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Jason Thompson's House of 1000 Manga - Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei


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dm
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Joined: 24 Sep 2010
Posts: 1468
PostPosted: Thu May 23, 2013 2:00 pm Reply with quote
I love Kumeta's art style, and the way it pays homage to traditional Japanese art-forms. His portraits of his characters in kimonos are truly striking. Del Rey and Kodansha did an excellent job bringing the books over (and Jason, I really appreciated all those translator's notes in the back of each volume).

But for me, I'm afraid the schtick got old after about fifteen volumes, so I stopped following the series.

I also think the anime is worth watching. The anime adaptation is by SHAFT, which is fond of overlaying text on the screen (not just in this show, but the trope shows up (naturally) in Bakemonogatari and even turns up in ef - a tale of memories, directed by a SHAFT alumnus. The combination of SHAFT and Kumeta worked extremely well.
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belvadeer





PostPosted: Thu May 23, 2013 2:09 pm Reply with quote
I kind of just dropped this series off after a while when the gags started getting really old for me. All these lists of things that tie in with the segment's current gag grew tiresome after a few volumes. Still, it was funny while it lasted for me.
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ZeetherKID77



Joined: 17 Jun 2007
Posts: 982
PostPosted: Thu May 23, 2013 3:15 pm Reply with quote
It seems like Kodansha is never going to release the rest of the series here. Last time someone asked they said it was on hiatus but not canceled, but I beg to differ because they said that last year and nothing has come of it, plus I saw a post on Facebook saying they weren't planning on reprinting the earlier Del Rey volumes. Probably means we won't be getting Joshiraku either. That plus the anime never coming out thanks to Media Blasters' little situation.

Of course, they can prove me wrong at Anime Boston if someone asks them what the deal is.
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Thu May 23, 2013 3:31 pm Reply with quote
I can't speak for the respective Manga, but I found Joshiraku to be much, much better than the first season of SZS. Maybe the latter show gets better with the subsequent seasons?
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zawa113



Joined: 19 Jan 2008
Posts: 7358
PostPosted: Thu May 23, 2013 3:36 pm Reply with quote
I've seen the first season of the anime, but that was enough for me, I enjoyed it, and didn't really want any more, so I just stopped. I liked the animation style a good bit actually. But omg, the subtitles, I remember hearing how long it took for fansubbers to sub an episode because there were just so damn many background signs and stuff. I think it's why whoever got the US license kinda gave up from what I hear. I almost never have to pause things I'm watching in sub to get it all, but here? It's a requirement (the only other one was Tatami Galaxy because they talk at five thousand miles per second).
30 volumes though? Yeesh, I think it worked fine for one season, but that's all I really needed to be honest.
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maximilianjenus



Joined: 29 Apr 2013
Posts: 2903
PostPosted: Thu May 23, 2013 4:54 pm Reply with quote
the most memorable thing about szs is the ending of the manga, but yeah, the gags get to sold that it feels better to just skip to the alst volume.
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MarchingTwinkie3



Joined: 01 Sep 2007
Posts: 26
Location: Wakefield, MA
PostPosted: Thu May 23, 2013 6:34 pm Reply with quote
ZeetherKID77 wrote:
It seems like Kodansha is never going to release the rest of the series here. Last time someone asked they said it was on hiatus but not canceled, but I beg to differ because they said that last year and nothing has come of it, plus I saw a post on Facebook saying they weren't planning on reprinting the earlier Del Rey volumes. Probably means we won't be getting Joshiraku either. That plus the anime never coming out thanks to Media Blasters' little situation.

Of course, they can prove me wrong at Anime Boston if someone asks them what the deal is.


I sent them an ask on their Tumblr. Since then, they've responded to many, many more recent asks and ignored mine, so I'm not holding out much hope.
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GVman



Joined: 14 Jul 2010
Posts: 730
PostPosted: Thu May 23, 2013 10:49 pm Reply with quote
I used to be huge into SZS when I first started getting heavy into anime and manga, but yeah, the series just gets old after a spell.
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OrangeVision



