I don't look to anime for sexual gratification; so when I criticize the censorship, I'm not doing it out of blue-balled resentment. (Well, not just that anyway.) It detracts from the quality of the animation, and it's often just unnaturally forced into the scene, to cover things that don't really need to be covered. They can indirectly depict urolagnian debauchery but they draw the line at panty-shots? Prison School has nice animation, but it's difficult to appreciate this when so much of it is censored.
Honestly, I kind of wish there wasn't quite so much sex-appeal. I want to be able to just watch and laugh without having to make the sign of the cross every three seconds. A lot of it was just for the purpose of humor, but when we got into territory that was more clearly aimed at arousal, it got a bit more uncomfortable. The series could have been better if it stopped trying to tickle my boner and started focusing solely on tickling my funny bone. (I can tickle my own boner, thank you very much.)
Speaking of how Prison School could have been better, the characters were something of a minefield placed over a gold mine. Characters like Hana, Vice President, the Principal guy, Kiyoshi, Joe, and Gakuto were great. But then there's characters like that one guy who had no personality, but got kind of pissy sometimes and that's all we really know about him so how can I really be expected to know his name, and Mari, who I find to be rather flat compared to characters like the Vice President. (Haha. Flat.) And then there's Andre. He is filth. He is the most disgusting character, the most repulsive thing, that I have ever seen in any anime. No, in anything. Every time he was on the screen, I felt tears welling in my eyes and beginning to drip down onto my cheeks as my body shook with dry heave after dry heave after vomiting fit. The creator of this character should be shot. Or just killed. I suppose it doesn't matter how. But he must be brutally murdered (or just murdered, I'm not picky) before he releases another Andre into the world.
But it's a testament to the strength of the best characters that the presence of Andre does not result in an automatic 1. Instead, the good, borderline non-existent, and terrible characters balance each other out. I just wish we saw some characters more often. (Like Hana. I want more.)
The plot is absurd; it barely exists, and what is there is ridiculous, but it still maintains somewhat of a sense of internal consistency, and it works. The premise is bizarre, and a lot of the plot developments just make it weirder, but it has a beautiful sense of logic to it that would make Hegel turn green with envy as he realized the insignificance of his boring collections of meaningless compound words.
But whatever. You should probably forget everything I've said up until now. And I mean everything. Forget everything I've ever said in my life. The most important thing is that Prison School is very funny. It could have been better in a lot of aspects, but it succeeds in entertaining its audience. It's unique and hilarious. You won't find anything else like it, and it's not easy to find anything funnier. If you watch it, you will laugh, unless you suck. It's a comedy; it's comedic. There you go. It's a success.
That said, the gags can get very repetitive, (Despite the changing of details and introduction of some new sexual situation, it's still the same damn joke. And somebody needs to tell the mangaka that a running gag isn't just a copy-and-paste thing; you actually have to be creative to keep it funny.) but they don't quite over-stay their welcome. A lot of the time, when Prison School seemed to get stale, it changed just enough to keep you going for another episode. But, towards the end it really isn't that funny anymore. Not laugh-out-loud funny anyway. Ramping up the vulgarity does not equate to increasing the funniness, and it's sort of a cheap tactic.
Instead of watching this anime, you should probably just read the manga. Think about it. It covers a lot more of the story, it has minimal censorship, and the panel format sometimes lends itself to better comedic timing. (Mostly just the first two.) And what did it really gain in the adaptation? The boring OP and ED? I am unimpressed. But if you absolutely refuse to read manga, then that's fine too. I would still recommend the anime, provided that you know what you're getting into.
A 7 seems about right for Prison School. It is very flawed, but the entertaining parts are entertaining enough for me to call it 'good.' It's certainly better than a lot of other anime out there.
