High School DxD

Sex.


Sex in modern society is an enigma. It's simply part of human nature. Without sex, we won't be able to reproduce at all. Others find enjoyment in the act of sex, and when between two passionate lovers it could blossom into something even greater. At the same time, sex is seen as a taboo topic in society, something you only discuss with very specific people. Perhaps it is due to the very nature of most sex: Between two people, something generally private and between the two consenting individuals. However, there is also a cultural reason. At least in much of the western world, it has been influenced by Christianity.

As such, thinking about sex or sensual thoughts is seemingly frowned upon, with among the more religious sects of Christianity sex is viewed as a means to an end: Producing children. And lots of em. Hence why the Catholic Church in real life has done everything it can to ban contraception. Because of this anti-sex rhetoric, Satan and his entourage of demonic familiars have been an analogue for sex. Satan himself has become a sort of sex symbol, with him being described as the most beautiful angel and when you combine that with William Blake's illustrations for Paradise Lost Satan has taken on connotations of sexual rebellion. After all, Satan was derived from the Hebrew word HaSatan, meaning "The Adversary." And that's not even getting into the Succubi, demons who entrance men. All of this had led to the image of the "Horny Devil" in modern society.

So what happens when you combine demons, fallen angels, and the occult with a horny teenager? High School DxD. It's nature as an ecchi is the most obvious aspect, and while at times the occult aspects surprisingly compliment the ecchi nature, other times it meshes horribly.

Issei Hyoudou is an incredibly perverted Japanese teenager. He owns the typical cliched stash of hidden magazines, along with being very blatant about his quest for women. Issei is a little more self-aware than most harem protagonists in my opinion. Far too often, harem protagonists are written as bland as they can be. This is meant so that the audience can insert themselves in the story easier. As a result they end up being bland, cookie-cutter characters. Issei is more in tune with what the audience wants: Issei wants to satisfy his fantasies. The audience want to satisfy their own fantasies, and some do this by reading a manga about a sexually active teenager who is surrounded by a plethora of attractive women and a token guy. I personally was in it for how it dealt with it's own interpretation of religious theology.

Issei was at the time in a relationship with a cute girl named Yuuma. Their relationship is going all well, that is until Yuuma stabs Issei, and then reveals that she was a fallen angel who killed Issei out of a sense of sadism and past animosity in a celestial race war. I'll get to that a little later. While bleeding to death, he is confronted by a friendlier figure named Rias Gremory. Rias on Issei's behalf reincarnates him as a demon (or devil). From there, he joins his school's "Occult Research Club" made up of a myriad of characters, from the sarcastic Koneko to the sadistic Akeno. The name is a misomer. They don't actually do any research. It instead serves as a convenient way for them to do whatever they want, from getting involved in large-scale conflicts to being contracted by average civillians.

Rias is perhaps the full realization of the "horny devil" I was talking about earlier. No doubt about it, Rias is incredibly attractive. While she is cute, she's not exactly too cute and is more beautiful if anything else. Her hair is red and slightly spiky, and her surname Gremory is an indication of a magical grimoire called the Ars Goetia. In that book, the demon Gremory often appears as a beautiful woman. Red is a very passionate, aggressive color. Very fitting for a series all about sex. While one's sex experience is varied, sex is ideally passionate. While she is a demon, she is not unecessarily sadistic or cruel. She is very confident in herself and with her body. She rarely has a problem being naked with Issei for one, much to Issei's carnal pleasures. There's a very good reason why she serves as the face of DxD compared to Akeno or Asia.

Speaking of Asia, her execution is a little mixed. While Rias is confident and assertive, Asia is much more timid and demure and cute in contrast to Rias' beauty. While Rias is a demon, Asia is the sworn enemy of demons: The Church. It does add a little bit of irony when she herself becomes a reincarnated Demon much like Issei did. Throughout it all she is very adamant about her faith. She's one of the more positive depictions of Christians. She rarely thinks a horrible thought and her faith is used to demonstrate her kindness more than anything else. I like Asia, and the manga seems to agree with that statement. While Rias is the main girl, there was a lot more scenes with Asia and Issei bonding than there were with Rias which did seem odd.

Except that while Asia serves as a compelling contrast, her very nature as a haremette betrays what contrast she was meant to demonstrate. While representing chastity and innocence, she is at the same time part of Issei's harem, which by it's very nature is hedonistic and very self-indulgent. Especially when she's sexualized as everyone else. Her personality just simply doesn't fit being in the harem as much as Rias does, which is ironic given how Rias is a literal sex symbol. It is also ironic, given how there is a fallen angel named Xenovia who while being also a Christian like Asia, goes into combat either wearing a short skirt or a skintight combat outfit. Christians can be assertive and confident in their sexuality, as Xenovia demonstrates. However, Asia seems like the odd woman out in this situation given how she's meant to represent chastity and is in a series which is very heavy on sex. It does not go to hentai levels, but it treads the line.

I understand why this is the case. It's an ecchi, of course it's going to be sexualized. And in High School DxD, fanservice is most likely the main reason people sought it out. It knows what it's audience wants, which is admittedly self-aware on their part. The problems set in a few areas however. For one, there are moments were the fanservice can get out of hand. I myself have little issue with fanservice, though I am not one who generally likes it. There are some moments where it can get out of hand. The biggest example was when Issei was exploring a church which was being used by his former girlfriend Yuuma (also known as Reynare) with Asia as a sacrifice. Guess what they decided to show off? Yes, her breasts. In what was supposed to be a serious moment, the inclination of fanservice diffused the drama of the situation. Why should I take a young woman's sacrifice when her breasts are jiggling?

