5
4
5
4
3
4
3
2
3
2
The story until now.
His partner in a false marriage, introduced to him by right-wing guerrillas, was a spy for a certain country.
Without knowing, he is pressed to divulge secrets.
His butthole that even his parents had never seen was probed,
with the insistence that this was normal married life.
Though he was in his twenties, he applied for a middle-aged divorce,
but was told “sure, fine, just show me your butthole”,
and pursued by a clerk resembling Kaga Takeshi.
In a hotel in Maruyama-cho, sobbing, he showers.
Nozomu.
Sob, sob. Sob, sob.
A
2-VI Homeroom
Itoshiki Nozomu
Why? Why did it come to this?
These must be test-luck goods!
A
2-VI Class roster #14
Fuura Kafuka
(P•N)
One of my relatives is taking her middle school entrance exams, so I figured I’d try buying them superstitiously.
Aren’t you being too superstitious?
All of them are pretty overbearing.
Trying everything in order to pass exams, no matter what.
But examinees are that desperate.
Isn’t it more the businesses that are desperate?
After all, if they eat nothing but these snacks,
won’t they break out, and be unable to concentrate on the day of the exams?
A
2-VI Class roster #23
Kobushi Abiru
Well, foods eaten due to superstition have always been high-calorie.
Beef
If you’re too enthusiastically superstitious, it’ll never turn out well!
Mr. Ikkyu, are you following a superstition?
Why yes, yes, I am.
Well, I’ve certainly heard of superstitiously not shaving one’s beard, but haven’t you let it get too long!?
A
Nozomu’s friend for a day
Mr. Ikkyu
People, attempting to follow a superstition, often lose sight of important things.
One’s five-sided pencil being difficult to grip during a test, and making one unable to write one’s answers well!
Meeting place
Unfortunate direction
Taking a roundabout but more auspicious path to the meeting place, and getting lost!
Giving up halfway through because one’s number on a test is unlucky!
Hello, Zekkei-sensei!
Are you following a superstition?
Brother, just what are you—
You’re even tanned...
Well, today’s lucky color is black.
I’m following a superstition.
Brother, what is that you’re carrying?
Ah, isn’t it so black?
A
Itoshiki family
Second child of Itoshiki Hiroshi
Itoshiki Kei
Well, I asked what it was.
And I told you it was something black. Do you really need to know anything else?
There are people so fixated on their lucky color they even dye themselves red.
I think the problem with Zekkei-sensei isn’t the color in particular.
Yes!
When people are too superstitious, terrible things happen!
Starting an inferno with a flint Caring too much about feng shui and ending up with a mess of an interior design Sleeping with one's head facing north and getting sunburnt Getting arrested for smashing your wine glass on the floor after drinking Not watching Ichiro's at-bat (Saburo and Shiro: even worse)
Beer nuts no longer having peanuts Not listening to one's favorite, Mr. Children Not reading one's favorite, ZKC Not putting out a fan book
I guess it’s fine to satisfy yourself with superstition,
but by trying to get rid of ill omens you inflict it on other people!
*Taboo Words
Like telling people not to use ill-omened, taboo words;
Fa
i
*
Bom*
Fl
I think Japan is unique in terms of the power of language, so we can’t help but worry about it,
o*
Dro*
Coc*
Kochi → Kochi
but still, we sure are enthusiastic about changing even place names.
Osaka → Osaka
Kamenashi → Kameari
Hashishita
moto
Hashimoto
shita
Koala
Happy Puppy
If you change Kamenashi’s surname to Kameari because it’s ill-omened,
A
2-VI Class roster #28
Hito Nami
it really does change his image.
3-VI
3-VII
3-VIII
3-IX
The seniors’ hallway certainly is tense.
What is it?
Are you Zetsubou-sensei?
Itoshiki Nozomu
Zetsubou
How can we allow such an ill-omened name in a place of learning!
Until the exams are over, we’re quarantining you!
Why did it come to this.
2-VI
What!?
Teacher was taken off somewhere because his name was ill-omened!?
A
2-VI Class roster #21
Kitsu Chiri
At the hands of the Neo J-bleep-U?
Let’s all go save him together!
But where is he?
Just where is this?
Sorry, but you’re under strict guard.
No one will be coming to rescue you.
You can rot there until the exams are over!
Actually, I’ve already been rescued.
