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Patiently watched all 26 episodes expecting some grand payoff - it never happened. I want my time back.

This is a shoujo with a mecha aspect thrown in to appeal to the shonen userbase. It does a poor job executing on each part, nor is the sum of those parts decent.

This would've made a decent 2 episode OVA. But for a 26 episode long show? It's a hard skip. You're not missing anything.

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I dislike ecchi - it is juvenile and lazy.

So how can I give this series a 10/10? Simple: Prison school is a satirical deconstruction of ecchi taken to absurdity. It unapologetically magnifies and caricaturizes ecchi in the same spirit as Golden Boy.

Yes, you read that right, Prison School is the spiritual successor of Golden Boy.

To enjoy this series, you must realize it's a satire on the ecchi genre.

At key points in the story, I've laughed so hard. The "omfg- no way, I can't believe he went there" type of laugh that stems from being surprised. And the mangaka skillfully magnifies and raises the ... stakes panel by panel. In effect, you find yourself taking it in slowly, one panel at a time, just "omfg" laughing it out before moving onto the next panel.

Yet the surprises are within the realm of possibility. At least for me, I can personally relate to the absurdity that surfaces in privacy.

** Story **
This is a character driven manga. The story itself is tenuous, acting as a scaffold for the characters to sandbox in.

** Art **
Excellent. I'm not a fan of the ecchi. I do love the perspective shots (wide angle distortion, telephoto flattening) and use of hyper realism. It's superb.

** Character **
For the most part, I would say the characters are one dimensional adults. There isn't much room for personal development, but I don't mind that for this series.

Hana is the most complex character, IMHO. As bizzare as her character is, I've dated a girl just like her. Minus the physical violence, everything is spot on.

** Summary **
Narrative: Behold The Holy Grail™, our legendary plot device, possessing infinite unlimited power, granting any miracle you can desire.

Holy Grail™: LMAO, actually, I just a cup :3

Main Character: *goes insane* I KILL U

** Story **
In contrast to Season 1, Season 2 is where characters actually die. The execution (ooo wee a pun) was utterly juvenile. The story was an amateurishly woven grimdark train wreck.

... Let's take Kiritsugu's plane wreck backstory. An entire episode is built around his mother figure mentor being trapped on a plane with parasitic mind controlling wasps.

Rational resolution: Nuke the plane with Spectracide™ Wasp and Hornet Killer Aerosol. Result: mentor lives, 100% wasps dead.

Forced Grimdark resolution: Nuke the plane with a heat seeking anti-aircraft missile. Result: mentor dead, 70% wasps dead.

I'll let you guess which one Fate/Zero decides on.

Story rating: 1/10

** Art/Aesthetics **
As a Tsukihime fan, I absolutely love the character aesthetics.

Art: 8/10

** Animation **
Animation is completely different from aesthetics. The fluidly and detail in each sequence was lacking. The fight scenes had cinematic shots (3 point perspective wide angle launches, landscape shots, extreme close ups, slow motion, etc) which would awe an inexperienced viewer. Seeing through all that, all that's left are lazily choreographed fights.

Let's take Saber for instance. Saber is suppose to be the strongest hero, specializing in god tier sword fighting. Yet her swordplay is restricted to 2 moves: swipe and jab. She performs no meaningful parry/counters, feints, etc. Why is her repertoire less interesting than an 8-bit NES sprite? Because it's so much easier to animate, and make up the deficiency with cinematic details (i.e. wind rushing during attacks, ground cracking after taking blows, electrical discharge, etc). Those are all cheap tricks in the literal sense: they're cheap to animate and take little imagination.

Animation: 4/10

** Sound **
I'm a big fan of Yuki Kajiura. With that said, the soundtrack was bland and unmemorable. Nothing compared to Noir or Madoka Magica.

Sound: 3/10

** Character **
Initially, characters showed strong potential for realistic development and depth. The first episode did an excellent job of establishing clear and real motivations. However, they all devolve into one-dimensional dark tropes.

Let's take Saber for instance. She's suppose to be a strong female lead, with experience leading an entire nation as a King. As the series progresses, it turns out she's an emotionally distraught insecure 15 yo girl. The authors devolve her into the vulnerable female trope for ecchi reasons (i.e. helpless girl needs a real man for emotional support), and it just blasphemous to her character.

Character: 3/10

** Enjoyment **
Despite all the flaws, I enjoyed the show enough to finish it. I'm fond of strong female characters, and I kept on watching for Saber's shining moment - unfortunately that never comes.

Enjoyment: 6/10

** Overall **
This is not a series I would recommend to an adult - it's just not worth the time. With that said, I can see why it appeals to teens and newcomers of the genre.

Overall: 4/10

** Story **
Season 1 is completely unnecessary. There were no real conflicts. Each story arc leads to a hero battle, however, the fights inevitably end with a third party interruption, with absolutely no resolution. This implies the conflicts weren't necessary at all to the overarching story.

Strong premise, dilly-dallying execution.

Story rating: 3/10

** Art/Aesthetics **
As a Tsukihime fan, I absolutely love the character aesthetics.

... Art: 8/10

** Animation **
Animation is completely different from aesthetics. The fluidly and detail in each sequence was lacking. The fight scenes had cinematic shots (3 point perspective wide angle launches, landscape shots, extreme close ups, slow motion, etc) which would awe an inexperienced viewer. Seeing through all that, all that's left are lazily choreographed fights.

Let's take Saber for instance. Saber is suppose to be the strongest hero, specializing in god tier sword fighting. Yet her swordplay is restricted to 2 moves: swipe and jab. She performs no meaningful parry/counters, feints, etc. Why is her repertoire less interesting than an 8-bit NES sprite? Because it's so much easier to animate, and make up the deficiency with cinematic details (i.e. wind rushing during attacks, ground cracking after taking blows, electrical discharge, etc). Those are all cheap tricks in the literal sense: they're cheap to animate and take little imagination.

Animation: 4/10

** Sound **
I'm a big fan of Yuki Kajiura. With that said, the soundtrack was bland and unmemorable. Nothing compared to Noir or Madoka Magica.

Sound: 3/10

** Character **
Initially, characters showed strong potential for realistic development and depth. The first episode did an excellent job of establishing clear and real motivations. However, they all devolve into one-dimensional dark tropes.

Let's take Saber for instance. She's suppose to be a strong female lead, with experience leading an entire nation as a King. As the series progresses, it turns out she's an emotionally distraught insecure 15 yo girl. The authors devolve her into the vulnerable female trope for ecchi reasons (i.e. helpless girl needs a real man for emotional support), and it just blasphemous to her character.

Character: 3/10

** Enjoyment **
Despite all the flaws, I enjoyed the show enough to finish it. I'm fond of strong female characters, and I kept on watching for Saber's shining moment - unfortunately that never comes.

Enjoyment: 6/10

** Overall **
This is not a series I would recommend to an adult - it's just not worth the time. With that said, I can see why it appeals to teens and newcomers of the genre.

Overall: 4/10