Then, there's the issue of the ages of the characters. While pure-blooded Fallen Angels and Demons like Akeno and Rias are probably hundreds of years old, it does feel weird when characters like Asia end up being sexualized when she's still a young teenager. It gets a little weirder when you consider that High School DxD's audience probably are not around her age in-story. I don't know, there's just something a little weird about teenagers being sexualized and having it be targeted towards an adult audience. Part of it has to do with Japan's age of consent laws. Consent is basically where two sexual partners have clear communication with one another about sex that also respects their boundaries. What's the age of consent in Japan? 13. As someone with a western perspective, I can't help but feel a little uncomfortable. I wouldn't be having this issue nearly as much if the ages of the characters where a little bit older, like say in a college level.

On the other hand, there is the occult element. It plays with occult tropes in an interesting way, which was one of the reasons I was interested in the first place. Demons are like a tamer Mephistopheles a la Faust. They perform contracts with humans, though it's more like hiring someone temporarily to provide a service rather than the whole "give away your soul business". Here, demons, fallen angels, and angels fought a long war with one another. While they are not openly at war with one another, there is a serious tension between the two sides a la the real life Cold War. There are other mythologies involved, such as Nordic gods and mythical dragons. It reminds me of the American TV Show Supernatural, in which there was a melange of different theological players. Unfortunately, while it is an interesting backdrop it is one that can result in conflict. It is a little out-of place for Issei to go from being a drooling pervert to then making speeches on the power of friendship while encased in Gundam-like armor. It's like stitching a shonen battle series with a light-hearted ecchi series. The combination kinda works, though the elements could have been meshed to a better effectiveness.

In conclusion, High School DxD is a inconsistent work. There are flashes of brilliance in the writing, and the author is clearly much more self-aware about the harem genre's conventions than say To Love-Ru, but he has some missteps along the way.

This is not so much a review as it is a service announcement. If you have watched the anime you can skip to book 10. 1-9 are more or less the same as the two first seasons of the anime, with a few small non-important changes. vol. 10 is alot like the anime but it sets up vol 11 which is not adapted into the anime.

Would I recommend reading vol 10 and 11? YES! It shows great growth between many of the characters and is a great small storyline that any fan of the anime would enjoy.

The reason I only give the manga a 5 is because the story is incomplete. It may be completed in the light novels but the manga on its own will nit give the full story and that pulls it down alot. Had it been completed I would most likely give it a 7 perhaps an 8 if the story improves.

All in all you should be able to blast through the entire manga in a day if you focus on it, and it will be entertaining, the art is good, but if you have seen the anime just skip to vol 10 and enjoy.
I have not read the light novel so I don't know if vol 11 is a manga-only but I would think it is also in the novel.

A story with what all men love ecchi and not only that a true focus on otherworldly action in terms of supernatural. But with a repetitive beginning start off human have a near death experience and be re-born as something not human and then find out that you have legendary powers.

but what i find truly interesting about this story is how different it truly is in terms of both romance and action and also how it takes ecchi to the beautifully extreme level i'd recommend this for true fans of ecchi.

overall i truly am in love with the story and the ecchi that would give any man a nosebleed that they won't recover from any time soon so if your looking for a true reality escape into both action and ecchi this is the story for you.

tl;dr: A solid, though rushed, adaptation of a story with amusing and likable characters and decent action.

This is the manga adaptation for the light novel that was also adapted into a number of popular anime seasons. I've already seen the anime version of the parts this manga adapts, some of its seasons multiple times, and thus it's hard to really judge the manga on its own and not in comparison to the anime so this will somewhat be a comparison of the two.

This manga has the same cast of incredibly amusing characters who are all really likable and enjoyable just to see interact in various circumstances, especially the main character Issei who is absolutely ridiculous but hilarious and amazing. There were some differences though, such as that Rias felt like she came through as less majestic, which I wasn't fond of. It has the same solid plot with solid world building regarding factions, history, and such. However, it was paced much faster and a lot was removed or modified to shorten it, and with that pacing it manages to adapt approximately the first two and a half seasons, which is about 4.5 light novels, in 11 manga volumes.

The ending of this manga was completely different from the anime, in that this manga adapted a portion the anime didn't but modified that portion to serve as a more complete ending even though it was only the beginning of a longer story in the novels, which felt like a strange way to end things. I also think that as a result of the much faster pacing, character development and relationship development doesn't come through as well, even if it does manage to have all the major events, but at the same it's hard to judge because I'm already really familiar with the franchise and sort of have those events already ingrained mentally for lack of a better way to say it. 

The art is pretty solid all the way through and fit well enough. The action comes across decently enough. The characters were more of a mixed bag wherein I'd say the anime looked better but the manga's art is still pretty good in and of itself. All in all, I think it's a solid go through of the story if you're already familiar with it and want to re-experience it, but I think the anime or light novel would be better as introductions to the franchise.

I'm going to review this because it's become my favorite thing to read since Harry Potter. (It also chases away the memories of when I sat and read Twilight from start to finish. Alas those were dark days.)

Anyways...
I'm going to sum up the whole plot, in my own way, in just a few sentences, starting now:
Just how much insanity can you summon forth with a nipple, a dragon and a never-say-die attitude? Your answer would be 15 volumes and counting.
There's a lot of characters to introduce and so it gets off to a pretty slow start but when it hits full tilt you'll forget all about it being a Light Novel.

The art, I thought was actually really good, until we started getting less flaming demons and more loli upskirt pictures and other assorted hentai-borderline pictures but hey......

The characters of DxD come in huge quantity. Even so they don't feel underdeveloped, which I consider to be a pretty impressive feat. I speak as a author when I say it's extremely hard to juggle plot and character development at the same time. DxD features the sort of characters who would feature on polls as the greatest love pairing, the ultimate good guy or the biggest badass had they been written into Western novels.

Serious but silly, funny but sometimes dark, engrossing and entertaining.

Needless to say, I think you ought to read this....

