Review of High School DxD

To its credit, High School DxD - and by extension, its authors Ichiei Ishibumi and Takao Yoshioka - is very much capable of writing an informed, coherent - and most of all, fairly charming - modern fantasy story. Ishibumi and Yoshioka do an excellent job of adapting a story of otherworldy intrigue and its involvement into just a small cast of characters, each with their own charms and motives to ride along. Now take this premise and narrate it by a teenager so egregiously horny that his underwear sticks to him. You now have High School DxD. When the story wants to, it can very welltell a story of demonic power feuds in the backdrop of an alternate world which intersects with our own, thrown together with age-old conflicts, competing interests, and the story of just trying to keep one's head afloat when what seems like worlds are being turned upside-down.

Our protagonist Issei Hyodo, to the contrary, has only tangential interest in any of this, only by virtue of his infatuation towards any woman who might gain enough starlight in any anime and likewise his juvenile wish to use his newfound demonic power to acquire a harem to call his own.

Alas, Issei has trouble making straight conversation with any woman who isn't his own mother - to say nothing of his prowess in controlling his power - to which we are thrust into his immediate world at the symbolic bottom of this very long demonic totem pole. Indentured into the service of the beautiful Rias Gremory, we soon follow Issei through his dewy duties, some of which so menial as to elicit comical response in their banality.

For what is likewise what seems to be a well-tried plot by today's standards, High School DxD oddly shows an amount of respect for its female cast. Not by having them retain much of their clothing - dear God no - but each of them retain agency in the story in a way that is, if nothing else, quite refreshing to see. Rias, for example, is the head of her small cabal of demons, and in a move perhaps unexpected for something of DxD's ilk, is nothing short of competent. She doesn't make stupid decisions and she handles all of her issues in a composed level-headedness that would make a German engineer blush with jealousy. In fact, her common manipulation of Issei's sex drive into doing otherwise near-suicidal - all for the promise of a grab of her tit (which she likewise knows he is far too embarrassed to actually perform) - is nothing short of brilliant. Her second-hands, Akeno and Koneko, likewise both display an astounding amount of proficiency, even having to show Issei the ropes more often than not in the first season. Their failures are shown to be the result of outmaneuvering to which they had little repose, and her decision to accept defeat is portrayed as a choice to avoid further harm from coming unto her friends and servants - for whom she clearly cares greatly for. I would even go as far as to say that Rias is the "actual" protagonist - at least for the first season: This should go as far as one should for the argument of the show's characterization.

There is an argument I will make that High School DxD is made better by the virtue that it does not fully commit to being traditionally "good". For lack of better words, High School DxD very much knows "what it is". It does not seek to waste your time with hour-long expositions or detailed guidebooks or even the pretense of something beyond what is its immediately graspable premise, and instead prefers for its scenes to speak for itself. What is often said are the rambling daytime fantasies of Issei's near-uncontrollable sex drive, and while this can be...grating, to say the least...it presents an interesting contrast between the Issei we see in narration and the one we see in action.

He has constant daydreams of all his carnal reveries fixated upon our female cast, and when he is given the opportunity to enact them, he - maybe uncharacteristically, maybe so, and entirely human - pauses. He hesitates. Issei's the internet caricature of the teenage turbo-virgin, but it's also something we all go through. He's a grinning idiot with what he fancies is his first girlfriend, and when he must snap back into reality, Issei is so caught in the disconnection between the two that he just doesn't know how to react. The guy's decent, after all: And Rias has been nothing but a mentor. And a good friend, to boot! How do you even react?! How do you grab your teacher's tit when she's made clear she can blast your ass to Heaven, Hell, and back again if you step out of line? And it's not like permission is the same as "I want it", either - she could just be fulfilling her end of her promise. It's great, yes, but Rias is still a-

And like that, Rias' promised time is up. Issei stands before her, stupefied, his mind racing a thousand thoughts a tick. She begins her walk away - a woman like her has things to do and places to be, after all - but Issei? He's still processing what just happened. She did everything she promised, he thinks. Is he angry? Confused? Embarrassed? Honored? None of them but everything all at once? It's not even sure he himself knows. Issei slumps back, starting his walk home, all the while just trying to make sense of not quite what just happened - but of himself, and Rias herself.

And this, alone, is all the argument I need present for why knowing "what it is" - a lascivious lurch to the backdrop of a paranormal conflict that might cost the cast his eternal soul, and in the great wisdom of Issei's 17 year-old mind, his priorities are likewise a bit...skewed.

Is it good? I would say, "no, not quite". I like High School DxD much in the same way that one likes an awkward dinner party: We enjoy the sharp cheese cubes at the snack bar, and the free schnapps are good as well, oh and there's some people here you can make some decent small talk with. But the party? The party is well...grating. The host is someone you barely know, the scene is hardly lively, and we bumble around between crowds we can tolerate for a few minutes before excusing ourselves to hopefully find someone or something more interesting, all to the hum of some generically-acceptable background pop music. We enjoy the free food, the wine, and maybe a story or two, sure. But does that mean we enjoyed the party?

There are too many egregions to most definitely call High School DxD traditionally "good". I don't make any claims to objectivity - either in this review, or in any others - yet there should exist the barrier between what we enjoy and what we call "good". What I have said in this review only amounts to my insights as to what I have ascertained in this series (insofar this bears repetition, but alas), and little asides. In many ways, I cannot earnestly call the show "good": All but the most desensitized or likewise prurient of individuals could stomach even the first episode, I would imagine. Its fixation borders on nauseating. The music, I am almost certain, is some degree of remixed stock, and in many other way of production, the show is unremarkable.

Then, we are left: Is it enjoyable? Oh, yes. Very much, yes. Do yourself a favor and have a few friends over on your couch while you watch it - preferably with a few drinks in hand.