| 1 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sayonarazetsubousensei.png]] |
| 2 | [[caption-width-right:350:[[BlatantLies Just a normal teacher and his normal students.]] ]] |
| 3 | |
| 4 | ->''"I'm in despair! [The subject of today's episode] has left me in despair!"'' |
| 5 | -->-- '''Nozomu Itoshiki''' |
| 6 | |
| 7 | [[LoveFreak Optimism]] or [[TheEeyore despair]]? Let's [[SurrealThemeTune rumba]]! |
| 8 | |
| 9 | 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 series 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. |
| 10 | |
| 11 | Nozomu Itoshiki, a man so unfortunate [[AlternateCharacterReading even his name can be read as "despair"]], [[DrivenToSuicide 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]]. |
| 12 | |
| 13 | 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. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | The manga originally ran in ''Magazine/ShonenMagazine'' from 2005 to 2012. It was adapted into an anime by Creator/StudioShaft in 2007. The anime's second season, ''[[OddlyNamedSequel (Zoku) Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei]]'' ([Vulgar][[note]]The kanji used denotes slang or vulgarities in dictionaries, but ''zoku'' with a different kanji means "sequel"[[/note]] Farewell, Mr. Despair) aired in 2008. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | Following that, a set of three [=OVAs=] titled ''Goku: Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei'' (Prison: Farewell, Mr. Despair) was bundled with the limited edition of volumes fifteen and sixteen of the manga, with the second one released independently, and a third season, ''Zan: Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei'' (Repent/Remainder: Farewell Mr. Despair), aired in 2009. There's one final two-part OVA, titled ''Zan: Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei Bangaichi'' (Repent/Remainder: Farewell Mr. Despair Outside Ground), which was bundled with the manga. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | 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, 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. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | Not related to with ''Film/GoodbyeMrChips'' (although the title was probably intended as a [[ParodyNames parody]]). |
| 22 | |
| 23 | ---- |
| 24 | !!The following tropes have left us in despair! |
| 25 | |
| 26 | * AbusiveParents: |
| 27 | ** Subverted in Abiru's case. Contrary to the wildest imaginations of her classmates and sensei, her father seems to be a rather mild-mannered man who even made her a small cake for her birthday (that nobody else remembered). Ironically, the most outlandish rumor about him -- that he was a former member of an elite special forces unit famous for improvising lethal weaponry from a volume of ''Manga/KimagureOrangeRoad'' -- may have been the only one that was true. |
| 28 | ** Played straight with Kafuka and her extremely abusive household, with her schizophrenic father trying to kill her on at least one occasion. Kafuka being Kafuka, she re-frames everything in positive terms. May or may not be an escape mechanism to deal with her horrendous personal life. That, and maybe also some problems with reality testing inherited from her parents. |
| 29 | * AccidentalMarriage: By ''making eye contact'' with someone. |
| 30 | * AccidentalMisnaming: Half of the Itoshiki family is prone to this sort of name corruption, including the butler. |
| 31 | * AccidentalPervert: |
| 32 | ** Subverted in the HotSpringsEpisode, when the wall between the men's and women's baths falls over. Poor Nozomu freaks out and ScreamsLikeALittleGirl when exposed to his class. He runs away, with one of the girls lampshading "That should've been our reaction". Then he laments that none of them sees him as a man. |
| 33 | ** Done normally in another episode, where while taking a memento picture for Kafuka, a woman mistakes the picture taking as trying to get a shot at her. [[PaedoHunt The entire town reacts]]. |
| 34 | * ACupAngst: Meru and Chiri exhibit this in very different ways. While Chiri violently tortures people, or throws knives at them from her bra, Meru does what Meru does anyway (run away, cry, and then send sexually abusive text messages to the offender). |
| 35 | * AddedAlliterativeAppeal: The translators are fond of this for the character descriptions (i.e. Harumi is described as "addicted to male-on-male-matchmaking" and Manami is a "high school housewife"). |
| 36 | * AllJustADream: ''Zoku'''s sixth episode explicitly states the second of the ThreeShorts is Nozomu's dream, then goes into the nature of dreams themselves while slipping into a BizarroUniverse: Kafuka is in despair, Meru has become a MotorMouth, Usui became more noticeable, Chiri became a slob, etc. And as soon as they all realize that, they figure that they'll all die if the dream ends and so try to ''kill'' Nozumu in order to keep it going, and themselves alive. Interestingly, they start demanding an ending to the dream only a few minutes later. |
| 37 | * AlternateCharacterReading: The series is ''really'' fond of these. Character names alone should be a good start. |
| 38 | * AnachronicOrder: The anime's episodes are in a very different order from the manga chapters; the most obvious example of this is Nami's introduction, which is in the anime's second season despite Nami having already shown up in one episode with no fanfare in the first season. Kanako, Miko, and Shoko aren't introduced until the third season. Kumeta complains about this in a chapter of the manga, saying Shaft "wasted his jokes", among other things. |
| 39 | * AnachronismStew: Not particularly noticeably, but much of the setting (buildings and other background elements) bears more similarity to the Taishou Era (1912-1926) than modern times, and the art style is also very evocative of the Taishou era. Even Itoshiki-sensei's hakama and Matoi's kimono are period-correct, and the styles change with the season according to Taishou era fashions. |
| 40 | * AnimeAccentAbsence: Averted in the fake 'Story So Far' segment of ''Zan'''s 11th episode: the American official and Bob the left-wing academic have absolutely terrible American accents. Then again, these segments are always read purposefully ridiculously, in one case the narration was entirely nonsensical jabbering noises. |
| 41 | * AnimationBump: True for all the openings. For example, [[DeadpanSnarker Abiru's]] hair, in both the anime and manga, is a simple, charming series of connected circles. In the openings, they actually look like braids, and are a lot more dynamic. [[PhenotypeStereotype Kaere]], the incredibly busty Jerkass, decided not to wear a bra that morning. The same goes for Chiri, whose hair is the magical skirt equivalent of hair, and Nozomu, whose hair bounces around. Same goes for Matoi's kimono, and Nozomu's hakama. |
| 42 | * ApatheticTeacher: |
| 43 | ** Definitely Nozomu, who is often too "in despair" to even come to class and doesn't do much teaching when he does. |
| 44 | ** Probably Chie as well -- she has some of the attitude, and doesn't really seem to do any kind of conseling, although she's the one teaching Nozomu's classes when he doesn't show up. |
| 45 | * ArtEvolution: |
| 46 | ** ''Spoofed'' in ''Goku''. It's also lampshaded in the manga. Being the first two characters introduced, this was likely to happen with Kafuka and Nozomu. Kafuka's hairline was much further back, her feet were slightly smaller, her legs were somewhat wider, and she didn't have her freckles. Nozomu's face wasn't as sharp or angular, and he was actually taller. That, or Kafuka grew slightly (aside from the 10 year old immigrant and girl who hasn't hit her growth spurt, or the agoraphobe who doesn't leave the house, she's the shortest in the entire class). Chiri's 50/50 split was also wider. |
| 47 | ** The art evolved again. The characters were given more angular mouths, and, while they were very downplayed ''NoodlePeople'', they became slightly more realistic, reverting back to the old art style. The only thing that consistently changed was how the faces became less and less realistic, until everyone had [[OnlySixFaces the same face]]. Excluding [[ThePollyanna Kafuka]], by virtue of being the female lead, [[AxCrazy Chiri]], also by virtue of appearing often, and [[StalkerWithACrush Matoi]]. The only noticeable difference is in the eye shape. |
| 48 | * ArtShift: |
| 49 | ** The first ED video of the second season portrays all characters in distinctive {{Shoujo}} - [[BoysLove Shounen Ai]] - bishie-ish style, while the third OP features the characters in PuniPlush MagicalGirl style, complete with massive eyes and an upbeat poppy theme song. And blue hair. ''Lots'' of blue hair. |
| 50 | ** The third ED of ''Zoku'' is, bizarrely enough, in the art style of Mike Mignola's ''ComicBook/{{Hellboy}}''. |
| 51 | ** ''Zoku'' Episode 7's last third is an exercise on ArtShift. It consists entirely of {{Art Shift}}s one after another, from claymation to drugged-up, Dr. Seuss-inspired spinning circles, finally finishing up with an actual video of someone going through a flipbook with the characters drawn on the pages. |
| 52 | ** ''Goku'' OP sequences change every episode, combining the original ''Zoku'' OP and paper-cut dolls. |
| 53 | ** ''Goku'' Episode 1 has this in its ending animation, which is otherwise the same as Zoku's second ED. |
| 54 | ** ''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 "Literature/TrinityBlood" drawn by Kiyo Kyujo for the second part of the episode. The latter style has also been used in ''Zoku's'' first ED. |
| 55 | ** The end of the first third of ''Goku'' Episode 2 shows Nozomu as he would look like in another series by Kumeta, ''Manga/KatteniKaizo''. |
| 56 | ** ''Zan'''s OP has bits that are somewhere between this and {{Gonk}}. |
| 57 | ** The last third of ''Zan'' Episode 8, set aboard the Mystery Train, goes into a roughly-sketched cutout style that comes across as rather trippy. There are art shifts that occur within this medium change as well, mainly pertaining to the art style used for faces, which are drawn for major characters. The same style has been reused in another Creator/StudioShaft series, ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica''. |
| 58 | *** Artist's offical page [[http://uchu-kibo.chu.jp/ here]]. |
| 59 | ** During the dream episode in ''Zoku'', Usui was drawn in a style similar to ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'' (particularly the art used in the third series). |
| 60 | %%** 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. |
| 61 | %% This might be conplaining. |
| 62 | * ArtisticLicenseBiology: In one chapter, Nozomu claims he hates Christmas because he was born on November 4, which means that, if one counts back ten months and ten days, he was conceived on Christmas. Abiru immediately [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] on the margin of error. |
