[Categories: Anime Reviews]
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei 10 and 11
With only one episode to go after this, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei seems to be running a little low on the laugh-out-loud comedy moments that are concerned with the major themes that make up each half of the episodes - it even goes as far as leaving us on a decidedly serious cliff-hanger. That is not so say that the references and non sequiturs have lost any of their novelty value though, and SHAFT’s visuals are still an absolute delight. The humour seems to be losing that frenetic, hard-hitting quality that endeared it to me at first - as is so often the case, jokes get tired so I’m hoping that the break between this and the forthcoming second season gives them the break they need.
The culture festival looms but, for reasons I didn’t fully understand, the class are instructed to make the minimal possible effort with being cultured. The end results are suitably unexpected and downright odd however. It stands to reason that a lump of potato soaked in iodine possesses the minimal requirements for being cultured, right? Right?? The other rejected contenders were a nice mixture that gave a number of the class a few moments in the spotlight although there’s still an emphasis on the female ones; an observation not lost on the short critique segment at the end.
This I think is something I would have liked to have seen more of - sadly this parody of the similar skit that was found at the end of the Lucky Star episodes - an ‘Unlucky Channel’, if you will - is probably going to be a one-off. At any rate, it was a nice bonus at the end of the tenth episode; overall I reckon the best bits were the likes of a Columbia Pictures and a James bond theme parody, which didn’t have anything to do with the storylines themselves at all.
Ep #11 marked an upturn in quality though, possibly because the comedy returned to doing what it does best: highlighting home truths in a sharply observational manner. Portraying metaphorical ‘escape routes’ in fields as diverse as fictional writing and home cooking were inventive, funny, right on the money and surreal in the best possible way. There was even a hint of an in-joke on the part of the show’s creators concerning adaptatons that are faithful to their source material, which I thought was a nice touch. The hibernation sketch pushed things back into zany territory but I actually enjoyed it more than the previous instalment. The single most amusing thing in either episode was that of Itoshiki’s trademark catchphase being borrowed on several occasions by others; it’s one of the show’s best running gags but when the likes of a shrine monk and a movie director take it on they bring a new lease of life to it.
I can only wonder how this show is going to end though. Changing the op theme tune ten episodes in smacks of unpredictability, so with this and the shock ending of ep #11 in mind I have absolutely no idea as to how the first season will be wrapped up. That’s assuming anyone’s still subbing (let alone watching) this show by now, which is a bit of a shame when it’s one of the most innovative animated comedies I’ve seen in a long, long time.
Posted on December 6th, 2007 @ 12:44 am
Interesting dissection of the humor involved. That’s one of the major shortcomings of many comedy series - they eventually run out of good material and start rehashing tired old jokes.
Potemayo is a rare example from this year of a show that managed to play the same themes over and over but keep the execution fresh and entertaining, perhaps all the more laudable because it was almost entirely physical comedy and cheap laughs.
Fortunately, SZS has enough strength in the sheer wackiness of the story and the cast that even during a slow spell like this it’s plenty entertaining.