Creative Staff
Comic: Hiroji Mishima
Original Story: Ichiei Ishibumi
Character Design: Zero Miyama
Translation/Adaptation: Caleb D. Cook
What They Say
“I’ve become a devil-for a bust babe!?”
When unpopular high schooler Issei Hyoudou ilas a less than romantic encounter with his first-ever girlfriend, the consequences are fatal! As he lies dying, who should come to his rescue but the prettiest girl in school, Rias Gremory! And the shocking truth she shares leaves Issei reeling…
“You’ve been reborn a devil. Now you work for me!” Issei’s uproarious life as a devil’s minion begins here!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Contains partial nudity.
High School DxD began as a series of light novels written by Ichiei Ishibumi. Based on its popularity, the light novels spun off anime and manga series.
This manga series starts with Issei’s date ending on a terrible note; his girlfriend kills him! Or maybe it was just a dream, because the next day he’s back at school again. Then on his way home from school, another dude tries to kill him. Wait, does both this guy and Issei’s ex-girlfriend have black wings? What the hell is going on?
Things fail to get any less complicated for Issei when his beautiful classmate, Rias Gremory shows up and claims she is Devil royalty and Issei is her property! This gets the reader up to speed as we are introduced to the supernatural aspects of the world. There are three factions; Angels, Demons, and Fallen Angels that fight devils. Although, it is odd that Fallen Angels fight against Devils when heaven no longer accepts them. Rias is part of the royal family of devils where their world resembles medieval Europe; with knights, dukes, queens, and the like. Issei really was killed by his girlfriend, but she was a Fallen Angel, and with his dying breath, Issei offered his soul to Rias. Rias accepted, saved Issei and made him a devil, and her servant.
Life as a Devil’s servant isn’t all that bad. Issei gets to hang out with some interesting devils, work at getting stronger so he can have his own female servants to act as his harem, and any time he suffers injury, Rias heals him by sleeping naked with him. Yeah, that’s where all the almost naked fanservice comes from.
This first volume is similar to the anime series, and probably to the first light novel. I’m interested to read the next volume to see if the manga begins to vary from the anime series. Either way, this is a fun book if the reader doesn’t mind that some of the characters look a little younger than those in the anime series.
In Summary
This is definitely a series that is going to throw fanservice at you for little apparent reason, but that is stock-in-trade for a harem-themed series. So, if you are a manga reader that hates that sort of thing, you might not be able to get past it to enjoy the story. Personally, I enjoy all kinds of manga, including harem comedies that can counterbalance the seinen horror and slice-of-life series I also enjoy.
As harem series go, High School DxD is a fun story partly because it makes fun of itself. The main character is a pervy high school kid that makes no qualms about it and even agrees to become a servant for a devil royal family because his master is a hot classmate that promises his life as a devil could land him a harem. With his dream of being a Harem King at his fingertips, Issei gets right to work for his new master. With this in mind, the reader can sit back and enjoy the protagonist’s supernatural misadventures of ecchi-ness.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A-
Age Rating: 17+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: May 27th, 2014
MSRP: $13.00
