The Video Review is up on my channel, but here is the written Review.
Story - 8/10
What happens when you get 5 boys and put them in a school with girls only. Simple they boys try to take a peek at the girls when their bathing, obviously they get caught and thrown into prison, in their school. Naturally in a prison type setting, the characters would be aiming to escape, but in this case, if they were to attempt escape and get caught 3 times, they are expelled from high school, and if you were expelled from high school perving, good luck in your social life. The first half of the story starts off as one of the boys are trying to escape the prison to go on a date, whereas the second half focuses on all the boys trying to stay in prison.
It’s interesting how they throw in the idea, that the boys love being in prison. Almost at every moment the boys are punished by the girls, they love it, hence why they love the prison. But the most interesting part of the story is that, the boys are going through that phase where they are trying finding themselves, of course trying to find a way to get girls, so it plays the idea of a coming of age story. The pacing of the story is quite rushed, it’s a pacing that gives you a lot of information, but never really lets you sink in all the details beforehand. There’s a lot of cliff hangers leaving you wondering, how are they going to get out of the situation they’re in. The reason for this is because, the dialogue being spoken to quite fast, because they were trying to fit in so many things, into such a short anime. It may have been 2 arcs, but that 2 arcs felt rather rushed. Sure it’s ridiculous sometimes, and doesn’t make sense, but at the same time, the story doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Characters - 7/10
Kiyoshi Fujino, is the straight man out of all the boys and the main protagonist. He is the guy who tries his best to be good, even though deep inside he just like any of the other guys in a perverted way. Over the course of the anime, he tries to get along with his fellow jailbirds and keep them safe from the prison wardens. Unfortunately he is nothing special of a protagonist, he’s just a complete straight man, willing to help his friends. And he is shy around girls and not completely opened. But I guess he is needed, because the next few characters are pretty crazy.
Takehito Morokuzu, also known as Gakuto is well, what you would a call a mad genius type. He is the one usually coming up with plans to escape prison or get the boys out of trouble. Despite his intelligence, he will go to great lengths when it comes to girls. He is shown be the mostly openly perverted out of all the guys.
Reiji Androu or also known as Andre is the biggest and the strongest out of all the boys. Although usually calm and a gentle person, he is a complete masochists, meaning he loves to be punished by the prison wardens, especially the Vice-President. He shown to care for his friends over himself, although this could also imply that he just wants to get punished more, because of his masochists side.
Jouji Nezu, is always seen wearing a hoodie over himself, no matter what outfit he wears. He is probably the biggest oddball of the group, with interests for other things outside the others, such as his loves for ants. Not only that he has a chronic cough, which he coughs blood. Despite him struggling with his speech, he’ got the most gut when it comes to calling out the wardens.
Shingo Wakamoto is the last of the 5 boys. He plays the cool guy of the group, trying to act all cool to everyone else. He also acts the most selfish and becomes a hypocrite later on the series, but starts trying to redeem himself. But its due to his cool boy act start, he gets quite the development, as he learns how to forgive people and help his friends.
The prison wardens are Mari Kurihara, Hana Midorikawa and Meiko Shiraki. And they play as the main villains in prison school, their goal was to prove the fact that all boys a scum and get them expelled from school. They’re also responsible for the majority of punishment and fan service for the boys. Apart from Shingo, no other character really gets a lot of development. So why it is the characters are likeable. It’s the way the characters interact with each other. Because despite having completely different personalities, the characters get along with well with each other and most of their interactions are actually very entertaining. Actually the only really small development is when the boys start learning how to trust each other, as at the start they were all just new boys at a new school, so there is that aspect that they learn how to work together, to get through things.
Animation and Sound - 8/10, 7/10
The art style looks quite mature as if it’s for a more mature serious audience, as it looks grittier than most other anime. Even though the character designs look like any other anime characters, it’s the fact that you can tell they’re clearly separated from the background. Now the way the fan service is down, I’m fine with it but to a certain extent sometimes it becomes annoying. The genre is considered ecchi, so having fan service is no problem, and censoring is not a problem at all, considering the majority of anime is censored, compared to the manga counterpart, but some of the censoring is just plain annoying. It’s annoying for the eyes when every type of censoring is done with a bright shining light out of nowhere, it just makes some scenes very bright. However that being said the art and animation also adds to some of the comedy to Prison School. Some of the faces and expressions that characters pull off is completely over the top exaggerated funny, and it makes such good use of the art style, because the characters for a brief moment start looking realistic.
The soundtrack of Prison School, is nothing special. You can barely hear it and they don’t really add too much to the scenes. There is maybe some okay rock tracks in there, but there is nothing I would listen to by itself. The opening and ending songs are great and funny, which I think fits very well for this type of genre, and its sung by the cast. But their animation for it, is kind of underwhelming. What I do like about the sound is the voice actors, because they have pulled off a good job of making these characters sound very funny, but also somewhat serious at the same time, especially for Gakuto.
Enjoyment - 9/10
Although some of the jokes get stale from time to time, and the ecchi can completely be annoying, I cannot deny the fact that I loved watching this show. It’s actually legit funny, some of the jokes are clever, and the art style just adds to the creativity of some of them. Some of it can be toilet humour, but if it makes you laugh, it’s still funny and entertaining regardless. The story plays out like a typical escape prison story, but then flips the script later on and becomes a trying to stay in prison story. The character interactions make the show even funnier and their personalities are so likeable as well, due to their differences. It’s really enjoyable, because it knows what it is and doesn’t try to hide the fact it’s completely over the top as well, so it’s an anime you don’t have to take too seriously.
Verdict - 8/10
For the story of Prison School, I give it an 8, it may play out basic to start off with. But when the story changes itself and becomes a story of wanting to stay in prison, every moment feels like how are they going to get out of this predicament moment. I like how the story is sort of a finding one’s identity story as well. The thing holding it back is that it felt a bit rushed and it’s hard to take everything in completely.
For the animation and sound, it gets a 8 and 7 from me. The art style is quite good to look at, and its uniqueness adds a lot to the comedy, whether it’s the facial expressions or the atmosphere. However the fan service censorship can be annoying when all of it is just bright light, shining in your face. The soundtrack is nothing special, and opening and ending themes are good. It’s the voice acting that’s great, because every character is done very well and they all sound funny, especially Gakuto.
For the characters, I give it a 7. The biggest reason holding the characters back is the lack of any proper development besides, Kiyoshi, Shingo and Gakuto to an extent. No other character shows that much development, especially the wardens, maybe Hana, but that is more of a reaction. But the character interactions are great and the different personalities really add to the comedy.
For my personal enjoyment, I give a 9. I love watching how the characters were going to escape prison, I love watching how they were going to stay in prison. I love watching how their planning and plans go into action. The comedy makes me laugh, and I wish for a second season, because I think the end sets up for an interesting story. The ecchi can be quite annoying, with the censorship sometimes, but it’s not too bad.
So for the overall score of Prison School, after rounding it up, I give it an 8/10. It’s a funny anime, but sometime may go too far for some people, who can’t take a joke. I recommend it to people looking for comedy, or a prison drama fans. The comedy will make you laugh, just be wary some of the ecchi can be annoying.
