YMMV / Go Away I'm Watching Porn

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Is Issei genuinely (and willfully) in love with Jasmine, or is her Sacred Gear (possibly without her knowledge or intent) hypnotizing him into loving her?
  • For that matter, does Jasmine truly love Issei, or is she just using him?
  • Is Azazel genuinely angry at Raynare for failing to protect Asami, or is the claim he is just part of Issei's plan to steal Raynare from Azazel? When Azazel first learned from Ajuka she was near-fatally wounded, he was concerned for her and worried he sent Raynare to her death, and the only times it's mentioned Azazel is genuinely pissed at her come from either Vali or Jasmine, both people who have made it no secret they support Issei over Azazel. While Jasmine only mentions it when Raynare is wearing a sensory deprivation hood, meaning she can't hear her say it, it's mentioned this only happened after she talked with Azazel, and that she was one of the first to tell him what happened. Was Jasmine deliberately being an Unreliable Narrator so as to further Issei's attempt at making Raynare his, or did Azazel switch gears from concern to anger once Raynare was no longer in danger of dying?
  • Jasmine blatantly raping Raynare is hand-waved as a case of Deliberate Values Dissonance coupled with a claim of "dominating" her, but keep in mind that Issei and Jasmine were right there when Raynare was telling Asia this, and they are not above lying or intimidation. As such, they may very well have forced her to say that in order to keep Asia from leaving, or they could have manipulated her into thinking it's her fault when it really isn't. Or, like actual rape victims, Raynare could have tried to rationalize it in an attempt to deny that she was clearly a victim.
  • How much of what Issei recalls of his Dark and Troubled Past what actually happened, and how much is him being an Unreliable Narrator due to the trauma he experienced? Issei is shown to have a low opinion of the Faction heads for allegedly abandoning him, and one of his flashbacks seems to suggest that Riser betrayed him and was complicit in what happened. In the story proper however, the Maou, Michael, and Azazel are shown to be working to try and rectify their mistake, but said mistake is said their inability to help Issei due to political issues, and Riser is shown to still be affected by Issei's (public) death and appears to consider themself a genuine friend of Issei's still. Did the trauma and need for someone to blame cause Issei to misremember details and blame people close to him so as to push them away like his current modus operandi? Did they have legitimate fault but Issei is just blowing it out of proportion? Even Carnelian's amount of blame ends up coming under scrutiny, as while Issei certainly believes her to be a willing instigator and suffers nightmares as a result, when she finally sees him again at Rias and Riser's engagement party, her internal monologue all but says she was just The Heavy, and not as willingly involved as Issei believes, even if she does bear some fault.
• Americans Hate Tingle: GAIWP is the fifth most followed and favorited High School D×D fic on Fanfiction Dot Net.^* It's beaten out by Dungeons and Devils, Issei: The Gaming Gear, Game of Monsters, and Delinquent Dragon Emperor However, on other sites, like Spacebattles, it is largely disliked for the abysmal pacing, poor treatment of canon characters, and eschewed stance on which characters should be sympathetic compared to which actually are.
• Angst Dissonance: While many agree that Issei's Dark and Troubled Past warrants him becoming such a mess of a person, many readers are finding themselves unable to tolerate Issei pretty much using it as an excuse to be an ass to everyone around him regardless of their intent, with Jasmine similarly irritating people by doing the same. Many have noted that, in the five years since the incident occurred, neither Issei nor Jasmine appear to have done anything to actually heal from what occurred, and are instead choosing to wallow in self-pity while using what happened to act like the world owes them something, only for the readers to want someone to give them an actual call-out.^* Any time someone tries to call them out, they turn it around on them or just start lashing out, Jasmine doing so to Sona being the most infamous example due to it being a blatant Author Tract.
