Anime blog that focuses on Yuri and School Girl Slice of Life Anime and Editorials
Once upon a time, Draggle offered me to join this live watch of Simoun shortly after my defeat in the Aniblog Tourney. Of course, I was busy with a lot of projects and finals for the Spring Semester until now. I decided to take a look at the first two episodes and what I have seen amazed me. (Image Source)
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Seitokai no Ichizon is one of those anime that you like or you don’t and is the black sheep of this season. People dismissed it as being a plotless reference show… or is it?
The anime proved itself to be a very enjoyable experience that have very funny moments and references that fit in nicely. In contrast to Lucky Star, Seitokai no Ichizon focuses less on the moeblob, high amounts of moe and Haruhi references that have been overdone. Seitokai had something that Lucky Star didn’t have… some plot and a male lead who wants to build a harem!
Content
Seitokai no Ichizon does not follow the light novel at all… well, some content came from the light novel, but it was a completely different experience. It seems that this kind of series are fit to be in Manga or Anime form than light novel form. The story of each episode consists of them doing stuff in the student council… except they don’t really work and talk about stuff, which can be on Anime, Manga, Boy’s Love, Gaming, H-games, Harems and etc. There are several references from notable anime like Suzumiya Haruhi, Lucky Star, Clannad, Higurashi, K-ON!, DragonBall, Full Metal Alchemist, Death Note and several others… and even visual novel stuff from Key for example (wow, I must be a Key fanboy at that moment) .
The more you know about other animes, the more you will enjoy it… although it’s subjective since you can still enjoy it without knowing all the references.
Animation
In contrast to Lucky Star, I liked the animation style of Seitokai no Ichizon more than Lucky Star for many reasons… It simply more appealing to the eye than Lucky Star and is more detailed… Of course, Lucky Star meant to have a simplistic style… but… your milage may vary on that one.
Characters
Most of the Student Council features mostly beautiful girls and Ken (also known as Key-kun, Ki-kun or Senpai) is the only male in the student council. He seeks to make the student council his HAREM… and also constantly annoying the others with his harem and bishoujo/H games fantasies.
Kurimu is the President and is very childish for her age and is the shortest. She reads children books (Red Riding Hood), eat “usa-maru” since it “taste like happiness” and works at a nursery just to act like a child. She is constantly teased by Ken because she looks like a loli and she is a pettanko, something she is NOT proud of. Kurimu helps Ken by suggesting him to play Bishoujo/H Games.
Chizuru is the secretary. Unlike Kurimu, she is tall and is well endowed, but she brainwashes Ken and Kurimu. She treats Kurimu as her sister and sometimes abuse her. However… She has a very cute side when she is dressed as a really cute sheep… and says Mokyu~… Something that everyone will go moe for… Chizuru heals Ken’s heart when they met in fall.
Minatsu is the Vice President and also a tsundere (with the addition of her twin tails). She is a tomboy and have great athletic skills and is into hot blooded, shouen action packed anime and manga. Minatsu tells Ken not to be lazy and work. She has a younger sister named Mafuyu.
Mafuyu is Minatsu’s younger sister and is the treasurer. She is a bishoujo, but is afraid of men, except Ken of course. She is into games and Boy’s Love. She imagines Ken with another male character she imagines, which causes Ken to go crazy. She also works on a gaming wiki, play games mainly on a Playstation Portable and operates a tsundere blog called “Organ Explosion!” Mafuyu helps Ken during the middle of winter in a chatroom (using the name Yuki) about her feelings and his. She eventually confesses her love to Ken, but is not willing to go on a date since she wanted things to stay what they are.
In addition… We have
Lilicia, who is the president of the Journalism Club and voiced by Noto Mamiko, which she had voiced Matsuri (sola), Haruka (Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu) and Kotomi (Clannad). Lilica writes tabloid articles on the student council because they don’t accomplish anything, except socializing and that she didn’t win a position. She gains interest in Ken after he said that the double-timing incident was true. She has a longer sister named Elise, which seems to like Ken and causes Kurimu to become very jealous… and being very mature for her age.
