さよなら絶望先生 2

Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei #2

by Koji Kumeta

絶望先生こと糸色望率いる２のへ組も夏休みへ突入！　と言っても、臨界（海？）学校があったり、先生の地元に生徒みんなで里帰りしたりで、結構大忙し！　絶望先生の実家や兄弟も登場で、ますます広がる絶望ワールドをよろしく！

Genres: Manga, Comedy, Humor, Comics, Seinen, Shonen, Graphic Novels

147 pages, Paperback

First published December 16, 2005

Reviews

[daph pink ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume keeps the same brand of chaotic absurdity as the first — Zetsubou-sensei is still spiraling into despair over things most people wouldn’t even notice, and his students are still competing for “most unhinged class member” of the year. The satire is sharp, but sometimes so dense with cultural references that I felt like I needed a crash course in early 2000s Japan just to get half the jokes.

The art is crisp, and the humor can be laugh-out-loud when it lands, but the constant negativity and relentless pace can get exhausting after a while. It’s funny, clever, and totally unique… just not always in a way that makes you want to binge it.

[Paul Spence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei 2: The Power of Negative Thinking is the second part of the manga series that is about the strange and melancholy high-school teacher Itoshiki. The illustrations are great. The dialogue can get a bit tricky with tons of references to Japanese life, culture but the reference index at the end does help. Reading this manga was both fun & a bit exhausting. While I'll admit it- the manga is very cute & hilarious, it's also a bit overwhelming when you read the entire volume at once.

Like previous volumes, each chapter in this volume can pretty much be read individually. (Although I wouldn't recommend reading it until you've had a chance to get used to each character.) The chapters in this volume include a bit about a guy named Perry who has an obsession about opening things as well as a chapter that has Zetsubou-Sensei returning home for an arranged marriage ceremony that's far from what his students would expect. I think my favourite part was when Sensi was mistaken for a Kenshin cos player. People were following him around taking his picture. He couldn't figure out why they were doing this.

As I said above, this manga is best appreciated in small doses. The humor is great, but after a while it can sort of drag because the series never really lets up on the pacing. Still, the characters are nice & I really couldn't help but chuckle at many of the stories. (I dare anyone to read the Perry chapter & not laugh at least once. It's almost impossible for the average reader of manga like this.)

If you liked the previous volume, you're sure to like this manga. If you haven't really been that enchanted by it, I recommend taking a look at it first at your local bookstore before buying it. If you haven't read it at all, I recommend getting the first volume before getting this one due to the sheer amount of character introductions. You can read it without getting incredibly lost, but the introductions really make many of the characters in this series!

[Dominique "Eerie" Sobieska · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sayonara, Zetsubou Sensei has multiple Japanese references of the everyday life and it blends well with the characters and story as it progresses. The line work is still simple, keeping you focused on the story.

In this installment, we are introduced to a few more students as well as a few of Itoshiki Sensei's family members. Although they are not as negative as their younger brother, they share less than favourable names when written by Super Positive student, Kafuka. Hence Dr. Death ...

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with its anime adaptation equivalent, the Commodore Perry chapter is the funniest shit I have seen in my life. Unfortunately, it appears the manga does not have the secondary set of dialogue following Son Goku's quest for the Dragon Balls, but it's still quite alright. And, further in the volume, we get to Best Girl, Itoshiki's sister, so that, too, is a plus.

[Emma (littledollreads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick thoughts:

This is such a weird series.
At times I think it's funny and at others, I just don't get the joke
I love the teacher and our supper positive girl.
I have trouble keeping track of some of the secondary characters at times
I don't know if this is a series I want to continue or not

[K · Rating 1 out of 5]

That was horrible.
Jokes about specializing teens, cultural specific jokes that I didn’t understand.
All in all it could have been good. Instead it turned out to be a annoying, dark humored, sexual book with a very misleading title.
Whatever it’s intended audience was, it definitely doesn’t include me.

[Joey's deathly tomes of death · Rating 5 out of 5]

Volume 2 continues the comedy from volume 1 but builds on it.
Volume 1 was mostly introducing all the characters and their quirks, this volume introduces 2 characters and the rest of the chapters are just funny situations.

[Bailing Lue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Focuses now on how these interesting characters interact as well as acknowledge that everyone in the world has their own weird problems

[scarlettraces · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would totally hang the map of how the universe works on my wall.

[L.G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still cute, but difficult to keep researching the Japanese cultural references. It is a bit too much "homework" compared to the enjoyment and relaxation I was hoping for while reading this.

[#ReadAllTheBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this manga was both fun & a bit exhausting. While I'll admit it- the manga is very cute & hilarious, it's also a bit overwhelming when you read the entire volume at once.

