Harenchi Gakuen

I'm not particularly into the Ecchi genre, nor am I the target demographic, but something about Harenchi Gakuen's perverse nature intrigues me. The story of this manga is simple to follow: two rowdy little boys gang up on their piece of shit teacher, cause all sorts of mischief and hilarity ensues. This cycle repeats for a majority of its earlier chapters, but it isn't until around chapter 17 that Harenchi Gakuen becomes slightly episodic. A mischievous storyline will be introduced, but it will receive 2 or 3 continuations until it wraps up and moves on to the next devilish scenario. Around this part of Harenchi Gakuen,I began to care about reading this manga and was drawn in by its episodic nature. Shortly after this comes volume 5, and the tone of this manga changes drastically. It is evident at this point in the story that Harenchi Gakuen had caused an actual uproar in the media among parents and the PTA during its serialization due to its vulgar nature. As a response, the next arc of this manga is a brutal social commentary on the war on censorship. What was once a lighthearted, perverted comedy is now a vicious bloodbath depicting a fictional PTA slaughtering innocent students for their freedom of expression. Not only does this arc of Harenchi Gakuen serve as an honest social commentary that critiques strict puritan morality and the shame that it imposes on sexual expression, but it is also indicative of the underlying talent and creativity of Go Nagai so early in his career. The chapters contained within this arc showed phenomenal potential as a budding young manga author with its graphic depictions of violence, detailed war-torn illustrated landscapes, and genuine dialogue and writing. Shortly after this arc, the tone of Harenchi Gakuen returns to its usual comical perversion. The last half of this manga honestly felt very hit or miss, with some of its chapters still being very funny or downright nefarious, bordering on sexual violence. The last chapters of this manga truly felt like they were trying way too hard to push the envelope in a way that is overtly offensive and lacking actual passion. Of course, it isn't very long until Harenchi Gakuen abruptly ends due to its firm cancellation. Despite the last half of this manga falling kind of flat, I thoroughly enjoyed the story up until this point and felt it was still a good, impactful series despite its shortcomings. I found the characters in Harenchi Gakuen to be quite solid and likable; that is, at least the children were likable. There is something genuinely endearing about Yamagishi and all his cheeky school buddies. Even the accompanying female characters have their charming moments. As for the teachers, they all deserve the electric chair. Towards the end of the manga, the new set of characters introduced are very forgettable and honestly don't live up to any of the cast members introduced from the start of the series, with most of them feeling like the equivalent of a replacement goldfish, considering the events of the Shameless War arc. The art in this manga is very cartoonish, with thick, clean outlines that are very enjoyable to look at, even for an older manga series. Each character design is straightforward and easy on the eyes. The panel structure is simple, with illustrations that easily convey jokes and ideas to the reader as their eyes follow the panels and overall flow of the page, making reading through entire volumes in one sitting effortless. I think, at best, Harenchi Gakuen is an okay series, but I deeply appreciate the importance of its existence and how it impacted the industry by being the first of its genre. Even when, at times, this felt rather dumb to read, it still left me in awe at how crucial this manga was at letting authors freely express unconventional ideas to an audience and how important that has shaped anime and manga today. I think everyone at some point in their life should give Harenchi Gakuen a read through, regardless of whether you love it or hate it, because at the end of the day, your favorite anime wouldn't exist today if Harenchi Gakuen had never been written.