M.A.D @ Elliquiy - A Manga/Anime Discussion Group

[Chris Brady]

If I remember the club, each and every student is a 'mental problem' personified, and Sensei is the one who has to deal with it, and perhaps heal them in the process.  But that's what I remember from a blurb a long time ago.

And unfortunately, I am having no luck with legal methods of obtaining this anime that won't cost me money.  And I refuse to pirate.

[Tiaan]

I remember reading that too, but the 'mental problems' they chose seem to be the kind of things that might be bubbling under the surface of the typical set of anime classroom students, if pushed to the n'th degree.

One thing that was a bit annoying in this anime was the big, bald head that appears as a censor mark. I'd prefer to just see white, misty lines like usual... it was funny the first time but is really distracting now!

[DudelRok]

I am probably reading far more into it but... for me she seems more deluded than innocent and positive, as far as the hanging scene goes anyway. Damaged by her fathers attempts to take his life has made her unconsciously protect herself by refusing to see people hurt themselves... Also when she sees him she says "don't do it...", so she must've known what he was up to initially... but yea, probably just reading too much into what's just meant to be a funny joke!

I don't think you are reading too much into the joke at all. I think you are seeing exactly what's there. A girl who's willingly deluding herself about the world she lives in.

One thing that was a bit annoying in this anime was the big, bald head that appears as a censor mark. I'd prefer to just see white, misty lines like usual... it was funny the first time but is really distracting now!

This, too. But I believe it's going to be a running gag through the whole show.

I'm really not sure how to take things, myself.

Like, I found it interesting and funny but I didn't laugh. Might have smirked once or twice... and it certainly caught me off guard at first. Especially that opening little animation. That was... weird.

Then it's all spring time and skipping in the falling pink leaves when suddenly someone is hanging from a tree.

...okay, well I wasn't exactly expecting that. O.o


The ear bud joke was certainly interesting, as well. "What in the heck is going on? ... Oh, I see."



What I found really interesting were the intro splash screens. So much so, in fact, that I went and took some screen captures so I could read them.

Word to the Wise: Don't go into a ooooya and order soup with onions, no matter how much they trimmed the price.

[NightRabbit]

If I remember the club, each and every student is a 'mental problem' personified, and Sensei is the one who has to deal with it, and perhaps heal them in the process.  But that's what I remember from a blurb a long time ago.

And unfortunately, I am having no luck with legal methods of obtaining this anime that won't cost me money.  And I refuse to pirate.

I was actually able to find the first three episodes on YouTube and watched the first one on there. I don't know what I'm going to do about 4-however many are left, but at least it's a start. ^_^;;; I hope that helps.

[Chris Brady]

I was actually able to find the first three episodes on YouTube and watched the first one on there. I don't know what I'm going to do about 4-however many are left, but at least it's a start. ^_^;;; I hope that helps.

Tried that, but did you know Youtube can censor/block movies depending on region?  I didn't and that's what happened to me.

[NightRabbit]

Tried that, but did you know Youtube can censor/block movies depending on region?  I didn't and that's what happened to me.

Oh wow, I didn't know that...I thought they just did that with music. o.o

[Caeli]

My first impression of the anime is that I really enjoy the minimalistic art style and animation. The use of colors and empty space in  the panels (as an example, at 3:15 and 4:35, below) really give pop at the appropriate moments. Almost every background has moving animation, and there are very clean lines and vivid colors used for the backgrounds, which adds to the minimalistic feeling. I also thought that the use of shadows and darker colors to denote who was in the foreground and background was quite clever, and a very simple way to give depth to the scenes.

I also noticed that screentones were sometimes used in lieu of the standard cell shading - that, too, also added character to the style. The minimalism also does not preclude subtlety and complexity in the art style - almost every scene features a subtle lighting. For example, in the classrooms, you have the light shining in from the windows and from the hallway, even if the windows themselves are not in the panel.

I think I would have appreciated more variety in the character templates. All of the faces of the students looked the same, with only the hairstyle differing.

The sound effects, soundtrack, and voice acting were done superbly, in my opinion. All of the music corresponded well to the scenes (especially the more comic scenes in the classroom). Some of the sounds were actually pretty subtle, like at 12:31, when Fuura-chan shifts a little bit, and you hear her clothes rustle. Another great example of the use of sound effects was at 15:53, where they had the sound of the coins falling onto the ground with a black screen. Rather than animating the coins actually falling, they did the sound, then showed the coins on the podium.