• Arc Fatigue: After four years and almost 20 chapters since the fic's beginning, only the bare bones information about Issei's Dark and Troubled Past is known, and only to the readers. Most of the characters not already in the know are needlessly kept in the dark about it, and the people who could tell them when they ask are instead needlessly cryptic and tell them to ask the people who continue to keep them in the dark. It wouldn't be until Chapter 20 that the Rating Game with Riser even began. Many readers at this point are tired of waiting for the actual story to progress and feel the fic is just spinning it's wheels at this point.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Just like canon, Issei. Some find him a nice iteration of the character, finding his more jaded behavior but still perverted self and nicer persona being underneath it all an interesting take. Others however accuse him of being an O.C. Stand-in for Issei, and that contrary to ThirdFang's declarations, his version of Issei is falling into the similar trappings of other ones and is a god-mode sue. Then there's his actions in Chapter 25, where he exposes everything that happened to him to all of the supernatural factions knowing it would likely reignite the great war just to get back at Carnelian. Defenders note that, after the constant manipulations from the The Alliance and Carnelian alike, Issei is completely justified in making clear why they should have just left him alone from the start, and that any ensuing war is their fault. Detractors meanwhile consider Issei to have graduated to a flat out Villain Protagonist, perfectly willing to restart a dangerous war while he sits and watches While Rome Burns all to get back at one group of people, with his Never My Fault attitude just being irritating, not to mention being counterintuitive since exposing himself puts an even bigger target on his back now, particularly those wanting him to complete his research on the fertility drug he had been working on.
  • Jasmine Redsmith. Some like her just fine and admire how she remains devoted to Issei, while others find her to be a total bitch who takes her frustrations at certain people out on their relatives out of petty spite, while simultaneously refusing to explain what her beef with the Maou's is.
  • White AKA Carnelian Bael. Many find her to be an effective antagonist, who is written to be understandably vile and an effective Hate Sink. Others dislike her for somehow managing to come out on top several years ago when her opponents had so many advantages over that she stood no chance of overcoming. Even the reveal of her identity didn't change this, as she's not the family heir, and thus her resources should have still been limited, especially when, even in canon, the Bael family may be influential, but they still don't supersede the Maou. Her first full appearance in Chapter 25 faced similar division. Supporters found the build up towards her threat level to pay off by showing her as a cunning Manipulative Bitch with the potential for great storytelling in the future. Detractors meanwhile see her not living up to the hype, stating for someone so dangerous Issei managed to talk circles around her during their confrontation, and that losing an arm hardly compares to the crap she's put everyone through.
• Broken Base:
  • The slow-pacing. ThirdFang's works in general tend to suffer from this, but it is very divisive in this fic due to the Jigsaw Puzzle Plot. Because Issei's personality shift is heavily tied into what happened in the plot, many express irritation over how long it's taking to exactly establish the plot and explain what happened. Others are quick to point out that the slow burn and build up aids in creating a captivating story and gives people reason to keep reading. As the story has continued on however, opinion has more and more shifted to the former camp, leading to accusations of Arc Fatigue.
  • The Adaptation Personality Change for Issei. Similar to ThirdFang's take on Naruto, many people accuse this version of Issei of being far too divorced from his canon self, and that it in turn makes him feel less like Issei, but a carbon copy of ThirdFang's main OC Ghost, not helped by the fact that it's even acknowledged In-Universe that Issei acts like Ghost, and that Ghost himself is a divisive character in ThirdFang's other fic. Others however like this take on Issei, even if he isn't necessarily close to his canon self, and think that his resemblance to Ghost aids in selling the tragedy of his character, since even Ghost laments how Issei is now like him when his original goal was to make sure Issei didn't turn out like him.
