Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei

Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei
Sayonara Zetsubō Sensei logo
Genre	Comedy
Manga
Written by	Kōji Kumeta
Published by	Kodansha
Anime
Directed by	Akiyuki Shinbo
Studio	Shaft
Anime
(Zoku) Sayonara Zetsubō Sensei
Directed by	Akiyuki Shinbo
Studio	Shaft

Sayonara Zetsubō Sensei (さよなら 絶望先生, literally Goodbye, Mr. Despair) is a Japanese manga by Kōji Kumeta, serialized in Weekly Shōnen Magazine. It is a comedy about a teacher who takes all aspects of life, language and culture in the most negative light possible. In 2007, the manga received the thirty-first Kodansha Manga Award in the shōnen category,^[1] and was adapted into a twelve-episode anime series. Weekly Shōnen Magazine announced that a second season, titled (Zoku) Sayonara Zetsubō Sensei (【俗・】さよなら絶望先生, literally (Vulgar) Goodbye, Mr. Despair) would be made;^[2] it began airing on January 5 2008.

Sayonara Zetsubō Sensei revolves around a very pessimistic high school teacher named Nozomu Itoshiki who, at the very beginning of the series, tries to hang himself on a sakura tree. Despite this effort of self-destruction, he is saved by an extremely optimistic girl known only as Kafuka Fūra (it should be noted, however, that in her effort to save his life, she almost kills him). She explains to him that it is simply unforgivable to hang himself on such a nice day, especially in front of such beautiful trees. She decides to nickname Nozomu "Pink Supervisor" (桃色係長, Momoiro Kakarichō), and offers to pay him fifty yen to call him by that nickname. After having enough of the strange girl, Nozomu bolts to the school and starts his homeroom class, but the attempt to escape was in vain as he finds that the girl is one of his students.

Most characters' names derive from self-descriptive Japanese terms which are written or pronounced similarly.

Nozomu Itoshiki (糸色 望, Itoshiki Nozomu)

Voiced by: Hiroshi Kamiya

The main character, a high school teacher and the youngest son of the Itoshiki family. He always wears a hakama, except in his Hometown where he likes to show-off. When his name is written horizontally, it looks like zetsubō (絶望, "despair"), which fits his extremely paranoid, pessimistic, depressive and suicidal mindset.

Rin Itoshiki (糸色 倫, Itoshiki Rin)

Voiced by: Akiko Yajima

Nozomu's sister, a seventeen-year-old ikebana master. Her name becomes zetsurin (絶倫, "unequaled") when condensed, and as such she excels in many things. However, since zetsurin also refers to sexual prowess, she threatens to kill anyone who calls her that and wants to marry into another family to abandon the Itoshiki name. In volume nine of the manga, Rin is shown to both own a chocolate factory (making a parody of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and be a student in her brother's class.

Mikoto Itoshiki (糸色 命, Itoshiki Mikoto)

Voiced by: Hiroshi Kamiya

The third son of the Itoshiki family, with an uncanny resemblance to Nozomu. He is a doctor in his own "Itoshiki Hospital", but his patients feel uncomfortable being treated by him because his name resembles zetsumei (絶命, "death"). He hates being called "Zetsumei-sensei" ("Dr. Death") for this reason.

Kei Itoshiki (糸色 景, Itoshiki Kei)

Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu

The second son of the Itoshiki family, he is a surrealist painter who is quite full of himself. He has a wife named "Yuka", which is actually a large stain on his wall. His name becomes zekkei (絶景, "superb scenery") when condensed.

Enishi Itoshiki (糸色 縁, Itoshiki Enishi)

The first son of the Itoshiki family. He has yet to appear in the anime and the only fact that's mentioned about him is that he is Majiru's father. His name becomes zetsuen (絶縁, "disinherited") when compressed, presumably hinting at his whereabouts.

Majiru Itoshiki (糸色 交, Itoshiki Majiru)

Voiced by: Akiko Yajima

Nozomu's nephew. He was sent to live with Nozomu because his parents abandoned him. He is quite prone to psychological trauma due to Nozomu's students' antics. His name becomes zekkō (絶交, "breach in a relationship").

Hiroshi Itoshiki (糸色 大, Itoshiki Hiroshi)

The head of the Itoshiki family and Nozomu's father. A member of Japanese Diet. His name becomes zetsudai (絶大, "great") when written horizontally.

