Review of High School DxD Hero

Boobies Sweet, now I got your attention. All right, if you are into High School DxD, you’re gonna like this. If you are not, then why are you still here? If you haven’t seen it, then go watch the other seasons first, otherwise you’re going to be clueless. In fact, for those who have mostly forgotten, I’ll give a 4-sentence summary of what previously happened(Then I'll immediately get into the review.): Issei has the Sacred Gear of Red Dragon Emperor DDraig. He has become a demon of the Gremory Household, most of which consists of girls who are attracted to him. Already he’s gone up against numerousvillains, having his powers developed to the point of many different abilities, including control of a mecha suit. (Juggernaut being the unstable but powerful version, as can be seen in the recent special “Taiikukan-ura no Holy”.)

(Characters)
To be honest, I’m not surprised the girls are into Issei. He’s got a heart of gold, is loyal, brave and goofy. And a bumbling pervert. Which is fitting for a series this fond of boobs. (Also makes for a funny character flaw.) All of the girls have felt empowered by him at some point in previous seasons, and personally, I kinda like him too. Although, I have to admit that their attraction to him sometimes gets turned up to near-absurd levels you only see in ecchi harems. Whether that’s a bad thing or not depends on you and how you interpret the Rule of Sexy (“It doesn’t really have to make sense as long as it is sexy.”).

Since most of the character development has been done in previous seasons, they don’t really get much in Hero. They are still the same however, as they should. Issei is still lewd but nice, Asia is still cutesy, Akeno is still teasing, Koneko is still kuudere and Rias is still Rias. As for the minor characters, there are only a few who are getting considerable screentime. One of them being Rossweisse, since she’s relatively new here. Then there are the antagonists, one of them stemming from the clusterfuck that is the Khaos Brigade and who is underdeveloped. The other one is Sairaorg Bael, who is pretty cool, being someone without powers becoming strong by training and who feels the need to prove himself because of this, and whose character is pulled off well enough. Anytime when the characters do get fleshed out a little it can make for endearing moments, which is probably one of the reasons people like the series.

(Animation)
Now, the biggest concern that I have heard from those who are into DxD, is that the animation has changed. Particularly the character designs, which have been simplified. Since apparently BorN wasn’t quite the success, the series has gone from TNK to relatively new studio Passione, who then used an artstyle of their own. Some people may have found the design change difficult to accept.

However, simplifying the design has somewhat worked in the shows favour. By doing this, it has become easier to animate, and it gives the characters a softer look. (Being a fanservice show, having them look softer… might definitely work in favour of the show. The women are also quite voluptuous.) On top of that, it manages to blend in nicely with the general atmosphere and style of the show.

On the other side, it doesn't have great animation per se. While it does look fine overall, with bright colours and decent fights, occasionally there are small issues like characters without shadows, awkward walking animation or facial expressions or something that just doesn’t look that smooth. It can be distracting, but it doesn’t necessarily have a large effect on the overall quality, since most of the parts that need to look good, look good. So yeah, mostly some fights and fanservice.

(Story)
Quick summary: “Issei and some of the characters go on a Kyoto school trip, and there are a bunch of fox-youkai over there. Something is going on with that.”

Two episodes in, and I began to see that it was fast-paced as heck. There can be little time to breath in between scenes, and sometimes I would forget what just happened. However, the story isn’t that complex, so it’s not too hard to follow. As usual with DxD, the story isn’t anything impressive, but still just engaging enough to keep you watching and when combined with the characters, it actually makes you care.

(Sound)
Ok, so DxD still has a soundtrack that fits with its style. This being the nice beats and bittersweet melodies. When this music gets played under a scene, it tends to fit the tone and not be overshadowing anything, while being turned up a notch when the moment calls for it. The OP and ED songs are nothing special really, although the ED has some memorable visuals. Not to say that these are bad, since they are pleasant to listen to. As for the voice acting, the people are just doing their job and are doing it well.

(Enjoyment/Overall)
The series manages to do what sold it in the first place. For most of us, this would not only be the sexy fanservice, but also at least two or three likeable characters and an even more likeable protagonist, a story that manages to be engaging, and just overall decent animation and soundtrack. High School DxD is kinda silly, but knows what it is and has a lot of charm. This season itself is not necessarily better than previous seasons, but not much worse either. For most of the time, while it had some small issues, it was entertaining. And finally, that is what counts the most.