What?
I’d been thinking that I wanted to get away from my troublesome students,
and spend my remaining years quietly alone.
You’re just saying that for the sake of your pride! Solitary confinement is lonely!
It’s not solitary at all.
Since I’m here.
A
2-VI Class roster #26
Tsunetsuki Matoi
You were there?
Yes, always.
How did you get in here?
Did you manage to slip through the strict guard?
It’s just deep love.
Uh... Very well.
Adding in one little girl won’t change anything.
Good gracious, what’s this?
I think it’s over here.
I can’t do it.
Go.
A
2-VI Class roster #29
Fujiyoshi Harumi
It’s open.
Charge!
Who are you!?
How’d you get in here!?
Catalog
Stop the violence, you’re setting a bad example.
A
2-VI Class roster #31
Mitama Mayo
A
2-VI Class roster #18
Otonashi Meru
I’ve got you threatening girls all on camera right here.
If we get feminist groups on our side, we’ll be able to get hundreds of millions in a settlement!
A
2-VI Class roster #22
Kimura Kaere
I’m sorry! I’m sorry!
What a horrible sight..
Damn you!
I’m really sorry!
What have I done?
A
2-VI Class roster #19
Kaga Ai
I’m sorry! I’m sorry!
Kaga, you sure are hardheaded.
I’m sorry! I’m sorry!
Nice finisher.
I’m sorry!
If a strange organization suddenly shows up,
isn’t that an ill omen meaning we’re nearing the final episode!?
Oh no! Intruders!
How did they get in? Capture them!
Do Not Remove
Jail
Boiler
Corolla
A
2-VI Class roster #3
Usui Kagero
The door opened on its own!
Teacher, let’s run away!
Before those other women show up!
Can’t you run away yourself and leave me alone?
How did you get out!?
I’ll be leaving now.
You can’t! It’s ill-omened!
It’s a crime against the examinees if someone as ill-omened as you goes to school!
What are you saying?
There’s no way teacher is ill-omened!
It’s the other way around, he’s the god of the examinees!
He’s perfectly suited for for superstition!
There he is!
Let us worship you!
What?
Let us pin our hopes to you!
What!?
Tithes
Pass
Why am I being revered as a good-luck charm?
Is it just by reading my name simply as “Nozomu”!?
Why?
Because if you read it that way, there’s no gag to Zetsubou-sensei!
No choke! No choke!
We’ll be sure to pass!
They’ll never choke!
An amazing rate of not choking!
Golden
Shinko Books
Zetsu
Bou
Despair back in stock!
Charger Noodles Samples
Examinees, be sure to buy them!
They’re good omens!
There’s no gag!
We’ll keep all of them a secret.
A
2-VI Class roster #11
Sekiuchi•Maria•Taro
Clip this out and take it to your exams!
Prayer to Pass
Letters of thanks are arriving from all over the country for the exam-passing prayer!
If one person passes per letter,
As in the original
nowadays, that makes the pass rate 100%!
Please watch
in a
darkened room
as close
as possible
to the television.
Originally published 12th February, Showa 82.
From Chapter 127
Highway to Hell
It sure is spring!
Are the tidings of spring here?
By tidings of spring, you mean things that remind me of the season? Like horsetail rushes?
Yeah, tidings of spring like that.
It’s a tiding of spring!
We thought if we just managed to finish last season, we'd be able to
cl
ea
n
l
y be done with it.
Originally published 27th December, Showa 82.
From Chapter 179
The Spring Postman Always Rings Twice
It’s a tiding of spring!
Something that makes you feel like it really is spring.
It really is something that brings spring to mind, but—!
Don’t give me something you had in your tighty-whities!
Yes.
It’s all very well to speak of tidings that spring has come,
but they don’t have to be just good tidings.
if you think spring is just horsetail rushes, cherry blossoms, nightingales, and the like, you’re sorely mistaken.
Aren’t there tidings of spring that aren’t as good?
No-good things that make you feel like it’s spring!
The empty chair of the manager after he’s demoted!
Manager
Sign of spring
Resignation
Personal effects found around the gorges after the snow melts!
Sign of spring
More and more shed hairs on your pillow!
Sign of spring
Those are excellent examples of tidings that make you feel it’s really spring.
Even if lots of things happen in the spring—!
In this world, there’s also spring blackmail.
