Highschool DxD

**Highschool DxD** is an action, adventure, drama, fantasy, romance, comedy, romantic comedy, harem, fanservice

   anime series.  It started with a light novel series written by Ichiei Ishibumi, illustrated by Miyama-Zero, and published by Fujimi Shobo for Dragon Magazine.  It originally ran from September 20, 2008 to March 20, 2018 with a total of 25 volumes plus 5 side stories.  After that came a manga series, written by Ichiei Ishibumi, illustrated by Miyama-Zero and Hiroji Mishima, and published by Fujimi Shobo Dragon Magazine for the first three chapters and then the magazine Monthly Dragon Age for everything else after that.  It originally ran from July 20, 2010 to present with a total of 10 volumes so far.  After that was another manga series, titled High School DxD: Asia and Koneko's Secret Contracts!?, written by Ichiei Ishibumi, illustrated by Miyama-Zero and Hirochi, and published by Fujimi Shobo for the magazine Monthly Dragon Age.  It was released on March 1, 2012 with just 1 volume in total.  Then there was the anime series, directed by Tetsuya Yanagisawa, Takao Yoshioka, musically composed by Ryouske Nakanishi, and produced by Hisato Usui, Jun Hatano, Shigeru Saito, Shinsaku Tanaka, Takura Hatakeyama, Tetsuya Tsuchihashi, and Studio TNK.  It originally ran from January 6, 2012 to March 21, 2012, with a total of 12 normal episodes and 6 OVA episodes.  Then came another OVA, titled I'm Harvesting Breasts!, directed by Tetsuya Yanagisawa, written by Ichiei Ishibumi and Tetsuya Yanagisawa, musically composed by Ryosuke Nakanishi, and produced by Studio TNK.  It originally aired on September 6, 2012, for just 1 episode.  After that came another manga series, titled High School DxD: The Work of a Devil, written by Ichiei Ishibumi, illustrated by Miyama-Zero and SODA, published by Fujimi Shobo in the magazine Monthly Dragon Age.  After that came another stand alone OVA, titled I'm Searching for Breasts!, which was directed by Tetsuya Yanagisawa, written by Tetsuya Yanagisawa and Ichiei Ishibumi, musically composed by Studio TNK, and was originally released on May 31, 2013, with just 1 volume in total.  After that came the second season of the anime series, titled Highschool DxD New.  It was directed by Tetsuya Yanagisawa, Hisato Usui, Jun Hatano, and Shigeru Saito, written by Takao  Yoshioka, musically composed by Ryosuke Nakanishi, and produced by Takuro Hatakeyama, Tetsuya Tsuchihashi, Koichi Kokago, Kozue Kananiwa, Sho Tanaka, and Studio TNK.  It originally aired from July 7, 2013 to September 22, 2013 with a total of 12 episodes.  After that came the first video game based on the series, a visual novel, created and published by Kadokawa Games, and released for the Nintendo 3DS on December 19, 2013 in Japan.  It was never released outside of Japan.  After that came another game, titled Highschool DxD New Fight, published by Marvelous AQL, and released for hte Playstation Vita on August 28, 2014 in Japan.  It was also never released outside of Japan.  After that came another stand alone OVA, titled I'm Enveloped in Breasts!, written by Ichiei Ishibumi and Tetsuya Yanagisawa, musically composed by Ryosuke Nakanishi, and produced by Studio TNK.  It was originally released on March 15, 2015, for just 1 episode in total.  After that came the third season of the anime, titled Highschool DxD BorN.  It was directed by Tetsuya Yanagisawa, written by Takao Yoshioka, musically composed by Takao Yoshioka, and produced by Hisato Yusui, Jun Hatano, Shigeru Saito, and Studio TNK.  It originally aired from April 4, 2015 to June 20, 2015 with a total of 12 episodes plus 6 OVA episodes in the end.  After that came the fourth standalone OVA.  It was direced by Tetsuya Yanagisawa, written by Ichiei Ishibumi and Tetsuya Yanagisawa, musically composed by Ryosuke Nakanishi, and produced by Studio TNK.  It was originally released on December 9, 2015.  After that came the fourth season of the anime series, titled Highschool DxD HERO.  It was directed by Yoshifumi Sueda, Kenji Konuta, and produced by Studio Passione.  It started airing on April 10, 2018, to present, and will last for a total of 13 episodes in the end.
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## Plot

