This review will contain no spoilers unless further warned. Img800https://tiny.io/i/TrZwp5R.jpeg Overview Prison School was a series that was bound to have mixed reception from its very conception I mean its basically about a comedic sexuallytoned highschool slave camp but the criticism and modern perception runs a little bit deeper than that. To nonfans Prison School is an overly sexual clusterfuck of cringeworthy content to fans the series past the anime remains in an ambiguous light. Though they obviously find the anime gutbustingly hilarious many supporters of the series remark on it in a negative manner. This core issue if youre unaware stems from the last 100 or so chapters of the manga and the bizarre direction the ending takes. Im not here to defend or attack the series but Id like to chronicle my thoughts and opinions. So without further ado lets get into the meat and bones. For those of you unfamiliar with the premise it basically revolves around 5 boys Kiyoshi Joe Gakuto Shingo and Andre as they embark upon increasingly degenerative adventures in an allgirls highschool. So yes the archetypal Ecchi setting however this time with a twist theme prison. Our lads immediately get comically caught attempting to peep on girls while changing and are subsequently locked up inside an inschool prison system. Naturally the female guards are abusive I have to say this is a perfect setup for comedic potential. Limiting our characters actions gives birth to increasingly creative yet awkward scenes but I proceed myself. Either way this is the basic premise but the manga goes quite past this narrow scope. We get to see each of our characters leave prison and individually develop in intriguing ways though the prison is still there I cant get into its purpose without spoilers. So for now Ill leave it at that. The Comedy Img800https://tiny.io/i/W9c1g1V.jpeg First and foremost Prison School is very much a comedy. Ive heard some say it relies on shock and grossout humor and though it can be there I believe thats a great disservice to the humor in play for most of the series. I get it though for the style can certainly be jarring at times. It takes sexuality and pumps it up to eleven constantly formulating clever and everexpanding gag strings that permeate through the entirety of the chapter and most of the time beyond that. It establishes things about characters like Joe loving his ants and Andre being a masochist early on and continues to run with that building again and again upon the original joke until the characters have developed past their original states. Well for the most part. Characters like Shingo honestly stay underdeveloped throughout the series which is a glaring flaw but he has his moments and doesnt feel entirely useless to the cast. Lots of the more standalone jokes rely on getting our protagonists into the most inexplicably awkward situations conceivable however. They just continuously get more absurd confounding onto the bizarre tone of the series and theres a ton of examples of this type of humor within the show. Like Hana needing Kiyoshi to piss in front of her to satisfy her twisted naive and misguided revenge even Gakuto heroically shitting his pants in the middle of class to get an audio file for his dear comrade Kiyoshi. Img800https://tiny.io/i/XglfEMM.jpeg This is where the issues begin to arise however how absurd is too absurd? Entering the Sports Festival Arc we travel into the realm of the completely ludicrous and this was a turn off for many. It somewhat broke the internal grounded logic of the series. Andre becomes a giant dog thing? Why not? Kiyoshi fucking dies from a boner? Why not? The principle crashes a fucking helicopter into the school building? Why the hell not? Some of these things are relatively clever and hit but others miss and when they miss they miss hard. Thats key issue number one anyways for theres another feature that makes many hate the latter half of the manga: bloat. Bloat is a word I see constantly thrown around in reference to the Sports Festival and Calvary Battle Arc as many feel like jokes somewhat stagnated and didnt evolve fast enough for the pacing. While I dont necessarily agree there is certainly credence to the idea. Put together it lasts 75 whole chapters you get a similar feeling to Dressrosa fatigue. Its set in this one bland location and general concept. I believe no matter how much they evolved the jokes within the arc being confined to that one space and premise would have pissed most off anyways. It does not help that absurdism began to truly bloom here. Img800https://tiny.io/i/pHb9y0w.jpeg I likely came off as very critical in that last paragraph but honestly I love even the more controversial parts of the story. The clever writing remains I think the absurdism is fine for the most part. Andres descent into madness feels like a hyperbolization of his masochism and it leads to genuine development for characters like Risa. I do admit that the joke dragged on for far too long though. I feel slightly dishonest to have talked of the Sports Festival and Calvary Battle arc and have omitted the Chairman Side Story Arc however. For this arc is perhaps the greatest single thing to have graced the pages of Prison Schools run despite its awkward juxtaposition to the concurrent chapters. The Chairman is a serious guy who does serious things but hes also an ass man. He loves ass upon seeing a fine piece of ass he picks her up and takes her to her destination. Unfortunately he ends up crashing and getting amnesia making for a mystery where he believes hes an action hero running from an evil organization its fucking brilliant. Genuinely the peak of absurd premises. His sort of action hero demeanor is in stark contrast to the very normal events that happen around him as he ends up cheating on some mans wife and even getting into a fight with a bear due to a misunderstanding. They