「生徒会役員共!乙!」 (Seitokai Yakuindomo! Otsu!)
“Student Council Executives! Yeah!”

After faithfully following the manga for the past twelve episodes, the series finishes animating the second volume’s material and throws in an anime original look back on the days of SYD. Best part is, it’s nothing like we and Tsuda remember. Before getting there, the last bit of manga material from volume two may have very well explained where Shino’s sex-plagued mind stemmed from. To her, straddling a monkey bar while an earthquake took place may have been a traumatic experience, but I’m inclined to believe she probably enjoyed it more than she was letting off. It probably opened a gate in the darkest reaches of her mind where all her sexual thoughts poured out from, giving us the Shino we know today. More specifically, we have a student council president who doesn’t mind the idea of an S&M relationship with Tsuda, like newcomer Todoroki Nene (Shiina Hekiru) of the robot research club believed.

As for Nene herself, her introduction to the series may have been late, but the thought of her creating a supercharged dildo sure had impact. It definitely put new meaning on a “practical” application of a hobby. Other than that, I did get a good laugh from the yandere-style observation Shino, Aria, and Suzu gave Tsuda while he was working on another article. Also, I don’t think I’ll ever look at the number “3” the same way again though thank to Aria’s spiel about how she was once “innocent” because she believed she could get pregnant from the “backdoor”. Admittedly, the inclusion of a Kotomi-focused ending sequence in the middle of the episode threw me off a fair bit. It looked like another skit at first, but the first bit with full-blown credits had me thinking otherwise and checking the remaining time in the episode. It sure gave a different feel to the Kotomi we saw last episode and made her seem like an innocent teenager falling in love for the very first time. Of course, I couldn’t help but think about what that baseball boy would be been in store for if he accepted Kotomi’s feelings.

The anime original half with a last episode meeting actually turned out funnier than I thought. I actually had to do a double-take on Tsuda’s disbelief over the erotic novel souvenir turning into the comparatively innocent keychain twisted the story to. The student council retreat wasn’t bad either, since they were quick to make Tsuda out as the one who pranced off with their bikini tops. Coincidentally, I got to hand it to Shino and Aria for making themselves come off as the innocent ones, even when it came to the Kinkaku-ji that the prez loved to associate with bondage play. Mutsumi’s dream about her judo club kicking ass was just random in comparison, though the joke about “Magical Mako” being the new show taking over Seitokai Yakuindomo’s time slot next week was right up there. It did lead to a nice plug for Hakuouki Hekketsuroku when Tsuda pulled out an Animage magazine to check, which got me a bit more excited about the sequel.

Despite the lack of a finale-like feel, the ending with everyone looking towards another year did make me kind of sad to see this series end. It’s probably safe to say that the gag-oriented nature makes it really easy for a sequel to pick up from volume three onwards though. The fourth manga volume was recently compiled and released back in August, so there are currently two more volumes of material out that can be animated into another 13-episode series. Whether or not we’ll see one in the near future is another matter.

 

Final Impressions:

Admittedly, while I have no problem enjoying the wordplay type of jokes that this series entails, I never really found myself laughing helplessly because of them. More often than not, I was only mildly amused by the sexual subject matter in all of the material. However, the unique spin of pushing the boundaries with ecchi fan-service in jokes instead of actual depictions had me coming back week after week to see how far they’d go with it. At times, some of the jokes were still pretty hit and miss with me even though I knew exactly what they were alluding to, but the amiable characters with their distinct nuances helped bring it all together. Evidently, this isn’t a series that I can simply recommend to anyone just because they’re into comedies, but I’m hard-pressed to think of any anime that provides adult humor the way this one does. The format never really leaves one anticipating the next episode, yet makes it easy to start watching on a complete whim, so I find Seitokai Yakuindomo is one of those shows that are appealing because it’s so easy to get into.

