High School DxD NEW
The Divine Boob Comedy
Fanservice and story are never things that should be segregated to me. And in series like this, they often work in perfect harmony. If the series wasn't so forward about its love of boobs, Issei would have less dimensions to his character. He doesn't have a whole lot, being a protagonist, but he's kind hearted, surprisingly pure in spite of that, and generally an affable guy.
I can't dislike someone who has the voice of the Gaia Memories and the hand of Ankh (okay, it's a dragon, but when it's as Rider-y as it is already, I see it as Ankh's hand). When Issei pulls out the Balance Breaker armor, I get a little giddy. Henshin junkies in the house.
I bring this up because, in stories of heroes and demons, Issei comes off a lot better than, say, Akatsuki in Hagure Yuusha, who I mostly thought was a douche who killed any narrative tension. He had some goodness in him, but... eugh. That Issei has moments of weakness, where he needs Rias to comfort him and let him cry for a bit, that's what makes him more admirable. He fails, and that makes his comebacks all the stronger.
I'm not sure if the decision to split this season into two differently titled arcs was to maintain fidelity to the novels, sell more theme songs, or provide a nice breaking point, but I thought even if the season was aired under a unified title, the two halves flowed into each other pretty well. Having the first half focus on Kiba was a bit surprising - the non-protagonist dude is not a character I expected to get much focus. It was kinda split between him, Irina and Zenovia, though, so the girls were still prominent.
Zenovia and Irina are pretty cool, though I was more interested in Irina at first because Maaya Uchida. I'll get into this in more detail later. Risa Taneda is another Ai Kayano to me - extremely versatile. Then there's Gasper. I did think he was a girl at first, because he got a character song, and in shows like this, male characters rarely do. I assess a lot of shows that way, and it rarely fails. Except in this case. A Hastur, a Hideyoshi, a Gasper. Always tricking me.
Gasper's cute, and goes against everything I'd expect from a vampire. Some of this may be because I'm biased towards Ayane Sakura's voice. The series is pretty good about switching up mythology. I'd love to see more of the angel side, now that they've gotten slightly more prominent. I love that no one of the three sides is presented as being the "right" one. We're sympathetic to the devils because they're the main characters, but there are sympathetic members and assholes on all sides.
The White Dragon is interesting, but he feels like something that'll have bigger payoff later. In a third or even fourth season, if they get that far. Koneko didn't get a lot of screentime, but what Akeno and the newbies got makes up for it. The battles are fine as always, and the mythology of the world is really interesting. Having a world where God is dead ("said Nietzsche") is some wonderful world building - one that I can tell will influence a lot of things to come.
The ending got a little heavy on dropping names, charatcters and terminology that suddenly felt new. The kind of thing that would happen in any novel adaptation. I was still able to follow it, even if not all of it's immediately going to pay off. Just a bit much to keep up with.
I don't want to ignore the fanservice either. Talking about nipple sucking and breast expansion so casually has given this series some major points. Neither of them actually happened, but the imagination runs wild enough. And that's not even getting into the title. Japan, don't stop your wordplay.
Overall, while it definitely felt like a "middle" sort of season, if the novels are ongoing, nearly every anime is going to have that "and the adventure continues" feel to it. Still, a lot of progress was made in terms of all the characters. I won't read the novels because I often don't - I prefer the anime medium - but the prospect of Issei's entire harem living in his house is enough to make me want another.
I liked the second opening and ending (ZAQ's and Lovely Devil - because that animation is sensual beyond belief. Even Gasper's part. He works as a trap really well.) more than the first. LSP's stuff is still pretty neat, though. Haven't heard the character songs yet, so I can't make a claim on those. It was an enjoyable ride.
Final Thoughts: Issei's genial nature and Kamen Rider influences keep me liking this show. The world is a nice take on Christian/world mythology, and the fanservice is pleasant, especially with how much it focuses on boobs. As long as breasts and friendship remain central to this series, I'd gladly welcome more of it.
