Anime Hajime Review: My Wife is the Student Council President Plus

***Warning, the following may contain spoilers for My Wife is the Student Council President Plus. Reader discretion is advised.***

Series Synopsis

It has been several months since Hayato Izumi’s (voiced by Kazuyuki Okitsu) life changed forever. Out of the blue, his school’s beautiful and admired Student Council President, Ui Wakana (voiced by Ayane Taketatsu) appeared at his door. With her came the news that the two of them were engaged. Since then they have been living under the same roof.

Hayato is still questioning how things have become the way they have. Ui, on the other hand, couldn’t be more for the arrangement. As such, she has done everything she can think of to become a better partner.

Despite Hayato’s constant vigilance, Ui's persistence knows no bounds. And the occasional accident makes it hard for even the most pious to keep their urges under control. As well as in their pants.

Regardless, it appears everything has been going strong for the emerging couple. Hayato may be resistant, but if there was anyone he would be willing to put up with, it would be Ui. This whole situation can be quite the headache, except that doesn’t necessarily mean it's a bad thing.

Series Positives

Allow me to repeat myself. WARNING, THIS IS NOT FOR CHILDREN.

This marks the third in a line of sequel reviews. The first two were Kamisama Hajimemashita Season Two and Haganai Next. Of those, one was a commendable continuation and the other was an astonishing improvement.

Where does that leave My Wife is the Student Council President (MWSCP) Plus? 

This was the series that demonstrated how gratuitous fanservice can work to a show's benefit. It’s no stretch to say the original was a pleasant surprise. I was looking forward to seeing where the story of Ui and Hayato would go.

Let me tell you, oh how the mighty have fallen.

Plus was not good. On its own, it’s a tough watch. Then with this being the second season to MWSCP, it was almost criminal. The charm, humor, and personality that impressed me before were almost non-existent. Saying this was a disappointment would be an understatement.

Fortunately, this season wasn’t barren of positivity.

Ui

Ui remained the best thing about this series.

As she was in the first season, Ui was the jewel that’s not hard to fall for. She maintained her enduring qualities. She was a competent president, an accomplished student, and a well-respected pillar of her school. Then at the drop of a hat, she became the adorable minx you can’t help but find lovable.

Adding to this, Plus was at its best when Ui was attempting to grow closer to Hayato.

Episode eight, The President’s Efforts and Winters Temptations, was a perfect example of why the first season was so outstanding. It was what this plot did and didn’t do that makes it important.

Ui and Hayato were spending time together. They were growing closer as a couple. The focus was more on these two’s personalities and their relationship.

When Hayato complimented Ui’s attempt at breakfast it was sweet. When Ui was pouting over Hayato’s insensitivity, it was cute. For the first time in this season, we were getting the couple that made the original a ton of fun.

For what this episode didn’t do, it didn’t take every opportunity to sex up the atmosphere. While this didn’t go away, by this show’s standards everything remained tame. When things did start to heat up, they weren’t forced. This one story didn’t beat us over the head with MWSCP's erotic nature.

If Plus was going to get anything right, Ui was among the most important.

More Characters

Let me say this now, most of the characters in this entire series were not important. Even though Plus did use its cast more than its predecessor. This meant less time spent with Ui, but this was a step in the right direction. A second season should try to expand upon the first.

Plus gave us two expansions. One was an upgrade and the other was an addition.

To start, Rin Misumi (voiced by Minami Tsuda) was more interesting. In the first season, she faired well. She wasn’t a bad character to have around. The show didn’t always use her in the best way, but she was never unwanted. This continued and got better here in Plus.

Much like Ui, Rin could be adorable. Yet unlike Ui, she didn’t have the same level of confidence. She put up a tough act which was enough to shield her from most things. Too bad if anyone pushed back, her defenses didn’t do much.

Rin didn’t want others to only see her for her looks and big chest. She wanted to prove whatever she accomplished it was through her own abilities. This made her likable and Plus did an alright job of maintaining that. She wasn’t a character you wanted to see lose.

Unfortunately, Rin was going up against Ui. This made it hard to root for her.

