Forum - View topicWhy I Can't Stop Watching Prison School
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MasterSword23
Posts: 38 |
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It's the exact same way with me! It's such a dumb show but I love it!
It also helps that the dub is pretty excellent. |
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walw6pK4Alo
 Posts: 9322 |
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No opinion yet because I'm waiting for BDs, but I think something can be sexy even if it's disgusting, even if the show looks banal, and you can't imagine these character designs could turn anyone on.
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Divineking
 Posts: 1299 |
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Very interesting analysis. I wasn't really able to pin down my fascination with this series either at first since like you said it's both intentionally framed as too gross to be a straight up fanservice fest while not being cynical enough for satire, so I think the idea of the bizarre primal tension it creates through weirdly sexual situations is a good point for why it sees to have such appeal. Though I will say that the series actually has been laugh out loud funny for me quite a bit and mostly because it has the characters being completely serious at all times despite the downright loony things that happen on screen. That kind of tonal dissonance really shouldn't be able to work this well in theory, but the show really knows how to sell it and it's been hard not to get at least a few genuine laughs out of that.
As such I'm kind of disappointed the dub opted to make the characters sound "wacky" (especially Sonny Strait's goober alien voice for Andre and it sounds horredously out of place) since it kind of takes away from that joke a bit. It has improved with each episode though, but since the JP version is one of those instances where the seiyuu performances are dialing things up 120% it's the version I learn towards more. At least it mostly gets the job done though I guess. |
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amcnulty
 Posts: 48 |
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This sums up a lot of my feelings on the show. It's the tension that hooks me more than anything.
And I get seriously frightened anytime Hana's alone with Kiyoshi. Maybe I've developed that phobia now, too... |
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navycherub
 Posts: 233 |
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This piece definitely gets the inherent appeal of Prison School down, and I'm glad it is here so that people can see a reasonable explanation of why some of us really like Prison School.
With regards to the characters, though, I agree that they are essentially all not very good people, but I wouldn't say I don't like them. Maybe at the beginning I didn't, but there is something so genuine about each of them and their desires that makes me want to root for them anyway - if this wasn't true, I'm not sure the tension that is so much the selling point of the show would even work. I've seen Gakuto go through so much for his figures, so it stresses me out when they might be compromised; Joe's love for his ants has been conveyed so well that it makes me sad and angry to see them attacked by the crow. Even the recent development with Shingo and the upperclassman girl at the arcade is something I just know the show will use to make me anxious in the future. |
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HaruhiToy
 Posts: 4118 |
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Wow. I would give Hope 5 stars just for taking this on. These days I am not inclined to engage in big arguments about anime but I would like to point or question out a few things:
A small nit -- one of them actually did get naked in the bath with girls, one of which was too myopic to see that the naked guy next to her was a guy. However the overall point is taken -- the "crime" these guys committed were being guys. Nothing else. You know if it weren't that they would be incarcerated for some other specious reason.
Oh? How can you write that and then write about Hana -- complete with animated picture -- in full arousal in exercising her power over Kiyoshi. As you point out she is in denial about it (at first certainly) but has discovered total arousal in herself which she seems unable to control. Anyway, what I really came here to post was in response to this:
I have put forth the argument that Prison School is a satire -- a wickedly harsh one -- and have been pretty much slapped down every time. So I guess I'm alone in that but I still believe it. My reasoning: We often complain in these forums about the tropes in teen rom-coms and particularly the one where the MC is continuously punished not for doing anything wrong but just the appearance of it. Sometimes not even the appearance of male perfidy is required -- just their presence. In Love Hina (sort of gold standard for this sort of thing) Keitaro is in one scene actually asleep when he is kicked through a wall and over the horizon simply because that is what girls do (and are privileged to do) when they are nonplussed. Har har har. And I am sure every reader here could name a thousand examples of this and how they have gotten bored with it and how overused it it and so on. And it continues to this day and shows no sign of ever being abandoned. My guess is the makers of Prison School feel the same way. What they seem to be saying to the anime industry and consumers in general is: You like that trope so much? Well then tell me what you think of this. And what they have presented is the raw form -- the true essence of what mainstream anime constantly flirts with. The treatment the boys get is nothing more than the logical extension in most rom-com anime. The point seems to be that you will never look at another anime rom-com interaction of this type again without thinking about how Hana keeps trying to piss on Kiyoshi and failing, instead getting defiled herself and aroused in the process. That is what satire is all about. That is what it is for: to change how people thing about something that they see as normal. (and, perhaps, change their behavior about it?) And that, in my humble opinion, is what Prison School is. And it is excellent. Oddly enough I haven't been watching it but have been following the forums. I read the manga beforehand so I knew most of what would happen, and from the comments they are following the printed form so closely that watching the anime seems unnecessary. I'll catch up later when I have more time. |
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relyat08
 Posts: 4125 Location: Northern Virginia |
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I guess the weird fascination that I have with this show isn't just me. I liked this article. It was like examining my own potential reasons for being unable to stop watching this, and finally hitting the nail on the head. It's true, the tensity of everything in this show is a huge part of why I just keep watching. I'm constantly grossed out, I don't like any of the characters, the visuals are extremely off-putting, there is nothing sexy in it at all to me, but I am always on the edge of my seat wondering what crazy shit is going to happen next. And because of that, I have to keep watching.
