Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei - Episode 3

I shouldn't laugh, and I swear I hadn't misheard it, but I was watching a news report today about an aircraft co-pilot who had a mental breakdown mid-flight, and it noted that he was carried off the plane after it had made its emergency landing shouting "I'm in despair!!". Which brings me to episode three of Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei...

While you can never really be sure what to expect of this series (which is half the joy of the whole experience), the opening segment can only be described as beautifully realised, yet a rather odd experience. From then on, we enter much more familiar territory, with certain trains of thought being grasped upon, fleshed out, and then taken to extreme and long-winded lengths. It's as hit and miss as always, but the entire segment surrounding dropping bombshells casually into a conversation, then at the other extreme making everyday remarks sound like like major incidents had me almost literally rolling on the floor with laughter - Chiri Kitsu's revelation in that segment alone is worth watching the episode for.

Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei certainly makes you work for your enjoyment, flinging information and jokes at you at break-neck speed, and delighting in throwing several threads of dialogue and the like at you at once (try keeping up with all the various things going on in the opening segment without developing a headache - go on, I dare you), but if you can live with that (and you should be able to in this information age) then you'll be rewarded grandly with one of the most surreal yet amusing things I've ever had the joy of watching. If this show's rather unique brand of humour is your kind of thing, it really shouldn't be missed.