Music
Seitokai features a OP called Treasure, which sounds great… For the ED, there are several versions. One song called Mousou Fetish!, which is a cute sounding song which causes a earworm. The second is Ue Ue Shita Shita Hidari Migi Hidari Migi B A, a remix of Mousou Fetish with different lyrics and have a electronic feel… Funny on how they use the Konami Code as the title of the song. Lastly, we have Yurupa Wonderful, a hotblooded, rock remix with different lyrics. There are also songs with completely different lyrics for comedy effect. For example, Episode 11 with the president, Kurimu singing… with hilarious lyrics that can’t make you stop laughing… I am dead serious…
Overall, the songs sounded good..
Conclusion
Seitokai no Ichizon is one of the best comedies in the Fall 2009 season… Where Nogizaka Haruka Purezza fails, Seitokai succeeds… for some odd reason. Seitokai have some similarities to Lucky Star in terms of references, it’s no means the same since it’s all about harem, has a little more plot than Lucky Star and does not have too much moe and doesn’t go overboard with the damn Haruhi references (Haruhi is a bitch). The way they put the references made it so that it actually worked instead of putting it in random places. Most will find this anime very enjoyable, but for those who don’t like Lucky Star may not like it… so your milage may vary… but it’s a recommended series to look at if you not looking at too much moe and want a good comedy and/or mindless anime that you can easily enjoy…
Too bad there isn’t more… they should really make a second season, but the current trends how second season anime is run… I may think twice. :p
Verdict
Overall Grade: 8.79/10, B+
Attribution Information
Picture used in this post is made by まなK.
This is probably the last episode left… and it was great… well the show starts off with Mafuyu’s confession. She likes Ken, but not willing to date him since she wants things to remain what they are. Next, Kurimu asking them about the future… which leads us to ridiculous responses including Ken who wants to start a company making bishoujo games, thus mentioning the names you know… Key and Leaf… and they actually had it’s logo on the screen… crazy stuff.
Mafuyu goes crazy when Nakameguro (yes, he have the same name) that looks so much like a girl comes into the room, leading her obsession of Ken hooking up to him. This makes Ken very uncomfortable since he only likes cute girls and is straight.
Mafuyu insists to follow them, so they did. Ken tells his story about how he got to the student council with the help of the four girls to Nakameguro. Then, he notices they were outside by noticing Kurimu’s hair and Ken chases them, but they notice that they missed the bus. After noticing that, they ran for it.
Overall, this episode had very funny jokes and reference and was great… Too bad this is the last episode, but maybe a second season? Maybe it will be better? Who knows… but the last two series I have watched that had second seasons disappointed me so far, but I hope for the best if it happens.
Full review will be coming out shortly.
Verdict
9.7/10
Well, this episode is just as funny… but what made it epic is… errr… Mafuyu confesses to Ken, which is totally unexpected… You got to remember this, Mafuyu is apparently the easiest girl Ken could get…
Besides from that, the episode starts with Ken (as Key-kun) talking to Yuki (Mafuyu) online and talking about his goal of being in the student council a year ago. Back in reality, they find out that Ken was sick, so they finally had a meeting without Ken. They talked about part time job like Chizuru working for a company and protecting a 1 million dollar yen check. Minatsu, baseball, Mafuyu working on her blog on games and boy’s love and lastly, Kurimu working at a nursery just to act like a child and then going out with Chizuru for a parfait.