  • Chapter 18 proved to be plenty divisive after it's release. ThirdFang made it no secret that a good portion of the chapter was written as a response to the constant complaints of Jasmine being a Sex Worker despite being in Issei's harem, his end of chapter Author Notes including a self-admitted drunken rant accusing these readers of lacking critical thinking skills and expressing joy at the idea of these readers dropping the fic. The result has split the readership down the middle:
    • Detractors find the chapter to largely be a massive Author Tract that derails Sona for the sake of making Jasmine look better, when all it does is make Jasmine look like an unsympathetic bitch who only cares about herself and is willing to attack people that she knows aren't responsible for her issues and are being kept in the dark. To her supporters' claim that this is all due to her traumatic backstory (see below), they typically respond by pointing out that, while it does explain her behavior, it by no means excuses—much less justifies—it. They also find that ThirdFang's response to the negative reaction to Jasmine being a sex worker is very condescending, needlessly insulting people for critiquing his work and just making himself look worse by propping his OC on a pedestal and making a canon character look worse to do so.
    • Supporters find the complaints about Jasmine to be over the top and agree with ThirdFang about those readers lacking critical thinking skills, and accuse the readers who "demonize" Jasmine as not understanding how people react to trauma. They in turn love the chapter, feeling it adds depth to Jasmine's devotion to Issei and makes her a more developed character.
  • Chapter 19 has also proved to be rather divisive.
    • Detractors see it as blatant Character Shilling for Jasmine, while also making her look worse by attempting to justify what she did to Raynare in the previous chapter by claiming that such things are "part of Fallen Angel culture"; not addressing her actual behavior, not helped by the fact that Sona doesn't even appear, and that Issei even notes In-Universe that Rias and Akeno were too distracted by the upcoming Rating Game to really think about it; and standing by the (self-admitted) drunken rant he made at the end of the previous chapter while continuing to hurl insults at his critics for "not getting it".
    • Supporters like it just fine and think that not only is Jasmine a badass, but that Issei and Jasmine are entirely within their rights to act the way they do thanks to their freudian excuses, while reiterating the idea the detractors are simply overblowing things.
• Catharsis Factor: Given her status as an Unintentionally Sympathetic Butt-Monkey, anytime Raynare manages to pull one over on Issei comes as a breath of fresh air.
• Creator Worship: No matter how many criticisms come up, a subsection of the readers reveres ThirdFang's work as amazing, and brushes off said criticism as "haters", that any inconsistencies with canon don't matter since its "fanfiction" and agree with ThirdFang's assessment that they "lack critical thinking skills". These readers have gained a reputation as sycophants from both critics and other readers who otherwise like ThirdFang's work, feeling they go overboard and cause feuds in the review section needlessly.
• Epileptic Trees:
  • Issei's Dark and Troubled Past is rife for this, as very little is concrete about what happened. The most that is known is that Issei was betrayed by someone only known as "White", was raped by her as a child, then tried to forcibly kill and reincarnate him into her peerage, then was falsely accused of raping her when that failed, causing everyone to abandon him out of disbelief or being targeted by her, and that he in turn lost control and rampaged in the underworld, resulting in Ghost being sealed away and Issei becoming a hikikomori.
  • Just who "White" is. According to ThirdFang, she's an Original Character, and in series Ghost calls her an "evil albino." He also mentions her working with a "bird", implying ties to the Phenex Family, and that she herself is a devil due to trying to reincarnate Issei. Add in that The Alliance couldn't touch her and were forced to leave Issei to dry, and that a large amount of the destruction in the underworld was near the Bael territory, many believe "White" is a member of the Bael family. This would later prove true with the reveal of her identity: Carnelian Bael.
• Fan-Disliked Explanation: One aspect of "White's" true identity that many find hard to believe is the implicit reason she's so untouchable, even by the Maou. Namely, that she's a member of the Bael family. Canonically, the Bael family, while heavily influential in the Underworld and leaders of the "Great King Faction", are still just another Devil clan. The Maou meanwhile hold supreme authority over the Underworld. While the Bael family do hold political influence able to rival the Maou's, the Maou are the ones with final say over matters, and considering how much they cared for Issei, many find it hard to believe they would willingly let Carnelian railroad Issei regardless of her being a Bael. It was only worsened with the revelation she's only a half-blooded Devil who was only recently accepted into the family proper, as part of Sairaorg's entire character is how he was belittled for being weak despite being pure-blooded just because he was born from a mistress and lacked the Power of Destruction, making it even harder to think why she'd be so untouchable.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Issei calling Koneko "Jailbait" can arouse a shudder from anyone who watched the English dub of the anime, as his English VA for Seasons 1 and 2, Scott Freeman, was jailed in 2015 for possessing kiddie porn.