keep bringing unexpected things from earlier in the arc in to play such as his crashed car and a dog. Sadly I cant spoil how but damn does this arc craft comedic structure well. So weve established that the series mostly uses absurdist and blue comedy to deliver its punchlines blue meaning comedy thats sexual in nature. However it would be unfair to mention the key issue that would turn people off from the manga: grossout humor. While theres almost always an actual joke to go along with it it stands to reason that scenes like Vice Principal Meiko pouring buckets of sweat sexually or punishing prisoners with a riding crop would turn many off. Sadly this issue is only exacerbated by the anime which in all regards is an incredible adaptation which only makes the realisticallydrawn cringe worthy scenes all the more painful. I never personally thought the series was hard to read for its more repulsive content but I would be remiss to not write about it as it is a key part of the series. Img800https://tiny.io/i/PZJc2EA.jpeg Another commonality one may find within many jokes is a sense of camaraderie or at times lack thereof. Prison School is a very the boys type story as we watch our main five indulge in ridiculous farces constantly. Of course their relationship is petty and shallow as they get mad and envious of each other just for interacting with women. This gap that builds in their relationship is usually rectified however as they are forced to give up pettiness to overcome their issues. The connotation the boys brings along may seem cringeworthy at times but its executed fantastically here. It gives them a real sense of chemistry as they sacrifice things for one another and even betray each other. Seeing Gakuto give up things in his own personal interest for what he believes is the best for his friend ultimately is touching and feels genuine. You can feel the real bond beneath them even if some things drive wedges in it which I think is rather realistic. Real life longtime friends fight over stupid bullshit all the time after all. Finally theres a sort of psychological aspect to certain arcs of the story. We get to see characters play constant mind games and outsmart each other usually leading into some ridiculously sexualized mishap and its fun. Its entertaining to see these five munted boys attempt to escape a prison while under constant surveillance of brutal guards. I wouldnt say this is a main appeal of the comedy but its certainly there I think people who like psychological mind games would love the comedic romps here. Its similar to Kaguya Sama: Love Is War except far more clever in building up to the most ridiculous outcomes possible. Thematics Img800https://tiny.io/i/VyRYael.jpeg One of the core themes of Prison School is evidently from the comedy sex. Considering the raunchy and crude nature of Prison Schools subject matter one might assume it to lack nuance or just not attempt to do anything outside of comedy but Id like to beg to differ. Theres actually some interesting nuance covered under the guise under the comedy which isnt present enough to mean a lot for many but I really appreciated the message the story tried to convey. It adequately explored sexual relationships between minors and how that can scar ones development especially with relationships such as Hana and Kiyoshi. They became so twisted up in each other that it devolved into sexual degeneracy that neither would ever return from or thats at least what they thought at the time. They actually develop as people though and learn to move on past that and try to form healthy relationships. This is one of the many ways Prison School explored sexuality and relationships it was shockingly adequate as commentary while being comedic. Img800https://tiny.io/i/RYDbMIR.jpeg To venture down another avenue or sexuality how about fetishes? With a quick dismissal of Hanas piss obsession Id like to hone in on Risa and Andres dichotomy. For those of you unaware Andre is a brutal masochist. He gets his greatest pleasure in life from being mistreated and abused by women which is often drawn to a comically exaggerated extent. Then theres Vice President Meiko shes a boorish but hot bitch who constantly abuses Andre in prison. Naturally Andre takes a liking to her and her whippings through a series of psychological tribulations she breaks Andre down into a husk that needs punishment. However she disappears due to a certain story development and this is where Risa comes in. Feeling bad for the big dumb and kind Andre she gradually warms up to him. Eventually she takes on the mantle of trying to become his Queen. This is a phenomenal gateway into the relationship between a sadist and a masochist as we begin to sympathize with her attempts to capture the magic the Vice President once had. Andre continuously puts her off for his one true Queen for he can feel her reluctance and care for him but eventually due to her neglect of him she finally clicks for him. We get to see the effort Risa put in to be his Queen and how specifically she did it. Of course most sadistmasochist relationships in real life are more grounded but the core concepts remain. We really get to see Risa bloom for someone she cares about and I think thats underappreciated. Img800https://tiny.io/i/dGQYPuJ.jpeg Expanding the field of fetishes and sexuality we see Hana get obsessed with seeing male piss due to her own morbid curiosity. This is presented in a comedic light of course but its a genuine exploration of her own psychology as she develops a piss fetish. However when she gets to the point where shell finally see it something beautiful happens. Shes hit with a truck of instant regret coming to the epiphany that her morbid curiosity was just that a curiosity. She was so hellbent in her own perfect fantasy that she didnt realize the realistic repercussions of such a thing actually happening. This