In the begining, one might see this novel a expect a regular ecchi light novel, nothing out of the ordinary. Some comedy, mediocre story and characters, but GREAT "Plot". This novel is anything but mediocre. The sheer determination of the main character's desires, along with his harem where all of the girls have character, the pure epicness of the increasingly expansive world that just get stronger and even has moments that truly touch your heart. All of the main characters have fleshed out backstories, many of the villians are very respectable as well, especially later on in the series. I marathoned all 21 novels in 5 days, and I was never bored. Issei is just the kind of guy that starts out with a slightly selfish personality, but everyone in this novel has amazing character development, so he turns into a guy that you can't help to admire. This series is practical,y my will to live, and thinking about it helps me get through a lot. Not to mention, the anime has AMAZING GOD, no DRAGON GOD levels of "Plot" and is a crime to watch censored. And also, just because you are a girl, doesn't mean this isn't for you. If you like action, comedy, or character development, this is for you. Last of all HAIL CHICHIGAMI!!

High school DxD. The holy grail of ecchi harem stories, filled with plot, and even more plot.. If you know what I mean ;)

Just like your average Ecchi, Shounen story aye? Boy gets super power, go ham on evil guys, gets the most beautiful girls, so kinda yes. What is unique is that it not just around boobs and girls. There is this occult Devil vs. Fallen angels, vs. Angels war going on, which is filled with powerful weapons, gears, armours, magic, and what not setting in our world. As the story progresses, a lot of things gets revealed, around the factions, and the unique longinuses which resides in different persons. We see not just Ise grow his power but his harem as well. Of course he is so dim witted he doesn't even realize it.

However as the story progresses, factions, enemies, alliances, friends come and go, there is one thing always the same. They have a hard, but really convenient life. Hey look at this life threatening situation! We don't know how to get over it! Ohh wait, someone just unlocked a new ability, which just perfect for this situation. Or suddenly this individual showed up, and solved the crisis. And this somewhat goes over the whole series all the currently 19 books, which is about a full year in the story since Ise became a Devil (Which is i guess would be around season 8 in the anime). I am missing the disciplinary major defeats. So far they’re too OP, and there was no war, or crisis they were unable to solve. There were just some minor defeats (i’d call them draw), but overall no big deals. Bad guy was left with a wound or dropped jaw, or before the huge defeat something came up. Is it boring? A bit. Thankfully the author drops in some huge plot twist bombs every now and then which keeps your mind boggle for a while.

My opinion is that soon it's time to end this series. As the current story goes there is not much else to face with. Would i recommend it? Sure. apart from a few books, it's actually interesting. The characters are good eventho they’re cliche, there is a lot of action, goofing around, depth, and lore to look after.

Story: 7
I like occult stuff, so for me it was a must see. You'll see all the religion eventually in some shape or form. The way the author used them is quite good. The only problem i had is that everything is convenient, by the time i got accustomed to the progression, the tension I initially had was lost, because i knew something will come up that i'll sort the whole situation.

Art: 8
I am not artist, but i quite like the art style. Its modern, and crispy. The armours, and equipment looks good, and detailed.

Characters: 7
Your average horny teenager, your average, Tsundere, Kuundere, deredere, geeky girl, small boobed, big boobed, wild cat, (actual cat), shy.... all of them are here. But at least all of them has a flushed out backstory, and that's nice.

Enjoyment: 9

Overall there is a lot of action, and stuff that will keep your mind focused on the series, and want to see how it will progress. Also you will be frustrated with a lot of obvious things that for the main characters might not be.

Over all: 8

It's a decent story, with lot of depth under the boob, and fan service. If the author can come up with new ideas, and maybe use their characters a bit more better, this score could go up.

Okay, so let me first say this that my single most motivation for watching the anime was to fap. I was told by one of my friends that it had quite the amount of material to do the deed. Unfortunately after watching the anime and reading the light novels upto volume 15 I haven't fapped once (No my dick is not broken). I did get hard sometimes but nothing freaking happens with any of the characters as I expected because then it wouldn't be a harem anymore. Still I read the light novels because the story was quite engrossing and I liked the characters.

The most important thing that I liked about this series how always Issei is being spoiled and pampered by each of the girls and it is quite wholesome. Issei is like a loyal puppy to Rias and is adored by everyone. But don't get me wrong, Issei is not that pathetic at all, while he is not also overpowered but he's like a 'weak to strong' kind of character. He is a fucking idiot and perverted (ofcourse!) and surprisingly he is not that dense. On the other hand talking about girls my favourite is Akeno (biased opinion) not beause she has the largest bust (102 cm) but because of her teasing nature. I love how Issei is most uncomfortable and embarrased around Akeno.

The things that I don't like about the lightnovels is how small the sentences are and the english is too simple which sometimes make me believe that if it was written by any middle-schooler. The novels are comparatively very small with approximately 200 pages (A4 size) per volume. Also I don't like the illustrations. They are just too bad, I 'm sorry I just can't accept them.

Overall Highchool DxD is a very very light read where you can glide through pages easily digesting everything. The anime does not adapt the light novels fully faithfully but if you like the anime you will love the novels.

If you don't know what High School DxD is about, one I recommend you read/watch it right away, and two its a fairly basic Ecchi Harem series. Well I say basic but the story here does focus heavily on the Battle Shonen part of it. The story as well is quite good to what I would expect. Now during this review I'm going to be comparing it a lot to the DUB of the show of the same name. I do plan on watching the SUB eventually but as of now that is all I have seen. I am also reading official Yen Press translations, I have read and finished up to volume 2.

One thing I particularly liked about the light novel that I believe is done much better than in the anime is it has the right to take itself more seriously. The anime, while being one of my favorite shows, was certainly not the most in depth story wise story. It was just about someone's love of breasts and the whole show seemed to role off of that and that was it. The light novel however comes off as more of a real story, like even without the ecchi it would still be a fairly good story. Not to say that it would be top tier, but it would be good. Whereas the show would be kind of terrible without the ecchi, as it relies heavily on it. Another major thing that differs between the anime and the light novel is the relationship between Issei and all of the girls. With Asia it is even more clearly shown how the relationship(at least up until now) is much more of a brother wanting to protect his little sister kind of relationship. And with Rias as well the relationship moved much slower. I'll try not to spoil anything but in the light novel, the relationship between the two seems much more real.

