History YMMV / HighSchoolDXD

** Akeno is one as well. Many fans see her as nothing but a shameless fanservice character and nothing else to her character.

** The main heroine Rias is also one. Many enjoy her relationship with Issei ([[FirstGirlWins who he is most in love with]]) and the fanservice she provides, but some are annoyed by her [[ClingyJealousGirl selfishness over Issei]] and argue that her track record in battle is sub-optimal for the main heroine.
** Akeno is one. Many fans see her as nothing but a shameless fanservice character and nothing else to her character.

* InternetBackdraft: The third anime season, ''[=BorN=]'', gained a polarizing reception, given how Tetsuya Yanagisawa went against the recommendations of Takao Yoshioka and Ichiei Ishibumi regarding the distillation of volumes five through seven. TNK and Ishibumi have since admitted that due to the debacle, they decided to remain faithful to the light novels for the next season.

** In volume 6, [[BigBad Diodora Astaroth]] mentioned how he would enjoy raping Asia while she screams for Issei's help. Along with TheReveal that Diehauser Belial and Roygun Belphegor were actually in on the Rating Game corruption in Volume 20, Diodora's planed sexual assault is a lot harder to swallow after film executive Harvey Weinstein was dismissed from The Weinstein Company in 2017 following reports of his history of sexual misconduct and mistreatment of female employees and actresses, including Asia's RealLife namesake, Asia Argento. It occurred ''two years'' after volumes 6 and 20 were released! And not just Weinstein. Volumes 6 and 20 came out before a period of accusations of sexual assault and harassment by much respected and famous actors and other film/television industry big shots destroyed fans' passion for them and their work, much how Diehauser and Roygun's actions revealed to the public instantly caused the devils to turn against them.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Did Odin really abandon Rossweisse just because he got tired of her as his bodyguard, or because he felt Rossweisse deserved better [[BreakHisHeartToSaveHim but knew talking wouldn't work with her]]?
** or is he being the usual ManipulativeBastard that Odin is, gaining a powerful ally in the Gremory clan because he knew Rossweisse would still hold loyalty for her home and knowing that at the very least the red dragon emperor would fight for her if she asked or needed his help.

** Issei himself is one. A lot of fans of the series love him due to his LoveableSexManiac qualities and overall badass tendencies. However, many of his detractors dislike him ''because'' of those sex maniac qualities, viewing him as ''too'' perverted and annoying to be a decent protagonist. Not helping matters is Issei's status as a very blatant EscapistCharacter. One side doesn't mind that aspect of his character, while others feel like he takes the escapism too far.

* RewatchBonus: Oh so many. Even the author recommended to re-read the entire series before the fourth arc started.

** The relationship trauma Raynare caused to Issei is a major theme that Issei has to overcome in volume 10. However, despite being one of the most loved volumes amongst fans, it ''can'' come off feeling suddenly out-of-nowhere as there was absolutely no {{Foreshadowing}} in the prior volumes to show that Issei had been suffering in this regard. The anime actually sets this up better by [[{{Foreshadowing}} showing glimpses of the trauma]] [[AdaptationExpansion at the start of the third season]], which was only just starting up the volume 5 content at that point.

** Vali is also recipient of this: he is either one of the more badass characters in the series or an utterly obnoxious, overpowered KarmaHoudini, with little middle ground.

** The level of fanservice is a hot issue. [=DxD=] is well known for its heavy ecchi elements and its extremely perverted protagonist who's gotten several powerups through lust. Some enjoy enjoy the fanservice itself and how unapologetically over-the-top it is, while others criticize it for often messing up the tone (especially in the anime, which throws in gratuitous ClothingDamage even in serious moments like Asia dying from Raynare extracting her Sacred Gear) and find Issei impossible to take seriously. Later on, some controversy arose on the opposite end of the spectrum about the fanservice being ''too shallow'', pointing out how long the story has gone without actual sex despite the clear interest in all parties involved and less ecchi-oriented light novels depicting it.

