikomori), but always carries that blanket around so she always has a small, closed-in space to retreat to. Plus she's always hiding in a small space here or there, quite content. Plus, in Season 1 Episode 7: "I don't like it outside!" She probably worked up the nerve to go between Nozomu's home and the school just to follow Nozomu around (and, later on, to be with [[LesYay Chie]] (school) and [[{{Shotacon}} Majiru]] (home)).

* Why does the show use the Showa calendar?

** CrayonShinChan reference. They both share the same VA. For the record, she's been doing that pose in the manga ever since the anime has been announced.

*** She has taken the form of Abiru in this episode.

* Is it just me (I suspect you'll probably say it is) but does anyone think this show could become [[GrowingTheBeard much better]] if it stopped being a GagSeries? I'm not saying it has to stop being a comedy, certainly not, and I'm not saying they have to toss in a bunch of TearJerker moments, but if they stopped keeping the cast one-dimensional for parody's sake and fleshed them out a bit and perhaps took things seriously once in a while, well maybe we'd have something here. Around when it first started ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' was a total GagSeries, but then its creators moved on and deepened the show, and it improved a lot because of this, and I, personally, I'm not asking anyone to agree with me, think Creator/StudioShaft in general should follow their example. Well, that's my rant done with.
** This troper thinks exactly the same thing! The humor is great, but there could possibley be something else.
** I normally wouldn't agree where gag shows are concerned, but this one could work. The first episode's opening sequence (where Nozomu and Fuuka first meet) is so gorgeous that I wish they'd do more semi-serious material like it.
*** I wouldn't mind SZS doing more social commentary, although I don't want it to fall into the trap of [[{{Anvilicious}} dropping anvils]] on the jokes and crushing them like more recent episodes of WesternAnimation/SouthPark have.
*** Er, nobody's asking SZS to do more social commentary, in fact we're asking the series to be more like it's very first episode.
*** Anyway, I suppose that non-Japanese viewers don't understand at least half of the social commentary. And for me, as a non-Japanese viewer, it already is plenty.
*** Well, you could say that Shaft has given the people what they want. It's called LightNovel/{{Bakemonogatari}} and if the Bangaichi sendoff cards are any indication, worked pretty damn well. SZS actually being serious and sensible would ruin the charm, as messing with the funny too much might just make it depressing if you think about it. Because nothing says SHAFT comedy anime like crippling mental illnesses and neuroses!
** Naw. You can go to a bunch of other shows for high school CharacterDevelopment. But this show has found an enjoyable formula and tampering with it would take away what makes this show special.
** I support this complaint if only because such a development would mean the series would eventually end. While I do enjoy the series, there's only so much of the gags one can take before it gets repetitive. So, I don't know, some CharacterDevelopment that DOESN'T sacrifice the BlackComedy?
*** I would propose heavier focus on those one-shot settings, where the characters take on various roles while retaining their personality, like those murder drama sequences or HAMASHO arcs or whatever. It would allow to break off the monotony of the school setting and flesh out the characters, while still maintaining the insanity. Basically, I'm putting forward the notion of Zetsubou ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}''.
** You know what I love to see? A Zetsubou spinoff where's it's a lot more plot based and is done mockumentary style a la Arrested Development or The Office. And a live-action movie starring Stephen Chow as Nozomu Itoshiki.
* Speaking of which, why exactly do all the class, save maybe one or two, have to be, how does the main article put it, 'maniacs, psychos and misfits'? Don't say RuleOfFunny, because think about it, you could actually get a decent amount of humor, development and mileage out of a bunch of typical, everyday students reacting to a suicidally depressed teacher, or inverting things a completely normal, well-adjusted teacher having to deal with a class of 'maniacs, psychos and misfits'.
** Because doing both is funnier.
*** No it isn't, you're missing the point. SayonaraZetsubouSensei is a character-driven comedy. A lot more development, and a lot more potential for humor, could occur if a typical teacher/ students had to deal with an insane teacher/ students, to provide comedic foil, which you don't have if neither side is the StraightMan.
**** No (s)he isn't. Rather than having a single straight man, the role switches from character to character based on the situation, and therefore allowing for a wider variety of humor. So yes, it is funnier.
** The point of the series does not lie on its maniacs, psychos and misfits. It certainly is not about Itoshiki wanting to kill himself or a bunch of crazy students. The show relies more on parody and criticism to patterns in modern-day society. Bear in mind that other than the few introductions to characters and their eccentricities, the show discusses more about real-life cases like "how media would glorify everything" and "mob mentality", etc. Ergo, it's more of "how these characters would react to these real life tropes" rather than "how would they interact with each other".
** We finally get the answer. [[spoiler:Said misfits are drawn to the class because they shared their posthumous graduation goal]]. Nozomu seems to have something to do with them in the same class too.
* Why does everybody on this site think that Kafuka is some kind of insane psycho maniac? ''Chiri'' may be (is), and even Abiru acts like one. And sure, Kafuka may be THE TINIEST BIT delusional. But Kafuka has shown ''no signs'' of being dangerous. It's like, "Oh my goodness, the girl's an optimist! She'll snap and kill us all!"
** Have you not seen the cell phone episode? Or the ending to the spa episode? or her creepy lyrics at the beginning of season 2? It's not pronounced, but her insanity is there.
*** That. There is ALL evidence that she's an insane psycho maniac. She also looks happy and relaxed at the school burning down at one point. Besides, if she was all of this without the optimism, it would just signal a psychopath. With the optimism, she's creepier and even more insane.
** Don't forget how she dresses up as a college student to stalk Itoshiki, and ''that'' scene with a knife in her hand. Chiri can only hope to look that psycho, some day.
** Okay, so maybe Kafuka has four or five obvious "psycho" moments in the entire series (none of which I actually remember). ALL of the characters have those EXCEPT FOR ''NAMI'', and actually a lot of them are like this by default (which was played to the extreme when the entire class ''all'' teamed up and beat down the guards to bust Itoshiki-sensei out of prison), and Kafuka probably doesn't have any more than anyone else. It's like a meme that Kafuka gets pinned as the one, out of all the messed-up students in the class, who will kill everyone else just because she's also a {{Pollyanna}}. CHIRI, however, has homicidal-moments in EVERY EPISODE. Also, what highschool student WOULDN'T be happy to see her school burn down? That's normal!
*** The thing about Kafuka is that she acts almost, but not ''quite'' like a sane, balanced human being. She sits in a psycological UncannyValley of sorts, that makes her creepier than the obviously insane Chiri.
*** First: I really hope that when you said, "That's normal!", you actually meant: "It's normal to fantasize about your school burning!" and not actually that it's normal for a student to be happy when their school ACTUALLY burns down. I mean, dude. Second: as the above anon said, a hidden yet still very present case of psychopathy is creepier than the obvious psychopathy the other students exhibit. The destruction caused by the other girls is known to everyone because they react instinctively to perceived slights. Kafuka, on the other hand, has her [[spoiler: college-student role]], for example, which is a clear case of precise planning and manipulation. She's the psychopath you learn/read/hear about, the one no one can distinguish from any other civilian because they're too smart to be found. This is why she's creepier.
**** I'd agree with the above, with the caveat that Chiri's flanderization kind of bugs me in that at the start of the show, Kafuka was clearly the really dangerous one, but Chiri is just so insane by the end that it's hard to be as worried about Kafuka snapping (maybe she'll kill everyone one day, but Chiri can and has now).
**** That's just it. By the end of the series, Chiri has plummeted over the edge, while Kafuka sinks somewhat into the background, showing up to turn whatever the characters are complaining about around into a good thing. Proving that Chiri is by far the more maniacal of the two. I dunno. I'm probably a horrible judge of character.
**** [[http://www.mangafox.com/manga/sayonara_zetsubou_sensei/v22/c223/10.html This]] probably proves that Kafuka is much more dangerous than Chiri.

