So no season 5?

Supersky said:
So, rumors from a few weeks ago have said that he's postponed the 5th season after low BD sales compared to the 3rd season (which only made half of what Born originally made btw, but still did make some but not a lot of money) and very mixed feedback from the West and a bit from Japan as well (I presume, I'm not 100% sure. But given the low sales, this might be the case).

I have no idea if this is true or not, given how he hasn't even come out and mentioned anything to the public yet. But considering how Ishibumi hasn't announced a 5th season at the Fantasia Bunko Festival on October 21st like he did for season 3 and 4, I feel like there's some sort of behind the doors talking with the new studio that he's dealing with currently regarding changes to the series or legal issues if he's considering switching studios again.
Hell, some of the rumors are even saying that other studios want to adapt DxD like it used to look before Passione took it and please the fans. If anyone has more info on this, then that'd be awesome as well

Video sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xtv7yK0xqjU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxJdDlhkXjM&t=15s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4N1BHHohyU&t=450s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7P5kFj3Nxs

New edit:
So there might have actually been a studio switch, given this new article and how detailed it is. And it's pretty spot on with what's been happening with the series (given how the LN and anime are different due to all the changes). A lot of it sounds pretty reasonable how they didn't want to release any news that could've been false right away, so that's why they didn't mention anything. And it does talk about from the final episode of season 4 to today, so this makes it up to date.

I don't know whether or not this is even true though, given how it says the last studio did all 4 seasons, when they only did one. I guess time will tell then if it was human error or not

Link to article here. I'd upload screenshots, but I got to figure out how to do it (If someone can tell me, then that'd be great):
https://www.tvovermind.com/what-we-know-about-highschool-dxd-season-5-so-far/

Mattinator95 said:




That article is garbage cleary the one that wrote it didn't bother to actually do research.

1. Light novel not graphic novel

2. Only season 3 diverged from the light novel

3. Saying the same stuido did all 4 studios is a big hint that this news is fake

changelog said:
I don't think those sources are reliable or all that accurate, personally.

High School DxD is still immensely popular pretty much everywhere where there is anime and I'm sure plans for a season five will be put in place in due course. Since different studios have done different seasons it's natural to think that it may take some more time than usual. I'd be grateful that we have gotten four seasons of an ecchi anime at all when a lot of good anime are still stuck on twelve-episode craps.

Also, I love Rias' oppai.

yuccasnpk said:
I don't see Ishibumi said anything about cancelling 5 in his blog or Twitter, and he himself is very eager to adapt DxD as many as he can is what I heard. Just wait for 5, there's just no news about it that's all.

Buchou no oppai!

Supersky said:


You got that right. But he would've definitely announced a 5th season at the festival if he was so confident in it already, but he ended up not doing so. It might be bc of the low sales compared to Born and standard DxD sale numbers (and I know they always drop with every season, but this one had the biggest drop).

And we've heard that Passione might've had a 2 season contract (cuz why not obviously), but the sales atm don't guarantee one right away like they had hoped and the mixed responses from fans has me wondering if he'll revoke his contract with Passione in hopes of finding a more capable studio. While I'm grateful that we got another season of DxD, it wasn't the same like the past seasons and if Passione continues with this, I might just stick with the LN.

But if we don't hear any news of season 5 at the next festival, then that's when I think we should start worrying and possibly believe that he's changing studios, since this is playing in the same outcome like Born did, with no news for 2 years and then suddenly we hear of a studio change. That's what happened with the Konosuba movie, with them switching studios to JC staff, but keeping the same people who made it before

Mattinator95 said:



Here's his latest blog. May not make sence due to what ever translater you use

https://ishibumi.exblog.jp/27673864/

yuccasnpk said:
@Mattinator95 @Supersky First, he talked about the new light novels Shin DxD 2 and Slash Dog 3 - said the two have some linked stories together. Also said to keep yourself from spoiling the stories to others. Lastly, he's really busy with his work right now and Gridman's really fun for him. He thanked overseas fan for the supports written in Japanese and he understood them. That's all for the page.

EDIT: He announced the new volumes and basically just talk about the novels in his latest post https://ishibumi.exblog.jp/27690679/ Nothing regarding the anime.

Supersky said:


Wait, understood what about oversea fans? How we feel conflicted over the new changes to the series? Does that mean he's gonna try and make them look like the original again or no?

EDIT: Yeah, I heard he didn't talk about the anime. I saw a video from Hex Competitive about it. Makes me wonder if he's switching studios again, given how they'd always announce a new season at the festival

yuccasnpk said:

Support messages, no he didn't say anything detail. What's the conflict you mentioned by the way? I don't read the LN so I have no idea, don't think I want to read words and sentences over animation.

