First Impressions / High School DxD

OP Sequence

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

「人間、やめました！」 (Ningen, Yamemashita!)
“I Stopped Being Human!”

I must admit that I came away from this episode liking several characters less. There was still plenty of Issei being ridiculous, Rias-senpai being sexy and Issei’s friends being hilariously jealous, but there were undercurrents to their actions that I found off-putting.

First, let’s take Rias-senpai. With the whole chess motif they were throwing around last week, I was assuming that Rias-senpai was supposed to be smart. So why did she send Issei out alone? And then scold him for putting them in a bad position, through no fault of his own, I might add. She knows that devils get attacked a lot. She has to. She is one. Also, she said as much herself not even half an hour prior! And yes, it’s true that she could have been trying to get Issei to awaken his powers, but I’m doubtful of that since it sounds like she has some past trauma where “cute slaves” are concerned. Her decision seems very silly to me, and for a character that’s supposed to be better than that, that’s disappointing.

And then there’s that whole slave thing. While I’m all for Issei building a harem – seriously, his shamelessness is a lesson to us all – my amusement soured when he started talking about doing ecchi things to a slave who could not oppose his will. Uhmm, Issei? Not cool, man. Call me old-fashioned, but I like my perverts to have hearts of gold, not be amoral bastards. So Issei, if you’re going to build a harem – and I hope you do – please go the consensual route. You need to earn a woman’s love, and forcibly binding her to your will is not the way to do that. That’s just a good way to get stabbed, buddy. Well, stabbed again.

Other than that, the plot progressed a bit when Rias-senpai and the others brought Issei into the Occult Studies Club and told him stuff that was pretty obvious from last episode . There was also a new fallen angel who referred to an “exalted one”, so there’s obviously more to them than a bunch of rogue agents. But probably my favorite thing was Issei riding his bike (because he couldn’t teleport) to meet a bespectacled nerd with a lolicon fetish, arguing with him about who the strongest Dragonbal–I mean, Drago-soball character is, and then being inspired by this to activate his s-CRY-ed arm and strip the clothes off of an angel. Man, even writing that sentence was fun! Oh, and also the ED. That was amazing. Yay for gratuitous stripper polls!

So, was this entertaining? Not as much as I would have liked. Fortunately, I have a feeling that my enjoyment will return, because if the OP is any indication, it won’t be strange slave girls that are in Issei’s harem, but his sexy senpais – and whoever this new girl is. That’s the way to do it, Issei! Don’t take the easy way out. You want a challenge, so go for the most beautiful, sexy and out-of-your-league girls you can find! And if you want a challenge, there’s no better place to start with than a nun.

Full-length images: 35, 36.

 

ED Sequence

ED: 「STUDY x STUDY」 by StylipS
Watch the ED!: Streaming ▼

Preview

73 Comments

  3. Best ED of 2012!!!
    High School DxD is turning out to be a really good comedy. Issei’s perverted fantasies rival that of Sakurai Tomoki’s and I consider him one of the best perverted protagonist out there ;D

    Seishun Otoko
    Reply

    1. No one can still rival Sakurai Tomoki’s pervertness. Even gods and angel can’t defeat it even using there powers.
      (Damn i have to crawl to my pc just to declare it. Stupid fatigue)

      Croos
      Reply

      1. Is true. Issei has the feeling, but Tomoki has that + the inventiveness to make good on his perversions. I dunno, I just can’t see Issei coming up with the Tomoko Gambit. That? Pure. Genius.

        Stilts
        Reply

  5. So… Stilts… We were talking and we’ve come to a decision… You need to go to the IRC Chat room more often. There’s no pressure or anything, it’s not like we want to verbally abuse you or anything like that… We are just saying if you don’t… I’ll leave it up to your imagination… Hope to see you soon.

    KoroshiyaKi
    Reply

  8. hmm… this episode is still fun to watch, though the enjoyment was a notch down from last episode…

    ED is awesome with the strip pole dance 🙂 and interesting how the new nun has a joker while Rias-senpai has King… and that guy (yes, that guy) had Ace… what a messed up ranking there?!

