Top 20 Anime: #19

#19: Seitokai Yakuindomo

Type: Television Series
# of Episodes: 13
Produced By: GoHands, Starchild Records, Dream Force

"I've heard stories of boys coming here with the intent of creating a harem once this place becomes co-ed, so..."

"Harem? ...No way. That's not possible."

"But all that is pointless, you see. Our female students here are lesbians, after all."

And with that, all possibilities of Seitokai Yakuindomo being another boring harem series flew out of the window. Of a ten story building. And died on impact. Without enough of the remains left to identify the body. Yeah.

Based on a gag manga, each episode of Seitokai is split into a number of main jokes and sub jokes, each set up (and separated) by splashes with a line of dialogue that is usually the punchline of the next scene. Not all of them are winners, but at least one in every episode is hysterical, and more than a couple over the series...are just plain epic. ("Doesn't your bottom hurt?")

Obviously, that parenthesized quote gave at least a few people pause. And rightfully so. In fact, in general, Seitokai Yakuindomo has GOT to win some kind of award. East or West, S.Y.D. has some of the raunchiest, most disturbing adult humor I've ever seen in a series, and that's why I love it.

From the Ousai Academy's Student Council President Shino Amakusa, a seemingly perfect girl who can't get her mind out of the gutter, to the peeping tom head of the newspaper club that's constantly attempting to take questionable photos of the student council to sell to what I imagine are rather unsavory individuals, to the teacher that....that...honestly, there are no words for Yokoshima-sensei. There really aren't. (Shota rapist, possibly, but....) Seitokai is full of characters that I've never actually seen, not only in this anime, but any series before.

Even the "regular" character and main protagonist Takatoshi Tsuda stands out from other protagonists of his kind, acting as the perfect foil to the antics of Ousai Academy as a whole, an unflappable straight man capable of deflecting even the most ridiculous comments from his friends (and teachers).

I know the "moe"/harem genre is thought of by most anime fans as the reason animation as a medium of storytelling does not get respect (unless one sees the word "Miyazaki" or "Pixar" is involved), but Seitokai Yakuindomo is a deliciously twisted take on the entire thing that I think is absolutely hysterical.

....Although really...the opening should've tipped me off:



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