This manga is the perfect example of what happens when the author runs out of ideas and begins experimenting with useless plot twists, destroying the character development and the whole story in the process. I am disappointed, the ending rambles and feels forced. Also, it will give you the impression it was incorrectly planned and misplaced. Perhaps Prison School lost the main essence in the middle of the manga, and the editor wanted to conclude it as quickly as possible. A shame because the story in the first arc is marvelous, creative, exciting, and amusing. The mangaka created a diamond, and we finished with a piece of coal burning in the sunset.
When I started reading this manga, I was amazed by the characters and the plot idea. The story setting is perfect. Furthermore, the author combined many smart concepts such as school life, girls, boys, jokes, mixed them in jail and make a hilarious and fantastic ecchi comedy with adult content that isn’t repulsive for the average mature readers. Immediately, I found myself identified with Meiko, yes Meiko (I am a bit like her in several ways). The other characters such as the boys are great. Seeing these poor guys falling into a deeper hole after every chapter without exit was enjoyable. Each new situation/plan added a new climax with lots of humoristic turns, unexpected developments, and original theme. Prison School was unique doing that.
However, as the manga advances (middle of the manga), the characters went down the cliff from heaven to hell and died in the process. This disjuncture destroyed Kyoshi personality, and all his background is flushed out. What is left is a story without a sense that starts being repulsive and incoherent if we compare Kyoshi’s reasons from the first chapters. Sadly, the writer builds a weird plot repeatedly. In the end, we are tired of the same events that begin in the half of the story. In addition, the manga introduces some useless threads such as Mari’s dad or the science fiction ending of the cavalry arch to name some.
For some readers and I can include myself, the manga has some disgusting parts but after all Prison School is an ecchi manga. However, the writing level of the first half cannot be compared to the stupid concept of the other half. Thus, leads me to question if the author decided to follow a different perspective where the background of all the characters was burned in the magazine’s annual BBQ without any explanation. The manga should be balanced and focus on the boys, but in some chapter, you will feel they became puppets and stopped being the main characters. One example, the part where you cannot figure where Shingo is because he disappears for some chapters and better not to talk about Andre and Joh. The other characters such as Hana lost their shine. Furthermore, Hana’s incoherent behavior at the end is unexplained. Please, do not come to say that it is implicit (jealous) and it is a psychological mind game because it is not. It is the perfect example of how all the unnecessary plot additions destroyed a character, and it leads to nonsense where you cannot appreciate her traits anymore (check: frog chapter). About Meiko, although I liked her story, I am biased because I feel very related to her. All the mess exaggerated the character’s personality to the point that we cannot understand them anymore and their decisions are very awkward and do not fit with their attributes or the main plot itself.
On the other hand, the biggest mistake was saturating the story with additional events and not following the basic “jail idea” of the first half. Leaving the boys as secondary characters is disastrous, and at the end, we will feel some of their actions forced and silly. Lucky for us, they just animated the first chapters and those are the best ones. The manga in some point broke from being an interesting ecchi comedy to a yayoi experiment then turned to porn and ended as trash. Hey, I know it is ecchi. However, there is a difference between ecchi and porn. The author forces the boundary several times.
Lastly, the ending. It is vulgar, unacceptable. It is idiotic and lacks imagination; it is not coherent. Maybe the storyteller wanted to test something untypical, but a mangaka shouldn’t be mocking the readers with an absurd finale. I don’t need spoiling anyone so I will save all the comments about it.
The art and the dynamics of each panel are excellent. You can feel the story in all the panels, and it leads you to keep reading. The first volumes will hook the reader because the art is very detailed and the structure of the page. Sadly, the main plot died in the mid part of the manga, and the art became irrelevant in the end. Honestly, I read it because I wanted to know the ending but I feel empty and angry after finishing the manga a masterpiece ended as a piece of trash because the manga imploded with a story that lost the real Prison School meaning.
