Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei 2
Posted by Guff on January 22nd, 2008 - 10:30 pm
Porororon poro roro roporon ron!
“This episode is full of kanji and makes me tired.”
.
Cha chiri chiririn, docchudocchurin!
“Yes, I agree heartily, good sir.”
.
Miri kiriri rururin mirurun mirakuru mikurunrun!
“It also contained many obscure puns that most English speaking viewers won’t understand at all!”
.
Sumomomo momomo!
“Not to mention incoherent rambling from every character for the first 12 minutes of the episode!”
“Hi guys, don’t mind me. I’m just looking for some balsamic vinegar.”
The greater the madness on this show, the more I seem to enjoy it. Just looking at the RAWs for this episode had me quite giddy. After watching the episode, fully aware of the fact that most of the puns would be lost on my noobish gaijin mind, I must confess that I still found it quite hilarious.
The whole Commodore Perry sequence had me in stitches. It’s just so inanely random. There was nothing in the series that would anticipate the arrival of a creepy old naval officer. But he shows up and starts opening things and you just run with it.
“He opened all the books!”
Man that used to infuriate me; I’m not an extreme Read or Die caliber bibliophile or anything, but I can’t stand it when people leave books lying open. It’s not just the fact that it ruins the spine, it’s the fact that people only do this after assuring themselves that they’ll “be right back.” But that never happens…and who suffers?
The poor book, that’s who. Such injustice.
Well, it was inevitable. No one so obsessed with opening could resist the temptation of the fabled hikikomori. But how could he so wantonly defile such a dutiful zashiki warashi? Clearly, this man must be stopped.
“I open the pool!”
Why you loathsome, devious son of a bitch; how dare you! Nobody opens the pool…EVER! Has this man lost his senses? None shall open the pool! Why, it’s beyond distasteful - it’s downright sacrilegious! I think we’re all aware of the fact that the pool is, has been, and shall forever be closed.
Thankfully, Itoshiki-sensei comes to rescue; none can open his isolated gloom-ridden heart! That’s right Commodore Perry, you will no longer plague the land with your…opening. Lemony Snickett has nothing on Itoshiki-’s world of despair and misfortune.
Food goes where?
Ugh…I cannot tell how many times I have been deceived by some lavishly presented garnishing at a restaurant. Oh sure, it looks like a bountiful feast as the waiter brings it over, but then it arrives at your table and you see that’s actually a mere microscopic bit of food just quaking under the might of the ostentatious decorations. It’s just wrong, I tell you.
However, Kafuka’s unassailable peppiness comes to the rescue again and redefines shameless gaudiness as the pinnacle of fashion!
“I made an avatar for sensei!”
Man, I cracked up at this part. Looking at the attire of most non-epic-gear WoW characters will easily prove the accuracy of this scene beyond any doubt.
This was the best moment of the episode, in my opinion. The teacher takes off his shirt to reveal yakuza tattoos all over his back, which Kafuka innocently declares it to be “ostentatious decoration”. The suddenly sinister expression on his face coupled with Itoshiki’s freak out reaction was just hilarious. 
I loved this whole bit. I missed most of the kyuu puns but the whole idea of celebrating old-new holidays was just hilarious. I kept thinking of the un-birthdays from the “mad tea party” in Lewis Caroll’s Alice in Wonderland.
Puns and other grammar dependent jokes are far less humorous when they don’t come instantaneously; thankfully the good people at SHAFT seem to have this covered. For the convenience of the illiterate, this section also included soldiers, tanks, and bombers in the background. After all, pointless mayhem is always funny. Always.
And that is what Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is all about.
Kyuu = ichi nichi
One of the better jokes of the episode, and the punchline which the whole latter section of the episode built up to, this is actually fairly easy to understand. For those who aren’t familiar with kanji, that above character is the primary one that was being discussed in the episode, the character for “old” (kyuu 旧). It happens to be composed of two radicals, one on the left and one on the right. The right-hand side radical by itself is the character for “day” (nichi 日), thus interpreting the radical on the left as a 1 changes it from “old” to “1 day”, thus the pun.
There were a number of other odd kanji or pronunciation jokes, but many of them flew over even my head. And honestly, if you have to explain a punchline you’ve pretty much failed already, so I’m afraid a lot of the humor in this episode just doesn’t translate very well.
To make up for it, I’ll leave you with a fun bilingual pun. Those of you who know some Japanese, see if you get it:
蜘蛛のスパイ だ。 (Kumo no SPY da.)
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unfortunately to me it just looks like 18
In ep.4 of Hare+Guu: “Today we have clear skies and a… KUMO!”
I watched the a.f.k. sub for this and i was confused as all hell
they had the two lines of subs, and the top one appeared to be correct as far as typical SZS style, but the bottom one sounded straight out of Kafuka’s crazy mind
also when that teacher removed his shirt and it was yakuza tattoos i was both terrified and giggling my ass off
nevertheless it was still fun albeit a bit crazy even by SZS standards
Maho?
I really wanted to like this episode since it seemed so manic and it had a lot of Kafuka in it, but the fact that I was hearing japanese jibberish, and trying to read 2 sets of subtitles gave me such a headache. On top of that, the second part was all set up for a word pun and I honestly don’t like those at all. I don’t like them in english that much either so I definately won’t understand it in obscure town japanese.
I just hope that he next episode makes more sense, which is as much sense as previous episodes of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei.
I open discussion: were the endless minutes of nonsense babble funny enough to not be a detriment? I was laughing my ass off, but it seems to be getting a lot of flak.
Once again, jibberish plus 2 sets of subs, plus the manic stuff that was happening up top=headache. I try to read the subs fast enough so that I finish them well before the scene ends because thanks to shows like Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and Lucky Star, emphasis has been placed onto things going on in the background, so now that I have 2 sets of subtitles to look at, it takes away from me looking at things happening on the screen. Not just that, but because of the jibberish, I had no general idea of what was going on because I can notice the meaning of certain japanese words.
It was a detriment because I was missing most of the show. The jibberish might have been entertaining (not nearly enough to get me rofling but to each his own I guess), but I can easily say that I hope it never happens again.
Yeah, I have to admit that I was doing a lot of pausing and going back. Those 12 minutes took about 20 to watch.
“Maho?”
Strangely enough, if Himeko from Pani Poni Dash was present in that opening third and that was all she said, it would fit so well.
I thought I heard some random Japanese thrown in as well during the first couple of minutes, or so I’d like to think. Hearing “NATTOOOOU” from Itoshiki-sensei when the words were “I’m in despair” was my favorite part. :3
I miss Himeko so much…..and Orion….I miss Orion too.
*pokes 0rion and Guff*
Life still holding you guys back? =(
*pokes 0rion and Guff*
I’m here for the food. Doko?
What Happened Boys??????
*pokes 0rion and Guff*
Hey Epic Crew, hurry up and post so I can nominate you two for Best Team Blog at the Anime Blog Awards.”
You can’t let yourselves fall to the disease you coined yourself, after all! …But seriously, hopefully life isn’t holding you back too much…
I’m only posting to find out what happened to you guys!
You guys on hiatus made my slight parody of your posting style less amusing.
Hey, just discovered the site by searching some Kaiji pic to show to a friend by google.
You just can’t stop now!