Seasons & episodes
S0 · E1Preface - Zetsubou Girls Collection 2008-01-01 · 25 min
A special summary episode of the first season of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, focusing on seven of the girls: Komori Kiri, Matoi Tsunetsuki, Kobushi Abiru, Kimura Kaere, Kitsu Chiri, Sekiuchi "Maria" Tarou and Hitou Nami.
S0 · E2Preface - Zoku Zetsubou Girls Collection 2008-08-27 · 25 min
A special summary episode of the second season of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, focusing on the girls that were not introduced in the first Zetsubou Shoujo Senshuu: Otonashi Meru, Fujiyoshi Harumi, Kaga Ai and Mitama Mayo.
S0 · E3Sweet Princess / Banned Notes / Prototype Shield 2008-10-17 · 25 min
Valentine's Day has arrived and Nozomu is rather popular. Wondering if this is a honey trap, appealing to a man's desires to obtain secret information, he is introduced to an elite group of otakus, whose disinterest in real women allows them to carry top secret information without falling into the honey trap. Nozomu then ponders about the violent nature of unaired battles, before Chiri discovers his unaired training. Later, Nozomu goes to a halloween party only to find his ideals about Halloween are much different from current ideals, and dwells upon things not being like the original.
S0 · E4To Say That the Pursuit of Happiness from a Process is the Origin of Crime / A Notice from Ministry of Prediction / Names Ripped in Pieces 2008-12-10 · 25 min
Nozomu is paying a visit to Chiri's house after going through various scenes, but his home visit abruptly ends when he reaches Chiri's house. Chiri argues that Nozomu's visit was pointless, but Nozomu points out that most Japanese people take the process more seriously rather than its result. As a typical shōnen manga puts emphasis on the character's development throughout the story, Nozomu asks his students to appeal the audience by showing off development of their immaturity. In the second part of the episode, a warning of earthquake disaster is published by the Ministry of Prediction, which makes every characters except Chiri very lazy as they believe they are not going to make appearance in the magazine. Meanwhile Nozomu points that many Japanese put efforts into various activities despite being aware there won't be any reward for their action. A number of Nozomu's students ends up doing improper conducts as they don't expect themselves to appear in front of the audience. In the third part of the episode, the students are worrying about the dropping interest of book-reading among students. Nozomu thinks that many books should change their titles so that they accurately reflect the content of the book as many books betray the readers' trusts by having inaccurate title. Thus, Nozomu asks Kino and Kudo to give more appropriate names for various books by holding a book-titling competition.
S0 · E5Mondō in the Dark / Storybook of Failure / A Book of Folktales 2009-02-17 · 25 min
In a Book of Folktales, it shows how Nozomu, first a positive, normal person as a student, is forced to become the negative man he is today.
S0 · E6Network of the Proletariat / Time for Oddities Girls / Chychyl and Mytyl 2009-11-17 · 25 min
The gang encounter several groups of protestors, who protest about things, but end up vaccilating over certain things. Nozomu soons winds up in the same scenario when he comments on the earliness of his gag. Maria shows him a tepid vaccilation, where her cuteness gets her out of several troubles, including extinguishing the Olympic Torch. In the second part, the gang discuss matters where you're compelled to say something is interesting or funny. Matoi decides they should use these tactics to get more laughs from the low minded viewers by using complicated word gags. However, they get attacked by Chiri when she doesn't get the desired response from her dialogue. The third part introduces us to Tane Kitsu, Chiri's older sister who, as a polar opposite to Chiri, constantly makes everything messy. Harumi explains to Nozomu that Tane became messy to stop Chiri from cleaning a goldfish with shampoo when they were little. Nozomu uses this knowledge to control Chiri, whilst Tane falls for him.
S0 · E7General Virus and the Three Doctor Brothers / Casting God Away / A World of Words 2010-02-17 · 25 min
The class is learning how to properly use the AED, but Nozomu tells that the Dysfunctional AED (DAED) is the one which everyone should avert. The DAED, in fact, has the task to revive dead things which should remain dead. Ohkusa, anyway, decides to pursue her instincts and starts reviving everything she faces, until resurrecting the deads as zombies. The class, fleeing from the horde of zombies, gets trapped in a store, but Nozomu anyway has been bitten. In the second part the whole class is at the pool and gets washed away to the Island of Those Who Don't Go with the Flow. In the third part Nozomu talks about Doublespeak, in other way the act of disguising words with softer ones.
S0 · E8Despair Has Fallen on the Murder Scene / Christ of Nyanjing 2012-01-31 · 25 min
A new special episode that was distributed to those who purchase all three Blu-ray box sets of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei series on January 31, 2012.
S0 · E9Episode 9 2007-12-01 · 2 min
No episode summary available yet.
S0 · E10Episode 10 2007-08-27 · 6 min
No episode summary available yet.
