Best Student Council takes a formulaic plotline and approaches it in a totally different and fresh fashion that makes the series work. All Best Student Council images © 2005 KONAMI.

Best Student Council V.1 "A New Home"
TV series (ongoing), 2007. Director: Yoshiaki Iwasaki. Five episodes/125 minutes, DVD bilingual $29.98. Distributor: ADV Films

Lately it feels like there is a lot of anime coming out that seems to fit into a specific genre giving the fan exactly what entertainment value they would expect from that anime. In other words anime that has a cookie cutter or formulaic approach as to how they are produced. As a result, there is a great deal of anime that has the feel of quality but sadly falls into mediocrity. I suppose that in some small way the formula story works in anime. After all how many times have we all watch five friends in mechs save the Earth and loved every karate chopping, energy sword-slashing minute of it. Personally, what I think that makes a series work within a set formula is when the creators take their formulaic plot line and approach it in a totally different and fresh fashion. I am very pleased that Best Student Council from ADV films is one of these animes. The producers at J.C. STAFF of Azumanga Daioh fame and Yoshiaki Iwasaki who directed Love Hina join forces to create this truly unique series.

As a fan of both Love Hina and Azumanga Daioh, I had a certain level of expectation when I started watching this DVD. Usually this spells the doom of any series, anime or not, in my mind because so often the product does not meet expectation. Thankfully this could not be further from the truth when it came to Best Student Council. The first episode opens and very quickly we get to know the main character Rino Rando as she writes a thank you letter to her papal, Mr. Poppit. She writes about how it has been a year since her mother has died from an illness and how grateful she is to him for taking care of her enrollment in the Miyagami Academy. From her tone in the narration Rino is portrayed as a very honest and optimistic person.

After a bit of tugging on the heartstrings to help with the bonding to Rino, the character of Pucchan is introduced. Pucchan is a puppet that is perpetually attached to Rino's hand and is quite possibly one of the most original characters I have seen appear in an anime in a long time. This little guy by himself makes Best Student Council worth checking out just because he is just that awesome. Pucchan seems to act as a sort of conscious for Rino as he regularly speaks to her with very blunt honesty. One of my favorite things about Pucchan is that he usually chimes in with his comments just as I was thinking them. For instance, in the beginning we find that Mr. Poppit paid for Rino's school and housing without ever actually meeting her. Just as I finish thinking that Mr. Poppit is just probably some dirty old man trying to take advantage of Rino, Pucchan literally says out loud exactly what I was thinking. Pucchan appears to have all sorts of abilities that a puppet shouldn't have such as being able to eat, and to actually be able to control Rino instead of the other way around.

You may need a score sheet to keep track of the impressive array of characters in Best Student Council. The powerful group of girls is known as the Miyagami Academy Maximum Authority-Wielding Best Student Council.

As the first episode unfolds, an impressive array of characters is introduced. I literally took two pages of notes on characters alone during the first episode because there was that many. The major characters in Best Student Council are a group of young girls who apparently have more power and authority than any of the faculty members. These girls are known as the Miyagami Academy Maximum Authority-Wielding Best Student Council or otherwise known as Best Student Council. They make up an organization that is part student council, part ninja attack squad, and part "it" girl crowd.

The Council is divided into what appears to be two squads. There is the attack squad that acts as a sort of police force type agency that helps handle issues at the academy and the surrounding peninsula that the academy is built on. Then there is the covert squad that is more akin to an intelligence agency that gathers information, spreads disinformation, and sets traps for the bad guys. The first time these ladies are seen in action is when they are thwarting a pyromaniac that the local police have been unable to catch. They show off their skills, which range from swordsmanship to martial arts to bring the pyromaniac to justice. And a little Pucchan skills also lend a hand, but that really needs to be seen to be believed.

Life at Miyagami Academy pretty much revolves around these girls. They live in a special dormitory where they have the nicest rooms, private dining room, and everything is paid for. Of course every girl at Miyagami Academy wants to be on the Best Student Council, but the one open position left gets to go to Rino. Obviously this causes a fair amount of jealousy toward Rino amongst the student body and one of the Best Student Council members in particular, Kaori Izumi. Early on Kaori becomes Rino's rival, but the only problem with that is Rino is so pure, or naive depending on your interpretation, that she is completely unaware of Kaori's competition with her.

Best Student Council is a fun and energetic anime. There is a lot of humor packed into each show because instead of having a singular character play the funny one; Best Student Council makes each character funny in their own way. For instance Kaori Izumi is a tough martial artist who tries very hard to prove her worth on the assault squad, but her plans to stand out and become one of councils executive members are continually foiled by Rinos bumbling. There is another girl named Sayuri Hida who is very skilled with her bokken and when she draws her sword, the fear she puts into her opponents is often enough to defeat them. That is until Sayuri's glasses fall off and she can't see her own hand in front of her face. A good mixture of physical humor is balanced with wit helps keep the story fresh and not too formulaic. The story lines themselves add to the humor as well with random and often nonsensical plot twists. I don't want to spoil the fun but beware of the youth canon.