List of Sayonara Zetsubō Sensei characters

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This is a list of characters from the manga series Sayonara Zetsubō Sensei. All characters in Nozomu Itoshiki's class are intentionally named after controversial social issues in Japanese society. The only exception is Kafuka Fuura, whose real name has not been revealed yet. These short summaries are intended to summarize a given character and their involvement with the overall plot of the series.

[edit] Itoshiki family

Itoshiki family is a prestigious family in Kuraizawa (蔵井沢, Kuraizawa^?), Shinshū Prefecture (信州県, Shinshū ken^?), a parody of Karuizawa, Nagano. The Itoshiki family has strong influence in Kuraizawa and the 70 ha mansion.

Nozomu in the anime.

Nozomu Itoshiki (糸色 望, Itoshiki Nozomu^?)

Voiced by: Hiroshi Kamiya

The main character, a high school teacher and the youngest son of the Itoshiki family. He always wears a hakama and kimono, however he is shown wearing flippant casual western clothing in his hometown. When his name is written horizontally, it resembles zetsubō (絶望, zetsubō^? "despair"), which fits his extremely negative, paranoid, pessimistic, cowardice, and depressive behavior. He often shouts "I'm in despair!" and attempts suicide, but basically it is the mock suicide to capture others' attention. He is based upon the main character from Dazai Osamu's No Longer Human, which is both Nozomu's and the author's favorite novel.

Rin Itoshiki (糸色 倫, Itoshiki Rin^?)

Voiced by: Akiko Yajima

Nozomu's sister, a seventeen-year-old ikebana master. When her name is written horizontally, it resembles zetsurin (絶倫, zetsurin^? "unequaled"), which describes her exceptional talent in various skills. However, calling her zetsurin would evoke her fury as the word is often used to describe someone's sexual prowess. At one point, she has revealed her willingness of marrying into another family in the hope of abandoning her family name. Eventually, she transfers to Nozomu's school and became one of his students. After the transfer, she frequently faces the readers/audience with her back and turning her head around, which parodies Shin-chan, who is voiced by the same actor, Akiko Yajima. She also happens to be an owner of a chocolate factory.

Mikoto Itoshiki (糸色 命, Itoshiki Mikoto^?)

Voiced by: Hiroshi Kamiya

The third son of the Itoshiki family, with an uncanny resemblance to Nozomu. He is a doctor in his private "Itoshiki Clinic". When his name is written horizontally, it resembles zetsumei (絶命, zetsumei^? "death"), which explains why his hospital is rarely visited by town's residents. He has a tendency of losing control of himself whenever his name is brought up, especially if he is referred as "Zetsumei-sensei" ("Dr. Death").

Kei Itoshiki (糸色 景, Itoshiki Kei^?)

Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu

The second son of the Itoshiki family, he is a surrealist painter who is quite full of himself. He has a wife named "Yuka", which is actually a large stain on the wall of his house. When his name is written horizontally, it resembles zekkei (絶景, zekkei^? "superb scenery").

Enishi Itoshiki (糸色 縁, Itoshiki Enishi^?)

The first son of the Itoshiki family. He has yet to appear in the series and the only fact that is mentioned about him is that he is Majiru's father. His name becomes zetsuen (絶縁, zetsuen^? "disinherited") when compressed, presumably hinting at his whereabouts.

Majiru Itoshiki (糸色 交, Itoshiki Majiru^?)

Voiced by: Akiko Yajima

Nozomu's nephew. He was sent to live with Nozomu because his parents abandoned him. Although he is quite arrogant for his age, he is quite vulnerable to psychological trauma caused by Nozomu's students' antics. His name becomes zekkō (絶交, zekkō^? "breach in a relationship").

Hiroshi Itoshiki (糸色 大, Itoshiki Hiroshi^?)

The head of the Itoshiki family and Nozomu's father. A member of the National Diet. His name becomes zetsudai (絶大, zetsudai^? "great") when written horizontally.

Tae Itoshiki (糸色 妙, Itoshiki Tae^?)

