Nozomu Itoshiki is depressed. Very depressed. He’s certifiably suicidal, but he’s also the beloved schoolteacher of a class of unique students, each charming in her own way: The stalker. The shut-in. The obsessive-compulsive. The girl who comes to class every day with strange bruises. And Kafuka, the most optimistic girl in the world, who knows that every cloud has a silver lining. For all of them, it’s a special time, when the right teacher can have a lasting positive effect on their lives. But is that teacher Itoshiki, a.k.a. Zetsubou-sensei, who just wants to find the perfect place to die?
Chapter 20: Because It Is So Unstable, I Went to Search the Skies
Previous chapter: Be mindful of first-timers; please use spoiler text for any spoilers. __________
>Because It Is So Unstable, I Went to Search the Skies This title is a reference to Saekosho, a novel by Haruo Sato (1892-1964). The original line reads Anmari otenki dakara, watashi sora wo sagashi ni ittekimashitanoyo (“Because it was too beautiful a day, I went to search the skies”).
>Assorted references Kamille is a reference to Kamille Bidan, the hero of the 1986 anime series Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. The Spo-Park Matsumori sporting facility in Sendai, Japan, opened on July 1, 2005 but closed a mere forty-seven days later after an earthquake caused its roof to collapse. “Reversible Destiny-Yoro Park” is a theme park in Yoro, Japan, whose main feature is a building with a surreal, disorienting interior (furniture partially sticking out of the walls, etc.). Sakura Bank is one of the former names of the Mitsui-Sumitomo Bank, which has changed its name several times in recent years, as part of a series of mergers. Cuenca is a famous tourist spot in Spain, a medieval walled city where houses hang precariously on the edge of a river gorge.
>Stable train schedule -> Unstable drivers This is a reference to the 2005 Amagasaki rail crash in which the driver was speeding in order to make up lost time for a delay. One hundred and six people died, making it one of the most serious rail disasters in Japanese history.
>Assorted References “It’s a love comedy!” “It’s a battle manga!” refers to stereotypical shônen manga of the Shônen Jump variety, which sometimes start out as a comedy and then, at the editor’s insistence, turn to a fighting series (YuYu Hakusho being the most blatant example). Itsudemo Aeru (“But When I Meet”) is a sweet book by Mariko Kikuta. Mitsuo Matayoshi (1944-) is an eccentric Japanese political figure who has repeatedly run for prime minister of Japan. He claims to be the messiah and refers to himself as Jesus Matayoshi or “The Only God Mitsuo Matayoshi Jesus Christ.”
>Black Hospital Black Hospital is short for a Japanese TV show, Saishyu Keikoku! Takeshi no Honto wa Kowai Katei no Igaku (“Final Warning! Takeshi’s Seriously Frightening Family Medical Science”). Hosted by actor and TV personality Takeshi Kitano (aka “Beat” Takeshi), it’s a medical-horror-simulation show, somewhere between a reality show and a bizarre documentary about strange diseases. At the end of each show, the guest panel is tested for their chances of contracting the odd illness of the day. The results are given live on the show.
>Repository of unstable things Among the items on display are a God Soldier (from Hayao Miyazaki’s anime/manga Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind) and a figure with a spiral hole in its forehead (possibly a reference to Junji Ito’s horror manga Uzumaki).
>Sazae-san Sazae-san is Machiko Hasegawa’s classic 1946-1974 newspaper-strip manga about a Japanese family. The anime based on Sazae-san is the longest-running animated TV series in history, having been broadcast every Sunday night at 6:30 p.m. since 1969. (OP note: the 2625th episode aired today)
>Kubozuka-kun’s favorite weed Yosuke Kubozuka (1979-) is a Japanese actor whose controversial behavior included speaking out in favor of marijuana, a drug which carries harsh penalties in Japan.
>Assorted references Otome Road (Maiden Road) is a nickname for a street in the Tokyo neighborhood of Ikebukuro. With its many bookstores specializing in yaoi dôjinshi and other female-oriented anime and manga products, it has a reputation as a haven for female otaku. “Takumachine” is a Japanese porn DVD label. “Gavas points” were a sort of toy money printed in the Japanese video game magazine Famitsu, which could be mailed in and redeemed for various products (mugs, pens, keychains, etc.).
>Assorted references Book Off is a popular Japanese used-book-store chain. Gintama is a 2003 sci-fi comedy manga by Hideaki Sorachi, set in a parallel-world version of Meiji Era Japan. Weekly Shônen Sunday, published by Shogakukan, was the magazine in which Koji Kumeta debuted as a manga artist, but he later split off from Shogakukan and moved to the rival Weekly Shénen Magazine, published by Kodansha. Sunday has since been the target of several of Kumeta’s barbs, such as volume 1, page 125. (The magazine YS floating down the river on volume 1, page 84, could also be a reference to the companion magazine Young Sunday, which was canceled in 2008.)