As I mentioned back in the Summer 2010 Preview, I was getting into this series primarily for the quirky humor starring Hikasa Youko, Satou Satomi, and Yahagi Sayuri. Much like I was hoping, they were one the highlights of the series throughout, so what surprised me was all the support cast that expanded the humor beyond the student council members. Arai Satomi as Hata Ranko from the photography club was probably the hidden gem among the cast, since her eccentric behavior and obsession with the latest scoop could even rile up the likes of Shino. The other big surprise was Shimoda Asami as Takatoshi’s younger sister Kotomi, who put the “dayamn” in “damn” in the latter episodes by being on par with Shino and Aria in terms of masochistic and sex-crazed thoughts. Then there was Kobayashi Yuu as the Yokoshima Naruko, whose poor role model behavior draws as many wary eyes as it does because she’s a teacher obsessed with younger men. Of course, none of the comedy would have worked as well as it did without Asanumu Shintarou as Takatoshi to be the voice of reason in the predominately female Ousai Gakuen, regardless of how fruitless his efforts may have been. Without his comedic jabs, the jokes just don’t click as well, as seen in trip to Kyoto back in episode three.

As an adaptation that literally transcribes the content right out of the manga skit after skit and pieces them together as sensibly as possible, this series pretty much replaces any need to check out the source material. Production-wise, GoHands didn’t have to do a terrible lot on the writing side of things to make this show work as a series, but I appreciated the animation side for the mix of normal and super-deformed scenes to bring out the humor. A lot of the work was in the delivery of the material, which is one aspect that I didn’t find lacking whatsoever. Because of that, I sure wouldn’t mind watching a continuation by them at some point, but wouldn’t really be disappointed if one is never made either. After all, this is a series that doesn’t leave you anticipating much, but makes it easy to just dive into. That is, if you’re into the adult-oriented humor that comes with it.

43 Comments

  1. ROFLMAO. aria’s ‘3’ was EPIC. XDDD a 2nd season is very likely to happen anyway since the show was a success.and,i’m glad they didn’t push through with the tsudaxshino..YET..2nd season might have it though.xD

    keiOnDaisuki
  2. -still laughing-

    Holy craap, that was funny. Kobayashi Yuu voice is amazing! I just loved listening to her as Yokoshima-sensei! Every time she had screentime, I would instantly start smiling and then laugh out of control for no reason. That gum (lol) joke on the bench with her in episode 12 still cracks me up~! (lmfao)

    Hata-san’s “No scoop. No life.” line was epic. I can see that being used endlessly down the road of online lingo between otaku. xD Her disguises were c.l.a.s.s.i.c.! I didn’t notice her on the ground for a hot second until I saw her move!! @_o -laughs some more-

    NEW SHOW MAGICAL MAKO FTW! HolySHIZNAT I’m ALLOVERIT!! The short scene where Mako-chan (lolol) ran through the explosions maad quick and posed put me to tears. (-can’t even type straight-) They should make Magical Mako some kinda special because that was genius. I LIKE that mess. lol @ the part when she was running to school then all of a sudden laying in bed “*sniffle* So sempai did have someone he liked.” xDDD and her reaction to the monkey talking was too cute. x3 Faji.. (rofl)

    At the end, Tsuda mentioned the shows that were airing this season! Hakuoki! That’s awesome! To bad Aragaki Mako was actually a joke. I would’ve loved watching that foolery all day!

    Man. They saved the best for last. As badly as I want more Naruko.. I doubt there would be another season. I can’t imagine what they would have to roll off of. Despite all that..

    Here’s to more Seitokai Yakuindomo. 😀

  3. i absolutely LOVED the “let’s watch over him like a yandere” bit. XDDDD and i gotta love the way shino’s souvenir delusion actually managed to warp reality itself and turn tsuda’s book into a keychain. @__@

    diet otaku
    1. I absolutely agree. When they suggested “Yandere style”, I started laughing… then the actual shot came up, I was tearing up laughing. This episode had some of the best gags.

      LOL Suzu, they offered her her personalized… uh… toy. “DO NOT WANT!!!”

      TehJawknee
  4. Thanks for covering this… but why does it have to end…? WHY?!?!

    Anyways, nice episode. First half was awesome, second half was weird(er), and ending was nice… in a Seitokai Yakuindomo way anyways. I SO want a second season!!

    Seriously though, a new character with 20 minutes left? And she was even funny! That’s just mean.

    Aex
  5. Divine san , thank you very much for your review. Without them, I can not enjoy the 100% of SYD. I will wait for your work if there is a 2nd season of SYD. For this fall, I will follow your Oreimo review. Otsukaresamadeshita (cmiiw ^_^)

    ay ya ya ya ya
  6. At first I was thinking before watching SYD that it was going to be an innocent show. Much to my surprise it wasn’t so innocent after all. I like the so random craziness this show has and how funny it is. I hope a second season would be made I really enjoy Yoko Hikasa VA.

