High School DxD was a raw, shameless and an extremely brilliant addition to the Harem genre. The tropes were missing and the cliches were obliterated! So, Prepare your mind for a perverted mental assault the likes of which I've not seen since a long time!
Story
The story isn't the reason why you're going to be interested in this anime, plain and simple. However, it certainly holds enough plot to actually make you wonder about certain things other than the obvious and enjoyable. But, Obviously for the first timers, they might seem either fascinated or awkward with the story, depending on their mood for harem romance. Though, how they develop the story is what I really like! Now for the actual story-line, Issei Hyodo is your average perverted high school student whose one wish in life is to have his own harem, but he's got to be one of the unluckiest guys around. He goes on his first date with a girl only to get brutally attacked and killed when it turns out the girl is really a vicious fallen angel. To top it all off, he's later reincarnated as a devil by his gorgeous Rias Senpai who tells him that she is also a devil and now his master! One thing's for sure, his peaceful days are over!
Characters
Other than enjoying the series itself, this is by far the best and most important part of this entire anime. Every single girl in the harem was noticeably different and wasn't fawning over left, right and center for the guy. They all had unique powers and traits that could interest you. Let's go into specific details, Hyodo Issei, Our MC is a pervert, and ends up in funny situations and rubs his sexual exploits in his friends' faces. He wants to touch any and all sexual parts of the opposite sex. He's awesome in that as he ends up getting a harem which he's totally unaware of because he doesn't believe women can be genuinely be interested in him, but they all eventually fall victim to his pure-hearted pervert ways! Then, we have the beautiful Rias Gremory, who is someone everyone admires and lusts about. She is the president of the Occult Club. And she is of course, the main heroine as well as one of the reasons some of us were watching this series. She takes a curious interest in our protagonist Issei after the incident but what really makes her unique is her definite character. Behind her outer shell is a girl who takes responsibility and does what she does best - help others. Then, we have some of the other characters. The sadistic Akeno who is also admired among the academy. She is playful and flirtatious, she also plays the role of the onee-sama and I'm sure that a lot of us want to be “treated” by her. Then, we have our mascot, the all adorable Koneko-chan. Behind that cute loli apperance lies a girl of power and valor who puts her own life at risk to help others. Next, we have Asia-san, the pure girl that reflects the innocence of the series after all the lewd story arcs and peerage. Finally, we have Kiba who serves as the antithesis of Issei, whom he despises to no end. And of course, all these characters of the Occult Club are the bridge to Issei's path of becoming someone who he never thought he'd be. Overall, all of it is pretty bland and natural for the genre, but they all come together quite beautifully (no pun intended) and it ends up being a laugh riot. But, There was no typical harem cock-blocking here. Also, The enemies were generally all generic except the bosses, but were interesting enough to make you wonder!
Animation and Sound
The animation and artwork was great though it didn't cover a whole lot on the demonic abilities and what not! Also, their weren't any average demons as you would expect to be. The power effects were also pretty sweet. Of course, will power was what made their power surpass their own limits! As for the characters, I've developed a fetish for radiant colors of long hairs on women and though they fought in their school clothes, which was a little disappointing, their demonic powers covered up for it. The only person who changed their clothes during battles was Akeno Himejime!
For the sound, The characters were voiced well. Also, nothing particularly seemed out of place. The OP for the anime was a sort of generic but the music wasn't that bad. The ED, I'm convinced that it was one of the best I've heard (and not just for the epic fanservice), the song was incredibly catchy and fitted the series well in both the fun and lyrics department. Not much to say about the sound really, everything fitted like it should though there wasn't anything exceptionally spectacular about it.
Enjoyment
Well, this is the best harem I have ever watched for many of the reasons stated above and some like I felt interested and invested in the characters and actually cared enough about the story arcs to be able to watch multiple episodes consecutively. Usually I find this difficult with a Harem genre since most don't have too much else drawing you in. Plainly put, I really enjoyed this anime very much and will be re-watching it in the future when it leaves my recent memory.
Overall, High School DxD isn't going to be winning any awards but it was entertaining as hell! It was completely insane, shameless and interesting. I've not had this much fun watching an anime in a while. The fun factor was in it's ability to tell an interesting story and do comedy, there was also some mighty powerful fan-service for those interested in that. Now, You'll have a good time watching this anime if you can judge the anime based on it's merits in this genre over the level of fan service. Yes, if you hate fan service, you will be annoyed to the maximum extent but otherwise, it's really very fun. I suggest picking it up and waiting for my review of the second season as I'm going to review it pretty soon and if you want to decide just right now I would say it's certainly not the best but it's not even close to the worst. Give it a shot!
4 STAR ANIME.
The issue of fan service aside, I also really enjoyed Highschool DxD. It was generic in some ways but just so very entertaining in others and I actually thought the adult focus was beneficial in that it allowed the show to pull off jokes you just don't get to see in tamer anime. I really looking forward to the third season ^_^
ReplyDeleteExactly! Harem shows are a dime a dozen, and in most cases, they are either too inane or too cheap for me to offer even the slightest positive comment. And, They resort to such tactics because anything with lots of fan-service would probably sell, but that rationale usually gets on my nerves and I ain't even be interested enough to pick up such a title.
DeleteBut then there is High School DxD, which grinds my gears because of its blatant dedication to harem, but doesn’t at all. It is obviously a show that’s not cerebral, yet it’s not that terrible since I find myself enjoying every episode. It’s quite the fun romp, and perhaps a surprising one that exceeds the small expectations I had for it.