Schrödinger's cat, or rather the theory that it represents (or kind of represents if you twist is around enough), is always ripe for a bit of comedy, and it also serves as a perfect fit for the kind of themes that Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei loves so much. So, we're introduced to various hilarious concepts from Schrödinger's forehead (has he gone bald or not? The possibilities are infinite!) right the way through to Schrödinger's wife (although Chiri rather spoils the latter by revealing the "interesting" individual within the box. It's great stuff, and very much typical of this franchise.
However, even this pales into comparison with the satirical genius of the next segment, as a missile launched from some foreign nation (hmmm, I wonder who that could be?) lands in the school grounds. But what should Nozomu and company do about it - Call the authorities and risk being silenced, call the media who might be untrustworthy, or something else entirely? From attempts to make the missile look like a baseball mound complete with a diamond that only makes things worse (which made me laugh until I cried), to trying to pass it off as a time capsule (not a bad idea, considering its contents), this was top-notch comedy from beginning to end - Dare I say one of the best segments of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei ever?
Finally, we return to a scenario from what seems like a million years ago, with Rin trying to go places without leaving her estate and simply buying everything in her path as a result. From ramen shops to karaoke venues, nowhere is too much trouble for Rin's travels (and the family wallet), until they inevitably end up buying the school in a segment that could never hope to live up to the glory of the humour that came before it. Still, two out of three rip-roaring joke segments is good enough for me (and I don't even know what to say about the "Naughty Ms. Kaede" - You just know that would sell in Japan on Blu-Ray, and I guess that's kind of the satirical point), so once again I'm sad to think that there's only one episode left to go of this series.
Oh, Kim Jong-Il, you are a card. If you weren't inflicting anguish upon millions with your regime's cleaving to a tiny little pamphlet that's been responsible for more war, death, disorder, oppression, and general human misery in the last 150 years than the combined tyrants of the last 1,500 would baulk in horror at, you might even be a figure of fun.
ReplyDeleteI suppose that it's one of the strengths of our world that we're secure enough in ourselves to be able to make light of this sort of danger. There's more than one way to fight fear, and humour's one of them.