Prison School

Episodes 1-2

Prison School presents what I like to call the Sharknado dilemma. If a piece of media is fully conscious of its ridiculousness, going so far as to revel in it, is it enjoyable at face value? Is it "so bad it's good" when it never intended to be anything other than bad? So far, I would argue that Prison School does what it sets out to do and entertains on its own absurdly unique self-referential level. On the other hand, I can see why some viewers might be turned off by the heaping helping of crassness the show serves up.

This hook of boys enjoying the "perks" of being allowed into a formerly all-girls school has appeared in a number of anime over the last decade. Seitokai Yakuindomo, High School DxD and The Fruit of Grisaia are the most prominent examples. In many cases, the focus is on a single boy, since a lone male student attending an all-girls school is the perfect premise for harem hijinks—not to mention a very marketable male fantasy. Naturally, these shows can't resist making the girls overly naïve and/or sex-crazed given their prolonged isolation from the opposite gender.

Prison School is this subgenre taken to the extreme. Five boys enroll in Hachimitsu Academy, an elite boarding school, amidst 1000 female students. Kiyoshi, the least perverted of the bunch and our de facto protagonist, is not above succumbing to peer pressure. Far from it, in fact. He's just as anxious as the other boys—bespectacled, loquacious Gakuto; delinquent golden-haired Shingo; hoodie-donning reticent Joe; and jumbo-sized, squished-face Andre—to get a girlfriend and get laid. Unfortunately, most of their female peers refuse to acknowledge their existence. Regardless, Kiyoshi lucks out when he drops his eraser, and his classmate Chiyo mistakes him for a fellow sumo fan. They quickly form a connection and even promise to go on a date (of sorts) to an upcoming sumo match.

Unfortunately, the date never happens. After the boys go to ridiculous extremes to get a peek at the girls' locker room, Kiyoshi's fortunes take a turn for the worse. (Where did all of them manage to find black skintight bodysuits, and why was that more practical than just wearing dark clothing?) The "Underground Student Council" catches them in the act, decreeing that they spend a month in the campus jail for their transgressions. Apparently, the council's rules against "illicit sexual relations" carry some hefty punishments, deterring the rest of the students from even talking to the boys.

Luckily, the majority of the masochistic male students have no objections to sadist Vice President Meiko's idea of punishment. Secretary Hana's abuse is administered in a more direct fashion, but her obsession with seeing Kiyoshi urinate because he accidentally witnessed her doing the same is outright sexual assault. Strangely, these girls are keen on punishing lecherous behavior despite being perverted themselves. President Mari has yet to reveal anything but an unhealthy obsession with stopping boys from becoming like the school's chairman, who she has deemed a pervert. (Besides looking at porn on school premises, he hasn't revealed himself to be abnormally perverted, but his reluctant approval of Mari's on-campus prison is suspect.) However, she decries the boys' peeping as a crime when committing even fouler crimes of imprisonment and abuse herself. The hypocrisy is just one more bizarre facet of this show.

So much about Prison School is ridiculous. Andre's face is ridiculous. Meiko's bust is ridiculous. The entire premise is ridiculous. (Facing expulsion or admitting your misdeeds to your parents would surely be preferable to imprisonment and torture.) The art style is so grim, the animation so gruesome, and the soundtrack so heavy-handed, they combine to lend a gravitas to the proceedings that gives the show some of its "intentionally bad" flavor. It also makes the abuse the boys suffer—even if the majority of them enjoy it—more cringe-worthy. Prison School is supposed to be as funny as it is salacious. It succeeds, but the sinister ambiance may leave you with a strange aftertaste.

Rating: B-

Prison School is currently streaming on Funimation.

Amy is a YA fantasy author who has loved anime for two decades.