What They Say:
Issei is back with Rias and Asia living in his house, and Kiba starts acting weird when he sees a picture of a holy sword at Issei’s house.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The first season of Highschool DxD really worked well for me since it played very, very well with the fanservice and sexuality but was also smart enough to execute a solid storyline. While it had some of the usual trappings, it had the right kind of polish and professionalism about it that made it enjoyable to watch the main story itself and the fanservice and not feel insulted by either. Well, mostly. With the second season of the series, which sadly does not have the most awesome pole dancing ending, we get more of the same. And that’s a fantastic thing since it’s full of nudity with amusing cover-up designs and plenty of other fanservice oriented shots as it introduces us to the story that will be defined here over the course of the season.
Issei’s life continues to be difficult since getting involved with the President and others, especially as the guys are furious about it and are spreading all kinds of rumors about him fooling around with lots of girls but also including Kiba as well, cause, well, some of the girls like that. It just heightens the complications, especially since he and Asia are pretty much an item on some level and these rumors just panic her a lot. Of course, while it does frustrate him, he’s still pretty much caught up with all of these girls and even spends a good bit of time with all o them – and Kiba – at home, which is where his mother really messes with him by showing pictures of him as a kid. Which gives us a couple of hilarious naked Issei moments and plenty of embarrassment.
While the show does spend a lot of its time in the first half reacquainting us with everyone, it shifts into a bit of action in the second half as the group ends up coming together to deal with a devil that has arrived. One that’s very easy to deal with overall, but turns mildly problematic simply because Kiba doesn’t have his focus on, which results in the President giving him a proper slap. What the show starts to focus on though are the holy swords, weapons that can do quite a lot against a devil, and it fills us in briefly on some nuggets of history with Excalibur and also noting the Holy Sword Project, which all ties back to Kiba himself since we see him as a child with one in the background. The breadcrumbs are being laid down, but how it’ll move forward remains to be seen.
In Summary:
Though not quite as strong an opening episode as the first season, there’s a certain familiarity and comfort here that works well in drawing us back into the fold and the quirkiness of the characters. The fanservice is here as we’ve seen before, and I continue to love that they actually give the women something more than just basic undergarments to wear, and the show handles the brief action pretty well. As a foundational episode for the season, it just lightly brings in a few pieces and draws some connections, working off of Kiba’s past as a way to do it, so you can see the threads and how they’ll tie together as it progresses. There’s a good bit of darkness to all of this that works well and the general presentation of the episode is spot on, which should please fans of the first season.
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.
