Trivia / High School D×D

• Acting for Two:
  • Ile and Nell are both voiced by Chinatsu Akasaki in Japanese and by Lara Woodhull in English.
  • Shizuka Itō, Akeno Himejima's voice actress, also voices her mother Shuri in BorN.
  • In the English dub of the first season, Colleen Clinkenbeard voices Xuelan and Shiro (Koneko's cat familiar).
  • In the English dubs of BorN and Hero, Grayfia and Ophis are both played by Megan Shipman.
  • The English dub of Hero also features Dallas Reid as both Leonardo and Regulus.
• Adored by the Network: Though it would get Screwed by the Network with the Troubled Production of BorN, the anime was one of TNK's most popular anime franchises.
• Author's Saving Throw:
  • After concerns that the final episodes BorN might have jeopardized the anime's continuity, Ichiei Ishibumi and Kadokawa wisely chose to play damage control. Ishibumi wrote EX and Kadokawa announced in late 2017 that Hero would adapt volumes 9 to 10; the animation production studio was switched to Passione. Likewise, as a show that they're serious about playing closer to the source material, the season began with an episode full of retcons that stay closer to the source material.
  • The hyped up match between Ddraig and Crom Cruach during the Issei vs Rias match in the Azazel Cup ends up relegated to the background. True Volume 3 begins by actually showing how it went, as the author explains that poor health made him cut corners in the previous volume.
• Banned in China: The anime was denied a release in mainland China for excessive sexual content and graphic violence.
• Creative Differences: Disagreements between Tetsuya Yanagisawa and Ichiei Ishibumi over adapting volumes 5 through 7 for BorN led to them going their separate ways after the season was broadcast. Ishibumi also wrote EX so that the last four episodes of the season became an Alternate Continuity.
• Crossdressing Voices: Gasper Vladi was voiced by a woman (Ayane Sakura). So were Millicas Gremory (Ari Ozawa), Leonardo (Airi Otsu) and Misteeta Sabnock (Shizuka Ishigami).
• Deleted Scene: There are extra scenes in New that didn't make the broadcast run on AT-X due to time limitations, but were restored for the Blu-ray/DVD releases.
• Directed by Cast Member:
  • The English dub was directed by four different cast members. The first was by Colleen Clinkenbeard, the voice of Shiro and Xuelan; the second by Christopher Sabat, who voiced Ddraig; the third by Cris George, Creuserey Asmodeus's English VA; and the fourth by Jad Saxton, Koneko's voice actress.
  • The German dub was directed by two different cast members. The first two seasons were by Dirk Müller, who also voiced Goro Hyoudou; and the later two by Jeffrey Wipprecht, Issei's voice actor.
• Disowned Adaptation: Though Ichiei Ishibumi was impressed with the anime's first two seasons, he disliked the end result of its third season, BorN, due to Tetsuya Yanagisawa and TNK changing several elements of his stories to fit the 12-Episode Anime timeframe, which also earned scorn from TV critics. He also preferred the later seasons produced by Passione.
• Executive Meddling: At one point when writing volume 3, Ishibumi intended to have Issei suck Rias's breasts, but Fujimi Shobo unsurprisingly nixed that idea.
• Exiled from Continuity: The first episode of Hero doesn't acknowledge the last four episodes of BorN, which were considered an Alternate Continuity.
• Extremely Lengthy Creation: Ichiei Ishibumi worked on the light novels for 10 years.
• Flashback with the Other Darrin:
  • For the English dub of BorN, all of Scott Freeman's dialogue as Issei in the flashbacks were redubbed by Josh Grelle due to Freeman's arrest and eventual conviction.
  • In the German dub of Hero, Marieke Oeffinger re-recorded all of Maria Sumner's dialogue as Raynare in her flashbacks.
• Franchise Ownership Acquisition: The first 15 light novels were originally published by Fujimi Shobo, while the anime's home media rights were held by Media Factory. The series eventually moved to Kadokawa after it absorbed both companies in October 2013.
• Hostility on the Set: When BorN was in development, Ichiei Ishibumi and Tetsuya Yanagisawa were at odds with each other over the season's plotlines, since the season adapted volumes 5 through 7. Yanagisawa rearranged the plotline to fit the 12-Episode Anime format and added an improvised ending. Once the season ended its run, Passione was brought in to animate the next season, Hero.
• Ignored Expert: A meta example. Ichiei Ishibumi and Takao Yoshioka offered notes to Tetsuya Yanagisawa about the problems with changing the plot elements of BorN - and none of their suggestions were heeded.
• Late Export for You:
  • The light novels' North American release began in 2020, two years after the last volume was published in Japan.
  • The anime adaptation of DxD was initially refused classification in New Zealand, on the count that it "encourages and legitimizes the pursuit of young persons as viable adult sexual partners", until it was reclassified R16 (restricted to 16-year-olds and above only) in 2022.