Tae Itoshiki (糸色 妙, Itoshiki Tae)

Nozomu's mother. Her name becomes zetsumyō (絶妙, "exquisite") when written horizontally.

Tokita (時田, Tokita)

Voiced by: Yōji Ueda

The Itoshiki family butler. He is called Sebastian by the girls.

Kafuka Fūra (風浦 可符香, Fūra Kafuka)

Voiced by: Ai Nonaka

A female student who sees everything in only the most positive light possible. Kafuka is the exact opposite of Nozomu; Nozumu sees everything only with despair, while Kafuka only sees everything with bright optimism. She often creates bizarre explanations for grim situations; for example, she calls suicide by hanging "trying to become taller" and the act of stalking "deep love". She seems to have a traumatic past, with a suicidal father and a mother who was at one point subject to demonic possession. For various reasons, several characters have found her terrifying; for example, when Kafuka teaches Meru about communication through eye contact alone, Meru only senses blood lust. Kafuka Fūra is only a pen name, originating from the name of writer Franz Kafka. Exactly what her real name is has not been revealed, although a flashback to her childhood gives her the name An (あん).

Chiri Kitsu (木津 千里, Kitsu Chiri)

Voiced by: Marina Inoue

A student who demands all things in her life to be precise, equal and conforming. This is most notable in her hair style, which was originally curly and is parted in the center. Despite being the most combative against Nozomu and his antics, she often demands him to marry her after they accidentally took a nap together in the same bed. Although she is not the class representative, she is often called so because of her exacting behavior. Her name derives from the Japanese word kitchiri (きっちり, "precisely"). She occasionally displays psychic abilities via a third eye; her name contains two of the kanji in the word "clairvoyance" (千里眼, senrigan).

Abiru Kobushi (小節 あびる, Kobushi Abiru)

Voiced by: Yuko Goto

A girl who is constantly injured because she cannot resist pulling animal tails and works at the zoo. People tend to assume she is a victim of domestic violence. Her name derives from the Japanese kobushi abiru (拳浴びる, "to bathe in fists"). She also has differently-colored eyes.

Nami Hitō (日塔 奈美, Hitō Nami)

Voiced by: Ryoko Shintani

A girl whose only trait is that, compared to other classmates, her case is completely ordinary but hates being called that way. Her name derives from the Japanese term hitonami (人並み), meaning "ordinary".

Harumi Fujiyoshi (藤吉 晴美, Fujiyoshi Harumi)

Voiced by: Miyu Matsuki

A fan of yaoi and cat ears and is the classroom's resident illustrator. She posesses amazing athletic abilities. Her name is a conjunction of fujoshi (yaoi fangirls) and Harumi, the previous site of Comiket.

Maria Tarō Sekiutsu (関内・マリア・太郎, Sekiutsu Maria Tarō)

Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro

An illegal immigrant nicknamed Mataro by Kafuka. She purchased the birth certificate of a male student, and she is attending school under his name. Her nationality is never revealed. She is fascinated by "Japan's abundance" and collects food and refuse she finds on the ground or in grabage cans. Sekiutsu Tarō derives from seki-uttarō (籍売ったろう), which means "You sold your own register, didn't you?" or "I'll sell you my register".

Meru Otonashi (音無 芽留, Otonashi Meru)

A very shy girl who only communicates in harsh personal attacks via text messaging. Her family name, Otonashi, means "soundless", and her given name derives from the loan word "mail" (メール, mēru). Aside from a few weak sounds, she is essentially mute, and any attempt to verbalize will cause her to uncontrollably sputter. In the anime, her voice actress changes every episode and is chosen at random, and is credited with, at most, a short sequence of nonsense characters.^[3]

Kaere Kimura (木村 カエレ, Kimura Kaere)

Voiced by: Yu Kobayashi

A returnee with multiple personalities, one the ultimate Japanese woman (named Kaede), the other a stereotypical foreigner who constantly threatens to sue (Kaere) although she usually adopts the second one. Her given name derives from Japanese kaere (帰れ), the imperative form of the verb kaeru (帰る, "to return, to go back"), and also from Kaela Kimura, a Japanese idol. She provides many panty shots, often with strange images on her panties.

