After we got down once again with that Demon x Degeneracy in the previous season, I really did have great expectations for High School DxD. High School DxD New was great, so naturally the third time’s gonna be a charm too, right? Well, not so much. To me, High School DxD is the shining example of how to do an ecchi-harem-battle series. The plot and characters coincide with the lewd elements to form something truly enjoyable. This ecchi-harem show sets itself apart from many others by being genuinely engaging with how it tells its story, but it seems as if this season did away with a lot of its previous formula. In the immortalized words of Justine from Persona 5, I say: “Not terrible, but not impressive.”

Once again, Studio TNK takes responsibility for bringing this season to the animated world, and for the last time at that. If anything, I do once again have to appreciate the designs of the main cast, Akeno and Rias in particular. Here, I’d like to take a moment to appreciate their thiccness in this art style. As usual, the fights and ecchi are the main artistic appeals, and they remain basically the same. The fights work, the boobs bounce, and so on and so forth. I haven’t seen much of what Passione will do with the next season, but I’m interested in how they’ll handle it. Hopefully, the designs will retain their appeal from before.

The voices we know all to well return once more, and some newcomers too. Yuki Kaji, Youko Hikasa, Shizuka Itou, Ayana Taketatsu, Kenji Nojima, Risa Taneda, Maaya Uchida, and Ayane Sakura all form the Occult Research Club for this season. Some new characters enter the fray, meaning new talent to introduce. Minami Takahashi voices Kuroka, Takayuki Kondou voices Loki, Shinpachi Tsuji voices Odin, and lastly, Ai Kakuma voices Rossweisse. While this section isn’t very important to the review, I still think it’s good to acknowledge the people who lent their voices to these characters.

It seems as if Vali has appeared now, and he’s used his Divine Dividing ability on the number of main songs we have this time, turning the four songs from New into a normal two songs for BorN. The first one is “BLESS YoUr NAME” by ChouCho. It’s a fine song with standard High School DxD visuals, but it’s nothing really of note compared to the previous three. The ending song, though, is one that rivals the legendary “STUDY x STUDY”, and it’s “Give Me Secret” by StylipS. It’s no wonder this song is so good; it’s made by the exact same group as the first ever ED. While the visuals aren’t as mesmerizing as the strip show from that one, they’re still some pretty nice looking ecchi scenes. Though the music is the one that really carries it. I guess you can also consider “Oppai Dragon no Uta” to be an ending song, and it’s pretty humorous, I guess. It’s nice to hear a male cast member sing an anime song once in a while.

Now, the plot. Huh. Well, I do have to say the beginning of the show is pretty strong. It serves as a nice introduction for what we’re about to face for the rest of the season. We go experience the underworld, and meet new characters, notably Kuroka, Odin, and Loki. This section of the story answers one of my pleas from the previous season, and it’s the lack of Koneko attention. This arc mainly focuses on Koneko and her growth, but it’s not my favorite part of it—I’ll get to that later. Koneko’s backstory is something I’ve been wanting to know for a while, and it’s good that we get to see her character arc like we did Yuuto in the previous season. It’s here that Koneko really warms up to Issei, and that’s nice because A: it’s very cute, and B: Issei has more opportunities for harem shenanigans. We also get some nice Rias ecchi during the first Kuroka fight, and that’s an example of how High School DxD uses such dumb concepts to make its battles unique. Even if you do expect some kind of bizarrely lewd plan to take action, it’s still entertaining to watch, Issei’s motivation while fighting Kokabiel from the last season being a good example. being a good example of how something like that can work. That said, my favorite part about this section is actually what takes place in episode five. Episode five is all about Akeno, and it expounds more on her story and character. This was really the time Akeno became one of my favorite characters on more than just a superficial level. Not just that, but it also functions as a kind of date episode with her and Issei for a part of it, and that’s always nice to see.