| 63 | * AttentionWhore: Probably the motivation behind Nozomu's every outrageous action. There's also Nami, but her AttentionWhore tendencies only show in her first appearance, in which she tries all kinds of gimmicks to gain pity and attention from her classmates (culminating with a threat of suicide). [[TheGenericGuy They all fail, of course.]] Other cases may include Abiru, who once admitted to wearing bandages even when not injured just for kicks, and apparently Kaere is also this, always flaunting her panties even as she loudly threatens lawsuit to onlookers. |
| 64 | * ArtsyBeret: In one volumean extra at the end makes the (false) claim that the manga's author, Koji Kumeta, is actually a pen name for two authors, one of whom is identified as Osamu Kometa, and who is depicted wearing a beret. This is a reference to/parody of the famous manga author Creator/OsamuTezuka who was known for wearing a beret. |
| 65 | * AwesomeAnachronisticApparel: Pretty much everything: The art style is inspired by Showa theater and a lot of the symbolism, particularly the symbolism relating to Kafuka, usually references the period. |
| 66 | * BabiesEverAfter: Nozomu and [[spoiler:the 12 main girls]] have a bunch of kids [[spoiler:who all bear a strong resemblance to Kafuka in looks and personality]]. |
| 67 | * BattleAura: Chiri exhibits one a la ''Manga/DragonBall Z'' in Episode 2 of the first season, because cutting cake is SeriousBusiness. |
| 68 | * BeautyBrainsAndBrawn: In the anime, Nozomu attempts to exclusively categorize everything as Liberal arts, Science or Athletics. |
| 69 | * BecomingTheMask: [[spoiler:The girls that failed to commit their respective suicides, are initially attending the so called promised land that is class 2-He to give a form of 'posthumous' graduation for the spirits that possess them. Then ThePowerOfFriendship prevails. This is also the case for the boys as well.]] |
| 70 | --> [[spoiler:False students, false classmates, false teacher. People of different origins, with no connection whatsoever, we gathered in this classroom. At first, it was a life... we lived as yorishiro. But before we know it, it had become our own lives as well.]] |
| 71 | ** Rin muses in the final chapter that their family, originally stand-ins for the powerful, influental Itoshiki family (of which [[spoiler:their butler Tokita]] is a member), essentially became the Itoshiki family after playing the role for years. |
| 72 | * BehindTheBlack: Played with when Matoi and Kiri get into a brawl over Nozomu (while he's in the same room as them). Neither the audience nor Nozomu see or hear anything, and whenever one of the two are seen, they're just sitting around nonchalantly with mysterious bandages appearing on their faces. Ai also exploits this in the first season of the anime by staying behind it until the last episode because she didn't want to ruin the show. |
| 73 | * BerserkBoardBarricade: Subverted, as Kafuka and Nozomu build one to lock in Kiri. Nozomu seemed to be doing it as ReversePsychology. Kafuka's just crazy. |
| 74 | * BestBeerEver: |
| 75 | ** Nozomu in the second ending to ''Zan''. |
| 76 | ** Maria once with "children's beer". |
| 77 | * BigDamnHeroes: It's not really last minute, but the premiere episode of ''Zan'' features this as Chiri leads the other main heroines in freeing Nozomu. |
| 78 | * BishoujoSeries: |
| 79 | ** All but two of the "focus" students are female; this is {{lampshade}}d in the post-credit ending of Episode 10. |
| 80 | ** Subverted in that the main character is very much a dude. |
| 81 | * BitingTheHandHumor: In the chapter about commercialism, Nozomu goes on and on about how you get sports stadiums and crap named after you if you have the money. He says he wonders if Mt. Fuji is going to end up renamed to "Mt. Shonen Magazine". |
| 82 | * BlackComedy: Perhaps intended to give viewers an idea of what to expect, the first few ''minutes'' of the anime open with the main character attempting to hang himself. It's a [[SuicideAsComedy comedy]], really! |
| 83 | * BlackComedyRape: |
| 84 | ** Mayo anally violates dogs with pencils and branches as a RunningGag. |
| 85 | ** Matoi's clingy behavior occasionally borders on this. |
| 86 | ** There was that one time when Abiru forced Nozomu to wear a tail from her collection... |
| 87 | --->'''Nozomu:''' Pervert! This girl's a pervert! |
| 88 | ** One segment shows Commodore Perry wearing a rape face and started "opening" things: Kaere's legs, Kiri's forelocks, and a random male student's zipper on his pants, prompting a comment about him [[DepravedBisexual swinging both ways]]. |
| 89 | * BlandNameProduct: The class finds a time capsule and fishes out a radio labeled "SONV". As the show is wont, this is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] immediately. |
| 90 | -->"...so 'Sony' used to be 'Sonv', then?" |
| 91 | ** Also "Photoshocker" (heavily used by teen idol Kotonon) for PhotoShop. |
| 92 | * TheBlank: In the first season OP and the page image, female students are shown with facial features blanked out and various kanji written on them. |
| 93 | * BlueWithShock |
| 94 | * {{Bowdlerise}}: ''Inverted'' in the English translation of the manga, which makes some of the jokes dirtier. For example, consider the following joke from chapter 54: |
| 95 | -->'''Original Japanese:''' Hey Kanako, if you marry someone named Oba, you'll become Oba Kanako. (Obaka na ko means "stupid kid") |
| 96 | -->'''English Translation:''' Hey Kana-chan, if you marry a man named Mr. Lingus, you'll become Kana Lingus. |
| 97 | * BreakingTheFourthWall: Ai's awareness of the camera panning towards her in Episode 9 of Zoku: |
| 98 | -->'''Ai''': No, don't waste screen time on someone like me! |
| 99 | * BrickJoke: |
| 100 | ** In the last half of first season's Episode 1, Kafuka claims Kiri is a ZashikiWarashi, a playful demon/spirit that also protects its home from decline and ruin as long as it's there. In ''Zan'', she leaves the school. [[spoiler:It crumbles to dust. Just like she said it would.]] |
| 101 | ** One episode/chapter even depicts the "seven-year punchline", when a woman burst out of a wall that she had been trapped behind. This was the punchline of a joke from ''Manga/KatteniKaizo''. And it's been ''seven years'' since that chapter of ''Kaizo'' was first published. |
| 102 | ** Pulled off spectacularly near the end of the manga. [[spoiler:Note that SZS started in 2005 and ended in 2012, making the chapter about "seven-year punchlines" into glorious foreshadowing.]] |
| 103 | * BungledSuicide: This happen repeatedly. |
| 104 | * BystanderSyndrome: Kanako Ohra has this as her particular quirk. Chapter 182 also touches on this subject, where people tend to turn blind eyes from some problems because they're actually too shy to intervene. It's also the thing that starts Chiri and Harumi's first meeting in their childhood, [[spoiler:where Chiri saved Harumi from being taken away by a paedophile because [[AdultsAreUseless people around her were too apathetic to help]]]]. |
| 105 | * CharacterCatchPhrase: ''Lots''. |
| 106 | -->'''Nozomu:''' I'm in despair! (''Subject of Nozomu's rant'') has left me in despair!! (''Zetsubou shita!'')\ |
| 107 | '''Nozomu:''' What if I'd died?! (''Shindara dou suru?!'')\ |
| 108 | '''Kafuka:''' How could (''subject of Nozomu's rant'') be possible? It could be that (''insert extremely implausible explanation here'')!\ |
| 109 | '''Kiri:''' Don't open it. (''Akenaide yo.'')\ |
| 110 | '''Kaere:''' I'll sue! (''Uttaeruyo!'')\ |
| 111 | '''Nami:''' Don't say 'normal'! (''Futsuu te iu na!'')\ |
| 112 | '''Nami:''' Sensei, you're speaking too much again! (whenever his {{Character Filibuster}}s portend disastrous consequences, such as Chiri going AxCrazy again) |
| 113 | ** The Itoshiki Family members' cry against writing out the AlternateCharacterReading of their names. |
| 114 | ** A usual exchange between Nozomu and Matoi. |
| 115 | --->*Matoi butts in a conversation*\ |
| 116 | '''Nozomu:''' You've been behind me?! (''Itan desu ka?!'')\ |
| 117 | '''Matoi:''' Yes. Always. (''E. Zutto.'') |
| 118 | ** Another example, whenever Nami gives an example. |
| 119 | --->*Nami gives an example of her subject* |
| 120 | --->'''Nozomu:''' [[PhraseCatcher How normal.]] |
| 121 | ** Chiri's demands to do things properly, and that not doing so irritates her to no end. |
| 122 | ** Another case is Nozomu inviting his students to go out to town and witness examples of subjects of his rant of the chapter. |
| 123 | * CatchphraseInterruptus: |
| 124 | ** Nozomu's surprised when a one-shot character borrows his catchphrase. |
| 125 | ** In one episode Rin asks him if he's in despair, following one of his rants, before he has a chance to scream "I'm in despair!". |
| 126 | * CatholicSchoolGirlsRule: |
| 127 | ** Kaere [[TransferStudentUniforms wears a]] [[NonUniformUniform westernized private school uniform]] with a plaid skirt. |
| 128 | ** In the broader sense of adult women in school uniforms being attractive, Nozomu is shown to be attracted to Chie when she puts on a SailorFuku. |
| 129 | * CensorSteam: Very disturbing censor steam. |
| 130 | * CerebusSyndrome: Subverted. The show has gradually glided from a showcase and parody of a suicidal man teaching a dysfunctional school class to becoming a showcase and parody of social ills in modern Japanese society -- but don't think for a moment this means it's taking itself the least bit more seriously. If anything, it's taking itself even ''less'' seriously. |
| 131 | ** In fact, the tendency of many comedy anime such as this to get inflicted with this on their final episodes is even parodied in [[spoiler:Episode 11 of the first season, when Nozomu got ran over by a runaway streetcar, and the episode ends with his students anxiously waiting for his surgery to end. Needless to say, he got better--he just barely managed to exclaim "Eh?!" at the last few seconds of the episode during the OurLawyersAdvisedThisTrope outro.]] |
| 132 | ** [[spoiler:Played straight in the last ten chapters of the manga. All this time we thought we were reading a goofy comedy about a teacher's rants...but it turns out we were wrong.]] |
| 133 | * CharacterAsHimself: The opening credits list all the characters as being played by themselves. |
| 134 | * CharacterizationMarchesOn: Some characters have drifted from their original premise: |
| 135 | ** Kaere is always billed as having multiple personalities, but after her introductory episode, her YamatoNadeshiko personality Kaede is rarely seen. |
| 136 | ** Kiri was introduced as a typical ill-tempered {{hikikomori}}, and while she loses this after Nozomu and Kafuka scare her into leaving home, she's definitely presented as fairly creepy during the first season. However, a couple of episodes into the second season, she acquires a sweet personality that she keeps for the rest of the series. |
| 137 | ** Nozomu himself experienced this. He never stops with his rants, but earlier on was more misanthropic and constantly attempted suicide. This change is actually lampshaded in the series itself, as Chiri accuses him of no longer fitting the title of "Mr. Despair", something she tries to remedy by driving him off a cliff with ravenous wolves (complete with a TitleDrop). |
| 138 | ** Related to the above, Chiri herself kind of fits this. While she always had psycho moments, she used to often play the StraightMan and complained about the oddity of her teacher. This is a sharp contrast to the later, AxCrazy Chiri who everyone else (even Kafuka at times) sees as nuts. |
