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?
>Warning! Do not write these characters too close to one another! When the three kanji characters that make up the sensei’s first name, Itoshiki Nozomu, are combined, they resemble the kanji that make up the phrase “zetsubo,” meaning “despair/hopelessness.” This is where the nickname Zetsubou-sensei comes from.
>Unconnected dead The concept of “unconnected dead” comes from Japanese Buddhism and describes a deceased person who is stuck in a state of limbo. Generally, these are people who pass on without loved ones or descendants to see them off into the next world.
>Akutagawa Prize The Akutagawa Prize is a Japanese literary award that is presented twice a year. It’s a Japanese version of the Pulitzer Prize for best novel.
>Oden Oden is a Japanese dish that’s popular in the fall and winter. It’s made up of several ingredients such as eggs, daikon radish, tofu, and fish cakes, boiled in a dashi broth.
>Good luck pot This is a reference to items commonly sold by Japanese cultlike groups. The good luck pot is said to increase your luck and chance of aquiring wealth, but groups charge hundreds of dollars for tickets.
>Bikkuriman Chocolate Bikkuriman chocolate is a chocolate-flavored wafer that comes with cartoon character stickers. This panel is a reference to a series of baseball card stickers that were included with the candies.
this chapter has 1 Tsunetsuki, 1 pantyshot, 2 Uropen, 0 Amakudari-sama, 1 Miss Yoshiko Sakurai, 1 stork and baby, 1 stick dog, 1 eye of darkness, and 1 Mr. Asou Tarou. This has another impossible Uropen, I was almost certain Kumetan made a mistake. It really is there, though I can't imagine finding it without being told explicitly where to look.
