Depression has hounded me from the moment I gained an awareness of myself and my place in the world. But you’re not here to read about that. You’re here to read about what Kashou thinks about Even the Student Council Has Its Holes!. So, what does one have to do with the other? Why is that opening sentence relevant?
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I believe that it’s impossible to be impartial. Maybe that says more about me than it says about the world I live in, but “impartiality” is incomprehensible. Your aversions, affection, experiences, memories, and devotions influence every decision you make. That ingrained bias makes you who you are. More importantly — it affects how you perceive and accept the world around you. It’s obvious, but a life filled with depression means that it’s one relatively devoid of joy. So, when something comes along that gives me that joy, I am exceedingly overprotective and devoted to it.
What seems like a lifetime ago, I watched D-Frag, and I learned the meaning of laughter and blitheness. I laughed so hard over those five-plus hours that I lost my voice and my sides hurt for days after. Like Moses stumbling on a burning bush, that moment was divine intervention. If you assumed the feelings D-Frag gave me that day are elusive, you’d be right. But a few episodes into Even the Student Council Has Its Holes!, I was reminded of the much-sought-after feeling that D-Frag gave me. I was reminded that there are things out there that can drastically alter your mood. And that reminder biased me toward shows like this.
Seitokai ni mo Ana wa Aru! (A Short Synopsis)
Ume Mizunoe is a savant, literally. The dude excels at Japanese literature. His performance is so top-notch that he’s even received awards. But when it comes to his other subjects, it’s a travesty. Ume-kun is failing across the board. Luckily for Ume-kun, his homeroom teacher has a plan (hey hey hey!) to prevent him from failing. If he joins the student council, he can divert his academic failure.
Not only can Ume-kun learn from them, but being in the student council will also help his future academic prospects. But by the first day, Ume-kun realizes his time with the student council will be absurd.
Planets Aligned to Make Even the Student Council Has Its Holes!
It baffles me that production companies are rarely mentioned when the discord on fan service comes up. While weebs and the hoi polloi argue about the myriad of pros and cons of lewd material, the production companies that make it hide.
Production companies rarely have a “being true to creatives” ethos. Profit is the only thing they serve. Production companies often make adaptations more consumer-friendly. If you’re a keen ecchi manga reader, you know what I mean. If you’re not, go buy the source material for your favorite ecchi show. That will blatantly show you what I mean. The phrase “read the manga” proliferates in anime comment sections for a reason. Production companies tone material down to avoid controversy, drive sales, and secure distribution. Unfortunately, that usually works against whatever anime they produce. A lackluster adaptation pleases no one.
But that’s not the case in Even the Student Council Has Its Holes!. The planets aligned for this show. Muchimaro and Passione gleefully embrace lewdness. Muchimaro’s early work is hardcore fetish stuff. While Aniplex and Kodansha are less inclined to sexiness, they don’t protest much. My Dress-Up Darling is an Aniplex heavyweight, and Marin’s boobs always jiggle. Couple that creative/productive acceptance with the anime ending up on a (mainly) R18 streaming site, and Seitokai ni mo Ana wa Aru! thrives.
Rarely does an adaptation get this much wiggle room. Of course, it’s not a 1:1 copy of the source material, but it treats the manga’s pervy spirit as the anime’s soul. Even the Student Council Has Its Holes! frolics with its lewd humor. Much like the earth revolving around the sun… nature intended it to be that way. This anime proudly calls itself ecchi — controversy, audiences, and difficulties be damned.
Even the Production Dazzles
And with all that working in favor of Even the Student Council Has Its Holes!, it offers substantially more than lewdness while celebrating that lewdness.
Seitokai ni mo Ana wa Aru! is a slice-of-life. The show’s overall story lacks a grand plot. This anime is about a bunch of teenagers being… wait for it… teenagers. Despite the synopsis making this show’s student council look like weirdos, they’re refreshingly believable. If you have even a modicum of a social life, you know people like Ume, Arisu, Hisako, and Komaro. If you’re a cultured person with a social life, there are at least two Satomi-senseis in your sphere. And that is what makes the fan service in this anime work so well — it’s based on the characters’ personalities. It’s sexiness fueled by introspection, teasing, and age-appropriate hormones.
Production-wise, Even the Student Council Has Its Holes! is visually glorious.
Naoyuki Tatsuwa is a Shaft alum, and you FEEL IT! Rough animation, cartoon-esque drawings, and dramatic camera angles abound. The anime’s visuals are as pervasive as its ending song. Like pervy tentacles, they worm their way into all your holes. Randomly, I’ll hear a Pipipipi while Hisako’s panty shots flash in my memories. But the standout addition in this anime’s staff was Ryo Imamura. Imamura-sensei is the show’s character designer (a role he held in Onimai). As he did in Onimai, he delivered believable anatomy in Even the Student Council Has Its Holes!. That small but extremely valuable addition is something even the giants of ecchi anime lack (looking at you, High School DxD).
Even the Student Council Has Its Holes! — Final Thoughts
Recommending an ecchi anime as a “general-watch” always gets blowback. Sexy humor has always been divisive, and our current sociopolitical climate deepens that division. But this is an anime well worth recommending. If a bigger streaming service had picked up Even the Student Council Has Its Holes!, it would have been one of the year’s most loved comedies. A few paragraphs ago I touted OceanVeil’s acquisition of this anime as a favorable outcome, but two things can be true. OceanVeil welcomes gallows and sexy humor, but it limits widespread acclaim. That’s true for all niche streaming services, but more so for one seen as the anime version of Xvideos. And that’s unfortunate.
Even the Student Council Has Its Holes! has something for most. If you like absurd, slapstick comedy — that’s its heart and soul. If you fancy meaningful friendships and character growth — the anime will make your eyes water. The anime’s characters are aware of their sexuality and how their friends (may) see them. And they explore that awareness. That small but usually overlooked aspect is so refreshing in an ecchi anime. And the show has lewdness that will make your dick scream — seeing a naked Hisako and Satomi will make your penis so hard you could deflect Godzilla‘s atomic breath.
All that said, the greatest compliment you can give an anime isn’t an award — it’s a “When I have a bad day, it cheered me up.” Even the Student Council Has Its Holes! was made to invite laughter after a trying day. It’s impossible not to love. It’s without a doubt the best ecchi anime of the year. Kashou gleefully gives it a 5-out-of-5 rating.
© Muchimaro / Kodansha / Aniplex
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