High School DxD

That is an amazing name.

Looks like the new preview for "A Girl's Heart is Complicated" is out early. Based on it, Issei and Rias's relationship is deteriorating at this point and Issei's friends snapping him out of his funk will inevitably set-up the season finale, which also functions as the end of the second arc. That preview has me hyped for this Tuesday.

Also, here's a review of episode 7: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/high-school-dxd-hero/episode-7/.132191

edited 1st Jun '18 10:30:07 AM by gjjones

So we're starting the Tournament Arc now? Hoo boy, this is going to be good.

Please, for the love of breasts, be good.

Saw the episode about a week ago. Here are my thoughts on it:

Issei, Rias and the Occult Research Club are training for the Rating Game with Sairaorg. Then they meet up with Saji, who is going to battle Seekvaria's peerage also. At the press conference, Rias's and Sairaorg's peerages discuss the imminent Rating Game to the reporters. Then, Issei and Rias are naked together in the sauna for a romantic moment, even giving him the tongue kiss we've all been waiting for. Unfortunately, Issei's unable to confess to Rias and can't call her by her first name. Back at Kuoh Academy, the Occult Research Club discusses their opponents and Ravel's mother, voiced by Mie Sonozaki, appears via hologram to ask Issei to take care of her daughter and Rias to further her relationship with Issei. However, with Issei still unable to confess his feelings, Rias leaves him once again. The rest of the club, dismayed about Issei's strange behavior, are forced to get down to the bottom of this and snap him out of his funk, which will continue in the next episode and set the stage for the imminent Tournament Arc.

I think Passione did a good job with this episode, as usual. Episode 9's title will be "The Deciding Battle of the Strongest Youth, Begins!"

edited 11th Jun '18 12:04:19 PM by gjjones

The preview for "The Deciding Battle of the Strongest Youth, Begins!" has just been released.

Based on this preview, it looks like Akeno and her friends are going to snap Issei out of his long-term funk and they enter Agares Dome, where the Rating Game is going to be held.

Also, based on this Twitter post by Miyama-Zero, we've finally got a picture of what Rudiger and Hades will look like when they are introduced in the anime. And Satoshi Hino is going to voice Rudiger.

Anyway, as they say, let the games begin!

edited 11th Jun '18 12:07:10 PM by gjjones

Hades looks like a Death Pope. How he had kids in myth is left to the imagination.

Saw the episode yesterday. Here are my thoughts on it:

Issei is preparing a room to look like a Japanese shrine for the school festival. While thinking about how much he wants to confess his feelings to Rias, he's overheard by Akeno, Asia and Koneko. They strip naked and heal him using their own healing techniques, which is meant to be a Call-Back to when they healed him of his draconic powers earlier. When Akeno, Asia and Koneko finally realize that Issei has never gotten over what happened to Raynare, the girls help him snap out of his funk and he professes his love for them; this scene was excellent as usual. Then, it gets hilarious when Xenovia and Irina join the others by stripping naked. On their way to the Rating Game, Hades (voiced by Masuo Amada) greets the Gremory Family and tells them to entertain him. Things start to get interesting when Riser once again shows up after a long absence; he forgives Issei for what he did and also asks him to take care of Ravel. Sirzechs has Issei listen to a message of young fans wishing him good luck. After that, they go to Agares Dome, where the Rating Game is being held at. We also get an introduction to Diehauser Belial (voiced by Kenji Hamada) and Naud Gamigin (voiced by Hajime Iijima), in addition to Rudiger. Sairaorg and Rias roll the dice to decide who's playing in the first match, and Kiba's selected to fight against Sairaorg's knight, Beluga. With that, the long-awiated Rating Game begins.

The next episode is titled "As a Family Member of Rias Gremory", where everything's going to start hitting the fan from here on out.

Edited by gjjones on Feb 10th 2022 at 10:34:39 AM

Preview for "As a Family Member of Rias Gremory":

Update (6/25): The preview for the penultimate episode, “Man vs. Man”, has been uploaded.

edited 25th Jun '18 5:47:09 PM by gjjones

That final Shot of Cardinal x Crimson sent legit chills down my spine. Well done, Passione.

I dig the Saint Seiya vibes from Saiorarg's Balance Breaker.

Ishibumi is a big Sentai fan. Saint Seiya is basically the start of the Armored warriors subgenre of shonen, which is the Shonen equivalent of the Magical Girl Genre.

A golden lion looking like a Gold Saint doesn't surprise me.