    I am more looking forward to all the actions suggested in the OP… should be interesting 🙂 and yes, harem king all the way with the most unobtainable girls too!!!

    jrj
    Reply

  10. OH YES i’m so stick watching this.

    yea indeed really trying to be harem devil person ok also & sacred gear why it remind of bit of s-cry-ed’s kazuma arm?

    aslo big lamo who having your mom see you wearing nothing with female also wearing nothing in same bed ok yea at these devils have memory change powers.

    give got wonder any bets only matter till this http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HornyDevils

    overall 2eps in yes must keep watching & wait for english dub cause i approve it.

    MR.KLAC
    Reply

  11. you see they messed up the subs….is not SLAVE in the manga and in the noovel is SERVANT and is not precious slave is cute servant rias is a good girl just that the subs makes her look like a S girl but she is the most dere-dere for isse

    leo
    Reply

    1. I thought of that (I heard Lunar call Nagasumi “geboku” enough to pick up the word), but it doesn’t really change the situation. Unless the subs were really off, Issei still mentions his servant as not being able to oppose his will, and that’s not bueno in my book. After all, you can call a slave whatever you want, but if they cannot oppose their master’s will, they’re still a slave.

      Stilts
      Reply

      1. I don’t remember him saying that, so I wonder if that is also a mistranslation? It’s not a case of forced servitude anyway, so the girls would be volunteers for the position. Ise is if anything too gallant, rather then the other way around.

        Znail
        Reply

    2. I just skimmed through parts of this episode, but the characterization felt off. The otaku scene was a lot more funny in the novel. The “harem king” ought to be understood as Rias utilizing Ise’s stupidity to help motivate him for his own good. Awesome ED, but I don’t want to subconsciously apply the anime’s characterization to the novels, so for now I’m done with this.

      Player
      Reply

  13. I am actually somewhat of a fan of the light novel, in which the “fanservice” department is used comparatively sparingly. It was a decent read with a decent plot, strengthened by its strong female leads and decent narration from the dumbass protagonist. It was a good source material for animation.

    I knew it was coming, but I can not help but the shake my head at the absurdity of the level of fanservice that completely detracted and overshadowed any noteworthy values that the story and the characters presented in the light novel.

    In other word, this is just low grade H-material using a half cooked story as an excuse to generate more fanservice, backed by only the strength of its art. It’s crap.

    DukeTheGold
    Reply

  14. You know what, I don’t think you being old fashion when it comes to hormonal driven perverted characters is a bad thing. I mean, perverts got to have some standards, like Golden Boy standards lol(man, was that an aweseome show). I for one hope that in future episodes we get more story as it is currently being crush by the fanservice (not that OP fanservice is bad). It is like moe, a man can’t live on moe alone, just in this case, a man can’t live on fanservice alone XD.

    darkkodiak
    Reply

  17. Stilts: I understand perfectly where you’re coming from (the LN is kinda inconsistent here, too), but you can rest assured: Rias is about the kindest “master” you could possibly think of, and Issei is going to win the “bro award” to his colleagues regularly. They’re not really bastards inside, just the opposite ^_^

    Mentar
    Reply

    1. Well, he actually did better in the novel as he managed to summon the sacred gear by mimicing the dragon ball attack when Rias asked him to. I guess they want to split up the explaining and leave the sacred gear details for the next episode.

      Znail
      Reply

  21. Stilts, several of the things you seems to dislike are anime original or mistranslations for the subs. Ise wasn’t in any danger of being attacked and it’s quite strange that the anime orginal fallen angel did so even after seeing the seal. I guess they wanted a fight in this episode and to introduce the fallen angel that I assume will take over Yuuma-chans role as main villain of the first arc.

    Chess is relevant to the story but not because Rias is supposed to be brilliant or anything.

    I think they overplayed Ise a bit in this episode. In the novel so was he only reflecting over Koneko’s status in the school not drooling over her himself. He comes off as a lot more silly then in the novel.

