Sugisaki Ken attends a school where entry into the student council can be guaranteed if one scores the highest on the exams. However, he has always had below average grades, so we worked hard to improve them so he can enter the council and live out his dream – to be fawned over by a harem of beautiful girls! Unfortunately for Ken, his achievement isn’t enough to get their attention and they reject his advances, choosing to do their jobs instead of entertain him. Be that as it may, Ken is a simple man with a simple wish and won’t stop working hard to grant them himself!

While most anime tend to exaggerate the power that a student council can exercise over the student body, Seitokai no Ichizon plays around with the interactions within the student council like it would a regular club at school. In this way, the focus isn’t necessarily on what the student council is capable of, but more on Ken’s dreams to have a harem and his use of the student council as the yellow brick road to his dreams.

Arikawa Hime finds himself in a terrible situation when loan sharks come for him in order to settle the debt his parents left him . When the Shimoshina High School student council steps in to settle his debt, they do it under one condition: that Hime join the student council… as a girl! Their timing couldn’t have been more unfortunate for Hime as they found him wearing a French maid outfit and now they won’t allow him to wear anything else as he serves them as their dog for the rest of his high school years. As inconvenient as things may be, Hime is surrounded by pretty girls who dote on him – but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t wish to be free, and of all people, his crossdressing little brother is the only one trying to get him out!

Himegoto does what many anime with student councils do, which is to give the student council incredible amounts of affluence and influence. Being able to settle Hime’s debt and effectively own his entire existence as a human being is the kind of hyperbolic representation of the student council as a concept. That aside, the show has a fair amount of humour which is carried through the absurd antics Hime is subject to as a result of the student council at Shimoshina High.

Izumi Hayato is a straight-laced and studious individual running for Student Council President; however he is completely outmatched by his rival, Wakana Ui after she promises sex-ed and free condoms among other reforms. Disappointed, Hayato settles into his role as Vice-President. Next thing Hayato knows, Ui has moved in with him in order to honour a promise that their parents made a long time ago – that their children would marry each other. Now Hayato and Ui are forced to balance their personal life with their student council roles, but is it really that simple?

Throwing romance straight into the student council-centred plot, Okusama ga Seitokaichou! makes use of a formula we’re quite familiar within the anime medium. Each episode is short and covers a bit of the relationship between Hayato and his wife, Ui, who he soon learns has more to her than the persona he’s used to seeing at school. Still somewhat bitter about losing the running for student council president while balancing a clear attraction to her – the conflicting emotions and angst make for quite the entertaining student council anime.

Rikkyouin High School is a prestigious school which makes use of chance to select every year’s student council. They do this by means of a lottery and on the first day of school, Enomoto Chihiro wins the presidency, with his childhood friend, Akiyama Tokino stepping up as vice-president. However, their ascension isn’t without difficulty as they must first complete a one year apprenticeship under the current student council and should they fail at any point, it means immediate expulsion!

Kujibiki♥Unbalance is a unique title given the fact that it began as an anime within the anime Genshiken, which followed the activities of a university anime and gaming society. Again we’re faced with anime’s hyperbole: the intensely influential student council; however, the unique aspect is the way in which both student council president and vice-president are selected via lottery. The show is meant to cram as many anime tropes as possible and as such, is wildly entertaining for those who recognise them.

Otonashi wakes up to find out that he’s actually dead and has no memories apart from his last name. A girl named Yuri, armed with a rifle, explains to him that they’re in the afterlife and she leads a faction known as the Shinda Sekai Sensen (Afterlife Battlefront), waging war against a girl named Angel. Seeing Angel for himself, Otonashi refuses to believe that she’s evil and tries to talk to her. It doesn’t end well. After the encounter, he decides to join the Afterlife Battlefront in their war against Angel while fighting off a strange attraction to her.

Death, emotions and regrets are rife in Angel Beats!, which aren’t usually the themes you’d find in a student council anime. In fact, the idea that Angel Beats! is a student council anime takes a backseat until one considers the role Angel plays in their afterlife environment, which is a high school. Angel is the student council president whose role is to ensure that students at the Afterlife School can cope with their personal problems.

When Japan introduces strict morality laws which police everything considered obscene and impure, it becomes a chaste society. People are monitored via special collars which ensure that not a vulgar thing is uttered or done. In this world of chastity, Okuma Tanukichi, the son of a notorious terrorist who opposed the laws, has just entered high school. He decides to help the student council in order to get closer to his childhood crush, Nishikinomiya Anna – the student council president. However, when Kajou Ayame, the vice-president, reveals her secret identity as a criminal dedicated to opposing the chastity laws, she drags Tanukichi into her terrorist organisation, SOX, where he too will spread obscene material all in the name of freedom.

