Class Representative
Stand. Bow. Sit.
—The Class Rep
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She is smart, poised, caring, and she butts her nose in where no one wants it.
The Class Representative is disturbed by how the lead or their friends don't participate in club activities or how their grades are slipping and never gets the hint that nobody cares about that stuff. Can be The Smart Guy. Usually this character is female.
Frequently admonishes the cast for small mistakes, helps makes up for the Two-Teacher School, and is the class's representative (hence the name) on the Absurdly Powerful Student Council. An Anime example will almost always called "iinchou" ("class rep") or in a classic Latin American Soap Opera example, is always called in Spanish "Jefe(a) de Grupo/Clase" (Group/Class Boss) in place of her real name. In British schools (and in some countries that were part of the empire), these are known as "Prefects" (Schools with more than one also tend to have a "Head Boy" and "Head Girl" who are in charge of the rest of them) and tend to have a square or shield shaped badge pinned somewhere on their uniform to identify them (all of which is Truth in Television, although not all schools have them and they don't have anywhere near as much responsibility as they used to).
Sometimes can be an approachable authority when the protagonist gets into a mess, but doesn't want to involve the adults. In this case expect the protagonist to develop a new respect for the Class Rep.
Lately has started appearing as a member of the Unwanted Harem.
Can initiate a Selective Enforcement plot by catching the small offense.
Anime and Manga
- The page image is Hikawa from a Tuna Empire smut named After School Sex Slave Club.
- Setsuna Kiyoura in School Days. Also, Kotonoha is a member of the school council but not her class representative.
- Youko Nakajima in The Twelve Kingdoms starts out as the class rep, although contrary to the trope, she's a very passive figure who goes along with what other people say rather than risk their disapproval. By the time she grows out of that tendency, she's Trapped in Another World.
- Adachi Hana of Yankee Kun to Megane Chan is somewhat of a weird version of this trope. She's a former Yankee, terrible at schoolwork, terrible at everything, and just plain weird. She also rocks the glasses/braids look, because she thinks it automatically makes her the perfect class rep.
- Asakura Ryouko, in Suzumiya Haruhi. She's cute, smart, cheerful, caring... She's absolutely perfect!
- Horaki Hikari in Neon Genesis Evangelion. She also has the honor of being one of the few characters in Evangelion to be anything close to well-adjusted. Though that might just because she's out of focus enough that we don't see her horribly messed up psyche, and backstory. Or the fact that she's one of only two characters in the whole series who has siblings (the other being her crush and most frequent target of her wrath).
- The position of Class Rep is an early bone of contention between the central characters of Kare Kano, Arima and Yukino, who later fall in love with each other.
- Nanami from Bokura ga Ita, although she didn't want the role, sucks at her job and abuses her power.
- Eri Ninamori from FLCL was a notable subversion. She was the class president (as revealed in episode 3), but she wasn't very upstanding about it, and even abused the power to ensure that she and Naota would be the lead roles in the school play because she liked him.
- Keiko Yukimura in Yu Yu Hakusho is mentioned as being this for Yusuke's class. She gets really, really annoyed with Yusuke for skipping school, getting horrible grades, and in general being an ass.
- Ichijou from Pani Poni Dash! is another subversion. She's the class president, but also a complete Cloudcuckoolander who does all sorts of bizarre things (including flying) with a seemingly casual air.
- Yukihiro Ayaka from Mahou Sensei Negima the role really shows with her butting heads with Asuna and any group activity she is present in. Word of God says that this trope is the only reason why she can hold a phone conversation with the then The Voiceless Zazie (which her speech bubbles in that consisted of just Visible Silence.) as a "Class Rep must understand her class she represents".
- Also, when Yue loses her memory and is enrolled in the Magical Knights Academy, she meets a class representative who starts out as the Alpha Bitch (but soon becomes more friendly)
- Gakuen Alice has Yuu Tobita, one of the few students that didn't berate Mikan for her weird Alice and late discovery. There are quite a few as the story progresses due to the larger role other characters start to play. There's Tono who is the the representative of the Special Ability Class, though he doesn't fit the mold. There is also Subaru, representative of the Somatic Ability Class, who looks the part but has some touches of Adult Child at times, mostly around his sister due to sibiling rivalry. In between is the male lead, who represents the entire elementary branch rather than one classroom. His (limited) authority over the kindergarten kids allows him to demonstrate good around children to the female lead.
- Chiyo in Azumanga Daioh, though not the typical one as described above.
- Twin sisters Ryou and Kyou in Clannad.
- Chiri in Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei acts like one, even though she's not - as a Running Gag, the actual class representative is almost perpetually unnoticed by the other characters.
- Honoka in Futari wa Pretty Cure is apparently supposed to be the class rep, but this doesn't have any visible effect on anything. The only time anything Class Representative-ish actually happens, it's near the end of Max Heart, and it's minor character Seiko that's doing it.
