There are currently no new anime
series that caught my interest (as of now, Nanatsu
no Taizai season 2 is the only ongoing anime I’m following), so recently, I’ve been checking out old anime series that I missed.
For my latest watch, I tried something utterly odd and bonkers –
Prison School.
It is about five friends – Kiyoshi
Fujino, Takehito “Gakuto” Morokuzu, Shingo Wakamoto, Jouji “Joe” Nezu, and Reiji “Andre” Andou – who are the only male
students in Hachimitsu Academy, which, until recently, is an elite boarding
school exclusively for girls. When the
boys are caught committing an act of voyeurism, they find out to their shock that,
per a draconian school rule, their punishment is to be incarcerated in
the school prison and serve time as prisoners.
This is enforced by the ruthless Underground Student Council – president
Mari Kurihara, vice-president Meiko Shiraki, and secretary Hana Midorikawa –
who have been against of turning the school into a co-ed institution in the first
place.
This anime, which has had 13
episodes (a 12-episode season and an OVA) so far, is not for everyone. Not only is it full of mature, naughty
content, it also can get off-putting. It
gets aggressively bawdy and graphic with its characterizations, fan service,
and humor.
However, it does deliver some gut-busting
comedy. Much of it is probably due to
absurd, juvenile, and indecent material, but the execution is just so well-done
that it draws legitimate guffaws.
Unfortunately, it’s funniest during its first three or four episodes,
and the laughs get lesser and weaker after that. It’s either the gags slowly declines in
quality or the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility just begins applying.
Though its enjoyment value is
significantly derived from its humor than its narrative, the story can get interesting
as well. On the other hand, there are
also several instances in which it gets bogged down from getting frustratingly
shallow, repetitive, and gratuitously lewd.
Still, when (SPOILERS) the five protagonists ultimately prevail over their female tormentors,
there’s a feeling of satisfaction for the story arc that unfolded. Yet there’s
also sympathy for the USC – despite all their despicable conniving and
viciousness – because: a.) you get where they’re coming from, despite their
twisted ways; b.) it’s not like the boys have been saints themselves; and c.) it
seems that the Actual Student Council, making their debut at the epilogue of
the first season, is going to be harsher on them.
In the end, Prison School is an anime that lives and dies by being outlandish
and raunchy. And it mostly “lives.” It is noticeably problematic,
but it’s a lot of fun when at its best.
And with an intriguing dynamic shakeup by season one’s
conclusion, there’s a good chance I will also check out the second season when
it arrives.
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