Seitokai no Ichizon - Episode 3

Seitokai no Ichizon continues on its fast-paced, merry way into its third episode... But has it already run out of ideas?

This particular instalment introduces us to Lilicia Toudou, a girl who finished just outside of the rankings required to join the school's student council, which leaves her with a very obvious grudge to bare. This grudge also just so happens to fit in with her position in the journalism club, allowing her to fill the school newspaper with scurrilous stories about the student council members that are almost always entirely unfounded. Someone should get the girl a job on Fox News...


Anyhow, Lilicia's latest article about Ken two-timing some girls in his pasts seems likely to be a complete fabrication, but somehow she ends up arranging interviews with all of the student council members in search of a story, and it is this portion that really presents us with the quick-fire attempts at humour which this series so loves. The trouble is, almost none of them hit the mark for me personally this time around, leaving me shrugging and wondering what all of the fuss is about.

What's more, I'm becoming somehow irritated by Seitokai no Ichizon's insistence on ending each episode in as saccharine a way as possible, on this occasion by turning Ken's hentai game harem obsession (one of the more amusing moments of this episode was Ken's admittal that most eroge are basically the same game with different pictures) into some kind of lovey-dovey world of ambition and happiness. Now I know this show is arguably catering to the otaku out there, but... what?! Fair enough, I'm not watching this show for realism in terms of human relationships, but I believe my biscuit has been forcibly snatched from me by this turn of events.

Having just noted how Hyakko failed to bring much laughter for a series primarily focused on comedy, I would probably level the insult at this particular episode of Seitokai no Ichizon that it actually amused me even less, leaving me stony-faced almost throughout even before its incredulous finish. The real problem is that once you dig down beneath the fast-paced dialogue there's really nothing of substance to draw you into the show or its characters, which in turn leaves the humour empty and void of meaning. There's still time and room for improvement, but as of right now Seitokai no Ichizon is headed in decidedly the wrong direction.