- The two class reps in Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash Star were recurring characters, but again, their representative-ness was never really of any importance.
- Chidori Kaname in Full Metal Panic!!. She's an absurdly powerful Class Representative, she practically runs class for most of the time.
- Teshigawara in First Love Sisters.
- Male versions: Kunimitsu Tezuka (who's also Council President) and Syuichirou Oishi in The Prince of Tennis. The information coming from artbooks says that Keigo Atobe, Genichirou Sanada and Hiroshi Yagyuu are also members of the student councils in their respective schools.
- Reika Tamaki in Ojamajo Doremi. There's a whole episode dedicated to the Ojamajos aiding a sweet boy who's her rival for the Class Rep elections, and they get so carried away with overthrowing Tamaki that they almost ruin this campaign.
- Haruka of My-HiME fits the trope description to a T. We only see her as a member of the Absurdly Powerful Student Council, but she's undoubtedly president of whatever class she's in.
- Shizuru used to be one before becoming Student Council President, as noted in Natsuki no Prelude. In the manga, Akira is Takumi's class representative.
- Tomoe from Mai-Otome, the second ranked Coral, introduces herself in episode 2 as the representative for her class.
- Akane Asahina in Kanokon. She tries to keep Chizuru's antics under control, but considering she's a normal human, completely unaware of the supernatural around her, it ends up being futile.
- Eimi in Magical Project S parodies this character type. She is obsessed with keeping everybody (even people not part of the school) within the (unusually extensive) school rules at all times, even standing up to Pixy Misa a few times in the process. This just makes it funnier when she gets brainwashed into being a magical girl, then has a breakdown after she's returned to her normal mental state when she finds her gaudy outfit breaks the school rules and she can't de-transform out of it.
- Matsunaga in Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan has the bad luck to be class rep when Dokuro joins the class. As a new student, she's told to sit with him; Dokuro would rather sit with Sakura, so she casually turns Matsunaga into an ape. He stays this way throughout the series.
- Fumitsuki Nanakorobi in Happy Lesson, although she tends to leave some of the discipline stuff to the teachers. Also has a crush on the main character, and frequently gets upset with him. In the manga version, she gets less upset with the main character, although that's partly because the anime and manga have different main characters (That Other Wiki can explain it better than I can).
- Nene in Hyakko. Torako is shocked to find out she's the class rep, since unlike most of the examples on this page, she doesn't have the glasses indicative of the position.
- Tomoko Hoshina in To Heart. However, she loses the typical bossy class rep attitude in Remember my Memories, when she moves to Kobe.
- Also, Manaka Komaki from To Heart 2. Though she's more of a class rep on paper, as she fails to manage the class properly. She's a Hot Librarian though...
- Seto no Hanayome's class rep is the unfortunate version who never gets a name beyond "Iinchou". Though when she removes her glasses, Nagasumi finally notices her. When she gets really angry, she becomes Amazoness!
- Although Chrono Crusade is set in 1920's America and Rosette doesn't go to a school, there's still a character that falls under this trope. A bonus story in the manga talks about her childhood friendship with a girl name Beth, who is a "monitor" at the Order and has the bossy, rules-obsessed personality that class reps typically have in anime.
- Haruna in To LOVE-Ru. She's representative for a year, then declines to run again. Then Lala and Yui vie for the spot the next year. Haruna wins anyway because no one wants to vote for Lala or Yui. (Yui's a hardass, and Lala has no clue what she's doing.)
- Sumika Murasame from Sasameki Koto, though not the stereotypical busybody type.
- You know that one 4chan banner with a distressed girl yelling "No raping in the classroom"? She's class president. The source is a hentai manga called Anal Justice 2... which you seriously should not look up.
- Takako Ayase from Midori no Hibi.
- Izumi Segawa from Hayate the Combat Butler is happier goofing off with her classmates than bothering with her duties.
- Teru Mikami of Death Note in his Backstory. He took his role as Class President and protecting his peers very seriously... when no one else did... The result-he comes to see the world in a very black and white perspective and comes to believe that no one else cares about justice as he does... (that is until he becomes The Dragon to his God Kira...)
- In Soul Eater, Spirit recalls with horror that Yumi Azusa used to be the class rep...and is still bossing around her classmates, now fellow staff-members, like naughty schoolchildren. Which, given the Shibusen faculty is probably quite right and necessary for anyone to get anything done, including the headmaster Lord Death.
- In Amagami there's Ayatsuji Tsukasa who is a very nice person. Turns out it was just a facade; she's actually a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing.
- Shizuka from Doki Doki School Hours.
- Hao Xuan from School Shock is an interesting take on the class rep: he's an apathetic, nihilistic guy who's completely aware of that he was only elected to be the class's errand boy and has absolutely no power or influence.
