Anime is often seen as an "adult" form of animation, thanks to the crass and extreme violence and sex that can be so easily found in its shows compared to other cartoons from outside Japan. But Summer 2015 in particular was a horny season, due to two particularly provocative shows airing in Japan: "Prison School" and "Shimoneta - A Boring World Where The Concept Of Dirty Jokes Doesn't Exist." The two were especially racy, even for anime, and captialized on that in its promotion. Both also happened to be animated by J.C. Staff, a strange coincidence. "Shimoneta's" plot is somewhat self-explanitory within its long title, and doesn't necessarily reach the lofty goals it sets. But "Prison School" is a whole other matter, a beast of its own that cannot really be compared.The premise doesn't seem too suspicious: an all-girls high school is becoming co-ed for the first time, and five male students are among the first to join. However, after a hormone-fueled raid to peek into the girls' locker room, they get caught by the underground student council, a group of girls dedicated to keeping their school pure and maintaining the peace. The boys are sent to the school prison, a secluded fortress in the middle of the campus grounds. It's an extreme measure, and is organized entirely outside the scope of the adult staff, but if they refuse to spend a month in the prison, the official punishment would be full expulsion. So at first, the boys try to survive under the watchful warden, but for various reasons find themselves plotting their escape. Sounds like a fairly normal anime comedy, right?If you've seen or heard of "Prison School," you know there's a little more to the show than that. It takes its comedy, violence, and sex appeal to the extreme. Not simply because the five boys are hot-blooded teenagers, but often due to events constantly out of their control. Most such scenes come at the expense (or with intent from) Meiko, who acts as the tough overlooking warden to the student council president. Meiko's character design is ridiculous, over six feet tall, as strong as a pro-wrestler, and with breasts and buttcheeks each the size of full watermelons. She wears the school uniform, but it always seems too small, barely hiding her torso and underwear. Not the least embarresed, she uses her appearance and a riding crop to whip the inmates into submission, or else sits on their face until they pass out. Yes, with her uniform mini-skirt and thong underwear, she sits on faces. The camera positions itself without dignity, placed to get several closeup shots of Meiko's crotch, the thread of underwear floss barely covering her nether-regions, and seemingly always at risk to shifting 1/4 an inch to the left to show too much (although one would argue too much is already being shown). Also, she sweats a lot.Naturally, the boys find some pleasure in getting whipped by Meiko, but their punishment becomes too cruel for them to stand. And accidents seem to continuously occur to get them into more trouble, sometimes part of a plan to escape or make their sentence more pleasurable. This includes poop, pee, blood and sumo wrestling, close-calls and misunderstandings implying sex with only inches of air keeping acts from occuring, at the expense of both male and female characters. Some of it is simply crude potty humor, some of it rivals situational hardcore porn. Don't misunderstand: "Prison School" is hardly sexy. It's character designs and animations are drawn and colored in a way similar to gritty anime from the mid-2000's, actively trying to look ugly in contrast to the cute and handsome designs anime is known for. Even when nothing unusual was happening on screen, I still felt dirty watching it. It's uncomfortable to sit through "Prison School," no matter what your tastes are.
I was prepared to give the show a low score, expecting not to dare recommend it to anyone to justify its existance. But I couldn't stop watching, and as it progressed, the plot changed from extreme comedy, to a psychological thriller where the student council plots to force the boys to misbehave to force their explusion, and vice versa when the boys plot to manipulate the council to allow them to find proof of their illegal actions. It became genuinely exciting thanks to strong direction and over-the-top writing. Similarly, while initially uncertain of the comedy, I found myself laughing out loud by the mid-point of the series. Even the ugly visuals can be justified in fitting the tone and feeling unique, and the show will shift to unique visual methods (detailed facial expressions, long-pause shots, and Lego animations detailing escape plans) for the animators to show off in little ways. By the time the satisfying ending came around, I found myself smiling, having fun with this prison drama that rivals classics like "The Great Escape." Funimation's English cast seems to have felt similarly, initially embarresed to be attached to the show that they considered using fake names in their credits, but then citing it as one of their favorite shows of its year, and showing that through an outrageous script the ranges from cringe-worthy bad to cringe-worthy hysterical. "Prison School" is a lot of fun, and is a unique beast unlike anything before or since.From looking at the premise or promotion material, you can already tell if you would genuinely enjoy or despise "Prison School." Or, most likely, you will lie to yourself and find yourself curious enough to watch the show anyway. Much like the boys in prison, I was disgusted and traumatized by the experience, but admit I had fun nonetheless. And I'm happy its over. If you, however, are eager for more, then you can also check out the live-action Japanese television adaptation. Yes, the material wasn't too extreme to have live actors perform it on broadcast television, apparently. Which Funimation also released in North America on home video, a first for seemingly any J-Drama/Comedy... "Prison School," of all things.Oh, joy.