| 139 | ** In one chapter, Nami gains weight over the summer. Though she [[StatusQuoIsGod loses this weight instantly]] she is thereafter associated more with food and gluttony than normality, always seen eating, and the girls continue to quip about it, particularly Kafuka and Abiru. |
| 140 | * CharlieAndTheChocolateParody: One manga chapter has Rin opening a chocolate factory catering to nerdy guys without girlfriends. She explains that it is a "cherry and chocolate factory". This is also a {{pun}}, because there's only one character dissonance between "Charlie" and "Cherry" in Japanese. |
| 141 | * CherryBlossoms: Featured in the first episodes of all four seasons. |
| 142 | * 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. |
| 143 | * TheChikan: Nozomu handcuffs himself to the railings on a train to avoid being accused of this, but when Nami screams out for an unrelated reason, he gets arrested anyway. He still wants to be punished after Nami clears things up, because he thinks people will think badly of him if he protests innocence. |
| 144 | * ChickMagnet: Zetsubou-sensei, to his class. |
| 145 | * ChocolateOfRomance: Itoshiki gets gifts from his entire class, although only two of them are clearly chocolate hearts - a normal one from Nami and one from Chiri which is strongly implied to be an actual human heart (at the very least it's anatomically correct). |
| 146 | * ChronicSelfDeprecation: Believe it or not, the author himself. Be sure to read his notes at the ends of volumes. |
| 147 | -->''I think I'm creepy. I just can't stand any part of myself. If I went to a picnic and saw my ugly face reflected in the lake, I'd just jump into it. If I went shopping and saw my ugly figure reflected in the show window, I'd bang my head against the glass and cut my throat with a fragment. My TV is always on. That's because if I turned it off, I'd see my ugly reflection. On sunny days, I have no desire to leave the house. Even my shadow is ugly. I'm an ugly manga child who'll never see the day when I become a swan.\ |
| 148 | I changed the lightbulb over my sink to the lowest wattage.'' |
| 149 | * {{Cliffhanger}}: Episode 11 of the first season, where Nozomu [[spoiler:gets hit by a train and his students are waiting outside the emergency room]]. [[spoiler:As usual, he got better. He was just barely able to exclaim "Eh?!" during the post-credits OurLawyersAdvisedThisTrope outro.]] |
| 150 | ** How the manga ended combined with a nice dose of GainaxEnding: [[spoiler: Nozomu runs into a church to avoid being forced into a "posthumous" marriage and sees what looks like Kafuka in a wedding dress. The final words spoken are "Which Kafuka are you?"]] |
| 151 | * {{Cloudcuckooland}}: The rest of the world isn't much saner than Itoshiki's students. |
| 152 | * {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Kafuka, the eternally happy girl. Maria, the somewhat-innocent illegal immigrant. Heck, almost every girl in the show is in her own fantasy world. |
| 153 | ** Special mention however goes for Kanako. She barely seems to notice the frequent carnage around her, never letting her vacant smile slip. |
| 154 | * TheCollectorOfTheStrange: |
| 155 | ** Abiru's collection of mounted animal tails. |
| 156 | ** For that matter, Nozomu's collection of unwanted admirers, each with a quirk of her own. |
| 157 | * ColorFailure: Majiru has one after a quest to catch measles as a child (metaphorically) ends with him groping Chiri and ending up on her bad side. Needless to say, he's no longer interested in breasts. |
| 158 | * ComedicSociopathy: |
| 159 | ** Mayo Mitama... and she [[KarmaHoudini always gets away with it]] because no one would want to judge her based on appearance. |
| 160 | ** Chiri becomes more and more of this as the series goes on, starting to carry around a shovel and making frequent references to killing people. At one point she ends up in the Sengoku period and tries to declare herself the ruler of Japan -- by killing everyone else. |
| 161 | * ComicallyMissingThePoint: An entire episode is devoted to this trope, going so far as to have characters distracted by minor things while an alien invasion occurs, right down to Itoshiki looking up at a HumongousMecha attacking the city...and ultimately wondering why it has "FART" written on its chest in big glowing kanji. |
| 162 | * ContrivedCoincidence: When Kafuka and Chiri go to visit Nozomu's family home, they discover that all the other students ended up at the same place for completely separate individual reasons (Maria climbing onto a fruit truck, Meru boarding a train trying to get a cell phone signal, Abiru chasing an animal tail sticking out of a van). |
| 163 | ** A number of episodes/chapters also start with one of Nozomu's students (usually Nami) saying or doing something at home while Nozomu just happens to be by their window, causing him to launch into one of his rants. |
| 164 | * CoversAlwaysLie: Discussed in Episode 2 of ''Goku'' before immediately going into SelfDeprecation. |
| 165 | * CultureClash |
| 166 | * CutenessProximity: Maria and Majiru inspire this in the girls. |
| 167 | * CuteMute: |
| 168 | ** Meru, who talks through her cellphone and sends people abusive text messages (it also helps that her limited vocalizations, usually wordless gasps, are voiced by Creator/StudioShaft mainstay Creator/ChiwaSaito). |
| 169 | ** Mayo also never actually talks to anyone, you only hear her voice in a narrative sense. In ''Goku'', she didn't communicate her idea verbally, words appeared above her head instead. |
| 170 | * {{Cyberbullying}}: Meru is normally a quiet girl. Give her a cell phone and she will heap piles of verbal abuse at you. |
| 171 | * DeadlyEuphemism: It's not suicide, he's just trying to make himself taller! |
| 172 | * DebutQueue: Sort of. Each character has a focus episode where we really find out about them. |
| 173 | * DemonicPossession: Implied to be one of Kafuka's mother's many, many problems. Luckily it means she knows we can get a [[BlackSpeech Blackly Speaking]] Meru to behave by knocking her upside the head with a giant cross! |
| 174 | * DerangedAnimation: |
| 175 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRMD0dsgpMs All of]] ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2et60d08OQ Goku's]]'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxcqoCjRPTE openings.]] |
| 176 | ** The tradition continues in ''Bangaichi'''s openings, especially the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXdAnLzHA80 second one]]. This features, among other things, some of the girls shooting the song's titular ''Ringo Mogire Beam'' from their crotches, exploding heads, [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever a 200-feet Maria]] running on the shore of Tokyo Bay, that same crazy art style as the infamous mysterious train episode of ''Zan'', and flying buildings (and whales and Chitan from ''Katteni Kaizo''). It's also double the normal length, so twice the crazy goodness! |
| 177 | * DepravedBisexual: Subverted by Nozomu. In one segment of ''Zan'', for the sake of being open-minded, he had a one night stand with a butch, crossdressing gigolo (who looked like an unshaven twin of [[Manga/GreatTeacherOnizuka Onizuka-sensei]] in a dress) in a love hotel... and ''hated'' it (he was filled with despair while they were doing it). |
| 178 | * DespairEventHorizon: Nozomu crossed this horizon way before the series even started and is a frequent flier. |
| 179 | * DespairSpeech: A poster boy. [[CharacterCatchphrase "I'm in despair!"]] |
| 180 | * DidntWeUseThisJokeAlready: Nozomu brings up the topic of people ignoring distressing things around them. Chiri says something to the effect of the show already doing this joke. Nozomu quips "Ignoring that...", and proceeds with his rant. |
| 181 | * DistractedByTheSexy: There is a segment on this (or rather, getting distracted in general, and forgetting the point of what you're watching) that involves an invading alien leader getting completely sidetracked from his invasion by gratuitous fanservice... which the viewer is also shown, and which generally does succeed in distracting the viewer from the actual plot until the next obvious reminder. Other non-sexy distractions include showing the credits onscreen at moderately high speed without stopping the action or dialogue in any way. It works, too. |
| 182 | * DontExplainTheJoke: In Episode 10 of ''Zoku'' the characters decided to make the show more accessible to first-time viewers by explaining every single joke, RunningGag and MeaningfulName. Played for fourth-wall-breaking laughs. |
| 183 | * DreamApocalypse: One episode features Nozomu dreaming, and the characters realizing what will happen if he wakes up. [[MurderIsTheBestSolution They decide to kill him instead]]. |
| 184 | * DrivenToSuicide: Nozomu, at least once an episode. Though when he almost does die, he is rather angry about it. However, this behavior was slowly dropped from sight as other character quirks become the center of jokes. |
| 185 | * DropInCharacter: Practically ''every'' major character has played the part at least once. Many a chapter begins with Itoshiki at home when suddenly one or more of his students barge in, or one of his students (usually Nami) at home when Itoshiki, just happening to be passing by, overhears them say something that prompts him to barge in and launch into one of his rants. |
| 186 | * DynamicEntry: Earlier on, Maria had a habit of delivering flying kicks, generally to Nozomu, because she couldn't distinguish things she saw on television from reality. In one instance, Harumi attacks Chiri until she flies through a door with a dropkick after Chiri insults her manga. Then Nozomu proceeds to praise her athletic ability... |
| 187 | * DysfunctionJunction: Everyone except for, apparently, Nami. Though at times her extreme normalcy could be [[LogicBomb a dysfunction in its own right]]. |
| 188 | * EarlyBirdCameo: Mayo appears in background scenes prior to being introduced. |
| 189 | * [[spoiler:EmpathicWeapon]]: Ai finds a parasol which she can't let go of until it is shared with someone she's in love with. [[spoiler: We find out it's actually a sword and it wants to cut whoever the wielder is in love with.]] |
| 190 | * EpilepticTrees: In-universe lampshading: |
| 191 | -->Even the author didn't think of such things when they were drawing it... Guess there are people who pointlessly distort something that deeply. |
| 192 | * EroticEating: |
| 193 | ** Chie with a strawberry in the second ending of ''Zan''. |
| 194 | ** There's an instance in the manga where Nozomu has a thick sushi roll in his mouth and Nami sees [[YaoiFangirl Harumi]] smirking at the sight and she asks why she's smiling. |
| 195 | --->'''Harumi:''' Nothing at all. Don't worry -- [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial I'm not planning to use it as future reference for my manga]]. |
| 196 | * [[EveryoneHasStandards Even Hardcore Otaku Stereotypes Have Standards]]: The minor recurring pedophile character gets punched out by the minor recurring {{Otaku}} stereotype (wearing a superhero outfit) in one chapter for making advances on Maria and Meru, declaring "Keep your deviations to the second dimension!" |
