Anime Review: Highschool DxD

We are once again back with another glorious anime review. Today I will be reviewing Highschool DxD.

Synopsis:

• Issei Hyodo and his friends go to high school. The catch with this high school is that there is an unusually low amount of boys enrolled. In fact it seems that there could be less than 10 boys at the school in total. Now Issei is your average high school pervert who's only here for the girls. His goal: Have his own harem. He and his friends, Matsuda and Mohotama, are known amongst girls as huge perverts, and hence they don't have a girlfriend. One day, Issei gets asked out by a girl, who claims she watches him every day. At the end of their first date, she asks him to do her a favour. She asks him to, "Die for her!". And then... she proceeds to throw a giant spear into him and kill him. Just then, another woman, this time with scarlet hair shows up and wards off his "girlfriend". 
• He passes outand when he wakes up he is informed by this the scarlet-haired woman that he has been resurrected as a demon. She, is Rias Gremory, the president of the Acult Research Club and also the girl with some of the biggest "bozongas" in the school. She tells him that she is a devil and now that he has been reincarnated as one, he is her servant. Also, his "girlfriend" was actually a fallen angel, sent out to kill him for his "sacred gear". Now Issei has found himself in a battle between devils and angels and even fallen angels. This is the exilerating story of Issei that includes: Devils, Angels, Boobs, Fallen Angels, Crazy Priests, Boobs, Weird Adults Acting Like Girls, Boobs, Awesome Fights, Chess Pieces, Boobs, and also Butts. (And more Boobs.)

Plot:

• If this is your first time hearing about this show, then allow me give a fair warning to you. There is an obscene amount of explicit content. If you have read my review of High School of the Dead, then you would know that it had a fair amount of fanservice, with some minor explicit content. This show just kicks HOTD out the door and shows you explicit content like it's its job. Literally the first 2 seconds of the OP already has explicit content.
• Well, now that you have been warned of the obscene amounts of explicit fanservice in the show, we can get into the good stuff...
• The plot itself isn't the most original. Most of the episodes just feel like "fetch-quests" or filler. The plot doesn't really advance too much. Though, we are introduced somewhat to the "fallen angels", the series doesn't follow through enough to make this introduction worthwhile. I felt like the story to follow, although pretty decent, doesn't relate enough with the first few episodes.
• Now, the overall tone/atmosphere/mood of the show is something to be pay attention. The show is filled with incredulous amounts fanservice. Most shows that have fanservice, also have their fair share of serious moments, and this show is no different. The problem is that I felt really engaged in these scenes. I was rooting for the good (bad) guys; I wanted the characters to succeed. The controversy is that during these, super serious and plot developing scenes, the fanservice is still there. It's as if they didn't believe in their abilities to make a good plot and needed to include fanservice to supplement this. (Or I could just be absolutely crazy, and the producers are geniuses, because they know exactly what fans want.)

Overall: A very decent plot for an ecchi, but has some glaring weaknesses when it comes to serious vs. funny scenes.
Score: 5.7/10

Animation:

• The animation of this show is once again very well done. The show has some nice thin lines, around the characters. The colours are very bright and standout. The fanservice parts are of course very well done. Once again I don't have much too say except that it was good. And though the industry is used to this type of show, wherein this has become pretty much expected, credit must still be given where it is due.

Overall: Bold colouring+Fluid movements=Great Animation
Score: 7.8/10

Sound:

• Another category in which this show excels. What the show brings to the table, is a wide variety of tunes with also well, a wide variety of tunes. Throughout the adventure, the show has its funny moments, its sad moments, its intense moments (in bed...), and its action-packed moments. The soundtrack provides a plethora of different songs to fit all these needs. There is also a variety of songs, this allows their to be a lack of songs that are reused.
• As far as dubs go, once again I'm not too keen on the subject. Generally I like dubs over subs, even if people say that some dubs suck. Having said this, I really am not one to judge whether the dub was good or not, but here most people's opinions, it was rather well done. Hopefully, I'll start to get better at judging this, but for now I really don't know what to say except that I enjoyed it.
• The OP for this show is rather good. The music, for me anyways, does not really stand out too much.What I really liked was the the animation in the OP. It did a good job showcasing the show's "non-ecchi" points, and was overall a nice mix of scenes.
• The Ending, I liked far better than the OP. The song had a very catchy tune and I felt like it was a chance for the animators to just whatever they wanted to do. The references to cards, is a nice connection to the actual chess pieces in the show. Overall, this is the type of anime that I expected going in, but what I got was a nice mix of this and some serious, and some action scenes.
• Overall: Great variety in the soundtrack, with a decent OP and better Ending.

