What you need to understand right out of the blocks for “Prison School” (“Purizun Sukūru^”) is that this is the blackest comedy you will ever see. Your first clue is the guy at the right end, who reminds one of Little Face from the “Dick Tracy” movie. And, yes, what you see behind them is a barely-covered, completely massive bust line, but more on that later.

The plot: Hachimitsu Academy, one of the strictest girls’ academies in Tokyo (potentially worse than some dictatorial nations), has decided to admit boys into their system. To ‘integrate’ and have a kind of pilot program, five boys are selected to be among the 1000 girls. However, there are severe, yes, draconian, laws in place which punishes even the most minor infractions with a stay in the school’s prison. You betcha; in the center of the school commons is a cinderblock prison. Our cast of troublemakers (left to right): Jouji “Joe” Nezu, Shingo Wakamoto, Kiyoshi Fujino (the hero), Takehito “Gakuto” Morokuzu and Reiji “Andre” Andou are involved in an attempt to peep in the girl’s shower room, completely unaware that their actions are not welcome. Hell, they are not welcome. Well, it goes awry (naturally) and this causes the five boys to be “arrested” and receive an ultimatum: either stay a month in the school’s Prison Block or be expelled.

Now, also understand that there is the Underground Student Council, easily the biggest group of man-haters you will ever see. Led by Mari Kurihara (daughter of the academy’s chairman), she is able assisted by vice-president Meiko Shiraki (the big boobs up there) and Hana Midorikawa, who could be a borderline psychotic and serial killer. The show details the brutality that the five must endure as the hands of these sadists, while working together as a cohesive unit, despite not only the tricks used to break them apart but the machinations to have them fully expelled from this school.

Please remember, this is very dark humor, as Gakuto takes an amazing amount of abuse and Andre wants nothing more than to BE beaten. Oh, and Joe coughs up a lot of blood. Plus, Meiko shows off a lot of flesh and crotch shots (I could never find an uncensored site, but it’s all there, believe me. Perhaps it is ‘clean’ for the DVD offering). This is easily one of the most perverted series I have seen in a while, even more so than “Shimoneta” (a review follows on that) or “Panty & Stocking” Whether it’s sweaty thighs or Meiko doing squats or even Hana getting caught taking a whiz in the forest, there’s no escape from it.

It has a high fan service rating, as content and attitude are both in full extent, almost to the point where it is distracting. A climatic situation, when Hana and Kiyoshi are in the council room I feel really pushes the envelope. They do manage to keep it on the up-and-up, but there are a lot of concerns and perhaps my rating would have changed if I saw it uncensored (can’t always rely on one’s imagination, eh?). I assume it is all being done to make commentary about absolute power, but does it have to go that far?

Now, if this was a ‘normal’ show, the marks would be lower, as it is brutal just to be brutal, kinky just to be kinky and demeaning just to be demeaning, but since we have really turned up the debauchery angle on things and as long as you do not take it seriously, this is honestly one of the most off-kilter, out-of-focus, gratuitous shows you may ever encounter. And when Kiyoshi has to explain to the President of the academy as to why butts are better than breasts in a genuinely innovative approach to things, you know this show is to be taken with a bag of salt.

On a scale of 1 to 10:

Artwork           8 (Weird just to be weird)
Plot                  8 (A rather intriguing take on school animes)
Pacing              8 (Odd but effective)
Effectiveness   7 (The gals are too angry)
Conclusion      5 (It reaches a ‘coupler point’, but hasn’t ended)
Fan Service     9 (A similar show would be “Eiken”)

Overall            8 (What a wild ride)

And remember, it’s first run until you’ve seen it. Why are you a butt man?