Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is a rather famous satirical, Kafka-esque, and incredibly long running manga by Kouji Kumeta, best known for this sort of thing.
The manga started in April 2005, and ended last year, in June, totaling with 30 volumes and a bonus chapter. Each chapter is self contained, doesn't have too much of a story, and mostly serves as a slice-of-life scenario that ends up getting used to make fun of politics, celebrities, controversies and other things, making it a cross between a political cartoon and the manifestation of, "What the fuck am I reading?".
And it's genius.
Our fun little series starts with our main character, Kafuka Fuura (get it? It's a kafka/black comedy.. and our main character is called Kafuka Fuura? ...) and our supporting protagonist, the perpetually suicidal Itoshiki Nozomu.
The show is also famous for its SHAFT adaption; that is, arguably weirder than the manga. Fast moving letters, parodying fanservice while being just as shameless, and using the aesthetic of shouwa theatres.
It's bizarre, doesn't make any sense, and it's the most Japanese thing ever.
[HEADING=2]The Story... or what there is[/HEADING]
Our story begins with the heroine walking to school one day and finding a man trying to hang himself; she tears him down in a not-so-painless way, and when he is down, he yells at her, asking her why she did that. Because he could have died. Then she bribes him so she can call him "Pink Supervisor", after an overly long speech about why anyone who tries to kill themselves on a beautiful spring morning isn't actually trying to kill themselves.
They're just trying to make themselves taller.
When she does get to school, it turns out that the guy she just met is her teacher, and that he's actually a lazy bum who hates his job, life, and family for incredibly petty reasons.
Then 300 chapters, fifteen pages each, of suicide, sadness, implications, self-deprecation, and unmitigated horror, and somehow, we end up with one of the smartest, funniest black comedies to come out of manga.
Occasionally, the author uses a self-insert to make fun of himself, too. Because low self-esteem is hilarious.
It also gets much weirder as things go on, and it always takes a self-aware stance, all ended with a strange, scary, and odd ending that makes less sense than the rest of the manga.
[HEADING=2]Characters[/HEADING]
The characters are all walking puns. Itoshiki Nozomu, when written sideways, becomes "despair", Kafuka Fuura comes from Franz Kafka, who Kafuka is basically a manic pixie dream girl, real-life version of, and every character who appears onwards will have a horribly punny name.
If sarcasm is the lowest for of wit, then where are puns?
Each characters gets a 5-10 minutes skit to introduce them. There are far too many to name, in the classroom alone. But some get more screentime than others.
Chiri Kitsu - Neat freak, murderer. Quickly turned into a meme into Japan. Her name has four puns in it: To bury, "frizzy", "Seer", and "precise".
Matoi Tsunetsuki - A stalker. Her name means to stalk. Follows our main character into a bathroom several times; is being stalked by an ex boyfriend being stalked by an older woman being stalked by her husband being stalked by his secretary being stalked by the guy who washes her pants.
Kiri Komori - A pretty hikikimori who is violently forced out of home by Kafuka. Her bisexuality is played for laughs, because people of non-standard sexuality are automatically hilarious.
Despite being mostly one dimensional, they all get pretty decent character development over the course of the series, and all of the characters exist for a reason. Most chapters use about 5 characters, so each of them get a fair amount of dialogue.
[HEADING=2]Art[/HEADING]
Kouji Kumeta is well known for his blocky, fluid style, noodle people and motifs based on various eras in Japan's history. The art changes considerably in the 8 years that the manga ran - like, ridiculously so.
[HEADING=2]The Anime Adapation[/HEADING]
The anime adaption by SHAFT is much better known than the manga itself. It's well known for the standard SHAFT prerequisites...
* Absoloutely gorgeous opening themes accompanied by openings that make no sense in the slightest.
* Head tilting. Lots of it.
* Constantly changing backgrounds in a single scene, usually accompanied by notes by the background artist, Maeda Kosaku, referencing other manga, strange in-jokes, and taking jabs at SHAFT themselves.
* Even mundane scenes in the manga are made insanely awesome.
* Anachronism, to the point where the original author got annoyed by it.
* Great animation with awesome backgrounds.
[HEADING=2]In the end[/HEADING]
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is an insane manga; it doesn't make any sense, and every chapter in an exercise in black comedy, satire that you won't get unless you read Japanese newspapers or live there, and taking jabs at things like fanservice, yaoi, and anything else that can be made fun of.
It's a weirdly chaotic mess, but one that's extremely entertaining. It's funny in a very self-depreciative way, and it crosses the line so many times that it's hard to tell whether or not it's being offensive.
