Prison School vol. 13

Well, um, you see…

About “‘Prison School’s’ darkest secret” I mentioned in my last review:  Somehow I had heard and/or gotten it into my head that the main storyline with Kiyoshi, Gackt, Shingo, Joe, and Andre was going to wrap up here.  It would have them leaving the school only to be replaced by a new group of protagonists to continue the wacky and perverted hijinks that are this series’ stock-in-trade.  Their introduction would apparently faceplant so hard that the series would wrap up two volumes later. That’s what I was expecting to read as I cracked open this volume.

It is not what I got at all.  After a couple chapters which show us how a combination of Gackt’s PBR-sama and Ritsuko’s large-scale “Boob Goldberg” save the school from the Chairman’s helicopter crash, we’re back to regular service.  Mostly. Shingo and Joe are outcasts because of their groping antics, while Kiyoshi is even more reviled because of his panty-clad boner-waving during the Shoulder Wars. Meanwhile, Gackt and Andre have lucked into being school idols because of their actions during said Wars, bringing them closer to Ritsuko and Meiko, respectively.  (And yes, Andre being closer to Meiko is the S&M nightmare/fantasy you’re envisioning.)

With the main conflict wrapped up, there are still a few things to drive the action in this volume.  Kiyoshi is trying to gather the funds that will allow him to pull off an awesome confession to Chiyo, while Hana tries to deal with her own feelings about him.  Meanwhile, Gackt tries to deal with being desired by two women after Slut-sempai takes an interest in him. And Mari drops a bombshell on Kate in the last few pages.  There’s some good wackiness here too, the best of which involves Gackt and Slut-sempai in a box, but it all kind of feels like mangaka Akira Hiramoto is stalling for time here.  With the end of the series happening next volume, this reads like he was trying to see if he could stumble upon an idea which would keep the series going for a while yet. It didn’t happen here, so it’s probably for the best that things are wrapping up in vol. 14.