I wish this quality of content would have kept up, and that really could have happened if it weren’t for its breakneck pacing. Yes, while the first arc of the show is one that I was very engaged in, it dips right after that. That arc was an engaging introduction and character piece, but it loses most of its strong points when it comes to the actual plot in the latter half. Things get pretty messy, and there are too many things happening too quickly, meaning not enough things are given the proper care or time to really have a proper or important effect on the audience. The characters remain fine for the most part, but the plot developments are unfortunately not that good. In concept, these could have been genuinely good arcs, but the execution is what kills it, and not in the good way. A plot like fighting against the Fallen Angel that Asia saved could be interesting, but it’s not done well in the final product. Not to mention the fact that this season adapts three novels instead of the usual two per season. Hey, it even does them out of order, starting with volume five, volume seven, volume six, and then going completely anime-original for the last three episodes. The fanservice and other fun moments are really the best parts of this section, and that’s not what I’d like to say when it comes to a series like this that builds itself on all the ecchi shots, fight scenes, and genuine moments that it has to offer instead of just banking on the lewd factor on its own.

On a more positive note, Koneko has moved past just being a character reserved for being the loli cat girl that’s strong and gets her clothes ripped a lot. Her past trauma and fears were good to see, the reason being her coming into her own and accepting herself. This theme of acceptance of yourself and past can also be applied to Yuuto’s growth in the previous season, but more relevantly, to Akeno. This season, Akeno had a great character arc, one that built upon the things we learned beforehand thanks to her scene with Issei at the shrine. This theme is enhanced when she not only comes to terms with herself, but the people involved, such as her father. Rossweisse was a fine little addition to finish off the harem, and while she makes the same joke most of the time, I find myself enjoying it out of pity, I guess. After all, the sentiment of your age equalling the number of years you’ve been alone certainly can be a relatable one for some people… Anywho, Irina is also more present this season, which answers another one of my pleas from the previous season. Of course, Xenovia is still here to bring us some funny little ecchi gags, my favorite one being her, Issei, and Asia in the storage room. Gasper is also pretty cute; he’s good to have on the squad. Most surprisingly, Rias has dipped in quality for me. She was my favorite back in season one because she was the onee-san that had the most moments, but my opinion has changed throughout the course of the series. Funny how I started out liking Rias the most, then Yuuto in season two, and now Akeno. Well, it just kinda seems like Rias lost her edge. She just feels too clingy, and while that’s not a necessarily bad thing for her character, the problem is that it becomes the majority of it. This is exacerbated in the final three anime-original episodes that I feel steer her character in a pretty weird direction.

Of the new villain cast, I did find myself liking Kuroka. She reminds me a lot of another anime character called Black Hanekawa in terms of looks, that is to say she’s very attractive. Though, only on the surface, as her personality and her effect on Koneko especially damning, which makes her a compelling force. On the other hand, Diodora Astaroth is forgettable. Again, an interesting concept; he’s the whole reason why Asia was exiled from the church. It would have been super impactful to find out his true intentions despite Asia not regretting her actions and generally kind demeanor, but it just doesn’t work for some reason. Issei’s Boob Telepathy or whatever didn’t have the same effect that the simultaneous pokes, him getting to suckle if he wins, and going berserk on Vali for halving everything. It was fun to see him use Dress Break again, but not much else. Also, I was disappointed that he used a date with Akeno as a catalyst for her power but never actually went on a date with her after he recovered. This just might be a grievance as an Akeno fan, but hey, it’s my review. Loki is pretty good for the canon section he’s a part of. The big fight against Fenrir was a highlight, Issei’s Juggernaut Drive and Vali’s appearance being pretty cool aspects. I do wish he was given more focus and had more of his motivations shown. He’s dangerous, but not that menacing, really, since he doesn’t seem that much of an actual character and more of an evil roadblock for the cast due to his evil antics that are evil.

High School DxD BorN is a bit of a let down compared to what the series has done before. The series is all about how you can combine a heavy-ecchi harem and battle-shonen and make it a genuinely good show that can be enjoyed unironically as a truly good piece of animation. This is just a mediocre sequel that progressively gets less interesting and is saved only by its comedy, ecchi, and characters. I’ve always longed for an ecchi show that can tell a genuinely good story that can be enjoyed for what it is. High School DxD turned out to be exactly what I was looking for, season two being the reason as to why I consider it one of my favorite shows. Season three, though, dropped the ball hard. Sure, it was fun in some aspects, and sure, it had some genuinely great moments sprinkled in, but it just didn’t feel like itself. It’s not even that egregiously bad, so the latter portion isn’t even something ironically fun. Overall, High School DxD BorN is a disappointment, but still one that can be occasionally good like it was last season and the season before. Here’s me hoping season four will be better. I’m now in your care, Studio Passione.