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Prison School
Episode 12

by Amy McNulty,

How would you rate episode 12 of
Prison School ?
Community score: 3.2

Prison School's tension-filled finale brings the expulsion arc to a close and leaves viewers eager for a second season. Kiyoshi is able to unlock the door to the corrections office and set the boys' plan in motion by aggressively giving in to Hana's assault with passionate, slobbery kisses. However, the finer points of their plan aren't revealed until the boys gather in the chairman's office the following day. As it turns out, Chiyo snuck into the prison to swap places with Joe, who swapped places with Gakuto, enabling Gakuto to recover the incriminating data from the computer in the corrections office. Strangely, Gakuto runs around on campus frightening women in his underwear before the big reveal, but he manages to produce the proof the boys need to implicate the Underground Student Council. In the end, the chairman not only rescinds their expulsion, he declares the time they served sufficient punishment for their initial crime. The boys are free, and the show has come full circle.

In a brief post-credits sequence, we see the former prisoners fitting in surprisingly well on campus and interacting with girls in a healthy manner. (What caused the girls' change of heart is left unexplained. Perhaps they just needed to get to know the boys better?) When a mysterious new character (the president of the "real" Student Council) demands the chairman punish the Underground Student Council for their crimes, Mari, Meiko, and Hana are sent to prison. Imprisonment is a fitting comeuppance for everything the Underground Student Council has done. Meiko, whose physical abuse of the prisoners had largely been presented as comedic or titillating, outright tortures Anzu in an uncomfortably "sexy" attempt to extract information from her. Even accepting the twisted logic of the show, the ladies of the Underground Student Council have always been hypocritical and cruel, so it makes perfect sense that the first season ends with them being punished for their crimes.

Despite the episode's strengths, there are moments that are too contrived. For example, the window to the corrections office only has bars on it, so Chiyo should be able to hear all the noise Hana and Kiyoshi are making from where she's crouched outside. When she opens the door and nearly walks in on them, Kiyoshi is able to inform her that he needs more time while pretending to talk to Hana. Immediately afterward, Kiyoshi reminds Hana to pick up her pants and undergarments, but Chiyo conveniently only hears the part that wouldn't jeopardize her feelings for him. It seems like everything falls into place for the boys just because they're due their happy ending, at least for now. Realistically, Chiyo should have overheard or seen at least some of what happened between Kiyoshi and Hana. While I'm glad the show didn't go the predictable "I caught you red-handed and I'm going to walk away in a huff without listening to your explanation!" route like it did with the sumo date, there still should have been some fallout.

This show isn't for everyone, but Prison School has never made any qualms about what it is: a disquietly sensual absurdist work with a prevalent sense of faux seriousness. The boys' bizarre but fairly low-stakes situation is treated with all the importance and urgency of wrongly condemned men desperately trying to pull off a prison break. While far from flawless, Prison School is compulsively watchable junk food for the slightly twisted soul.

Rating: A-

Prison School is currently streaming on Funimation.

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


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