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***spoiler free***

Before we start I should let you know how I rank my anime. To start off I don't rank anything below 5, I just feel like an awful human being. This means if I rank something 5, it's pretty much the worst thing I've ever seen. A 6 is yeah it has some good points but still pretty bad, 7 means it's average, i might be able to see how people can get enjoyment, however, I didn't get any enjoyment. 8 is my average where I get a bit of enjoyment and I don't think I need to go any higher.

Now onto the review!!!
If ... you read my previous paragraph you will see what I said about a rating of 7 (which I gave this). After reading other reviews people said they couldn't stop laughing/smiling. I could. In fact, for a comedy, I think this show maybe got 2 sharp exhales through my nose that some people may consider a laugh. For a comedy to get 2 laughs out of me, that's pretty weak. But hey maybe I just don't have a high enough IQ.

The main point that I can't stand about this show is the creepy pedo vibe that comes with it, let me go a bit more in-depth about that. The main character Maika Sakuranomiya can't find a job and Dino/The Manager offers her a job at his cafe because for him it was love at first sight. However, let me note that Dino is 26 and Maika is 16. A ten year age difference. Is this not a little creepy to anybody else? The best way I can describe it was a similar feeling to what I got when watching Eromanga Sensei when the MC has a harem of lolis. Maika is also completely oblivious to this when it comes to love she is about as thick as Ichika Orimura, the MC from Infinite Stratos. If you're trying to tell me this isn't creepy what about the episode where this 26-year-old guy is helping a 16-year-old girl look for a swimsuit.

Ok back to the normal review format
Story - 6
Minimal story except for the characters getting more friendly with each other. Basically, they all work at a place called Cafe Stile where each waiter has their own personality which I will get onto later

Art - 8
Nothing special

Sound - 9
I gave this a 9 because just about everybody knows the op, however, I wouldn't say the ost is anything special

Characters - 7
Kōyō Akizuki - You're average otaku that seems to have an interest in Kaho Hinata (another character, see below) I get this feeling that Akizuki is supposed to be the most male relatable character
Kaho Hinata - I assume to be the majority of viewers best girl, mainly because she is a gamer and she is thicc and that's what your normie otaku is into. Her personality is tsundere, you know, "It's not like it did it for you or anything baka!"
Dino- As I've said before, don't really like him, a bit of a creep
Hideri Kanzaki- BE AWARE, IS TRAP, gets introduced in about ep 9 or 10 which seems a bit late as this is only a 12 episode anime. His personality is Idol
Miu Amano - Is a manga hentai artist/author (forgive me I can't remember the correct terminology). She spends most of her taking notes of whats happening at the cafe so she can make it into one of her 'stories' later. Her personality is the big sister that helps feed her 'little brothers' (customers)
Mafuyu Hoshikawa - Your everyday loli that's an otaku. Her personality is a little sister. "What can I get you Onii-chan?"
Maika Sakuranomiya - The MC. As sharp as a rubber band. When she smiles she looks pissed off and hence got the personality of sadistic.

Enjoyment - 7
I think I covered this in my first paragraph.

Tl;dr
Some people enjoy it, I thought it was pretty average, I thought there was some underlying pedo vibe and I don't mess with that

I will cut to the chase, this is the fourth season of Highschool DxD and at this point, if you don't know what HDXD is about then what've you been doing for the past 3 seasons. It has been about 3 years since the last season and with that came a new studio moving from TNK to Passione. This was due to the last arc of s3 (when Loki pretends to be Issei and eventually makes Issei fight Rias, you know the part that felt really irrelevant and seemed like filler) well the author didn't like that and decided to change studios (or at least ... that's how I understand it). This means a completely new art style. Honestly, I'm not really a fan of it, if it had been Passione this whole time (s1-4) I might not have disliked the art style so much as I'd be used to it but oh well, I have heard this art style is much closer to the light novel/visual novel.

Story:
In terms of the art being much closer to the novel the same goes for the actual story. The story is a lot closer to the novel and in this anime adaptation they include 2 different mini arc's. The first arc is a school trip to Kyoto and the second arc is a rating game between Rias Gremory and her cousin Sairaorg Bael, I won't say what happens in either because I'm trying to keep spoilers to a minimum. Unfortunately, this season involves too much plot and not enough 'plot' but more on that later.

Sound:
The same soundtrack as all other seasons excluding the new opening and ending in which I must say the op is a cracking good song

Characters:
I'll start off by saying Akeno is best girl and in this season i wouldn't be surprised if she had 10 lines total. They have now included Ravel Phoenix as a student at the school so she is included a bit more, however, she is supposed to be partnered (i cant think of a better word) with Koneko which I feel was mainly for the comedic value (which was minimal at best). In the Kyoto arc it is based around Issei's relationship with Asia, Xenovia, Irina and a girl they meet in Kyoto called Kunou who is the main focus of the arc. After returning from Kyoto it is mainly based on Issei and Rias's relationship.

Summary:
If you came here for comedy, you will not find it here, this season is much more serious about itself and focuses more on plot then 'plot'. Unfortunately, Highschool DxD is known for its over the top inclusion of 'plot' and to try and change what it is best known for now, I'm not sure is the greatest of ideas. If you are a fan of any female that isn't Rias, you will be disappointed, the only character development is Rias and Issei. Issei has the IQ of a pencil, he has no idea of any female characters feelings towards him (classic harem main character) however, like a pencil he doesn't have the mental capacity to do anything himself but if somebody helps him he is pretty useful. One thing I must give props for are the fights especially the fight in the final 2 episodes. All in all, it seems like Passione are taking this a lot more seriously then it should be, the main character gets powered up by poking and seeing boobs.

TLDR: Not funny, not unfunny. Too much plot, not enough 'plot'. Too much Rias, not enough of every other female character. Passione is taking a series made for memes and turning it into something serious. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. If the series works, don't go changing it.

I'll be honest. I'm not sure if I'm laughing because it's genuinely funny or if I'm nervous that this is the sort of anime my otaku life has led me to.

The story is basically non-existent minus a single character trying to get sakamoto kicked out of school? Maybe? I think?

Art is fine with e few points here and there that make you go eh or wow

Music is the same

Story basically revolves are sakamoto (obviously) and each episode is sakamoto doing something with a different character so there are roughly 15 or so characters with not much depth behind them.

As mentioned before I'm ... not sure if I'm enjoying this because it's actually funny or I'm just nervously laughing to myself

I'll try to keep this spoiler free. So as I was watching this I was thinking this is a fairly good anime. It had a few plot holes and overly cringey moments here and there but I was able to over look them. I probably would've given it about a 9 rating. That was until kanetsugu gasou was introduced and wow. He genuinely just ruined it. It was episode 10 or 11 and I was considering dropping it just because it was so awful. So many plot holes. While watching the openings that led up to the introduction of him I thought he would've been ... one of masamunes bullies that realized who he was. I feel like this would've been a much better path to approach but hey we will let it slide. This could've easily been a one season 12 episode anime but of course they had to drag it out for that $$. I'm also not quite sure what sort of a ending that was. When I finished watching it I had to go back and make sure I wasn't missing and episode or something because I just watched 12 episodes for that... What. Since I won't judge an anime by one or two episode I figured I would still give it an 8 because I was feeling considerate. Be careful when watching this in case you aren't feeling considerate