happens a lot in real life with fetishes such as wax play or cock and ball torture people begin to realize a fantasy should remain within its own fictional confines. Of course this isnt always true but Im glad it was addressed here. Hana realizes that such a thing would ruin her own innocence and that she wants to form genuine romantic connections with others. What a nice stroke for her character. Another resounding theme of Prison School is its characters constant selfishness and perversion. The boys especially act purely in selfinterest often for lust and sometimes for social gain. Everyones willing to betray each other despite their supposed camaraderie in the end selfishness is their downfall. Img800https://tiny.io/i/rNZdeBv.jpeg Lastly perhaps the most permeating relationshipbased theme in Prison School involves the very foundation of a relationship. Partnership is based on ones own maturity and willingness to love and trust their partner a relationship built upon a lie will never last. Our boys get caught up in frivolous and selfconcerned connections that make them lie for their own game and they get punished for it. Ill get into this in my spoiler section but the main point of the ending of the manga was to prove this point. One who isnt mature enough to be honest with their partner isnt mature enough to hold a real connection. We see people fail time and time again from their own selfish actions and we see people giving into their own lust get continuously beat across the head yet they never learn. Well they might at the end but Ill save it. Characters Img800https://tiny.io/i/CIraoT5.jpeg Im gonna go over each character and their arcs in this section with both a spoiler and nonspoiler section for each. That way I can analyze their development thoroughly while providing general and baseline thoughts for those unfamiliar with the material. Kiyoshi Kiyoshi at first appears to be your typical ecchi protagonist. Hes a bit of a perv whos only encouraged by his friends but hes a good guy at heart debatably. He can be selfish and lie to get what he wants but he has a lingering sense of guilt and shame. Though this is archetypal it sets a good stage for the themes of the story by the end hes developed in such a uniquely bizarre way that Im astounded. I cant say everyone will like this character but seeing him struggle with morals and hornyness is entertaining. This all changes and pays off brilliantly at the end however. Gakuto If I had to peg Gakuto as anything I would say the primary comedic relief or at the very least the funniest. Hes a perverted nerd who has an odd obsession with The Three Kingdoms and at the beginning of the story hes as selfconcerned as the rest of them but he changes. He learns theres more important things than his own gain and becomes a martyr at certain points in the story his development makes sense and feels genuine even if the latter half takes it in a different direction. Hes always put into awkward situations and seeing his nerdy reactions and speech patterns is always refreshingly funny. Hes the sort of fan favorite I hope everyone would like he genuinely ranks among some of my favorite comedic reliefs. Thats not all though he has very real character issues beyond his perversion. He constantly struggles with his own selfish desires while trying to balance whats right and his social relationships which is cool to see. Beyond him struggling with his selfishness he battles indecisiveness especially in love. The manga uses this to show how being passive and indecisive in a relationship can hurt ones partner or conversely potential partners. Hana Perhaps the strangest character in the entire manga Hana is a somewhat crude and delusional chick who gets infatuated with seeing Kiyoshis piss after he accidentally sees her peeing leading to many comedic moments and some interesting thematic development. Shes one of the better girls in the manga and she tackles themes such as fetishes naivety in love jealousy and pettiness. Joe Joe is unfortunately an underdeveloped character for he had a lot of potential to bloom. His character design with the hoodie which alway stays on is rather funny for a background gag and his love for ants was stupid and quirky enough to work. It also tied into the recurring theme of being selfabsorbed as his care for his hobby impedes his social life on many occasions. He does get some pretty interesting exploration later on sexuality but I dont really have much to say there honestly. It was just cool seeing him find himself. Chiyo Chiyo has an archetypal baseline that pervades her character for many but in my opinion she has some interesting notions outside of this. The archetype is of course your average nice playful and funny basic girl who seems to like the protagonist because they have the commonality of being nice. Well at least nice on paper because Kiyoshis toxicity eventually becomes apparent dragging down Chiyo with him. She also regularly serves as a good plot device to set up wacky and increasingly more degenerative events as Kiyoshi does anything to try and appear perfect to her. She drives the plot and forces Kiyoshi to do things like sneaking out of the prison and also lying which develops the themes of Prison School. Sometimes her naivety leads to fantastic comedy as well like when she thought PBRSama was her birthday gift and continued through the Sports Festival Arc under that assumption. Mari Mari is originally our antagonist as shes driven from a strict hatred of men. She believes all men are nogood perverts and she despises her father for this him being a big part of the reason she thinks that as hes not good at hiding his porn. Shes presented as serious and coldhearted and the deconstruction of this later creates not only good drama but hilarious comedy. We see a gradual perspective shift in her philosophy when shes bereaved of her prison