Manaban said:I wouldn't say outright bad - I could still have a good time with it, after I put myself in the right mindset (albeit the fact I had to do that on my own prerogative instead of it happening naturally should say something) - but I think its position as such a prominent gateway into ecchi due to its relatively accessible narrative structure/premise mixed with the fact that it has exceptionally safe and basic fanservice can cause people to stereotype ecchi as a whole pretty unfairly. I think a lot of the blame for that perception is shouldered by DxD and how it uses fanservice.
And on that note, I also have a personal distaste for shows that can only make use of basic exposure shots. Just seeing a tit isn't very exciting or fun. Same with panty shots. A tit is a tit, panties are panties. No matter what, DxD will take any context that it builds up for an ecchi scene and turn that into a similar basic exposure shot every time. I really like to bring up how it turned a fucking tentacle scene into nothing but a series of chest zoom-ins. That's actually impressive to me in how reductive it is. It gets stale fast, especially if you're not watching it as one of your first ecchi and have seen a lot of stuff execute on these sexualization concepts infinitely better.
I think it's a mediocre H&E. I wouldn't say bad, but I think it's very weak, soft, and safe, especially relative to contemporaries like To LOVE-Ru, KissXSis, et cetera. There are heaps upon heaps of better golden age ecchi to choose from if you're showing up for the ecchi. If not, well, have fun with the meh battle shounen-esque narrative, I guess? It does put a greater emphasis on that than a lot of other H&E series, but it's nothing really special if you've seen a couple of series like it already.
DxD is baby's first ecchi. Always has been and always will be. It's good to have around due to how accessible it is, making it a good gateway series for ecchi. It places people in familiar territory with its narrative and won't do any fanservice that's too extreme with its sexualization, since it will live and die by simple exposure shots. On any level beyond that, it falls to pieces fast.
I would argue that's part of the appeal the way it uses fan service so it doesn't get old. It is so over the top and exploitative that it becomes very enjoyable because of that laughable extremes.