S1 · E1Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei 2007-07-07 · 23 min
Kafuka Fuura is cheerily walking to school one April morning when she suddenly spots a man trying to hang himself in a fit of despair. Kafuka manages to use her weight to snap the rope, thus saving his life. Nozomu Itoshiki, the man, eventually cannot take anymore of the girl's ridiculous ramblings, and runs off to school to start homeroom at the beginning of a new school year. When Nozomu walks in the door, he finds Kafuka is one of his students.
S1 · E2When I Came Out Of The Tunnel It Was White 2007-07-14 · 23 min
After confiding in his latest despairs to Ms. Arai, she asks Nozomu to visit one of his students who hasn't shown up to school — Kiri Komori, a hikikomori. In the end Kiri goes to school but decides to be a hikimori there. The next day, Nozomu notes that another of his students, Matoi Tsunetsuki, didn't show up that day. Ms. Arai brings Nozomu to the counseling room, where she explains Matoi's obsessive-stalker tendencies to Nozomu. That night, he attempts to dissuade her from bothering her last boyfriend; however, his strategy backfires on him. This turns him into Matoi's latest object of affection.
S1 · E3Go Fly Over That Country 2007-07-21 · 23 min
This episode is a pastiche of parodies about foreigners and Japanese attitudes concerning them. A foreign student named Kaere Kimura transfers into the class. Kimura is a blonde girl with multiple personality disorder stemming from cultural identity confusion. Nozumu prevents her from committing suicide but sees her underwear and is sued. While Nozomu is absent from school Chiri investigates his students and discovers that Maria is an illegal immigrant.
S1 · E4From Elbow to Knee 2007-07-28 · 23 min
Chie dispatches Nozomu to investigate rumors that the invariably injured Abiru Kobushi is suffering from domestic violence. He pursues Abiru's father while he shops, causing him a great deal of inconvenience, before discovering Abiru's obsession with pulling the tails of dangerous animals. The latter half of the episode concerns Meru Otonashi, who is silent and shy in person, but remarkably abusive via text-messaging, her only means of communication.
S1 · E5Removing Toxins and Stains 2007-08-04 · 23 min
On physical examination day, many of the girls are feeling stress about their weight, measurements and fitness. Nozumu distracts them by deciding to judge the "social worth" of students so that they will know whether they are living "above their station." Kitsu seizes on this idea, scolding everyone who possesses any luxuries, appalling Nozumu to the point where he decides to go on a hedonistic binge before killing himself. In the second half he encounters some of his students at a hot spring and is frightened to learn the spring has the power to remove their "toxicity" giving them well-adjusted personalities.
S1 · E6Leap Before You Look 2007-08-11 · 23 min
Kafuka comes down with a cold during the summer and has to go see the doctor, Mikoto Itoshiki, who happens to be Nozomu's brother. Later, Chiri and Kafuka find out from Mikoto that Nozomu has gone back to his hometown in Kuraizawa for an arranged marriage. One way or another, the girls somehow all end up arriving at Kuraizawa, where they are taken to the Itoshiki residence by Tokita. Here they find out that the Itoshiki tradition for arranged marriages simply involves both parties exchanging eye contact. The rest of the episode involves Nozomu and his attempts to avoid eye contact with the girls and various other people/objects.
S1 · E7One Morning, When Gregor Samsa Awoke, He was Carrying a Portable Shrine 2007-08-18 · 23 min
This episode begins with Fujiyoshi bumping into Nozomu while she is on her way to make copies of her doujinshi. Through a misunderstanding, Nozomu ends up going to Comiket to sell his doujin literature with mixed results. At Comiket, Chiri reads Fujiyoshi's yaoi doujinshi. On the way back from Comiket, they meet Kafuka, who talks Chiri and Fujiyoshi into drawing more manga that strictly adheres to the above mentioned format. The second half of the episode involves the girls at a matsuri, where overzealous festival-goers begin piling random objects and people on portable shrines and dancing and parading around with them.
S1 · E8I'm a Social Outcast by Fate 2007-08-25 · 23 min
This episode begins with Usui Kagerou lamenting about how he never gets noticed by anyone, when he nearly gets run over by a truck who does not notice him. He runs into Nozomu in the shadows, who begins to talk about how some people are destined to be overshadowed by others, no matter how hard they work. The second part of the episode has the class undergo criticism training. Usui continues to be ignored until a divine wind blows away his hair, revealing his bald head and allowing everyone in the class to see him. He fears that people in the class will begin mocking him, but Kafuka suggests that Chie insults him instead, which he seems to enjoy.
S1 · E9The Evening Primroses on Fuji are Wrong 2007-09-01 · 23 min
Nozomu notices a few members of the class playing a "spot the differences" game. Nozomu tells them that it is important to spot mistakes and he instructs the class in how life is filled with mistakes. He asks the class to identify mistakes in their lives after pointing out several of his own. After Nozomu contradicts himself, saying that a mistake was the correct action, Kafuka reasons that if a mistake comes to light, it is correct, resulting in many people approaching her, confessing their mistakes, making them correct. In the end of the first part, a boy approaches Nozomu, calling him "Dad." The second part of the episode reveals that he is actually Nozomu's brother's child, Majiru. Nozomu asks him to prove that he is indeed his nephew, and then asks all of his students to prove that they are the real one. When Majiru asks Nozomu to prove he is genuine, Nozomu is unable to come up with a response, and runs off. The episode ends with a sequence that deals with Majiru's hair fetish.