Now admittedly I am coming into this loving the show, but I do sincerely believe this light novel is amazing. It has made me question how good the anime really is and is making me wish it took itself in a way the light novel did.

(SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD)
Now while I say all this praise of the light novel that is not to claim there are no faults. One thing I disliked is how when Risers pawn hit Issei, Rias simply stood there and was like whatever. Based on everything in the story I was sure she would rush to help, but she was no where to be seen. This could be because I watched the anime which did have her do that.

Right now I am excitedly waiting for the next two books. I plan on reading them by the shows season at a time, until we are all caught up, so I'll be waiting till July. Until then I will make sure to watch the SUB and read the manga, so next time I can use all its media to compare.

If you watch or read Ecchi content, you have most likely acknowledged with Highschool DxD. It is the series that started the Ecchi era in the 2010s anime, in my opinion.

I won't be rating individual categories like Story, Art, Character, Villains. Instead, I am going to talk about every aspect and tell you my impressions. Without further ado let's get into the review.

Small warning: I'll try to write this review without any major spoilers, but I can't guarantee it.

Let's begin with the Story:
Issei Hyodo is killed by a fallen angel (no spoilers, he said) and made into a devil, so he decides to be a harem king. To accomplish it, he must become a high-ranking devil. Through his time with his new friends, he fights and defeats many enemies and learns about his comrades' past. That's the basic premise of Highschool DxD. Now, I'll begin with the aspects I like.
1, I like character development. I think that it has been done very well, considering it's an Ecchi. I'll probe into this a bit more in "characters"
2, I think story pacing is pretty good, making it easy to read. I remember I was bored of waiting for a new DxD episode to come out, so I started reading. I loved it. It was easy to read. I did finish reading one DxD volume every three days.
3, I like side stories. They give more depth to our main characters or even side characters. One good side story, in particular, is about Issei helping a character named Rizer Phoenix. I won't spoil anything, but it is one of the finest side stories with good story and comedy aspects.
4, I like Issei Ecchi's intercourse with his harem members, but that's also one big negative.
What I don't like:
1, Ecchi intercourses became way too repetitive and boring. Autor isn't allowed to write sex scenes into DxD, but I think it can be done in a 'civil' way. These intercourses are an issue with DxD and have become way too repetitive. Issei is constantly cockblocked by his harem members resulting in a cringy scene. You will like it at 1st, but it will start to bother you as you continue reading (or might not).

I'll take art very quickly:
I like the illustrations. I think they are pretty good. Some sexy stuff, some cool stuff, not much else to add. Maybe, I would like extra two or three illustrations, but that's a nitpick.

Now, Characters:
DxD has quite interesting characters, there are cliches, but overall it wasn't bothering me much. I liked most of the characters. Some of the characters are artificial Aholes (Written to repulse you, they are meant to be hated), but it was minor, and it won't play much of the role. What I like:
1, Interesting characters, there is a variety of personalities within DxD, coming from timid, kind personas to arrogant, cruel characters. I mean, every girl from Issei's harem has some unique trait, persona and he has quite a lot of girls in volume 25 and later Shin DxD.
2, Quite a good character development. When it comes to ecchi, a character's development sometimes feels either bland or just cheap (give a boring person a tragic backstory to make us feel sorry for him/her). I think DxD character development has done well, there are some things I dislike, but overall I think Ishibumi (author) did a good job.
3, There are few characters with a tragic backstory, but it isn't overdone, much to my luck. I hate when a show or book is trying to make someone we don't care about or hate a likable character due to 'tragic' backstory, DxD has some tragic backstories, but it's not overdone.
What I dislike:
1, The fact author isn't allowed to do sex scenes is screwing character development in the relationship and intimacy aspect. Sadly it is not his call, but it is the publisher's call, so we can't blame Ishibumi for this. It does hurt DxD a lot. Even though I don't desire DxD to become hentai, I would appreciate some intimacy advancement as DxD becomes a stalemate on that level. It goes into the Issei cockblocking cycles. That is probably the biggest flaw of DxD.

And now the weakest link in DxD, Villains:
Villains are the major setback to DxD. To put it simply: Villain appears, does some evil things, fights MC, Villain is on top, MC finds a miraculous way to defeat villain, MC defeats the villain. Something like this repeats a lot in DxD. The villains get boring quite quickly. After meeting one super strong character, soon to be replaced by another villain. I became bored with the villains. 1st villain was a good introduction, no masterpiece. She was decent, but she should have lasted 3-7 volumes or more. DxD villains follow quantity, but I think the quality would fit DxD way better.

Highschool DxD earns 8/10. If DxD had gone the quality villain route and had some sex scenes (it doesn't have to be full on Brazzers hardcore stuff) or something else than 100 same Ecchi intercourses, I would have given 9. If you like an Ecchi with an actual story, I can recommend you DxD.

To begin, this review is spoiler-free, so if you've watched the anime and are contemplating reading the light novels you don't need to worry about being spoiled with my review.

Simply put, Highschool DxD is an amazing light novel. If you enjoyed the anime at all, I can absolutely guarantee that you will love this. With season 3 approaching, the anime has literally only begun to cover where the series really starts to get good. And from that point on, the fantastic ride that is DxD only gets better. And better. And better. Hell, volume 19 will be released in 2 months and it's STILL getting better!

Story: 10

The first 4 volumes of the story are basically set-up for the rest of the series. Volumes 5-6 are where everything starts to really pick up. Now, that doesn't mean volumes 1-4 are bad; not at all, just look at seasons 1 and 2. In fact, even if you've already watched the anime, I recommend reading the volumes they covered; it provides more detail and depth than the anime could show.