- Kaho Hiiragi in Freezing.
- Ayumi Shinozaki of Corpse Party: Blood Covered subverts the usual personality type: she's a Girlish Pigtail-sporting, cheerful scary story fanatic.
- In Lucky Star:[1]
- Kagami isn't one by the time the manga starts, but she was head of the first-year reps during that year.
- Unsurprisingly, Miyuki was head of the third-year reps and Student Council President during third year.
- Misao was the Athletics Rep for her class.
- Ayano was on the Discipline Committee.
- Kou[2] was the Student Body Treasurer.
- Yutaka ran for the position, but didn't get elected.
- Minami is on the Health Committee.
- None of the listed sensei sponsor any.
- In Oniisama e..., Kaoru Orihara aka "Kaoru no kimi" is the class rep for Nanako and the other freshwomen's class. Kaoru is somewhat of a subversion, though: she actually had to be held back a year due to being an Ill Girl so she didn't get the spot due to grades, and can be very... Hot-Blooded, to say it politely, if she finds out about bullying in class. She still does fill in when it comes to leadership, though.
- Yukari Sakuragi in Another. But she dies VERY early in th story.
- Major subversion: Rin Kokonoe from Kodomo No Jikan is the class rep.
Literature
- Harry Potter has Hermione Granger as the living, breathing personification of this trope as she constantly annoys her peers with her knowledge in the beginning and helps them later on.
- Percy Weasley is another example, with the variation of what happens when you take it a little too far...
- Anata o Shinjiteru, one of the Novelizations of the Dating Sim Tokimeki Memorial 2, has Sayo Tsukimura, who's the representative of the same class as the novel's main hero Shunta Torigoe, and main heroine Kaori Yae. She's only obnoxious towards Shunta though, because she's secretly in love with him and thus all Tsundere towards him; with other people, she's well-liked and respected.
Film
- Summer from School of Rock. Complains when told that the class no longer has to do any schoolwork.
Live-Action TV
- Liberty Van Zandt in Seasons 1-4 is an ambitious know-it-all student of Degrassi. She was responsible for involving the school in putting on a performance of 'Dracula' to express the darkness the school went through. After season four she doesn't so much represent the class as rule it.
- The Suite Life of Zack and Cody's Cody Martin is the "educationally gifted" character who won the election for 8th grade class president on his academic ideals.
- Annie Edison started out as this on Community, albeit a likable version. She's chilled out a bit over the run of the show, but still shows her type-A tendencies every so often.
- One season of Grange Hill featured an expoited/invoked version of the trope; the school itself didn't have a prefect system, however (with the help of a badge from another nearby school which does) an older student is able to convince some year sevens (there was a running gag that they had based all their expectations of secondary school on Harry Potter) that she is one.
Video Games
- Iinchou (Chairperson) from Rival Schools, who is never even given a real name and readily jumps into the brawl and starts kicking ass...well, maybe a little. Unless you have Iinchou as your assistant character rather than direct fighter. In that role, she's unstoppable!
- Luna Platz in Mega Man Star Force focuses her school-spirit efforts on a particularly difficult target: the hero, Geo Stelar. (It takes her half of the first game to get him to attend school at all.) Her cronies Bud and Zack always call her "Prez" (see "iinchou" above); by the second game, Geo and Omega-Xis are doing this too.
- In the third game, this is used to Geo's benefit in the postgame quest. Taurus Fire R attempts to impersonate Bud to keep Geo from attacking him by stating he learned about a virus outbreak by Luna. Failing to call her "Prez" confirms Geo's suspicions about his identity.
- Ayumi Shinozaki of Corpse Party has the position, but not the typical personality. She loves to tell scary stories.
=== Visual Novels ==-
- Katawa Shoujo: Shizune Hakamichi and Lily Satou are both Class Reps. This is especially impressive in Shizune's case since she is both deaf and mute. Lily prefers a more laid back approach from what we have seen while Shizune plays the trope straight.
- Maji De Watashi Ni Koi Shinasai has two significant characters: 2-F's Token Loli Mayo, who volunteered for the position when nobody else would come forward, and Hideo, who serves the same role for 2-S. It's not arguable that the latter is slightly better suited for the role, which results in Yamato frequently taking charge of 2-F during activities.
Web Comics
- Alex definitely fits this trope in The Wotch: Cheer!
Western Animation
- Jodie from Daria is always trying to get the title character to participate in school activities.
- Chris Alice in Growing Up Creepy is made of pure, undiluted school spirit.
- Courtney is probably this on Total Drama Island. Noah actually is (well, class president), and in a subversion so are Geoff and Heather.
- Gretchen Grundler of Recess once did everyone's homework expecting that they were going to use it to help themself's learn the material. Another time she ran for class president on her academic ideals.