| 197 | * EvolvingCredits: |
| 198 | ** Season one's credits initially consist of some random title cards with lots and lots of text on them -- far more than anyone could ever read without freeze-framing. The text changes in each episode... until Episode 4, when it switches to a fully-animated intro. |
| 199 | ** The opening to ''Zoku'' starts off in black and white. Despite additional animation, the "film" appears to gradually deteriorate episode by episode. In the penultimate episode, one scene of the sequence is in color for a few seconds before the film becomes misaligned and the next 20 or so seconds are simply the credits on a white background. In the last episode, the film quality is back to perfect and the whole sequence is in full color. |
| 200 | * FanArt: |
| 201 | ** In-series, there's Harumi and her {{yaoi}}. |
| 202 | ** At the end of each episode of ''Zan'' the "Zetsubou-Sensei Drawing Song" features renditions of Nozomu by the voice actors who also sing. |
| 203 | ** The first few opening sequences of ''Zoku'' feature a massive wall of fan art. |
| 204 | ** At the end of every episode for all seasons, there are artworks drawn by fellow mangaka. The list below shows which artists did, in episode order: |
| 205 | --->'''Season 1:''' Creator/KazuhiroFujita (''Manga/UshioAndTora''), Akimine Kamijyo (''Manga/SamuraiDeeperKyo''), Creator/KoujiSeo (''Manga/{{Suzuka}}''), Hideo Nishimoto, Shimoku Kio (''Manga/{{Genshiken}}''), Kazutoshi Soyama, Creator/RumikoTakahashi (''Manga/RanmaOneHalf''), Creator/HiromuArakawa (''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist''), Yukari Takinami, Masashi Asaki, Yuji Terashima, and Creator/KojiKumeta himself.\ |
| 206 | '''Zoku (Season 2):''' Creator/KatsuyaTerada (''Anime/BloodPlus''), Maru Asakura, Hekiru Hikawa (''Anime/PaniPoniDash''), Creator/KunihikoIkuhara (''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena''), Kenjiro 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.\ |
| 207 | '''Goku (Season 2.5):''' Hidetoshi Omori (''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' movies), Mako Aboshi (''Manga/MariaHolic Alive''), and Creator/HiroshiKamiya (Nozomu's voice actor).\ |
| 208 | '''Zan (Season 3):''' Creator/HiroakiSamura (''Manga/BladeOfTheImmortal''), Rendou Kurosaki, Asumiko Nakamura, Shunji Enomoto, Hiroshi Tamaru, Shizuru Hayashiya (''Manga/HayateCrossBlade''), Creator/TakakoShimura (''Manga/WanderingSon''), Hiroyuki Asada (''Manga/TegamiBachiLetterBee''), Yumi Unita (''Manga/BunnyDrop''), Atsushi Kamijo, Yowoko Nihonbashi, Creator/ShouTajima (''Anime/OtogiZoshi''), and Creator/KojiKumeta.\ |
| 209 | '''Bangaichi (Season 3.5):''' Range Murata (''Anime/LastExile'') and Creator/KojiKumeta.\ |
| 210 | '''Season 3 Special:''' Yasu (''Literature/{{Toradora}}!''; she and Kumeta collaborated in the manga ''Joshiraku'') |
| 211 | * FanDisservice: Some fanservice scenes can be a little awkward when they're censored by the face of Maeda-kun, Creator/KojiKumeta's assistant, who sometimes is even facepalming disapprovingly. Shame on you. |
| 212 | ** One chapter has Maria accidentally barge into an nude obese man's bathroom, resulting in a two page spread of him covering his chest while panels zoom in on his crudely-drawn junk. Later in the chapter, Kaere gets only a small panel for her obligatory panty shot and then complains why she only got that tiny panel compared to the two-page spread of male nudity from earlier. |
| 213 | ** In one chapter, Kumeta's assistant, who [[StylisticSuck coincidentally]] [[SceneryPorn does the best art in the entire manga]] is a real-life bear, does a high kick in a micro-skirt. So does [[GoingCommando Maria]] but that's another issue. |
| 214 | * FanService: The show offers a constant stream of fanservice so random, pretext-free, and in-your-face that it might as well count as {{parody}}. Kaere is explicitly designated as a PantyShot character and goes through several in every episode, sometimes complaining about it and at other times regarding it as her duty (at one time she actually greets strangers by mooning them). Other characters chip in as much as they can, with practically every female character (and some males) appearing in a random erotic context multiple times per season. |
| 215 | ** Rin seemed to take over for Kaere for a while in ''Zoku''. The fact that her name can be read as ''zetsurin'' -- "confidence in (her) sexual prowess" hints at this as well. |
| 216 | ** Chie also served as this in the first season, and so does Kiri (although she lasted longer), with both having been in the occasional yuri-tastic situation. |
| 217 | ** In one ''Goku'' episode, at least 5 minutes of the show is dedicated to Harumi drawing a yaoi doujin. At one point she takes of her shirt and, after a [[MaleGaze gratuitous shot of her chest]], spends the rest of her time wearing nothing but spats and a bra. |
| 218 | ** There's frequent female topless nudity in the manga (usually on magazine covers or centerfolds), but the nipples are covered with tiny stars. Most explicit is a two-page centerfold with girls with enormous breasts having a boob contest - with their nipples covered with stars, of course. There's also an ad for a panty shot contest coming soon. Rumor has it this scene is what caused Del Rey to change the T (Teen) on the back cover of the books to OT (Older Teen). |
| 219 | ** There are quite a few special edition centerfolds featuring Nozomu and his male students, particularly [[AmbiguouslyGay Jun]], in suggestive possesses. |
| 220 | * FirstNameBasis: Kafuka calls Nozomu "Pink Supervisor". He hates the name, but has resigned himself to the fact that she's not going to stop. This is ultimately abandoned as the series went on. |
| 221 | * TheForeignSubtitle: The English translation is subtitled ''The Power of Negative Thinking'', in a parody of motivational speaker Norman Vincent Peale's ''The Power of Positive Thinking''. |
| 222 | * ForgettableCharacter: Kagero Usui is technically the ClassRepresentative, but has a property to slip away from other characters' memories because his only distinctive feature is his PrematurelyBald head--which he tries to hide most of the time. |
| 223 | * FreezeFrameBonus: '''Many''', as Creator/StudioShaft is wont to do. |
| 224 | * FrivolousLawsuit: Threatened by Kaere all the time. The manga volumes even feature the actual lawsuit documents. |
| 225 | * FunnyBackgroundEvent: The ever-changing chalkboard writings. |
| 226 | * GainaxEnding: The manga ends this way. [[spoiler: Kafuka is DeadAllAlong and has possessed the rest of the cast by way of organ donations after they attempted suicide before the show started.]] |
| 227 | * GagSub: By the very people who make the show. ''Zoku'' Episode 2 is spoken in nonsense, with even greater nonsense added on in the form of subtitles. Only Creator/StudioShaft and Creator/AkiyukiShinbo would do this. |
| 228 | ** One FanSub at least added the original dialogue from the manga, where a lookalike of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_C._Perry Matthew Perry]], the American commodore who ended Japan's self-imposed solitude back in 1854, threatened to open ''everything'' in the school, from books in the library, Kaere's legs, a random male student's zipper to even the swimming pool. |
| 229 | ** Entertainingly, most of the characters' gibberish fits their personalities somehow. Itoshiki-sensei's most commonly repeated word is 'bure' - twisted - from Season 1's opening, and Abiru uses mostly 'shippo' (tail). |
| 230 | * GaussianGirl: About OncePerEpisode or more, the character will focus on a (generally female) character about to speak, and they will be framed in soft light and sometimes [[BishieSparkle sparkle]]. |
| 231 | * GirlsWithMoustaches: In one chapter a bunch of {{otaku}} reject normal women for having "subtle facial hair" (also a case of MinorFlawMajorBreakup). |
| 232 | * GoodParents: |
| 233 | ** Ironically, given the suspicions that he's an abuser, Mr. Kobushi is actually a very caring dad who has a close relationship with Abiru. Granted, one might question his seeming endorsement of her tail-pulling hobby. |
| 234 | ** For that matter, Matoi's mother, who even ''supports'' her... [[StalkerWithACrush unhealthy habit]]. |
| 235 | * {{Gonk}}: One girl from the class, as well as numerous one-shot characters, have a flat nose, rectangle mouth and small, beady eyes. |
| 236 | * GratuitousGerman: Parodied. After Chiri absorbs the power of the ancient superweapon to fight an alien invasion (ItMakesSenseInContext), she begins [[CallingYourAttacks calling her attacks]]... in German. The other characters are somewhat confused as for why she does that. |
| 237 | ** The reason, [[DontExplainTheJoke of course]], is that Chiri is reenacting [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Asuka's final fight from End of Evangelion]]. |
| 238 | * HamToHamCombat: The live concert with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QUOOzeodS0 Ootsuki Kenji and the Despair Girls]] turns into this, especially during ''Ringo, Mogire, Beam!'' |
| 239 | * HaremGenre: Parodied, with the way girls randomly fall in love with Nozomu, but then don't bring it up again, with the probable exception of Matoi, Kiri, Chiri and Kafuka. While they do bring that up frequently in the manga, it's not in a good way. |
| 240 | ** And there is enough ShipTease: an episode of ''Zoku'' has even Chie and all the boys in the class showing attraction to him. |
| 241 | ** This is taken to another level entirely in ''Zan'' - Abiru has been "promoted" into a regular Nozomu fangirl, and several other characters get distinctly "friendlier" with him at times. |
| 242 | ** As of ''Bangaichi'', there are now ''seventeen'' females officially in love with/attracted to Nozumu, either openly (Kiri, Matoi, Chiri, Abiru, Mayo, Nami, Kirara, Maria, Tane, the freshman from another school [assuming she's not Kafuka in disguise], and even Niang-Niang) or secretly (Ai, Harumi, Meru, Chie, Manami, and of course Kafuka in her college-girl disguise). |
| 243 | ** The ending makes it even more complicated [[spoiler:with the reveal that Kafuka was DeadAllAlong and is literally part of each of the other girls through organ donations]]. |
| 244 | * HartmanHips: Let's just say that the women of Class 2-He are very curvy. |
| 245 | * HiddenDepths: Everyone, really. Readers can't really guess that [[GuiltComplex Kaga]] is an excellent violinist and from a family of ninjas, [[StalkerWithACrush Matoi]] plays the cello as a hobby, or [[FanOfThePast Nozomu's old friend]] is the youngest and strongest street brawler in the setting just from reading or watching some segments. Not to mention that [[spoiler:the students of 2-He are having such a DarkAndTroubledPast which almost successfully drove them to suicide]]. You will end up wondering whether the black comedies in the series are really plays for laugh or foreshadowings when you finish reading the manga. |
| 246 | * HotSpringsEpisode |
| 247 | * HotTeacher: Both Itoshiki and Chie. Chie is more of a MsFanservice, but Itoshiki constantly has girls falling for him (why is he in despair is a good question). |