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ICO44
 Posts: 105 |
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I like Prison School because it over the top comedy that can just relax and enjoy with out thinking about it too much. I need show like this after watching more serious anime like Legend of Galatic Heroes.
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Themaster20000
 Posts: 872 |
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Sums up why I enjoy it. It takes such a ridiculous premise as this so damn seriously. It also understands the concept of setting up a joke,which most anime comedies fail at doing. Then tension in seeing if their Rube Goldberg escape plan will work. My big issue is the art style,which doesn't have the budget to do it properly. I'll probably wait for the rest of the dub,since I personal enjoy scene-chewing dialogue in English.
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Thatguy3331
 Posts: 1799 |
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Prision School's tension is definetly a plus but I know when I was reading the manga I was going through so much of it at once that I had to take a break...and said break hasn't ended yet. two other people on my campus who I know know about it have completely different feeling towards it (as well as having different levels of exposure and experience to anime and manga) my former roommate got sick of it pretty quickly since he found no one to be likable (he's new to anime) while my other friend loves it and keeps trying to convince me to get back to reading it(he's pretty burnt out on anime and mostly reads manga, though part of that is because he complains about getting shocked while continuing to touch a spark plug with a wet finger). I myself am the wired middleman who feels like my roommate is making to big a deal about it, but my friend's constant insistence gets on my nerves and much like FMA 03 it only drives me further and further away from ever going back.
I can admit that his has tension and is both uncomfortably funny and sexy, but it's because of that same reason that I feel so lucky to have fallen out of the attention trap, and that going back would be like, well returning to a jail cell I just broke out of. |
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bibotot
Posts: 79 |
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I watch this anime for the plot. And I like it. All the main male characters are interesting. It's been a while since we have an ecchi where the main males have REAL personalities.
And I have not read the manga, but will other girls be the (intense) fan service as well? I personally don't like Meiko. If I go to a club and she is the stripper, don't expect me to throw my money anywhere. |
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FireChick
 Subscriber Posts: 2491 Location: United States |
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As much as I liked JO's analysis, I can't watch this show. Not my cup of tea. But if everyone else likes it, that's okay. But...uuuuuuuugh!
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meiam
Posts: 3450 |
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I don't get why Hope dismiss so easily the porn aspect of the show. First the gif presented in the very article undermine most of what he says. "the girl don't sexually enjoy it" scroll down a bit to see a girl obviously turned on. Heck, the sentence "so it's not fanservice" is directly below something that's very obviously fan service.
Then the entire argument is that to make it sexy the character would need to be seen enjoying it... why? There's absolutely no reason for that, if people are turned on by pain wouldn't they be more turned on because they'll see the pain on the character face? In most porn the dominatrix stays in character. And the artstyle making character look gross doesn't make it not sexy at all, plenty of people enjoy gross porn, there's an entire category of porn around pee, yet we all agree that pee is gross and do I have to remind people of infamous two girl one cup? I dunno, it just read like someone desperately trying to justify watching it for any other reason than porn. Like someone claiming they read playboy for the article. Couldn't that be the message of the show "it's okay to be into weird porn, you shouldn't feel like you belong in jail for that"? |
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PachiPortrait
 Posts: 34 Location: Raleigh, NC |
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Hana is not turned on in that scene. She's nervously and excitedly hyperventilating because she's determined to force Kiyoshi to pee in front of her, not because she will enjoy it but as fair's fair for him accidentally seeing her do the same. The shot is purposefully framed to appear sexy while the context is anything but. As for it being fanservice - that's a subjective thing, ain't it? I also think being designed to function as fanservice and being designed to *look* like fanservice can be mutually exclusive. |
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Dracom
Posts: 2 |
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I'm going to be frank and posit that it's enjoyable because haters of female objectification and sexualization can get catharsis from seeing boys who give in to their lust humiliated and dominated by strong-willed female characters. It's a revenge fantasy at its core. The de-sexualization of the females and the lack of any S&M appeal just goes to show that it is not the sexual arousal of the viewers or male characters that they are going for but female empowerment in the most horrific ways.
Yet...
It only takes a quick trip down the rabbit hole of erotic anime, erotic manga and Japanese AVs to see that sweat and urine are indeed huge turn-ons for quite a few people. Yes, you even have vomit, poop and all kinds of bodily fluids added into the mix as well. So I think it is a little bit too shortsighted to write something off as non-sexy just because the fetishes explored aren't to your tastes or don't fit into your paradigm of sexy.
I don't disagree with you, but would like to add another perspective to your observation. Can't one equally argue that the show is a satire about how society treats male perversion far more harshly than it should by making the punishments exaggerated? After all, male lust is all but natural. Last edited by Dracom on Fri Aug 28, 2015 1:49 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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