History Main / AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil

In terms of rank, about the only [[AuthorityTropes authority trope]] arguably as low as this is the {{Landlord}}. For the other lower step, see ClubPresident and for the enforcers, see YellowSashOfPower. For the next step up, see StudentCouncilPresident.

* The student council in ''MidoriDays'' spends several chapters hiring the most elite fighters of Japan in order to make the protagonist a fearless fighter again... so that he would become the class president the next year. Not only do the fights not work, but Seiji plain out doesn't care.
* ''{{Kanon}}'', where the student council apparently has some say in whether or not students get expelled or not (in the 2006 anime, at least. In the original game, the signature of a student council member was needed to get the school board to revoke an expulsion, implying that the council had influence in such matters but did not actually have the authority to make such decisions on their own.
** Also, in another VN/Anime by Key, ''VisualNovel/{{Clannad}}'' takes this up to eleven by having Tomoyo using the student council as authority ''in the city itself''' to save the sakura trees that are important to her. (Especially ludicrous since that's NOT the only school in town, even if somehow the student body did have any voice) Her intentions are good and all, but the truth of the matter is that "Student Council president" does not give one a community voice.

* In ''VisualNovel/{{Clannad}}'', the AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil drive the plot for Nagisa to restore the Drama Club.
** Overturned with Tomoyo's election as StudentCouncilPresident.
** The student council in Clannad is powerful not because it has some control over club activities, but rather because it can influence GOVERNMENTAL DECISIONS (Tomoyo managed to prevent the Sakura trees near the school from being cut down even though they are not school property!)
* Subverted in ''KatawaShoujo'', in which [[StudentCouncilPresident Shizune]] and Misha are two members of the Student Council. The only members, unless Hisao joins them. As an example of their lack of power, while much work is pushed on to them for the SchoolFestival, including management of budgets and the creation of most of the stalls, they lack the authoritative power to recruit help, or even make sure that everybody gets paperwork in. (Oh, and the president is deaf and mute. Makes it so easy talking with others.)

* ''Anime/KillLaKill''. Honnouji's student council has created a straight up fascist state and has the power to annex other schools and execute students.
** Justfied by the fact that this setting is an AfterTheEnd scenario, and the owner of the school is an extremely rich family, with the daughter at the head of the student council. Said family also has extensive access to Life Fibers, which they use to create [[ClothesMakeTheSuperman superpowered uniforms]], which they use to control the student body and the faculty. The head of the student council herself has a sword that can defeat said uniforms by itself, and a special uniform, called a 'Kamui', which is far more powerful than the rest, matched only by the protagonist's own Kamui and a special sword of her own.

* In ''KaichouWaMaidSama'', the Seika student council isn't really all that different from any 'normal' anime student council, but the Miyabigaoka (insanely rich kid school very similar to Ouran but played straight) student council can prosecute other students from other schools for punching a chess club member.

Note that in Japan, this is an exaggeration of TruthInTelevision, as the Student Councils actually ''do'' have power over the approval ''and funding'' of student clubs. ''[[SchoolClubsAreSeriousBusiness School Clubs Are Serious Business]]'', as they're meant to prepare students for the high-pressure work environment into which they'll eventually be dumped, and students are ''strongly'' encouraged to join at least one. And just like in their future jobs, students are expected to show utmost loyalty to their club: once you join, [[ResignationsNotAccepted you're there for life]]. Likewise, in private schools in the United Kingdom, prefect councils often perform the same functions that an honor (honour?) council fulfils at a university, and a class's prefects are assigned to keep order in the teacher's absence. Are you starting to see the clout Student Council can hold?

* Literature/HarryPotter: Prefects (a close equivalent to a student council) can give and take house points and give detention. Taken UpToEleven in the fifth book with Umbrige's Inquisitorial Squad, which has even more disciplinary powers, which could possibly include legal consequences.

* ''Series/VeronicaMars'' did an episode around the corrupt antics of Neptune High's student council. The council, run by the school's wealthiest students, conceived a policy called "Pirate Points" to allow the councilmen and their cronies on the various sports and cheer teams to have take-out food delivered to the school for them to eat, while forcing the rest of the students, and those in clubs that were not liked by the jocks and student council, to eat the crappy cafeteria food. To keep a rabble-rousing ex-cheerleader from getting elected student council president on a platform of her abolishing the Pirate Point program, AlphaBitch Madison Sinclair schemed to get popular student Duncan Kane elected president, under the logic that Duncan would keep the Pirate Point program going since he was too spaced out to care either way about how controversial the program was. In the end, after realizing the reform candidate was a narc for the local police and probably wouldn't carry out her vow to abolish the program, Veronica was forced to switch candidates and shamed Duncan (via pointing out how much of a hand-puppet he had become for Madison) into adopting his rival's platform to reform the system, via expanding the program to include all clubs and teams at school as well as all students on the honor roll.