Rin wasn’t usually the source of this show’s problems. Her attempts to win over Hayato weren’t inappropriate. She didn't know there was something going on between him and Ui. When she figured that out, it was too late. Her feelings had already established. Thus, she was a good romantic rival.

Rin may have been at the disadvantage, but what are you going to do. She could only play to her character. Except when she didn’t.

There were a few times in this season when Rin reverted to who she was when we met her in season one. As in, she returned to where she was when she was at her worst. She would confront the student council in an uncharacteristically aggressive manner. And in such a way that put her at risk.

In episode four, The Disciplinary Committee Head’s Awakening, Rin thought it would be a good idea to tease Hayato. She hinted at what would arise if people learned about his unsavory behavior at a recent festival. This was odd for two reasons.

First, Rin had no trouble with the idea of sexual acts. This was strange since this subject made her uncomfortable. She had trouble with couples holding hands. Yet the scene she was referring to was in a whole different kind of league. Most any other time, she would be dying of embarrassment by the mere thought of this. But here she was trying to get at Hayato.

Second, the student Hayato was fooling around with was Rin. She was the one who let Hayato fondle her breasts. The actual scene where this occurred was more in line with her character. Her justification for doing what she did was something she would come up with. Why she thought it was smart to hold it over Hayato, though, is anyone's guess. Nothing about this matched with anything we knew about Rin.

This happened a few times and it was jarring whenever it did. Therefore, you may be wondering why I don’t mention this in the negative section. It’s because this didn’t change anything. This is not the reason why Plus was inferior to the original.

But before we get into those details, we need to talk about the inclusion of Honoko Saijo (voiced by Sora Tokui).

As the perverse president of the Photography Club, Honoko was Plus’ wild card. You never knew what you were going to get from her. She had her own agenda that did not take into account what the Student Council or anyone else was doing. This made her both a reliable ally and troublesome obstacle simultaneously. That and she was a blast.

Where I had plenty to say, both positive and negative, about Rin, that’s not the case with Honoko. Of the characters that had no bearing on anything that was going on, she was the best. I mean that. She served no purpose. Well, other than giving this season a way to set up some infuriating scenarios.

That wasn’t so much her fault. Thus it was a shame to see such an entertaining character relegated to such a role.

Series Negatives

MWSCP Plus became what I feared the first series was going to be. This season relied on too many low hanging jokes. It was lazy. And then when things were at their lowest, this show was a touch insufferable. Adding to the annoyance was remembering how good the original season was.

I’m happy Ui came back with little alterations to what made her a solid character. But she wasn’t the main reason why I liked MWSCP. Plus dropped almost the entire character building aspect. As a result, the fanservice that worked in the first season's favor wasn't here.

Am I going to bash this season’s version of fanservice? What would be the point? If you continue to this season, you know what you're getting into. There was nothing about Plus that was surprising. Both seasons embraced what they were hoping to do. If this turned you away before, things did not get better.

That said, this season did fail my personal criteria for well-done fanservice. If you were to take it away, there would be nothing to fill its absence.

In addition, there was another huge difference between the first and the second.

There were a lot more fanservice scenes with Hayato and Rin. Actually, there were more of these types of moments with Hayato and characters that weren’t Ui. While this did happen in the original, here Plus missed two key elements.

The first was the lack of intimacy. The more extreme examples of eroticism always involved Ui. Yet there was never anything wrong when these took place. They weren’t hollow sex scenes. Both seasons made it so Ui and Hayato could spend time together.

Nothing needed to be going on. These two could be in the same room and not do anything. Then when they would interact it wasn’t always erotic. Granted, it led there, but it didn’t start there.

We got to see multiple sides of Ui and Hayato. Particularly Ui. Along with her beauty, she was hard working, serious, and motivated. Yet when she was at home, she could be lazy, clumsy, and needy. These weren’t separate sides to her. They were her.

When Ui was at school doing her duties, her more childlike tendencies would be there. When she was relaxing with Hayato, her studious nature wouldn’t go away. This show has never felt the need to remind the audience she was attractive. In actuality, this series made it a point to highlight everything else about her.

