Review of High School DxD Hero
At this point, if you're reading this review, chances are you've already completed the other 3 seasons of High School DxD, and if you've done so, that means you've seen enough ecchi from this anime to separate it from the main plot. With that disclaimer, this review will focus more on the plot more than the "plot", and since this is the latest season in the anime, I will also be using content from previous seasons to reinforce the achievements and pitfalls. Highschool DxD is one of the few anime that has managed to balance harem and shounen in a manner that most people canactually accept. Unlike a certain other show that also is harem, shounen, and slightly Isekai, the reception for Highschool DxD is almost always positive, whether its because of the almost-but-not-quite hentai content, or the mediocre yet good succession of events.
Story
From what I understand, this season adapts chapters 9 and 10 of the light novel, and this time, it doesn't have any anime-exclusive shenanigans that is prequel season had. While I did not read the light novels myself, the plot of this season followed a steady line that I would be sure to see as almost parallel to the light novels. This is far better than what its prequel season pulled, and it was definitely a step up from the chaos that was High School DxD BorN. Once again, this anime doesn't fail to "explore" every corner of the possible shenanigans our hopelessly dense pervert MC can get into. The first half of the season brings us another girl in our Harem King's growing consort while also adding to the Boob Dragon's growing arsenal of godlike powers. Standard harem/shounen anime shenanigans, a rather predictable yet necessary buildup for the second half.
The second half is, of course, a Tournament Arc, in the form of a Rating Game with Rias's family vs. Sairaorg Bael & Co. This is supposed to be the buildup that the entire season was beelining for. Yet it fails to deliver. Not only are characters that are supposed to be god-powerful, such as Akeno and Sairaorg's Queen immediately downsized, Sairaorg was built up to be so powerful that It actually came to a surprise to me that Issei was even able to take him on. This imbalance in the tournament arc left my brain imminently confused. Honestly, it could've been better.
Art & Sound
Definitely the most noticeable change with the series, with Passione (Sairaorg, i know you're Bruno Bucciarati, but really?) taking the reins for animation. The new style overall gives a more cartoonish look for our crew, with a tradeoff of more glowy and brighter animation. I personally felt like Passione didn't do as well in terms of animation quality, there were multiple times where the character's reaction didn't line up with the VA's lines, and the overall cartoonish look makes the characters look a lot younger than they actually are, which is a VERY BAD thing for an anime that has the MC touching boobs every five minutes.
The OP is just what you'd expect for a shounen opening, upbeat, dramatic, and gives you everything you need to know about what will happen to the series in a few clean minutes. The music choice was well done, but still felt a bit cliche.
Characters
This is the part that draws the most people in: Your typical harem, but cranked up to eleven. Let's do a roll call:
The MC who's denser than a neutron star, check
The Submissive Master, check
The Ara Ara Oneechan, check
The Innocent Cinnamon Bun, check
The Knight who wants Kids for power, check
The One other Guy who's there but is chill about it, check
The Flat Loli, check
The Trap, check
The Irresponsible and Easily Influenced Teacher - this one's new, but still a check
So, now that we've seen the cast, what do we do? Where normal harems hit the brakes, this anime paid for the whole speedometer, so they're gonna use it. The MC has a gauntlet that needs to charge up, coincidentally, he's also a boob-loving perv. What do we do? GIVE HIM BIG DICK ENERGY. Oh yea, if its not plot and its "plot", you can be sure that the girls are getting to know our MC real well.
However, amongst all that bliss, our MC still has one ultimate goal, make Rias Gremory his. and it's that bit that is the cornerstone, the central pillar, and the ultimate flagship of character development. The process by which the MC lets go of the trauma that got him into this mess and learn to acknowledge risk and reward is what this entire fandom has hoped for since meeting our two characters. And the way they delivered makes it that much more satisfying, ending the series off on a much higher note than the other previous seasons, and making me truly hyped for Season 5.
Overall, this is a great anime if you have a clogged nose and plenty of blood to lose. A shining example of the happy marriage of harem and shounen. Just don't watch it in public.