| 248 | * HumansAreBastards: The HotSpringsEpisode about toxins ends with AxCrazy Chiri realizing that to Mother Nature, human beings are a toxin. |
| 249 | * HypocriticalHumor: |
| 250 | ** During the discussion of things not being true to the original, Halloween becoming a {{cosplay}} fest comes up. Chiri agrees that it's not good, and says that she's staying true to the spirit by dressing as a witch...[[Anime/KikisDeliveryService while still cosplaying]]. |
| 251 | ** In one chapter/episode, Nozomu is doing his typical commentary around town and stops at a {{Tsundere}} MaidCafe. He sees Kafuka working there and scolds her for not being at school. While Nozomu [[ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything does so little teaching]] that it doesn't immediately come across as HypocriticalHumor, since Nozomu is theoretically Kafuka's teacher, he should also be at school rather than doing what he's doing. |
| 252 | ** Chiri criticizes Nozomu for obsessing over grudges and apparently Matoi finds stalkers gross. |
| 253 | * HurricaneOfPuns: The names should be a good start. |
| 254 | * IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: All chapters are plays on the titles of pieces of classical literature. |
| 255 | * ImageSong |
| 256 | * ImprobablyFemaleCast: Apart from the titular character, the majority of the main cast is made up of his female students, with only a handful of his male ones ever doing anything. Lessened somewhat by the supporting cast, which features plenty of male characters. |
| 257 | * ImprobableWeaponUser: PlayedForLaughs when Itoshiki, suspecting Kobushi's father of physically abusing her, follows him around when he goes shopping and imagines how everything he picks up could be used to abuse his daughter, from bicycle pumps, to erasers to manga. But it's true that he's in a special ops that kills people with manga, though. |
| 258 | ** There are instances where the students use the weirdest things as weapons. Kiri's introduction has her using her TV as blunt weapon, in ''Zan'' Episode 1, when his students break him out of the jail, Harumi uses her Comiket catalog and Meru stabs people with her phone's antenna, in one episode Abiru uses her bandage as whips... |
| 259 | * InherentlyFunnyWords: |
| 260 | ** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pororoca Pororoca]] is first used by Kafuka who identifies it as a planet that she believes space aliens come from. Later on, the actual meaning is used by Nozomu to make an analogy to people becoming fans of various media. |
| 261 | ** Also counting as inherently funny are the tongue-twister in the "in the last volume" openers and any real words that showed up in the GagSub episode. |
| 262 | * IncrediblyLamePun: Chiri makes one. Subverted, as Nozomu and Maria find it extremely [[ActuallyPrettyFunny hilarious]], much to Chiri's annoyance. |
| 263 | -->'''Chiri:''' *shows the part in her hair* This is where the contest parts! |
| 264 | * INeverGotAnyLetters |
| 265 | * InterruptedSuicide: Way too many. If the first episode doesn't clue you in... |
| 266 | * InnocentInnuendo: This exchange after "Commodore Perry" shows up and pulls apart Kiri's bangs: |
| 267 | -->'''Kiri:''' ''(sobbing)'' I've only been opened by sensei before.\ |
| 268 | '''Nozomu:''' Don't say things that will create misunderstandings! |
| 269 | * {{Irony}}: An early joke in the series is Itoshiki deciding to watch a baseball game, only to get distracted by a bald player wearing a team cap when his team logo resembles the character for hair. |
| 270 | * ItCantBeHelped: Used ''incredibly'' frequently. |
| 271 | * ItMakesSenseInContext: Kind of a prerequisite to describing ''anything'' that goes on in this series. |
| 272 | * ItsAllMyFault: As revealed in Chapter 302, [[spoiler:Nozomu believes it's his fault Kafuka died. He picked up her hat from the crosswalk and she was hit by a car when he tried to give it back.]] |
| 273 | * JadeColoredGlasses: Like everything else in this page, parodied. When Nozomu loses his glasses, Kafuka buys him (with his students' donation money) a pair of [[ShapedLikeItself tinted colored glasses]] and Nozomu (and anyone else) can only say bad about everything when they're wearing them. |
| 274 | * {{Joshikousei}} |
| 275 | * KimonoFanservice: Reference is made to the fact that a kimono would traditionally be worn without underwear, and the whole show is a massive example of type A, thriving in AwesomeAnachronisticApparel. Also, each tankobon features one of the female students in a kimono on the back cover. |
| 276 | * TheKlutz: In Episode 9 of ''Zoku'', Chiri attempts to be a "proper" dojikko, with horrendous results. |
| 277 | * KonamiCode: During the opening for the MagicalGirl spoof, Meru's [[ImprobableWeaponUser phone]] uses this code (must be [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsyydNv4iq8 game breaking]]). |
| 278 | * LastEpisodeNewCharacter: Two, as of Season 1 -- Ai, who claims she didn't show up earlier because her presence could be a detriment to both her class and the show's ratings, and Mayo. Both made cameos in Episodes 1 and 11. |
| 279 | ** Kitsu Tane, Chiri's sister and a minor character, has her first anime appearance in the concluding OVA. A screen caption expresses regret for not introducing her sooner. |
| 280 | * LegacyCharacter: One mini-arc has Nozomu pass on the title of "Zetsubou-sensei" to Aoyama, and the next chapter has him standing in for Nozomu until he finally decides he can't handle it and passes it on to Haga, who then passes it on to another character, etc. |
| 281 | * LethalKlutz: Chiri tries to be a normal klutz, but ends up as one of these instead. |
| 282 | * LimitedWardrobe: Nozomu is nearly always seen wearing kimono and hakama, and most of the time that he isn't, he's sporting something else retro and Japanese. The same goes for his nephew Majiru (who lives with him) and Matoi (whose fashion sense is dictated by whomever she's obsessed with). Notably averted by most of the other characters, though. |
| 283 | ** The use of school uniform invokes this trope, of course. In later stages of the manga, though, the girls' uniform undergoes minor changes at the author's will (mostly the necktie), and the changeover between winter and summer uniforms is tightly observed and used for comic effect. |
| 284 | * LiteraryAllusionTitle: |
| 285 | ** Every single chapter title is a reference to a work of literature, albeit in parody, and with the meaning twisted beyond all recognition. |
| 286 | ** The series's title itself is a ShoutOut to ''Film/GoodbyeMrChips''. |
| 287 | * LoveDodecahedron: |
| 288 | ** Played straight insofar as virtually every girl loves Nozomu; some of them have other love interests or boys that are interested in them, and Nozomu is well aware of their romantic expectations. Subverted in that he is exceptionally ambivalent to anything like a romantic relationship. He occasionally opens up to the possibility of romance, but nothing ever comes of it (except maybe a suicide attempt). |
| 289 | ** Although apparently that didn't stop him from having an awesome night with a high-class escort girl who was apparently ''very'' satisfied with his "performance". |
| 290 | ** There's even an entire segment about this trope in ''Zan'', with the conclusion that in order for the LoveDodecahedron to hurt less, Nozomu must ''take up relationships with as many people as possible'' (in order to make it a non-pointy circle, you see). [[MurderTheHypotenuse It goes about as well as you would expect.]] |
| 291 | * LoveHurts: Poor, poor Nozomu and Manami... |
| 292 | * LyricalDissonance: |
| 293 | ** The first season's first ending, ''Zessei Bijin'', is about lovers' suicide set to a peppy swing jazz number. |
| 294 | ** ''Zan'''s first ending, ''Zetsubou Restaurant'', is a very dark song about a dreary restaurant that may or may not double as a brothel, also set to a jazz number. |
| 295 | ** ''Zan'''s opening, ''Ringo Mogire Beam'', is a heavy metal song about double (or even ''mass'' one) suicide. |
| 296 | * MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext: If there's anything on this page that makes you arch an eyebrow, chances are it would make you arch ''both'' your eyebrows if you actually saw it. |
| 297 | * MagicalGirlAU: There is a bit where characters turned into Lily Cure and Itoshiki was the BigBad. |
| 298 | * MagicSkirt: Aside from [[MsFanservice Kaere]], there are barely any panty shots of any of the other girls aside from the occasional gag. Maria's skirt in particular has the highest concentration of magic, because [[GoingCommando it's not just shoes and socks that she doesn't wear]]... |
| 299 | * MarryThemAll: Nozomu and [[spoiler:the 12 main girls]], as implied in the very final chapter but not in the usual sense. [[spoiler:Nozomu only marries ''Kafuka'', but since ''Kafuka'' is all of the girls, he marries the one that currently is the ''Kafuka'' and divorces the previous one he married. Still a harem end in a way, as the girls are living in relative peace together and having Nozomu's children, [[StrongFamilyResemblance all of which are a mirror image of]] [[MindScrew Kafuka]], even in the personality. An outsider observer is understandably freaked out, but her attempt to escape the island turns sours and [[ItMakesSenseInContext she ends up a part of the harem]].]] |
| 300 | * MassiveMultiplayerCrossover: Nozomu shows up in a supporting role in the ''Shounen Sunday x Shounen Magazine: Taisen Action'' fighting game for the PSP. |
| 301 | * MeaningfulEcho: The phrase "A meeting that was never meant to happen" is usually played for laughs, suddenly turns into drama when it's revealed that [[spoiler:the girls failed to commit suicide because of the donored organs from the eternally cheerful and optimistic Kafuka]]. |
| 302 | * MeaningfulName[=/=]PunnyName: '''Every single named character''' has a name that is some sort of pun on their personality type, almost to the point of AnthropomorphicPersonification. See [[Characters/SayonaraZetsubouSensei the Character Sheet]], lest this section become a complete duplication. |
| 303 | * MeasuringDay: In episode 5. |
| 304 | * MistakenFromBehind: Chiri accidentally [[http://youtu.be/YKlZTBe-NT0?t=1m48s stabs]] Nozumo from behind because of this, and that she was trying to act like TheDitz. |
| 305 | * MrFanservice: The Itoshiki family is well known for being a [[CastFullOfPrettyBoys Family Full of Pretty Boys]]. |
| 306 | * MsFanservice: Chie Arai was one in the first season, but Kiri Komori seems to have taken over for her in ''Zoku''. Both pale in comparison to Kaere, though. |
| 307 | * MundaneMadeAwesome: |
| 308 | ** Episode 3 of ''Zoku'' explores the trope by having characters make mundane statements... ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VvO3rjiFeI&feature=related in overly dramatic ways]]''!!! |
| 309 | ** Chiri then announces that she's given her sister illegal vitamin injections in a grandiose manner -- because, apparently, doping one's sister isn't a big deal to her. [[BreadEggsMilkSquick The battery acid, however, was a different story...]] |
| 310 | * MythologyGag: [[Manga/KatteNiKaizo "Mr. Fashion"]] makes a cameo arguing with Kino about what's fashionable. |