** [[AxCrazy Freed Sellzen]] is an atheist exorcist who joined the Holy Church merely to [[BloodKnight hunt down and kill monsters]]. Upon being excommunicated, Freed [[PsychoForHire loaned out his services]] to multiple villains to quench his blood thirst. [[EstablishingCharacterMoment First seen]] murdering one of Issei Hyodou's clients, Freed attempts to murder Issei himself, and when Asia Argento stops him, he [[AttemptedRape tries to rape her]], fleeing with her when Rias Gremory and her peerage overpower him. Working under the warmonger Kokabiel, Freed nearly beats Irina to death and taunts Kiba with the fact his swords were made from experiments that resulting in the deaths of Kiba's childhood friends. Finally willingly becoming a chimera for one last chance to kill the heroes, Freed even devours Diodora's two knights to further boost his strength.

** [[SmugSnake Diodora Astaroth]] attempts to bargain with Rias for Asia, and when rejected, kidnaps Asia and puts her in a device that drains her life force. Confronted by Rias and peerage, Diodora reveals he pretends to be injured to lure nuns, one of whom he attempted this on was Asia, to try and heal him so he can attack and force them to become his {{sex slave}}s to satisfy his depraved fetish. While fighting Issei, Diodora brags to Issei that he looks forward to raping Asia everyday while she cries his name. Finally defeated, Diodora still plans for Asia's life force to be drained out of pure spite even as he dies.

** Seriously, there is no limit to Issei's ability pull off all the crazy stuff he is able to do. To wit, he has: done a rescue mission to Asia by ''punching out a Fallen Angel so hard she bursts through the wall'' (out the window in the anime), barged in an engagement party full of devils to take back Rias, ''invented Dress Break and Bilingual out of pure lust'', defeats Riser, ''an immortal phoenix'', not with the use of his newly-found dragon powers, but by using a holy cross and holy water which he can't even use because he's a devil, but is capable to do so because his arm is a dragon's, powers up with lust and by using Rias' breasts, accidentally ''summons the Breast God'' (well Breast Fairy but still definitely counts), is capable of ''breathing fire'' to a shadow-using opponent, and was able to make the past users of Boosted Gear come back to the light and make them stop relying on Juggernaut Drive ''with breasts''. If there's one thing Rias recruited to her group, it's the fact that she recruited ''the'' craziest character of the series. ''No one'' out-crazies Issei at all in this series. And yet somehow, he's also the OnlySaneMan in the group (when he's not doing his lecherous ways).
** Rias may count to a lesser degree too. Who's crazy enough to be willing to bare her breasts open ''just to let Issei get a power up '''in public viewing!?''''' Also renovate Issei's house from a simple house into a six-story mansion with a three-story basement and an elevator '''overnight!?'''

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: The vampire war that takes place from Volume 14 to 16. On top of the conflict itself coming off as a side event to the revival of Khaos Brigade under Rizevim, virtually all pure-blooded vampires at the time were portrayed as barbaric people who only think of themselves, making it very difficult to care who comes out on top. The protagonists themselves have no investment in the war, nor any particular good will toward vampire society in general; their only concern was ensuring Valerie's safety. The Arc even comes off as TrappedByMountainLions, as the only changes from that arc to stick are a bit of CharacterDevelopment for Gasper, and the inclusion of Valerie and Elmenhilde later on.

** Despite being a harem and everything, people seem to not like Asia as much as the rest of the characters because according to the fans, she's too clingy to Issei to share with everybody else. This lightened up (for novel readers, at least) after the introduction of Fafnir, who adds many humorous moments to Asia's character and gives her a much needed power up.

** Mil-tan has appeared in only a few scenes, and is one of the most discussed characters in the series. Take note, he's a CreepyCrossdresser. There are groups of fans who continue to insist Mil-tan is actually the [[GodIsDead supposedly dead Bible God]] and is just screwing with everyone because its funny.

** Kuroka is shown to enjoy a good degree of popularity in the fandom, and is possibly the only girl in the show itself to rival Rias and Akeno in popularity. All in all, she definitely does eclipse her younger sister Koneko in popularity. [[BlatantLies Perhaps coincidentally]], her breast size is also third after Akeno and Rias among recorded characters. This is also possibly one of the reasons of [[BreakoutCharacter her subsequent inclusion into the harem]].