Even so, it's genius only a sad man with no self-esteem could come up with.
The manga started in April 2005, and ended last year, in June, totaling with 30 volumes and a bonus chapter. Each chapter is self contained, doesn't have too much of a story, and mostly serves as a slice-of-life scenario that ends up getting used to make fun of politics, celebrities, controversies and other things, making it a cross between a political cartoon and the manifestation of, "What the fuck am I reading?".
And it's genius.
Our fun little series starts with our main character, Kafuka Fuura (get it? It's a kafka/black comedy.. and our main character is called Kafuka Fuura? ...) and our supporting protagonist, the perpetually suicidal Itoshiki Nozomu.
The show is also famous for its SHAFT adaption; that is, arguably weirder than the manga. Fast moving letters, parodying fanservice while being just as shameless, and using the aesthetic of shouwa theatres.
It's bizarre, doesn't make any sense, and it's the most Japanese thing ever.
[HEADING=2]The Story... or what there is[/HEADING]
Our story begins with the heroine walking to school one day and finding a man trying to hang himself; she tears him down in a not-so-painless way, and when he is down, he yells at her, asking her why she did that. Because he could have died. Then she bribes him so she can call him "Pink Supervisor", after an overly long speech about why anyone who tries to kill themselves on a beautiful spring morning isn't actually trying to kill themselves.
They're just trying to make themselves taller.
When she does get to school, it turns out that the guy she just met is her teacher, and that he's actually a lazy bum who hates his job, life, and family for incredibly petty reasons.
Then 300 chapters, fifteen pages each, of suicide, sadness, implications, self-deprecation, and unmitigated horror, and somehow, we end up with one of the smartest, funniest black comedies to come out of manga.
Occasionally, the author uses a self-insert to make fun of himself, too. Because low self-esteem is hilarious.
It also gets much weirder as things go on, and it always takes a self-aware stance, all ended with a strange, scary, and odd ending that makes less sense than the rest of the manga.
[HEADING=2]Characters[/HEADING]
The characters are all walking puns. Itoshiki Nozomu, when written sideways, becomes "despair", Kafuka Fuura comes from Franz Kafka, who Kafuka is basically a manic pixie dream girl, real-life version of, and every character who appears onwards will have a horribly punny name.
If sarcasm is the lowest for of wit, then where are puns?
Each characters gets a 5-10 minutes skit to introduce them. There are far too many to name, in the classroom alone. But some get more screentime than others.
Chiri Kitsu - Neat freak, murderer. Quickly turned into a meme into Japan. Her name has four puns in it: To bury, "frizzy", "Seer", and "precise".
Matoi Tsunetsuki - A stalker. Her name means to stalk. Follows our main character into a bathroom several times; is being stalked by an ex boyfriend being stalked by an older woman being stalked by her husband being stalked by his secretary being stalked by the guy who washes her pants.
Kiri Komori - A pretty hikikimori who is violently forced out of home by Kafuka. Her bisexuality is played for laughs, because people of non-standard sexuality are automatically hilarious.
Despite being mostly one dimensional, they all get pretty decent character development over the course of the series, and all of the characters exist for a reason. Most chapters use about 5 characters, so each of them get a fair amount of dialogue.
[HEADING=2]Art[/HEADING]
Kouji Kumeta is well known for his blocky, fluid style, noodle people and motifs based on various eras in Japan's history. The art changes considerably in the 8 years that the manga ran - like, ridiculously so.
[HEADING=2]The Anime Adapation[/HEADING]
The anime adaption by SHAFT is much better known than the manga itself. It's well known for the standard SHAFT prerequisites...
* Absoloutely gorgeous opening themes accompanied by openings that make no sense in the slightest.
* Head tilting. Lots of it.
* Constantly changing backgrounds in a single scene, usually accompanied by notes by the background artist, Maeda Kosaku, referencing other manga, strange in-jokes, and taking jabs at SHAFT themselves.
* Even mundane scenes in the manga are made insanely awesome.
* Anachronism, to the point where the original author got annoyed by it.
* Great animation with awesome backgrounds.
[HEADING=2]In the end[/HEADING]
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is an insane manga; it doesn't make any sense, and every chapter in an exercise in black comedy, satire that you won't get unless you read Japanese newspapers or live there, and taking jabs at things like fanservice, yaoi, and anything else that can be made fun of.
It's a weirdly chaotic mess, but one that's extremely entertaining. It's funny in a very self-depreciative way, and it crosses the line so many times that it's hard to tell whether or not it's being offensive.
Even so, it's genius only a sad man with no self-esteem could come up with.