| 311 | * NegativeContinuity |
| 312 | * NewMediaAreEvil: Parodied in a couple of episodes during the teacher's rants, including the rant above. |
| 313 | * NightmareFuelStationAttendant: Whenever Kafuka or Chiri get involved, the insanity and horror are cranked up. |
| 314 | ** The first instance of the Drawing Song has Chiri('s voice actress) draw a very imprecise, childish depiction of Nozomu. This picture then takes up the whole screen and a comic horror scream is head. |
| 315 | * NoCommunitiesWereHarmed: The Itoshikis' native Kuraizawa, Shinshuu Prefecture. Kuraizawa is based on Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture ("Kurai" means "dark"); "Shinshuu" was another name for "Shinano", one of Japan's former provinces (replaced by prefectures during the Meiji Restoration), now also known as Nagano Prefecture. |
| 316 | ** Incidentally, one can't get to Karuizawa from Tokyo via local (futsuu) trains without taking a major detour, because the line through the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usui_Pass Usui Pass]] was abandoned when the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagano_Shinkansen Nagano Shinkansen]] opened. Knowing this makes Nami's predicament even funnier. |
| 317 | * 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 "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. |
| 318 | * NotAllowedToGrowUp: Poked fun at. Zetsubou Sensei's class repeatedly fail their exams so they have to repeat their year over and over, thus never allowed to "grow up". [[spoiler:Then they DID graduate to their next year, without much fanfare. It's not stopping the comedy.]] |
| 319 | * NothingIsScarier: In Chapter 223 Chiri gets a book that describes what crimes people were to commit based on their laughing faces. When she see's what Kafuka's laugh would lead to, she passes out. We never see what crime it was... |
| 320 | * OffscreenInertia: In-universe example in an episode dealing with hyping things. Matoi and Kiri are unwillingly paraded around to shouts of "Stalker! Stalker!" and "Hikikomori! Hikikomori!", respectively. The scene later shifts to what appears to be several hours later, and they are still being paraded around, and Kafuka announces that [[NoFourthWall the show's over]], so there's no indication of when the people actually stopped parading them. |
| 321 | * OnceAnEpisode: Itoshiki's declaration that something "has left me in despair!", as well as random items in the background (a dog with a stick in its butt, Creator/KojiKumeta's face, a stork carrying a baby, Kaere's latest PantyShot, the shot with the diagonal clouds and the drawing song from the third season, etc. |
| 322 | * 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. |
| 323 | * OurLawyersAdvisedThisTrope: At the end of every episode there's a "This show is a work of fiction" disclaimer. It usually contains a lot of SuspiciouslySpecificDenial. |
| 324 | -->''Similarity to any actual paradises on Earth, interesting comics called'' Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei, ''Blue Man, or Hata Kenjirou and his assistant who came to ADR, chipped in their voices, and got photographed with two of the actresses is purely coincidental.'' |
| 325 | * OutOfFocus: Only certain members of the cast will appear in any given episode, but some of them have been given less and less screen time, especially Chie. |
| 326 | ** [[spoiler: This trope is a basis for the big ending reveal, as at each time Kafuka is visible, she has possessed, thus replaced, one other girl.]] |
| 327 | * PaintingTheMedium: |
| 328 | ** The punctuation in Chiri's dialogue shows up on-screen in the lower right corner, accompanied by KabukiSounds. |
| 329 | ** The characters for certain sound effects (''jiiiiii~'' being the main example) have been written on the screen, like in a manga. ''Zan'' takes this further with ''every'' sound effect being spoken, such as doors ("ga-CHA"), a tense crowd ("piri-piri"), and in one case, constantly in the background, the ocean ("za-zaaaan"). |
| 330 | ** One chapter has Itoshiki complaining about how the world is full of wasted space. He does this in a two-page spread consisting of nothing but two relatively small word bubbles and his head taking up less than half the right page. |
| 331 | ** Another chapter has Itoshiki basically declaring take-backsies on the whole chapter, starting it over again (complete with chapter title). |
| 332 | * ThePerfectionist: For Chiri, everything has to be done "properly". Even things that are not right, if you don't do them the right way.... let's just say things don't get pretty. |
| 333 | * PeripheryDemographic: Discussed InUniverse in Chapter 279, which deals with what happens when a product attracts a demographic different from that that which is intended (e.g. children's cooking shows and aging perverts, ShonenGenre magazines and {{Yaoi Fangirl}}s (like Harumi), seaside condos meant for happy families and suicides who want to jump off the balcony, etc.). |
| 334 | * PhenotypeStereotype: |
| 335 | ** Kaere -- half-Japanese, half-Caucasian. |
| 336 | ** In ''Zoku'' Episode 4, a textbook with English exercises is shown. The cartoon illustrations seen on the page feature grotesque caricatures of foreigners with enormous noses. Apparently TruthInTelevision: actual textbooks feature this kind of caricature. See [[http://bigdaikon.org/board/viewtopic.php?t=61623&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc this link]] for an example and an attempt to turn the tables. |
| 337 | * PhraseCatcher: |
| 338 | ** "How normal" or variations thereof, to Nami. |
| 339 | ** Nozomu's "You were here?" to Matoi whenever the latter butts in during a conversation. |
| 340 | ** Everyone seems to call Kanako "magnanimous" or (depending on the translation) a "big-hearted girl", which is what her name basically means. |
| 341 | * PoliticalOvercorrectness: In the episode about preconceptions, Itoshiki decides at the end to be more accepting of all peoples. [[RefugeInAudacity Thus, he doesn't turn down sex offers from a gay man]]. |
| 342 | * PrettyFreeloaders: |
| 343 | ** Kiri taking up residence at Nozomu's home, although she subverts it by doing the cooking and cleaning. |
| 344 | ** Matoi, for [[StalkerWithACrush obvious reasons]]. She may not have been in her ''own'' house since the first season. |
| 345 | * PreviouslyOn: Every episode of ''Zan'' opens on a "the story up to now" recap told in pop-up storybook format. This would be all well and good, except that none of the stories being told have actually ''happened'', or indeed make any kind of sense. The stranger part? All taken from the manga itself. |
| 346 | * PsychoticSmirk |
| 347 | * PunBasedTitle: The second season's title is prefaced with "Zoku", which is sees fairly common use in the titles of sequels. ''That'' "Zoku" (続) translates to "continuation". The "Zoku" used in ''this'' case (俗) is a mark used in dictionaries to denote slang terms and vulgarities. |
| 348 | * RadishCure: When Nozomu and Kafuka board up Komori, plus probably some others. |
| 349 | * RealJokeName: Dr. Mikoto Itoshiki's name resembles "zetsumei" ("death") when written horizontally, a fact reflected in his rather small pool of patients. Anytime it's mentioned ends in a HeadDesk moment. |
| 350 | * RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: Used in a parody of James Bond to mark the villain. |
| 351 | * RedEyesTakeWarning: Kafuka in the full-color "Kuusou Rumba" opening. |
| 352 | * ReferenceOverdosed |
| 353 | * RefugeInAudacity: [[FaceOfAThug Mayo]] gets away with the most appalling behavior even when caught red-handed, because everyone assumes that no one could possibly get caught doing those sorts of things. |
| 354 | * RetroUniverse: Though set (more or less) in the same time period as when it was written, the series's aesthetic sensibilities evoke pre-UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Showa Japan (1926-1945). This is driven home by the use of katakana where nowadays hiragana ought to be, and referring to the year[[note]]Japan uses calendar eras which begin from an Emperor's accession to the day of his death[[/note]] as though Emperor Hirohito (who died in 1989) were still alive and on the throne (e.g. 2011 is Showa 86 -- today this would be called Heisei 23, as in the 23rd year of the reign of the current Emperor, Akihito). [[spoiler:Towards the end of the series, it turns out that this was all deliberately invoked by Nozomu.]] |
| 355 | * RunningGag: Creator/KojiKumeta has a habit of changing a light bulb in his house to one of the lowest wattage after one of his "paper blogs". |
| 356 | * SailorFuku: The school where most of the series takes place uses the typical blue and white sailor fuku for the girls' uniforms. |
| 357 | * SarcasticConfession: |
| 358 | ** On ''Zoku'' Episode 3 (prior to the "MundaneMadeAwesome" segment, below) Nozomu rants on how grave matters are related in a casual tone, such as Class 2-He repeating another year, Abiru's father telling her that he divorced her mother a month before, Nami being told by her father that he got laid off, the mother of one of Jun's friends telling him that her husband is in jail, Meru's mother introducing her father's mistress to her, and Harumi overhearing her mother tell her neighbor that she was an ''unexpected child''., |
| 359 | ** There's one incident dealing with an inversion of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf", wherein trustworthy people's jokes/lies will always be taken seriously. Jinroku tells a lie that illustrates this concept, and when questioned about a bandage on his head, tells Nozomu that he just extracted a bullet from his time as a mercenary. He and Nozomu both laugh, but it's implied he was actually telling the truth. |
| 360 | * SayingSoundEffectsOutLoud: |
| 361 | ** Matoi's "Jiiiiiiiiii..." ("Stare..."). |
| 362 | ** Throughout ''Zan'', many sound effects appear [[WrittenSoundEffect written on screen]] as the sound is heard. Whenever this happens, the girls' voices also read said sound effects. |
| 363 | * SceneryPorn: Breathtakingly! Some of the most mind-blowing scenes also beautifully rendered, accompanied by full orchestration. |
| 364 | * SchoolFestival: With the absolute minimum amount of culture possible, as demanded by Itoshiki. |
| 365 | * ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: Nozomu during the second half of Episode 5 of the first season, combined with a BigNo. What makes it even funnier is that [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iHU_pChy_s#t=01m07s in such a situation]], the roles should be reversed. |
| 366 | * SecurityBlanket: Kiri is nearly always wrapped in one, and a segment discussing her loss of it (and others' metaphorical security blankets) is titled "We are Linus", in reference to the TropeNamer from the ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' stories. |
| 367 | * SeinfeldianConversation: The show is just made of these. |
| 368 | * SeriousBusiness: Played with every which way short of aversions. The main source of humor in all versions is taking the most minor things seriously, to ludicrious extremes. |