Posting my thoughts about episodes 10 and 11 here to gear up for the season finale tomorrow:

• As a Family Member of Rias Gremory — Kiba's match with Beluga (voiced by Shinnosuke Ogami) went by fast, with the former using his new Blade Blacksmith Balance Breaker to defeat the latter. For the next round, Koneko and Rossweisse fight Sairaorg's Rook, Gandoma Balam (voiced by Tarō Kiuchi), and Knight, Liban Crocell (voiced by Haruki Ishiya). Although the two defeat Gandoma and Liban, Koneko is also injured and retires. The third round pits Issei against Sairaorg's Bishop, Coriana Andrealphus (voiced by Nanako Mori). She takes off her clothes to try and nullify Issei's Dress Break. When she takes off her underwear before her bra, however, Issei quickly takes her out of the game. In the fourth round, Xenovia and Gasper fight Misteeta Sabnock (voiced by Shizuka Ishigami) and Ladora Buné (voiced by Takaaki Uchino), Sairaorg's other Bishop and Knight, respectively. When Misteeta temporarily seals Ex-Durandal, Gasper buys Xenovia some time and sacrifices himself to allow Xenovia to defeat Ladora and Misteeta. In the fifth round, Akeno goes head-to-head with Sairaorg's Queen, Kuisha Abaddon (voiced by Yuka Nukui), and is easily defeated. Then, Xenovia, Yuto and Rossweisse begin their battle against Sairaorg. I think all of the battles are really interesting to see animated, and it becomes a little hilarious when Issei fought against Coriana.
• Man Against Man — Rossweisse, Yuto and Xenovia fight against Sairaorg, but they are easily taken out of the game. Then, Issei makes short work of Kuisha. We finally get the long-awaited duel between Issei and Sairaorg, with Rias fighting against his pawn, Regulus (voiced by Kōhei Amasaki). When Issei gains the upper hand against Sairaorg, Rias gets heavily wounded by Regulus and Issei has to use Phoenix Tears to heal her. Regulus transforms into Sairaorg's armor and Issei gets overpowered. While Irina and the children cheer Issei on, the previous Red Dragon Emperors and the previous White Dragon Emperor help Issei unleash his new form Cardinal Crimson Promotion so he can finish the duel with Sairaorg once and for all. Passione's animation never disappoints.

The finale of Hero will be titled "Lion Heart of the School Festival", and it should be a really good one. Who's ready for it?

Edited by gjjones on Aug 16th 2018 at 3:47:13 PM

Why is this the hypest show of the season...

Because Oppai.

Manly battles between heated rivals. Only thing bigger than his future Harem is Isseis Rival Harem.

Rizer, Vali, Kiba, Saiorog, Cao Cao.

Maybe even matsuda and motoham-(gasps and starts laughing) no, no, I'm not even going to go there.

Hades future super devils he makes one of them wants Issei to be his dad since he mistook breasts for father in Japanese

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Jul 2nd 2018 at 6:44:02 AM

Preview for the Hero finale:

Based on what Issei's saying, we're going to be on the edge of our seats for news regarding a fifth anime season. Also, here are the ANN reviews for episodes 9-11: [1], [2], [3]

On another note, the first volume of Shin High School D×D will be released July 20, 2018, with the first Blu-ray/DVD volume of Hero coming out five days later.

Edited by gjjones on Jul 3rd 2018 at 8:09:39 AM

Hero Finale is out.

Nice conffesion scene, and the tease for Indra's later plans at the end shows that even the staff wants to continue the anime, probably with a bigger budget.

Here are my thoughts on the final episode:

Issei uses the Red Dragon Emperor's power to become Queen and gains the upper hand against Sairaorg. Then, Misla's spirit motivates Sairaorg to get up and continue fighting. Issei delivers the final blow to Sairaorg while he tells him about his dreams to become a powerful devil; Rias's team wins the Rating Game. In the aftermath, Sirzechs discusses with Issei about him, Kiba and Akeno being promoted to mid-ranking devils. The school festival goes off without a hitch. That night, Issei finally calls Rias by her name and professes his love for her; that takes care of the problem with Issei telling her about his feelings. Meanwhile, Misla finally wakes up from her coma and recognizes Sairaorg. Azazel remembers the discussion he had with Indra at the end of the Rating Game (voiced by Yuki Ono), who knows about Cao Cao and the True Longinus and warns him to keep Issei under his watch. Then, Azazel leaves the Underworld. And that, as they say, is that.

Hero was a very interesting season overall. As usual, the music and voice acting are all top-notch. I think Passione did very good work with the series in terms of animation.

Also, here's ANN's review of the final episode: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/high-school-dxd-hero/episode-12/.133794

I haven't seen it since I want to finish up Neon Genesis Evangelion first so is the Issei VS Sairaorg fight as amazingly badass as it should be given how great it is in the LN?

Its pretty rad.

Also pretty bloody, too.

So, to restart this thread, the first volume of Shin High School DxD is out.

In this volume, we're finally getting a Queen in Issei's peerage and her name is... Ingvild Leviathan!

Edited by gjjones on Aug 5th 2018 at 8:27:50 AM

And it looks like we’re getting a fifth season of the anime. I wonder what Yoshifumi Sueda and Passione will do this time?

I could be wrong though.

Edited by gjjones on Oct 9th 2018 at 3:09:34 PM

Holy crap! I never thought we'd get that far. Awesomesauce! Though as I've often said there would be much evil laughter on my part if the season ended on Volume 11. It'll never happen but it would be funny.

At least from my "I've read the novels so I know what's going to happen" perspective. Either way I expect some good cackling from the fifth season