Now the anime covers the entirety of the first arc of the manga, which tells the story of five boys who enroll in a previously all-girls boarding school which has just become co-ed. However, many of the female students are still disgusted at the notion of having men as their fellow classmates, and a certain vigilante organization within the school called the Underground Student Council decide to take the matter into their own hands. The group consists of the manipulative president Mari, the voluptuous and sadistic vice president Meiko, and the rather violent crazy person Hana who's also got a quite peculiar fetish to say the least. They set a trap for the boys where they manage to frame them for peeping, and consequently send them all off to live inside a small prison located on the school courtyard. And thus, their new life of hell begins as they are forced into manual labor under Meiko's relentless whipping, and they constantly have to be on their guard against the USC's foul play and attempts at getting the boys expelled for good. Meanwhile, the boys try to channel their inner Andy Dufresne as they start to dream about breaking out of prison...
The first thing that needs to be said about this anime is that it doesn't hold anything back. Like not in the slightest. Among other things it features hardcore masochism, a principal obsessed with asses, misunderstandings about two of the guys supposedly being gay for each other, cross dressing, golden showers, a guy shitting himself in class, a girl who sweats about 50 liters per day, a myriad of sexual innuendos, non-stop femdom, epic speeches about the stupidest things imaginable and god knows what else. There are no breaks on this pain train and you better be prepared for what you're getting yourself into when deciding to watch Prison School, because it is rather... crude, to say the least. But crude or not, the execution is stellar, and it rarely fails to make you laugh with how blunt it is.
The characters are all highly exaggerated in their behavior, but given the crazy atmosphere of the show it fits perfectly. Our main character Kiyoshi is energetic and dedicated, Gakuto is the best bro ever, Andre is a huge masochist, Joe is infatuated with ants and Shingo is an American delinquent. And of course they're all perverts, whether they admit it or not, but at least they're perverts with class... well discounting Andre that is. Speaking of which, the ecchi elements in Prison School are not to be underestimated. It has scenes you will probably never see anywhere else other than in hentai. But it doesn't come across as needless fanservice at all; rather it either makes it humorous or just plain epic, especially anything starring Kiyoshi and Hana in the same room is a sight for sore eyes. It's something you really need to see for yourself to understand. Of course the TV-airing of Prison School is censored like almost every ecchi anime is these days, but since the sexual content is mostly there for the sake of comedy rather than arousal I don't really find it all that distracting anyway.
As far as pacing goes though, there are some issues. The anime covers 81 chapters' worth of content in just 12 episodes, which is quite a lot of story in not too much time. As a result, the transitions in-between scenes are oftentimes done extremely quickly, which means that a lot of the jokes don't really have time to sink in properly before the story moves on to the next segment. There's also the fact that many of the characters actually talk *very* fast, which might just be another way of saving time. So in that sense it is a pretty rushed adaptation, but I think it gets gradually better the longer it goes on, and honestly even despite the fast pacing it still works out fairly smoothly most of the time. A few episodes more would have done wonders though.
The manga is notorious for its unusually detailed and realistic-looking art style for an ecchi series, and the anime follows the same idea. I don't think it looks quite as crisp as the original art does, but it still gets the job done and gives you a pretty fresh outlook on the genre. The voice acting is also very on-point. Kamiya Hiroshi's performance fits Kiyoshi's character like a glove, probably because he shares a lot of traits with Araragi Koyomi from the Monogatari Series whom Hiroshi has also voiced. Seeing Hanazawa Kana of all people do the role of Hana might be a bit more unexpected though given her absolutely crazy persona, but she actually does an absolutely phenomenal job at it. I also have to give Konishi Katsuyuki a shout-out for his voicing of Gakuto's character; it was truly a special experience to listen to and a very impressive performance overall.
Prison School is an anime with a very unorthodox combination of genres and styles, and an even rarer case of one which actually does it successfully. It stands out for its hilariously exaggerated scenes, its crazy characters and its ability to do literally *anything* without holding back for even a second. Is it a show for everyone? No, but I still think it's targeting a much larger audience than first impressions may lead you to believe. It's a highly entertaining series from start to finish, and while I still prefer the manga version, it's definitely an anime worth checking out, even if only to see just what the hell is actually going on in it.
