First Impressions / High School DxD / Series Introduction

「彼女、できました！」 (Kanojo, Dekimashita!)
“I Got A Girlfriend”

A school that has changed from an all-girls school to a co-ed one. Gasp! I have never heard of such a thing before. Other than twice last season…and 15,532 times before that. And I’m alright with this!

…okay, let’s get this out of the way first: High School DxD is many things, but original or terribly subtle are not among them. If you’re looking for arte (with a trill on those r’s), you’re not going to like this show. If, however, you’re looking for something silly, ridiculous, carefree, shameless and above all, fun, this show has it in spades. You just have to lean back, suspend your disbelief and enjoy it for what it is.

So, what is it? It’s a show about super pervert Hyoudou Issei (Kaji Yuuki), whose only goal in life is to grope some breasts. He’s joined by his two friends in perversion, the one with the glasses and the other one who looks like a monkey. They might have names, but if so I don’t know them. They’re not really important, anyway. The important thing is that Megane-kun can rattle off any girl’s three sizes in .0004 seconds flat and Saru-san knows all the best peeping places and porn stores. Subtle? No. Original? No. But is it funny when they abandon Issei and let him get pummeled by the entire girl’s kendo team? You’re damn right it was!

Things start to get interesting when a girl confesses to Issei. No one is more surprised than him, except perhaps his friends. Seriously, look at those faces! These Two Guys are hilarious! Such emotion! Can we get some Reaction Guys strips made of these two? 20 Stilts Points1 to whoever makes the best one. I expect great things. Or to be ignored completely. You know, whatever.

…but I digress. Things start to get even better when Yuuma-chan asks Issei out on a date Sunday. And then kills him. After an extended transformation sequence. Seriously, what were you expecting Issei? Devils, magic and boobs the size of cantaloupes on steroids I can accept, but a girl asking a super pervert like you out? You might as well have announced that you were about to retire and asked what could possibly go wrong2. Just doesn’t happen in real life. Complete fantasy. Issei gets points for focusing on what’s important while his girlfriend is transforming and he’s dying – the boobs. She should have let you squeeze them indeed!

Luckily for Issei, Rias Gremory3 (Hikasa Youko) was around to cast Revive on him, and he’s soon back to watching porn with his buddies. And getting impaled by a fallen angel. Seriously Issei, twice in one episode? What do you think you are, a zombie? But this time Toujou Koneko (Taketatsu Ayana), Himejima Akeno (Itou Shizuka) and Rias-sempai are around this time, and they save Issei. He then wakes up in his bed (for the third time), naked (for the first time), next to an equally naked Rias-sempai (definitely for the first time). She then tells him that she’s his master.

Issei, you lucky dog you.

But that’s enough summarizing. When I watch an anime (or read manga, or a book, or see a movie, or watch my parent’s geriatric dogs fight over a milk bone), I always ask myself one question: was it entertaining? Because that’s really the point of this whole thing. If I sit down, watch a show and am entertained, then that’s a victory. If not, someone messed up. And of course, there are many different kinds of entertainment – intellectual, philosophical, empathetic, visceral – but the question remains: was it entertaining. And to me High School DxD was! From the blond bishie who always sparkles to the wicked smiles of the first two women to barge (violently) into Issei’s life, the amusing premise combines with ridiculous character and over-the-top reactions make this an enjoyable first episode. Also, the boobs. And etcetera. Those didn’t hurt either.

And you know what? There were even some rather clever parts. Did you notice the deal with the alarm clocks? The first one was a cute girl waking him up, the second a morbid chainsaw-wielding murderer, and the third a perky meido chirping “master, master!”. Each one reflected Issei’s mood, and hinted at something that just happened (even when us viewers didn’t know quite yet). See, even a show as shameless as this one can be subtle from time to time. Let’s just hope it doesn’t get in the way of Issei building his harem. Banzai!

-Stilts

* One full-length image, courtesy of Divine: 39. Yum!

 

OP Sequence

OP: 「Trip -innocent of D-」 by Larval Stage Planning
Watch the OP!: Streaming ▼

Preview

_________________________
1 Redeemable for absolutely nothing ever. You’re free to lord them over other people, though. Just make sure to keep track of how many you have, because I sure won’t be!
2 I’m quite fond of TVTropes, in case you haven’t noticed. My friends certainly have.
3 99-58-90…eat your heart out, Barbie.

104 Comments

      2. I think he was being sarcastic…
        …
        I mean, this is cliche city. If anything, the future of anime hit rock bottom and continued to drill through the bedrock with an obsidian pickaxe. Still, as Stilts notes, even a massive hash of stereotypes like this can sometimes be entertaining. I wasn’t originally going to give the time of day to this show, but now I may at least check it and see if it manages to create a successful brainless entertainment of the week show.

