Student Council

Student Council is a trope common in School genre anime. The Council is very powerful and influencial, sometimes to an extreme degree with its members literally ruling and controlling the entire school. It is almost always more important than the principal or teachers.

History
This trope has been a part of the School anime and manga genre since its inception. The Student Council only differs in power, but is always an authoritative group.

It is present in anime such as Tenjou Tenge (2004) in the form of the Executive Council that gets away without consequences for doing several awful crimes and can punish other students for not following the rules.

The theme of the Council members enforcing rules and punishing students appears in series such as Prison School (2015).

Even in anime where school is present in the plot, but not very important, Student Council Presidents can have benefits and important roles. Code Geass (2006) is an example of this.

Some anime, such as Best Student Council (2005) or Love, Election & Chocolate (2012) made the Student Council the basis of the entire plot.

In Kill la Kill (2013) the Student Council President uses the school as a way to build an army for her cause, and in Kakegurui (2017) the President made the whole school her own social experiment.