There was a good scene in Plus, where Ui and Hayato were doing their homework. There was nothing special about this setup. No one was being sexy in any shape or form. They were just getting their work done. Except, something was distracting Hayato, Ui’s seriousness. In this moment, he didn’t only see a pretty girl. He saw the person he and the rest of the school had so much respect for.

No other character had this.

Whenever Plus replaced Ui with Rin, something was missing. Rin was nowhere near as developed as Ui. Yet she had as many service scenes as Ui did. Some of them were pretty intense. This was whatever, but there was an imbalance.

There were many intricacies to Ui’s character. She had a well-established personality with many nuances. Rin had a crush on Hayato, an awkward aversion to lewdness, and big boobs.

Not quite the same, is it?

But at least Rin was around a lot. She was actually a character. Think about how even more lacking it was whenever anyone else replaced Ui.

The thing is, season one did this too. Ui wasn’t always the focus. There were plenty of erotic scenes with other characters. And some of them got rather ridiculous. Except there was a line and the original would not go past it. Plus did and this was the second problem to the season.

Hayato could no longer say no.

Hayato

This was not the same character. Hayato in Plus was nothing but a jackass. He became the perverted protagonist I praised him for not being.

While Hayato didn’t go out of his way to be lecherous, he didn’t do much to get out of a situation when it happened. Before, he was capable of stopping his impulses. When things were getting out of hand, he did his best to not make things worse. And make things worse was what he did in this season.

Before when Hayato fell into a compromising position, he was not in control. There was often little if anything he could do about what was happening. Here, he almost always had an out. And he would not take them.

For instance, going back to the scene where Rin let Hayato touch her, she took him by surprise. She was the one who placed his hands on her chest. That was not his doing and had this been season one that would have been the end of it. Not this season. No one told Hayato he had to start moving on his own and cause Rin to moan out in pleasure.

Back in season one, the only person Hayato had trouble controlling himself around was Ui. Yet even then, there were times when he would force himself to hold back. When there was an option to be sexy or have Hayato and Ui get closer, the original sometimes chose the latter. By doing so, it made the former better. Plus almost never went with the second option.

There was an episode where Ui had a high fever. One route could have been Hayato actually nursing Ui through her sickness. It would have resulted in a strong bonding experience for the two of them. And this wouldn’t have taken that much effort.

In this episode, there were three erotic points. Hayato only needed to be like he was in last season during the first one. Instead of feeding Ui her dinner in the most provocative manner possible, he could’ve simply fed it to her.

In season one, Hayato would have recognized the situation Ui was in and would have done his best to care for her. Could he still have gotten aroused, sure, why not? But he didn’t need to be as blatant about it as he was. Especially knowing what else happened in this episode.

I said there were three major points of eroticism. Let me put it this way. The third one involved a suppository. That could have been the line where Hayato lost his composure.

Even with that, there was one thing that ruined Hayato’s character. There were a couple of situations where he could have kissed someone who wasn’t Ui. The worst of it was when he almost went through with it with Rin.

There came a point where Honoko asked Hayato and Rin to embrace each other. Why, because of reasons. As this was happening, I was waiting for Hayato to wake up and see what he was doing. I was waiting for him to stop. He never did. The kiss didn’t happen because it was Rin who got cold feet.

To make it even worse, Ui was in the room watching this go down. Then when Rin ran off, Ui jumped in her place. Yet this kiss was a no go as well. Who stopped this one? It was Hayato. He didn’t even hesitate. Had things kept going, he was ready to do this with Rin. But he was going to get weirded out with Ui? Odd since he had already sucked on her tits more than once by this point.

Amongst the downfall that was Plus, Hayato was its biggest casualty.

Final Thoughts

I was looking forward to this season. But early on it became apparent that something was not right.

There weren’t many things this season did better than the first. And the things that were better were a poor substitute for what this show lost. The charm and personality from the original stayed in the original. While I won’t say the fanservice wasn’t a selling point of this series, it wasn’t what made it worth checking out.

For a show that was able to go extreme and not get distracted by its own erotic nature, it sucked that did not continue.

Even though this was short, My Wife is the Student Council President Plus is not worth your time. The first season is all you will need.

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