Supersky said:
@yuccasnpk oh, idk what the support messages are. The conflict I'm referring to is the drastic art and animation changes that the series went, and to most people including myself believe it's a downgrade. Hell, even in Japan Hero didn't even sell over 50% of what Born made in both of their total sales so apparently Japan probably doesn't like the changes too. tbh, the sales for Hero are lackluster for the series, and I know sales always decrease with each series but this one took a bigger drop compared to Born. Although, I haven't heard anything coming from Japan either

And I keep hearing that they like this, but I haven't seen articles or messages from Japan stating any of this. So I have a hard time believing it

yuccasnpk said:

Well, I'm sure I remember him saying in either his Twitter or his blog that he really had fun working with the new studio, unlike Born for the story altering which he got really mad for that. He may be enthusiastic with adapting DxD to anime, but he got his publisher for the one to decide the go, so it may be the publisher instead of him switching studio. Again, we don't really know.

Now as for the sales, honestly I like the former design just as you do. It does felt like a downgrade with the new studio, so that may be it.

yuccasnpk said:
@Supersky Fan reception wise. They don't like the art so they don't want to buy Hero is my assumption. As for publisher, don't they have the control of the series since they publish it? So that Ishibumi needs to convince them to let him adapt into anime? Was I wrong?

yuccasnpk said:
@Supersky Fan reception wise. They don't like the art so they don't want to buy Hero is my assumption. As for publisher, don't they have the control of the series since they publish it? So that Ishibumi needs to convince them to let him adapt into anime? Was I wrong?

Hatsuyuki said:
We really don't need more of this.

Mattinator95 said:


Fujimi Fantasia Bunko is the company that prints the LN which is also part of kadokawa so. Kadokawa basically own the rights to the series for both LN and Anime.

If there was to be a drastic change so soon then i don't see why kadokawa is still releasing merchindise with new licneced style. Upholding a contract for a year Maybe no clue.

We can just assume that we won't be hearing anything anytime soon it could take a least half a year.

And the authour has had a busy few months with both LN series he does as well as events he attendeded to celebrate the 10th year anniversary of the series overall. And by the sounds of his blog he's been overworking for a while

Supersky said:


Thanks for the insight detail about the LN and anime btw. I'm assuming Kadokawa is a company a part of this that like you mentioned controls everything DxD like.

I think they're gonna release the new style for a year, due to the contract that's probably in place currently and see how well it sells compared to the old style. If it doesn't have that high of sales, they might make a new contract with the old style or another company that will make the next season look like the old ones.

Because I know on most occasions for new contracts between companies, they sometimes have a contract for a year and then decide if they want to continue it based on sales and feedback from fans. So we'll probably see next year if they continue this contract or decide not to if it isn't selling as well with the old style.

Also hoping Ichibumi the best, since he has been overworked. I think he's also using this time to reconsider the changes he's made to the series and try to fix the things he's changed that turned people off. I know he said he was happy with the 4th series, but apparently most fans didn't like the changes and you have to listen to your fans, otherwise you're gonna end up losing support and viewership, which in short ends up to more money being lost.

EDIT: How well is the new merch selling compared to the old ones? Cuz I've seen a lot of websites that have the old art visual novel collections being sold out (I bought one of the last ones, since they might never make them again) butI can't say the same for the Hero merch

Mattinator95 said:



on ami ami most of the merc are closed orders , same with CD japan most are not available and some are closed and back orders , the only thing he or the company had changed was the style that was about it , nothing story wise apart from the bath scenes in the first half, and the confession, the main reason he enjoyed working on it is because he was more involved unlike season 3 ,

i haven't seen any complaints on japans end but if they did they probably wouldn't tweet about it to his twitter and (apart from the syle) if theirs are other complaints about the story outside of japan which i know their is will they gonna have to deal with it . the oppi dragon thing ain't going anywhere

yuccasnpk said:
@Supersky I get the feeling that you're anxious about 5. I kinda like that since I also want 5 as soon as possible as you do but, aside from changing studio and all else, we just have to wait really...since the topic's about whether 5 will come or not here lol.

