History Manga / SayonaraZetsubouSensei

** Nozomu's surprised when a one-shot character borrows his CatchPhrase.

* ChewingTheScenery: Nozomu's rants (and especially his CatchPhrase) tend to be delivered in a grandiosely overblown manner. Nobody takes them seriously, and one or more of his students will frequently hang a lampshade on it.

* DespairSpeech: A poster boy. [[CatchPhrase "I'm in despair!"]]

* OnlySixFaces: Largely the case, and lampshaded once (in the instance with things not looking like the original) when Nozomu couldn't recognize Kafuka with a different hairstyle nor does he recognize that she's his "college student neighbor". Chiri (and the readers as well) also doesn't recognize Nami when she has a bed hair until she says her CatchPhrase.

* CatchPhrase: ''Lots''.

What do you get when you take a man who is depressed to the point of melodramatic suicide, and make him the teacher of a [[DysfunctionJunction psychologically dysfunctional class full of maniacs, psychos and misfits]]? No, it's not like your average SliceOfLife show. Instead, what Creator/KojiKumeta's ''Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei'' (roughly "Farewell, Mr. Despair") has become with its [[BlackComedy dark, disturbed humor]] and wisecracking background trivia is one of the most amusing WidgetSeries ever witnessed. The series happily subverts any number of slice-of-life school anime tropes, while carrying out a wide variety of far ''odder'' ones.

* [[UsefulNotes/FurryFandom Kemono Fandom]]: Abiru and Harumi seem to be a nod towards it, and have a tail and animal ear fetish respectively. The latter combines it with YaoiFangirl.

What do you get when you take a man who is depressed to the point of melodramatic suicide, and make him the teacher of a psychologically-dysfunctional class full of maniacs, psychos and misfits? No, it's not like your average SliceOfLife show. Instead, what Creator/KojiKumeta's ''Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei'' (roughly "Farewell, Mr. Despair") has become in its dark, disturbed humor and wisecracking background trivia is one of the most amusing WidgetSeries ever witnessed. The series happily subverts any number of slice-of-life, school anime tropes, while carrying out a wide variety of far ''odder'' ones.

Nozomu Itoshiki, a man so unfortunate [[AlternateCharacterReading even his name can be read as "despair",]] attempts to commit suicide. He is saved by Kafuka Fuura, an [[CloudCuckoolander insanely cheerful girl]] who proceeds to ignore his protests at her intervention, incessantly insists that his suicide attempt was only done to try and make himself taller, [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext and attempts to bribe him with 50 yen to let her rename him after the sakura tree he was hanging from.]]

Terrified, he runs from this [[SarcasmMode beacon of bright light,]] and ends up at his new teaching assignment where, of course, Kafuka herself awaits, along with her rather... ''[[CastFullOfCrazy interesting]]'' classmates. The insanity only gets deeper from there.

* DoesNotLikeShoes:
** Maria is identical to [[Anime/CowboyBebop Ed]] in this and other aspects. She loses all balance even if she puts on socks and sometimes panties.
** Kiri also goes barefoot, perhaps because it's a Japanese custom to take off one's footwear inside the house, and Kiri isn't going outside any time soon.

** ''Goku'' Episode 2 {{Art Shift}}s to the style of the creator's very first serialized manga, ''Go! Southern Ice Hockey Club'', for the first part of the episode, and a similar style to the manga adaptation of "LightNovel/TrinityBlood" drawn by Kiyo Kyujo for the second part of the episode. The latter style has also been used in ''Zoku's'' first ED.

'''Season 3 Special:''' Yasu (''LightNovel/{{Toradora}}!''; she and Kumeta collaborated in the manga ''Joshiraku'')

** Creator/StudioShaft seems delighted to call out Creator/KyotoAnimation for anything, such as Creator/AkiyukiShinbo saying his own work would've been done better by them. One of the signs of a zombie revival and subsequent apocalypse, according to them, is ''Manga/LuckyStar 2'' (and ''Manga/LuckyStar 3'') being made. One episode also has a segment about providing "more accurate" titles for books. One such suggestion was ''[[LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya The Melancholy of a Middle-Aged Pedophile]]''.

