This anime series Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei animated by Shaft and directed by Akiyuki Shinbo, had three seasons. The first season premiered in Japan on July 7, 2007 on TV Kanagawa and contained twelve episodes. The first-season content was repackaged, and remade in parts, to release two Zetsubou Girls Collection DVDs in January and August 2008. The second season, Zoku, began airing on January 5, 2008. A set of three Goku OVAs were released, starting with the first volume on October 17, 2008 and the third in early 2009. The Zan season began in mid-2009 and concluded after 13 episodes and two bonus OVAs, the last of which came out in 2010.
All three seasons were re-released on Blu-ray sets in 2011 (Goku episodes being bundled with the Zan season), and purchasers of all three sets were eligible to receive a bonus Blu-ray disc containing a special episode. Though not part of any season, it still uses the same opening and Ending themes as Zan. Nozomi Entertainment released English-subtitled Blu-ray sets of the first season in 2022, and the second season (including the Goku episodes) in 2023. Each episode title is a literary reference, and each episode ends with a still image drawn by one of manga artists associated with Kōji Kumeta.
The series was directed by Akiyuki Shinbo at studio Shaft, with Kenichi Kanemaki as the series composition writer and Naoyuki Tatsuwa as the assistant director, and Tomoki Hasegawa composing the series' music. Hideyuki Morioka designed the characters for animation; and Morioka, Hiroki Yamamura (Studio Pastoral), and Yoshiaki Itou (Shaft) served as the chief animation directors. Half of the season was outsourced to Studio Pastoral: episodes 2, 4–5, 7, 9, and 11.
The series features a majority of staff returning from the first season. Akiyuki Shinbo, Naoyuki Tatsuwa, and Hideyuki Morioka returned as director, assistant director, and character designer (respectively); and Morioka and Hiroki Yamamura (Studio Pastoral) acted as chief animation directors (but without Yoshiaki Itou from the first season). Yukihiro Miyamoto joined the production as chief unit director, Kenichi Kanemaki was replaced as series composition writer by Yuuichirou Oguro, and Shaft (under the collective penname of Fuyashi Tou) took credit for the composition itself. Episodes 2, 4, 6, 8, and 12 were outsourced to Studio Pastoral; and segments, or the whole of, episodes 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13 were outsourced to Gainax.
Each episode ends with a reading of a parody of a famous literary work, from one of the manga volumes.
The OVA retains much of the same staff from Zoku with few changes. Akiyuki Shinbo, Naoyuki Tatsuwa, Yukihiro Miyamoto, Hideyuki Morioka, and Hiroki Yamamura all retain their previous roles as director, assistant director, chief unit director, character designer/chief animation director, and chief animation director, respectively. However, Oguro is replaced as series composition writer by Shinbo and Shaft (the latter under the collective penname of Fuyashi Tou) themselves.
All of the main staff from Goku remain the same for Zan, including director/series composition writer Akiyuki Shinbo, studio/series composition writer Shaft, assistant director Naoyuki Tatsuwa, chief unit director Yukihiro Miyamoto, character designer/chief animation director Hideyuki Morioka, and chief animation director Hiroki Yamamura (Studio Pastoral). Several parts or the wholes of different episodes were outsourced to other studios: episodes 2-3 and 11 to Studio Pastoral; episodes 4, 9, and 12 to Mushi Production; episode 5 to Mito Animation; and episodes 6, 10, and 13 to Studio Izena.
Each episode opens with a reading of the joke jacket blurb from one of the manga volumes, and ends with an installment of the "Zetsubou-sensei Drawing Song" with two of the cast members singing and drawing along.