A girl and her talking puppet, Pucchan. Attending the paradise all-girls school known as Miyagami Gakuen and also being a member of the Best Student Council. Not bad.
“The Best Student Council†is an anime full of fun, plenty of humor and a large cast of characters that interest you with a great balance in its storyline that just draws you in.
The 26-episode series was originally aired in Japan back in 1995 on TV Tokyo and was produced by KONAMI and J.C. Staff.
The series revolves around a girl named Rando Rino who recently lost her mother. The happy but clumsy girl has a pen pal who invites her to attend the school Miyagami Gakuen.
An all-girls school that is run by the Best Student Council.
A student council that is even more powerful than the faculty due to its president, Jinguji Kaede (who serves also as an executive director and founder of the school, president of the Gokujou Seitokai, and the successor to the Jinguji conglomerate).
But in making sure that the school is protected, Kaede is joined by student council members that form an executive branch, covert, assault and vehicle squad.
As for the main character, Rino is ccompanied by her special friend, a puppet named Pucchan.
Upon coming to the school, Rino experiences a chain of bad luck and her only place to stay has burned down.
Thus being homeless, her only friend at the new school enlists her for tryouts for class representative and a chance to be a member of the Best Sudent Council.
The reason, because if one was be a member of the council, one would get free boarding and food.
Needless to say, everyone looks at Rino as very unusual because she is very close to her puppet.
Many don’t understand why the puppet talks so much but the question makes you think why Rino depends on it so much.
Also, Rino treats it like real individual (while her classmate thinks she is a ventriloquist and is talking for the puppet).
The first episode features Rino and Pucchan (accidentally) taking down a pyromaniac at the school and thus becoming a member of the Best Student Council.
This leads to future episodes of people questioning why the new girl at school was able to get in (especially when she’s not very qualified in terms of intellect and athleticism).
To make matters even more interesting (or worse), the president of the Best Student Council, Jinguji Kaede, has a special interest towards Rino that make the students and even members of the Best Student Council suspicious.
The animation for “The Best Student Council†is fun and the voice acting (American and Japanese) are top notch.
As for the special features on the DVD, the clean opening and closing animation and character art gallery is included.
So, far watching each episode of “The Best Student Council†has been a blast.
I have to admit that at first, an anime featuring a teenage girl holding a puppet was something that I was very skeptical of enjoying. But after watching the first volume, this anime truly rocks and I’m looking forward to watching more.
The first volume of “The Best Student Council†is highly recommended for the start of 2007.
A — DENNIS A. AMITH
5 episodes, 125 minutes, Rated TV PG, ADV Films, Release Date: January 9, 2007