• Mid-Development Genre Shift: BorN was originally going to be a straightforward adaptation of volumes 5 through 7. The concept, however, was dropped when Tetsuya Yanagisawa decided to substantially rearrange the volumes' plot elements to fit the 12-Episode Anime timeframe instead.
• Network to the Rescue: After the Troubled Production of the anime's third season, BorN, Passione saved it with Hero, picking up from where TNK left off.
• No Export for You: The licensed games for the 3DS and PS Vita have only been exclusive to Japan.
• The Original Darrin: In the English dub:
  • Although Stephen Sanders voiced Motohama for the simulcast of Hero, Ruben Tadeo Garcia reprised the role for the Blu-ray/DVD release.
  • After being replaced by Stephanie Young for the episode 11 simulcast, Lydia Mackay returned to reprise her role for the DVD/Blu-ray releases.
• The Other Darrin:
  • A few of the English cast members were replaced starting with the final Tetsuya Yanagisawa/Takao Yoshioka/Junji Goto/TNK season:
    • Due to Scott Freeman's arrest for child pornography in late 2014, Josh Grelle voices Issei, cementing him as the de facto voice actor for the character.
    • Bryn Apprill replaced Teri Rogers as Akeno due to the latter working as a librarian at the time and was unavailable to dub her lines. The dub lampshades this in a very Roseanne like way in the second episode, courtesy of Venelana.
    • Megan Shipman voices Grayfia, replacing Krishna Smitha, who has since been involved in mostly union-only projects after moving to Los Angeles.
    • Chloe Daniels wasn't able to record Hero due to her moving to New York City. As such, Leah Clark provides Asia Argento's voice for Hero.
    • Christopher Wehkamp replaced Alex Organ as Sirzechs Lucifer for Hero because the latter became more involved in Dallas-based theater work.
  • Due to Mari Shiraishi's retirement in January 2017, Mikako Takahashi became the de facto voice for Venelana in Hero.
  • In the German dub:
    • Ravel was originally voiced by Sarah Alles in the first season. Starting with BorN, the character has been voiced by Alice Bauer.
    • Amelie Plaas-Link first voiced Serafall Leviathan in New. Since BorN, she has been voiced by Marieke Oeffinger, who also took over for Maria Sumner as Raynare in Hero.
    • By the time Hero premiered in Germany, Koneko Toujou's voice actress on all of her previous appearances, Elke Appelt, was unavailable. As a result, in this season, she was voiced by Heike Beeck.
• Playing Against Type:
  • In the dub, the cultured and flirty Devil Rias Gremory is voiced by the lustful and foul-mouthed Fallen Angel Panty Anarchy.
  • Again with the dub, the perverted nice guy Issei Hyoudou is voiced by United Kingdom, the fake British gentleman. At least, for the first two seasons.
    • For the third season, Issei gets two Playing Against Types: he is voiced by the fearful Unlucky Everydude Yukiteru Amano, as well as Ichika Orimura, the one guy in an all-girls academy who has an Unwanted Harem and is all the oblivious about it.
  • Yoshitsugu Matsuoka must be playing a Nice Guy hero right? Nope, he's the villainous Freed Sellzen.
  • Aaron Dismuke tends to voice characters that are nice guys or jerks with a heart of gold. Here, he voices Diodora Astaroth, who doesn’t fall into either category.
• Role-Ending Misdemeanor: Scott Freeman originally voiced Issei Hyoudou in the dub of the first two seasons. When he was arrested and convicted for possession of child pornography in 2015, Josh Grelle replaced him from the third season onwards.
• Romance on the Set: Issei's voice actor Yūki Kaji eventually married Koneko's actress Ayana Taketatsu on June 23, 2019. This is very notable as the two of them don't appear in many other works together. DxD is the most prominent show that features both them as main characters. (Though they have both played Pipimi at different points in Pop Team Epic, as well as playing Seth and Labrys in BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle.) The only other time that they've worked together on, Guilty Crown, their characters were barely related with one another.
• Rule 34 – Creator Reactions: Ishibumi himself seems to support D×D erotica, even jokingly stating that he's gotten enough red-lights material from his fans to write boatloads of hentai doujins, or even make actual sex scenes with Issei and his haremettes if it wasn't for the Executive Meddling.
• Screwed by the Network: When Tetsuya Yanagisawa, Ichiei Ishibumi and Takao Yoshikawa were coming up with a plot for BorN, Yanagisawa did an about face and changed the storylines from Volumes 5 through 7 substantially to fit the twelve episode timeframe, which made the reception sink even further. This eventually led to Ishibumi and Yanagisawa mutually going their separate ways.
• Sleeper Hit: Of the Winter 2012 anime season. No one expected that the series would even sell 10,000 DVD / Blu-ray copies in the first week! Hoo, boy, were they wrong.
• Spoiled by the Cast List: The first indication the public received from Le Fay Pendragon's appearance in Hero was Minami Shinoda's announcement that she would voice the character.
• Studio Hop: The anime's first three seasons were produced by TNK and directed by Tetsuya Yanagisawa. The fourth season, Hero, was produced by Passione and directed by Yoshifumi Sueda.