| 369 | * SheCleansUpNicely: Mocked by Chiri, who kills the entire class and buries herself, interpreting everyone as "seeds". The next day when everyone is inexplicably alive again, she turns out to be a Bishoujo, also mocking the Bishoujo demographic. |
| 370 | ** On the other hand, she girls - and occasionally even Itoshiki - all wear traditional dress from the [[AwesomeAnachronisticApparel Showa period]] from time to time. |
| 371 | * ShipToShipCombat: Mocked in-universe in ''Goku'', being described as one of those kinds of battles with no victors. |
| 372 | * ShoutOut: Now [[ShoutOut/SayonaraZetsubouSensei has its own page]]. |
| 373 | * TheShadowKnows: In one episode, Chiri dresses as a "ditzy nurse". As she smiles, her shadow also smiles, and has a PsychoticSmirk. |
| 374 | * SkyscraperMessages: One chapter is about getting dragged into other people's drama. Itoshiki-sensei is staying at a hotel whose manager wants to write a message for some holiday or other and his room has to be dark. |
| 375 | * SocialServicesDoesNotExist: Although in earlier episodes, Chie (see directly below) is shown alerting Nozomu to things like Abiru's alleged domestic abuse at the hands of her father, as well as Kiri's truancy, there's an absence of any kind of social services being involved. And then there's Kafuka's situation... |
| 376 | * SnapBack: One episode ends on a cliffhanger when Itoshiki [[spoiler:gets so fed up he storms off downtown only to get ran over by a runaway streetcar. The episode ends with the entire class anxiously waiting for him in the hospital, and the "in operation" light finally turning off]]. The [[ContinuityNod only indication the above actually happened]] is the fact that Chie is acting as substitute teacher in the next episode and Itoshiki has to storm into the classroom and resume his rantings. |
| 377 | ** It's entirely possible that this was related to the first half of that episode, where a brief mention was made of "being completely disconnected from the source material". |
| 378 | * SoundtrackDissonance: |
| 379 | ** The final episode of the first season features Nozomu hanging himself ([[RunningGag again]]) while "HappyBirthdayToYou" plays in the background. |
| 380 | ** Cheerful or peaceful music is always playing when Kafuka presents an implausibly optimistic view of a negative situation. |
| 381 | * SplitPersonality: |
| 382 | ** Kaere, between lawsuit-crazy Kaere and demure Kaede. |
| 383 | ** If an (as usual) fairly surreal anecdote is to be believed, Kafuka in her childhood as well. |
| 384 | * SpoofAesop: |
| 385 | ** Anything Itoshiki considers a valid {{aesop}} -- the show doesn't tend to take him very seriously, and invites the viewer to do the same. |
| 386 | ** It especially doesn't help when Kafuka jumps in and [[ThePollyanna tries to put her own "spin" on things]] -- it usually only means the examples are crossing the line into insanity. |
| 387 | ** If Chiri takes the Aesop on, we can expect her to come within an inch of killing everyone in a sequence bordering mixing horror and comedy. |
| 388 | * StalkerWithACrush: |
| 389 | ** Played straight but exaggerated severely with Matoi Tsunetsuki. |
| 390 | ** Chapter 4 of the manga (Matoi's introductory chapter, naturally) has a block-long string of them. |
| 391 | ** In ''Zoku'', one of Nozomu's neighbors is a cute young college girl who occasionally brings him homemade meals and commiserates with him about whatever rotten thing his students did to him that day. The end of Episode 8 reveals that [[spoiler:the girl is actually Kafuka in a wig, complete with creepy [[Film/FatalAttraction bunny-boiler]] overtones]]. |
| 392 | *** Even creepier: in ''Zan'' (and possibly earlier), there's a framed picture of her on his desk. Apparently he likes her enough to keep something like that. One can only wonder how he would react if he ever put two-and-two together and realized just whose picture he keeps prominently displayed on his dresser drawers... |
| 393 | * StockFootage: Nearly every time Itoshiki prepares to say his catchphrase. Other characters have used similar stock footage as gags. In the MagicalGirl Parody, Itoshiki's stock footage doubles as a pseudo TransformationSequence, (though initially it's a reaction to all of his students being drawn in Chibi-style, he does gain a "suspicious cape and staff" when the shot returns to him, apparently from nowhere). |
| 394 | * SuicideAsComedy: Though the number of suicide jokes have declined in favor of, among other things, a more psychotic Chiri. |
| 395 | * SurrealThemeTune: All of them. |
| 396 | ** "Hito Toshite Jiku ga Bureteiru", season one's first opening theme, set to (among other things) annotated diagrams of bondage positions, laments on how everything is twisted. |
| 397 | ** "Zessei Bijin", season one's ending theme, set to scenes of murder and death, enthuses about a couple's double suicide while [[LyricalDissonance playing in a peppy jazz number]]. |
| 398 | ** "Kuusou Rumba", ''Zoku'''s opening theme, talks about a man trying to dance the Rumba being turned down. |
| 399 | ** "Koiji Romanesque", ''Zoku'''s first ending theme, {{Art Shift}}s the characters into {{Shoujo}} style and shows them attached to medical drips, or, in the case of Kagero, dressed in nothing but a billowing long coat in front of a crucifix. |
| 400 | ** "Lyricure Go Go!", ''Zoku'''s one-shot opening for Episode 7, was the theme for a MagicalGirl parody. |
| 401 | ** "Omamori", ''Zoku'''s ending theme for Episode 13, {{Art Shift}}s into gothic horror, drawn in a style reminiscent of ComicBook/{{Hellboy}}. |
| 402 | ** "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.) The full version is even MORE surreal. Somehow. |
| 403 | ** "Zetsubou Restaurant", ''Zan'''s ending theme, sings about leaving the troubles of the world behind, while depicting the various evening activities of Class 2-He (save Kafuka, who is only shown standing in front of the school in a kimono). |
| 404 | ** Subverted with "Marionette", ''Zoku'''s second ending, a rather normal anime song with rather normal images... probably due to Nami's presence. But that doesn't stop its lyrics from making [[http://www.animelyrics.com/anime/zetsubou2/marionette.htm nary a sense]]. |
| 405 | * TakeThat: This ain't a satire series if it doesn't include at least a potshot to any given anime, issue or whatever. |
| 406 | ** "You're purposely talking about stuff nobody cares about right? Like [[Manga/LuckyStar how to eat a chocolate coronet?]] Nobody cares about stuff like that!" |
| 407 | ** Also coming up frequently in Nozomu's rant-of-the-day, especially when he starts talking about soccer, or politics. |
| 408 | ** Meru also claims that the term "creepy fangirl" was made for [[YaoiFangirl Harumi]]. |
| 409 | ** 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 ''[[Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya The Melancholy of a Middle-Aged Pedophile]]''. |
| 410 | ** In an episode dealing with countercurrents, a background character comments that he got into Creator/HayaoMiyazaki's films through those of his son [[Anime/TalesFromEarthsea Goro]], leading to a comment that "there's some currents that shouldn't be traveled". |
| 411 | ** On the other hand, both Creator/KojiKumeta and Creator/StudioShaft are also fond of using Nozomu's rants to [[SelfDeprecation 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. |
| 412 | * TalkingIsAFreeAction: Parodied in the MagicalGirl spoof, "Model Warrior Lily Cure". When Masked Despair starts monologuing, Kafuka just blows him away before he can even say, "Let me finish!" |
| 413 | * TakeAThirdOption: The third episode of ''Zan'' mocks this trope. |
| 414 | * TeacherStudentRomance: Played for dark laughs. The plot revolves around a suicidal teacher who accidentally wins the hearts of nearly all of his students, some more extremely devoted than others. Itoshiki himself rarely returns any of the feelings of his {{Harem}}. |
| 415 | * TemptingFate: In one episode of ''Zoku'', Mikoto states (while performing surgery on an injured Nozomu) that he has to carefully avoid hitting a certain blood vessel. Guess what happens next. |
| 416 | * ThereAreNoTherapists: Averted - the school has a psychiatrist. She just doesn't help at all. |
| 417 | * TheTetrisEffect: In a chapter dealing with Chiri coming to clean Nozomu's house, she ultimately falls into this in a typically crazy way, stacking objects and people in an attempt to eliminate "dead space". At one point, Harumi comments about Chiri always being good at ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}''. |
| 418 | * ThisIsAWorkOfFiction: A different parodic disclaimer at the end of every episode, culminating in one which disclaims any resemblance between the show and ''itself''. |
| 419 | * TitleDrop: |
| 420 | ** In the ''Goku'' Episode 2, after Chiri decides that the show needs more despair so that it can match its title by dropping Nozomu off a cliff into a pack of ravenous wolves below. |
| 421 | ** A partial example earlier than that -- in Kaere's introduction episode, she attempts suicide because as a "perfect Japanese woman", she can't pursue Nozomu aggressively -- as she jumps, she calls out "Sayonara, Itoshiki-Sensei". |
| 422 | * TomatoInTheMirror: It's revealed in the manga that [[spoiler: the Itoshiki family actually isn't the same wealthy family that always lived there]]. Hundreds of years ago violence threatened the [[spoiler: nobles]], causing them to find a [[spoiler: family of exact lookalikes to replace them]] while the originals [[spoiler: went into hiding]]. Since they never came back, [[spoiler: eventually the Itoshikis decided that if they had spent centuries in the mansion and had all the wealth]] it meant that they were [[spoiler: a distinguished family themselves]]. It's also revealed that the last [[spoiler: descendant of the original family is their butler, Tokita]]. |
| 423 | * TooHotForTV: Most censors are just RuleOfFunny but a few are removed for the [=DVD=]s. |
| 424 | * TrademarkFavoriteFood: Apples seem to be a favorite food for Maria, and when she's first introduced and receives gifts from her classmates, she's presented with "[[Manga/DeathNote Ryuk]]"-brand apples. |
| 425 | * {{Troll}}: |
| 426 | ** Meru is the most obvious example. |
| 427 | ** Nozomu actually advises his students to start trolling to avoid being trolled. |
| 428 | --->'''Abiru:''' I always have.\ |
| 429 | '''Nami:''' I think that just came naturally. |
| 430 | * {{Tsundere}}: |
| 431 | ** Mayo Mitama is said to be one. If she is, though, she's probably the tsunnest {{Tsundere}} ever. |
| 432 | ** Chiri Kitsu could also be called one -- her default mode is tsun-tsun with (rare) instances of dere-dere that almost always devolves into a violent psychotic episode when Nozomu fails to live up to her (somewhat unfairly unrealistic) expectations. |
| 433 | ** Parodied/discussed in ''Zoku'' Episode 5. It even uses the "Don't misunderstand. I didn't do this for you" excuse which triggers the conversation and practically gets lampshaded as a common tsundere excuse. |
| 434 | * TwistEnding |
| 435 | * UncannyFamilyResemblance: |
| 436 | ** Nozomu and Mikoto are practically twins. |
| 437 | ** Majiru looks like a young Nozomu, and even has the same fashion sense. |
