What They Say:
Issei and Kiba fight the Xenovia and Irina, and Issei tries to deal with the consequences of their fight.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Highschool DxD New has worked decently to just get right into things with this season rather than spend a lot of its time just goofing around. With the events of the first two episodes, we got a handle on the Holy Swords pretty well and an amusing bit involving the way some of those from the angel’s side have come down to try and make sure that Rias and her group keep from getting involved in the situation. That lead to an agreement of sorts, but it also brought out a bit of a fight that was more intended for fun than anything else. And it is fun as it gets underway and Issei holds his own fairly well as he tries to go with his patented dress breaker attack. Of course, his intended target doesn’t get taken down with it as he overshoots and hits his own side instead, which leads to some comical shredding of clothes that delights the fans.
The first half handles the fight pretty well as we get the obviously sex and silliness of it all, but it also brings in some solid action moves themselves as the two sides go at it. The angels of course come across as competent and confident, which gives them an edge since they do have quite a lot of experience overall. Issei and Yuto on the other hand have a different kind of experience and bring a certain intensity to what they’re doing, which makes it fun to watch as they’re the more emotional side of the fight. It helps to show both sides well and that there can be a working relationship of some sort between the two sides and an actual understanding. And even a little information that gets traded as a priest that caused the group problems before was unknown to the angels and that gives them a new path to pursue.
While we do get the angels going off on their own, we also get some time with the rest of the usual team as they deal with the fallout from the fight, particularly with Yuto wanting to quit and move on after feeling like he’s failed them badly. But Rias really keeps this together as a family, and that’s a help as time goes on and the two angels reveal to Issei and the others about the priest and how he was used, essentially as a tool, for the larger issue involving Valper who may have been orchestrating events from behind the scenes. There’s some decent setup and minor exposition here that fleshes things out a bit and it helps to move things on to where it will go next, especially as everyone starts to really together as they understand the larger fight that’s coming up.
In Summary:
Admittedly, Highschool DxD New isn’t wowing me this season like it did the first. I do like that it’s going for the story more, but it’s feeling less and less about the characters overall and something is coming across as missing. There’s some good fun to be had in this episode with the fanservice aspect of it and the action is nicely played in the first half, but it feels like it’s a bit more aimless in the second half as it works through some of the exposition and some of the character issues in a very simplistic manner. A lot of it is still just set up so there’s something to be said about that, but there’s a kind of charm that’s still a bit off this season that I can’t quite put my finger on just yet.
Grade: B
Streamed By: FUNimation
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