        Stilts, your extreme conversational troping is pretty silly. Well done.

        eharper256
        Reply

      3. No he’s not…

        And I like Stilt’s style…. Informal and none of that news report type I see on some blog writers. Rant may be rant, but since he’s new, it’s hand-wavable.

        The Moondoggie
        Reply

      4. The trick is always to appropriately calibrate your expectations. If you go into this thinking it will star Sakurai Tomoki’s cousin with the cast of Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou and a dash of Kore wa Zombie Desu ka, then you’re set to enjoy it. If that’s your thing, of course

        Stilts
        Reply

      5. It’s not like it’s only about fanservice either. There was quite a lot of plot going on in this episode, apart from introducing the main characters. It would be rather boring if it had only been about the fanservice and nothing else had been going on.

        Znail
        Reply

    1. I agree, I was amazed that it wasn’t censored except for a single part. I normally have to skip entire seasons of a show because the censoring just becomes too much to handle.

      bijyu
      Reply

  17. Looks like there are at least two factions, the (Fallen) Angels and the Devils. Rias belongs to the second category. I am not sure about the girl who killed Issei the first time though.

    I guess what is happening is that Issei has some sort of intrinsic abilities within him, which is why Rias took interests in him.

    So yeah, this is sooooo original. Like every other single shounen manga adaptation out there.

    But I am watching this anyway!

    suff
    Reply

  18. Stilts, I couldn’t have written my thoughts down any better than you did. Great entry, looking forward to more review of yours on RC! 🙂

    About the show: This is absolutely my guilty pleasure of the Winter season, and since it’s based on a series of Light Novels, I can only say that the story will continue to deliver. If I had a minimal complaint: I hope they turn the ecchi _down_ a little bit to concentrate on the characters and story more. Other than that, a good start!

    Mentar
    Reply

  19. (Wow. I don’t remember seeing areolas in the manga that I’ve read few pages… Ok, maybe more than a few, at least one full chapter or two.)

    You’re pretty damn hilarious with how you write, good sir. This maybe late, but… welcome to RC, and may your run be interesting!

    2606
    Reply

    1. Also note that both this and the manga is based on the novel, so there is bound to be quite a bit of differences. The nude scene in the bed is basically a direct copy from the novel.

      Znail
      Reply

  21. While I’m sure not intentional (after reading your footnote) the links to various tv tropes, especially the middle few paragraphs, made the review difficult to read for me. Things got so tangential and unfocused there that it was a struggle to get back to your actual discussion of the episode in the latter half of the review. Part of it is that with all the linking to the tropes it came across as you trying too hard to be funny, almost like a “hey look I’m being witty and referencing tv tropes!” impression. Again, at the end I realize that’s not the case, but that’s one of the downsides of footnotes is that I couldn’t infer your intentions just from your writing (since this is a first post and not knowing your style). For me your jokes would have worked better being subtle instead of so heavy handed with the links. Other than this middle portion of the review I liked your actual commentary on the episode. I just think your writing flow was disrupted a bit in the middle of the review.

    a42
    Reply

    1. I agree with this. It was fun to read but it got a bit sidetracked at the middle. Though it doesn’t mean we don’t approve of your writing. Just giving some friendly advice. Still, thanks for the post, Stilts ^^

      belatkuro
      Reply

    3. Hey, I asked for critiques of my writing in my intro post, so thank you for giving them : ) Even reading over it again myself this morning, the tropes didn’t really add much. Will tweak accordingly in my future posts

      Stilts
      Reply

  22. Looks like I found my gratuitous fanservice anime for the season. Unlike the last couple of ones I watched, this actually looks promising. And there isn’t much obnoxious censoring. Hopefully it can keep this level of action and ecchi entertainment.

    fragb85
    Reply

  24. After that short winter break of anime, I’m almost willing to watch anything. Didn’t have any expectations out of this show. So far, it’s smooth sailing without anything flashy other than the fanservice. Hope more story and action comes into play in the next few episodes.

    Allnighter
    Reply

    1. Well, they HAD to censor something to sell their BD/DVD, but since the boobies seem to be uncensored, I’ll give it a try instead of waiting for the BD release.
      Hopefully, the censoring percentage will stay that low and not increase in following eps.

      boingman
      Reply

  27. Haha, I was telling myself I need to get one of those awesome alarm clocks. What better way to wake up in the morning than to a perky meido chirping “master, master!”? lol

    Seishun Otoko
    Reply

    1. Personally, my alarm has been a recording of Nayuki from Kanon telling me to wake up for years. Nothing like a cute girl waking you up in the morning…and telling you to shut off your annoying alarm T_T

      Stilts
      Reply

  29. Damn. This new writer is even worse than I expected. His attempts at humor are painfully stilted.

    See, THAT was a joke. What you have in this blog post is the abortion of comedy, trussed up in the worst sort of casually terrible prose. Have any of you fuckers read Strunk and White?

    As for the actual anime in question, it’s just as pathetic as your attempts to justify it.