However, they forgot the stack of paperwork they had to do, so they try to find the approval stamp (no, it’s not the FLAT stamp) in Ken’s bag, which that had alot of weird stuff. The phone rang ann Chizuru picks up the phone and Ken told what happened. Kurimu and Minatsu panic about something said on TV (with Singapore and the earth being destroyed.) and he mutes the TV. Ken tells them where the stamp is and they finished the work when evening came, that Ken usually do. Mafuyu suggested to visit Ken at his house. They went to the store to buy some things, which Lilicia was. Lilicia follows them secretly, when the Chizuru, Kurimu, Minatsu and Mafuyu finds themselves talking to two men, who disapproves Ken. They end up being them up, since they said bad stuff about Ken. Eventually, the went to his house and were cooking. Ken wakes up and finds out they were there…
Overall, it was a pretty funny and epic episode… never knew Mafuyu would confess at the end… well yeah… Also, the ending theme for this episode was hilarious… can’t stop laughing…
Too bad there is only one more episode of this… it was a very good ride…
9.5/10
This episode can’t get any funnier, but I will highlight the funniest parts. Kurimu start with telling a tear jerking story with a mother mouse giving all her cheese to her child that made her cry since the mother mouse died. Another instance when Mafuyu tells a story when she loses her memory and forgot all the sweet times spent with Ken. Ken says he loves her, but she treats him as a freak and when she regains her memory, he is dead? This causes him to complain…
However, Chizuru’s idea was alot more harsh. In her story, Ken was about to confess her love for Chizuko. When she came, she tells about her new boyfriend and how great and leaves. This leaves Ken crying. Another instance is when he leaves the school hopeless, a stack of books hit his head and he was put in a hospital with jhis memory lost. This left everyone but Chizuru crying… Then Chizuru gave another idea with Chizuko and Kenichi with old age, which Kenichi dies of something and Chizuko saying everything is her. This is where the funny part come when Ken, Minatsu and Mafuyu raged about Chizuru’s ending and Kurimu crying a puddle of tears. The most funniest line that came out of this:
Mafuyu can’t take that! Mafuyu will sue her.
– Shiina Mafuyu
There is always a minority of this tear-jerking story backlash like in this instance. I have seen it when Misuzu dies in the end causing some fandom rage and also near the end of Clannad After Story when they killed off Ushio… Fan dumb at full force… right?
Next, they perform their own tear-jerking story, but ended up being entirely funny because the way they done it… I couldn’t take their story seriously… Eventually, they gave up on it.
Soon, it was the end of the festival and… Chizuru is dressed in her sheep outfit again… Mokyuu~? Next, they have to go through a pile of lost items. When going through the stuff, Ken discovers someone panties… which caused everyone else to be disturbed… but he finds out that Mafuyu wasn’t wearing any…
Next, they worked quietly , except Ken who said a overly long monologue, which annoyed them… Next, he said something like a drama CD and another instance he mentions pokkoncho and Kurimu, Chizuru, Minatsu and Mafuyu start asking what is a pokkoncho with the Nico Nico Douga-like commenting in the background…Ken tries to change the topic, but they won’t stop asking…
This episode was extremely funny. I couldn’t stop laughing because the material was that good. It’s so sad I don’t know most of the references, but in the end, it was golden… This is probably the best slice of life comedy for the season and got better for the second half of the season… too bad there is two more episodes and I will pretty much miss it after once it’s done…
Don’t forget the Mokyuu~!
9.4/10
Episode 9 is a mix of serious and funny moments and focusing more on Chizuru.
…
Episode 8 was even funnier than the last… and Ken seems to become even more indecisive than ever and Elise-chan, Lilicia’s younger sister, which was sent for her evil scheme of writing libel about the student council, but it sorta backfired.
…
Well, this episode was really funny in a sense… not because it shoved references like Lucky Star did with going overboard and putting it in random spots, but actually made it work so it is funny. This is basically an episode where Kurimu decide that the whole student council should go on a summer trip to Tokyo by a overnight train. However, what the girls packed show a lot about their personality and interests. Minatsu hardly packed everything, Mafuyu packing all her game consoles (which looks like a computer, a Wii and a Playstation 2) which makes the suitcase very heavy and also her favorite treat that seems to heal her HP, Chizuru have a completely normal suitcase with her belongings although Ken thought there was something dangerous in there and lastly, Kurimu with a bag full of toys.
Night time came (Ken being chained and blindfolded) and Chizuru does something to Kurimu before she goes to sleep and Minatsu can’t recognizes Mafuyu without her ribbon on her head which causes Mafuyu becoming upset and relating it to a RPG she is playing. Chizuru goes to sleep, but she sleeps without anything on which makes Ken goes crazy.
