Aim for Manga Koshien!

I love Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, and the crew going to Comiket (for little reason) is why.

First, Itoshiki Nozomu selling STRING-BOUND NOVELS at Comiket.

Second, the hidden fifth panel of every 4koma.

Shinbo’s done gone and set the bar almost impossibly high with this anime. I think it’s his best comedy (and I think everyone else would agree with me on this) and it’s certainly a hell of a lot of fun to watch. His flair for odd visuals can only enhance the manga (I’ve read a bit of the manga raw, and it’s incredible how Shinbo’s visuals improve on those in the manga. The visual style of this anime impressed me from episode one (which had the look and feel of an old-time silent film) to things like the absolutely gorgeous OP sequence. And stick puppets. Not stick puppets like in the “whoops we ran out of budget thanks a lot Anno” episodes of Kare Kano, but they actually took the time to ANIMATE in the style of stick puppets.

I mean, it’s one thing to use physical stick puppets because that’s all you can afford at the time. It’s quite another to draw stick puppets. It’s that kind of subversion of standard animation techniques that I love in post-Hidamari Sketch Shinbo, and I hope he continues doing it.

In the meantime, aim for Manga Koshien!