But volume 5 onwards is where, put bluntly, shit gets real. It gets really intense(that's actually quite an understatement), there's a lot more romantic development, lots of new characters are introduced, and everything just gets all-around more epic and awesome with each new volume you read. There's also quite a few hilarious situations in the midst of all the epicness, which show that Issei truly deserves the nickname he was given. And yes, I am trying to be as vague as possible as to not spoil anything for you guys. I could seriously write a ton of detailed comments if I included spoilers.

At this point you might be wondering "what about the ecchi?!" DxD's light novels are actually far more erotic starting, again, with volumes 5 and 6. (I apologize if I'm making the wait for season 3 even more painful, I'm just being honest!!) In fact, I'll be completely honest and say it becomes the most erotic thus far starting with volume 15.

Art: 10

Let me explain something: Ever since I started reading DxD, I fell in love with Miyama-Zero's art. Every colored illustration in every new volume (I started reading DxD when volume 16 came out), cover included, has left me speechless, and every non-colored illustration has me praising DxD's illustrator as well. As soon as a new volume is released, one of my first thoughts is "have the illustrations been leaked yet?!" Miyama-Zero-sama's art is just that good, especially in the more recent volumes, where I wouldn't hesitate to call it masterful.

Characters: 10

I'll divide this section into 2 parts, Protagonists and Antagonists. But if I were to summarize both sections in one word, it would be Badass.

Protagonists: To start with, let me just say that Ise's harem is handled in such a wonderful way. There's no crazy tsundere beatings or normal harem antics, just friendly competition amongst the girls for their spot in the harem. Not to mention Ise's harem is hands-down the most beautiful harem I've ever seen. All the girls are just perfect. Every single one of them is so unique and they all play a huge role of importance in the series. Some of the girls of Sitri group also get more screentime as well. I can't say more than that or I'd spoil a lot of new characters! Onto the guys, the deep bond Issei and Kiba have is really great. They really are best friends, although Kiba does seem to like Issei a little too much... Azazel is a fantastic addition to the team, watching out for them and helping them with their training, among several other important roles in the series I'll let you discover for yourself. Gasper continues to work on becoming more manly, and Saji actually takes a pretty big role in the series later on. Oh, and Vali's as crazy as ever. Again, I can't say more or I'd spoil certain events and a lot of new characters!

Now let's go into a little more detail about Issei. His growth is astounding. Spoilers withheld, he goes from being an overly-perverted MC to a perverse, respected, beloved, mature and powerful MC who gives his all to protect his comrades and truly cares about all of them. The best part is the execution of this character growth, which you'll need to read yourself. The dynamic between Issei and Kiba is fantastic as well; Kiba takes up Ise's reckless desire to protect his comrades and becomes a powerful swordsman worthy of being Rias Gremory's Knight.

Antagonists: I love DxD's antagonists, in particular the ones introduced in volumes 9 and 16. They're just as diverse as the protagonists and several of them are antagonists you just love to hate (especially one particular antagonist in volume 17). I really can't say more without spoiling their characters, just that they're great.

Everyone, protagonist and antagonist alike, gets the perfect amount of character development and exposition in each volume, it amazes me how well Ishibumi-sama handles it.

Enjoyment: 10

One thing I especially love about DxD is its unpredictability; you absolutely cannot predict what's going to happen next. It's hilarious, it's unpredictable, it's extremely intense, all the characters are fantastic, the ecchi and romance are wonderful(another severe understatement!), the art is excellent, overall it's a supremely fun series.

Overall:

Let me conclude by saying that Highschool DxD is in no way your ordinary ecchi series. The character development for everyone is astoundingly brilliant, the plot is absolutely amazing, and, being vague once again, DxD does not suffer from a certain traditional harem trope that never ends, not to mention there is an actual reason for why Issei acts the way he does up until a certain volume, and it's handled brilliantly. Overall I give it an extremely solid 10/10 and urge those of you who enjoyed the anime to read it - you won't regret it!

"Stupidity is fine! If I can't win with ability, I'll excel through stupidity!" - Issei Hyoudou. A powerful quote from a monstrously powerful idiot.

High School DxD is a staple within the anime community, becoming one of the most popular ecchi series of all time thanks to its raunchy ecchi, well-crafted English dub, funny cast of characters, and its story telling. I love the anime, and I decided that it would be best to start reading ahead in the novels in preparation of the fifth season; little did I know that picking up the novels was probably the best decision I've made all year. Let me explain why.

This is a story about growth and a journey toward one's goals, or more specifically, the growth of Issei Hyoudou, our main protagonist of the story. This series entails the rise of our perverted protagonist as he unfortunately gets murdered by his very first girlfriend as they’re about to finish their first date. It turned out that Issei's "girlfriend" happened to be a Fallen Angel on a mission with Issei in her crosshairs. Before he died, a crimson red beauty appeared before him and resurrected him. Issei wakes up lying next to her naked, revealing herself to be a devil; and thus begins Issei's journey as a devil and a pawn of Rias Gremory from the Gremory household.

The story is told from the perspective of the character in focus, as it's primarily from Issei's POV, but the story can also switch over to other characters like Kiba, Rias or Azazel. This can be put to good use as Issei is not always at the centre of attention, as the story can switch over to a completely different set of characters that can give context to certain events throughout the story. And given that the story is told in first person, we get to read Issei's thoughts and opinions on whatever scenario he's in, which provides us a lot of the comedy and important information that is presented throughout the series and not often translated into the anime.

