GOKU SAYONARA ZETSUBOU SENSEI

DESCRIPTION

CAST

ANIME ComedyZoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
ANIME ComedyZan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
MANGA ComedySayonara Zetsubou Sensei

REVIEWS

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  zamandzoe

  81/100
  A creative, yet all too jarring combination of meta humor and unique direction does not leave me in despair.

  __Note: __ This review is for the 3 OVAs that follow Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. As such, it will be a relatively light and brief review. I have not seen the subsequent installments of Zetsubou Sensei at the time of writing this.

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  It would be pointless to try and define or outline the humor found in the _Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei_ series. Quite frankly, it never does the same thing twice - for better or worse. You could be receiving commentary about otaku-culture, modern Japan, or simply insight into the flawed human nature. This broadness serves as both the greatest boon and bane of Zetsubou Sensei when viewed as a whole - though most notably the second season. As these OVAs serve as an extension to that season, many of the same qualities are to be found here as well.

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  _Nobody is going to read a review for 3 OVAs that belong to a now mostly irrelevant series! The attention of the internet has left me in despair!_

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  __Additional Note: I'm not going to bother rating individual categories here. Balance is nonexistent in Zetsubou-sensei, so trying to make an average score out of the traditional categories would be an injustice. __

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  __Story: __ Our titular Zetsubou-sensei is a suicidal teacher instructing a class of students who's eccentricity often surpass his own. This, quite literally, allows for practically infinite possibilities. Viewers will witness this colorful cast of characters commentate on a broad range of subjects while performing outrageous actions as if they were the gods of this world. ... That's how you're supposed to describe Zetsubou Sensei, right? These OVAs offer what you'd come to expect from the series - notably the second season. While the first season dealt more concrete ideas (as in, subjects you could identify with a word or two), the second season as well as these OVAs prefer to talk about concepts and ideas that can't be so easily labelled. As such, the series has many styles of comedy. If you prefer the idea-based subject matter with dialogue heavy scenes of the second season, you'll enjoy these OVAs just fine. However, I suspect many viewers (who probably don't have first-hand experience with Japanese culture and customs) may be lost more often than not thanks to this. When the series relies on you to use perspective to facilitate its comedy, many jokes simply don't land. Though that's not as much of criticism as it may sound. Zetsubou-sensei caters to a specific audience and puts far more effort into its jokes than most series of today. So while its humor will not be enjoyed by everyone, everyone should be able to appreciate the craft of it.

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  __Characters:__ Simply put, the characters of Zetsubou Sensei are vessels of its comedy. They exist to entertain and not much else. So while development is scarce (I say scarce since the final OVA dedicates a fair amount of time to a backstory of sorts for Zetsubou Sensei himself in a refreshing change of pace), the wide-encompassing casts allow for the series to do whatever it wants, when it wants. Characters will pop in and out of relevancy in order to carry whatever joke the series is trying to convey. If there is any complaining to be had, it might be reasonable to say the cast feels a little bloated at this point in the series. Sometimes it's difficult to remember the quirk of every student in Zetsubou Sensei's mostly female class when the series demands you pick up on the gag of a character who appears less frequently.

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  __Presentation__ Once again, the presentation is par for the course here. The series makes use of rapidly changing shots consisting of usually little in the ways of actual animation (though noticeably a little more here in the OVAs which did not seem quite as polished as the regular episodes.) Nevertheless, the animation and art gets the job done. Likewise, the soundtrack, which features many reactionary sound effects is pleasantly fitting. Even if a joke doesn't land, the presentation is able to keep the viewer engaged long enough until there is something humorous in the way of writing. I'd like to give a special mention to the opening credits of these OVAs. In addition to a wonderful rap remix of the series' opening for the 2nd season, the visuals are... Fitting eccentric for the show - even more so than usual. While I don't have enough brain cells to comprehend all the imagery found here, way more work went into it than there needed to be.

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  __This is literally me while trying to compose this review.__

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  Overall, Goku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei does more of the same for the Zetsubou Sensei series. Nothing in these OVAs are among the best of the series, but they are perfectly serviceable. While the humor was not quite in line with what I find funny, I can't deny that even when it's just going through the motions, the Zetsubou Sensei series is a well-oiled machine of commentary and entertainment.
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