Even so, the circus will come for you…
I will not spoil the ending of the Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei manga. If you are interested in spoilers, you can check out THIS thread or the following hilarious threads from when the final chapter was released: 1, 2, 3. Even better, try finding the final chapters online (I suggest starting from chapter 280 (not every chapter is translated anyway)).
I just want to say that Kouji Kumeta is a bloody genius.
We all know Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei as that dark comedy with a negative teacher and his whacky students. It made fun of a little bit of everything in our own society and eventually got three anime seasons with a few OVAs by Shaft, a perfect fit for adapting the series.
But little did we know that Kouji Kumeta had something far grander in mind. Ever since chapter 1 his plan had been set in motion and it was not until chapter 300 his grand scheme was revealed. The answer had been in front of us all the time, with multiple hints to help, but we never saw it.
We had been fooled.
For seven years.
If dreams can come true, I wish for a fourth season covering the ending.
It was an ending that turned the manga upside down and completely changed the perspective of the series as a whole. Never will I be able to look at it with the same eyes again.
This ending turned Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei into something more.
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei left every reader in despair.
Even crazier is that Shaft, unless they possessed supernatural powers, knew the ending all along.
Let me tell you this.
Every opening of the Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei anime spoils the ending of the manga.
But we never noticed.
Bloody genius.
Anime Viking 
That ending was so ridiculously brilliant. I’ve not been able to look at the series the same way since. How it was kept secret for so long is beyond me – Shaft at least must’ve had some inkling as to what was going on in order to insert so much foreshadowing in those OPs. It’s a miracle no-one leaked it in all those years!
It’s a miracle indeed… Shaft must be really trustworthy. It’s very impressive.
I also learned Kumeta has done similar endings before. Makes me wonder how the ending of Joshiraku will be… I mean, rakugo girls can’t be that… that… crazy, right?
I’ve already heard plenty of crazy theories how it’ll end, most of them involving comas or characters being dreams and the like.They tend to be a bit on the tame side compared to SZS though. After that ending, I feel as though anything is possible where Kumeta is involved!
Well, the ending theories of SZS were pretty lame compared to the real ending, so who knows!
Do you have any links to the theories on Joshiraku?
Hmm, I actually don’t have anything on hand, but I can remember reading some interesting stuff around /a/ at the time so there’s bound to be some nice theories in one of the archives.
Now that you mentioned /a/, I found this: http://archive.foolz.us/a/thread/69536130/
Crazy stuff.
So Zetsubou-sensei has an ending. Consider my mind blown.
Now, go and read it!
[…] One of the most recognizable shows that defines this genre (and also the first one I saw) is Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei. All three themes are constantly present in this series and it’s pretty much become the most well known “Talk Show” anime. Recently, one Animeviking […]
I really need to watch Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei one day. Unfortunately, it’s on a big pile of “to watch” anime that I have.
Heh, I know that pile very well. I really recommend it, at least.