Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei Volume 12

I’m in despair! I’m in despair over reading this entire volume!

Last year, someone at a convention talked to me about “Sayonora, Zetsubou-Sensei” after discussing popular worldwide political satire shows such as Have I Got News For You, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, of which I’m a regular viewer. Since then I have read a few volumes of the series and loved the way it parodies everything about Japanese culture for the sake of comedy – so does volume 12 continue the smart satire?

To re-cap on what the series is about: Itoshiki Nozomu (known as Professor Negative) is a homeroom teacher for class 2-F and he suffers from being negative about every single subject that is talked about and constantly tries to hang himself (only to fail every time). Since the first volume, Nozomu has come to know most of his students, who all have their own unique personalities and problems, like the optimistic Kafuka Fuura who sees a positive outlook in every situation or Harumi Fujiyoshi who is addicted to writing Yaoi manga and is fascinated with pairing up male characters.

This volume consists of ten chapters, each one of them discussing a certain topic or situation. All have their fair share of jokes and punchlines that work well, and I give massive credit to Kodansha Comics translation of mangaka Koji Kumeta’s smart writing.

I really enjoyed most of the chapters; for example in chapter 111, Nozomu is frustrated that society is refusing first-timer services. It’s then that the characters break the fourth wall, saying that an actual reader could be reading this for the first time and not understand it that well, thus setting up a campaign for first-timers which leads to a humorous look at re-introducing the characters and finishing with a great punch line. Or there’s the chapter entitled ‘A Fool’s “It’s Hot”’, where an unpopular fashion or subject is rejected by everyone until someone says “It’s Hot”, then everyone changes their mind; the sketch continues to parody Japanese visual novels and even mentions previous American president George Bush’s talks.

It’s around this volume that “Sayonora, Zetsubou-Sensei” got its first anime series (I’m saddened that, while it’s been licensed by Media Blasters, there is still no release date around this time.) Mangaka Koji Kumeta inserts jokes in almost every chapter, as well as referencing popular anime series (Lucky Star, Haruhi Suzumiya and Hunter X Hunter) and games. There are jokes about your spirits being down while playing Monster Hunter offline or customers dumping God Hand because Japanese gamers thought it was a letdown (although it’s rightly lost its status as a cult classic worldwide) are very true and got a laugh out of me.

Considering this is an episodic manga, which has no plot, I recommend that you don’t read this all the way through at one go. I found it best to read one chapter at a time which allowed me to focus on the humour behind each page. The artwork is pleasing to the eye, it’s very stylish and unique; the first chapter pages are fascinating to look at as well, and the same goes for the character designs which suit their distinctive personalities.

At the end of the manga, there are plenty of bonus materials, such as “Zetsubou Art Gallery” which is a mass collection of great fan art, the continuation of “Paper Blogs” which are funny additions, and some helpful translation notes and honorific explanations if you don’t get some of the jokes or references in the volume.

In Conclusion

Everything I love about “Sayonora, Zetsubou-Sensei” can be found in this volume and fails to give me any negative emotions; highly worth checking out.