It took me a few days to get through the first couple of episodes in High School DxD. While the series could handle itself competently as a more storyline / action oriented series even with the harem elements, its focus is primarily about the fanservice and particularly in the first few episodes this aspect was overkill. Once you get over this and the fact that uncensored nipples will be shoved in your face every episode…. it turns out to be quite an enjoyable series.
High School DxD follows male protagonist Issei Hyodo who has his wildest dreams realized when a random girl from the street confesses her love to him. Naive as to why anyone would ask him out, his dream becomes a nightmare when she reveals herself as a “Fallen Angel” bent on killing him, a feat she achieves. Resurrected by school beauty Rias Gremory as a devil, he now begins his battles against the fallen angels and a number of other notable figures across the first twelve episodes in this series that currently spans sixteen light novel volumes and counting.
While he would be considered your stereotypical perverted male protagonist, Issei is given some value in fights through the use of his unpredictable but ever-enhancing power dubbed the “Boosted Gear”, allowing him to double his power every ten seconds indefinately – with a few hidden abilities unlocked as the episodes continue. The action / magic hybrid battles themselves are rather flashy and makes use of a creative “chess board” system when it comes to the abilities of each character. Unfortunately the “Ranking Battles” which are mentioned throughout the series and are like a magical version of the Hunger Games only appears once in the final arc.
The character development of both female leads Rias and Asia is well handled in their respective arcs and are generally seen as the romantic interests of Issei despite one evidently set to be victorious in the love triangle from the get go. The other members of the club remain present but don’t receive nearly as much development… here’s hoping that more attention will be put towards them in the second season. So far however… High School DxD set up a number of promising ideas and characters that just need to be further developed in later episodes.
The visual quality of High School DxD warranted its release on both DVD and Blu-ray formats internationally, with the vivid use of colour, ample attention to detail in character / environment designs and overall came across as a series that wanted to draw attention to the fanservice factor. As with most international market releases there is no conveniently placed fog or troublesome blockades, meaning nipples are completely uncensored. The opening and ending sequences also merited a note for an otherwise average to above-average music track, and complements the satisfactory English voice cast which featured a number of veterans and newcomers alike.
Provided you can handle the at times excessive fanservice and nudity present in High School DxD, the first season delived an above-average anime experience with a lot to build upon. Granted it won’t be winning any awards on this site, solid production values coupled with some interesting character development and concepts managed to keep my interest and will hopefully tide over into a stronger second season… or is that just wishful thinking on my part?
