Quick Summary: A ridiculous premise rescued by an adorable art style.

Title: Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei (vol 1)

Author: Kumeta, Koji

Translator: Aurino, Joyce

Imprint: Del Rey / Kodansha

Date of Publication: 2005

Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei is about a suicidal middle school teacher and the eccentric students who rely on him. The first volume is primarily concerned with introducing the characters over ten short chapters. The series is a comedy, and the humour is generally sweet, good-natured, and mild. There are plenty of sight gags and references that, if not laugh-out-loud funny, certainly elicit a smile.

The premise is ridiculous. Itokishi, the teacher of the title, is not only depressed, but irresponsible. He often does not bother to show up to school, insults students without meaning to, and seems to do very little actual teaching. Nevertheless, he is a likeable, interesting person, and his students come to admire him even over this first short volume.

The characters are, for the most part, pleasant. Besides the teacher himself, they are so far all girls. It is interesting, however, to see this typical "harem" set-up without multiple crushes. With one exception, the girls like their teacher but have no romantic feelings for him. It's a refreshing change of pace which I hope continues through to future volumes.

The art is cute (okay, adorable), and Kumeta has a real gift for adding in details only when they make the most impact. The use of clothing to define characters is also clever: Itokishi wears a dress shirt with hakama; most of the girls wear "sailor" uniforms, but the exchange student wears a kilt like a North American uniform; one female character is seen in about five different outfits.

I enjoyed this volume, but the series hasn't grabbed me. If I see the second volume at the library, I'll likely pick it up, but the book wasn't compelling enough for me to seek it out.

Originally Written: October 28, 2010

I haven't happened to run into volume 2 yet, but if I do, I'm still inclined to give it a read.