In the name of all things lewd, Shimoneta plays with anime’s tendency to have all-powerful student councils. The absurdity of it all compounds the humour of the premise – trust Shimoneta to put together a band of eccentric and wacky characters to deliver puns, jokes and wild adventures! The student council president, Nishikinomiya Anna, is an overzealous defender of the law – but also a total pervert in her own right, which creates the some of the strangest, yet somehow acceptable development of a character in the show. However, you don’t watch Shimoneta for character development – you watch it for the banter!

When her father is murdered, Matoi Ryuuko searches for his killer, with nothing to go on but the half of the Scissor Blade used in the crime. She arrives at Honnouji Academy, a prestigious school with an all-powerful student council led by the cold-hearted Kiryuuin Satsuki and her powerful allies, the Elite Four. Honnouji’s hierarchical dynamic gives Satsuki the space to bestow the higher-ups special “Goku Uniforms”, which grant their wearer superhuman abilities. After suffering a crushing defeat from a student in a Goku uniform, Ryuuko heads home and finds Senketsu, a sentient set of clothing called Kamui, which provides her with incredible power when in contact with her blood. Now dressed for the occasion, Ryuuko stands against the Elite Four and Satsuki in order to find her father’s killer and put them to justice.

Fast-paced and exciting, KILL la KILL is one title on this list which reflects several different anime tropes in the same setting, while having a hand firm on its action and comedic elements. KILL la KILL feels like a shounen anime with slapstick humour thrown in for effect. The student council in this show is like that of many other anime: powerful. Intensely powerful in both status and physical prowess, the student council in KILL la KILL is one which quickly comes to mind when the subject is student councils.

Hachimitsu Private Academy is a prestigious all-girls boarding school located on the outskirts of Tokyo, known for its impeccable education and discipline. However, a change in policy opens the school’s doors to male students for the first time, so Kiyoshi, Gakuto, Shingo, Andre and Jo are the first male students, making the female to male ratio in the school a whopping 200:1. Finding themselves unable to talk to any girls, the five boys decide to do something more daring than mere communication: peeping into the girls’ bath. Their plan is quickly foiled by the Underground Student Council, who then send them into the school’s prison for a month as their punishment. They now have to stick together to get through a gruelling struggle which will test the strength of their friendship.

Controversial given the state of the main characters and their antics, Prison School is an anime one takes with a grain of salt. Be that as it may, their student council is terrifying and their overall hold on the school is extensive – their word is absolute. Their running of Hachimitsu Private Academy is thorough and with an iron fist – the harsh prison that the five boys in which the five boys end up doing time is yet another aspect of their iron-fisted rule.

Seika High School is a school under transition. Going from being an all-boys to a co-ed, Seika’s student council president, Ayuzawa Misaki, uses any means necessary to ensure that the girls can settle into their new environment, earning her the nickname “Demon President”. However, the seemingly perfect student council president has an embarrassing secret – she works part-time at a maid café in order to help her struggling family. Her job remains hidden until Usui Takumi, the most popular boy in school, strolls into the maid café. Misaki fears that he could ruin her reputation with what he now knows, but perhaps Usui has other plans for the secret they now both share.

Given that the protagonist is the student council president, much of the events in the show surround Misaki’s heavy involvement in school affairs which parallel her maid café duties. Naturally, the show treads into the territory of romance as Misaki’s relationship with Usui develops around their shared protection of the state of Misaki’s home situation and her working life.

Ousai Private Academy is a former all-girls school now opening its door to male students. On his first day, Tsuda Takatoshi is called out for his messy uniform by the eccentric student council president, Amakusa Shino. As a result, Tsuda is late for his first class. In apology for keeping him too long, Shino offers Tsuda the position of vice-president and he is forced into the role even before he sets foot into the school building. Tsuda soon realises how strange the members of the student council truly are – despite their serious appearances, Shino and the secretary, Shichijou Aria, are huge perverts and crack lewd jokes at every opportunity. Their treasurer, Hagimura Suzu, is fairly normal but is highly self-conscious of her height, which often has her mistaken for an elementary school kid. Surrounded by his new colleagues at his new school, Tsuda must perform his student council duties.

The main characters of this series are all student council members and thus most of their activities happen within the bounds of their school. Tsuda’s student council affiliations begin as a result of the sheer amount of power the student council has at Ousai Private Academy, with their activities seemingly overshadowing students’ obligations to attend class. This is of course proven in the initial interaction between Tsuda and Shino.