High School DxD

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First of all, this is my first review, so take that in mind.

Highschool DxD is a series many will know as one of the biggest ecchi franchise out there. Its popularity however is not only due to how ecchi it is, but also because of how good the story is. This is often an area in which the large majority of ecchi manga/anime/light novels are lacking, but DxD, despite being cliché and using VERY heavily Deus ex machinas, it's story is great.

However, if you are someone that tend to be very picky about details, but also regarding if the story makes sense or not, maybe ... this is not for you. However, if you don't care much about those things, you will enjoy the story immensely, as I did. That said, even though it is an ecchi story, it becomes very emotional, at least for me, you get attached to the characters, and the story makes it even more emotional. When I read certain volumes, I would be going from either tearing up a bit to straight up bawling my soul out, and that was for the entire volume. It is emotional, without being melodramatic, it is great.

Story: 9/10

What makes DxD is not only the story, but also the characters

DxD has an enormous cast of characters, which may start small, but as the volumes go on, become larger and larger, which some may describe it as character bloat, so if this bothers you it may be a problem. However, in my opinion, most characters have very distinct personalities, and it is very difficult to dislike any of them (well, besides one... *Cough* Xenovia *Cough*), all the different girls follow different types, so everyone will have a girl that fits what they prefer.

Regarding Issei, you may at first think he will be like most other Harem MC, bland, a coward, uninteresting. But actually, Issei is probably in my opinion the single best protagonist in any harem ever. He is incredibly perverted yes, but this is what allows him to go even further beyond, he has an enormous will to protect those he cares for, and despite him being weak (at first), he will go to any lengths to protect them. He is reliable, kind, funny, perverted, and just simply badass. It is in my opinion very difficult to dislike Hyoudo Issei.

Characters: 10/10

Overall, I would say Highschool DxD is greater than the sums of its parts, it is by far the piece of Japanese media, hell, it is probably my favourite piece of media ever. I've enjoyed every single second I've read the Light Novels, listened to the anime soundtrack, watched and rewatched the different anime seasons (especially Hero), I truly love this series from the bottom of my heart, and I say this with no shame, because despite it being an ecchi story, it is heart wrenching, badass, funny, simply incredible.

Enjoyment: 10/10

I would say however that if you are a person that is nitpicky, your enjoyment of DxD will be very different from mine, especially because of the many many many Deus ex machinas. And even though I am easy to please in general, DxD is still my favourite of them all, I would recommend to absolutely everyone to read it, as long as you at least don't hate ecchi.

To begin, this review is spoiler-free, so if you've watched the anime and are contemplating reading the light novels you don't need to worry about being spoiled with my review.

Simply put, Highschool DxD is an amazing light novel. If you enjoyed the anime at all, I can absolutely guarantee that you will love this. With season 3 approaching, the anime has literally only begun to cover where the series really starts to get good. And from that point on, the fantastic ride that is DxD only gets better. And better. And better. Hell, volume 19 will be released in 2 months and it's STILL getting ... better!

Story: 10

The first 4 volumes of the story are basically set-up for the rest of the series. Volumes 5-6 are where everything starts to really pick up. Now, that doesn't mean volumes 1-4 are bad; not at all, just look at seasons 1 and 2. In fact, even if you've already watched the anime, I recommend reading the volumes they covered; it provides more detail and depth than the anime could show.

But volume 5 onwards is where, put bluntly, shit gets real. It gets really intense(that's actually quite an understatement), there's a lot more romantic development, lots of new characters are introduced, and everything just gets all-around more epic and awesome with each new volume you read. There's also quite a few hilarious situations in the midst of all the epicness, which show that Issei truly deserves the nickname he was given. And yes, I am trying to be as vague as possible as to not spoil anything for you guys. I could seriously write a ton of detailed comments if I included spoilers.

At this point you might be wondering "what about the ecchi?!" DxD's light novels are actually far more erotic starting, again, with volumes 5 and 6. (I apologize if I'm making the wait for season 3 even more painful, I'm just being honest!!) In fact, I'll be completely honest and say it becomes the most erotic thus far starting with volume 15.

Art: 10

Let me explain something: Ever since I started reading DxD, I fell in love with Miyama-Zero's art. Every colored illustration in every new volume (I started reading DxD when volume 16 came out), cover included, has left me speechless, and every non-colored illustration has me praising DxD's illustrator as well. As soon as a new volume is released, one of my first thoughts is "have the illustrations been leaked yet?!" Miyama-Zero-sama's art is just that good, especially in the more recent volumes, where I wouldn't hesitate to call it masterful.

Characters: 10

I'll divide this section into 2 parts, Protagonists and Antagonists. But if I were to summarize both sections in one word, it would be Badass.