Like previous volumes, each chapter in this volume can pretty much be read individually. (Although I wouldn't recommend reading it until you've had a chance to get used to each character.) The chapters in this volume include a bit about a guy named Perry who has an obsession about opening things as well as a chapter that has Zetsubou-Sensei returning home for an arranged marriage ceremony that's far from what his students would expect.

As I said above, this manga is best appreciated in small doses. The humor is great, but after a while it can sort of drag because the series never really lets up on the pacing. Still, the characters are nice & I really couldn't help but chuckle at many of the stories. (I dare anyone to read the Perry chapter & not laugh at least once. It's almost impossible for the average reader of manga like this.)

If you liked the previous volume, you're sure to like this manga. If you haven't really been that enchanted by it, I recommend taking a look at it first at your local bookstore before buying it. If you haven't read it at all, I recommend getting the first volume before getting this one due to the sheer amount of character introductions. You can read it without getting incredibly lost, but the introductions really make many of the characters in this series

[Timothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

While still somewhat interesting, I found the second volume of Sayonara, Zetsubou Sensei, to be less as hilarious as I'd expected. Whereas in the first volume, where almost every chapter had me laughing at its dark humor; in this volume I found myself more puzzled than amused as some of the chapters would go for a more bizarre turn (with the Translation Notes to be of little use). In general, I found chapters that focused on characters (Fujiyoshi) or events (Miai) to be more interesting. Accordingly, chapters focusing on Sensei's explanation for the 'meaning of life' tended to find its welcome, worn short.

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yeah - I'm just not the audience for this manga series. I get that its satire, but I'm either not familiar enough with the cultural references or I just don't find them entertaining enough to get over the weirdness. For example, the whole chapter on Commodore Perry "opening" everything (including the panty flash character's legs - creepy). I get that it's skewering Perry and the whole celebration of the "Opening of Japan" but it was just so freaking weird and skeevy that I couldn't enjoy it. Giving it two stars based on the fact that somewhere there is probably a better audience for this series who will enjoy it - but I couldn't even finish it. I returned the other volumes unread.

[Vijaya · Rating 2 out of 5]

The jokes in this are really very trippy and/or culture-specific. There are some very obvious, like the references to other manga, some that you have to know your history for (if you don't get the chapter about Perry, for example, look up Matthew C. Perry) and there are others that throw me for a loop. For example, there's one joke when Itoshiki-sensei lists people who are extremely randy and he says, "The London Police Department." I assume this is a Japanese stereotype of some sort, because I have no idea what this means.

[Wendy White · Rating 3 out of 5]

For those who have watched the anime, this book starts with the Perry-san episode. For non-Japanese readers, I do think the anime is a good warm-up for the manga, as the manga will require you to work through more cultural references via its glossary rather than handy subtitles.

If you are reading this, presumably you read volume #1. If you are unsure about whether you want to read #2, I'd give it a try. I think Kumeta's pacing gets better with every book.

[Yue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Introduction of another weirdo: the boy who no one can see, except for his balding. Poor guy.

Another Sebastian butler! And Sensei is embarrassed when his students catch him in his hometown, because he likes to wear cool clothes. He is so funny.

A bit less funny than the first volume but only because the jokes/satyr/puns are entirely Japanese, and if you are not familiar with them, you risk the chance to get them. Like Perry, for example, where I was completely lost.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this volume better than Vol. I (see review here), possibly because the first volume had "educated" my expectations.

However, I will not move on to read Vol. III. My lack of knowledge of manga and Japanese culture makes it difficult to enjoy -- and impossible to evaluate the merits of -- this satire of both.

[Crystal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately, a lot of the cultural references--save some music and movie ones--are lost on me. It's fun to read about the references at the back of the manga, but it would have been better to have understood them as I was reading.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than the first one, I think. Now that nearly all the characters are introduced, the plots are better. Doujinshi-making yaoi fangirl chapter was quite amusing, especially with poor sensei at the doujinshi convention.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

In my review of vol. 1, I said, "School-story/harem comedy that uses lots of cultural references and dark humor to push the very slight story along."

Nothing has changed. Don't sure why I picked up vol. 2.

[Lara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I definitely enjoyed this second volume more than I did the first one, though a couple of the stories were a little over my head. There are soooo many translator notes in these things--it makes for very slow but interesting reading!

[Iroquois · Rating 2 out of 5]

it gets old, all the sarcasm, etc...

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as endearing as the first, but still very fun.

[Laurel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second is just as good as the first! I love the storyline, the sarcasm, the weird characters (even Normal Girl)... it's all just amazing. Can't wait to keep reading!

[Minty-chan~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

seriously what is with the depressing names this sensei's family has?! It's so hilarious but sad at the same time...poor doctor death....pfffft!

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was amusing, but only slightly. I don't think I'll be following this series.