Second seasons are usually where these type of anime lose their fan base, as well as whatever little bit of entertainment they had to offer. But High School DxD’s second season is damn good for a number of reasons.
First off, the story is so much better than it should be. The first six episodes focus on a fallen angel attempting to collect the pieces of Excalibur and club member Yuuto’s vengeance on those who left him to die. And it very rarely strays from this story. The comedy of the series is there, but not as prevalent as it was in the first season. It’s a character building arc that works pretty well and culminates in an entertaining final battle.
The last six episodes are about Issei’s encounters with his new archrival as well as a peace meeting between the houses of Hell, the archangel Michael, and the fallen angel Azazel. Once again, the comedy remains pushed back quite a bit compared to the first season and the story shines through. I was in awe that a show like this could produce a story I wanted to see more of.
Do take into account that I am a sucker for biblical urban fantasy kind of stuff.
Character-wise, we’re introduced to a few more members of Rias’ house. Xenovia is pretty badass though I don’t feel she was given enough time to actually have a character. All she wants is to have a child with Issei. Otherwise, she’s good with hilariously oversized swords.
And then there’s Gasper, the prerequisite guy who looks like a little girl who dresses as a little girl. So despite the good story, the characters aren’t much more than genre tropes.
I didn’t really give a lot of explanation on characters in my last review because I’m kind of sick of explaining the same characters over and over in every review. I find Rias to be the exception to the tropes if only because she’s a very strong female lead whose character isn’t easily pinpointed. Akeno is sort of the same, but she’s into the whole S and M thing and this season, she becomes Rias’ romantic competitor.
This season, the characters remain pretty much the same though some pasts are revealed. Yuuto is about the only development we truly get. The main development comes with the harem as Akeno moves in on Issei and starts placing ranks on the girls. Once again proving that perverts always get what they want, and the anime world has never heard of sexual harassment charges.
Other problems that DxD faces are a lackluster soundtrack with a lot of generic elements, character-wise, as I’ve stated, it’s not that stellar, and the way it presents the plot can be bad.
It’s what I consider “Plot Device Syndrome”, in which characters randomly bring up plot devices not for the benefit of pushing the plot forward, but for the benefit of the writer to have a reason to push the plot forward. Look at Gasper’s entrance. He’s been locked away in a room for the entire time Issei’s been in the club yet nobody has even mentioned him. That’s just…dumb. Especially considering how much love he’s given later on. Sure, Rias, you care so much about him you locked him away and never mentioned his name. I understand his power was unwieldy, but the least you can do is have people sit by the door and say hi to the kid.
And bad presentation of the story is a given for this genre. Though that doesn’t excuse it.
I haven’t really mentioned boobies yet because this season is not as boobylicious as the first. They’re there, but the plot takes front stage.
So far (and I’m sure this series is going to keep going, a third season is rumored to be in the works), DxD is my guiltiest of guilty pleasures. Hot chicks, good story, and lots and lots of jiggly boobs makes this the harem/ecchi story to beat all others, even Heaven’s Lost Property.
