Again the topic of weird ways to start series is brought up, and for a strange series there is of course a strange method of initiation.

At this point perhaps I would be expected to say I started watching Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei because of the fact that it was subbed by a.f.k, a translating group that I’m quite fond of. I’ll admit that’s why I started Lucky Star.

But there are actually odder reasons, such as the fact that a guy on one of the other message boards I frequent said he started watching it because of that factor…and hated it.

“Hmm, so it’s no good…but it has moe hikikomori!” said I, bringing the second factor into account, the ever-humorous blog posts over at AoMM. The combination of 1) bad plus 2) hikikomori plus 3) moe?? was too ridiculous to ignore, and so a despair-filled adventure began.

Amusingly enough the show turned out to be almost even more ridiculous than the three elements I initally took into it; except actually in a really good way. As such I feel a bit better about myself in that I still can enjoy something that’s not packed-to-the-hilt in moe characters and character designs and catchphrases and artwork.

Rather, Zetsubou Sensei is what could aptly be described as “different” – maybe it wouldn’t be so if I had watched some of the previous works from the animation studio called SHAFT (which apparently has a bunch of other strange works out as well); but with a background filled with magical girls, horribly friendly harems, and pastel hair colors, Zetsubou’s strange dark humour blended with, for all I know, social commentary, makes it a standout and still very appealing combination.

As this is the first look at an anime, the trademark comments-cleverly-disguised-as-bet-making will follow after the jump.
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