High School DxD is a 2012 anime based on a series of light novels by Ichiei Ishibumi. The presentation of DxD is pretty much something that is common in all of Ecchii anime. The protagonist of the story, Issei Hyoudou, is an overly-perverted everyday high school student who hangs out with his equally-perverted best friends. The only thing that Issei longs for in the world is a girlfriend for him to date and feel all over. One day, his wish is granted in the form of a young and beautiful girl that proclaims her love for him. As the two begin to date, Issei feels as though he is truly blessed by this girl that he is dating. That is, until one day during a date, the girl kills Issei and reveals herself to be a fallen-angel who was ordered by an organization to spy on and kill Issei, who just so happens to contain the potential and power to kill fallen-angel, while at the same time, a high school girl known as Rias Gremory defeats the girl and saving Issei’s life in the process by bringing him back to life since she turns out to be a powerful demon……….like I said, a pretty common presentation within Ecchii shows. Surprisingly, however, the story of this anime is very coherent and has some of the most entertaining moments and characters that I’ve seen in anime.
The strength of DxD’s story doesn’t come from its presentation, but rather its world and supporting cast of characters. I mean it when I say that DxD has a very intriguing and understandable universe and world-building. The world of DxD is one filled with multiple mythologies and religions, such as Christianity or Norse, all bundled into one big war. Issei just so happens to be thrown smack-dab into the middle of this war thanks to Rias Gremory, who runs a secret organization of demons who also attend to Issei’s school. Everyone, from the sadistic and hilariously mysterious Lightning Queen Akeno to the very calm and charming blonde boy Kiba, is hilarious and unique, thanks to their backstories and powers that they use in various action sequences of the show. Speaking of the action in the show, I must say that it is surprisingly fun to watch and contains moments of badassness and drama. Because of the many religions and mythologies of the show, you get to experience some very epic fights against demons, nightmarish animals, angels, priests, and even some gods. Basically what I’m trying to say is that the world and the characters of DxD are grandeur and incredibly interesting, even for an Echhii anime.
What is also shocking about DxD are the moments of fanservice. Not only is the fanservice laugh-out-loud hilarious but it is also in relation to the story and character moments. Weird right? DxD’s fanservice is much like the fanservice in other Ecchii anime, with its fair shair of titties and ass and what not. However, the anime also manages to make these perverted moments pretty damn memorable and honest-to-God important to the storyline. I found this to be very impressive within such a stereotypical genre because it is something that you do not typically see in Echii shows. DxD proves itself to be something that is “special” or “new” for this type of genre and gives you hope for more anime that may possibly use this format and thinking when it comes to comedy and story.
Overall, there’s not too much to say about DxD other than it is both your common and not common Ecchii anime. Sure, it has its fair share of stupid fanservice moments full of perversion and the like, however, it does something that you rarely see in the Ecchii genre, which is conveying a story and world that makes you want to watch more. The mixture of different mythologies, religion and history turns out to be brilliantly epic and dramatic, even when the show has its comedic moments. The protagonist Issei is also entertainingly different from other Ecchii protagonists because of the fact that you actually experience some development and changes that his character goes through over the time of the first season. Because of these surprising changes and moments that differ from an average Echhii comedy, High School DxD is worthy enough of being labeled as “different” and “fresh” to those who both love the Ecchii genre and hate the genre. DxD is definitely worth your time if you have been searching long and hard for an Ecchii anime that isn’t just about the fanservice.
