High School DxD. It’s a show that really needs no introduction if you’ve stuck around the anime community for a while. It’s your generic, run-of-the-mill ecchi-harem show, right? Well, this show really is in fact ecchi, and it falls under the harem category, but there’s one thing that separates it from its contemporaries, and that’s everything else it has to offer. This is the famous, and to some degree infamous, journey of Issei Hyoudou, as he goes from a perverted kid to a perverted kid who’s also a devil.

The art of the show is fairly generic, but it’s one that I actually enjoy; it fits the show’s vibe, you know. The art is good enough to the point where the ecchi aspects are done well and nice to look at. Speaking of ecchi, that’s probably the main reason people come to watch the show and also why so many people hear it being talked about. It’s an ecchi-battle show that has visible boobs and nudity in every episode, even when it’s not particularly needed like in battles and . Though, I feel this doesn’t really take away from the feel of the scene, since I can tell that this is a show that really does know what it is and doesn’t try to hide it. I myself think that it’s just some nice little ecchi window-dressing to an already good show, and am not really bothered or affected by it.

The voice acting and general sound design of the show isn’t something to overlook either. The main protagonist is voiced by the ever-so talented Yuki Kaji, known for many roles like Eren Yeager, Koichi Hirose, Shoto Todoroki, and many more. Youko Hikasa as Rias, Shizuka Itou as Akeno, Ayana Taketatsu as Koneko, Azumi Asakura as Asia, and Kenji Nojima as Yuuto all do great jobs in their roles as well. The swift sounds of swords, bouncy sounds of various characters’ breasts, and not to mention the echoing “BOOST!” and “EXPLOSION!” of Issei’s Boosted Gear. The opening song, “Trip -innocent of D-”, is an absolute banger. It’s a classic song that I always find myself enjoying whenever I hear it. Also, I like the line when they say “Draw Delete” because it sounds cool. The ending song, “STUDY x STUDY”, isn’t anything to scoff at either. It’s a vibrant song to just vibe to, and the main visuals are wonderfully animated and mesmerizing strip shows from the main female cast. I can’t tell you how good that ending song looks.

The basic premise of the story surrounds our protagonist, Issei Hyoudou. One day, he gets himself a girlfriend named Yuma, but in a shocking turn of events, Yuma kills Issei. Though, Issei is saved by Rias Gremory, his senior from school, and is revived as a devil—the pawn in her peerage. With this, Issei has to adapt to his life as a devil and sets his goal on becoming the Harem King, as well as Rias’ greatest pawn, even if he is the only one. He also gains the company of the other members of Rias’ peerage, along with the trials and tribulations that come with the devil life. Rias Gremory is what you would call the King on the Occult Club’s side of the chess board. Using artifacts known as Evil Pieces, devils add people to their peerage based on pieces found in chess. Akeno Himejima is the Priestess of Thunder, representing the Queen; Yuuto Kiba is the Knight of the Holy Demonic Sword, representing the Knight; Koneko Toujou is the White Cat, representing the Rook; and Issei Hyoudou is the Pawn, which he initially sees as a sign of weakness. From here, her peerage would only grow to incorporate more members, each character having their own importance and story to them. The show’s not that complex, really. It’s well-paced and easy to follow, giving the average and veteran viewer a pretty fun ride that’s not too hard to understand. That said, the lore and intricate things that the show does have to offer are still fairly interesting in their own right.

Now, the characters that this show has are good too, the main ones this season focuses on being Rias, Asia, and most obviously, Issei. Rias Gremory is the character I’d like to call our main heroine for the show. She’s the red-haired devil club president, and she’s got some huge boobs. I mean some serious honkers. A real set of badonkers. Packin’ some dobonhonkeros. Massive dohoonkabhankoloos. Big old tonhongerekoogers, even. Throughout the course of this season, we’re shown how much Issei looks up to her, and her impact on his and her peerage’s lives. Luckily enough, she’s not just some one-dimensional waifu character. She has genuine problems and depth to her character, and that really does go for the rest of the cast. Yeah, Issei is both the shonen protagonist and the lecherous pervert, Akeno is the onee-san, Yuuto is the cool bishounen, Akeno is the kuudere cat loli, and Asia is the shy church girl, but their personalities in the series do go further than that. Issei, for example, is in fact a lust-driven high school kid, but he’s also a genuinely good-hearted and hardworking person as well. He’s always going to be there for Rias, for Yuuto, for Asia, and the rest of his friends. It’s great to see an ecchi-harem with characters that are likeable in both personality and appearance.

Overall, High School DxD is actually a pretty good show. It has a good opening, ending, cast, art, and above all, it’s a really fun show. The ecchi can feel distracting to some people, and that’s a part that’s really subjective. The battle sequences are engaging, the characters are memorable, and the plot is intriguing. It’s a comedy, and even if I didn’t really laugh, it’s still really enjoyable as it is. It’s an anime that’s more than what it looks like on the surface, and one that I can recommend to people in both a real way and for the memes. It’s a really good time, my dude.