The story takes aspects of religion ranging from Buddhism to Christian, Hindu, Norse, Greek, Japanese, Irish, Chinese, Egyptian, Celtic, and Persian mythologies, and incorporates them into the characters, world building, power structuring, race & identity, history, and politics in the DxD universe. This was done at such a great extent that Ishibumi created such a unique, intricate, and immersive world to study and explore, something you rarely see in most harem and ecchi series. The series' power system is based on magic and game pieces, such as Evil Pieces (chess pieces) and Brave Saints (set of cards). The chess pieces give the user special abilities or boost certain stats such as "Promotion" or "Speed" or "Strength" and can be either helpful or detrimental to the team depending on the match-up of users and their abilities. The set of cards can be used like poker where the King can use different combinations to output different levels of strength based on the strength of the set being played. Ishibumi had a lot of creativity with this power system as seen in the more recent arc, especially when you consider having people with Maou or God-level powers and abilities fighting against each other, and it's really fun to see teams of lower power and status being able to match up against much stronger opponents and giving them a hard time. It also gave the author the creative freedom to match characters up that you wouldn’t normally have seen or would have liked to, kind of like you’re watching an all-stars game of sorts.

If there was one genre tag I would like to add to this entry, I would add ‘Action’, as there is a lot of fighting in this series. One of the main themes is the Ratings Games, as that plays a large part in determining a person's power and political standing. Ratings Games are when two teams (with Evil Pieces or Brave Saints) fight against each other in a competitive event in different scenarios that are arranged beforehand.

Besides the storytelling and world building, the characters are another one of my favourite aspects of the series. Each of the main cast of characters have their own personalities, ambitions and goals and strive to work hard in order to achieve them, and after spending months reading the novels, I've grown to become very attached to them. You have the likes of Issei, one of the best male harem protagonists that you can find around, who strives to become the Harem-King as well as a high-ranking devil, you have Rias, whose goals are to become the head of the family and become the Ratings Games champion, and you have the rest of the main cast, including the likes of Akeno, Koneko, Xenovia, Asia, Irina, Rossweisse, Kiba, Ravel, and Gasper, who all aim to become strong in order to achieve their ambitions, as well as helping Rias and Issei achieve their own ambitions.

Just as important as the main cast of characters, we also have the side characters who either work alongside or against Issei and his friends. Out of all of the characters that I'd like to give a shout-out for being such cool, likeable and useful friends/rivals, we have the likes of Azazel, Sirzechs and the other leaders, we have Tannin, Ophis, Fafnir, and the Two Heavenly Dragons, we have Tobio the Slash Dog and the other guys in Heaven, we have Kuroka, Vali, Le Fay and Arthur Pendragon of the Vali Team, we have Saji and the rest of the Sitri Team, and finally, we have Sairaorg. Each one of these characters plays a pivotal role throughout the series, and the story wouldn't have been able to progress without them. So many of these characters, including the main cast, were able to do so much thanks to the 25+ volumes currently released.

This might surprise anime-only viewers, but in my opinion, as Issei is such an endearing and thoughtful person to all the girls he meets and befriend, regardless of all the sexual encounters he experiences and regrettably rejects throughout the series, he is one of the rare few characters that are deserved of their harem. There is purpose behind most of Issei's actions, even going as far as risking his life in scenarios where the odds are heavily stacked against him. He puts everyone's issues ahead of his own, as detrimental as that may seem, since all he wants is to live a peaceful life with his harem. He gives you the urge to make you want to root for him and hope that he eventually succeeds, and I believe that's one aspect of the LN that keeps you hooked until the very end.

Accompanying the novels, we have the artwork that feature throughout them. The artwork is very clean and well-polished, it improves as each volume gets released, so I have to give credit to Miyama-Zero. The closest the anime gets to the art style of the novels is when they changed studios for season 4, which in my opinion is a good thing; it means the anime will be more faithful to the source material. We got dozens of illustrations of ecchi scenes, character design reveal, and cool shots that happen in their volume, so if you'd like to give them a view (slight spoiler warning if you do so), then go onto the DxD Wiki.

Throughout my journey down the DxD rabbit hole, I discovered many new things, like my newfound enjoyment of this masterfully crafted series, as well as the fact that DxD Born got completely butchered by the previous studio. This series is an investment, because once you start getting in deeper and deeper and start investing more of your time and effort into understanding this series, you cannot stop. Like many people with this series, I came for the "plot", but ended up staying for the plot. And I'll keep on doing so until the day Ishibumi decides to wrap things up. When you look past the image of breasts and degeneracy the series has created for itself within the anime community, you'll find yourself stumbling across a genuine and fleshed out series created by a man who poured his heart and soul into trying to perfect it.

High School DxD is probably the least ordinary harem and ecchi series you could come across. The writing, world building, character development, heck, even the fighting and drama is better than what you can find in a lot of other series. This series will forever reign at the top of the harem and ecchi landscape, and if you're not really a fan of these types of series, you might be surprised at what you'll find. You will not regret reading this.

Solid 9/10 for this series.

Great novel currently at volume 12 waiting for English translations of later ones. The story is definitely fun and entertaining, development of characters is very well thought out. Although you can its a typical harem as far as relationships towards the main male protagonist, and there is a lack of interesting drama. Won't say too much about it as it'll ruin volume 11 which was interesting since its probably the one instance of surprise, which gets quickly dispelled in the following volume. Would of been better to see that issue to have been drawn out longer or at least not have a chapters prior to the grand entry revealing said plot point is alright.

Bottom line its still a great read, baka tsui has most of the volumes following the show and for the missing part you can easily get by with some summaries/translations from other sites to fill in. Definitely should check it out and the anime for that matter.

The story starts with only ecchi-like and some boring sens until it gets to volume 7 or 8 were it becomes a master-piece .
I don't say the first volumes were a bad shit but I give them like 7/10
here where ecchi,comedy,romance and epic action gather with mixture of devils,fallen-angels and angels with the most important creator the dragons .
just enjoy reading it.
it fellow hyoudou issei a pervert 2nd year school boy whom was killed by his first GF Ranyare that appeared to be a fallen angel and he was reincarnated as a Devil by the Master and high-class devil Rias Gremory to become her pawn along with the rest of the team (akeno,koneko,asia and kiba...) and other characters to get along after .