Joined: 24 May 2006
Posts: 88
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Fri May 24, 2013 7:25 am Reply with quote
I remember watching the anime around the time the first season was complete and thought it was pretty boring and I was kinda baffled what all the buzz was about at the time. About three years later I gave it another go and it was brilliant. Second season being my long standing favourite, where the director went absolutely crazy with artstyles and scenarios. Shinbo can be described as a bit of one-trick-pony, but his style complemented the original manga brilliantly.
I've rewatched all of the seasons quite a few times, I still get many hearty laughs out of every episode. Amazing opening songs (with equally stunning opening animations) literally changed my listening habits for years to come, for I started looking into Kenji Ootsuki's and Narasaki's various music projects and that kept branching further and further.
For some, the formulaic structure can get boring after a while, but for me this definitely was the south park of japan: jokes on the expense of politicians, manga artists, nerds, hipsters, current events and events of the past. Every joke didn't really hit the mark, obviously, but those that hit, hit hard.
It's my favourite comedy manga and anime, and I wouldn't have minded if it had continued for long into the future.
Thankfully Joshiraku is pretty good too, so all is not lost.

Regarding the english release by kodansha comics, is the translation really still going on? The last released volume came out over a year ago.
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ZeetherKID77



Joined: 17 Jun 2007
Posts: 982
PostPosted: Fri May 24, 2013 9:41 am Reply with quote
OrangeVision wrote:

Regarding the english release by kodansha comics, is the translation really still going on? The last released volume came out over a year ago.

At their NYCC panel last year they said they had to put it on hiatus because the amount of culture gags/references was hard on the translators and it wasn't going to be canceled but just put on hiatus for the time being. I have the feeling though they outright don't want to continue it because some of the newer volumes lacked translation notes probably due to translation overwork or their page limits on the volumes and the sales might have slipped to the point where they realized it just won't do well anymore.

So basically, you can probably just lump SZS in with all the Del Rey titles they said they won't rescue anymore. Unless they say something about it at Anime Boston or NYCC (if they have a presence there), I'm thinking they don't care for it. They also said on Facebook that they can't reprint volumes 1-8 of SZS for some dumb reason.
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Chrno2



Joined: 28 May 2004
Posts: 6172
Location: USA
PostPosted: Fri May 24, 2013 10:42 am Reply with quote
I've really come to enjoy this manga. But one thing I'll admit it does take some time to read because of all the little side notes and pop cultural references. Visually, it's almost abstract to a degree. This is probably the 3rd comedy manga that I've read and enjoyed. I need to get back into reading it. Wink
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dm
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Joined: 24 Sep 2010
Posts: 1468
PostPosted: Fri May 24, 2013 10:58 am Reply with quote
I really wish Kumeta would produce an artbook of his illustrations, or simply collect the frontispieces from all the manga chapters.
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roxybudgy



Joined: 10 Sep 2004
Posts: 132
Location: Western Australia
PostPosted: Fri May 24, 2013 11:07 am Reply with quote
Like the first two posters, I eventually stopped buying the manga because the jokes were getting oh so old and begin to repeat the same old formula.

I was introduced to the anime first, which I found quite entertaining and I would buy it if it ever came out on DVD in Australia. This prompted me to buy the manga, and I purchased every single volume as it came out in English, but I think volume 10, 11 or 12 is the last one I bought.
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RestLessone



Joined: 02 Aug 2009
Posts: 1426
Location: New York
PostPosted: Fri May 24, 2013 11:41 am Reply with quote
Like other posters, I really enjoyed the first few volumes...Then it just got old. You can only take the same joke, gag, or quirk so much. It just lost its humor. Sometimes it felt like a chore to get through a chapter.

Still, it's too bad for the people who wanted to collect the whole thing. I'd assume it canceled if they aren't saying anything about it. Especially due to the series' length; it's not like they just have to chug through a couple of volumes with poor sales.
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ptolemy18
Manga Reviewer/Creator/Taster


Joined: 07 May 2005
Posts: 357
Location: San Francisco
PostPosted: Fri May 24, 2013 3:07 pm Reply with quote
ZeetherKID77 wrote:
It seems like Kodansha is never going to release the rest of the series here. Last time someone asked they said it was on hiatus but not canceled, but I beg to differ because they said that last year and nothing has come of it, plus I saw a post on Facebook saying they weren't planning on reprinting the earlier Del Rey volumes.


Yeah, this was my mistake, sorry. I assumed they were still doing the series, but the fact that the last volume was release one year ago pretty much says it all. *apologies*
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