Aug 19, 2019
English is not my native language. Sorry for any errors, or redundancy.
This is my first review on MAL.
First of all, I have to say that I really like Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei manga. Also, Shaft is my favorite studio. And this special episode highlights the best quality of both the manga and the excellence of Shaft's work. It is the best of two geniuses; the immense creativity of Kouji Kumeta (author of the manga) + The whimsical direction of master Akiyuki Shinbou.
Unlike almost everything that concerns the franchise, this Special has an easy-to-understand comedy. The episode is split into two parts. In the first and most
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brilliant of the two, we have a parody of Sherlock Holmes, but in the peculiar style of this franchise. This first part has an unbelievable amount of twists. And as a bonus, finally we can clearly hear Chiwa Saito's voice acting as Meru Meru. If you read the manga, and don't want to see the same story again, there's no need to get desperate! The first half is an original Shaft material. This crazy Sherlokian story doesn't exist in the manga.
The second half gives us a grandiloquent Broadway-style musical. I just love this second part. That's because it highlights the characteristics I love most about Shaft, creativity and boldness. The animation is much more consistent than the one presented in the anime. The lyrics of the song presented in the musical are very creative. And most of all, the voice actors are excellent. I'm a big fan of japanese voice acting, and for me, there's no other studio that excels as much in that regard as Shaft. In this particular episode, it is worth highlighting the combination of Ai Nonaka's comic voice and Marina Inoue's powerful voice in a very funny musical.
To me, this was easily the best of all the episodes produced by Shaft. In addition to being the episode with the best animation, it's also the episode that most shows how brilliant the franchise voice acting is. For those who watched every season of the anime but never looked for the manga, I recommend reading at least the last 25 chapters of the manga. The end of this work is something that cannot be expressed in words. It's a grand, beautiful and insane ending. If you got interested in knowing this ending, prepare for despair.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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