A series with enough morose and deliciously dark comedy to make any cynic shout for joy…or at least snicker quietly. The rollickingly pleasant juxtaposition of the ever despairing Itoshiki-sensei and the perpetually genki Fuura-san is just priceless.

The sad part is how frequently I completely agree with Itoshiki. People seem to be consumed with accumulating wealth. I’m wondering at what point they’ll start charging for air, or fun. When you exit a park or leave a restaurant there’ll be a small machine which examines your posture, demeanor, and facial expression. Your relative mood is then configured into the “happiness tax” on the bill. People would have to fake dissatisfaction to avoid paying more.

AHH, ZETSUBOU SHITA!!

Surprisingly, this name numerology stuff is actually pretty serious for many people in Japan. A lot of couples make sure to pick a name for their baby that not only sounds good, but that has a sufficiently lucky number of strokes that they won’t be cursed for the rest of their life.

Some women even resort to changing their first name when they get married if their first and new last names happen to form an unlucky combination. Tim Werx has a great story about this exact situation on his site. Just goes to show how seriously the Japanese take their superstition.

Somewhat unrelated but…concerning socks:

While I was in Harajuku strolling down Takeshita street (which is utterly packed with people more or less constantly) I saw a shop called “Store My Ducks”.

It featured a huge sign which read “We Have All Kinds of Socks”, along with a ridiculous collection of socks in all varieties and colors. I’ve just never understood how such a thing could develop. I mean…they’re socks.

What you forget is that this is Japan, where you frequently take off your shoes indoors. Thus the quality of your socks is actually quite important. There’s nothing more embarrassing than going around for a whole day and then discovering that one of your socks had a big hole in the heel. The worst part is that you know that everyone noticed; they were just too polite to say anything to you.

Then, of course, there’s the fact that this is Harajuku. All those gothloli chicks have to get their pink and black striped thigh-highs somewhere, after all.

That sock glue stuff I’ve seen as well, by the way; apparently it actually works.

Anyway, where was I, oh yeah…

I would do stuff like this every damn day if I was a teacher. Kids are always so idealistic; they need a good dosage of reality every once in a while. When I was in school, whenever we were asked to write down our dreams I would literally write down a dream I had.

“…so then after defeating the evil Tonydanza-saurus, I sailed down the marshmallow mountain in my bobsled made of wood chips and pigeon feathers to greet the cheering throngs below…at that point my alarm went off and I came here to work on this dumb assignment.”

Needless to say, teachers never really appreciated that kind of stuff.

The counselor appears to be really rather bored with her job. With the number of maladjusted kids in that school you’d think she’d be much busier.

Off to an interesting, if not a bit macabre, start. On to episode 2!

So the ever fretting Itoshiki-sensei attempts suicide again fearing for identity theft. His scheme seems pretty elaborate. After the theatrics we learn that there’s a girl who hasn’t shown up for class in quite a while.

Itoshiki unexpectedly meets up with Fuura-san, who decides to assist with the extraction of the hikikomori. Ever astute, she comes to the much more pleasant but totally illogical conclusion…it’s not a hikikomori at all, but a zashiki warashi! Kind of the Martha Stewart of the demonic realm evidently.

In addition to Fuura-san’s explanation, Wikipedia does a pretty good job of detailing exactly what a zashiki warashi is. Essentially, it’s a mischevious, child-like spirit that likes to inhabit stately old homes. It supposedly plays minor pranks on the owners, but also brings fortune to the household it resides in - thus Fuura-san’s conclusion that they need to keep it from leaving at all costs.

A Yunocchi poster and Hidamari Sketch cosplay? I approve.

Of course, it’s hardly surprising, since SHAFT also animated Hidamari Sketch.

It’s weird to think of “household demons”; you’d think they have something better to do than to play practical jokes and loaf about. I mean, that’s just lazy, shouldn’t they be out…demoning in the forest or something? Whatever.

Anyways, through physical and spiritual barriers they manage to get Komori Kiri to stop, uh…hikikomori-ing. The girl is gloriously liberated…and then promptly proceeds to shut herself in at the school instead. I personally found the thought that she would just pop out of random cupboards rather hysterical.

Kind of like Where’s Waldo. Except cute.

I about cried with laughter at this part. I’ve never known anyone, regardless of how emo, to carry around a suicide partners list. I’m probably on a few people’s “homicide list”, though.

And here’s my nominee for Most Disturbing Scene Transition Award. I put soap in my eyes but was unable to wash the image from my mind…

Now, after dealing with people who can’t leave their homes, Itoshiki-sensei is off to deal with people who can’t leave other people alone. I thought it was interesting that they had a girl represent a stalker-type. I guess I usually just associated that with desperate guys and not obsessive females.

I cannot fathom why people obsess about cake slices being even. Cake is one of those things that’s best when consumed with reckless abandon, like Cookie Monster with cookies - just wantonly cramming pieces whole into one’s mouth with frenzied vigor.

Ewwwww…they blended up the cake into a…a strawberry cake milkshake? *shudder* Although I agree that Chiri-chan was going off the deep end, I hardly think this is a solution to the problem. >_>

Strawberry Cake Milkshakes? GENIUS. My opinion of Kitsu-san rose exponentially during this sequence.

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…

We are no longer friends.

Awkward moments of this caliber could never occur in real life. By the way, how could she unintentionally roll that far over? There was like a foot-and-a-half gap between the beds!

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Don’t forget that the reason she’s in the infirmary in the first place is because she drank that damn milkshake! Sheesh.

The anime adaptation seems to be remaining pretty true to the manga, which is excellent. SHAFT has a tendency to go overboard and overpower the humor of the story with their funky animation style, but they seem to have met their match with Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. The inherently trippy nature of the series serves as the perfect foil to SHAFT’s visual wackiness. It worked for Mushishi and Read or Die, let’s hope they can pull it off with SZS as well.

Hikikomori, stalker, optimist, pessimist, OCD girl, and hawt school counselor. Yes sir, we have a series.