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For my first review I decided to do DxD New. High school DxD is one of my favorite Light novel series and I was pleased with the second season. I actually do not like fan service one bit, in a matter of fact I think it ruins most series. So what makes this series stand out of the bunch? well I am going to break in down. I will look at it from the following angles, Story, art, sound, lore, world building, character, and overall.


Story: With solid lore, characters, and an expansive world to jump into it is not hard ... to tell a great story with all the tools here. Its hard to say more about the story without ruining anything, but you are sure to get everything you want from a great epic. Great plot twist, fulfilling climax, drama, excitement and anticipation it has everything you could ask for in a good story. The big thing is, unlike in most stories all of these plot devices are executed perfectly and understandably, something that has been lost in most of today's anime.

Art work: As a holder of an art degree myself, I look very carefully at everything. Though this series doesn't bring anything new to the table, what it does have is executed perfectly. Outfit design, weapon design, character design, even attack design is very well done. Everything from the outfits to the weapons art crafted in a way that helps create a believable and comfortable environment for the viewer. Everyone from the pervert to the high class artisan can enjoy various aspects of the art work done in this series. I cannot go into any more information about the art work I enjoy without spoiling, so if anyone has question feel free to ask me.

Sound: I have to say I think the sound in this series is underrated. Rather than just choosing one sound style like rock, classical or j-pop this series uses it all. Whether your listening to the classical violin during the romantic scenes, the j-pop opening or the heavy rock/alternative the sound helps set the mood to create a greater impact on the viewer. When doing this it can be hard to not make all the sounds feel out of place, corny or just wrong. Even with the many different moods and emotions flying around the sound track helps the strengthen and stabilize all of this. Though the OST is not the greatest stand alone, the fact is it was used perfectly in the series. This is not an OST review, this is how the sound was portrayed in the anime, and it was done perfectly.

World Building: World building refers to how and what the fantasy realm of the series is made, or made of. The world of High school DxD is filled with many different factions, races and creatures to construct an interesting mythopia. It is easy to get lost in the endless details of this world, and for lore junkies like myself the amount of information and research that went into this is so massive I have ended up spending hours researching it myself. The fact is this series has pieced together many different Gods, myths, cultures, and religions from all around the world in order to create an original and fantastic world of its own.


Lore: With such a great world the lore of this series is absolutely amazing. Taking from both myth and imagination this series weaves together different cultures and myths to create believable lore from this universe. Everything from Voodoo and norse mythology are woven together here. (I cannot say which ones are from what but if you wish to ask me what is norse origin and what is Voodoo origin in the season 2 of DxD I will tell you.) This series weaves together its own unique story to create a masterful lore. You could spend hours to studing the stories of the many factions, monsters, and weapons within this series, both historically and within the High School DxD universe.

Character: Like most anime you can see a lot of the character archetypes here else where(though thats the nature of the beast) the uniqueness comes from their personality, character history, and how they interact with one and other. Even with the use of archetypes these characters are far from shallow. Characters have unique history ranging from battles with legendary dragons, to human experiments. Each character possessing their own unique reason for what they do. The depth within each characters carefully planned out past and psyche makes for great character interaction that is sure to entertain whether it is on the battle field or in the bed room.


Impact: This refers to the impact the series has both emotionally and mentally. Even with some of the characters less intelligent reasons for doing this you often find yourself rooting for them, even if its for something like breast. Not to mention the many other emotional impacts some of the characters most go through, went through or over come you can easily feel it push through the screen. The fact of the matter is you can feel the impact of the events happening in the series accurately the way you were meant to, and you understand it to. The are very few times you feel like what they hell is going on? and they times you do, your suppose to feel that way. The fact is, there is a lot more going on here emotionally and mentally that fan service and it is not hard to realize it either.


Overall: This is a fantastic series that tells the epic tale of a demon trying to become the strongest and get laid along the way. To be fair this is the story of almost every guy out there, its not hard for anyone to understand the main characters feelings. Even with so many things happening with this series, the story is executed flawlessly. Rather than most anime now a days this series doesn't get its kicks from gimmicky fights or re-used plots, but a well rounded set of characters set in a unique and vibrate world demanding to be explored.