    Oh, and I like how you signed your post with a little “-Stilts” at the end. It made this linguistic travesty seem like a pubescent LiveJournal rant. On second thought, maybe you missed your muse.

    Anonymous
    Reply

    1. A)I’m not a fucker
      B)I haven’t read Strunk and White
      C)I presume you won’t be reading any more of Stilts posts?
      D)If Stilt’s post was a rant, then I presume what you just did was not a rant?
      E)Nice Suit

      ComM3
      Reply

    2. Oh my goodness, you sound like one of those guys who start a blog to dump on animes as a form of superior ego-masturbation, and then wonder why nobody bothers to come back to you to read what you barfed up 🙂

      Please crawl back into the garbage bag you accidentally dropped out of and stop trying to use difficult words in an attempt to fake intellectual capabilities. Because if you seriously possessed those, you’d notice that doing so won’t gain you any favors since you felt you had to hide behind anonymity.

      Mentar
      Reply

    3. Looks like he’s just angry the “new guy” is blogging a show that he doesn’t like.

      Personally I like blogs that have a team of writers who each enjoy different genres so as to blog a variety of shows that appeal to different people. So what’s wrong with blogging and justifying a fanservice show?

      Spinarakk
      Reply

    5. Protip: It’s not funny when you go out of your way to SAY that it’s a joke, you uninspired twerp.

      Also, if this is within your capacity to understand, he wasn’t trying to justify it. He quite clearly made the distinction of who will likely enjoy this anime and who won’t. That you couldn’t even grasp this much not only proves you likely didn’t read his review thoroughly enough, but haven’t the impartial viewpoint to understand it in the first place.

      Shinn Kamiyra
      Reply

    6. From the looks of your comments, it seems that you a first time visitor. Seriously, if you think this writer is worse, then you don’t know about sankaku complex. That place forcefully injects an ability call “IQ -over9000” in to you when you visit.

      Know what, each and every writer(s) put in alot of their “priceless treasures” into each post and Omni for starting this blog and Divine for taking over the baton after Omni announced retirement. Priceless treasures that are known as Time, Effort, Blood, Sweat and etc. And that is why this site had sooo many visitors 😀 So, don’t go around mocking/insulting others when you yourself aren’t any better.

      P.S: As for Strunk & White, if people do read it, then that would be no SmSs, right? :p

      Omega
      Reply

  36. awesome post, Stilts!! I love your writing already 🙂 as you said, it is all about whether it is entertaining 🙂
    Judging from the OP sequence, there will be a bit more action coming as well as all these ridiculously funny stuff 🙂
    can’t wait to see more of it…
    ps. I guess those boobs really do help sell DVD/BD…
    pps. why can’t something like this happen to us?! :3

    jrj
    Reply

  39. Oh god tv tropes… I don’t want to get sucked in there again, so I avoided those links.

    (Opinionated criticism here)
    Outside links tended to break the flow of reading this. When they were just pics it was ok, click -see pic -hit esc -back to reading. Simple enough to not break the flow. But going to “reaction guys” and pondering when I last heard of them (must have been years) forced me to pause when I was reading this otherwise enjoyable post.

    tl;dr
    enjoyable post

    mist666999
    Reply

    1. Thank you for the feedback! I understand what you mean, and it makes a lot of sense. It’s probably especially jarring when 99.7% of RC links take place inside the browser window, and then *BAM*, you’re unexpectedly kicked out to a new tab. I will be fixing the problem for my future posts : )

      Stilts
      Reply

      1. I shall look forward to reading said future posts. From the little I’ve grasped of your personality you seem to have many things in common with me! (including the bit about obscure references)

        mist666999
        Reply

  53. The ecchi genre keeps pushing the censorship threshold to the point that it, in my opinion, has got out of control. All the nudity in the first episode was simply unnecessary to an otherwise decent story.

    Matroid
    Reply

  59. Nice style, Stilts. Although I think this show /could/ deserve more credit than the “just for fun” assessment you give it. Yes, judging by the first episode alone, it’s full of H cliches and a “sudden girlfriend appearance” with a Shana-esque hair motif. But even a talented author can decide on a cliche set-up (which may help draw in some editors/readers) before getting into the soul of the work, and it’s evident that episode 1 was a prologue. Oh, I actually could be totally wrong and this work could be just a pure comic action story… but I’ll still be keeping a sharp eye out for any signs of thematic depth / character growth / plot intricacy, so if any of that stuff appears I hope your coverage won’t focus past it. Keep up the awesome work, and I’ll be amused by your wordplay regardless.

    Player
    Reply

  63. Fan service is killing me in this one. Seriously I don’t mind big breasted women,… but where in the real world do breasts move like that? Outer space maybe? I get the point… these chicks are stacked, you don’t have to jiggle them and add sound effects every time they move. The LN actually has an interesting plot with likable characters but this anime adaptation looks like its just going to the service. And that disappoints me.

    Vodka
    Reply

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