First Impression – Prison School [NSFW]
Back on the chain gang
It’s a late FI, but it ended up being me solo so that’s why it’s after the others. So one show that a lot of people were talking about before the season, and not always in a good way, was Kangoku Gakuen, or Prison School. So what’s gonna happen when some 5 boys become the first males at Hachimitsu Academy?
A Blessing or A Curse?
There’s definitely some good art direction in this show
So the school has just gone Coed, but only 5 boys are accepted. And what’s more, it’s 5 kinda weirdos. You wonder how they picked these five guys. One normal guy, our main character Kiyoshi (another Kamiyan character), and four weirdos: Shingo, Gakuto, “Joe”, and “Andre”. And even if they thought that the school was going to be a paradise of girls, noone will talk to them, and they are ostracized from the rest of the school. And that’s BEFORE they commit the act that gets them thrown in the titular prison. Sure, they shouldn’t have been peeping, but I think it’s pretty clear that the deck was stacked against them the whole time, especially with the Underground Student Council telling all the girls to stay away from them.
Punishment time
So… Thrown in the prison, they’re basically there forever, I figure. Yeah they say “a month”, but given the Underground Student Council’s utter contempt for boys, driven by the President’s hatred of her father’s nature (the school Chairman), I don’t see how they ever get out of the prison. Not that being in the prison is that different from being in the normal school. And we kind of see that getting any attention is preferable to at least some of the boys than the zero attention they were getting before. At least now they’re getting abused by Meiko, the vice-president, although they don’t like it nearly as much when Secretary Hana is the one abusing them.
The Experience of Watching Prison School
Do you prefer heads or tails?
What I’ve found more interesting in watching two episodes of Prison School than the plot of the show itself is the experience of watching the show. I don’t know about others, but I find the show to be right on the edge of too uncomfortable to watch. I think they ride this line intentionally, and maybe go a little far for me, because there are parts that I do want to skip over, but I think that’s an integral part of the show. It’s important to note that there’s a power imbalance in the show that works, because of the way the genders are arrayed. If it was reversed, it would be a horrible show. But somehow the show uses the perceived power of the different groups involved in the imprisonment and punishment and humiliation to balance it out enough that it’s watchable. And I think it’s key that they had the turn in the first episode of the other boys besides Kiyoshi acknowledge their enjoyment of the attention that they were getting from Meiko.
No, she just “can’t wait”…
The plans of Kiyoshi and the attendant schemes of Gakuto really aren’t worth talking about, since the entire point of them in the show is to keep the tension going between the boys and the Underground Student Council. But I think it also has to be acknowledged that there is curiosity there on the part of the girls as well. At the moment, this has been carried primarily by Hana, whose urination fetish (she decided to go in the woods, when the school building was right there) gets her caught, but then she is interested in seeing Kiyoshi do the same thing, a classic “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours” development. At this point in the show, I don’t think you could call what Hana has for Kiyoshi a ‘crush’ or any sort of love, but it’s certainly an interest in how boys work, and boys in general.
You saw me, I want to see yours
Maybe she enjoyed that a little much
I would imagine that there’s a bit of that in the Dom-Sub relationships between Meiko and the other boys, especially Andre and Gakuto. But Meiko isn’t really interested in them at all, and while they’d probably be interested in her (because, let’s face it, teenage boys), it’s not because they are in love with Meiko, just the attention and the act of being submissive. One might even think that Gakuto with his overtly formal speech has this as a general trait.
Bonus Prison
It can be a difficult show to watch, it can be uncomfortable, but I can’t say that it’s a bad show in pretty much any aspect. And I have to say that I don’t really know if any of the people in the show are ‘bad’ people, or entirely unlikable people. The most difficult person to acknowledge any good in is Mari, so far, but I think it’s at least an understandable reaction to the way her father is (not that I think there’s anything wrong with surfing “Latin Ass” porn sites, necessarily). And I think Mari’s father goads her into her reactions, because nobody could be that clumsy as to leave webpages open or drop a stack of pictures right in front of her. I think it’ll be interesting to see if he’s trying to teach her something in particular (“Accept that men are pigs”? “Everyone likes looking at asses”?) or is just winding her up. Either way, I think I’ll probably continue to watch this show, even if it’s after skipping ahead to see the end first…
About Highway
Proving that you don't have to be young to love anime, I enjoy all genres and styles of shows. If it's not hurting anyone else, you should never be ashamed of what you like!
POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 54 comments
My least favorite aspect of the series so far is the prison itself. It just hasn’t developed into anything other than being convenient for the conflicts. I’ll feel pretty uncomfortable for a fair amount, partly because I’m unsure just how far they’ll go, but the interactions between some of the characters, like Kiyoshi with Hana and Gakuto, and Mari with her father, are good enough that I continue to watch with only
majorminor apprehension. For now. I’m still kind of scared.POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Well, the prison itself is just a signal as to the relative power of the characters, that I mentioned. It conveniently establishes that the five boys are lower status than the women.
Like you, I don’t know how far they’ll go, although it seems to be cartoon violence in that people cough up blood and take severe beatings with no lasting effects. My other big thing is that I don’t like watching people get themselves in trouble. So watching Kiyoshi’s plan to escape, knowing that it’s going to get them in trouble, is difficult for me. I’m also not sure about Gakuto, because like Kyoshi, I’m waiting for him to betray the others.
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 105 comments
Water works, Dominqtixes, humiliation and beatings. This is quite a something. Calling this the craziest show I’ve ever seen isn’t quite true but in the past decade in hard pressed to think of anything crazier.
I feel admitting to liking this show means throwing away a precious part of my humanity, but I can safely say: this show offered something that you won’t see in most shows. If that something makes you feel a little bit dirtier in your soul, I feel that is inevitable.
You know, I would hate to write this show up week to week but one big review would be another thing…
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
Word is Prison’s mangaka, Hiramoto Akira, created Prison out of pure spite when readers reacted lukewarmly to his arguably more sophisticated and literary manga, Me and the Devil Blues (a struggling African-American man makes deal with the Devil to become the world’s best jazz player.)
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 105 comments
I need a source for this. I’ve heard this before, but I want a quote, even if I have to go through google translate to get it.
Oh, and Me and the Devil Blues is a FANTASTIC manga. Carl Johnson is a legend for a reason, the distortion of his life’s story is incredibly interesting.
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Fdom hum codes. I actually forgot what I wanted to add though… 🙁
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
While watching the second episode, and I cannot recall the exact scene, one of the girl’s took things to far, and I got angry at the situation. It felt unfair, relative to how unfair the whole group of situations are, but then, the show is a very ham-fisted satire.
But in getting angry I realized that the show is working on some level. I had at least a bit of investment in the characters, which is how stories are supposed to work.
So, I might continue just to see how invested I get…Other than that many of your thoughts mirror mine. I missed that the chairman looks to be goading his daughter on, and that’s a neat wrinkle…
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I find that frequently Hana goes too far for me, because there’s something missing in her interactions with the other four boys. Perhaps it is that they have stated they kinda like it when Meiko abuses them, that there’s at least the figleaf of consent there, but that they don’t like it when Hana does it.
I have to think that the Chairman is doing it on purpose. I mean, he dropped that book right in front of her without even trying to hold on to it. Even if there weren’t ero-pictures in there, one wouldn’t want to just drop a book.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
You know, I was thinking about this a little more (why am I thinking about this show more!?!?!) and I’ve come to feel that it’s interesting that they show the difference between Meiko’s abuse being something that the four boys come to like but Kiyoshi doesn’t have the same reaction, and Hana clashing with that group of four, but then have Hana and Kiyoshi have a separate ‘relationship’ (for want of a better word). Maybe it’s reading too much into it, but I think that Hana and Kiyoshi both try to distance themselves from the others, in that Hana seems to make an effort to not be the one who supervises the other four, and Kiyoshi works harder to appease Meiko and avoid punishment than the other four. It seems like they’re realizing the things they like and don’t like and avoiding the things they don’t like while doing more of the things they like.
Of course, it’s very early in the story and the show, so who knows if that analysis will hold up.
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 163 comments
“I think it’ll be interesting to see if he’s trying to teach her something in particular”
My bet is that he’s trying to teach her the same thing the show is trying to teach the viewers in general – that dominant women are all unreasonable monsters and need to have their wills broken into submission to men.
Seriously, it’s no good denying that Japan has a real misogyny vibe going on in the culture. Sometimes it’s just best to admit it up front.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
The skeevyness of it all turned me off at first (golden showers aren’t my thing…) when I was reading the manga but I grew to absolutely LOVE it. Everything is pushed to the limit: facial expressions, borderline softcore porn fanservice, and crazy prison breakout shenanigans. It’s a shame that so much is censored but I guess I can deal with a few less cameltoes and nip slips in my life.
Also, “let’s face it, teenage boys” is a pretty accurate summary of the entire series.