** At one point, Itoshiki is infected with the "Pointy Chin Virus" and starts looking like a stereotypical OffModel yaoi character. By the end of the chapter Mikoto and Tokita are infected as well.

* OffModel: The art stays of high quality throughout, but there is constant lampshading throughout ''Zan'' about the animation quality suffering from the huge deadline crunch the animators were going through (as one gag noted, they were working on this, ''LightNovel/{{Bakemonogatari}}'', ''[[Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi Negima!]]'', and ''Manga/HidamariSketch'' at the ''same time'').

** On the other hand, both Creator/KojiKumeta and Creator/StudioShaft are also fond of using Nozomu's rants to [[SelfDeprication make potshots at themselves]]. Kumeta's assistant, a certain Maeda-kun, frequently shows up in the background (voiced by himself in the anime) demonstrating some annoying tendency Nozomu is currently complaining about, while Kumeta himself appears as an unshaved version of himself (though voiced by Creator/HiroshiKamiya). Also, in each manga volume, bonus materials feature Kumeta's short and very self-deprecatory written pieces in relation to the theme of each chapter. For their part, Creator/StudioShaft made a brief reference to ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'''s major AdaptationDecay in ''Zan'' Episode 2, and ''Bangaichi'' is essentially a long string of jokes aimed at the studio itself and the show's own fans.

* EverythingsBetterWithPenguins: The Emperor Penguin, a bizzare critter that has a modified Yin-Yang symbol as its head. No less cute, though. [[spoiler:When the class 2-He finally graduates, two lines of them synchronously arrange themselves in the way when Kiri, the last student, receives her diploma, her shot has every penguin's head in the room having a head of full unmodified Yin-Yang symbol.]]

The manga is out across the pond courtesy of Del Rey (and later Kodansha), so now ''you'' can despair in English! Especially since they [[NoExportForYou stopped publishing any books following volume 14!]] But, now that the anime is being licensed by Creator/NozomiEntertainment alongside a new English dub, you can continue despairing in English! As of May 2022, the first season has been released with English subtitles, with the rest of the seasons and [=OVAs=] set to follow.

* HumansAreBastards: The HotSpringsEpisode about toxins ends with AxCrazy Chiri realizing that to Mother Nature, [[KillEmAll human beings are a toxin]].

* TheBlank: In the first season OP, female students are shown with facial features blanked out and various kanji written on them.

* VulgarHumor: Several times. Mostly tame, but there are some examples like a TakeThat for Shintaro Ishihara part in Chapter 247, [[ItMakesSenseInContext where his avatar tries to ban erotic manga and anime while punches holes on a canvas door with his erection]], then seeing that random things such as wood grains and cellphone antenna could pattern into naked women's crotches and breasts (in great details, mind you) [[RefugeInAudacity and proceeds to ban them too]]. And then, there's Chapter 260's punchline.

* WidgetSeries

* InnocentInnuendo: This exchange after "Commodore Perry" shows up and pulls apart Kiri's BlindingBangs:

--->'''Season 1:''' Kazuhiro Fujita (''Manga/UshioAndTora''), Akimine Kamijyo (''Manga/SamuraiDeeperKyo''), Kouji Seo (''Manga/{{Suzuka}}''), Hideo Nishimoto, Shimoku Kio (''Manga/{{Genshiken}}''), Kazutoshi Soyama, Creator/RumikoTakahashi (''Manga/RanmaOneHalf''), Hiromu Arakawa (''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist''), Yukari Takinami, Masashi Asaki, Yuji Terashima, and Creator/KojiKumeta himself.
--->'''Zoku (Season 2):''' Katsuya Terada (''Anime/BloodPlus''), Maru Asakura, Hekiru Hikawa (''Anime/PaniPoniDash''), Creator/KunihikoIkuhara (''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena''), Kenjirou Hata (''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler''; he also used to be Kumeta's assistant), Yoshikazu Yasuhiko (''Anime/MobileSuitGundam''), Tomonori Kogawa (''Anime/AuraBattlerDunbine''; he's also the storyboard director), Izumi Takemoto, Kenji Tsuruta (''Anime/MagicalShoppingArcadeAbenobashi''), Keitaro Arima (''Manga/TsukuyomiMoonPhase''), Yokusaru Shibata (''Manga/AirMaster''), Creator/UmeAoki (''Manga/HidamariSketch''), and Creator/KojiKumeta.
--->'''Goku (Season 2.5):''' Hidetoshi Oomori (''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' movies), Mako Aboshi (''Manga/MariaHolic Alive''), and Creator/HiroshiKamiya (Nozomu's voice actor).
--->'''Zan (Season 3):''' Hiroaki Samura (''Manga/BladeOfTheImmortal''), Rendou Kurosaki, Asumiko Nakamura, Shunji Enomoto, Hiroshi Tamaru, Shizuru Hayashiya (''Manga/HayateCrossBlade''), Takako Shimura (''Manga/WanderingSon''), Hiroyuki Asada (''Manga/TegamiBachiLetterBee''), Yumi Unita (''Manga/BunnyDrop''), Atsushi Kamijo, Yowoko Nihonbashi, Shou Tajima (''Anime/OtogiZoshi''), and Creator/KojiKumeta.
--->'''Bangaichi (Season 3.5):''' Range Murata (''Anime/LastExile'') and Creator/KojiKumeta.
--->'''Season 3 Special:''' Yasu (''LightNovel/{{Toradora}}!''; she and Kumeta collaborated in the manga ''Joshiraku'')

* NightmareFuelStationAttendant: Whenever Kafuka or Chiri get involved, the insanity and horror go UpToEleven.

** "Ringo Mogire Beam!", ''Zan'''s opening theme, translates to "Apple Plucking Beam!". The lyrics are about a man who believes he has found his soulmate, but is afraid to proceed (by "giving her his password"), accompanied by repeated exclamations of the song's title. "Ringo Mogire Beam!" could be viewed as the password mentioned in the song... or it could just be a random exclamation. (Note: Apparently it parodies doomsday group "Cosmic Brotherhood Association" which believes the world would be destroyed by a flood, and the only way out is rescue by [[FlyingSaucers UFOs]] with the password "Ringo okure C". This from [=SchwarzXD=] on Website/YouTube.)
** [[UpToEleven The full version is even MORE surreal. Somehow.]]

* NoFourthWall: Several characters refer to each other using the anime character tropes they embody, such as "[[MsFanservice Designated Panty Shot Girl]]" or by noting that "[[BandageBabe the bandaged look isn't popular any more]]". This also happens in the manga, both in references to the characters and to the manga itself. And that's just scratching the surface. The characters often worry about the show's ratings, debate who's the most popular character, and ponder the episodes' {{Aesop}}s.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[BlatantLies Just a]] [[TheEeyore normal]] [[SuicideAsComedy teacher]] and [[CuteAndPsycho his]] [[DysfunctionJunction normal]] [[CastFullOfCrazy students.]] ]]

* PantyShot:
** Kaere provides gratuitous panty shots, usually with an absurd print (green with eyes, a picture of Creator/KojiKumeta, or an artwork courtesy of [[Creator/YuuKobayashi her voice actress]]). Meru Otonashi lampshades this to the extreme.
** There's a third-season segment about [[{{Troll}} making intentional mistakes to draw attention]], with all the girls in cheerleading costumes flashing their panties (even Maria).

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Well, there's the four Itoshiki siblings (sans the missing fifth and eldest), said missing sibling's only son, their butler, 22 of Nozomu's 32 students, his two fellow teachers, his "old-time" friend, and a host of other {{Drop In Character}}s.

