Not a sex-comedy or an ecchi-comedy, but a comedy about sex.
Seitokai Yakuindomo is a really fun series if your mind is only focused on sex-jokes. Pretty much 95% of the show purely consists of jokes, word-puns and more jokes about sex and anything related to sex in a sort-of 4-panel manga pace. Does it have anything else to offer? Well, actually it hasn't. But that isn't necessary either, because the show is a comedy about sex and it does it remarkably well.
But do you have what it takes to sit through 13 episodes filled with only sex jokes?
Animation: Remarkably good animation.
Backgrounds
First thing that comes to mind is that it has really good animation. I really like the backgrounds which are most of the time very detailed and realistic CG backgrounds, without (and here comes the good part) actual clashing with the characters. While there is not always any interaction with the background layer, they also don't look out of place when the characters are displayed against that same background. Seeing how only few series manage to do this, it's getting two – no, three thumbs up from me in terms of quality.
If you have read any reviews of mine in the past few years, you'll probably come across of a few remarks from me concerning this and realize that these kind of details are what ticks me off – or makes me happy.
The backgrounds are not always superb though, but it is at least on a level of a high-class eroge anime adaption. That is, except for the comic relief parts where they switch out the backgrounds for a single-color one in order to focus on the joke itself.
Characters
Aside from the backgrounds I really like the character designs and while there hasn't gone as much detail into them as I would like, they are done well. The often revert to the degenerated or simplistic comical counterpart due to the comedy-effect, but even those suit the characters.
Sound: Why … why do the seiyuu have to sing the OP?
OP/ED
I'm not always happy with the fact that an anime has the OP or ED sung by the cast and this series is one of these shows where they let the cast sing the OP. While there are several who are perfectly capable of singing a decent song, some of the members of the cast need to stick to their voices from the characters and those are not always suitable (Suzu, anyone?) to sing. The OP is therefore not really to write home about.
The ED on the other hand is sung by Angela, one of my favorite singers, although I feel like she has produced a lot more songs which are better than this one. That doesn't mean the song is bad, as it is simply a good song and I like the fast paced rhythm and lyrics.
The animation is quite nice as well, reminding me somewhat of Bakemonogatari for some reason. I wouldn't mind seeing an anime which was animated that way, but it's pretty unconventional.
Voices & Music
The cast is chosen well and I didn't feel like there were any characters who didn't have a proper voice actor/actress, nor did I feel anywhere throughout the show that they did a bad job on the acting. Everything felt proper and suitable, which is a good thing.
The music / BGM is chosen well too, I think. Most of the time it adds to the show, without distracting from it. So generally you won't hear it until you start looking for it. At least I didn't have any complaints about it and I needed to look back on it to hear what it was.
Story: How much can you make of sex-jokes?
Sex jokes. And that's pretty much everything you can say about this show in terms of story. There are two participants in the student council which are always and only thinking about sex and therefore talking about sex, leaving the other characters pretty much only to react to them – including the male protagonist.
While the jokes are ranging from incredibly silly and farfetched to amusing to really funny to the point where it makes you laugh, I found myself most of the time not laughing. I can stand a good sex joke, but after a while the jokes grow old and you can see them coming from a mile away. Sometimes you don't – and then you laugh again – but the show uses the pace of a 4-panel manga and unless you're really hot for these kind of jokes, they eventually get old.
Rating it is a problem as it doesn't contain an actual plot, but there is no way to rate the number of jokes of a comedy. So I'll leave it on average.
Characters: Great characters.
Even more than a good story, it is the characters that make a good show and this show has plenty of them. None of them get anywhere near the character development a good plot generally comes with, but then again, how many comedy shows actually develop characters? Most of them simply put down a character and uses them to get the comedy going and that's exactly what this show does: it uses the characters well, based on the outlines they have made for their personalities.
While at times the jokes tend to get old, another recurring part is the height of poor Suzu. They get creative with them though and surprisingly it is this girl that gets the most character development.
So, is it worth watching?
The show is obviously funny but at the same time also really average at other times, but with any comedy show it generally depends on how you experience the comedy, so it is hard to say whether the show is good or bad.
At least the animation, voice acting and characters aren't any reasons for you to avoid the show, as all of them are rock solid. So it all comes down on whether you appreciate a sex joke and how much you can handle of them.
In the end I thought the show was a nice watch, although I don't think I'd ever watch it again. Just like you don't laugh as much when you hear a joke the second time, pure comedy shows are often not meant to watch again. But if you come across this show, feel free to watch as it might just be your cup of tea.