head position and is forced to hang out with the boys. Not only is this arc of gradually lesssevere sexism satisfying but it creates good conflict with other characters. For instance her initial hatred of men drives a wedge between Chiyo her sister and Kiyoshis relationship. It also creates awkward moments and solid banter when Mari is forced to work together with one of the boys shes pretty fun as a character. Another important notion for her character is her dichotomy with Kate the antagonist that proceeds her and their troubled past. Ill get to that later though. Of course her respect and friendship with Meiko is also interesting to see their relationship feels genuine and complex as there are many moving parts. Despite how it may seem at times you can really see their bond through Maris backstory. Kate Since Kate is our second antagonist in the series its hard to cover her arc without spoilers so just know it explores envy and perhaps sexuality which Ill cover in spoilers. Meiko Honestly Ive been dreading writing about Meiko for shes one of the most peculiar characters in the manga and its hard to even say in a good way. Shes a real mixed bag especially in the spoiler section so lets dive right in. At the beginning of the show she serves as a secondhand lackey to Mari but serves as the general antagonistic force since shes around the most. Shes strict and mean having no problem beating prisoners with riding crops perhaps most pertinently shes a sexy beast. Well kinda. I personally find her the opposite of hot and her constant sweating grosses me out but my ultimate point is shes incredibly sexualized. Lots of her humor derives from either beating the boys or being in a sexual position which can get very gratuitous. However Prison School usually carries some level of wit it knows how to construct clever jokes off of this. They play Andres masochism off of Meikos sadism Gakuto gets to be a punching bag and for a while her chemistry just works. You can feel the sort of camaraderie shes formed with the boys from spending so much time as their prison guard and its pretty sweet in a way. However throw all this out of the window because guess what amnesia. I cant get into exactly what happens but her character has a major perspective shift Ill get into this below. Shingo Shingo in a similar happenstance to Joe is woefully underdeveloped. He contributes to the themes by being selfish and horny but beyond that he has little notable personality. Hes a somewhatcool slimy backstabber who will do anything for personal pleasures. Particularly a lay. Its hard to sympathize with him even if what he does is understandable. Its nice to see him make amends and attempt to change himself but as for most of the characters in Prison School its mostly for naught. His selfishness is at the core of his character and he foolishly reverts back to it. Other than that he gets some neat romantic development with Anzu even if he fucks it up comically on multiple occasions. Andre Near the beginning of the manga Andre is a very onenote character. However in a similar fashion to Meiko he has some of the most varied and controversial developments in the manga truly pushing the reins of absurdism. Hia whole schtick is masochism they use this for great comedy whenever its appropriate and it doesnt feel particularly explored or focused on. As the first arc ends however we shift the focus onto Andre far more. His character develops into something else entirely and we begin to go into a gradual exploration of the dynamic between a masochist and a sadist. Said exploration can sometimes be disjointed and bloated but its a genuine covering of a topic you wont learn about in many other manga so its interesting. Past the first arc and since I already covered the thematics of Risa and Andres relationship past that Andre truly dives off the deep end. His character is turned into a beastlike entity to parody his hyper masochism and need for constant masochistic stimulation. On paper this is pretty funny but the joke gets old. Every once and a while they revitalize it by innovating on it but overall it stagnates. Its one of those evolutions that happens so fast and in such a bizarre way you miss the original character as well the easiest comparison I can draw here is Mr.Garrison from South Park. Even if the evolution made sense and had its moments you just want your original funnyguy back. The Ending Img800https://tiny.io/i/zfcJN7C.jpeg Finally addressing the elephant in the room the ending is by far the most controversial element of the story among those who have read it. It takes such an incredibly bizarre turn for all of the characters in the story and its honestly kind of fascinating Hiramoto had the balls to pull this one off. So without further ado lets get into the analysis. Rushed. Rushed is the immediate word that comes to mind when someone brings up the flaws of the Prison School ending for we get to see many plotlines remain unresolved or come to a premature end. For the people who despise it for this aspect I honestly cant blame you. Things like Maris conclusion dont even early capture what her arc had setup and it feels like they just slapped a bandaid for a quick fix as an afterthought. Hell they literally did forget about the wet TShirt concept and were forced to finish that plotthread in a short pointfive chapter. Conclusion Img800https://tiny.io/i/Uui8BKQ.jpeg In the end Prison School is one of the funniest experiences Ive ever had watching television. I consistently laughed there was even some interesting character development and thematic nuance in the background to keep things fresh. Its latter half has its flaws but Ill always remember it as a resoundingly positive experience. The raunchy blue comedy may not be for everyone but if this looks appealing at all to you go for it. Signing out message me your thoughts and have a good day everyone.