• Slow-Paced Beginning: A trait shared by all three works done by ThirdFang, its especially bad here as the updates are heavily sporadic, as by Word of God GAIWP is lower priority than Yet again, with a little extra help and From Fake Dreams. After a prologue, 18 chapters, over 300,000 words, and over three years, the main story has so far only introduced the main cast members, is in the middle of a training arc, and established how messed up Issei truly is, all while the greater plot is still largely in the background and the fic is more focused on establishing character relations. For point of reference, the attempt to extract Asia's Sacred Gear happened in Volume 1 of the original series. Here, it happened in Chapter 14, two years after the fic was released.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: Many characters meant to be seen as in the wrong when dealing with Issei end up gaining this reaction from readers fed up with Issei's behavior.
  • Raynare. Issei and Jasmine treat her horribly, and their excuse that she failed to protect Asami falls kind of flat because she did everything in her power to do so and the effort nearly killed her. Prior to that, Issei chased her around for several hours with a pair of massive dildos, viciously threatening to anal-rape her with them. Yeah, she shouldn't have taunted him for screwing up Kuroka's backstory, and it was technically meant to be a training exercise, but Issei's response was wildly disproportionate, his threats were not idle, and he surely could have come up with another way to "motivate" her^note Such as threatening to stop cooking her lunches, which had worked before.. Later, Kuroka starts an argument with her, and when Raynare gets the upper hand by calling her out on lying to Issei about her past, Kuroka pettily gets her electrocuted, while Vali and Jasmine act like she deserved it and subject her to even more torture. In the next chapter, she gets tied to a sibian and whipped just for accusing Jasmine of padding her chest (and knowing Jasmine, she likely started it), and then she is subjected to a particularly rough round of sex with Issei. While the latter was done with her consent, the handling was so brutal it came dangerously close to rape. Suffice to say, rather than being seen as a bitch getting her Just Desserts, Raynare comes off more as a Jerkass Woobie being used as The Scapegoat by a group of petty assholes. Compounding the issue though is that it's all but said Azazel is pissed at her too, and that she has no place with the Grigori anymore as a result of what happened to Asami, coming across as needlessly cruel to someone who nearly died trying to protect Asami, even if she failed.
  • Sona in Chapter 18. After being continuously left in the dark and forced to deal with Jasmine and Vali making rude comments, she finally reaches her wits end and tries fishing for information out of Jasmine about Issei's past. Jasmine in turn then pokes at her insecurities about Serafall, and Sona chooses to insult her for being a sex worker in a blatant Author Tract moment. The narrative acts like she deserves being attacked by Jasmine, but as several readers pointed out, Jasmine had done nothing but act condescendingly towards the group, and was taking her issues out on everyone for something that was not their fault. And for all her talk about her being a "stupid kid" being kept in the dark, Jasmine still refuses to actually tell them anything, leaving many to feel Sona was needlessly vilified for the sake of making Jasmine look good. This got furthered when ThirdFang decided to address the people criticizing them for their treatment of Sona with "For extra salt in the wound, for my sadomasochistic glee, and because seeing your blood pressures spike fills me with Christmas joy, Sona isn't best DxD waifu. There. I said it. Come at me. Feed my review count with your hatred. It keeps me young and amused. I will live forever!", making many see them as doing it intentionally just to piss off the critics.