Nozomu Itoshiki, a man so unfortunate [[AlternateCharacterReading even his name can be read as "despair",]] attempts to commit suicide. He is saved by Kafuka Fuura, an [[CloudCuckoolander insanely cheerful girl]] who proceeds to ignore his protests at her intervention, incessantly insists that his suicide attempt was just done to try and make himself taller, [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext and attempts to bribe him with 50 yen to let her rename him after the sakura tree he was hanging from.]]

Terrified, he runs from this [[SarcasmMode beacon of bright light,]] and ends up at his new teaching assignment where, of course, Kafuka awaits, along with her rather... ''interesting'' classmates. The insanity only gets deeper from there...

Nozomu Itoshiki, a man so unfortunate [[AlternateCharacterReading even his name can be read as "despair",]] attempts to commit suicide. He is saved by Kafuka Fuura, an [[CloudCuckoolander insanely cheerful girl]] who proceeds to ignore his protests at her intervention, incessantly insists that his suicide attempt was just an attempt to make himself taller, [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext and attempts to bribe him with 50 yen to let her rename him after the sakura tree he was hanging from.]]

Nozomu Itoshiki, a man so unfortunate [[AlternateCharacterReading even his name can be read as "despair",]] attempts to commit suicide. He is saved by Kafuka Fuura, an [[CloudCuckoolander insanely cheerful girl]] who proceeds to ignore his protests at her intervention, incessantly insists that his suicide attempt was just an attempt to make himself taller, [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext
and attempts to bribe him with 50 yen to let her rename him after the sakura tree he was hanging from.]]

Nozomu Itoshiki, a man so unfortunate [[AlternateCharacterReading even his name can be read as "despair",]] attempts to commit suicide. He is saved by Kafuka Fuura, an [[CloudCuckoolander insanely cheerful girl]] who proceeds to ignore his protests at her intervention, incessantly insists that his suicide attempt was just an attempt to make himself taller, and attempts to bribe him with 50 yen to let her [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext rename him after the sakura tree he was hanging from.]]

Nozomu Itoshiki, a man so unfortunate [[AlternateCharacterReading even his name can be read as "despair",]] attempts to commit suicide. He is saved by [[CloudCuckoolander Kafuka Fuura,]] an insanely cheerful girl who proceeds to ignore his protests at her intervention, incessantly insists that his suicide attempt was just an attempt to make himself taller, and attempts to bribe him with [[ComicallySmallBribe 50 yen]] to let her [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext rename him after the sakura tree he was hanging from.]]

Nozomu Itoshiki, a man so unfortunate [[AlternateCharacterReading even his name can be read as "despair",]] attempts to commit suicide. He is saved by [[CloudCuckoolander Kafuka Fuura,]] an insanely cheerful girl who proceeds to ignore his protests at her intervention, incessantly insists that his suicide attempt was just an attempt to make himself taller, [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext and attempts to bribe him with [[ComicallySmallBribe 50 yen]] to let her rename him after the sakura tree he was hanging from.]]

What do you get when you take a man who is depressed to the point of melodramatic suicide, and make him the teacher of a psychologically-dysfunctional class full of maniacs, psychos and misfits? No, it's not like your average SliceOfLife show. Instead, what Creator/KojiKumeta's ''Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei'' (roughly "Farewell, Mr. Despair") has become in its dark, disturbed humor and wisecracking background trivia is one of the most amusing WidgetSeries ever witnessed. The series happily subverts any number of schoolgirl tropes, as well as consisting of many more normal ones.

Nozomu Itoshiki, a man so unfortunate even his name can be read as "despair", attempts to commit suicide. He is saved by Kafuka Fuura, the most insanely cheerful girl imaginable, who ignores his protests of despair and claims he is trying to make himself taller. Terrified, he runs from this beacon of bright light, and ends up at his new teaching assignment where, of course, the crazed happy girl awaits. The insanity only gets deeper from there...