High school teacher Nozomu Itoshiki has been waiting for a chance to end his life. He has grown averse to the very idea of toiling every day to make an ordinary living, and he makes no attempt to conceal his crushing despair. Sadly, he is almost always dragged into the bizarre—and sometimes outright suspicious—problems of his quirky students. Every time he gets a little closer to kicking the bucket, he finds himself in an absurd situation, trying to save his students from the same rabbit hole of misery that haunts him.

Despite his ever-present existential crisis, Itoshiki attempts to find a new normal in the silliness of his daily adventures—all the while chasing the sweet demise that eludes him.

Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei had eight volumes published in English as Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei by Del Rey from February 24, 2009 to November 23, 2010. Kodansha Comics USA picked up the license, releasing volumes 9-14 from June 21, 2011 to April 3, 2012 and republishing the previous volumes digitally on July 16, 2013.