Nozomu's mother. Her name becomes zetsumyō (絶妙, zetsumyō^? "exquisite") when written horizontally.

Tokita (時田, Tokita^?)

Voiced by: Yōji Ueda

The Itoshiki family butler. He is called "Sebastian" by the students.

[edit] Nozomu Itoshiki's students

An image of most of the female members of the class. From left to right: Rin, Kiri, Nami, Matoi, Maria, Harumi, Kaere, Chiri, Abiru, Ai, Mayo, Meru, Manami, and Kafuka.

Nozomu Itoshiki's class, 2-He (the hiragana character へ is the sixth in iroha order, making it equivalent to Class 2-6 or 2-F in more common terms). There are 32 students in total, although many of them are not introduced in the series yet. For a variety of reasons, the entire class ends up repeating their second year with Nozomu multiple times, but the characters themselves never seem to age.

[edit] Female students

Kafuka Fuura (風浦 可符香, Fuura Kafuka^?)

Voiced by: Ai Nonaka

A female student who sees everything in only the most positive light possible. Kafuka is the exact opposite of Nozomu; Nozumu sees everything only with despair, while Kafuka only sees everything with bright optimism. She often creates bizarre explanations for grim situations; for example, she calls suicide by hanging "trying to become taller" and the act of stalking "deep love". She seems to have a traumatic past, with a suicidal father and a mother who was at one point subject to demonic possession. For various reasons, several characters have found her terrifying; for example, when Kafuka teaches Meru about communication through eye contact alone, Meru only sensed blood lust. Unknown to Nozomu and Matoi, Kafuka sometimes disguises herself as a college student living next door to Nozomu, periodically offering him food.^[1][2][3] Her reason for this is unclear. Recently her actions seem to hide some dark intentions and those feelings of terror sensed by the other characters may not have been unfounded. In the third part of episode 10 of the second season, Kafuka character description includes "has a dark side".

Kafuka Fuura is only a pen name, originating from the name of writer Franz Kafka, and quite at odds with her attitude towards life. Exactly what her real name is has not been officially revealed; however, she was referred to as "An-chan" in a flashback^[4][5], and there's surname "Akagi" in the attendance book^[6][7], leading fans to speculate that her real name is An Akagi (赤木杏, Akagi An^?).^[8] This would parallel to Nozomu's comment in the first chapter about her personality resembling Anne of Green Gables (赤毛のアン, Akage no An^?), but this has yet to be confirmed one way or another.

Chiri Kitsu (木津 千里, Kitsu Chiri^?)

Voiced by: Marina Inoue

A student who demands all things in her life to be precise, equal and conforming. This is most notable in her hair style, which was originally curly and is parted in the center. She often tries to set things straight and is usually extremely violent in her ways. She hid numerous razors and knives within her bra, but her favorite weapon of choice is a spade and the kanji of her first name can be joined together to form the first character of "to bury" (埋める, umeru^?). Despite being the most combative against Nozomu and his antics, she often demands him to marry her after they accidentally took a nap together in the same bed. Although she is not the class representative, she is often called so because of her exacting behavior. She is revealed to have an older sister. Her name derives from the Japanese word kitchiri (きっちり, kitchiri^? "precisely"). She occasionally displays psychic abilities via a third eye; her name contains two of the kanji in the word "clairvoyance" (千里眼, senrigan^?).

Abiru Kobushi (小節 あびる, Kobushi Abiru^?)

Voiced by: Yuko Goto

A girl who is always seen heavily bandaged, and assumed by most people to be the victim of domestic violence. She has differently-colored eyes because of a transplant when she was younger^[9], but this feature is not obvious because her transplanted eye is usually covered by an eyepatch or bandages. She has a fetish for pulling animal tails, and her injuries are actually caused by irate animals reacting to having their tails pulled by her. She works at the local zoo to indulge her obsession, and keeps an extensive collection of mounted animal tails at her home. Her name is derived from kobushi abiru (拳浴びる, kobushi abiru^?), which means "to bathe in fists".