The OP and ED were quirky but a lot of fun, and definitely fit in with the theme of the anime. The animation of the ED sequence was very beautiful - I saw lots of bits and pieces of traditional Japanese culture flitting around in the panels. That was on top of the old-style Japanese painting look that we could see in some panels.

I laughed the nod to the classic appearance of "birds flying through the sky" or "boats sailing through the water" in most anime OPs and EDs, occurring midway through the episode.

The political satire was wonderful! Haibane's example of even Mt. Fuji being named after a corporation with money was an excellent example. The number of jokes in the background and in the lines (such as on the chalkboards) were hilarious, though I didn't quite understand some of them. And then, of course, there was also Arai-sensei's comment of "How troublesome; what if he comes every day?" I'm pretty sure this is a reflection or a satirization of contemporary Japanese society, perhaps of how depression is generally viewed. I'm not 100% positive about that, though it does seem to make sense.

The puns in the character names were wonderful, especially that male student who is often overlooked. When I rewatched the episode a second time, I noticed that his face was rarely seen in its entirety; it was often covered by another person's face, and when Chiri-chan and Fuura-chan are talking about the school becoming a spa, his body was blacked out into a silhouette, while the two girls were in full color.

All in all, a very enjoyable first episode. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens with the students, the nurse, and with Zetsubou-sensei. :-)

[Haruki]

ACK!

I'll have to find this ep and give it a viewing this Saturday.  I've been so busy this week.  T_T  I shall edit this post with my comments at that time.

[DudelRok]

Speaking of beautiful (though also slightly disturbing) images.



I really loved this. Of course, you might not be able to fully appreciate it as a thumbnail, so do click to enlarge.


As for the name puns, I didn't really get those until these things were explained to me. (Of course I didn't know the meaning behind the names due to not knowing the language, so I am willing to cut myself some slack.)



Kagerou, so over looked he's half invisible. Rather, he's half not there.

[Caeli]

I don't think you are reading too much into the joke at all. I think you are seeing exactly what's there. A girl who's willingly deluding herself about the world she lives in.

Since I didn't comment a lot on the characters in my review, I wanted to comment on this.

I agree with DudelRok: I think she's being delusional about the reason why people hang themselves. Your views on why she might be like this (especially with her father and mother having made similar attempts earlier in her life) sound spot on to me, Tiaan.

[Haibane]

I watched the episode again tonight, that's the 3rd run through and saw fresh things, the art style seemed to jump out at me much more (I was focussing on the lines and signs first two times). The four or five images at the commercial break in the middle of the show are really curious, seeming to show our Mr Despair in an idealistic and positive setting - sun, sea, sand, a stork carrying a baby and him apparently cuddling a child on a boardwalk or pier. Strange.

I paid more attention to the students faces too this time and I have to say they are not that similar, there's definitely differences in eye shape and colour and eyebrow style, so its not like the girls are clones with just a different hairstyle. I was wondering of they were actually the same because they are just representational of different mental conditions but no, they are actually different.

In the closing credits I think I see a few seconds homage to Neon Genesis Evangelion (the moon, water droplets and the pale skinned girl lifting her hand and falling backwards in profile) all images from that TV series, and since that series was all about mental problems its apposite to be given snippets of the imagery from it here.

I noticed the music more this time as well and found that it set the mood well, even it was the jarring screamed male voice of the intro ;)

I was able to pause the intro this time and catch the 3 or 4 screens of quite dense text. I recommend you all try and read it, its pretty damn freaky! Funny too.

So far the episode to me seems to pretty much be about madness and oddness and crazy mental traits of both people and society. While laughing at these themes. I think I shall enjoy the rest of this series!

[Caeli]

I paid more attention to the students faces too this time and I have to say they are not that similar, there's definitely differences in eye shape and colour and eyebrow style, so its not like the girls are clones with just a different hairstyle. I was wondering of they were actually the same because they are just representational of different mental conditions but no, they are actually different.