Well i 2 days after new years eve i found this anime/novel/manga and i watched during that day and i finished the first and second season of the anime then i was intrested how did this anime become and found the manga and novel i read the 5th volume i wanted to know what will happen in the 1 episode of Season 3 and man i got realy intrested in the novel the hole winter break i was reading the novel now i finished the 15th volume and the 16th volume isnt translated jet.But i realy love this novel i even read again some volumes.THIS NOVEL IS PURE AWSOMENESS!!!!!!

The story gets intresting as every volume i finish i get even more intrested in the story and man im so pumped for season 3.So i give the story a solid 10 how much stuff happens from ecchi scenes to brutal fights.

Since this is an novel i didnt think there will be any pictures but i was suprised that he even made a nice number of pictures/scenes and that made me enjoy the novel even more.
For some people this maybe an spoiler but every one knows that this will happen (10 or even more girls will fall in love with Issei and there will be some problems for him about that..... xD).The characters are awsome every single one from the good guys to the bad guys.A realy nice line characters.

Man i realy enjoied this novel i mean i took my laptop layed on my bed and read it the hole day and then during night time i vould read it on my phone how much i was into this novel and i still am (i only sleept like 5 hours a day,7 days in a row).
This novel realy is something that you should read i mean Ichiei Ishibumi hes a genius he made the comedy,the echii scenes and the brutal fights so nicly colide together in this novel i almost cryed (im serius becouse of the 5 hours sleeping thing i needed to see a doctor LOL).But still as my words say this:"THIS IS AN AWSOME MASTERPIECE" and deservers to be readed by every High School DxD fan.Im sad now i dont have anything to read until the 16 volume gets translated.

CANT WAIT FOR SEASON 3 AND THEN WHEN IT GETS RELEASED I CANT WAIT FOR SEASON 4 AND THAT WAY UNTIL ISSEI GETS HIS HAREM DREAM COME TRUE I WILL READ THE NOVEL AND WATCH THE ANIME
(Just that some peps know i realy got intrested in this anime/novel not becouse of the perverted scenes in the anime or novel i just got into it becouse of how Issei is an intresting character and the story realy got me in season 2 not to mention the novel.Couse a lot of people think this anime is good on the market couse of the "Oppai" i personaly dont think so.)

I am writing this review after about a month finishing the latest translated novel (15), so if I'm off on a few things I apologize. The one thing I most liked about this novel series is like what everyone else has said: it's an ecchi/harem with a PLOT. Don't see that often or at all. The main plot is enticing enough to keep reading because you want the thing in most harems, to see the MC choose, issei does but no spoilers. The side stories in volume 8 and 15 were good, seeing the backstory of the characters and how they came together were very welcomed.

Now for the review

Story 9- no story can be called perfect, but DxD is well thought out by the author, changing the view point from 3 different characters: issei, kiba and azazel. I liked that part of it because we get different perspectives of the storyline. The different plot arcs are played out very well and how fights are written are good(just want pictures for all of his different balance break armors). The current arc is about vampires and gasper(him in the anime, seeing him will question if a boner is called for because not only is he a cross-dressing androgynous male, but they drew him as close to female as possible, which is to cruel). See how this LN is going, I hope it doesn't end without issei shitfucking cap cao and possibly Michael/sirzechs team up, which if that happens, could be like a 20-25 OVA battle itself.

Art- 9, because there are few pictures in each novel, it's rated on how well drawn each is. Even without color, it's easy to imagine it coloured in your head. Student council prez as a magical girl is in every way just eye candy for the soul, it can't be helped but to be loved by all.

Character-10. With 15 novels, the main novels advance the storyline and 60% character development, while the side stories fill the other 40%, showing their dark pasts before having rias turn them into devils and fight by her side. I like how kiba is becoming more OP as he grows, getting Siegfrieds swords was a OP moment in itself, showing how strong he has become.

Enjoyment-10. This was the first LN I read, reading from volume 1 I got more story than the anime(to be expected). As I kept reading even though there were the ecchi moments, they never lasted longer than they had to. A Harem mostly has like 4-5 girls, where issei has 7 that fawn over him, and aren't afraid to do anything with him, koneko taking his lap as her territory was just to damn cute.

Overall-10. I love this series, the plot doesn't take total precedence, but it's actually the Amin focus. If you like the often ecchi moments you will DL or buy all of the volumes and enjoyably read them. I recommend this to any fan of the harem/ecchi genre.

First off, don't write this off as a regular ecchi. While it probably is the most perverse shounen ecchi you will see in the shounen category, it actually has an amazing story-line. I mean I actually feel that the story-line was wasted on an ecchi, but then the ecchi was also done amazingly well and originally, and yes that is possible. This author is really REALLY clever.

Story 10/10
Not only is there a really good plot-line to this story, but theres also really clever plot twists to the story. The end of volume 3 will have your head spinning and your jaw will drop to the floor. Not only that but the ecchi is so clever and I don't think any ecchi has actually bothered to come up with so many hilarious ideas in the history of the genre. If you read ecchis for comedy then not only is this probably the most perverse shounen ecchi of the bunch, it's also the funniest. I feel that I can't do this novel justice without spoiling it....

Art 9/10
Its a novel, not much art to be had, but there are what looks like computer generated high definition art of all the characters spread throughout the book. One thing that I don't like though is that I think Issei the main character has really generic "shounen protagonist" art. I feel that hes the basic copy and paste image of many B novel protagonists.

Character 9/10
Two things I don't like about the characters, I don't really like how restrained Issei is, and I can't help but feel that Rias is lacking as a leader. The problem with Issei is mainly the limitations of it being a Shounen Ecchi, his dream is to have a harem and I feel that whenever he gets close to exploring that avenue, the limitations of the shounen genre suddenly kick in and say "NO SEX FOR YOU!!!". As for Rias I feel that often she overlooks really obvious resolutions to problems.