Kiri Komori (小森 霧, Komori Kiri^?)

Voiced by: Asuka Tanii

A beautiful, fair-skinned girl whose looks are hidden behind her long hair and the blanket she wears most of the time. She is a hikikomori, but Kafuka believes her to be a zashiki-warashi. Nozomu and Kafuka unintentionally frighten her out of her home during an attempt to persuade her to resume attending her classes, and she now takes up permanent residence in school. She spends most of her time in an unused room, but turns up every now and then in odd places such as school lockers or toilet cubicles. Her name is derived from komorikiri (籠もりきり, komorikiri^?), which means "it sticks in its home".

Matoi Tsunetsuki (常月 まとい, Tsunetsuki Matoi^?)

Voiced by: Asami Sanada

A girl with short, straight-fringed hair who stalks whoever she falls in love with. She is also known for changing her manner of dress to partner those of her current love interest. She falls in love with Nozomu after misinterpreting one of his statements as a confession of love, and follows him wherever he goes, much to his dismay. Her name is a pun on tsune tsukimatoi (常付きまとい, tsune tsukimatoi^?), which means "always dangling after".

Nami Hitō (日塔 奈美, Hitō Nami^?)

Voiced by: Ryoko Shintani

A girl whose only trait is that, compared to other classmates, she is completely ordinary. However, she takes offense to being called normal as she considers being normal as undesirable. Her name derives from the Japanese term hitonami (人並み, hitonami^?), meaning "run-of-the-mill". Though it has not been referenced in the present, in the past she met Kafuka who may have been the first person to call her normal. In the planning stage of Sayonara Zetsubō Sensei, she was originally planned to be a heroine.

Harumi Fujiyoshi (藤吉 晴美, Fujiyoshi Harumi^?)

Voiced by: Miyu Matsuki

A fan of yaoi and cat ears, and the classroom's resident illustrator. She has an innate coupling instinct, imagining slash pairings between all sorts of (male) characters, her favourite couple being Pine x Napple. Opposite to Nami Hitou, her likings are considered unusual, first mentioned in episode 7. She possesses amazing athletic abilities, and has three older brothers, all of whom are involved in the anime industry. Her name is a combination of fujoshi (yaoi fangirls) and Harumi, the previous site of Comiket before it moved to Tokyo Big Sight.

Tarō Maria Sekiutsu (関内・マリア・太郎, Sekiutsu Maria Tarō^?)

Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro

An illegal immigrant of unknown nationality. She is nicknamed "Mataro" by Kafuka, although she refers to herself (as do most others) as simply "Maria". She purchased the birth certificate of a male student and is attending school under his name. She is fascinated by "Japan's abundance" and hoards food and refuse she finds on the ground or in garbage cans. While Maria frequently displays wild behavior and an unusual abhorrence to panties and shoes, her impoverished appearance and illegal status, coupled with a bright smile, often encourage people to give her things. The name "Sekiutsu Tarō" derives from seki-uttarō (籍売ったろう, seki-uttarō^?), which means "You sold your own register, didn't you?" or "I'll sell you my register". Because of their optimistic personalities, Kafuka and Maria get along quite well. Although Maria is legally a boy (since she bought the birth certificate of a male student), she is actually a girl.

Meru Otonashi (音無 芽留, Otonashi Meru^?)

A very shy girl who does not talk and only communicates via text messaging on her cell phone; she is notably and viciously abusive in her e-mails. Her family name, Otonashi, means "soundless", and her given name derives from the loan word "mail" (メール, mēru^?). Her e-mail address is 'hazukashigariyasan' (恥ずかしがり屋さん), which means "full of shyness". She is called "MeruMeru" by her father. Aside from a few weak sounds and squeaks, she is essentially mute, and any attempt to speak will cause her to uncontrollably sputter in a horrific language. In the anime, her voice actress changes every episode and is chosen at random, and is credited with, at most, a short sequence of nonsense characters^[10] with an exception for episode six of Zoku, where she is voiced by Chiwa Saito.