Kiri Komori (小森 霧, Komori Kiri)

Voiced by: Asuka Tanii

A hikikomori whom Kafuka insists is a zashiki-warashi. After a home visit from Itoshiki, she now resides at the school accompanied by Chie instead of her home because she finds it difficult to stop being a recluse. She has fair skin due to almost never having contact with direct sunlight, and harbors a crush for Nozomu Itoshiki. Her name derives from komorikiri (籠もりきり), which means "it sticks in its home".

Matoi Tsunetsuki (常月 まとい, Tsunetsuki Matoi)

Voiced by: Asami Sanada

A romantic who tends to stalk the object of her affections. Her personality changes depending on her current love interest. She has recently turned her attention towards Nozomu, causing him problems. Her surname is a pun on tsune tsukimatoi (常付きまとい), "always following about".

Ai Kaga (加賀 愛, Kaga Ai)

Voiced by: Saori Gotō

A female student with a complex of always apologizing for matters that are either trivial or not her fault. Her name in Eastern order sounds like kagai (加害, "perpetrate").

Manami Ōkusa (大草 麻菜実, Ōkusa Manami)

Voiced by: Kikuko Inoue

Married and working multiple jobs to cover her husband's debt. Her name derives from okusama-nami (奥様な身, "like a housewife").

Mayo Mitama (三珠 真夜, Mitama Mayo)

Voiced by: Asuka Tanii

An evil-looking girl who complusively commits malicious acts. Not wanting to be accused of reacting to stereotypes, people simply assume she is a good girl who only looks evil and whatever she did was not her doing. Just as most girls in the class, she has developed a crush on Nozomu, but can only express her love through harming him. Her name derives from mita mama yo (見たままよ), which means "What she is is exactly what she looks."

Kotonon (ことのん, Kotonon)

A net idol. In real life she is overweight and unattractive, and wears gothic lolita-fashion. Her website of heavily photoshopped images is extremely popular.

Kagerō Usui (臼井 影郎, Usui Kagerō)

Voiced by: Yōji Ueda

A male student who is going bald and most people hardly ever notice he's there unless his baldness is exposed. He is the actual class president and provides some comic relief . His name is a pun on the phrase Kage ga usui ("overshadowed"), referring to his having no presence. The usui also refers to his thinning hairline.

Jun Kudō (久藤 准, Kudō Jun)

Voiced by: Takahiro Mizushima

A gifted storyteller. His name comes from the bookstore "Junkudo-Shoten" (ジュンク堂書店) and Jun Kudō (工藤淳, Kudō Jun), its founder.

Kuniya Kino (木野 国也, Kino Kuniya)

Voiced by: Takuma Terashima

A self-proclaimed rival to Jun because he is jealous of Jun's talent. Has bad fashion sense. His name comes from the Books Kinokuniya chain.

Chie Arai (新井 智惠, Arai Chie)

Voiced by: Akiko Yajima

The student counsellor. Her name is read in the kun'yomi system of Japanese as "Niichie" which is a reference to Friedrich Nietzsche.

Ikkyū-san (一旧さん)

Voiced by: Tomokazu Sugita

The self-proclaimed "old friend" of Nozomu Itoshiki, who, like Nozomu, likes old things. It is later found out that they weren't old friends (旧友) but rather "one day friends" (1日友) in elementary school. His name is a reference to the anime series Ikkyū-san. He attemps to marry Rin, thus gaining an "old name" and becoming a member of an "old family", but Kafuka thwarts him in his advances.

The manga series was created by Kōji Kumeta and was first serialized in the Japanese manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Magazine in 2005, published by Kodansha. As of December 2007, eleven bound volumes have been released in Japan.

The anime series first aired in Japan on July 7 2007 on TV Kanagawa and contains twelve episodes. Directed by Akiyuki Shinbo and animated by Shaft, the anime embellishes the story with abundant references to popular culture, mainly through the seemingly random thoughts that appear written on the chalkboard in classroom scenes (much like the series Pani Poni Dash! and Negima!?, also produced by Shaft and Shinbo). The anime is somewhat of a personal triumph for the often self-defeating Kumeta, as his previous manga have never been animated — most recently, his earlier work Katte ni Kaizo was scheduled for an anime release but was canceled before it aired. Each episode ends with a still image drawn by one of the manga artists associated with Kōji Kumeta.