* Subverted completely and severely lampshaded in ''Main/IAmAGeniusOfUnspeakableEvilAndIWantToBeYourClassPresident''.

* Played straight to BeyondTheImpossible heights in ''Anime/KillLaKill''. Honnouji's student council has created a straight up fascist state and has the power to annex other schools and execute students.

In terms of rank, about the only [[AuthorityTropes authority trope]] arguably as low as this is the {{Landlord}}. For the only other lower step, see ClubPresident. For the next step up, see StudentCouncilPresident.

** The episode actually contains a minor inversion to the subversion, as Wendy herself is completely aware of what what the student council president can realistically do. A point which she cannot get across to Eric who remains convinced that she even has the teachers in her pocket.
** That episode, however, contains an Absurdly Powerful School Announcer.
*** Only because Cartman brought in the American Civil Liberty Union to protect his right to free speech (or in this case bashing Wendy). Principal Victoria told him that he was just supposed to read the announcements, but Cartman accused her of trying to silence him.

* The student council in ''Anime/{{Mai-HiME}}'' essentially polices itself, with its actual headmaster being little more than a figurehead. There's also a bit of a subversion here: the vice-president Reito Kanzaki is [[spoiler:the host body of the BigBad]] and the [[StudentCouncilPresident president]] Shizuru Fujino is [[spoiler:one of the super-powered [=HiME=]]], and most of their on-screen council duties are limited to organizing school festivals (wherein [[WhamEpisode plot-related stuff happens]]), leaving the disciplinary work to its most HotBlooded member while they sit back, relax and [[SpotOfTea drink tea]].
** DoubleSubverted. When Shizuru leaves the job, it becomes apparent that her laissez-faire attitude and sweet-natured diplomacy, [[GoodCopBadCop combined with]] Haruka Suzushiro's [[HotBlooded boundless energy]], kept the school running. Haruka can't do the job without her; though part of this is the job getting a lot harder [[spoiler: after the school got half-destroyed in the [=HiME=] battles]], she complains that Shizuru could have things sorted out if she was there.

* ''ChouKuseNiNarisou''

** One can assume that the student council's power diminished considerably after Milly graduated, since her power came not so much from her position as from the fact that her family owns the place.
*** Depends on one's point of view. Once Milly graduated, Lelouch became president. It is never confirmed that Lelouch officially stoped being the student council president when he [[spoiler: became emperor]]. Which other student council can use [[spoiler: all of the world's]] armed forces and geass to enforce its policies?

** More a case of the president being rich, obsessed, and able to drag the rest along.

** Actually [[spoiler:Kanade Tachibana, aka Angel, really was human all along. She's just an extreme EmotionlessGirl and as a result is mistaken as a NPC. Ayato Naoi, the Student Council Vice President is human as well.]]
** [[spoiler:It would also seem that the Student Council has no god-given authority; it's just that it happens to be there, and Kanade, being the extremely good person she is, rose to become head of it; it's mere coincidence that she also happened to try and enforce order on the other humans in Purgatory (for a good cause). Naoi, however, who at his introduction was attempting to become God, was probably [[DangerouslyGenreSavvy consciously playing up to this trope.]]]]

* Played straight to BeyondTheImpossible heights in ''Anime/KillLaKill''. Honnouji's student council has created a straight up fascist state and has the power to annex other schools and execute rule breakers deemed threatening or treasonous.

*** This troper was personally disturbed by Davidson College's Student-led "Honor Code", where rulebreakers are tried by a jury of student council members and fraternity brothers, and often are issued vastly harsh punishments.

* Played straight to BeyondTheImpossible heights in ''anime/KillLaKill''. Honnouji's student council has created a straight up fascist state and has the power to annex other schools and execute rule breakers deemed threatening or treasonous.

** Aagata Soujiro, the President, would often be seen slacking off in the student council room, and is viewed as a complete slacker by outsiders. He's also quite notorious for missing his meetings and for letting his right-hand man, Tsubaki Sasuke, take charge of running the whole student council, just because he thinks it's too much trouble doing it himself.
*** However, [[ObfuscatingStupidity looks can be deceiving]]. Underneath the friendly face is a ManipulativeBastard and beats out Bossun as a [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]].

* ''HanaYoriDango'' consists of 4 self-proclaimed gods of the school; They pay off the school to allow them to get away with ANYTHING, including publicly humiliating students they don't like.

* The student council in ''Anime/{{Mai-HiME}}'' essentially polices itself, with its actual headmaster being little more than a figurehead. There's also a bit of a subversion here: the vice-president is [[spoiler:the host body of the BigBad]] and the [[StudentCouncilPresident president]] is [[spoiler:one of the super-powered [=HiME=]]], and most of their on-screen council duties are limited to organizing school festivals (wherein [[WhamEpisode plot-related stuff happens]]), leaving the disciplinary work to its most HotBlooded member while they sit back, relax and [[SpotOfTea drink tea]].
** DoubleSubverted. When Shizuru (the President) leaves the job, it becomes apparent that her laissez-faire attitude and sweet-natured diplomacy, [[GoodCopBadCop combined with]] Haruka's [[HotBlooded boundless energy]], kept the school running. Haruka can't do the job without her; though part of this is the job getting a lot harder [[spoiler: after the school got half-destroyed in the [=HiME=] battles]], she complains that Shizuru could have things sorted out if she was there.