Supersky said:


@yuccasnpk Yeah sorry about that. I'm happy we got a 4th season (which for an ecchi anime is very rare), but seeing the new look of this anime and how the sales compare to its previous season does worry me. I'm also taking into account the supposed rumors for the series and if we might see another art change to look like the original and if the studio will change again, because I think the sales would've been a lot higher if it was in the old style

Sadly tbh, I didn't really like season 4 that much compared to the past 3 (probably due to the change in style and it trying to be cute and meta imo) much similar to others, and I feel like we've become pretty divided on which style is the best, leading to a division in the fanbase. This is why I started this topic in the first place really. IMO, this season started to look too generic and cutesy like other regular harem animes, and for the "king of ecchi" to fall to these low of standards is kinda sad really. And online viewership and sales do confirm this to an extent, since they were lower and I've seen some people write reviews about how they feel on this new take of DxD.

I want a 5th season to go back to its original roots, and the sales do speak a lot, since they're much lower than the past season. And idk how much they make from other things (streaming if that's even a thing), but I do know for Hero that BD and DvD sales do speak a lot too. Hopefully Ishibumi listens to all the fans (West and in Japan), because if he doesn't course correct soon then the series might be in trouble

Mattinator95 said:



Depends on what roots you mean. if you mean the tone then yea they could make it a bit more serious like trinity seven tone sorta but it will still need to have the perverted stuff as well as the weird power ups tough.

as long as they dont bring back the unnecessary fan-service during battles like the ripping of clothes and the panyshots when it supposed to be a serious moment .

also one thing that stood out to me that was missing was the dark tone as well not that dark tough for example , the gasper fight in the RG in the novel is felt dark to the point it made a few readers drop a tear for him ,

and how issei showed his anger should have been pretty dark to , in the LN it goes into rias point of view and she says what isseis aura felt like and how pissed he was . and needed to put the tone more on where elastically issei cant hold it in and goes to one shot someone and the surrounding building literally gets destroyed or was it a portion cant remember .


and also Azazel talk in the first half after the gang meet the hero faction on the bridge , it failed to show how dangerous the hero faction and the spear wielder actually was.

Supersky said:


Yeah, I was referring to the more serious tone that DxD had during some of their fights. Hell, I prefer the Born finale fight over the 0 episode of Hero because it felt so out of place. I know that's how it played out in the LN, but it ended up being reduced from a heartbreaking fight from Issei to a questionably and trying to be funny fight, which kinda ruined it for me. I felt the series was trying too hard to be funny at times, where the past seasons were able to find a balance between the two. Idk if it's just me, but the humor didn't always land.

People tell me that DxD isn't meant to be serious, but we've seen in the past that there were moments where this happened and that's what made me like the series. I'm not saying there can't be perverted moments in the fights as well, but there has to be a balance at least.

And another addition to additional roots, I'm also referring to making the characters look like their original designs and not be cartoony and young looking. It felt weird looking at the drastic changes they made to the characters, and I bet the sales would've been much higher for this series in Japan if the old art was being used.

Hopefully he figures this out but if the 5th season doesn't show many signs of improving itself, I might just stick with the LN sadly

Mattinator95 said:


you mean the Born Juggernaut drive , not the stupid anime original one with rias which basically spoiled 2 things and was a waste of an episode along with the previous 2

not all up to ishi though he doesn't get the last say, its up to the company that own the series given they are the ones that decides if a series gets an anime or a official licence or not .

Supersky said:


yeah that one. I didn't like much of what they did with the ending really, but I liked the tone that fight had compared to Hero. The oppai song to me in Hero came off as weird and out of place, but maybe that's just me

Mattinator95 said:




believe me ask any other LN reader that has read it the series either since the first translation or read it after season 1 or 2 , they will probably tell you the same thing. it pretty much came out of no where and just left us saying WTF , it was cringe but stupidly funny for most .

then vol 9 onward happened now its basically part of the story now , sort of a running gag you might say but you probably knew that depending how far you read the LN yet or not

Supersky said:


yeah I didn't read the volumes season 4 covered because I wanted to see it for myself. I'll probably read over it on Baka-tsuki and continue from there

Mattinator95 said:



given that the season kinda left a few things out which couldn't be added or cut a few parts , when i have the time ill link the chapters to read to get more of a hint what was happening or a better understanding

like the talk with rias mom after the show which was alot longer and the healing scene was longer as well , but ill leave out the confession though that was better in the anime . and the parts with Azazel talking about the hero faction and the spear wielder coa coa . as you may need it to understand a few things in vol 11 and 12

and maybe the aura scene i mentioned when issei was about to one shot his opponent

Supersky said:


That'd be very helpful thank you

Mattinator95 said:



no problem always glad to help out a fellow reader. anime only to reader , even though its fan translation they are pretty good plus it better then nothing i guess .