| 438 | * UnmovingPlaid: Anything anyone wears that has a pattern. Most often applies to Nozomu. |
| 439 | * UnpleasableFanbase: Discussed InUniverse in the latter half of Season 1 Episode 11 as part of a larger discussion about how people use the "I-just-followed-the-''X''-to-the-letter" excuse to escape criticism -- in this case, negative fan reactions to the way a film adaptation relates to its source material. On one hand, a director complains that despite staying faithful to the source material, his adaptation is still panned as boring. On the other hand, Nozomu then points over to the flip side: a group of angry fanboys (including Harumi) beating up another director for straying from the source material. |
| 440 | -->'''Director:''' I'm in despair! This world where even faithful film adaptations earn nothing but criticism has left me in despair!\ |
| 441 | '''Nozomu:''' Mr. Director, [[HeyThatsMyLine that was my line...]] |
| 442 | * UnreadablyFastText: |
| 443 | ** The first few episodes of Season 1 opened with Unreadably Fast Anecdotes. |
| 444 | ** Weird gags also show up before every episode title card. |
| 445 | ** Most of Nozomu's lists of whatever he's despairing about at the moment also probably count. |
| 446 | ** Another quick gag relying on this is the name of Nozomu's school. It changes on a whim, even going so far as to change itself to [[Franchise/HarryPotter Hogwarts]] once. |
| 447 | * UnresolvedSexualTension: |
| 448 | ** The upshot of every girl in class being in love with Nozomu. He's almost pathologically resistant to their affections (ethical concerns aside), but is painfully aware of the UST, which is why he has stopped resisting Matoi's antics, as doing so only spurs her to more extreme behavior. Class 2-He exists in a kind of equilibrium where the tension never boils over, at least until somebody/something kicks over the anthill, such as Nozomu's ArrangedMarriage in Season 1 and his flirtatious body-double Haga in ''Zan''. |
| 449 | ** A major case of ShipTease occurs with Kiri, who lives with Nozomu in school and serves as caretaker for both him and his nephew Majiru. At one point she seems fine with sharing him with [[StalkerWithACrush Matoi]]. |
| 450 | *** At least when Nozomu is around, when he isn't looking, apperently both of them have fought sometimes offscreen |
| 451 | ** Another case (this time in ''Bangaichi'') occurs with Tane, Chiri's flirtatiously sexy (yet messy) sister, though it's likely that his affection for her stems out of pity for her situation (having to sacrifice her hygiene in order to curb Chiri's murderous obsession with cleaning their pet goldfish with ''shampoo''). |
| 452 | ** On one occasion Kafuka became jealous of Chie when Nozomu was smitten by the sight of her in a SailorFuku. |
| 453 | --->'''Kafuka:''' [=MILFs=] in schoolgirl uniforms are lame!\ |
| 454 | '''Nami:''' See, now he's acting like a schoolboy! |
| 455 | ** Normally Nozomu would already have a love interest (or perhaps a harem) were it not for his students' -- especially Chiri's -- ClingyJealousGirl antics (at least the others are willing to settle on MarryThemAll). So far the only time Chiri agreed to such a solution was in ''Zan'', where he was literally ''divided per piece''. |
| 456 | --->'''Nozomu:''' I'm in about a 53-way relationship! It's almost like a circle! |
| 457 | --->'''Kafuka:''' To smooth over the prickliness we need more and more points! Otherwise the class will become bloodthirsty! ... Get more relationships with people in town! [[RefugeInAudacity By adding more and more points, the polygon will infinitely become close to being a circle, and mankind will be at peace!]] |
| 458 | ** Other girls whom Nozomu apparently started falling for include a college girl introduced in ''Zoku'' and a mysterious girl from another school that confessed to him in ''Zan'' who works at a Maid Cafe, making desperate losers fall for her. The absurdity of the situation arises from the fact that Nozomu was never one of her customers, so it's not only a complete role-reversal for her but a totally unexplained one unless Chiri's explanation is to be believed -- that his popularity with girls is starting to spread beyond the classroom. Interestingly, in ''Zoku'' Episode 13 [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeJAHff9UlA Kafuka]] was shown to work in the same cafe. She's also without her standard hairclip in later appearances. May be coincidental, [[spoiler:but other hints imply that the mysterious girl is none other than Kafuka in disguise. Oh, and the college girl is ''Kafuka herself in a wig'']]. |
| 459 | * UnsoundEffect: A RunningGag. |
| 460 | ** The most notable is Matoi's constant "''jiiiiiiiii''" for staring, but there are numerous instances where a chorus of girls will say a sound effect (with it often being written on-screen as well). |
| 461 | ** One of the other major one is when Meru is {{Troll}}ing others; as she types, the sound "meru meru" is played. It's oddly hypnotic. |
| 462 | * UntranslatedTitle |
| 463 | * WackyHomeroom |
| 464 | * WallOfWeapons: One episode of ''Zan'' has Chiri revealing one behind a blackboard. |
| 465 | * WeWantOurJerkBack: In Episode 5 of the first season the hot springs turn all the girls in the class into normal, well-adjusted people. Itoshiki will have none of this, and feeds them junk food. |
| 466 | * WhamEpisode: The second to last chapter reveals that [[spoiler:Kafuka was DeadAllAlong. She was an organ donor so when she died her organs were given to a number of people who had attempted suicide. The organ recipients eventually turned out to be Nozomu and his students, who were all simultaneously possessed by Kafuka's spirit due to the donated organs. What this means is that every time Kafuka was seen, ''she was possessing one of the other girls in the class'', and they all saw her as Kafuka. Amazingly, a re-read of the manga shows the author held to this rule as early as ''chapter 1,'' complete with instances of Kafuka having illnesses or injuries a different girl got in the previous chapter.]] |
| 467 | ** There is also the revelation that [[spoiler:when the girls attempted suicide, they were possessed by the ghosts of girls from the Showa period who had committed suicide but regretted it. The entire show was a ploy by Nozomu to exorcise the spirits from the girls' bodies by trying to recreate Showa period school life and having the girls "graduate", giving the spirits the closure they need to pass on. [[FridgeBrilliance This is why Nozomu always dressed in such old fashioned clothes.]]]] |
| 468 | ** Chapter "30X," titled "As One Possibility." [[spoiler: The exorcism worked, allowing the Showa period ghosts to pass on... but '''it did absolutely nothing to the spirit of Kafuka.''' Years later, Nozomu is married to Kafuka in the form of living with all 12 girls as Kafuka rotates between their bodies. Worse, all 12 of the girls have had at least one child, each of them being Kafuka, as "Kafukaism" can be spread by a mere blood transfusion.]] |
| 469 | * WhamShot: Chapter 290, and how! It's already established that Abiru's left eye is a transplant and [[EyeRemember it recognizes things from its previous owner's memories]], [[spoiler:but for it to see its previous owner replacing ''every single'' named students in the class, including Abiru herself, through its POV is very disturbing]]. Seeing Abiru, who famous for being straight-faced and notorious DeadpanSnarker, suddenly losing her composure when the revelation dawns to her really shows that it was a WhamShot even in-universe. |
| 470 | * WorldGoneMad |
| 471 | * WorldHalfEmpty |
| 472 | * WorldOfPun: |
| 473 | ** Oh dear Lord, ''everyone with a name'' has this applied to them. |
| 474 | ** A more obscure example is Mikoto's first appearance when Kafuka visits him and calls him "Itoshiki-sensei"...then corrects herself to "Itoshiki-sensei". Mikoto just sits there and says "Yes?" because "sensei" can mean "teacher" or "doctor." |
| 475 | * {{Yandere}}: Kafuka and Chiri, arguably. |
| 476 | ** Kafuka is certainly repressing, with her eternal happiness and obvious destructive past, so much so others fear her when they get a glimpse into her mind. But she's also more on the CuteAndPsycho side (at least compared to everyone else). |
| 477 | ** Chiri also frequently goes from obsessive-compulsive to completely psychotic. While she doesn't have much of a "dere" side she fits the concept of "love makes your murderous". For instance, when Nozomu tried going out like a celebrity, he visited a high-class call girl and tried to drown in Dom Perignon. When said lady brings him the bill at school and he complains about the expenses of dying, a displeased Chiri brings a knife and tells him that he can die for free. Another case of Chiri going nuts is when Nozomu (and guest commentators) immediately and bluntly rejected her suggestion that they could be a successful match (''proper love'') in the "Maybe Maybe" episode, despite considering and conceding the possibility of success of romantic relationships with Abiru (''[[StealthPun puppy]] love''), Nami (''normal love''), Manami (''unfaithful love''), Kaere (''violent love''), Chie (''adult relationship''), Maria (''acquaintanceship'') and even Ikkyu (''HoYay''), upon their suggestions. Her equally immediate response is just [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F76zNOmmJjI&feature=related frighteningly hilarious]]. |
| 478 | ** A few chapters, such as chapter 127, indicated the '''entire class''' is composed of Yanderes (probably except Nami -- she's normal, anyway). |
| 479 | --->'''Nami:''' Don't say 'normal'! |
| 480 | ** In Chapter 223, Chiri, the most violent girl in the classroom, found Kafuka to be seriously dangerous. |
| 481 | * 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 punching 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. |
| 482 | * YaoiFangirl: Harumi mostly, but one episode -- one dealing with instances where things going normally become actually surprising -- indicates that she may be not the only one. Itoshiki is proactively asked by a guy to come up to his apartment and listen to him play guitar. When Itoshiki goes back outside, the girls are {{squee}}ing and enthusiastic about finding out what happened. |
| 483 | * {{Yonkoma}}: Played straight, but with a twist -- according to Itoshiki, there's a hidden fifth panel: darkness. |
| 484 | ** And then Maria makes a deadly {{Pun}} out of the steps of Yonkoma involving a historical massacre. She's oblivious to the implications. |
| 485 | * ZombieApocalypse: Of sorts. It's a revival of things that should've stayed dead. Like suits with shoulder pads and old relationships. The show turns the gun on itself when a bite from one of the zombies turns Nozomu into one himself, jabbing that the series might turn into a FranchiseZombie. |
| 486 | |
| 487 | ---- |
| 488 | '''''I'm in despair! [[DarthWiki/TVTropesRuinedYourLife TV Tropes has left me in despair!]]''''' |
| 489 | |
| 490 | [[spoiler:''[[TheEndingChangesEverything Which Kafuka are you?]]'']] |
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/context.php
FollowingContext Manga / SayonaraZetsubouSensei
Go To
- Show Spoilers
- Night Vision
- Sticky Header
- Wide Load