However whatever I say bad about the characters the overwhelming good side comes and kicks it in the but. The villains and the rivals in this novel are something else. Gotta love old school battle maniacs. There are a lot of them. Great back stories to all the main characters, everyone gets their moment in the sun eventually. Lots of interplay from dozens of different character and they do a really good job on using everyone.

Enjoyment 8/10
While I spent 50% of my time laughing my ass off at this novel I spend the other 50% buried in the deep plotline. My only real problem is that they spend a little bit too much time playing around with the same ecchi jokes. Every chapter they usually open with Issei in pretty much the same bizarre ecchi situation which usually has a hollow ending as covered in part one of my discussion of characters. It feels like a brilliant author got blackmailed into writing an ecchi and ended up writing a brilliant story then realizing "DAMNIT I HAVE TO ADD TITTS TO THIS!!!".

Overall, its brilliant. Boy or girl you will love it. It's a novel anyways, it's not like anyone actually gets off on those.

Let me explain why I love this LN so much, even though 99.99% of them should only exist to provide scripts to anime/manga.

1. The worldbuilding. My god. The world is ridiculously deep and fleshed out. You have competing interests, 3 factions locked in stalemate due to their bloody war, overall enemies, etc. It's extremely compelling and I'd venture to say that if the author had been writing as long as GRRM did, he would have made a better world. Literally.

2. The lack of a shitty protag. Issei is not a pussy. He can fight, he has a personality, and has most of all a WILL, which is literally his main power. While I still kinda disagree with his non-existent romance capabilities, it's excusable since he has literally no time before the next terror comes along.

3. The plot. This seems like a mindless ecchi romance, but then again, it's rated at 8.6. Kinda hard for a ecchi romance to get there. There is plot. The plot is literally the driving point of the story and it rams it through the mostly bad prose(still lacking in true light novel fashion, but we're not reading this for literary analysis)

Read it. It's long(well over 1 million words) but it's extremely rewarding.

Highschool DxD on the surface may not look like anything special, even among other Light Novels. But don't judge this book (or books) by its cover/s. This was the first Light Novel I've ever read, and up until now I have not read another series that has kept me as hooked and as interested as this one. Does it have recognizable character archetypes, tropes etc? Perhaps, but it executes them so well that it isn't a negative for this series. This is my first Light Novel review.

Story: The story involves involves devils, angels, dragons, and many other beings, plenty being from mythologies. The main cast are devils and they become involved in predicaments regarding many things. They become involved with the church, the underworld. But they must also deal with their "regular" high school lives, and their own trials and struggles.

Art: Even though it is a Light Novel with few illustrations. The artist has such amazing art that I can't help but give this a 10. One of the better artists in the Light Novel industry for sure.

Characters: 9/10. The characters are all appealing and fun in their own ways. The main character is Issei Hyoudou, he is just a regular a pervert in high school. That is before he becomes involved in the world of devils (he remains perverted though). He joins the Occult Research Club in his high school. Everyone in this group is a devil, all of them reincarnated (like Issei) except for the leader, Rias. Rias is the female MC and the main love interest of Issei. But that doesn't mean that the rest of the club is boring. All of the females are attractive, with their own unique personalities and are a subject of interest of the MC. Issei has good points to him as well, he cares for the people around him and will do anything, even though he is particularly weak to start off. But through perseverance and training, he becomes able to hold is own. More characters are introduced throughout the novels, and all become likable and enjoyable to read about.

Enjoyment: 10/10. This is of one the most enjoyable series I have ever read. I never found a dull moment in this series. It hooks you in and it only gets better as it goes on. The story is well written, as it connects everything very well.

Overall: 10/10. If you're a fan of Light Novels, this is definitely a must read. If you've never read a Light Novel, let this one be your first. If you don't like Light Novels, well, I'd still recommend to read it. Haha.

Story:I'm not going to beat around the bush, but the story line was one of major issues that ultimately caused me to drop this series. Despite giving me the occasional chuckle, it overall felt Bland, Generic and Predictable for me. I got to the point part way through the second volume where I went 'I do not care what happens to these people'.

The Premise and the first volume gave me the Initial impression(although my initial impression was mixed at best), that the author had a much deeper(and possibly more raunchy) story in mind. But that potential was wasted, due to the constraints from his publishers.Because of this, I came to dropping it before the end of the second volume.

Characters:Now the Character's I felt that quite a sizeable number, such as akeno and koneko had something going for them. Other's like Raynare felt wasted,one-dimensional and generic. Some of the better written characters, form my perspective were actually Kiba yuuto and Asia Argento. The latter being hated for cockblocking the fan preferred pairings.

Then there is Issei, the protagonist of the series. One of the two characters that ultimately broke my interest in the series as a whole. He is not very well written and felt like he was suppose to have turned out completely different than he actually ended up being written. Although I will make the concession that some of his interactions did give me a few laughs, In the end I found him to be annoying most of the time. To the point where I ended up losing the will to read beyond the second volume.

The other character that ultimately broke my interest in reading the light novels further was none-other than Raynare herself, she came off as a one-dimensional bitch. I would have liked her as character if Ishibumi actually spent some time freshening her out. But in the end, she came off as too flat as an antagonist.

Art:I have not much to say about the art work, it is good. Miyama-zero is the standard light novel, artist that every author in medium goes to.Overall good but standard artwork for the medium.

Overall:I won't fault that the comedy and the ecchi(for how much there was), but the unengageing story and the characters could have been better introduced(for example giving some form of backstory to Raynare explaining why she acts the way she does. Maybe the light novel medium is just not for me. I felt disappointed with the volumes I read.

I can respect the fact people that do like the series, as a matter of fact there were some things I did like in the novels.Maybe the Anime and Manga adaptations will renew my interest in the light novels, but for now I'll be dropping this one for the time being.

I am only saying why I have currently dropped highschool DxD, I don't really intend on hating on the series or it's fans. i am honestly expecting people who are fans of DxD to read this and give me salt for what I have written.