** Riser Phenex is often seen as a misogynistic ArrogantKungFuGuy willing to kill Issei for interfering with his wedding with Rias. This however is a result of an AdaptationPersonalityChange, as the anime depicts him in this manner, while the original LightNovel depicts him as still arrogant, but not without honor, respect, and decency. In both versions, he's still depicted as a JerkWithAHeartOfGold.
** A rather common misconception is that Reincarnated Devils are essentially slaves to their masters. This however is entirely dependent on the master. While some devils like Diodora Astaroth do treat their servants like slaves, other Devils like Rias, Sona, and Sairaorg treat their peerages like family.[[note]]The Gremory family as a whole is known to be very kind to their servants, Sona Sitri cherishes her peerage immensely, and Sairaorg's peerage consists entirely of other exiled outcasts that he could give a place to belong. Case in point, when Kiba goes rogue in order to hunt and destroy the Excaliburs, Rias would be within her rights to label him a stray and have him executed, however she insteads tries to find and help him, and only punishes him with some spanking.[[/note]] Even Riser's peerage is shown to have UndyingLoyalty towards him rather than need to be ordered by him. Reincarnated Devils are able to gather Peerages of their own as well, lessening the slave analogy further.

** One of the short stories of the series was about the Issei clones that Azazel had played a prank on Issei. It was mostly funny until the part where they had to use the memory-erasing machine Azazel had invented (at best, they could only erase the memory of the clones running around but didn't erase the fact that an Issei clone did it, leaving the victims thinking the real Issei had done it to them because it would damage their brain memory). At that point in time, it was hilarious, albeit a bit unfair to Issei who didn't really deserve all that. Fast forward to volume fourteen, and that memory-erasing machine incident suddenly doesn't become funny anymore thanks to the student council group using it to [[LaserGuidedAmnesia wipe off the memories of the students were the victim of a rouge wizard terrorist attack at the school]], which leaves students traumatized of something but not ''what''. This left a bitter taste to the student council and the protagonists.

** In volume 6, [[BigBad Diodora Astaroth]] mentioned how he would enjoy to rape Asia while she screams for Issei's help. Along with TheReveal that Diehauser Belial and Roygun Belphegor were actually in on the Rating Game corruption in Volume 20, Diodora's planed sexual assault is a lot harder to swallow after film executive Harvey Weinstein was dismissed from The Weinstein Company in 2017 following reports of his history of sexual misconduct and mistreatment of female employees and actresses, including Asia's RealLife namesake, Asia Argento. It occurred ''two years'' after volumes 6 and 20 were released! And not just Weinstein. Volumes 6 and 20 came out before a period of accusations of sexual assault and harassment by much respected and famous actors and other film/television industry big shots destroyed fans' passion for them and their work, much how Diehauser and Roygun's actions revealed to the public instantly caused the devils to turn against them.

** In Volume 3, Rias scoffs at Xenovia's statement that she, the sister of a Satan, would ever team up with a Fallen Angel. One volume later, the Three Factions form a peace treaty, and said Satan enlists the leader of the Fallen Angels, Azazel, to become Rias' club advisor.

** Mil-tan contracts with Issei so a devil can make him a magical girl. Issei considers it impossible and says he'd have better luck going to an alternate universe. Some time later, Azazel, as a member of the ORC where Issei works, makes a gender-swap ray gun...

* InternetBackdraft: The third anime season, ''[=BorN=]'', gained a polarizing reception, given how Tetsuya Yanagisawa went against the recommendations of Takao Yoshioka and Ichiei Ishibumi regarding the distillation of volumes five through seven. TNK and Ishibumi have since admitted that due to the debacle, they decided remain faithful to the light novels for the next season.

