Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate/Koichoco (also known as Love, Election, and Chocolate) is an anime series produced by AIC Build (Haganai, Oremio) and directed by Tōru Kitahata. The anime is also based off an adult visual novel developed by Sprite. Now what a minute. Did I see the word “adult” in that statement? One might expect some ecchi or or specifically, “adult scenes” in this series, right? Well, not all the case because in the anime world today, censorship and limitations holds this series at its limit.
Judging by the title of the series, it can be quite easy to predict what the anime may be about especially the given three parts. First, we got the four letter forbidden word: love. From there, one can imply that the series will have romance. And you're right because Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate does have that especially between the main male and female protagonist in the series. The second part, election consists of what the drama takes place at the school in the series. Election is for leadership, to lead a student body, and more importantly to represent themselves. Finally, we have the chocolate. Beyond the sweets and flavor, the chocolate here seem to symbolize the sweetness of life. It is every moment of life that the students at the academy enjoy with their friends and the memories they create to make their lives worthwhile.
Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate takes place at the setting of Takafuji Private Academy, a rather large school composed of over 6000 students. Within these group of students is the Food Research Club (Shokken) and here we are introduced the main protagonist, Yuki Ojima of the series. The club doesn't do much during their everyday boring lives till the shocking news of that their club will be abolished. Anyone hearing that sort of news definitely wouldn't be happy. Well, the FRC definitely has a few things to say about that. As such, Ojima takes the election of the title and runs for president.
Now, Yuki Ojima seems to be the type of guy who is lazy and avoids doing work. It's bothersome for him and like some of us, tries to procrastinate and put things off as long as possible. His childhood friend, Chisato is there for him though and the two duo makes a strange couple of sorts in the series. The problem here is that these two seems to have a weak chemistry at first. They don't seem to connect and neither do their personalities match. It seems that Yuki is more compatible with some of the other characters, well almost anyone except that guy with the yaoi stick. I mean, that's just not right. But all jokes aside, Chisato and Yuki starts off the series in a bizarre way. With the election coming up, it's time to kill that laziness and say hello to some responsibility.
Being part of a large school also means allies, friends, and rivals. Satsuki seems to serve as the sort of antithesis in the series who not only play as Yuki's main opponent in the election, but also sort of his outer image. She is like the vanilla flavor of a chocolate and becomes an obstacle of the FRC.
The story itself have a lot of drama in them. From the very beginning, there is a head and run and later on follows a similar fashion. And of course, election is all about drama especially for those who can win the favors from the students at the academy. It is strange though that in this series, the drama depicted often shifts to different focuses. It intertwines drama between the characters or personal relationships occasionally but at other times, focuses on the topic of elections. Employing this style of story is risky but thankfully in this series, it works out somewhat well. Drama is never easy to employ and with an academy of over 6000 students, just imagine all the possibilities.
The artwork of Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate is pretty generic to say the least. There is a lot of stereotypes here including Hazuki oniisama who is portrayed as an older woman with tits and the bossy attitude. The school setting itself is also normal despite its large size. The outer settings are those of at typical school in the modern ages and nothing special about that. In fact, the series doesn't take place at much elsewhere besides school. After all, school is where love, elections, and drama are born. On the characters' design side, there seems to be some similarities between this series and Amagami SS; even the drama is there.
As for the music, the series employs a rather soft melody of school like tunes. It employs both soft rhythm (during calm and comedic scenes) to more dramatic music during scenes that are more emotional. It does mixes in well though and some might even give some credit to Elements Garden, the folks responsible for orchestrating the themes. The OP song, "Signal Graph" by Annabel is orchestrated peacefully but also with feeling that depicts the drama in the series. The montage of characters are shown in sequences and even little bits of drama between Yuki x Chisato and what's to come later. Don't forget the election part though as that's what keeps the drama in within the series. The ED song "Kaze no Naka no Primrose" by Ceui follows a similar fashion and presents that school like feeling courtesy of Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate.
This series is actually not bad and has plenty of interesting points. The elections are one of the major themes and throughout the series focuses on it quite well with minimal fillers. Even when the fillers are present occasionally (that are usually short), they still stick with the overall drama theme and how people develop relationships, form bonds, and overcome obstacles together. Like the large cast of school, there is a large cast of characters who each (although some less than others) get their own little spotlights. The oniisama Hazuki, the competitive Satsuki, the black haired loli Michiru, the hyper genius Non-chan, and even that guy with the yaoi stick all get their little moments in. It's amusing and in some ways wants us to be there with them to join the fun and help with the election wars.
Ultimately, this series is peculiar. In one way, it's generic and so predictable of the eventual outcome. In another, it is entertaining to watch with all the characters and the drama going around at the huge academy. Just imagine yourself there and trying to become a leader of a student body of that magnitude. It would be like a living hell to handle that sort of responsibility. Despite this though, the series does adapt well and presents drama at its finest with both the elections and personal relationships. The music and artwork focuses on the typical school life and that each day we get by is another day to learn about the world around us. The content of the story has little fillers so it can all be watchable at once in a marathon for those who are fans into that sort of thing.
Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate is a series to enjoy like an extra curricular activity and not stress over yourself of the eventual outcome. School is filled with drama so loosen up a bit as elections are not never easy. To enjoy this series at your fullest isn't easy either but just look at it like a drama play.