* ''ClampSchoolDetectives''; this series has absurdly powerful student councils for each grade division, leading to (say) the chairman of the Elementary Division Council consulting with the chairlady of the Kindergarten Division Council over plans for festivals that shut down all actual schoolwork through to the University level for weeks.

** ''Manga/OniisamaE'' has the Sorority, a group of girls from rich and powerful families who are seen as the best of the best and have lots of privileges, alongside bieng adored by the students. The main conflict begins when a girl from a middle-class background, the protagonist Nanako Misonoo, is somehow chosen to be a member of it, eliciting the anger and envy of ''many'' others.

* Subverted in ''HauntedJunction'', in which the Student Council President can summon and command the school principal (who is a ghost) via a magic amulet...but is kept so busy with ghost-hunting in general that he has no time to attend classes or interact with the other students at all, much less wield authority over them.

** Also, in another VN/Anime by Key, ''VisualNovel/{{Clannad}}'' takes this up to eleven by having Tomoyo using the student council as authority IN THE TOWN ITSELF to save the sakura trees that are important to her. (Especially ludicrous since that's NOT the only school in town, even if somehow the student body did have any voice) Her intentions are good and all, but the truth of the matter is that "Student Council president" does not give one a community voice.

** Actually [[spoiler:Kanade, aka Angel, really was human all along. She's just an extreme EmotionlessGirl and as a result is mistaken as a NPC. Naoi, the Student Council Vice President is human as well.]]

* Subverted in ''Manga/SeitokaiYakuindomo''. While the beginning -- with quirky, ridiculously talented girls forcing a [[OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent mostly normal guy]] into their ranks -- seems like a setup for this, all of the student council tasks that are shown are relatively mundane. It even shows them dealing with a non-exaggerated amount of everyday paperwork.

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad''. After Steve is elected StudentCouncilPresident, the first thing he does is to kick the principal out of his office. The principal concedes that he's powerless to do anything.

* ''KamenRiderDecade'' in its [[HighSchoolAU High School AU]] translation of ''[[KamenRiderFaiz Faiz]]'', has the [[QuirkyMiniBossSquad Lucky Clover]] as this. The ''Absurdly Powerful'' part gets literal as the Lucky Clover are a group of powerful [[MonsterOfTheDay Orphenoch]].

* In ''RevolutionaryGirlUtena'', the members of the Student Council have a private lift to their secret garden terrace where they debate the form the apocalypse will take based on the letters they all receive from The End Of The World. They are never seen to discuss uniforms or hall passes.

* In the [[YanksWithTanks US Air Force]], all airmen who graduate Basic Training have to go through Tech School, vocational training to learn the jobs they will be performing in the Air Force. Airmen in training and living in the dorms can volunteer (or be "volun-told") to become a "Rope" [[hottip:* :So called because of the color-coded aiguilettes they wear on their uniforms - [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience Green, Yellow, and Red, in order of seniority. They all answer to the sergeants who are responsible for maintaining discipline in the squadron, who wear Blue ropes.]]]], airmen who have been trained and given the power to enforce the rules over the other airmen. These guys are emulating the authority hierarchy that exists in the real military, and helping the sergeants manage the somtimes upwards of ''thousands'' of airmen in any given training squadron. They are able to report airmen to the sergeants for violating rules, and are often expected to take attendance and make sure everybody gets to where they are supposed to be. Some Ropes are apathetic as long as the airmen under them don't actively get them in trouble, others are regular [[TheNeidermeyer Neidermeyers]], quite a few actually are competent leaders if given a chance.

* A [[http://www.education.nic.in/HigherEdu/LyngdohcommitteeReport.pdf report]] commissioned by the ''Supreme Court of {{India}}'' on the issue of student body elections[[hottip:reason:There was a lawsuit on whether limiting student elections is constitutional at all]] revealed, at least in colleges around Lucknow,

* ''{{El-Hazard The Magnificent World}}'' begins with an investigation into corruption from the council president. The whole thing is treated with huge gravitas and seriousness. This plot kind of ends once the main character becomes TrappedInAnotherWorld.

* In ''Series/{{Awkward}}'', there is the [[AsianAndNerdy Asian mafia]], led by Becca, that engage in elaborate {{Batman Gambit}}s to eliminate anyone in their way.

* ''AssassinationOfAHighSchoolPresident'' displays a particularly corrupt Student Council. Luckily, the local SchoolNewspaperNewshound is there to keep them in check.