DxD ripoff

The only similarity is that they are both ecchi, but that's about it.
Dxd is better in my opinion, but that would be comparing apples to oranges since they are different.

It's better than DxD because of the separation of ecchi stuff from action. When a fight scene is going on, I don't want to see tits bouncing around.

It's actually better than DxD, so...

Correct. You don't know about this one.

@Piromysl passive agressive confirmation is the lowest form of argument.... I expected more 😞

@APolygons2 Nah, bro. Just saying that Chained Soldier has leagues better characters, especially protagonists, while it did suffered due to mild censorship. Issei's only character trait is that he is a pervert and is more similar to Kirito, while all of his haremmates are just waifu baits, not much more.
In Chained Soldier we can see phenomenal character dynamic between two main leads, which I cannot praise enough, especially how they both fill for eachother gaps. Yuuki not having any powers and still wanting to be a hero, which is compensated by Kyouka's otherwise kinda useless power, which motivated her to put extra effort in her training in order to cover up for her shortcoming, but eventually Yuuki helped her to make the best use of her power. There is also a character developement in side characters, who lived their entire life in matriarchal society and learn that men can also pull their weight.
Now, when we heard Iseei performing his infamous Oppai Song in the middle of the fight, it became clear, that we are watching echhi harem trash, nothing more and we were wrong to hold any expectations at all.
I mean, if we rate those shows based on their fanservice alone, then DxD wins easily, but that is only thing this show has to offer.

@Piromysl

Aight, hear me out here.



The thing here is that I actually agree with everything you said here, Issei IS DEFINITELY a mostly one dimensional character, and his dynamic with the other characters, and the other characters to each other, is indeed very simple.

As far as complexity of character writing in particular goes, this show is trying, and not necessarily even failing, to do a lot more than dxd ever did.

BUT



(and that's a pretty big BUT)

That's not necessarily a good thing here.

While the dynamic here as you described have a lot more going for them, they are also not exactly ground breaking. It doesn't take much to have better characters than dxd in terms of complexity and dynamics.

Which normally would be fine, even if not from "weak" to "masterpiece" more complexity and better dynamics makes the characters better by default right?

No, at least not in this case, and here's why.

Looking at issei for example, he is a dumb motherfucker who doesn't take half the serious plot points seriously, and as you said, goes ahead and sings a dumb oppai song.

Now, considering how I would think the story of dxd is generic on it's own, this stupid ass none serious MC helps make the show feel more self aware. Like when a plot twist of the show is "GOD HAS BEEN DEAD FOR YEARS", that's fucking dumb. no one would take that seriously. So by making the MC be a complete 1 dimensional goof, you allow yourself to enjoy the show while not taking it as seriously as you would normally.

If Issei was a more complex protagonist, with more layers, I would probably hate highschool dxd. It would feel like a poor attempt to tell a good story. But now, it feels like a story that it's main goal is to a be a fun fanservice filled action ride.





And honestly, EVEN IF,

I fully agree with you that the characters are just several levels better in this show, there is still a lot more than fanservice that dxd does better, and I don't believe you would disagree with most of these yourself if you thought about it:


- The world and design (excluding character design): this is by far the biggest thing that I think dxd does better. DXD has so many cool ass locations. It's world has so much thought put into it, with so many rules, factions, characters and motivations that all come to play at different parts during the series and has a decent bit of history behind it.

On the other hand, the only thing that stands out about chained solider is the powers, which aren't necessarily even more creative than dxd, but this is the one aspect in this area that is comparable.

- fanservice: you agreed to this already, so no need to say more.

- the visuals: Chained solider has a few really good looking cuts, but overall, the cgi really takes away from the action. And I honestly am a lot more ok with CGI than 99.9% of anime fans, but here in particular, it does make it look a lot worse than it would be without it.

and honestly, I mentioned how dxd has more interesting locations, but even visually, the (I forgot it's name) world in chained solider doesn't look good at all. The author could have done anything with that setting, but it's just a boring wasteland with purple sky. It's not exactly aesthetically pleasing.


- the music. DXD has some good ass OSTs. The soundtrack on this has been rather generic so far.


- feels a lot more high stake: Imma be honest, at least so far the stakes in chained solider have been very Luke warm. Dxd if nothing else knew how to always make what is happening seem super important and dangerous, even if the characters have THICC plot Armor.

frankly, a big issue with dxd was that from around s3 onwards it had a hard time one upping itself. the good ol dragon ball dilemma.




But honestly this just fluff.

The main main main, meat and potato of it is THIS:



I believe both of these shows are undeniably far from the peak of storytelling, and ecchi harem junk at their core. The difference is that DXD is a lot more self aware about it.

You're right it does become clear that's it's just ecchi trash, cause it doesn't pretend to be anything else. Even at it's most serious, it still reminds you to not take anything too seriously.




(on a side note, DXD is like a 6/10 (except s4 which is a 5) to me and this is like a 5/10, you would think I'm like the biggest dxd fan to spend so much time on this, but I just like debating anime writing)

@APolygons2 dxd was way too enjoyable to be a 5 or 6 for me

I personally rate based on how good I think the thing is instead of how much I enjoyed it.

If I wanted to give it an enjoyment score, It would probably be a 8 or a 7 depending on the arc/season.

@Amatsukaze24 I wouldn't say it's without bias.

I'm still the one deciding how much the good aspects or the bad aspects matter, and how that affects a score.

You can't really be objective or without bias when it comes to judging art.

Like two great critiques can have 2 completely different opinions on a show, and both have great reasons for it.

@APolygons2 yeah that makes sense, thanks for the insight. If you could recommend me one show what would it be, hopefully I haven't seen it.

@Amatsukaze24 It's kind of hard to recommend someone something without knowing their taste.

But I'll try to give you some mostly safe recommendations of stuff that you haven't seen yet:


If you liked the survival mystery aspect of Made in abyss, the mystery aspect of the first season of the promised neverland, , the high level foreshadowing of attack on titan and the traveling around the world and meeting new interesting people aspect of something like monster, then I think you'll REALLY enjoy heavenly delusions.

As a massive mystery fan myself, I can guarantee that this show nails it's mystery writing in particular in a way that is near unmatched.




If you want a more stylish, dense and fast paced action ride with subtle world building and fun over the top characters that somehow ends up being extremely emotional, you can honestly choose between akudama drive and cyberpunk edge runners.

They both have their own strengths and weaknesses, but I'll say watch akudama drive if you generally care more about world building, or subtle writing, and go for cyberpunk if you care more about character dynamics and music.

Personally I think akudama drive is a little better, but I'm in the minority for that, and both are definitely great shows that are worth watching.




Going a bit outside of anime.

I suggest Pantheon. It's a super underrated and underwatched sci-fi animation, that is explores and uses the concept of UI just as well as, steins;gate explores the concept of time travel. and If that alone doesn't sell you on the series, it's probably not going to blow you away the same way it did for me, but even if you aren't a massive sci-fi fan, the character writing and drama are still more than good enough to carry the show into being amazing.


and lastly, Hilda.

Once again, not an anime, but If you like the fantasy exploration feel that shows like Ousama ranking or made in abyss offer, Hilda is kinda one of the best at doing it. The writing and production value are also extremely strong and I think it's genuinely kind of impossible not to love it, no matter who or how old you are.

It's around gravity falls level of great cartoons, and that is not a compliment I give to a series lightly.

@APolygons2 thank you very much for putting so much thought behind your reply. I'll give those a look, thanks again!