Next morning, Minatsu wakes up and finds that Kurimu was missing, but actually sleeping with Chizuru. She also finds that Mafuyu spent all night playing with her Playstation Portable. The train announced that the train arrived at Tokyo and after they got there, they spent the whole day in the hotel room because it was too hot outside and night time came and they decide to tell scary stories such as Kurimu ended up getting murdered with knives(does this reminds you about a very familiar sound-based visual novel named Higurashi?) which scares the heck out of her. Kurimu not wanting to hear any more of these stories decides on catchphrases for each person and they cosplayed which was the most hilarious part in this episode.
Not sure about the cosplays though, but here is what they dressed up as:
Kurimu – Some kind of robot
Minatsu – Some classy dress
Ken: Maid uniform and some wacky shouen hairstyle
Mafuyu: Some school uniform
Chizuru: A Sheep… Errr… mokyuu~ (So Moe!)
The funny thing is that Chizuru after they got back still dresses in that outfit saying mokyuu~. I guess she does have a cute side of her after all. =p
The episode itself is the best I have seen so far in the whole season… the references are better executed in this one and it was very funny in many instances… Too bad some people have already wrote it off already even though it have gotten better… and you can never forget the Mokyuu~ so moe…
9.2/10
Oh god… Seitokai no Ichizon is funny in a very weird way… that I can’t stop laughing… Mostly with Episodes 4-5 with all those anime references… most notably the K-ON parody… that pretty much cracked me up and also with Mafuyu’s boy’s love story with Ken and Ken wanting Minatsu cooking breakfast for him in a naked apron, accidentally seeing Kurimu in the shower, Chizuru asking him to put suntan oil on her and Mafuyu tripping and saying she isn’t wearing underwear. (Ken must be one perverted person and very desperate to get his so called harem, lol).
Episode 5 made it even funnier… Ken is forced to wear a blindfold which he can’t take off which makes him come up with weird imagination and ecchi stuff… and somehow his blindfold came off and he saw them in swimsuits which makes him crazy…. and have him locked up in the locker.
We also get to see Minatsu with a different look.
Episode 6 is again with more hilarious moments… but a sad realization that Minatsu and Mafuyu are going to transfer… at the end of the school year… or who knows….
Overall, the series gets better by time goes on… I can’t see why some people are giving negative opinions about it, it’s pretty good mindless, lighthearted comedy… Atleast they haven’t go overboard on the Haruhi references… but Seitokai no Ichizon works alot better in Anime and Manga form than the light novel, I have to admit….
Episodes 4-5: 8.3/10
Episode 6: 8.5/10
Seitokai no Ichizon feels like another Lucky Star in a sense they shove other references to other anime, but it’s not the same. This time, all the characters have otaku interests (besides from Kurimu) which involves:
– Ken — Moe Harem Anime and H Game Otaku.
– Chizuru — Lolicon and Yuri Fangirl.
– Minatsu — Hot Blooded and Shounen Fighting Series Fangirl.
– Mafuyu — Yaoi Fangirl Gamer Girl.
It seems that Ken is in to create a harem out of the entire student council and it helps since he is the only male in the student council (and I’m guessing he is playing too much eroge and bishoujo games).
In my impressions of watching it, the series is funny in a weird way… I can’t keep myself from laughing… obviously… and also there is virtually no plot in this series too to the likes of Lucky Star. The funny thing is that I find Kurimu rather cute… So far, the episodes consists of random stuff and sorting out/approving stuff from clubs in the first episode, Kurimu trying to pass her exam and fails (alot worse than Yui from K-ON! since she failed after studying while Yui ends up passing) and the journal club leader Lilicia, writing libel/negative things about the Student Council since she couldn’t win a position and gets owned by Ken saying the rumor is true because after all… he wants a harem of his own…
The animation and the music is good and the level of fanservice is not excessive, so I might continue watching just for the thrill of it… although the content is completely random…
Episode 1: 7.8/10
Episode 2-3: 8/10