A special fifty-minute DVD summary episode titled Sayonara Zetsubō Sensei Jo: Zetsubō Shōjo Senshū (さよなら絶望先生 序〜絶望少女撰集, lit. "Goodbye, Mr. Despair Preface: Despair Girls Collection") was released on January 1 2008. The DVD consists of seven parts, each of them featuring one of main heroines with several additions to the original TV broadcast version.^[4] A twenty-minute version was aired as an outline summary on BS11 Digital on January 4 2008.^[5]

Opening themes

1. "Hito to shite Jiku ga Burete iru" (人として軸がぶれている, lit. "As a Person, My Axle is Shaky") by Kenji Ohtsuki featuring Ai Nonaka, Marina Inoue, Yū Kobayashi, Miyuki Sawashiro and Ryōko Shintani (episodes 1–9, 12)
2. "Gōin ni Mai Yeah~" (強引niマイYeah～, lit. "Overbearing Dance, Yeah") by Ai Nonaka, Marina Inoue, Yū Kobayashi, and Ryōko Shintani (episodes 10–11)

Ending theme

1. "Zessei Bijin" (絶世美人, lit. "Unparalleled Beauty") by Ai Nonaka, Marina Inoue, Yū Kobayashi, and Ryōko Shintani

For the first three episodes, the opening animation consists of slides of text with the characters' names and the production staff. It also changes slightly, with each episode's opening having a special message roughly halfway through. The second opening animation, used in episodes four to nine, features a running Nozomu and several of the girls in various yuri and bondage poses. Episode ten debuted a third credits sequence, with a new song, and a note: "The opening was not changed because of complaints." The opening animation then changed back to the original title card sequence in the last episode.

An Internet radio show titled Sayonara Zetsubō Hōsō (さよなら絶望放送) began airing on August 28 2007 on Animate TV. The show is hosted by Hiroshi Kamiya and Ryoko Shintani who played Nozomu Itoshiki and Nami Hitō respectively in the anime. Each episode, containing several corners, starts with a mini drama between Nozomu and Nami and is followed by various corners on replying to mail from listeners in several themes. Occasionally, the show features special guests related to the show, including Hiroshi Kamiya himself as "himself" from another role. The show is often shortened to SZBH due to the in-show call sign. A special CD of the show was released on January 23 2008 featuring Ai Nonaka, who played Kafuka Fūra in the anime, as a guest.

In October 2007, Shōnen Magazine announced that a second season of the anime would air in January 2008.^[6] The second season is titled (Zoku) Sayonara Zetsubō Sensei (【俗・】さよなら絶望先生) and began airing on January 5 2008. There will be thirteen episodes. The title of the second season is a pun as the kanji 俗 is a mark used in dictionaries to indicate slang or a vulgarity, and has the same pronunciation as 続, which means 'to continue'.

Opening theme

1. "Kūsō Rumba" (空想ルンバ, Kūsō Runba, lit. "Daydream Rumba") by Kenji Ōtsuki featuring Ai Nonaka, Marina Inoue, Yū Kobayashi, Miyuki Sawashiro and Ryōko Shintani

Ending themes^[2]

1. "Koiji Romanesque" (恋路ロマネスク, Koiji Romanesuku, lit. "Romance Romanesque") by Asuka Tanii, Asami Sanada, Miyuki Sawashiro, Yuko Goto and Miyu Matsuki
2. "Marionette" (マリオネット, Marionetto) by Rolly featuring Asuka Tanii, Asami Sanada, Yuko Goto and Miyu Matsuki
3. "Omamori" (オマモリ, lit. "Amulet") by Ai Nonaka, Marina Inoue, Yu Kobayashi and Ryoko Shintani

For the first and second episodes, just like the first season, the opening animation consists of slides of text with the characters' names and the production staff. This opening sequence features picture postcards sent from viewers. The second opening animation began use in episode three and features Nozomu freefalling from the sky, alongside various still images of anatomical muscle and skeletal figures based on Kaitai Shinsho. There is no opening in the fourth episode. One of the ending themes, "Koiji Romanesque" (恋路ロマネスク), was used from the first to fourth and featured characters in a josei art style. The second ending theme, "Marionette" (マリオネット, Marionetto), was used in the fifth episode.

• Manga official website Template:Jp icon
• Anime first season official website Template:Jp icon
• Anime second season official website Template:Jp icon
• Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei ({{{type}}}) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia