Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei
Developed by SHAFT
First aired January 5th, 2008 on TV Kanagawa

The "Zoku" in the title is meant to give a more base/gritty feeling, and the title ends up getting translated as "So long, Mr. Despair EXTREME." I think it's a good fit. The show is more of an extreme that than the first season, and it almost feels as though it's testing the viewer's faith in the show.

The show hits us with a totally nonsensical plot for the first third of the episode, with Itoshiki being chased by the fanatical followers of a rather...unusual cult. If nothing, it's the weirdness of the show intensified. It really has no bearing on the plot later on, although I have a feeling this is something we'll see every episode. After this, though, they went ahead re-introducing the characters for all of us who might have forgotten, by way of focusing on Nami (the "normal" girl) trying to get attention.

Right off the bat, the art style has gotten more fluid. It's a departure from the last season, where a lot of the progress took place within still shots. Now, characters move about and have more vivid expressions when they talk. Personally, I like it, but I feel as though it's a big shift from the original style that may turn off a few people.

It felt like a totally new direction for the show. I figured, though, to wait until the second episode before writing up a review, just to see if this was really the case. The result?

Commodore Perry invading the Zetsubou cast. The show stuck with an inane plot, and even had everyone talking in gibberish for a good third of the episode, going on the idea that Perry had a complex about opening things. Then once the first portion of the show was over, it switched back to normal on a completely different storyline, focusing on people over-doing things. Again, it was weird, but it felt like the first season, except...different.

It's almost as though Zetsubou is going more towards an extended 4-koma adaptation style. Shows like Azumanga Daioh and Lucky Star are 4-koma manga that end up having no real plot. The episode is just broken up into ways to string together series of jokes from the manga. Zetsubou is stretching that out into two or three short storylines that have no real impact on each other.

I really don't know what to think about this new season. It jerks us back and forth between new and old styles, almost in an effort to try and figure out what's best recieved. If you're a fan of the old season, then you might as well stick around with the new season, but for me, it's a little disappointing. The laughs aren't as constant, and the jokes don't feel as fun. It feels like the show is essentially trying to top the first season (perhaps the "Zoku" is rather appropriate), and is stumbling on the way there.

The show might be able to pick up its steam as it goes along, but it just feels like a bit of a hollow shell. Even the OP/ED seem to reflect this. When I was talking with Gia, we both had the feeling that it seemed like the producers grabbed songs that were an effort to try and top the first season, and while the ED is something interesting, the intrinsic meaning from the first season's ED isn't there. I think they're waiting a bit before they change the animation for the OP to something more concrete, and hopefully it'll be more entertaining and meaningful.