Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei – 01
OP: “kūsō Rumba (空想ルンバ)” by Kenji Ohtsuki and Zetsubō Shōjo-tachi – I love the new song! I love even more how the OP doesn’t come in until half way through the episode, haha! This one is mostly text, like the first season’s.
Summary:
Nozomu proposes a big plan to make money to the class, but a few of them end up being more concerned about him. After various trouble in the city, Nozomu runs into someone who believes he is a member of their organization. Nozomu is unable to accept this, causing masked individuals to appear all around him. Nozoumu runs in fear from this, ending up on a strange island. Nozomu soon finds himself as a victim for an experiment, causing him to run away in despair afterwards. Nozomu thinks for a second that life as a monster may not be that bad, until he finds himself surrounded by creatures. Nozomu escapes by jumping off of a ledge into the water below, only to encounter more trouble. Kafuka finds him washed upon the shore later, taking him to the hospital. When Chie sees Nozomu, she reveals to Kafuka that he is actually her class’s new teacher. Nozomu is quickly given a new nickname after he introduces himself to the class, making him wish to die later. Chie, Kafuka, and Chiri approach from behind him, however, suggesting a marriage before his death.
Nami approaches the school, troubled because no one worries about her. When she enters the classroom, she finds Chie who is there by accident. Nami begins taking actions to have others worry about her, but all of them are countered by other students who are more unfortunate. She makes the biggest fuss when she prepares to jump out of a window, but this is easily overshadowed by one of Nozomu’s failed suicides. Chiri reveals that everyone in the class is odd, but she is glad that Nami is normal. This makes Nami despair even more, bringing up on the negative meanings of normal. She insists that she is not normal, but a pitiful girl. However, this backfires when Chiri brings up the real meaning of unfortunate. Nami notices that the class is full of many strange individuals, but Nozomu is glad that she is normal. Nozomu takes Nami to Kiri, who cannot leave the school. Due to Nozomu’s orders, Kiri reveals just how unfortunate she is. The atmosphere is broken when Kafuka arrives, insisting that Kiri is actually a guardian spirit for the school. Kiri starts to reveal more horrifying things about the school, when Nami sees Matoi behind Nozomu. When Nozomu cannot find Matoi, Nami believes that she is a ghost. Nami quickly tries to escape, when Kafuka stops her to reveal that they are not alone. At the horrifying sight of children, Nami desperately escapes the school. Nami reminds Nozomu of this story in class later, but he had easily forgotten about it.
ED: “Koiji Romanesque (恋路ロマネスク)” by Zetsubō Shōjo-tachi – Wow, I LOVE the new ED. SHAFT really decided to play with styles this time around, and the song fits really well with it. I’m just wondering how long this will last until a new ED shows up!
Impression:
Oh man, I LOVE this show. I was hooked within the first minute. Actually no, I was probably hooked before I even loaded up the video. If you’re expecting a rational review of this episode, please look away now! The first episode was so Shaft, and you probably know what I mean by that. The first half was all parody, putting Nozomu in a variety of odd situations. The Hamasho parody has something to do with an organization in Japan, but I wouldn’t know much more than that. The also parodied a certain popular seiyu, and even ef. With the OP appearing half way through the episode, the “real” show started with Nami finally getting her own story. This kind of worked as a refresher too, going through most of the major characters and their hilarious personalities. I was dying all throughout, and having a Blue Man Group commercial pop up was even more hilarious. I love raw providers, I really do. I think that made the already funny build up even more laugh inducing. For the record, I could have seen the Blue Man Group in Vegas, but I totally missed out because of the holidays. I’ll have to wait for another chance. Anyways, I’ve been waiting for Zoku since its announcement a few months ago. Everyone and their pet dango knows by now that I’m a SHAFT fanboy, and this was already guaranteed to be on my blogging list before the season even started. I can’t wait for more!
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Yeah, Nozomu-sensei is still cool as usual. Great humour as expected from SHAFT—finally I posted this in a correct blog post!
You may not notice but most part of this episode is a scene-by-scene match with manga as with the concept 原作通り. However, most people thought A-Part is anime original while it’s not. It’s from inner-cover fake “summary” from Vol.1.
