Series synopsis
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, also known as さよなら絶望先生 is a Japanese animation comedy television series that premiered on tvk on July 7, 2007. It ended on September 26, 2009. It stars Hiroshi Kamiya, Ai Nonaka, Marina Inoue and Asuka Tanii.
A teacher takes all aspects of life, word and culture in the most negative light possible.
Premise
A teacher takes all aspects of life, word and culture in the most negative light possible.
Cast and characters
Leading cast
- Hiroshi Kamiya as Nozomu Itoshiki (voice)
- Ai Nonaka as Kafuka Fuura (voice)
- Marina Inoue as Chiri Kitsu (voice)
- Asuka Tanii as Kiri Komori (voice)
- Yuko Goto as Abiru Kobushi (voice)
- Asami Sanada as Matoi Tsunetsuki (voice)
- Yu Kobayashi as Kaere Kimura (voice)
- Miyuki Sawashiro as Tarou 'Maria' Sekiutsu (voice)
Supporting cast
- Ryoko Shintani as Nami Hitou (voice)
- Miyu Matsuki as Harumi Fujiyoshi (voice)
Guest cast
- Kosaku Maeda
- Akiko Yajima as Chie Arai (voice)
- Takahiro Mizushima as Jun Kudou (voice)
- Yoji Ueda as Kagerou Usui (voice)
- Keiichiro Endo as Otaku C (voice)
- Yuichi Nakamura as Director B (voice)
Episodes
This series spans 4 seasons with 48 episodes.
| Season | Episodes | First aired | Last aired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 0 | 10 | January 1, 2008 | January 31, 2012 |
| Season 1 | 12 | July 7, 2007 | September 23, 2007 |
| Season 2 | 13 | January 5, 2008 | March 29, 2008 |
| Season 3 | 13 | July 5, 2009 | September 26, 2009 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Preface - Zetsubou Girls Collection A special summary episode of the first season of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, focusing on seven of the girls: Komori Kiri, Matoi Tsunetsuki, Kobushi Abiru, Kimura Kaere, Kitsu Chiri, Sekiuchi "Maria" Tarou and Hitou Nami. |
January 1, 2008 |
| 2 |
Preface - Zoku Zetsubou Girls Collection A special summary episode of the second season of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, focusing on the girls that were not introduced in the first Zetsubou Shoujo Senshuu: Otonashi Meru, Fujiyoshi Harumi, Kaga Ai and Mitama Mayo. |
August 27, 2008 |
| 3 |
Sweet Princess / Banned Notes / Prototype Shield Valentine's Day has arrived and Nozomu is rather popular. Wondering if this is a honey trap, appealing to a man's desires to obtain secret information, he is introduced to an elite group of otakus, whose disinterest in real women allows them to carry top secret information without falling into the honey trap. Nozomu then ponders about the violent nature of unaired battles, before Chiri discovers his unaired training. Later, Nozomu goes to a halloween party only to find his ideals about Halloween are much different from current ideals, and dwells upon things not being like the original. |
October 17, 2008 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei Kafuka Fuura is cheerily walking to school one April morning when she suddenly spots a man trying to hang himself in a fit of despair. Kafuka manages to use her weight to snap the rope, thus saving his life. Nozomu Itoshiki, the man, eventually cannot take anymore of the girl's ridiculous ramblings, and runs off to school to start homeroom at the beginning of a new school year. When Nozomu walks in the door, he finds Kafuka is one of his students. |
July 7, 2007 |
| 2 |
When I Came Out Of The Tunnel It Was White After confiding in his latest despairs to Ms. Arai, she asks Nozomu to visit one of his students who hasn't shown up to school — Kiri Komori, a hikikomori. In the end Kiri goes to school but decides to be a hikimori there. The next day, Nozomu notes that another of his students, Matoi Tsunetsuki, didn't show up that day. Ms. Arai brings Nozomu to the counseling room, where she explains Matoi's obsessive-stalker tendencies to Nozomu. That night, he attempts to dissuade her from bothering her last boyfriend; however, his strategy backfires on him. This turns him into Matoi's latest object of affection. |
July 14, 2007 |
| 3 |
Go Fly Over That Country This episode is a pastiche of parodies about foreigners and Japanese attitudes concerning them. A foreign student named Kaere Kimura transfers into the class. Kimura is a blonde girl with multiple personality disorder stemming from cultural identity confusion. Nozumu prevents her from committing suicide but sees her underwear and is sued. While Nozomu is absent from school Chiri investigates his students and discovers that Maria is an illegal immigrant. |
July 21, 2007 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Look, the Baron's Reckless Remark / There Are a Lot of Problems in This Class So Please Be Aware of That Nozomu Itoshiki, a direct marketing businessman, is chased by a mysterious religious group called Hamasho. At one point, he is caught and his body is modified like a mole cricket. After his long adventure, he is discovered by Kafuka and he then becomes a high school teacher. Students in the class start calling him "Left-wing Guerrilla" (apparently in lieu of "Pink Supervisor"), making him want to die again. Right before he jumps off a cliff, Kafuka suggests he "mock marry" a girl of the Holy Nosebleed Empire. A card reveals that the entire segment is a gag based on a summary from the jacket of the manga's first volume. In the second segment, Nami Hitō, who has been missing classes, finally decides to attend her school as no one really seems to notice her absence. Unfortunately, she does not get much attention from her classmates as the high school is full of extraordinary characters. At the end of the episode, most of the major characters are introduced and Nami is labeled as the 'ordinary girl' in the school. |