* Why does Kenji Ohtsuki sing all the (primary) openings? HiroshiKamiya is actually a fairly good singer, and the male singer is meant to be Nozomu, supposedly.
** Kamiya finally gets to with the new ''Zan'' ending. Pity the song itself is mediocre...
** To me it just seems that Ohtsuki can capture the insanity going on really well. And considering the insanity levels, that's pretty hard.

* I'm relatively new to the series and am only at episode 1 of the second season, but this has always really confused me about the show. What, exactly, is the continuity of the show? I mean, the first episode of the second season introduces him as Kafuka's class' new teacher? Wait...what? Didn't they already know him from the first season? Also, how is it that he had a [massive surgery in episode 11 and then by episode 12 he suddenly [[WallBanger got better]]? I don't get it at all.

* What's with Kafuka so OutOfFocus lately? The stories now seem to consist of Nozomu and Chiri, with Kafuka appearing near the end to make the story seem less cruel and more positive. Chiri is essentially taking her place in the story.
** [[HiveMind Kafuka]] is NEVER out of focus...
* In the anime there are lots of texts that are on screen for less than one second and I compulsively want to read them, but they disappear so quickly even ''pausing'' is difficult, not to mention some of them are either unsubbed or the subs are so tiny I can't read them anyway and am left in dispair.

<<|ItJustBugsMe|>>

* Is it just me (I suspect you'll probably say it is) but does anyone think this show could become [[GrowingTheBeard much better]] if it stopped being a GagSeries? I'm not saying it has to stop being a comedy, certainly not, and I'm not saying they have to toss in a bunch of TearJerker moments, but if they stopped keeping the cast one-dimensional for parody's sake and fleshed them out a bit and perhaps took things seriously once in a while, well maybe we'd have something here. Around when it first started ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' was a total GagSeries, but then its creators moved on and deepened the show, and it improved a lot because of this, and I, personally, I'm not asking anyone to agree with me, think StudioShaft in general should follow their example. Well, that's my rant done with.

** Kafuka its not a ghost that posses people, but instead its a shared conscience that takes over one girl in particular. Thus, if one girl is jealous about another girl having the attention of sensei, the Kafuka she plays will be so.