Anime credit looks interesting too! There’re a person credited with a name “Tou Fuyashi” (東富爺子), if you write his name backward it becomes Shiyafutou. If you write it as しゃふと(う) it becomes シャフト. Animation is twice as good as the first episode of first season too!
I half-expect Nami episode after seeing a CM featuring her. Her attempt to make everyone worry is damn funny but in the end she’s just normal… Fuu—I mean Kafuka’s real name is hinted (”An-chan”) in this episode also.
By the way, the ending is Koiji Romanesque, not Marionette which means the real ED is coming.
Sorry for a long post… can’t…resist..myself…
Oh wow, thanks for pointing all that stuff out. I’m not native Japanese, so I definitely miss stuff from time to time – especially coming from a show like this. That makes me appreciate this episode even more, and I can’t wait for more stuff to be revealed ;P. Also, haha, it’s so easy to point out Nonaka Ai’s voice. She’s one of my favorites!
絶望した!YAY!I’m been waiting for this since you announced it. . . OH, it’s good to be in despair once again! who’s with me?
Good shiz, I’ll be taking this one up in the season.
Awesome! I was hoping that the Nami chapter would be included. Was the meeting between Kiri and Nami accompanied by the whole “A ‘girl’ who never leaves school; a ‘girl’ who never goes to school; a ‘meeting’ that never should have happened” thing? I found that to be a hilarious parallel to the meeting in the first season’s premier, and it seems like the premier of the second season would be the best place to include it.
Yes. Oh sweet merciful God yes. I try to explain this show to my friends, and it totally goes over their heads. The way I explain it (and Totali, I know you are a college man) is that every episode is presented as a lecture. You have to listen to what he is saying about the world, and take it for what it’s worth. About 60 percent of any given episode is just him in class talking to them and text examples on the screen. Not for everybody, but as someone is interested in actual foreign culture, not just pop-culture, it’s a pretty insightful look into how the Japanese look at their own identity and society.
kitsune: o/ I am! 1000% percent!!!
Ryan A: as it should be!!! I took this up like last season….before it was even close to starting!!! xD
escaru: Haha, no I don’t think they did this time. That definitely sounds like a hilarious possibility though. God, how I laughed at this episode. Good memories coming back to me so fast.
Rentington: Heck yes dude. I’m pretty sure I said something like that during one of my impressions on an episode from the first season. Those who can see this show for what is really is are the ones who enjoy it the most.
Anyone know what the fansub situation is like on this, is AFK doing it? Cause I saw somewhere they weren’t which would be a pity(even if they were completely late you couldn’t find better quality) Otherwise I think we have something to replace our beloved “burebureburebure” chorus!
Rumbarumbarumbarumba…..
I’d stayed with last season, and I’m going to stay with this season.
I´m really hoping that they take a more story based approach this time as opposed to the episodic funnynesness, that SHAFT so loves to do. Can´t really say much more about it, as i´m still waiting to see the raw, but here´s hoping for greatness!
( :
My Dango is pink and is called Steev.(
It’s…finally here. Being able to start of the year with Zetsubou Sensei is really just great and I am sure that you are not alone when you say that you can’t wait for more
~Lol. I haven’t even finished yet with SZS from last summer… I’m just 1 episode short! xD
Yay! ZSZS finally aired. It’s looking good as expected and I can’t wait for the subs. ^^
DonQuigleone: From what AFK’s had to deal with from the first season, I wouldn’t be surprised if they backed out on the second season. I’m really hoping for you guys that this season gets a lot more love than the previous season though.
Tokki: As most people who have any intention to watch this season will!
Dularc: I seriously doubt they will do anything like that, and honestly, I wouldn’t like it if they did. The episodic nature of this show is perfect for SHAFT’s style, and from what I’ve seen from the manga, it’s story by story too. …….my dango doesn’t have a name yet, but it’s definitely blue!
