「猫とドラゴン」 (Neko to Doragon)
“Cat and Dragon”

“Please let me poke your boobs!”
“Are you really that stupid?!”

Yup!

Rias is Still The Boss

One thing I appreciate about High School DxD is how, when it comes to battle strength, it’s not all-Issei, all-the-time. In fact, he rightly notes that oftentimes, he only gets a power-up after someone has gotten hurt. Yes, there’s still a lot of badass coming from Issei, and I’m cool with that, but I like how the other characters aren’t weak, even if they do occasionally need saving. Rias may have gotten incapacitated, but it was her that reassured Koneko, and it was her that Koneko wanted to stay with. The others, too! Issei included. It’s just always nice to see the other characters getting to help save the girl.

A Kind Welsh Dragon

I expected Koneko-chan to go full-on deredere for Issei after this arc, and the fact that she didn’t is a positive development. I thought Xenovia’s flip to baby-making airhead was too abrupt, and Koneko’s character deserves better. But her speech about how most Emperors of the Red Dragon are driven berserk with their power (like Kuroka was), and how Issei is perhaps the first kind Welsh Dragon … look, I don’t care if she never enters the harem. I don’t care if they are just friends. That’s some touching stuff right there, and it warmed my heart to the core.

I’da Let Them Power Up Too

Normally I’m the first to be screaming “Just shoot him already!” (trope), even if it’s to an antagonist. It irks when they unnecessarily give the good guys a chance to power up and beat them. But this time, it fits. Not only were Bikou and Kuroka toying with them from the get-go, the whole thing with Issei wanting to poke Rias’ breasts to achieve Balance Breaker is just so absolutely ridiculous that, in their shows, I woulda probably let them do it too, just to see what was going to happen. I mean, how could it possibly work? Whoops!

Looking Ahead – The Valkyrie Who Has Never Had A Boyfriend

Next week looks like more with Rossweisse-chan (Kakuma Ai), and sign me up! Sometimes it’s hard to figure out how they’re going to keep diversifying the harem, but a crybaby, unlucky-in-love onee-san? Swiftly approved.

tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – The kind Welsh Dragon finally achieves Balance Breaker, by way of a double breast poke. ‘Cause OPPAI! #haremking s3e3

Random thoughts:

  • I like the parallels between Koneko’s family troubles and Akeno’s. Looks like her training isn’t over yet.
  • Greek/Norse mythologies are like grab bags of ideas for lazy writers. Doesn’t mean they don’t work sometimes, though.

My first novel, Wage Slave Rebellion, is available now. (More info—now available in paperback!) Sign up for my email list for a FREE sequel short story. Over at stephenwgee.com, the last four posts: Happiness is low overhead, People as things, Cut away the boring bits, and Sheet music.

Full-length images: 02, 03, 20, 33, 34, 35.

 

Preview

31 Comments

      1. This is hands down my favorite scene in the light novels, mainly Ise and Tannin yelling back and forth. “Which one?” “You damn idiot! Just poke it already and attain Balance Breaker!”

        Kioku from Laptop
    1. Boris Grishenko?!

      Off-topic Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance spoilers below:
      Show Spoiler ▼

      LOL

      P.S.: GoldenEye–best Pierce Brosnan Bond film.

      Incognito
  1. The time I read the original LNs was a long time ago, but if I remember right, shouldn’t Rossweisse be getting her story focus much later instead of next week?

    Story restructuring for anime, much?

    Techim
    1. They’re putting certain parts of Volume 7 mixed with the 5 and 6 arcs before finishing with the remaining of 7. I don’t mind as long as they put the missing parts later.

      Pedro
    2. I don’t mind plot restructuring for the anime—in fact, I kind of prefer it (unless it’s not necessary, but often it is and it isn’t done, which is another shame).

      It’s like Rias’ comment about how she knew Issei was going after Koneko-chan. A commenter last week (sorry, too lazy to go look who) said that was done during the events covered last episode, but it wasn’t harmed by having that meaningful pause here. A little reshuffling (or tweaking to tell a different, albeit largely the same, story) is a good thing, when done well.

  2. thoughts:
    – this felt more like a dxd episode, it didn’t just coast through a bunch of stuff like that last two did, hopefully the rest of the season doesn’t stray from this kind of pace too much.

    – definitely looking forward to seeing more kuroka and rossweisse, 2 of my favorite dxd characters.

    – i was very unimpressed with how fenrir looked, there, i said it……….

