High-school DxD

Erotic anime with a good plot, good characters, and good action? 
   How can that be!?







High-school DxD is an erotic romantic action comedy starring Issei Hyodo, who's life is turned around from normal high-school pervert to demon pawn when he is killed by a Fallen Angle; then revived by a Demon named Rias Gremory. After his death, and his revival; Issei becomes a servant to Rias Gremory, and action, drama, mischief and, yes, romance ensues. 
  And boy, I do have some bit to discuss.
Of-course, let's begin with the characters, starting with Issei Hyodo, our protagonist.
  Issei, as stated is a pawn in Rias Gremory's group. He is hot tempered, and a fan of a women's bosom (He is a pervert); and also houses the Red Emperor Dragon. However, along with those negative things come positive things; he is very loyal, and in later seasons *Attempts* to sway from the perverse thoughts that cloud his mind. He is also very head-strong and foolish, something that honestly surprised me, seeing how positive of a trait that took those as. 
 Other then that, he is considered to be "Normal" and "Weak," by the other characters (Specifically the antagonist) due to his pure human background before becoming a demon.

As a main character, especially one that is in something as erotic and suggestive as High-school DxD,  Issei brings a very likable personality to the table. Yes, in season one he was a-bit among the lines of Tomoki (Of Heavens Lost Property) in terms of temper and perversion, Issei drastically improves near the end when the loyalty traits really pulls through, along with the head-strong, foolish trait. Issei is a character that can be considered "Weak" compared to the world, but, he also can be considered as "Strong willed," something lacking into Rito's personality, or perhaps Yukinari (Girls Bravo), 
   Any character with that trait, reinforced with the fact that his "Sacred Gear" (The magic gear) basically flourishes off this trait, make Issei very competent, but not to that of Chaos;Heads' Takumi, where, basically male dominance "Saves the day".
 He has flaws, and he does make mistakes, but, the story admitting that, and pushing past that really levels Issei, and makes him a likable character the audience can get behind.
  Now, I do think he has flaws (Obviously). His perversion traits seems to bounce around a-lot, from respectable and protective to his female-kind to completely, over the top perverted. Though the later takes the majority of season one, season two (Or High-school DxD "New") Follows the first, most of the time. He becomes frustrating when we have a trait that bounces around to polar opposites many times, and really takes me out of the viewing.
      I would've preferred if they kept a single trait, or shown a development; him admitting when he went to far, rather then ignoring it in season two. However. I did enjoy the reserved, almost personal restraint perversion sought after at times in season two, and could see some-what development in that area.

Along with Issei, we have many other secondary characters that share the spot-light. These are Rias Grimery, Asia Argento, Akeno Himejima, Koneko Toujou, Yuto Kiba, and later Xenovia, and Gasper Bloody.



Rias Grimery is the daughter of Satin, and the president of the "Occult Research Club," which is just her club for her demon servants and herself. 
 Rias Grimery has to be my favorite heroine in the anime, and a lead heroine I feel isn't really utilized by many romantic "Harem" animes. 
  I say this because most leads don't show there history until it comes "Knocking on the door," for the plot. Though not really developed in season one (Except for she cares for her servants basically), season two shows us a natural Rias, whom shows intrigue, jealously, embarrassment, fear. These traits, though you may find them attached to heroines of a drama or action anime, aren't really seen often on heroines of the "Harem" genre. It is refreshing to see these traits utilized, along with development between her and Issei; making it feel natural. 

Asia Argento is an ex-heretic of the church, turned demon, and his a servant of Rias Grimery, serving as the healer in her operation. She also, like Rias, is in love with Issei (If you couldn't tell, this is a HAREM anime after all.). Though, luckily, her and Rias don't fight for Issei's affection, cutting off the cliche of "Fighting for Love," which takes out a-lot of filler in season one. 
  She also has an entire arch (Will discuss later) dedicated to her, allowing the back-story to get fleshed out before moving out, while keeping the development fresh throughout the series's duration. However, unlike Rias, she does seem a-little too perfect; as though she had not as much flaws or natural problems as Rias. 