** The Heaven characters in general have also been greatly underutilized when it comes to the overall story. Apart from Irina, who's part of Issei's harem, Heaven's Angel characters only make rare appearances from time to time, and Heaven as a location only gets it's [[ADayInTheLimelight day in the limelight]] as the setting for Volume 18.
** Samael, a fallen angel/dragon hybrid known as the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Dragon Eater]], who Azazel states was created from ''[[MadeOfEvil God's hatred]]''. His very existence is lethal to dragons, and just exposure to his his blood is enough to kill Issei, debilitate Vali, and even greatly weaken ''Ophis''. He's so dangerous that he was locked away in Cocytus, the deepest part of the Underworld, essentially making him another version of {{Satan}}. Despite being one of the most conceptually terrifying beings introduced in the story, his only appearance so far is when he's raised from his prison by Hades, who completely binds him up and gives him to the Hero Faction, so they can utilize him as a weapon. After the Hero Faction is defeated, Samael is resealed and hasn't even been mentioned since then.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The vampire civil war that takes place in volumes 14 and 16. The only reasons why the vampires got involved in the plot was just so the writer could introduce Rizevim Lucifer, and to give a bit of much needed CharacterDevelopment for Gasper. Some fans thought that the vampire civil war needed more time to take in and develop than what was given.

* EscapistCharacter: '''Issei''' to an [[UpToEleven absurd degree]]. He starts the series off as an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent, who's considered an unpopular, perverted loser by pretty much everyone along with his [[ThoseTwoGuys two friends]]. Then after joining the Occult Research Club, he spends all of his time with the [[TheBeautifulElite most popular people in school]], wins the undying love of no less than ''seven'' absolutely gorgeous women, all of whom have [[{{Polyamory}} no problem sharing him]], and [[OfficialCouple starts a relationship]] with the most beautiful girl in school, who also happens to be a noble. He learns that he essentially shares his body with one of the most powerful beings in existence, [[TookALevelInBadass takes level after level in badass]] in record time, gains the admiration of his peers, becomes insanely rich after his new brother-in-law makes an incredibly popular TV show based on him, and said brother-in-law orders his house to be renovated into a mansion with the explicit intent of promoting intimacy by having all the Club's girls move in. The guy goes from being TheEveryman to becoming the fantasy of hormonal teenage boys everywhere before he's even reached his third year of high school.

** Who is better? Rias or Akeno? Although almost all fans like both of them at the same time, [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement let's just leave it at that]]. Some TakeAThirdOption and instead choose Asia... or Koneko which is, [[TokenMiniMoe err, complicated]].

** Gasper’s childhood friend Valerie Tepes, a half-vampire who possesses the Holy Grail, a Longinus which played a prominent role in the hands of the antagonists during the fourth arc. Her characterization has ended up as little more than a SatelliteCharacter to Gasper to fuel his CharacterDevelopment, her vampire abilities have gone largely unexplored, and even when she [[spoiler:joins Rias’ team in the Azazel Cup, her contribution with her Longinus amounts to being an explicitly worse healer than Asia who gets retired after doing virtually nothing against Vali and Issei’s teams.]]

* Gasper’s childhood friend Valerie Tepes, a half-vampire who possesses the Holy Grail, a Longinus which played a prominent role in the hands of the antagonists during the fourth arc. Her characterization has ended up as little more than a SatelliteCharacter to Gasper to fuel his CharacterDevelopment, her vampire abilities have gone largely unexplored, and even when she [[spoiler:joins Rias’ team in the Azazel Cup, her contribution with her Longinus amounts to being an explicitly worse healer than Asia who gets retired after doing virtually nothing against Vali and Issei’s teams.]]

** or is being the usual ManipulativeBastard that Odin is, gaining a powerful ally in the Gremory clan because he knew Rossweisse would still hold loyalty for her home and knowing that at the very least the red dragon emperor would fight for her if she asked or needed his help.

* InternetBackdraft: The third anime season, ''[=BorN=]'', gained a polarizing reception, given how Tetsuya Yanagisawa went against the recommendations Takao Yoshioka and Ichiei Ishibumi regarding the distillation of volumes five through seven. TNK and Ishibumi have since admitted that due to the debacle, they decided remain faithful to the light novels for the next season.

