I know you're not supposed to have spoilers in a review. But given how the reputation of this manga has been pretty much tarnished entirely because of its ending, I will need to divulge some minor spoilers in this review. You've been warned.

Story- 7/10: You don't need to look twice at the synopsis to realize the following about Prison School: It is a dirty, dirty manga. But this manga is different from most ecchi manga for a very specific reason.

That reason is the insanely serious presentation. All of the really naughty and dirty scenarios that take place throughout Prison School are intentionally given way too much dramatic fluff. The ironic thing is that the suspense is real, in spite of how dumb the situations are at face value.

But alas, that really only applies to the first two-thirds or so of the story. Towards the 200 chapter mark there's a climax which drags on for so long it feels like a bad Shounen manga [like Air Gear] or something out of Studio Pierrot. After that, it's a brief slog followed by the ever-notorious ending.

Even though I feel like that Prison School still retained some of its twisted, perverse soul to the bitter end, I'll concede that the later parts were the weakest sections by far. Anyways, on to the elephant in the room...

I gotta address the ending. I'll try to do it as spoiler-free as possible. First off, I will concede that it wasn't the best choice it could have been. I think that 3-5 resolution chapters following the climax would've been the best solution. I will also concede that the ending was definitely abrupt. If there was an extra page or two to use as an establishing shot to transition into it, then maybe it wouldn't have come off as so ham-fisted.

But it WASN'T as bad as what people said. Look at my list; I'm no stranger to terrible endings! Maybe it's because I expected it to be the worst thing ever, or maybe because I don't partake in a certain "hobby" that's popular in fandoms, but seriously... it was not terrible.

If you end up reading this manga, just don't assume it's going to end in a specific way no matter what the context is and you should be fine(-ish)!

Characters- 8/10: The characters are solid, easily distinguishable design-wise, and about what you'd expect from a manga like this.

The clash between drama and stupidity also enhances the character arcs. A lot of really interesting relationships form around really stupid things, like a yaoi spin on ancient Japanese history, or masochism.

If I were to pick a bad character arc, it would probably have to be the chairman of the school. Even though he's a well-designed, memorable man, he's literally discarded later on and given a sideplot which matters only once in the main story and that's it. Poor guy... but other than that everyone is pretty darn good.

Art- 10/10: In all honesty, the whole review should've been THIS, because THIS is what the whole manga hinges on.

The art is detailed and extremely expressive. To compare this to similar manga, I do think that Grand Blue does this style a lot better. But Prison School's presentation is still bold and powerful by itself.

Enjoyment- 9/10: Yeah, I'm giving this a 9, even after all I've been through. The early and middle parts are so juicy that the later parts merely stopped me from giving this manga a 10/10.

If you're open to seeing a LOT of explicit scenes then by all means, give this manga a try!