Score:
          Sound: 7/8
          Opening: 0.98/1.3
          Ending: 0.62/0.7
Totals: 8.6/10

Characters:

• The characters in this series are rather interesting but nothing unseen.
• The main character Issei  Hyodou, is a once again you’re average teenage pervert that gets stuck in between a war of angels and demons. Nothing new here. His character design is your rather typical spikey-haired, perverted, clumsy, male protagonist, who plays the role of a “pawn”. I felt like as a character he did develop rather well. His emotions developed and changed throughout the series. Also what I liked is that no matter how serious things got, he is still was still himself. (that is, the perverted and young boy attributes) Anyways that I think he was a well-rounded protagonist that saw some decent development, for an ecchi.
• Next we have the scarlett-haired, blazing-eyed, hunter…………..
• Next we have the red-haired and ever so beautiful, Rias Gremory. She is the most beautiful girl at the highschool and also the head of the Acult Research Club. She is the “king” and the head of the Gremory family, one of only three remaining families of devils left. As for character development, I don’t see too much to talk about. This is the problem when you start someone out as beautiful, tactful, and powerful as her, there isn’t much to change or get better at. I like to think of her as Issei’s “devil”. She is always there to give Issei orders and to help him. But, she herself seems unchanged and is always the boss/teacher type of character that doesn't really get better or worse. 
• The rest of the characters are just some of your everyday, anime stereotypes. (Ex: Koneko is the loli-cute girl, that actually possesses super strength.) They, receive little to no development and are just there to do there jobs, and maybe send Issei into some crazy dreams.
• One thing to note of is, is Kiba's noble. Kiba is the only other male in the Research Club and serves as the most attractive guy in school. His sacred gear is actually quite cool. Though nothing out of the ordinary, I really didn't expect it.
• Finally we'll take a look at the overall character design:
• Issei isn't really to original. He's our standard spiky-haired hero, nothing much else to say.
• Rias is  well very good looking, and also generally well designed. There isn't much about her that I can relate to another anime character. And this is good news.
• The other characters are all nothing nothing to ride home about, but they are all definitely very distinct. (There aren't any characters that look terribly alike, to which the show might have just used similar models)
• Overall: Many anime character, stereotypes, with some decent character development for only some characters.

Score: 6.8/10

Enjoyment:

• Now, this is the section I know you've all been waiting for. Did I enjoy this series? Well I'll tell you that I enjoyed the heck out of it. The combination of great sound, animation, good humour, and a decent character base, really allow it to flow into place. I will say, it's not my favourite show; it's not even in my top 15. (but then again I've only watched about 30 different anime) At the end of the day, it doesn't matter how great the story was, because you really got to turn off your brains and just enjoy what you have been given. It`s a very fun ride, and that is the reason I would suggest it to almost anyone who can tolerate the explicit content.

Overall: High enjoyable even if you aren`t a fan off ecchis.
Score: 8.01/10

Ending:

• The ending of Highschool DxD is decent. There isn`t anything too insane about it, it`s just a very solid ending. This ending leads to the end of season 1 and as you may already season 2 was released in the Summer 2013 Season of anime. I have yet to watch it, but according to many, it may have been better than the first. It was such a success that some people are speculating a 3rd season to proceed after the 2nd season has been dubbed,

Overall: Nothing spectacular, but it wraps a lot of things up, and still provides enough content for a second season.
Score: 7.4/10




Final Score:
Plot:                 5.7/10
Animation:       7.8/10
Sound:             8.6/10
Characters:      6.8/10
Enjoyment:      8.01/10
Ending:            7.4/10

Overall :          7.385/10

Conclusion:

What I want to make clear is that this numerical score is based off the review of someone who doesn't enjoy the explicit content produced by this ecchi. If you yourself are a fan of this kind of stuff, then you will find yourself enjoying a ton. It's a show that requires that extra step to get started and keep going, but will reward with a fairly enjoyable 12 episodes. Well that's all for today's anime review. Stay followed for more anime reviews and the like. As always, Rate, Comment, Follow, and CYA!

Recommendation System: B-

Though generally I would have liked to rate this higher, I cannot overlook the fact that this system must give a score based on any random anime fan's ability to enjoy it. The fact is that it is an ecchi. Let me rephrase that, it is quite literally a balls-to-the-walls filled with BOOBS. The reason this show is rated relatively high is because of the enjoyment. If you can look past all the cleavage/boobs/panties (though this could be kinda hard, because the camera seems to like to focus in on these things) then you will find yourself with an explosive, action and comedy series that's definitely worth the watch.