Review of High School DxD

A word of warning. This show is strong on fanservice/ecchi/nudity elements. Following our main hero after he was murdered by his girlfriend, he gets reincarnated into a devil. He gets a second chance to achieve his dream of becoming the harem king. Doesn’t matter what kind of race he is. He is a bit naive and falls kind of into typical shounen protagonist stereotype who is "fine with being stupid". Yet also passionate and caring for his new-found family of devils. Being a harem show, one wouldn't consider a romance tag relevant. Well, in this case, it really is relevant. It develops into a genuine romance between oneguy and many, many girls (mostly in further seasons and light novels). And by the way, we are talking about devils, such things as polygamy are pretty normal for them, right?

The show slowly develops its characters and elevates them into something more than just empty female vessels, even in further seasons. It gives them personality and sense of affection. No wonder that this show (and other similar ecchi shows) has strong fanbase, because the girls show off their personality and character as well as their femininity in the most raw form.

With all that, there is one more thing uncommon in harem series – profound themes. There is no differentiation between devils and angels or humans, but between good devils/bad devils, good humans/bad humans etc. Race is unimportant, but decency of individual is. This is something I can relate to deeply. And that is only one example.

When it comes to all the magical/supernatural stuff, it becomes a bit confusing. We have no idea about the gaps in power between characters. There is no straight and easy-to-understand power scale or magical concept.

Many would say the comedy is cringy and therefore dropping the show afterwards. I understand that. I may be the only one, but I actually find it very funny.

Normally, I would give it 9/10 because of personal bias. But this is a review, so there needs to be honesty, therefore a small drop to 8/10.

Pros:
+ very good story and characters for an ecchi/harem series
+ actual romance development
+ profound themes

Cons:
- not well presented magic/power system
- cheap shounen tropes

Double-edged:
+/- sometimes cringy jokes (I don't mind them)
+/- keep in mind that it is mainly ecchi/harem show with lot of nudity and perverted thoughts

8/10 (VERY GOOD) ||| biased rating 9/10 (GREAT)