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Several anime have an [Absurdly Powerful Student
Council](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil)
(warning, TV Tropes link, don't get sucked in). In the most extreme versions,
the student council is trying to take over the world.

Even in less extreme examples, the student council...

  1. Punishes students for breaking rules or dress-code, sometimes outside of school grounds

  2. Closes a school club to hurt the main character, or doesn't allow a club to open even with sufficient student interest

  3. Has exclusive access to special libraries and other assets that would benefit all students

  4. Has lavish "student council only" rooms that are off limits to all other students

  5. Decides which clubs get the most funding (and uses it to make people do favors for them)

  6. Has the keys for every door in the school, including dangerous places like the trash compactor, the furnace, and the roof.

  7. Invites other students to join the council without a vote

**Do Japanese student councils do any of this, or have other actual powers an
American student council could only dream of?**

**EDIT**

In American TV shows about high-schools or universities the villain is usually
an adult teacher like [Sue
Sylvester](https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/Sue_Sylvester#:%7E:text=Sue%20Sylvester%20is%20the%20main%20antagonist%20of%20the%20TV%20show%20Glee.)
from Glee or [Ben
Chang](https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/Ben_Chang#:%7E:text=Ben%20Chang%20is%20the%20main%20antagonist%20of%20the%20sitcom%20Community.)
from Community, or a bully like
[Biff](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biff_Tannen) from Back to the Future. I
do not believe I've seen an American TV show or movie where anyone on the
student council was the primary antagonist.


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tropes
Do Japanese Student councils have actual power (punishing students, revoking clubs, etc)?


**TL;DR:** No, real-life student councils do not have **absolute** powers and
aren't as powerful as depicted in anime or manga.

**Long answer**

Japanese school life tends to be much more hierarchical and organized, with
students being put in charge of far more of how things operate and thus the
concept of student council comes. So first, let's define student council in
Japanese schools. According to
[Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student_council):

> [...] student councils were added to Japanese schools after World War II. In
> Japanese schools, students in a class stay together as a cohesive set in the
> same homeroom for most of the day. Each class has one or more elected
> representatives who reports to student council. The student council consists
> of members who are elected by the student body. The council is often
> responsible for organizing events such as the culture festival, sports day,
> and class field trips. _The council also oversees the school clubs, and has
> absolute influence on school and club policies._

Note that it says it can influence school policies and rules but that doesn't
mean that they have the absolute power to set and govern school rules. Those
are done by schools administrations. To be more precise1:

> In anime no one is cooler or more highly revered in high school than the
> student council. They are are held at a higher prestige, respect, and hold
> actual authority over other students. **While in reality this is just not
> true at all. The student council does not have authority to make decisions
> when it comes to school rules or how the school operates. The school
> administration is held at higher regards than the student council,** and age
> is just as important in regards to authority. One of the pole participants
> who was part of the student council in high school chimed in on the
> situation, “I was a member of the student council, and we didn’t have much
> actual authority.”

So, despite student council being depicted as the absolute power-wielding
entities who can revolutionize the world, in real-life they have, more or
less, very little power. But don't get me wrong! They are still very strict
and disciplined, and at least hold powers to control club activities/policies
and set all sorts of classroom rules. In some schools, they are given the
power to set and run events like field day or cultural festival and organize
class trips. Please read ref. 3 and ref. 4 for an exhaustive discussion.

**References**

  1. [Japanese Students Reveal Differences Between Anime High school And Real Life](https://comicbook.com/anime/news/japanese-students-reveal-four-differences-between-anime-high-sch/#2)
  2. [4 ways anime high schools differ to real-life Japanese high schools](https://www.sbs.com.au/popasia/blog/2017/04/11/4-ways-anime-high-schools-differ-real-life-japanese-high-schools)
  3. [What Are Japanese Student Councils REALLY Like?](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/answerman/2016-01-20/.97769) (Here, it points out how Japanese student council works differently from American schools. It also notes that _[Only Yesterday](https://myanimelist.net/anime/1029/Omoide_Poroporo?q=only%20yes&cat=anime)_ and _[His and her Circumstances](https://myanimelist.net/anime/145/Kareshi_Kanojo_no_Jijou?q=his%20and%20her%20circums&cat=anime)_ have depicted student council accurately)
  4. [Japanese Student Council: Differences between Anime and Real Life](https://learnjapaneseanime.com/culture-custom/school/japanese-student-council-authority/) (You can find an exhaustive explanation, discussing every differences by pointing out every depiction shown in anime and differentiating them from real life portrayal).


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Kind of a weird question at least as of the current revision because I had the
exact same question earlier this year and checked that tvtropes article for
the answer and it's exactly there

> Note that in Japanese schools, this is an exaggeration of Truth in
> Television, as the Student Councils actually _do_ have power over the
> approval and funding of student clubs. School Clubs Are Serious Business is
> a real thing in Japan, 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 club. And just like in
> their future jobs, students are expected to show utmost loyalty to their
> club: once you join, you're there until you graduate. Likewise, in private
> schools in the United Kingdom, prefect councils often perform the same
> functions that an honour council fulfills at a university, and any year's
> prefects are assigned to keep order in the teacher's absence. Are you
> starting to see the clout Student Council can hold? (More details in the
> Real Life section below.)


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