Kaere Kimura (木村 カエレ, Kimura Kaere^?)

Voiced by: Yu Kobayashi

A returnee to Japan suffering from multiple personalities. One is a ultimate Japanese woman named Kaede, a very gentle personality well versed in Japanese culture. The other is a foreigner named Kaere who is disgusted by Japanese culture and touts the bizzare ways of the country she is supposedly from, though what country is never explained. Kaere is easily offended and constantly threatens to sue everyone. She unfortunately adopts the latter personality more often. Her given name derives from Japanese kaere (帰れ, kaere^?), the imperative form of the verb kaeru (帰る, kaeru^? "to return, to go back"), and also from Kaela Kimura, a Japanese idol. She provides many panty shots, often with strange images on her panties. It is interesting to note that she possessed a third personality, a balance between the two, until she came to this class, and the students triggered a psychotic breakdown.

Ai Kaga (加賀 愛, Kaga Ai^?)

Voiced by: Saori Gotō

A female student with a complex of always apologizing for matters that are either trivial or not her fault. Her name in Eastern order sounds like kagai (加害, kagai^? "perpetrate"). Her name is most likely borrowed from former Morning Musume member Ai Kago.

Manami Ōkusa (大草 麻菜実, Ōkusa Manami^?)

Voiced by: Kikuko Inoue

Married and working multiple jobs to cover her husband's debt. Her name derives from okusama-nami (奥様な身, okusama-nami^? "a married person").

Mayo Mitama (三珠 真夜, Mitama Mayo^?)

Voiced by: Asuka Tanii

An evil-looking girl who compulsively commits malicious acts. Not wanting to be accused of reacting to stereotypes, people simply assume she is a good girl who only looks evil and whatever she did was not her doing. Just as most girls in the class, she has developed a crush on Nozomu, but can only express her love through harming him. Her name derives from mita mama yo (見たままよ, mita mama yo^?), which means "What she is is exactly what she looks."

Kotonon (ことのん, Kotonon^?)

A net idol. In real life she is overweight and unattractive, and wears gothic lolita-fashion. Her website of heavily photoshopped images is extremely popular. her name is derived from voice actress Kotono Mitsuishi.

Marui (丸井, Marui^?)

Voiced by: Asami Sanada

A tea ceremony club member. She likes Kino, but despairs at his fashion sense.

[edit] Male students

Kagerō Usui (臼井 影郎, Usui Kagerō^?)

Voiced by: Yōji Ueda

A male student who is going bald and most people hardly ever notice he's there unless his baldness is exposed. He is the actual class president and provides some comic relief . His name is a pun on the phrase Kage ga usui (影が薄い, "overshadowed"^?), referring to his having no presence. The usui also refers to his thinning hairline.

Jun Kudō (久藤 准, Kudō Jun^?)

Voiced by: Takahiro Mizushima

Jun is described in episode 10 of the second season as "Genius Storyteller. There is no story he can't tell. Good looking guy". His name comes from the bookstore "Junkudo-Shoten" (ジュンク堂書店, "Junkudo-Shoten"^?) and Jun Kudō (工藤淳, Kudō Jun^?), its founder. His stories usually drive other characters to tears even though some of his stories have a mocking purpose. He has previously checked out every book in the library Nozomu wants to read, and lives with his grandfather (a reference to Seiji Amasawa in Whisper of the Heart).

Kuniya Kino (木野 国也, Kino Kuniya^?)

Voiced by: Takuma Terashima

Kuniya is described in episode 10 of the second season as "Library commitee member, hates losing. Supposed to appear as a rival character to Kudō Jun but his strange clothes and interest in Kaga Ai are now his most notable traits". He has bad fashion sense and even a scene in the manga showed his strange underwear hanging from his balcony. His name comes from the Books Kinokuniya chain.

Aoyama (青山, Aoyama^?)

