Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei (2007)

[さよなら絶望先生]

Director: Akiyuki Shinbo
Studio: Shaft
Starring: Hiroshi Kamiya, Ai Nonaka, Marina Inoue
Episodes: 12

Synopsis:
A suicidally depressed teacher finds himself stuck with a class full of psychologically disturbed students.

Impressions:
Having seen director Akiyuki Shinbo's work in the Maria-Holic and Monogatari series, I can now see the common threads of his style and how he weaves that in with the original work he's adapting. We've got a lot of self-aware humor, references, plays on words, experimental visuals, and more. This first season mostly focuses on introducing the students and their quirks, which has a cumulative effect as we move forward. The premise could have easily been played for drama, but as comedy, it can have a cathartic effect. Itoshiki-sensei's histrionics are amusing to watch and it's fun to see how his students' individual brands of lunacy messes with him. I enjoyed watching this and think most other people will too.

Rating:
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