High School DxD has long been what you might call a "guilty pleasure" of mine, despite its obvious flaws and shortcomings. The easygoing Issei and his harem of anime tiddies just has a certain... charm about it that I can't really seem to find anywhere else. After the horrible 3rd season, studio Passione has taken on the job of "fixing" the DxD storyline, by adding an alternative (true to the light novels) ending to Season 3, effectively rendering the last 3 episodes of TNKs version obsolete. This was, in my opinion, the best thing they could have done, seeing as the ending of Season 3 left very little to work with for future adaptions.
Now, Season 4 is not without its flaws. The art style is... weird. At first I absolutely hated it, but now, after 6 episodes, it's really starting to grow on me. The characters look more "childish" for sure, but that kinda fits the setting a little bit better, at least in my opinion. It is, however, definitely something you'll just have to get used to if you are planning on watching the new season.
The story so far really isn't anything to write home about either. Issei and his friends go on a school trip to Kyoto, where they run into trouble. That's pretty much the gist of it. There is some other stuff happening "behind the scenes" too, if you will, but I won't really go into that seeing as that would be spoiler territory, and chances are some of you might not have seen all of the recent episodes.
The ecchi part is still very much alive and kicking, with every episode featuring at least one "sexy" scene. After all, High School DxD would not be High School DxD without the ecchi, and I'm happy to report that Passione seems to understand this. And on top of this, the new season also fleshes out the relationship between Issei and Rias even more than before, so if you are a Issei x Rias fan you are going to be very satisfied with the way their relationship is handled here.
The music of DxD has always been one of its strong-points, and the new season does not disappoint on that front either. The OP is catchy and enjoyable, and the ending song gets the job done too. I really don't have anything else to say about it, the music is alright, nothing special but alright, and that's pretty much it.
Overall, I'd say I was positively surprised by the new season of High School DxD. The story, albeit predictable, is interesting enough to keep your attention, and Issei and the gang has lost none of their charm, and are still enjoyable to watch. And at the end of the day, isn't that exactly what we've come to expect from DxD? Some light-hearted humor, ecchi scenes and well-animated fights?