Voiced by: Tomokazu Sugita

The friend of Kino and Haga. He is nearly as negative as Nozomu Itoshiki, except that he thinks the world still has hope.

Haga (芳賀, Haga^?)

Voiced by: Takahiro Mizushima

The friend of Kino and Aoyama who is perverted.

(Name Unknown)

Voiced by: Takahiro Mizushima

A butch haircut student like as jizō. He read a pornography named "Bishōjo in Northern Europe (北欧の美少女, Hokuō no Bishōjo^?)", so he is sometime called "Hokuō (北欧, Hokuō^?)". In chapter 19 (episode 8 in anime first season), he wears pierced earring so he is called "Pierced earring Jizō (ピアス地蔵, Piasu Jizō^?)".

Mr. Parachutist (天下り様, Amakudari-sama^?)

A man past middle age who arrived in 2-He from the Ministry of Education via a "golden parachute". This launches a discussion of "descending" from one sector of life to another, leading to Nozomu re-visiting his previous life.

[edit] Other students

Ex-Tarō Sekiutsu (元・関内太郎, Moto-Sekiutsu Tarō^?)

Voiced by: Takahiro Mizushima

The real Tarō Sekiutsu who sold own family register to Tarō Maria Sekiutsu. The origin of the name is the same as Maria and refers to him.

Wataru Manseibashi (万世橋 わたる, Manseibashi Wataru^?)

Voiced by: Yōji Ueda

An otaku. His name comes from "Manseibashi o wataru" (万世橋を渡る, "Manseibashi o wataru"^? "to cross over Mansei Bridge"); Mansei Bridge is a bridge that connects Chiyoda and Akihabara. He is not in Nozomu's class, but from the neighboring Class 2-Ho.

Sonokō Suzuki (鈴木 その公, Suzuki Sonokō^?)

A former male student of Class 2-He. He leaves the class by the promotion. An otaku. The origin of the name is Sonoko Suzuki.

Ichirō Tanaka (田中 一郎, Tanaka Ichirō^?)

Voiced by: Takahiro Mizushima

A former male student of Class 2-He. He leaves the class by the promotion. He belongs to the soccer club.

[edit] School staffs

Chie Arai (新井 智惠, Arai Chie^?)

Voiced by: Akiko Yajima

The student counsellor. If one supplies an alternate reading for the first kanji in her surname, the entire thing becomes "Niichie", a reference to Friedrich Nietzsche. She has an excellent figure and a large bust, which is admired by the local people during the swimming pool scene. In the anime, it is strongly implied that she has a (slightly) sexual relationship with Kiri Komori by repeatedly playing on mildly yuri themes featuring the two. Another case of sexual fetishism features her as a sadist rebuking various masochistic males, often featured in the beginning of various episodes.

Jinroku (甚六, Jinroku^?)

Voiced by: Yōji Ueda

School teacher, Nozomu's colleague. He is generally gentle, but has a tattoo at his back, suggesting he has a past with the yakuza. He is a fan of Nightmare.

[edit] Others

Ikkyū (一旧, Ikkyū^?)

Voiced by: Tomokazu Sugita

The self-proclaimed "old friend" of Nozomu Itoshiki, who, like Nozomu, likes old things. It is later found out that they weren't old friends (旧友, old friends^?) but rather "one day friends" (1日友, "one day friends"^?) in elementary school. His name is a reference to the anime series Ikkyū-san. He attempted to marry Rin, thus gaining an "old name" and becoming a member of an "old family", but Kafuka thwarted him in his advances.

Next door female college student (隣の女子大生, Tonari no Joshidaisei^?)

Voiced by: Ai Nonaka

The female college student who lives as a neighbor of the former house of Nozomu. In fact, it is Kafuka in disguise.

Takashi (たかし, Takashi^?)

Voiced by: Takahiro Mizushima

A former boyfriend of Matoi.

Perry (ペリー, Perī^?)

Voiced by: Kenji Nomura

The foreigner who is going to open not only a port but anything in chapter 12 (episode 2 in anime second season). His name comes from Matthew C. Perry.