  • The Maou, Michael, and Azazel. Issei regularly lambasts them as incompetent idiots who are only trying to be nice to him so as to get back in his good graces for their own benefit, with him refusing to forgive them for "abandoning" him. However, their "abandoning him" is a large case of Show, Don't Tell, with several readers noting how they are going out of their way to try and make things right by Issei when they don't really owe Issei anything, and his treatment of them comes across as needlessly antagonistic.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • Kuroka in Chapter 17. She starts a catty argument with Raynare, gets all vicious when the Fallen Angel rightly calls her out on lying to Issei about her past, and then tricks her into springing a trap out of petty vindictiveness. Raynare's subsequent punishment is viewed as Laser-Guided Karma in-universe, but it instead comes off as Kuroka being a Dirty Coward who can't take what she dishes out, with Vali and Jasmine simply brushing it off.
  • Jasmine in Chapter 18. In a blatant Author Tract to the constant complaints about Jasmine being a sex worker despite being in Issei's Harem, Jasmine proceeds to attack everyone sans Issei and Kiba, who are too busy fighting, with her Sacred Gear, using an attack she normally uses to shatter skulls. Why? Because Sona insulted her for being a sex worker, and only after she goaded Sona by hitting her insecurities with Serafall. The only reason Vali doesn't get affected is because he managed to put a finger in his ear which reduced the effects. Later, she brutally rapes Raynare with a sibian while beating her ass with a riding crop just because the Fallen Angel accused her of padding her breasts—and given what happened earlier, it's highly likely that Jasmine said or did something to provoke her first.
    • Her ensuing rant about what she suffered as a result of what happened to Issei is supposed to make her come across as sympathetic and make it look like Sona was needlessly antagonistic, but it rings hollow because, as Jasmine even admits, Sona is still being kept in the dark about everything, and that she still only did this just because Sona is Serafall's sister. Making matters worse is that she hit everyone too, including Rias who Issei has started considering part of his hoard, just for being in the area, yet doesn't appear apologetic for her actions, and that instead of actually telling them about what they're being kept in the dark about, she just continues to keep them in the dark.
    • Likewise is her reasons for becoming a sex worker. She says she became one as a way of sticking it to the people watching her and waiting for her degrade herself, a means of demonstrating they had no hold on her. Many have called out these reasons as flimsy at best, and that regardless of her reasons, it doesn't change the fact she also abandoned Issei in order to pursue her own issues. She even notes that she could have easily stuck by Issei and let him help her instead of doing any of this, but asked him not to just so she could do this instead, and just for him to trust her, making it sound like she's angry at being in a position that she put herself in.
    • Even the reveal that her dad committed suicide years ago did nothing to win over her detractors, as they lambasted it as nothing more than a blatant attempt to make her look sympathetic without actually addressing the issues of the prior chapter.
  • Issei himself is slowly sliding into this trope. His brutal treatment of Raynare is particularly repulsive (ranging from threatening to deny her food to attempted rape), he never outright apologizes for his mistakes even when acknowledging them, and he keeps excusing Jasmine's awful behavior—both towards others and himself—because he's too pathetically in love with her to care. He's got a traumatic past and his share of decent moments, to be sure, but he's such a colossal prick most of the time that a good number of readers just don't care anymore and want him to stop hiding behind what happened to him and move on
    • One particularly egregious issue is his hypocrisy: he mocks Kiba and Gasper's respective Freudian Excuses and forces them to confront their inner demons while obnoxiously telling them to get over it; and yet he staunchly clings to his own Freudian Excuse, demanding sympathy and various forms of compensation when he's really owed nothing at all, while viciously lashing out at anyone who tries to help him get over his own issues, or trying to turn it around on them without actually answering the criticism; and the way he treats Raynare after his mother nearly died—blaming her for something that isn't her fault, and having Jasmine slander her (possibly untruthfully—see Alternate Character Interpretation) to Azazel so she'll feel isolated and become his slave—sounds eerily similar to what White tried to do to him.