• Troubled Production: Oh, boy, where do we even begin with BorN? Creator Ichiei Ishibumi, director Tetsuya Yanagisawa and writer Takao Yoshioka hit walls trying to work in adapting volumes 5 through 7 of the light novels. Yanagisawa came up with a different story that substantially revised the volumes' plot elements and added an improvised ending that was later contradicted with Hero. Ishibumi and Yoshioka disagreed with Yanagisawa over the latter having the final say. After the season was finished, Yanagisawa and Ishibumi went their separate ways. In 2018, the anime was eventually resurrected for a fourth season, Hero, with Yoshifumi Sueda taking over as director and Passione picking up from where TNK left off.
• Uncredited Role: Although Shizuka Itō is credited as the voice of Akeno, she isn't credited for playing her mother, Shuri.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Fascinatingly enough, Rias wasn't originally supposed to have been as buxom as she is, only being slightly more endowed than the average Japanese girl. Miyama-Zero's concept art for changed Ishibumi's mind.
  • Supposedly, one of Issei's power-ups was to suck Rias' breasts. Unfortunately, Fujimi Shobo scuttled the idea, so Ishibumi resorted to something else.
  • Ishibumi has said that he almost wanted to make Kiba as the main character instead of Issei. However, that didn't come into fruition.
  • Ishibumi considered resurrecting Freed with the Holy Grail, and bonding his soul to an evil dragon. He eventually decided to let him stay dead.
  • BorN was originally going to last longer, given the extent of the light novel volumes it would cover (volumes 5 through 7). However, TNK and Tetsuya Yanagisawa suddenly decided to substantially rearrange the plot to fit the 12-Episode Anime timeframe and added an improvised ending. After going his separate ways with Yanagisawa and TNK, Ishibumi decided to clean house concerning the anime, which would lead to Hero being broadcast three years later and thus retconning the last four episodes of BorN.
  • Azazel was meant to be one of the major villains of the series, before being retooled into an Eccentric Mentor for the Occult Research Club around volume 3 and 4. This explains why he seemed like the Man Behind the Man to Raynere, the Starter Villain of the series, but also why Raynere's villainous actions do not make sense as motivation for earning Azazael's favor under his current characterization.
• Word of God: Series creator Ichiei Ishibumi, who contributes to his Twitter feed and light novel afterwords to explain some important aspects of the series like character histories and has answers to questions regarding character names.
• Writer Revolt: After going his separate ways with TNK following the Troubled Production of BorN, Ichiei Ishibumi wrote EX for the Blu-ray release to turn the season's last four episodes into an Alternate Continuity. The first episode of Hero effectively retcons the last four episodes of BorN.
• Written by Cast Member:
  • Jamie Marchi, Rias's English voice actor, wrote most of the scripts for the dub, at least for the first three seasons and the first two episodes of Hero.
  • In the English dub of Hero, Kristen McGuire is Coriana Andrealphus's voice actress and also the season's primary scriptwriter from episode 2 onwards.
• You Sound Familiar:
  • Harumi Sakurai, who voiced Isabella in the anime's first season, would later go on to voice Katerea Leviathan in the final episodes of New.
  • In the English dub:
    • Monica Rial voiced Susan in the first season. Starting with BorN, Rial also voiced Venelana.
    • Besides voicing Riser, Christopher Corey Smith also appeared as Horii in episode 8.
    • Stephanie Young, who voiced Shuri Himejima in BorN, appeared as Kuroka for the episode 11 simulcast.
    • Caitlin Glass voiced Li in the first season and Lady Phenex in Hero.
    • Morgan Garrett voiced Yubelluna in the first season and provided additional voices for BorN, being credited as "Mandy Lane". She also provided additional voices for Hero under her real name.
    • Anastasia Muñoz voiced Kalawarner in the first season and Lirenkus's mother in Hero.
  • In the German dub:
    • Gabriele Schramm-Philipp voiced Kalawarner (Raynare's henchwoman) in the first season and Katerea Leviathan in the last two episodes of New.
    • Gasper is voiced by Sarah Alles, who previously voiced Ravel in the first season.
    • Heike Beeck first appeared as Viser in the third episode and Yubelluna towards the end of the first season. She would eventually succeed Elke Appelt as Koneko from Hero onwards.
    • Peggy Pollow voiced Le Fay Pendragon in the fourth episode of Hero and would later voice Misteeta Sabnock six episodes later.
    • Besides playing Bikou, Christian Zeiger voiced Millicas Gremory for his appearances in BorN and Hero.
    • Uwe Jellinek voiced Dohnaseek in the anime's first season, Valper Galilei in New, and Baraqiel in BorN.
    • Anja Rybiczka first appeared as Susan for the first season. She would later go on to have a major role as Rossweisse from BorN onwards.
    • In addition to voicing Venelana, Silvia Mißbach had a minor role as Diodora's Queen.
    • Julia Blankenburg, Murayama's regular voice actress, also appeared as Misla Bael in Hero.

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