Prison Lab

The manga started off well. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary but highlighted how far bullying goes to break you, it's a torture manga plot, and was enjoyably done, with a few hints of seeing our protagonist losing his mind throughout. But I have many problems with how the story goes and how the author suddenly throws things off instead of advancing the characters further. Story: 2/10 - Character: 3/10 First off, let's get the biggest problems out of the way without spoiling; the protagonist was suddenly sidelined, and the plot suddenly changed into a mystery plot that is very predictable, and the main character pretty muchchanged - our protagonist does not matter to the end. This would be fine, there are plenty of stories that change perspective. This manga does it in the worst way possible. The other perspectives, while does affect the story, are completely wasted potentials. Then give almost zero attention to our first protagonist and change him completely for absurd reasons. My biggest gripe is how the plot progressed. If you've read the summary, that's not going to be important anymore. The bullying is only brought up sometimes after a certain point, since the author pretty much forgot the protagonist existed, only focusing on the weird mystery plot of "who's the mastermind?", but does not involve our protagonist. He becomes a tool for the author to insert into the story, and not in a way that feels satisfying. It's a B-plot that suddenly overtakes the main plot, and another C-plot becomes the B-plot. Of course, the characters' personalities start off great with a certain edge and mystery but sadly turn into clichés and tropes. Yes, you will see a damsel in distress, an obvious villain, a self-inserted character, etc. There are a few characters I find interesting that were done well, which I will say, will not matter later on. Anything after the person whom our main character is torturing confesses why she did it, the whole story turns into garbage. Everything they've built our character up, from someone who was genuinely hurt and wants an answer from the bullying by doing horrible means (despite everything could've easily been resolved by other means), turns into the typical edge-lord and becomes a "monster". Trust me, he will make you cringe. Secondly, the manga does a sin that I just despise, something Kill La Kill and even The Last of Us 2 do, but done much worse; characters being killed for no reason or incredibly cheaply, and they will not matter and are quickly forgotten. It was all to build up the mystery. They become plot devices, not characters. This MIGHT be fine, if not for the waste of following them as characters for so long, then you get an assassination of character writing. Lastly, the message of the manga is just pure garbage. It is written to sympathize with the bully, but not in a way where the story or our main character evolves from it. They do change, but not because of genuinely emotional moments, but because of the story demands it. A large problem with the characters is how suddenly they change their feelings at times when it should've been the driving point. You don't go 120 mph and then do a 45-degree turn. The author expects us to forgive and forget, or by just one nice action by one character you're suddenly forgiven, and then it doesn't go anywhere after that, only focusing on the mystery plot afterward. The author apparently poured his heart into this manga, where he hated himself to the breaking point when he went to school. And while I can sympathize with that feeling, the manga does not reflect that. This feels like he made it for himself without any skills or writing, of how he wants everything to just go perfectly and self-insert as the plot-armored, badass protagonist, and then when he realized he's supposed to be writing a story, suddenly changes into a whole different manga. What I'm trying to say is that it feels like something he wrote as an angsty 13-year-old going through a phase. I know this because I wrote something similar that I thought was noteworthy as a 14-year-old that knew nothing about writing. And the ending is just... ugh... You don't want to read that far, trust me. It's incredibly rushed and for some reason, turns into a horrible fighting manga with characters you will barely care about, the bullying just stops, and everything feels like a waste. Art: 5/10 The art is okay, it's definitely distinctive at times, and the author did well with the torture scenes and facial expressions, albeit incredibly edgy that it feels goofier and less serious. The art style is not for me, but I'm okay with it. The background though is just horrendous and plain at times, but it seems like the artist/author doesn't really care about the background, since it seems to be more focused on the "story". Overall Rating: 3 There is definitely a hook, especially in the beginning. I was interested in how the torture would affect the "bullies", how our protagonist will change, as well as two characters I found interesting, but would not matter in the end. It's a manga made for self-inserted edgy teens, but even those are at least done better. It's a manga that focuses on the wrong things, changing into clichés with both plot and characters. It's nothing special, but definitely not good, either. The art will not change for the better, I actually think it gets worse. It's clear the author just wanted the manga to end, was axed, or just was badly written. You're better off reading any other sadistic/torture manga because that at least is coherent and builds up characters. You will not connect to any characters, the bully, or bullied. Or, if you decide to read it, read it until you notice the bully explaining why she did it. It will not matter, and the plot won't either. In short, this manga tries to do too many things but fails at all of them.