Review of High School DxD
What do you get when you mix fan service and plot? High School DxD! High School DxD is a twelve episode anime produced by studio TNK released in the winter of 2012. The anime revolves around high school student and grade A pervert Issei Hyodo. His goal is to become a harem king and after meeting with the crimson haired beauty Rias Gremory could his dreams come true. Story: Our main protagonist Issei is a pervert, an open one at that. He dreams of having an array of beautiful girls showering him with attention. After being asked out by a timid girl he soon learns ofthe existence of devils and angels. Upon finding this out the angel attacks him. He would later be healed and made to join Rias Gremory's group of subordinates.
Now prior to my initial thoughts there actually seems to be some semblance of a story. Being a pawn in this scenario Issei is challenge to gather contracts from humans. (for whatever reason I've yet to establish) Issei then makes the goal of becoming a top rank devil which is very slow going.
The general plot is somewhat overshadowed by the excessive fan service, however its thrown in mainly for parody reasons. High School DxD is a show that can be serious when it wants to be and it also doesn't stray from its comedic and stereotypical harem anime. This anime is not meant to be taken seriously. I can sum it up with it being a fun show to watch.
Characters:
Issei Hyodo is our main protagonist. It's abundantly clear from episode one that he is a pervert. He gets involved with friends on spying on the girls changing room. Despite this fact he has a good heart. He demonstrates this time and time again with all the female characters in the show. His shear will power to become the greatest demon is nothing abnormal from most main protagonists who are against the odds, but who knows. The only development I can see from Issei is that he gains a greater lever of power and maybe he'll pick a fucking girl to date!
Rias Gremory is our main female protagonist and is the to be head of the Gremory household. She helps Issei out after his altercation with an angel and contracts him to serve the Gremory household. She is the standard set for Issei to beat in terms of power and in general a model demon. She like the many other females in this series wants his... Love? I suppose that'll do.
Other characters include the shy and blond cutie that is Asia. Asia is a former nun renowned for her healing abilities, she is also my joint favourite female in the series. Akeno is the sexy and sadistic goddess of lightning who has definitely got my vote for the best female character along with Asia. Koneko who is the equivalent of many other Kuudere's and lastly Yuto Kiba who doesn't get much screen time until season two.
Art:
The art is standard. Nothing balls to walls worthy but its good during the battle scenes. Other TNK works I have watched include School days... How the hell did I forget that?
Sound:
The sound is god suits the theme of the show, but I've yet to listen to the OST on its own.
Final Verdict:
High School DxD is an anime that isn't meant to be taken seriously. Its a bit of fun for male anime fans. If you are tired of shows with excessive fan service then you may want to stay clear. Mainly aimed at male audiences so girls you may wanna check out fruit basket instead.
Overall I give High School DxD a 7 out of 10
Alternate recommendations are High School of the dead, another show which contains excessive amounts of fan service, but with zombies! and another one of TNK's works which is School days... I'd just stick to the former if I were you guys.
Thanks for reading guys, have a nice day!