January 5, 2008 |
| 2 |
Forelocks Yet To Be Opened / Adornment At Tiffany's / Rouse Up, O Old Men of the Old Age The first part of this episode is supposed to follow this storyline from a chapter of the Zetsubō Sensei manga. Perry has come to the school on the anniversary of the school's founding. He is an American Commodore who known for opening up Japanese ports to foreign trade (in Japanese, the phrase "opening the school" (開校?) is pronounced the same as "opening the ports" (開港?)). After he opens up various things in the school, he tries to open up Nozomu Itoshiki's mind. Suddenly, Nozomu releases a mysterious wave that reveals the dark side of the world, which is full of despair. Finally, Perry learns the lesson that he shouldn't try to open up everything in the world. However, all the characters speak unintelligible gibberish, and the subtitles suggest that Perry is Son Goku looking for the Dragon Balls and that Nozomu is an alien bent on stopping him. In the next part of the episode, Nozomu is complaining about the over-decoration of various things in Japanese society. However, Kafuka Fūra denies it, saying that it is just a trend among stylish elites. In the next part, Nozomu meets his old time friend Ikkyū-san, who likes old things. They discuss together how old things are often ignored in modern Japan. Ultimately, he wants to obtain a former-surname by marrying Nozomu's sister Rin. Rin tries to escape from Ikkyū by calling her butler, but he ends up persuading Ikkyū-san to marry her. However, Kafuka manages to find out at the end that Nozomu and Ikkyū are not old friends, but rather one-day friends during the first day of school. |
January 12, 2008 |
| 3 |
Seventeen Years Old Don't You Want To Grab Your Wrinkles? / Duty and Soldiers / Don't Say It So Casually! Melos Stood and Retorted Furiously Harumi Fujiyoshi is listening to a Zetsubō Sensei radio show at home while working on her yaoi dōjinshi. The radio show is actually derived from a chapter of the Zetsubō Sensei manga, which portrays Japanese people's indifference to their ages and introduces a new character, Manami Ōkusa, who is a married high school student. In the second part of the episode, Nozomu criticizes the society where individuals are compelled to serve their 'duties' to meet other people's expectations. These 'duties' are often very superfluous and trivial. However, Kafuka points out the irony that Nozomu himself is a part of such a society, as the girls around him are expected to serve their various 'duties' to take care of their teacher. In the third part of the episode, Nozomu is in despair about society, where serious matters are often taken too lightly. Several of Nozumu's students provide their experiences of such a trend. After Rin Itoshiki makes an appearance as one of Nozomu's new students, Nozomu and his students decide to reverse the trend by treating various trivial matters with serious attitudes, which eventually becomes an addicting habit for everyone. |
January 19, 2008 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Highway to Hell / The Spring Postman Always Rings Twice / Withering Heights As the school exams approach, Nozomu sniffs at the idea of good luck charms. Just then, he is arrested by mysterious people for being a potential bad luck charm for the students and locks him up in solitary, which he is quite pleased about. However, the girls break in and rescue him, and it comes to light that the students actually see Nozomu as a good luck charm. Next, everyone has different opinions of what tells them spring has come, which for some people involve strange dancing people. Later, Nami tells Nozomu she is going on a trip to find herself, whereas Nozomu says it is really a journey that exposes a person's true nature. |
July 5, 2009 |
| 2 |
She Who Has / Russian Time Song / Withering Heights Part 2 While watching a baseball match, Nozomu wonders about the sad fate of the multi-talented people. If a famous baseball player is as handsome as a model, is he missing a more successful career? Later on, as Kiri is taking some medicine to treat her cold, Nozomu explain to Majiru why did it took a moment for the medicine to take effect : the dreaded time lag, which can be observed in a lot of phenomenon. As the journey to find themselves continues, more of Nozomu's students embarks on the bus and procede to reveal some parts of their personality. In the end, Kafuka leads the group to expose themselves to reality and at the same time the acceptance of their true self as they are, after which she concludes by singing a heartwarming song. |
July 12, 2009 |
| 3 |
The Tragedy of X / I will not Return to Japan. I Was Unable to Be That Resolute / Doctor Kahogo As Nozomu and Kafuka attempt to find the switch to the town christmas lights, Nami finds she keep switching on other people's switches. Next, Nozomu contemplates on how people making a decision between two things subconsciously end up picking a third. He and the girls end up in a third-choice city. Whilst arguing about excessive care, Nozumu is taken by Rin to a Guardian's Club, where people take excessive care measures. |
July 19, 2009 |
Production
Release
| Original network/platform | tvk |
|---|---|
| First aired | July 7, 2007 |
| Last aired | September 26, 2009 |
| Runtime | 25 minutes |
| Status | Ended |