Oh, teacher.
I’ve come to deliver the tidings of spring.
rara
Tashi
Kudo. You’re working part-time?
Sure am.
This kind of thing is a sign of spring, too.
Despair this season, too!
Showa
Teikyo SportsAAAA
Kiyo injured
Showa
Teikyo SportsAAAAAAA
Care for the cherry blossoms - papa
Reading that this season will fill you with despair in the sports pages does make you feel like it’s really spring, doesn’t it.
And there’s that kind of thing, too.
Excuse me, do you have a moment?
Haru Urara
Haru Urar
Tashiro Drugs
An increase in salesmen in town aiming for those who have just moved to the capital does make it feel like it’s really spring.
Cafe Minamika
shiro Drugs
It’s a sign of spring.
Ohkusa, have you seen any tidings of spring?
Well...
I live in really old public housing, and the front door is made of iron, so—
when it’s hard to open the door, it feels like it’s really spring.
That’s a bit realistic.
ser Park
When it gets warm, the iron expands.
That’s right.
And when the more unique customers start drifting into the convenience store I work at,
it absolutely feels like spring has come.
That’s a sign of spring too, isn’t it.
r Park
Why?
Cafe Minamikaze
Drugs
March has the most bankruptcy filings of any month.
So of course when April comes the number of sudden closings and empty shops increases.
Leaving behind such blatant traces makes it feel like it’s really spring.
Baths
Germanium Baths
Plancess
Seeking Tenants
Middle-aged men starting to live alone, too.
Yeah, that makes it feel like spring has come.
Anisan Mark Movers
Loser Park
Why only middle-aged men?
March is the biggest month for middle-aged divorces.
That’s something that makes it feel like spring too.
New employees looking mopey around fountains because the company that recruited them wasn’t how they expected.
When it becomes May, they’re something that makes it feel like it’s May too!
You don’t have to say that!
That kind of thing is a sign of spring too.
Love blooming?
That honestly feels like spring.
I think this doesn’t apply to 80% of our readers, but for those of you who have girlfriends:
This is the season when your girlfriend finds new loves.
At school
At the office
At her part-time job
And then she dumps you by text!
A new love
Mail received
I think it's better if we break up.
That’s a sign of spring too!
Three guys just got busted!
What happened, Maria?
It’s a sign of spring!
When they crack down, it really makes it feel like spring is here!
They really do crack down on a lot of things in April.
Everyone, your tidings of spring are too positive!
Tidings of spring that aren’t good are more common!
Well, in this cruel world,
there are plenty of tidings of spring that aren’t good.
I didn’t expect you to concur.
It’s just that, as with all tidings,
they absolutely must be properly replied to.
Yes?
As a functioning member of society, it’s a must.
You’re making things complicated again.
All the tidings of spring must be answered!
All right, here’s a tiding of spring!
Top secret, top secret.
It’s top secret.
The national secrets are squirting out.
As a functioning member of society, you must answer!
Answer? How!?
AEGIS, AEGIS.
If you get a reaction, it’s enough.
Flying saucer!
Defence!
What are you doing!?
It looks like your reply wasn’t received.
Peace.
So why don’t you try replying, Miss Kitsu?
When I look at him, it doesn’t make me think that it’s spring.
But if he himself feels like he’s a sign of spring,
I must not fail to reply!
It’s spring!
Reply!
No way!
Is this okay?
He’s not receiving it.
It’s not getting through at all.
Keep replying until it gets through!
It’s not being received.
It’s not getting through.
Oh my! In this golden age of the Internet,
even replies to tidings of spring are sent by email!
Send
Blue Train Academy
What’s this?
Signs of Spring
Mailbox
Kitsu Chiri
She leaked those embarassing photos of me!
Figures.
Me too!?
Chiri, what makes you feel like spring has arrived?
Well, uh.
The statements of traitor MPs with butterflies soaring through their heads make me feel like it’s spring.
I’ve gotta reply.
Hold it!
I’m just going to reply with a romantic message in a bottle.
Message in a Bottle
The secret of the propeller...
Secret, spin, spin.
Tidings of spring...
No news really is good news, huh.
Yeah!
Summer vacation, huh.
I don’t care if it’s just somewhere in the city, just take me somewhere.
In the city, huh.