    Silentcid
  7. I didn’t expect much from SYD at the start, but after a few episodes I started looking forward to it every week. Good show, I had fun reading what you had to say about it since some of the jokes kinda flew right over my head. lol A second season would be nice, but like you I wouldn’t be upset if they didn’t.

    If they do I think I’d like to see more of Todoroki in the sequel. |D She seems like fun~

    Pao
  8. I dunno – I thought this was one of the best series of the summer. Like you said, a lot of it has to do with whether or not you’re into that kind of humor. I loved it – I was laughing out loud through most episodes…mainly because of Tsuda and his comebacks 😀

    I’ll definitely miss SYD! But they left the door pretty wide open for a season 2, so here’s to hoping for that! XD

    PhoenixBurning3
  9. this show keeps on making me chuckle, laugh and grin
    and how the heck did the souvenir change into ‘that’, maybe tsuda iss really a pervert deep down…

    sigh, this is probably my favorite comedy series this season and its the end….

    but they did mention a possibility of a 2nd season in the end so im looking forward for it

    amado
  10. It’s always refreshing with an anime that actually stays with the original content. Mostly because original anime content is usually really bad unless it’s planed out ahead as an original story.

    Znail
  11. I also enjoyed how the last episode tried to go off the beaten path. It was, however, just okayy…the misses were big and plentiful and the hits were midly funny. I would use that sentence to describe the entire second half of the series. Once the shock from the material wore off, the series was simply only “a little funny.” It’s the only show I watched this season, so I’m kinda sad that it wore on me as it came to an end.

  12. This must be the first anime series I’ve seen that deliberately advertises for another series to follow it in its timeslot.

    Glad Nene got some screentime on time, when she’s been on the OP all this time with her vibrating dildos. lol

    For gag 4-koma shows like these, it’s always better late than never in introducing a new character. (They even made a point about it in the inter-scene punchline about introducing a new character so late in the show. )

    Working! did the same by officially introducing Maya only in the last episode.

    LMAO 1: Aria’s phone is waterproof so that she doesn’t have to worry about getting it damaged whenever she feels like “sticking it in”.

    LMAO 2: Suzu says she’ll be away and won’t be available to bring her childhood album, to which Ranko replies “Guess I’ll have to take your photos now.” (i.e. Suzu’s childhood album wouldn’t make too much of a difference) XDD

    There goes another good comedy series to supply me with my regular laughs. Hikasa Yoko and Sato Satomi really make a great duo, with Arai Satomi and Kobayashi Yuu making things more fun, while Shimoda Asami is the surprise gem for me.

    Will definitely look forward when GoHands do make a second season.

    Kinny Riddle
  13. breaking the fourth wall and talking about it in one scene = double breaking fourth wall!
    also, the magical girl show would rock, but we will instead get hakuoki. btw, why Tsuda had anime magazine with him? suspicious…
    the differing visions of (un)reality were also great…
    and the judo mini-anime within the show was so over the top!
    btw, Mutsumi seems to like Tsuda, possibly sparking future rivalry with Shino-san…

    ewok40k
  14. It was a good show and fun way to both procrastinate and fill my time with yet another series (when nothing else was available). I, too, won’t mind if they pull out another season and much like D, I wouldn’t be bothered if they didn’t. Asanumu Shintarou impressed me with his work in Seitokai, will hope to hear more of him.

    Shinjiro
  15. Ah and so ends my favorite show of the summer. I loved the OP and ED songs too. It’s one of the rare anime’s I just sit and watch the whole ED for instead of skipping to the end.

    Sometimes when I’m driving I just sing to myself… WE LOVE S Y D!

    imerik
  16. I love this show. But I’m looking for the name of the jazz music they always play in the background. The one with the saxophone. Anyone know what the title of that piece of music? I’ve searched everywhere and can’t seem to find it.

    Fuji
  17. This was actually my fav show of the season! though at first i wasn’t quite sure if I liked it or not – but it was soon the only anime of the ones I was watching that i waited for each week & actually managed to not fall behind in! 😛 This and maid-sama!

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