Kuoh Academy (駒王学園 *Kuō Gakuen*, alt. Kuou Academy) is a former all-girls school that has recently turned co-ed, but it has a secret. Unknown to normal humans, angels (天使 *Tenshi*), fallen angels (堕天使 *Datenshi*) and devils (悪魔 *Akuma*) comprise part of the student population. One of these students, Issei Hyodo, is a lecherous second-year human student who lives a peaceful life. After an ordinary school day, Issei is suddenly asked out on a date by a girl named Yuma Amano. After their date, Yuma brings Issei to a local park and makes a startling request. She reveals herself as Raynare, a fallen angel, and she tries to kill him. Using her summoning card, Rias Gremory, a buxom third-year student at Kuoh Academy, revives him. Issei wakes up the next morning, thinking that the events that occurred were all just a dream. Immediately after being attacked by another fallen angel and waking up, he notices Rias naked in his room. Rias reveals to Issei her true identity as a devil and says that as a result of his death at the hands of Yuma, she has reincarnated him as a devil, becoming his new master in the process.

## Why It Rocks

1. Good voice acting in both sub and dub.
2. Excellent animation, especially during the fight scenes.
3. Very appealing art style and character designs.
4. Great cast of characters.
5. The female characters are especially memorable, which is good because that's the most important aspct of a harem anime.
6. RIAS GREMORY!
7. Issei Hyodou, despite being a pervert, still has likable traits, and is incredibly entertaining.
8. Awesome fight scenes.
9. Great soundtrack.

## Bad Qualities

1. While Issei Hyodo does have some likable traits, many viewers will still fight his overly perverted nature obnoxious and unlikable, undercutting his few likable traits.
2. Anyone who absolutely hates excessive fanservice in anime won't like this show.

## Reception

*High School DxD* was a commercial success, by selling over 1 million light novel copies in Japan alone.[*citation needed*] According to Oricon, *High School DxD* was the sixth top-selling light novel series in Japan for 2012, selling a total of 654,224 units.[65] Also, in 2013 *High School DxD* sold over 346,173 copies according to Oricon.[66] The English version of the first manga volume reached No.2 in the New York Times best-seller list.[67]

The anime adaption of *High School DxD* received mostly mixed to positive reviews, with critics praising the visuals, musical score and sometimes the fanservice, though the plotline's lack of originality was constantly criticized. Sequential Tart, in a review of the anime, praised the animation quality, voice acting, and fanservice scenes, as well as the depth of the "actually really engaging" plot.[68] Finding the animation "to die for" and the music "fun throughout", Active Anime lauded *DxD* as "a kick ass action comedy that's crazy sexy", with "sexy devil ladies, a hero with heart, and exhilarating action mak[ing] this a win-win!"[69] Stig Høgset of THEM Anime Reviews agreed on *DxD* being "a whole lot of fun", praising the characters, fanservice, and visuals. Writing that "*High School DxD* turned out to be a really pleasant surprise", Høgset continued that "I will certainly look into the sequel if FUNimation ever gets it out the door on disc."[70]

In a Preview Guide for winter anime of 2012, Zac Bertschy of Anime News Network gave *High School DxD* a joking rating of "boobs", writing "this is a fanservice show, one that yet again plays with the master/slave relationship, except this time the female character is the one in the "master" role [...] I have no clue where the story is going, but they really want you to think that all the bloody "death 'n demons" stuff is super edgy and totally dark, so I can't imagine this show not just wallowing in overwrought angsty nonsense when it isn't overanimating the breasts of every female character." He opined that the show's premise feels juvenile.[71] This sentiment was echoed by Rebecca Silverman, who found *DxD* to be "for the most part [...] just a romp through harem land" that fails to set itself apart from other harem shows of a similar genre.[72] Similarly, Carl Kimlinger complained that although *DxD* has "a pretty decent idea for a story", the anime "tries so hard to pander to our baser instincts [fanservice] that it basically smothers it." He labelled Issei as a "loathsome little creature" and found Rias to be uninteresting.[73]

Anime News Network's Theron Martin found positivity in the show's artistry, animation quality and musical score, opining that "in a technical sense this is likely to be one of the best series of the new season." He too criticized the run-of-the-mill premise, yet however believed that "things like depth and originality are hardly necessary for a series like this to succeed. Take it for the trashy, sexy fare that it is and it likely won't disappoint."[74] Martin's viewpoints were shared by Bamboo Dong, who although wrote that "I don't fault High School DxD for its fanservice", he "fault[s] it for being derivative and messy." Writing that "it's not sterling, but it's greasy and yummy so people eat it anyway", *High School DxD*.[75]Martin, in Anime News Network's official series review of *High School DxD*, praised the color, musical, fanservice and character developments, but again criticized the lack of originality, concluding that "Evaluated as a general release series, *High School DxD* has enough going for it to be a little better than average. Evaluate it as a fan service-focused series, though, and it is one of the top recent titles of its type."