    – i would advise the director to include a bedroom and bathing/hot springs scene in all future episodes.

    cookievalenzuela666
  3. Having only started reading the Light Novel right before Season 3 aired, i don’t recall these arrangements of scenes in the LN… And, also, where are the Show Spoiler ▼

    Also, in the LN, it wasn’t even hinted that the Valkyrie accompanying Odin would be relevant to the plot or “plot” at all… so, bit of a spoiler here
    https://randomc.net/image/High%20School%20DxD/High%20School%20DxD%20BorN%20-%2003%20-%20Large%2005.jpg

    Red HeartGold ZX
    1. That’s because of a reshuffle of plot for the anime. The first part of vol. 7 is getting mixed in first, then we’re supposedly getting back to vol. 5 on episode 5 or 6. I guess it works to save time and hurry along Akeno’s story-arc in a semi-rushed way, but I’m still not sold… Here’s hoping they don’t axe the first Issei vs Fenrir, cause that was awesome!

      Aex
  4. Hmm, the reshuffling of events just feels weird if you’ve read the LN before this season began.
    Loki, Fenrir and that valkyr are not that interesting in volume 5 and 6, the rating games combined with the chaos brigade are what is interesting in these 2 volumes.

    Hell, if they didn’t want LN 7 and 8 together ( which is what i am assuming since they are throwing it in with 5 and 6 ) they could’ve just thrown in the omakes in with the seventh LN in a way that could fit. One of them has akeno knocking out a unicorn, there is another one with multiple issei and there are more of those.

    Still, ya gotta like the part where they don’t get Issei and his desire to poke breasts while a tasty looking cat girl wants to kill him 😀
    First a fallen angel, now a cat girl… When will he get an actual angel trying to kill him?!

    damrod
    1. One thing that bothered me since I first read vol. 8 was the OVAs of this series. Vol. 8 and 13 are both side-story filled with new content at the end, so why didn’t they use those stories for the OVAs and save time instead of making up some weak anime-original crap? I get that people come for the “plot”, but there’s enough of that in the main series without wasting time making up bad new content that reduce the girls to useless walking tits. Then they could’ve jumped from 7 to the end of 8 as a season 4 intro, then onto 9 to 11 (cause you can’t stop at 10. You just can’t).

      Aex
      1. Wait, messed up my vol. numbers. End of 8+9-10 is good (probably the perfect ending to the series actually). 11 and 12 are the ones you can’t seperate no matter what… you know, assuming this series gets enough interest for a fifth season in 2018 and all that.

        Aex
  5. Rossweisse! (First Ravel, and now her?!) I’m just bursting with anticipation to see her in that sexy Valkyrie armor…

    And oh my goodness, that epic breast poke… I watched this episode twice (censored and uncensored), and that whole scene never failed to make me laugh.

    That was a good thing, because even when censored, the sheer audacity of it all managed to carry the scene–along with the emphasis that, “yes, Issei really is powering up by poking Rias’ boobs.”

    Rias’ cute little “No!” was the cherry on top.

    Incognito
  6. LOL at Issei’s dilemna, and the obvious answer. The best thing however was it coming from Rias.

    And now I’m imagining Vali needing a sexy butt to rub to match Issei in power…
    Issei : “LET ME POKE YOUR BOOBS!”
    Vali : “LET ME RUB YOUR BUTT!”
    Koneko : “Perverts.”

    Weird D
    1. Just because he loves oppai, doesn’t mean he lacks respect for women. He’s not treating them as oppai with a body attached, he treats his harem as actual people. Him powering up by pushing Rias’ nipples is essentially his version of a child working hard so her father will rub her head. It’s a culmination and a reward for all the effort and training he went through. Sure, he’s a pervert, but that doesn’t automatically mean he lacks respect. It is possible to appreciate a woman’s assets while still respecting her, just as a woman can appreciate a man’s assets while still respecting him.

      SK
      1. What SK said. Mind you, there are times when Issei doesn’t respect women (like when he was peeking at the beginning of season one, if memory serves), but he does seem to treat all his friends, male or female, with respect. Also, YMMV.

  7. I liked Fanrir’s design concept and color pallet. But he was really badly-drawn in this episode, I hope it was only due to it getting a low budget, and they’re saving most of it for later. Loki’s hair defies gravity almost as much as the bouncing boobs of the girls, but he looks pretty cool I guess.

    The way they’re rearrenging stuff is making me more excited than I was when NEW was airing. This is the same, but feels fresh at the same time.

    Pedro

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