Prison School

Episode 3

What are the hallmarks of a good prison break movie? There are the guards who conveniently step away from the prisoners for long periods of time but can return at any moment, lending more urgency to the prisoners' handiwork. There's the meticulous planning, the "dry run" of how the big day's going to play out. There's also the last minute change to the day's proceedings that throws a wrench in those plans. The prisoners panic and consider their options, ultimately coming up with a truncated and slapdash—yet ingenious—way to achieve their initial goals. Inevitably, something else happens to deter our heroes' escape, and they have to quickly adapt if they wish to succeed.

The third episode of Prison School is an almost perfect example of an edge-of-your-seat prison break film, albeit a very metafictional one. As usual, there's plenty of perverse humor to be found, although the physical abuse from the boys' jailers is significantly downplayed this week. (Vice President Meiko's unintentionally consensual whippings notwithstanding.) The Chairman's lecherous nature also becomes clearer in this episode. As it turns out, those "porn pictures" he kept on campus were photos of scantily-clad rear ends he'd taken himself. (Many of them from the late 80s.) Presumably, these photos were snapped consensually, but they hint at wild sexual escapades of his youth. The fact that he's President Mari's father also explains their tense relationship and her habitual overreactions to what she perceives as sexual deviancy. (As well as why the Chairman lets her perpetrate human rights violations on his campus.)

The pervading misunderstanding this week is the reason behind Kiyoshi and Gakuto's secretiveness and frequent hushed conversations. In a comically overblown misunderstanding, Shingo comes across "evidence" of a homosexual relationship between the two. After he brings this to the attention of the other boys, a number of ill-timed coincidences further reinforce Shingo's take on the situation. It's actually handled well, if you're open to laughing at such things in the first place. Shingo, Joe, and Andre giggle about it from time to time, but they also genuinely embrace the "relationship" and are concerned for their mutual friends' health and happiness.

The artwork remains as detailed as ever, and the visuals continue to drive home the show's prevalent sense of faux seriousness. The LEGO-style interlude of one escape plan is particularly memorable and serves as another example of something outright ridiculous being thrown into the mix.

Prison School demands its viewers take it seriously, even when bombarding them with blurred-out private parts and preposterous scenarios. Fans who can get past—or genuinely enjoy—those two things are rewarded with a nail-biter of an episode. We actually come to care about Kiyoshi and Gakuto's ridiculous plan to bust the former out for a day so that he can go on a date and obtain some extremely limited edition Romance of the Three Kingdoms figures for his bespectacled friend. It's not The Dirty Dozen, but even if the risks and payoffs aren't on the same level, the episode is a decent homage to works of its ilk.

Rating: A-

Prison School is currently streaming on Funimation.