Map of the 23 Wards of Tokyo
Beware of Fire New Nightwatch Room
p of the 23 Wards of Tokyo
23 Wards of
Ward
Misfortune
Misfortune!
Misfortune
The 23 misfortunes of Tokyo!
Every direction is inauspicious!
The 23 misfortunes of Tokyo!
I’m staying home.
Isn’t this misfortune, too?
Pets
Travel
Outdoors
Finding one's true self
Aura Soma
Yoga
Originally published 25th July, Showa 82.
From Chapter 103
Withering Heights
Home is just fine.
Sorry!
That’s mine.
Summer in Hokkaido
things you didn't know
Hokkaido?
I thought I’d go to Hokkaido on a journey to find myself this summer.
Journey to find oneself
A journey to find yourself over summer vacation?
Yeah!
How normal.
Don’t call me normal!
Do you know what happens when you set out on a journey of self-discovery?
Bringing along suspicious persons is forbidden
It almost always becomes a journey of self-display!
A... journey of self-display?
Yes.
At your destination, your own humanity becomes evident!
Displaying yourself as being incredibly stingy!
Entry Fee: Middle school ¥300
Tokyo Tower
Wax Museum
Entry Fee: Middle school ¥300
Tokyo Tower
Wax Museum
I’ll wait here.
Displaying yourself as being an incredible slacker!
Entry Fee: Middle school ¥300
Tokyo Tower
Wax Museum
Entry Fee: Middle school ¥300
Tokyo Tower
Wax Museum
Entry Fee: Middle school ¥300
Tokyo Tower
Wax Museum
Entry Fee: Middle school ¥300
Tokyo Tower
Wax Museum
Entry Fee: Middle school ¥300
Tokyo Tower
Wax Museum
Tokyo Tower
Wax Museum
Tokyo Tower
Wax
Sorry I’m late!
Displaying yourself as having a self-centered personality!
Gonna sleep at a hotel tonight.
Honeymoons become journeys of self-display!
Where’s my passport, mama?
“Mama”!?
You hear of plenty of divorces at Narita!
Just sign it.
Like that guy Giocatore who retired to go on a journey of self-discovery.
Bringing cameras along while playing soccer in slums.
Didn’t he display the cheapness of his desire for the limelight?
Even if you go on a journey of self-discovery or something,
you just end up displaying the parts of you that are hard to look at!
I’m in despair.
Those who engage in self-display on their journeys of self-discovery have left me in despair!
Well, there are a lot of people like that, but...
The bus is about to leave!
Hokkaido
Okay, I’ll be right there!
A bus. To Hokkaido.
Hokkaido
It’s a really cheap tour that people on a journey of self-discovery take together!
Hokkaido
What’s up with that bus that looks like a certain “Ride Together”?
You can’t!
Isn’t it stereotypical of those who go on a journey of self-discovery and then just display themselves!?
Besides that, they display themselves off of the program, too!
Popular program
member
AV appearance
Stop talking about that and join in, brother.
Itoshiki Transit
Itoshiki
Entrance
You again.
What are you planning?
Itoshiki Transit cancels the tour if there aren’t enough participants.
In general, rather than self-discovery,
searching for fault in others is much more fun.
So you’ll be able to see others put themselves on display.
Rin, stop misjudging your brother!
Do you think I’m really interested in seeing others expose their shamefulness!?
Shoraku-ken
SHAFT
What is it?
Oh, nothing.
Looks like someone’s getting on.
To be continued
File
Edit
Image
Namin's Poem Diary
That's all for today. Goodnight.
This is a work of fiction. Similarity to any actual J*U, kind of person who comes out in the spring, or Ride Together is purely coincidental.
Zetsubou Sensei
Drawing Song
Written by: Hisamoto Natsu
The Zetsubou-sensei Drawing Song is about to start.
Matching the song, let’s draw cutely, okay?
A tulip leans in the wind, and lays flat.
Lightning...
Flash!
Lightning...
Flash!
The rain comes pouring down.
From the gaps came the leaks.
Two puddles were made.
Let’s go fishing, there’s the fish hook!
With the fish we caught, we made a fish cake.
It’s Zetsubou-sensei!
Did everyone draw well?
Illustrated by
Kobayashi Yuu
Goto Yuko
Bye bye!
WITH MY
STEPMOTHER
FIN
By the ZBC
Illustration: Samura Hiroaki
Let's despair over the next volume too!