Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

In Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, SHAFT shows us how to make a pretty enjoyable show with minimal effort on their part. If nothing else, Zan is an enjoyable, funny, and clever show that fans of the franchise will enjoy like previous seasons. However, the distinct lack of original material from the manga and noticeable drop in art detail may will leave many fans seeking more, which the show does not deliver.

Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is the third season of the wildly popular Zetsubou Sensei franchise, based on the manga by Kumeta Kouji. Like previous seasons, it follows the ever-in-despair Itoshiki Nozomu and his crazy ... class. Veterans will notice a change in art style, with slightly more saturated colors and cleaner lines. The show still feels much like Zetsubou Sensei with gags, satire, and politics jokes abound. The structure of this season's episodes, however, will be the biggest difference viewers will notice. Each episode is divided into three segments, with each segment dedicated to a specific adaptation to a chapter of the manga. While some form of this structure has been used by SHAFT in a few episodes in past installments of Zetsubou Sensei, all 13 episodes this season are exclusively in this format.

While functional, I craved some kind of creativity from the animators or director like we have been used to the last two seasons, and got none. The chapter adaptations are so loyal to the manga that it's too loyal of an adaptation. SHAFT has literally been accused of just tracing from the manga, which was even referred to in a specific episode. While it is true that many anime are manga adaptations, it's expected out of directors and animators, as workers in a creative field, to interpret and enrich the media into anime. The script for Toradora! isn't verbatim from the light novels, and Clannad isn't just lines and scenes from the visual novel. I've read the Zetsubou Sensei manga (one of the few manga I read) and the similarity is just absolutely ridiculous. They do play with art style occasionally, like in episode 8 but overall someone expecting highly from SHAFT will be rather disappointed. Previous seasons do not have this problem. Chapters and gags from the manga were adapted flawlessly and weaved with SHAFT's art style and Shinbo's creativity into a product that augments the manga, not replacing it.

So keep in mind that when we praise Zan, we are in reality praising the manga, because the anime essentially perfectly identical, animated versions of the chapters. They introduce some new girls into the show, or at least attempt to. I found Shouko and Miko, a pair of girls who engage in multi-level marketing schemes, quite interesting and I hoped to see more of them. I didn't. We don't even get to figure out what Oora, the girl with the ponytail and sloppy uniform, is or anything about her. Zetsubou Sensei absolutely shines from its characters, but in Zan the lack of character development in its new characters cripples the series.

When each episode is basically three chapters, you really can't complain about the pacing. Admittedly, they picked good chapters to adapt. Some of my favorite chapters, such as the one with the Winter Taisa and the one about sunglasses, were adapted so it was fun to see them turned into an anime.

To wrap up, in pure enjoyment and funny standards, Zan does well. The manga is great and hilarious, and there is so much similarity there is no reason Zan would be anything less. Fans of the series may be disappointed with the lack of original material and fans of director Akiyuki Shinbou will be disappointed with the absence of much of his stylization. How much of this "matters" is up to you, but if you liked the previous series, there is absolutely no reason not to check this one out.

Zan Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei is the third season of the Zetsubou-Sensei series and I have to say it's even better than the first two series. Zan still delivers the despair-filled adventures of Nozomu Itoshiki aka Zetsubou-sensei along with his many 'unique' students. I have also seen there have been improvements in the art as well and at the end of most episodes there is the Zetsubou-Sensei Drawing Song. I am also very content about the new opening and ending themes(I liked the OP so much it was stuck in my head for like a week)

The story has been improved as well. ... Often times there would be a continuation of one episode to another and I am very pleased with the results as they give a little more creativity and of course even more humor.

In addition to the main cast there are three newcomers to the series.
First is Ora Kanako(whose name comes from the phrase "ōraka na ko", meaning big hearted girl), an kind girl who cannot refuse anything she is asked even if it has a negative benefit on her or her property. Next to be introduced are Shoko Maruuchi(derived from maruchi-shoko, multi-level marketing) and Miko Nezu(derived from nezumi-ko,pyramid scheme), two best friends who work as street vendors often using dirty schemes to make a quick buck(or yen for you Japanophiles).