* CounterpartComparison:
** Issei seems to be similar to [[Manga/AttackOnTitan Eren Yeager]] (bonus points in that they share the same [[Creator/YuukiKaji Japanese voice actor]], especially with their learning curve, tendency to rush forward (but later learn to use tactics), and power usage. He can also be considered as [[LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex the relatively unremarkable yet highly emotional and passionate Touma Kamijou to Vali's ultra-powerful and sophisticated but blood-thirsty Accelerator]].
** Some have pointed out that Issei looks like an anime-fied ComicBook/ScottPilgrim.
** Akeno has received a handful of comparisons to Videogame/{{Bayonetta}}, as they are both seductive, voluptous women, with both lineages of light and dark flowing in their veins, and with fatherly issues.

** UpToEleven for Raynare. She mercilessly kills Issei, ridicules and tells him that the date was so boring to the point that she's willing to kill him, mercilessly killed Asia to steal her sacred gear, and has the gall to try and beg Issei to rescue her after she's left to Rias' mercy. Yet that doesn't stop people from whitewashing her and making her out to be a good person deep down despite her [[HateSink going out of her way to be as despicable as possible]]. Some go even further by subjecting Rias and Asia to RonTheDeathEater solely to justify Raynare.

** The level of fanservice is a hot issue. [=DxD=] is well known for its heavy ecchi elements and its extremely perverted protagonist who's gotten several powerups through lust. Some enjoy enjoy the fanservice itself and how unapologetically over-the-top it is, while others criticize it for often messing up the tone (especially in the anime, which throws in gratuitous ClothingDamage even in serious moments like Asia dying from Raynare extracting her Sacred Gear) and find Issei impossible to take seriously.

** Issei Hyoudou, who is unable to realize the girls' feelings towards him. Though it's {{justified|Trope}}, given the psychological damage he received from his experience with Raynare. He gets better.

* WinBackTheCrowd: ''[=BorN=]'' left a bad taste in fans' mouths because of Tetsuya Yanagisawa and TNK making several changes and adding an anime-original arc for the last three episodes. Fortunately, they didn't dwell on it too long once the ''EX'' spin-off was written and the fourth season, ''Hero'', was produced. It was further helped when Life 0 of ''Hero'' premiered on April 10, 2018. Many fans were concerned about the switch to Passione and the resulting art shift, but most of those were won over when the first episode turned out to be a (mostly) beautifully-animated retcon of ''[=BorN=]'''s Juggernaut Drive scene, complete with the long-awaited Gropin' Dragon Song and other important details that TNK left out of their version.

* TheScrappy: Loki is often derided as a [[GenericDoomsdayVillain very shallow antagonist]] in Volume 7, having no motivation besides not wanting peace with other mythologies (Kokabiel and the Old Satan faction at least had the excuse that their rival factions had been fighting with them for millennia), lacking enough personality or interaction with the protagonists to push him into LoveToHate territory like Diodora or Rizevim, and hardly coming off as an actual threat while hiding behind his "children" (Fenrir in particular was considered much more dangerous).

** Vali is also recipient of this: he is either one of the more badass characters in the series or an utterly obnoxious, overpowered JerkWithAHeartOfGold, with little middle ground.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: After the ''[=BorN=]'' fiasco, Ichiei Ishibumi and Kadokawa wisely chose to play damage control. Ishibumi wrote ''EX'' and Kadokawa announced in late 2017 that ''Hero'' will 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.

** In spite of being the most popular villain in the series, to say that Raynare is a divisive character is an understatement: one half says that Raynare is nothing more than a {{smug|Snake}}, [[DirtyCoward coward]] villain who deserved her comeuppance by the hands of Rias, especially for killing Issei with no good reason. The other half, instead, says that the psychological damage Raynare inflicted to Issei made the series a lot more interesting, and also that she could have at least had some of her backstory expanded. And ''then'' there are those who [[DracoInLeatherPants whitewash]] her like she's [[Literature/HarryPotter Draco Malfoy]].

** A small hand of people tend to believe that Raynare died way too early in the story. Some even think that she should have survived, and make for an interesting addition to Issei's harem as a TokenEvilTeammate of some sort.