    Znail
    Reply

    1. Hmm, makes sense. I suppose they dialed up the fanservice too much and let it infect the plot, heh. As for the fight, I suspect they wanted it there because they thought that every episode needs to have some sexy and some action to keep people entertained…which is, of course, silly. I’ll take an episode without action just so long as there are other stuff to entertain and they don’t fubar the plot 😛

      Still, if the plot was strong enough to support LNs then I’m sure there’ll be some good plot for them to harvest shortly.

      Stilts
      Reply

  22. Regarding Ise getting attacked by another fallen angel, that wasn’t in the original LN. And when Show Spoiler ▼

    Also, I get the feeling from her speech that what she was angry at the most was that Ise actually tried to fight more than running away (It’s an accident you met them so we won’t blame you but don’t get too cocky and try to fight them by yourself). Running away may have a low chance but fighting a fallen angel when you don’t have enough magic power to use the basic teleport spell is crazy. Thank god for instant power-ups.

    Wookie
    Reply

  24. This is my guilty pleasure for the season, it might not have the makings of a top tier anime but neither did infinite stratos which also became one of my favs last year.

    And god damn at the ED! I never watch ED’s but I certainly give them credit for the animation work ^_^;

    I’m pleasantly surprised the amount I’m watching this season though, some really nice anime for the start of the year.

    Booca
    Reply

    2. lol. Rather than nudity, it is more like emphasizing certain lines that are usually not visible or noticeable. Like the nipples under towels or lines of what is behind the panties.

      banzemanga
      Reply

  27. Don’t forget freezing, but most of us probably already did.

    The pervy protagonist, just needs to tone it down a bit and then everyone won’t want to smack him.

    Also, where would i get one of those alarm clocks?

    Snicket
    Reply

  31. Hm, anyone else who noticed the drop in animation quality in some scenes of this episode?
    That pole dancing ED though, mmmmhhh. 🙂
    Decent episode. And since the first 2 1/2 light novel vol. have been translated, I’ll also check those out.

    boingman
    Reply

  36. I agree with you on Rias. She was warned the night before “don’t let your sheep wander alone”. And he was stabbed then. 12 hours later she warns him that devils are “being attacked on all sides”. And she knows they want him dead even before they knew he was a devil. So why on earth would they send him out on his own and then punish him for her own mistake?

    As for Issei’s harem. I disagree, but then I don’t view his thought line as “I am going to rape these women”. But hey I have watched some really perverted stuff so maybe im desensitized.

    bijyu
    Reply

  37. The one thing that bothers me with anime’s like this is the CONSTANT NIPPLE ERECTIONS. Anyone who knows anything about female anatomy knows that, like penis’s, nipples are not constantly erect. :/

    I know its just anime, but it bothers me so.

    Skins Thunderbomb
    Reply

  39. Guess they had to change part of the anime from the novel.

    From the way it look from the opening I guess they only goner show us the story up to volume 2, which kind of sucks cause you will find out Issei is not that big of a pervert after volume 2, he really is more of a wuss, all talk and no action when the time comes.

    My fav is still Akeno Himejima that outside nadeciso but secretly S type are just so hot.

    andy
    Reply

  41. Hmmm, apparently Gremori or Gamori, is the 56th Spirit of Goetia and the Demon of Perverted Love. So I guess that totally applies to our main protagonist. Nice to see that some of this is based on “Historical” fiction. 😀

    Anyways, awesome ED.

    Namzor
    Reply

      1. Googled Gremory and got a text excerpt from the Ars Goetia which is the first section of the Lesser Key of Solomon. Some 17th century grimoire that describes the evocation of 72 various demons. Its amazing whats on the internet.

        Namzor
        Reply

      2. OMG, the wonders of internet… people used to search dusty libraries and crypts in search of forbidden knowledge, and here you can just google daemonology 😛
        I wonder if there is Mailer Daemon mentioned anywhere in the tomes? 😛

        ewok40k
        Reply

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