I can see what you mean. I was looking more at body shape, though, and it appeared to me (at least, it did during the two times I watched) that most of the students had a general skinny look to them; there wasn't someone with a bit more chubbiness, either in the body or in the face, and none of the boys looked like they were built differently (though to be fair, none of the male students got more than a few seconds of screen time). This could just be an effect of it being a high school class, but I would have liked to see more variation regardless.

[Haibane]

Please watch again, quite a few of the boys were shown as chubby when sensei was going through the answers on the forms, and one girl was shown with a chubby face in one of the top-down views of the class sat at their desks all looking shocked.

Even so, with most of them similar I can see a reason for that too if the intent is to depict students not as individuals but as cogs in the giant sausage machine of the education system.

Also, adored the counsellor more this time round. Great lines like "Going to die now?" when the sensei gets up to leave and after he's gone; "What a pain. What if he comes every day?" And what the heck was all that about the baseball team logo and the bald coach? For some reason I found that scene extra surreal this time.

[Caeli]

I stand corrected, then; my only recollection is of the "group" images, and there isn't any major discernible differences between the students' bodies until you have panels of Zetsubou-sensei talking directly to them.

I think the baseball team logo and the bald coach was a pun on the logo (which bears a remarkable resemblance to the kanji for "hair")? Or was it why the joke was made in the first place that was more confusing?

[DudelRok]

I stand corrected, then; my only recollection is of the "group" images, and there isn't any major discernible differences between the students' bodies until you have panels of Zetsubou-sensei talking directly to them.

When a bunch of characters are lumped together on screen (especially if done so often), it's a common comic and animation trick to make these characters look as similar to one another as possible.

I think the baseball team logo and the bald coach was a pun on the logo (which bears a remarkable resemblance to the kanji for "hair")? Or was it why the joke was made in the first place that was more confusing?

Zetsubou did explain that he had an issue with the logo because it reminded him of hair, yet the guy with the baseball cap was bald. So the baseball cap was something of a replacement and that was somehow depressing enough to warrant suicide. O.o

[Haibane]

Thank you for that Dudelrok! Makes it even more bizarre!

[DudelRok]

It's become very apparent (very quickly) that anyone not knowing the language (like me) is going to miss some of the more subtle nudges and jokes.

Which also explains why a lot of it seemed way random and out of place to me, at least before things were explained. No real language understanding can leave one very "Uh... what?"

[Haibane]

No, its not that that wasn't explained in the copy I was watching (it was), I just still didn't get it.

[Caeli]

Ah. Well, I got it for the most part, but perhaps it's just a different kind of humor/joke. I didn't find it funny so much as just another one of Zetsubou-sensei's weird quirks/things that makes him feel depressed about the world.

[Tiaan]

With the name jokes, they're not something you're meant to get right away; even zetsubou-sensei's name gag was spelled out and explained visually and aurally. Not knowing the kanji characters for that didn't confuse the joke I don't think, although there would probably be more of a punchline if it was understood after seeing it written. For the other students, they are intricate wordplays, I don't think the Japanese audience get them all right away - only after getting to know the characters a bit (which might be why they are spelled out onscreen after the end credits, to prompt the joke - although I could be wrong! maybe they do get this stuff right away...)

With Kufaka Fuura anyway; in making an ironic reference to a classical German author in a manga aimed at young people it would be a bit much if they expected the audience to get it immediately.

With the baseball team joke, if it wasn't for the simple TL note explaining that 毛 means hair the whole section would've been lost on me however. Having some knowledge of Japanese kinda hurts the process really since I thought I saw 手 (te) which means hands/arms. The character for hair (on the head) is 髪 (kami) as well, so I was really confused! 毛 (ke) means hair in general (body hair etc) or fur, which does make it funnier in retrospect; since it's like the baseball team coach is wearing a furry toupee or something.

[Haibane]

Yes, some pretty obscure humour going on there, though the reactions of the sensei to having his name spelled horizontally and then the suggestion to leave a gap (which Fuura made the whole width of the chalkboard) again made the scene funny even if the subtelties of the wordplay were lost on me.

[Caeli]

Any objections to making the next watch-by date Thursday or Friday of this week? (please pick one)

[NightRabbit]

Ummm, I can do it by Friday night for sure. I have some stuff to take care of this week that will be cleared up by then. :)

[DudelRok]

Yeah, whatever.

No objections to either... but if I have to pick one, I'd say "Friday."

[Tiaan]

Friday is fine with me.