Sometimes a series promises plenty, and delivers nothing other than perhaps epic disappointment. I’ve seen a few of them lately. On the other hand, you get the occasional series that, when you see the initial promo clips, promises absolutely nothing, and then turns around and delivers… well, at least something that’s better than nothing. Highschool DxD, in something of a pleasant surprise, falls firmly into the latter camp…
What They Say:
Issei Hyodo is a 2nd-Year high school student attending Kuo Private Academy, where the girls are extremely plentiful. He attends this school for only one purpose: to create a harem! But far from achieving that goal, he is berated as a pervert, and his initial objective becomes nothing more than a grandiose delusion. But then, after a strange turn of events, Issei makes his first girlfriend, and goes on his first date! In the park at sunset, she draws up close. Will it be his first kiss? Perhaps something even more? As Issei’s head runs wild with romantic fantasy, she smiles and asks him, “Would you die for me?” Without warning, he is killed by the first girlfriend he ever had! But why?!
The Review:
Issei Hyodo is, apparently, “a normal, perverted high school boy”, who loves nothing better than to spend his time at Kuo Academy – a formerly girls-only school that’s now gone co-ed – looking for any and all opportunities to letch over girls in various stages of undress. Even though his peeking habits always end in great pain for him, after he inevitably gets caught. Which should also make it no surprise that he’s never managed to score himself a girlfriend – every girl in the school quite fairly sees him as a Grade A creep. But today is his lucky day, as cutie Amano Yuma, who’s been watching him from afar, wants to be his girlfriend. Has true love found Issei? Uh, no – on their first date, Yuna reveals that she’s a devil, doing nothing more than raising his hopes for the fun of seeing them dashed, and stabs him in the stomach, killing him instantly. Luckily, he’s resurrected by flame-haired Rias Gremory, the buxom president of the school’s Occult Research Club – in the process becoming a devil himself. Which is when things really start to get weird…
I have no idea how the series name is supposed to be pronounced, but given the show’s nature, I’ve settled on Highschool Double-D. Describes the “talents” of most of the female cast quite well. “Normal, perverted high-school boy?” I was a teenager once, you know, and Issei is far from normal – anyone caught getting up to his antics even once would have quickly had “expelled” stamped on their permanent record. In anime, it’s a phrase that’s shorthand for “this show is a t&a-filled fanservice spectacular, which will probably annoy you greatly if you’re looking for anything more substantial. Like a plot.” That’s usually enough to make me rather wary of a series – so colour me surprised when first, Issei didn’t quite live up to his billing (he is a complete pervert, but stereotypically there’s a heart of gold in there too), and second, the series turns out to actually have a story – and one that’s quite good, in places.
Rias, of course, turns out to be a devil herself – daughter of one of the three remaining great houses, who are still fighting amongst themselves for superiority. That process has been refined to the Rating Game, reflecting the way that the houses are organised much like chess sets – with Rias as the “King”, the members of the Occult Club (all demons loyal to her) are mapped to other pieces: Akeno Himejima, club vice-president and high-order sadist, the Queen; Koneko Toujo, the clear Ruri Hoshino clone who keeps a cynical eye on proceedings, the Rook; and Yuuta Kiba, a talented swordsman, the Knight.
There’s also nun Asia Argento, who starts the series in devout service of the Church and its Exorcists, who naturally aim to rid the world of demons like Rias and her group, but who through circumstances (one half Issei thinking with the contents of his pants, and half her boss Exorcist being an evil bastard) ends up becoming Rias’ Bishop. The storyline for this takes up several episodes early in the series, and gives the first real evidence that the show isn’t just about the fanservice – you can’t get away from that (even though, for the simulcast streams, most of it’s obscured by floating show logos), but Issei’s pursuit of Asia and refusal to leave her to her fate is actually quite touching. It also provides a good hook for the show’s other strong point – action. With each demon possessing a “Sacred Gear” that gives them a particular special ability, there’s a certain shounen-fighting-show feel to that side of things, with the added bonus that battles are kept short and to-the-point – one of the advantages of a short 12-episode run.
The second main story arc focuses more on Rias, and her arranged betrothal to Epic Bastard Raiser Phenix. That’s a fate that Rias would very much like to avoid, at least in part due to her growing feelings for Issei, and the route to her freedom naturally turns out to be a formal Rating Game between Rias’ and Raiser’s respective groups – a battle which has quite a few twists and turns along the way.
Okay, so it’s verging on fanservice overload; the characters are tick-box archetypes; and the story is predictable. On paper, there’s nothing here to see that’s going to blow you away. But there’s a great sense of fun about the way the characters go about their business, they feel as though there’s a genuine connection between them, the love triangle between Rias, Issei and Asia isn’t overplayed (and I’d say it’s resolved quite well, too). Take all that into account, and I had a lot more fun watching Highschool DxD – which, given I was geared up to absolutely hate it, has to count as an achievement.
It’s still not going to be for everyone, mind. The high fanservice levels bump it straight into a particular niche, in which it’s a good example of how to do things right. But shows in that niche are never going to appeal to most people, and are unlikely ever to be counted as “great”. But for some lightweight fun, you could do a lot worse.
Content Grade: B
Streamed by: Funimation, Nico Nico
pls make season 2 in this anime HS DXD because it reminds me of me except for the devil part,
pls if you know the director of this anime pls tell him that make a season 2 of high school DXD many HS DXD watchers want second season because this anime is so awesome and secrets about devils and heavenly weapons that destroys god’s
el anime continuara, por que actualmente quedo en el capitulo 12 : ( y quiero seguir viendo este grandioso anime 😀
no it is a SSSSS not a B grade
nice 1 …………………. this anime ………………….. will there b any 2nd season
Season 2 “might” be aired in September 2012… that’s what they say…but don’t get high hopes � � 🙂
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I think season 2 Might be coming Because at the end of season 1 (Ep 12) They said something about the red dragon rival the white dragon.