Halcyon: Hmm….best anime of 2007: SZS…. Hmm…..best anime of 2008: SZS….HMM…..
hazy: AFK and a few others have recently released twelve just in time for the new season. You should hurry and check it out! =)
I’m really exited for this season too!! ^^ Haven’t yet watched the last one, but I’ll be watching it as soon as I’m done writing this. Which is…now! *zoom~*
The only important question here is are there 9712 signs for Strato to translate this time around? If not then I think a.f.k. might just pick it up. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Considering it’s one of the only really good anime this season I wonder what’s stopping several groups from colaborating on it, say one group on dialogue, another group on signs, another on the random stuff that pops up…
Phoenixae: lol! You are doing a good deed, soldier.
Owen S: It’s a SHAFT show. The sign parodies are unavoidable. SZS is really similar to PPD, and I can see the sub treatment following the same pattern. PPD was extremely slow, dropped, and picked up by some other sub group with slightly less quality if I remember right. I definitely see how much work it can take. I think people need to stop worrying about all the text though. I seriously doubt absolutely everyone pauses to read them.
DonQuigleone: Eh, from what I’ve had experience with, most subbers are not willing to collab. Those that do haven’t gotten close to SZS. The subbing process is much more involved than just translating for a show like this too.
When it comes to text some of it is more important than others, the blackboard gags are pretty random but the random flashes on screen tend to be more related to the story, and funnier
SZS, show of the year. Again. I love it
the first part is also parody of classic kamen rider, i can’t stop laughing when the “shocker” appear and Itoshiki Nozomu is Hongo Takeshi.
DonQuigleone: Yea I can agree with that, obviously :S. I checked out afk’s sub for the first episode of the last season and it was really high quality. They replaced all of the Japanese text with English though, and I think that’s just a bit unnecessary for most purposes of a sub.
M: lol, was half joking but yea…this is definitely going to be one of the best shows of the year even though it has just started.
Corn: Another parody that I missed! Once again, this show can be appreciated in so many different ways….while other comedies only have gags alone.
afk put out another sub bonus episode or something, anyone know anything about it? And does this mean that afk is continuing with zetsubou sensei… (probably not
)
I watched it last night. It’s like an alternate episode 1, with Chiri having an actual story for herself at the end.
First half is straight from ep 1, Kiri’s story from ep 2 until 15 minutes in, then the rest is Chiri’s story. It’s worth checking out if you’re a big fan, but there’s really only less than 5 minutes of new content.
I heard it original fifty minutes on DVD but the broadcast version only twenty minutes long
The DVD has been out since new year! But ten days passed and I still didn’t have it leave me in despair!
It’s not a normal recap but they did everything to be matched with the original manga, like Nami is now gone because she didn’t appear until chapter 10 (Zoku #1 B-Part) and “real” tea ceremony club members are being used.
I like how they (kind of) “continue” it with Zoku by saying “in a few days, she will return to school” in a Nami’s part.
Anyway, not everyone need to watch this, but I recommend you to, if you want to be more enjoy with Zoku.
I have been in love with this anime since November, and nearly squee’d my heart out with this episode. Nami’s chapter is one of my favorites in the manga. At certain points I had to stop the video and bury my face in my hands out of pure joy.
Much love for Zetsubou~!
yeah, Nami-chan is my favourite girl too XD
is it just me or Nami really look a hell lot better than the first season
Nami is just a bit more normal than the average person…
ep 1 has been subbed by a.f.k
…..and spoon subs…..on the same day. Looks like there’s hope for everyone.
Anyone know how spoon compares to afk?
I thank the subbing gods for finally bestowing their blessing on this series. Seriously, a subless SZS episode will totally leave you in despair. Watching the RAW doesn’t help. ^__^
Wow, I love both the new OP and ED. I’m just hoping that they change the beginning art to something more interesting like they did a couple of times in the first season. I’m almost sure they will. BUT, I actually think that is my favorite ending to a show ever. It was nice to see the characters in a different art style, because they were uberhot.
DonQuigleone: I have not watched either sub, but both teams have a good track record. Afk probably did more localization than spoon though, from what I hear.
sadakups: Yea, this is definitely not a show you want to watch RAW if you do not understand Japanese.
Rentington: My favorite was Kiri…..zomgs. That ED makes me so happy in the pants.
yay Blue Man~! \o/
>Totali There’s no hope, onpy despair…