Protagonists: To start with, let me just say that Ise's harem is handled in such a wonderful way. There's no crazy tsundere beatings or normal harem antics, just friendly competition amongst the girls for their spot in the harem. Not to mention Ise's harem is hands-down the most beautiful harem I've ever seen. All the girls are just perfect. Every single one of them is so unique and they all play a huge role of importance in the series. Some of the girls of Sitri group also get more screentime as well. I can't say more than that or I'd spoil a lot of new characters! Onto the guys, the deep bond Issei and Kiba have is really great. They really are best friends, although Kiba does seem to like Issei a little too much... Azazel is a fantastic addition to the team, watching out for them and helping them with their training, among several other important roles in the series I'll let you discover for yourself. Gasper continues to work on becoming more manly, and Saji actually takes a pretty big role in the series later on. Oh, and Vali's as crazy as ever. Again, I can't say more or I'd spoil certain events and a lot of new characters!

Now let's go into a little more detail about Issei. His growth is astounding. Spoilers withheld, he goes from being an overly-perverted MC to a perverse, respected, beloved, mature and powerful MC who gives his all to protect his comrades and truly cares about all of them. The best part is the execution of this character growth, which you'll need to read yourself. The dynamic between Issei and Kiba is fantastic as well; Kiba takes up Ise's reckless desire to protect his comrades and becomes a powerful swordsman worthy of being Rias Gremory's Knight.

Antagonists: I love DxD's antagonists, in particular the ones introduced in volumes 9 and 16. They're just as diverse as the protagonists and several of them are antagonists you just love to hate (especially one particular antagonist in volume 17). I really can't say more without spoiling their characters, just that they're great.

Everyone, protagonist and antagonist alike, gets the perfect amount of character development and exposition in each volume, it amazes me how well Ishibumi-sama handles it.

Enjoyment: 10

One thing I especially love about DxD is its unpredictability; you absolutely cannot predict what's going to happen next. It's hilarious, it's unpredictable, it's extremely intense, all the characters are fantastic, the ecchi and romance are wonderful(another severe understatement!), the art is excellent, overall it's a supremely fun series.

Overall:

Let me conclude by saying that Highschool DxD is in no way your ordinary ecchi series. The character development for everyone is astoundingly brilliant, the plot is absolutely amazing, and, being vague once again, DxD does not suffer from a certain traditional harem trope that never ends, not to mention there is an actual reason for why Issei acts the way he does up until a certain volume, and it's handled brilliantly. Overall I give it an extremely solid 10/10 and urge those of you who enjoyed the anime to read it - you won't regret it!

Story:I'm not going to beat around the bush, but the story line was one of major issues that ultimately caused me to drop this series. Despite giving me the occasional chuckle, it overall felt Bland, Generic and Predictable for me. I got to the point part way through the second volume where I went 'I do not care what happens to these people'.

The Premise and the first volume gave me the Initial impression(although my initial impression was mixed at best), that the author had a much deeper(and possibly more raunchy) story in mind. But that potential was wasted, due to the constraints from his publishers.Because ... of this, I came to dropping it before the end of the second volume.

Characters:Now the Character's I felt that quite a sizeable number, such as akeno and koneko had something going for them. Other's like Raynare felt wasted,one-dimensional and generic. Some of the better written characters, form my perspective were actually Kiba yuuto and Asia Argento. The latter being hated for cockblocking the fan preferred pairings.

Then there is Issei, the protagonist of the series. One of the two characters that ultimately broke my interest in the series as a whole. He is not very well written and felt like he was suppose to have turned out completely different than he actually ended up being written. Although I will make the concession that some of his interactions did give me a few laughs, In the end I found him to be annoying most of the time. To the point where I ended up losing the will to read beyond the second volume.

The other character that ultimately broke my interest in reading the light novels further was none-other than Raynare herself, she came off as a one-dimensional bitch. I would have liked her as character if Ishibumi actually spent some time freshening her out. But in the end, she came off as too flat as an antagonist.

Art:I have not much to say about the art work, it is good. Miyama-zero is the standard light novel, artist that every author in medium goes to.Overall good but standard artwork for the medium.

Overall:I won't fault that the comedy and the ecchi(for how much there was), but the unengageing story and the characters could have been better introduced(for example giving some form of backstory to Raynare explaining why she acts the way she does. Maybe the light novel medium is just not for me. I felt disappointed with the volumes I read.

I can respect the fact people that do like the series, as a matter of fact there were some things I did like in the novels.Maybe the Anime and Manga adaptations will renew my interest in the light novels, but for now I'll be dropping this one for the time being.

I am only saying why I have currently dropped highschool DxD, I don't really intend on hating on the series or it's fans. i am honestly expecting people who are fans of DxD to read this and give me salt for what I have written.