• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Comment Policy
    • Disclosures & Disclaimers
  • Resources
    • Links, Essays & Articles
    • Fandomology!
    • CLAMP Directory
    • BlogRoll
  • Features & Columns
    • 3 Things Thursday
    • Adventures in the Key of Shoujo
    • Bit & Blips (game reviews)
    • BL BOOKRACK
    • Bookshelf Briefs
    • Bringing the Drama
    • Comic Conversion
    • Fanservice Friday
    • Going Digital
    • It Came From the Sinosphere
    • License This!
    • Magazine no Mori
    • My Week in Manga
    • OFF THE SHELF
    • Not By Manga Alone
    • PICK OF THE WEEK
    • Subtitles & Sensibility
    • Weekly Shonen Jump Recaps
  • Manga Moveable Feast
    • MMF Full Archive
    • Yun Kouga
    • CLAMP
    • Shojo Beat
    • Osamu Tezuka
    • Sailor Moon
    • Fruits Basket
    • Takehiko Inoue
    • Wild Adapter
    • One Piece
    • After School Nightmare
    • Karakuri Odette
    • Paradise Kiss
    • The Color Trilogy
    • To Terra…
    • Sexy Voice & Robo
  • Browse by Author
    • Sean Gaffney
    • Anna Neatrour
    • Michelle Smith
    • Katherine Dacey
    • MJ
    • Brigid Alverson
    • Travis Anderson
    • Phillip Anthony
    • Derek Bown
    • Jaci Dahlvang
    • Angela Eastman
    • Erica Friedman
    • Sara K.
    • Megan Purdy
    • Emily Snodgrass
    • Nancy Thistlethwaite
    • Eva Volin
    • David Welsh
  • MB Blogs
    • A Case Suitable For Treatment
    • Experiments in Manga
    • MangaBlog
    • The Manga Critic
    • Manga Report
    • Soliloquy in Blue
    • Manga Curmudgeon (archive)

Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

July 14, 2009 by MJ 5 Comments

Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei: The Power of Negative Thinking, Volume 2

Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei: The Power of Negative Thinking, Vol. 2
By Koji Kumeta
Published by Del Rey Manga

szs2
Buy This Book

Unflinchingly bleak schoolteacher Nozomu Itoshiki and his students are back, beginning with a chapter set during Tanabata in which Itoshiki-sensei’s wish (“I want to resign”) stands in contrast to the actions of overly-optimistic Kafuka who hangs people’s college applications on the bamboo tree and convinces the masses that their wishes can be granted in their next lives. This chapter opens the volume well, re-introducing the characters effectively before moving on. This volume also features a visit from a man posing as Commodore Perry (the man who famously “opened” Japan), a tirade against information, the tragedy of overshadowed achievers, Comiket, a beach where everyone is perilously on edge, the Itoshiki family’s unusual marriage traditions, so-called “criticism training,” and an ode to instability, all presented with the same sharp, fast-paced satire as the series’ first volume.

The success of this volume once again mainly comes down to personal taste and sense of humor. If the first volume did not make you laugh, this one will not either, but if it did, you’re in for another treat. Though the numerous Japanese cultural references may actually be even more dense in this volume, Joyce Aurino’s adaptation still reads quite smoothly and I maintain my original recommendation against following her meticulous translation notes during the first read.

It is the thick layers of humor that strike me most in this series. Not only are each chapter’s main gags wonderfully funny and over-the-top, but the tiny details–small, throw-away jokes nearly lost in the din with their barely legible font sizes–are often so funny I have to stop reading to let myself get in a good, long laugh. Like the first volume, this book gets funnier with multiple rereads–another reason why catching each reference the first time around is honestly unnecessary. Unlike a lot of shonen manga which is consumed so quickly it leaves you just as hungry as when you began, this series is best ingested slowly, chewed carefully several times over for the most satisfying meal.

Simultaneously breezy and dark, volume two of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei is just as grimly delightful as it can be.

Share this:

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Reddit
  • Tumblr
  • More
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest

Filed Under: MANGA REVIEWS Tagged With: manga, sayonara zetsubou-sensei

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Danielle Leigh says

    July 14, 2009 at 11:02 pm

    I’m currently savoring this volume as well!

    Though the numerous Japanese cultural references may actually be even more dense in this volume, Joyce Aurino’s adaptation still reads quite smoothly and I maintain my original recommendation against following her meticulous translation notes during the first read.

    That was my EXACT advice when I reviewed the first volume. (Against the advice of a lot of other bloggers, I think). It just a lot more fun to read the chapter first and deal with references later.

    Reply
    • Melinda Beasi says

      July 15, 2009 at 7:24 am

      I’m so glad I’m not the only person who feels this way! I really do think the reading experience is much more enjoyable without checking the back of the book every few minutes. And, you know, the information isn’t going anywhere. It’s easy enough to save it for later. :)

      I hope you are enjoying this volume as much as I did!

      Reply
  2. jansong@livejournal.com says

    July 15, 2009 at 6:44 am

    Hmm. Might this be a series your mother would like? Even though I’m not hooked on the genre, your reviews always make me want to read it.

    Reply
    • Melinda Beasi says

      July 15, 2009 at 7:26 am

      Hmmmmm… it might be! My only worry would be that the obscure Japanese cultural references might become a little tiresome for you. Though you love looking things up, so maybe you’d get a kick out of having so much to explore! And it’s mostly all there in the end notes!

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Twilight reax and SDCC highlights « MangaBlog says:
    July 16, 2009 at 8:11 am

    […] Standard) Laura on vols. 1 and 2 of The Recipe for Gertrude (Heart of Manga) Melinda Beasi on vol. 2 of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei (There it is, Plain as Daylight) Shojo Flash on vol. 1 of Venus Capriccio (Shojo Flash) Billy […]

    Reply


Before leaving a comment at Manga Bookshelf, please read our Comment Policy.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

 | Log in
Copyright © 2010 Manga Bookshelf | Powered by WordPress & the Genesis Framework
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.