 Akeno Himejima is the vice president of the Occult Research club, and right hand of Rias Grimery, along with her good friend. She really isn't given time in season one, so her personality is basically set as "Likes bondage." 
 However, in season two, we really see her flesh out, learning of her past (Though rather quickly), while a romance builds between her and Issei; along with a rivalry! 
  Man, I am sick of the "rivalry for love" cliche, and with her and Rias in the later half of season two, they use it often, and it is unnecessary. 
 Still, however, I like Akeno where she is given dedicated time with Issei, because, unlike others of the harem (With the exception of Xenovia) she is more forceful, with Asia and Rias are more volunteerly suggestive.

Konoko is, uh, well, not really developed. She is the only female in the club that isn't in the harem, and along with this the least developed character of the series (At-least in the "Side character" category.) 
  This is disappointing, because I wanted to know more of her.
I know they discuss her story in the manga, but it would've been nice to take time to develop her in the anime. She is forgettable because of the lack of  story behind her, which is sad. I like her.

Yuto, my man. He is a blonde-haired beauty of a man, a stud, and my favorite character of the show. 
  You ask why, and this is why: He is cool; he is developed; he is the most driven secondary character, and possibly has my favorite back-story.
 His "Sacred Gear" allows him to summon any type of sword to use in combat (Furthered enhanced in season two) And... Honestly, he is just a likable character. 
 Which is why I like him so much.

Now the last two heroine "Secondary characters" come from season two (And get get more development then Konoko... What the hell?)

 Xenovia is another heretic of the church, like Asia. Unlike Asia, who is a healer; Xenovia is a fighter, parallel to Yuto. 
 Unlike Yuto, however, she is part of the harem, and the person whom I thought was the most forced of the bunch. 
 Don't get me wrong, we see her develop. However, we see it as a character, not as a relationship between Issei and herself.

And finally we have Gasper; the final "Heroine" discussed in the anime; however, Gasper isn't a "Heroine"; she is a he. He is a cross-dresser, and seen in 4 episode. However, in those four episodes, Gasper is basically put through a situation similar to Asia, where-as he is the focus of most of the plot, which I found to be a-bit distracting with the final arch coming in.
  Though Gasper was a nice addition to the group, it came to late, and just took time away from what could have developed other characters, or the final arch.

Speaker of arches, and thus the story; High-School DxD is divided in 4 arches within 24 episodes, and two seasons.
 And, I enjoyed every one. They were well thought, well put together; they had development, and progression, and good fight scenes. I felt that they were structured, and every episode advanced the story, in one way or another.
  However, if I were to have problems, two would be major.
First off, it is suggested in a "Training" episode, where Issei learns his powers in season one, that Rias grants him his powers slowly, so that he can be stronger then a normal human. This entire concept is completely ignored in season two, and confused me greatly.
   Second, the antagonist. Now, I didn't discuss them in the character analysis, because they felt... Generic. They were prude, mean-spirited and arrogant, something that's been done over, and over, and over... My god, way to beat a dead horse!

However, with the major bad, comes very good. The lore is given, and is quite interesting; it has religious ties (Nearing the end, they get weird) and artifacts that you want to hear more about. 
 Plus, they have a nice metaphor about chess, that takes a strange, literal meaning in the demon world.

This, and the cool sacred gear, or the weapons each demon has, are cool. From Issei's red dragon that doubles his power, to Yuto's cool ability of Sword Birth that allows him to craft any blade for combat, allows interesting fighting scenes that are quite well coordinated and animated.

Finally, the animation is good, music is alright, and voice acting; I enjoyed.
  The biggest problem I had, and many other people will have is the extreme fan-service presented in this anime. No, it isn't simple fan-service, it is hentai, plain and simple. There is nudity everywhere (Especially in season one) and; what my biggest problem with it, was that it distracted the audience from important moments. Emotional dialogue was ruined because of the eroticism presented in the animation, which makes me wonder why it is so extreme?

None the less, I enjoyed High-school DxD very much so. It is a interesting, fun, exciting anime with extreme eroticism taken to far. However, if you can look past that, you will see an anime that you should watch, and one I will recommend.
  And with news of Season 3 coming soon, I am getting excited, and will be watching on.

7.6/10