Romance isn't a main theme in Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei but there are some signs of it being a harem. A majority of the female characters have developed feelings for Nozomu and often leads him to very painful scenarios. There are several recurring instances where there are romantic scenes(I won't give any spoilers but let's just say that Abiru x Nozomu fans will be quite pleased(but Zetsubou-sensei himself isn't)).

Overall Zan Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei is a hilarious comedy series. If you love animes with constant references to pop culture and other animes Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei is perfect for you. Zan only makes me wonder what the fourth(and I presume it'll may be the last) season will have in store for poor old Nozomu. I'm more than positive there'll be a fourth season because animes I've seen usually end at 24-26 episodes, if they continue then 50-52 episodes are most likely unless the anime is a long running series(i.e One Piece, Bleach, Naruto), and I'm sure the staff at Shaft will want to make a PROPER ending to the series.

On that note: ZETSUBOUSHITA!!! THIS REVIEW HAS LEFT ME IN DESPAIR!!!

Though the season has of now not yet ended, I couldn't help but write this review, so please bear with me.

First off, to those who haven't yet watched this series, do yourselves a favor and immediately check out the first season. It's not that you won't be able to enjoy it, but you'll pretty much be caught in a whirlwind of referential jokes otherwise.

'Story': As usual, it doesn't have a story per se, but an immense load of material. Like the previous seasons, be prepared(i.e. watch other series) to encounter a deluge of metaphors choc full of social references and criticism, and of course, despair.
Art ... and animation: Well, it's SHAFT. Altogether colorful and sometimes playful. With plenty of split-second scenes, stock backgrounds and colours, and the usual bit of experimentation, watching the animation while catching the jokes is a treat for the eyes(don't be afraid of a little blood..)
Sound: Besides the usual sound effects, we once again get more Otsuki Kenji and Zetsubou Girls! The opening and ending themes, like those from the previous seasons are worth listening on their own.
Character: I have to say that this season has some of the most hilarious character-based humour so far. Not as many new characters are introduced, but certain girls seem to get a lot of action, the 'proper' kind, mind you.

Altogether, I give this season an 8 to 8,5.
Remember to despair over a fourth season ;)

tl;dr: A solid continuation of the previous season that benefits from being less random.

This is another season that continues the strange despair filled tales of the strange Nozumu and his class of strange students. In general, it is very much the same as previous seasons, so there's not much more to talk about compared to the previous season. It's a series of non-chronological short stories that don't actually fit into a single narrative at all really, featuring mostly the same set of characters with a few new ones. No overarching story or character arcs, but rather just small self sufficient tales. These tales continue to ... be focused on societal commentary, taking some concept that are pretty common but putting a pessimistic twist on them, and then showing off examples in an exaggerated fashion, often using extended metaphors. Some things I should note as compared to the previous season, is that this season felt a lot less random, with it's episodes at least having some sort of story rather than completely pointless craziness as was pretty common in the last season, though the random craziness certainly was there at points. Hence, I think these short stories came through a lot better, and I much prefer humor with substance over absurdist humor so I found it much more amusing as well. The art style is still the same as before, but it seems to be at a higher quality here. The OP/EDs were still pretty strange but very fitting and quite solid.

Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is an anime that could be better than it ended up being, yes, the character design is very original, the music is amazing and it is not your typical anime moe, but the story of the series was left unfinished as they did not continue adapting the manga .
Following with their problems the characters are only defined by a single characteristic, they are fun but too simple
conclusión: Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is a simple series that does not intend to go more than that 6/10 and 7/10 manga
Yes, a very short review but that does not take away the reason


español:es un ... anime que pudo ser mejor de lo que terminó siendo,si,el diseño de personajes es muy original,la música es increíble y no es tu típico anime moe,pero la historia de la serie quedo inconclusa ya que no siguieron adaptando el manga.
siguiendo con sus problemas los personajes solo se definen por una sola característica ,son divertidos pero demasiado simples
conclusión: Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei es una serie simple que no pretende ir mas halla de eso 6/10 y manga 7/10
si, una reseña muy corta pero eso no me quita la razón