Father of Meru Otonashi

Voiced by: Mugihito

A manager of concert company "Otonashi Music". Meru dislikes him because he overprotects her.

Father of Abiru Kobushi

Voiced by: Yuichi Nakamura (seiyū)

People assume that he is the cause of his daughter's many injuries through domestic violence, even though he isn't.

Rī Nakanao (リー・仲直, Rī Nakanao^?)

Voiced by: Takuma Terashima

Leader of the seventh secret society darkness patriot corps charges. The successor of the despair fist. His name comes from "Nakanaori" (仲直り, "Nakanaori"^? "reconciliation").

The Best Woman (最高の女, Saikō no Onna^?)

Voiced by: Asuka Tanii

A woman who literally is "the best".

Judge of the Darkness Court (闇の法廷の裁判官, Yami no Hōtei no Saibankan^?)

Voiced by: Marina Inoue

The judge of "The mystery darkness court." The long-haired woman who put on the mask of the half drawn game from the middle.

The Mangaka (漫画家, Mangaka^?)

Voiced by: Hiroshi Kamiya

The character who grew a stubbly beard and has long hair which sometimes comes out. His face always looks pale. The model is of the author, Koji Kumeta.

Maeda-kun (前田君, Maeda-kun^?)

Voiced by: Maeda-kun (first season's stage name is MAEDAX and second season's is MAEDAX G)

The character who grew a mustache with glasses over a skinhead. The model is of the assistant, Maeda. Appears a lot of the time in the animated version in self-imposed restraint marks. He plays the voice of himself.

The Chief Priest of Shitami-dera Temple (下見寺住職, Shitami-dera Jūshoku^?)

Voiced by: Yuichi Nakamura (seiyū)

A chief priest of Shitami-dera (Preview Temple) fictitious temple of Kyoto in chapter 24 (episode 10 in anime first season).

Hatsune Miku (初音ミク, Hatsune Miku^?)

Voiced by: Saki Fujita

A character of a singing synthesizer application software. She appears episode 112 (episode 13 in anime second season).

[edit] Background Characters

The Emperor Penguin (皇帝ペンギン, Kōtei Pengin^?)

A deformation of a chick of an emperor penguin. It has appeared in the scenery since chapter 20.

The Stork (コウノトリ, Kōnotori^?)

A stork that delivers babies. It has appeared in the scenery since chapter 41.

The Stick Dog (棒犬, Bōinu^?)

A dog that has a stick stabbed in the anus by Mitama. It has appeared in the scenery since chapter 46.

The Dark Eye (黒い涙, Kuroi Namida^?)

A parody of Japanese cinemas CM that against Bootleg recording. It has appeared in the scenery since chapter 53.

Ms. Sakurai (櫻井女史, Sakurai Joshi^?)

Voiced by: Yū Kobayashi

A Japanese journalist. Her likeness has appeared in the scenery since chapter 13.

Mr. Asō (麻生さん, Asō-san^?)

A Japanese politician. His likeness in the manga has appeared in the scenery since chapter 59.

Mr. Abe (安倍さん, Abe-san^?)

The 90th Prime Minister of Japan. His likeness has appeared in the scenery with "Depression-ful Country (鬱くしい國, Utsu-kushii kuni^?)" and etc, parodies of his slogan "Beautiful Country (美しい国, Utsukushii Kuni^?)" since chapter 67.

Winter Shōgun (冬将軍, Fuyu shōgun^?)

A Shōgun with extremely long chonmage. He is personification of cold waves from the Siberian High. He has appeared in the scenery since chapter 83.

Kiyohiko (きよ彦, Kiyohiko^?)

A man with sharp head. He has appeared in the scenery since an extra chapter in Magazine Dragon December 12, 2007 (a supplement of Weekly Shonen Magazine).

Niáng-niáng (娘々, Nyan'nyan^?)

A female spy from a certain nation. She has appeared in the scenery since chapter 126.

[edit] Notes and references