"So Long, Mr. Despair."  Because "suicide is funny."  Mario1~7 should be pleased.  -_-;

hectotane- I actually read a few of these manga when it was put in english some of it is slapstick but there are great funny momenht in this as well. Think a dark version of pani poni dash with all the charachters taken to dark yet funny extremes

I'll check this one out but ill wait for a box set- the only other one i would be interested in would be tweeny witches

The truly saddening and despair-filled thing about this is that this series has a lot of cool characters.  The story could've been better without that teacher and his need to kill himself.

Considering how Japan is filled with suicide and despair anyways...  Not that it shouldn't be licensed for Western release.  But if I wanted to see some sad anime, I'd watch "Big Windup."

sigh i just read on toonzone.org that sayanara isnt even going to have an english dub if thats true i'll watch a couple of episodes online before i decide to buy and this coming from media blasters is quite surprising but of course theyve been screwing up quite badly lately.

Does the way they handled Genshiken Season 2 ring a bell for anyone

"So Long, Mr. Despair": a.k.a. the day hectotane announces he's leaving mania.com.

(Relax, dude, I was only kidding.)

Back on topic: Given how Media Blasters has been the only anime distributor to stick with the single-volume releases, it doesn't surprise me that they're going to find some way to further divide fans and reduce sales potential (and judging from the fact that they're releasing said DVD sub-only, while garbage like Queen's Blade gets a dub, seems to indicate they're repeating history).

Regardless, I look forward to seeing the "Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei" premium economy pack in late 2011. (And the Moribito DVD set in early 2012.)

yea insaneben i know what you mean personally im lookin forwad to the Kanokon dvd set that they will release hopefully by 2012 i hope this isn't really true but with media  blasters who knows - they started going downhill for me when Please Teacher was being released and the final volume of the series without any type of art box or extras cost nearly 40 bucks at best buy.

As much as people complain constantly about companies like Media Blasters I dont think anyone deserves to get anything they want EVER!

Not to say I am a huge fan of theirs but hey they are still one of the few licensors out there who will still dub a good majority of their releases and licenses shows that are more for the hardcore fans than mainstream shows.  I am glad they take risks with some titles like Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei even if we cant receive them dubbed and they are willing to put out very cheap sets of shows even when dubbed that doesnt make a person go broke.  But I know anime fans want to whine about everything.  How about opening up your wallets and supporting something.  This is one company who has now shown they are totally WANTING to do dubs if they possibly can.  I never would have thought any company would go back and make a dub track for a show that didnt receive one initially, but they are doing it with Dokuro-chan and will obviously leave that option open for other titles.  If that show can get that treatment why not SZS.  If people support it then it could.......and its not like many thought this very niche title would even be licensed by anyone.......so thanks Media Blasters and if THE FANS would go out of their way to show them that we want quality titles like this here and not indulgent crappy ones like Queens Blade then maybe they will change their thinking a little.

They dont deserve to get so much grief for stuff when they dont delay releases as bad or often as places like Bandai which by the way is the company that released PLEASE TEACHER!!!!  So maybe calibur454 should invert their rage to the deserving company for that and get a small clue as to who is the actual company putting out the anime they are so upset they cannot get for as cheap as they want......they could try not to shop at such an expensive store as well that always seems to try and charge almost full retail price for the anime they stock.  Just a FYI!!

calm down shave dog- i'm aware of please teacher being released by bandai but you are right i should have made myself more specific- when i meant they i didnt mean media blasters i meant dvd titles in general as a price concern. Those who arent hardocre otaku fans will find it hard pressed to shell out the type of money for something they dont know if they will like or not

I myslef am very picky about the type of anime I like to watch and that makes it difficult to figure out which anime titles i want to spend my money on. Something I;m sure every anime fan has had to deal with at one point or another.

I'd also like to give a shot out to John Sirabella and his baby "Media Blasters" et al.

For the record: MB...  Actually his sub-company Kitty Media had been the only company out there that can do English dubbing for uncensored adult anime and survive long enough to do it.  There's also Critical Mass.  Why the recent spate of license-rescuing instead of saving up for new titles; I don't know and its driving me nuts.

Their record for keeping a release date had also been spotty.  But atleast their titles get released when they do get released.

Finally:  I complain about the what constitutes as "entertainment" nowadays.  But the lot of y'all should be grateful that the themes are varying with what anime's being licensed.  If everything US licensors touched were pro-moe anti-shounen animu by-and-for the otaku-tachi, they would've went the way of some bankrupt corporation a long time ago.