S1 · E10You Mustn't Burn the Raw Yatsuhashi 2007-09-08 · 21 min
The episode begins with Nozomu announcing there will be a cultural festival, which he decides to not participate and explains that they are not cultured people, believing that they will grow to be bad people if they do pretend they are. The second part of the episode starts with the class taking a field trip preview, where Chiri make a large itinerary guide of the place. They move quickly all over Kyoto until they come to a temple. There the monk enlightens them about the use of preview. The episode ends with Nozomu take Chiri to visit his preview funeral and gravesite, where she gets angry and hits him, sending him to the hospital and putting him in a coma (which Kafuka calls a "preview of the afterlife").
S1 · E11That's Impossible Isn't There an Original 2007-09-16 · 23 min
The girls are watching a particularly awful movie. Outside, they meet with the director, who defends himself by saying that he is just "following the original story." Chasing him, they arrive at roads that are used by many people to escape or to shift blame from their mistakes. In the second part, Nozomu, Majiru, and Matoi are sitting in a kotatsu in Nozomu's house. Chiri then arrives to clean up everything. After the cleaning, Nozomu keeps wishing that humans can hibernate and finally he and the regular cast decide to take a winter hibernation. However, after the group nearly dies of carbon monoxide poisoning, Nozomu decides to simply leave. Fūra goes to find him, only to witness him being struck by a runaway trolley. The episode ends at the hospital as the entire class waits for Nozomu to leave surgery.
S1 · E12What an Incredible Bother! 2007-09-23 · 23 min
The first part of this episode introduces Ai Kaga, a girl who always takes blame for everything, even though it is not her fault. Nozomu takes the class to a "guilt scramble" to explain that history has led to the "guilt complex" such as Kaga's becoming the Japanese mentality. After being overcome with guilt himself, Nozomu and Kaga travel the world to try to stop burdening others. The second part introduces another girl, Mayo Mitama. Her evil-looking eyes have led to her being misunderstood - that is, she actually is evil, but people try not to prejudge her and assume she is actually good. She commits several cruel acts that Nozomu bears witness to and is blamed for, being the only other nearby party. He becomes so concerned with not prejudging that he doesn't blame her when she hits Majiru over the head with an aluminum bat or when she drops a brick onto Nozomu's head.
S2 · E1Look, the Baron's Reckless Remark / There Are a Lot of Problems in This Class So Please Be Aware of That 2008-01-05 · 25 min
Nozomu Itoshiki, a direct marketing businessman, is chased by a mysterious religious group called Hamasho. At one point, he is caught and his body is modified like a mole cricket. After his long adventure, he is discovered by Kafuka and he then becomes a high school teacher. Students in the class start calling him "Left-wing Guerrilla" (apparently in lieu of "Pink Supervisor"), making him want to die again. Right before he jumps off a cliff, Kafuka suggests he "mock marry" a girl of the Holy Nosebleed Empire. A card reveals that the entire segment is a gag based on a summary from the jacket of the manga's first volume. In the second segment, Nami Hitō, who has been missing classes, finally decides to attend her school as no one really seems to notice her absence. Unfortunately, she does not get much attention from her classmates as the high school is full of extraordinary characters. At the end of the episode, most of the major characters are introduced and Nami is labeled as the 'ordinary girl' in the school.
S2 · E2Forelocks Yet To Be Opened / Adornment At Tiffany's / Rouse Up, O Old Men of the Old Age 2008-01-12 · 25 min
The first part of this episode is supposed to follow this storyline from a chapter of the Zetsubō Sensei manga. Perry has come to the school on the anniversary of the school's founding. He is an American Commodore who known for opening up Japanese ports to foreign trade (in Japanese, the phrase "opening the school" (開校?) is pronounced the same as "opening the ports" (開港?)). After he opens up various things in the school, he tries to open up Nozomu Itoshiki's mind. Suddenly, Nozomu releases a mysterious wave that reveals the dark side of the world, which is full of despair. Finally, Perry learns the lesson that he shouldn't try to open up everything in the world. However, all the characters speak unintelligible gibberish, and the subtitles suggest that Perry is Son Goku looking for the Dragon Balls and that Nozomu is an alien bent on stopping him. In the next part of the episode, Nozomu is complaining about the over-decoration of various things in Japanese society. However, Kafuka Fūra denies it, saying that it is just a trend among stylish elites. In the next part, Nozomu meets his old time friend Ikkyū-san, who likes old things. They discuss together how old things are often ignored in modern Japan. Ultimately, he wants to obtain a former-surname by marrying Nozomu's sister Rin. Rin tries to escape from Ikkyū by calling her butler, but he ends up persuading Ikkyū-san to marry her. However, Kafuka manages to find out at the end that Nozomu and Ikkyū are not old friends, but rather one-day friends during the first day of school.