7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
A war between heaven and hell is raging on Earth - and a hot mess of hormonal fury is raging in Issei's pants. The guy is dying to get some action. Which is funny, since his first date ever turns into a winged monster and tries to kill him. Fortunately, ridiculously curvy redhead Rias comes to his rescue. She's president of The Occult Research Club, a club that doesn't actually research the occult. They ARE the occult - and Rias is a Devil. Rias takes Issei as a more-than-willing slave and begins training him to use magic in battle against the Fallen Angels, the long-time enemies of Devils everywhere. If Issei can improve his mystical skills, he'll be able to help his hotter-than-hell master and her scorching supernatural schoolgirl friends defeat their foes. Even better, he might end up with a few sexy slaves of his own.
Starring: Yûki Kaji, Yoko Hikasa, Azumi Asakura, Ayana Taketatsu, Shizuka ItôAnime | 100% |
Foreign | 93% |
Fantasy | 27% |
Action | 27% |
Comedy | 24% |
Romance | 22% |
Erotic | 20% |
Supernatural | 14% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Japanese: Dolby TrueHD 2.0
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Four-disc set (2 BDs, 2 DVDs)
DVD copy
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
If you came from a certain type of family, there’s a chance that your parents warned you that “self gratification” could lead to blindness, or at least hairy palms. But death? When a series comes along called High School DxD, there’s little doubt that an overly intellectual enterprise is not in the offing, and that there will be the requisite fan service and quite possibly harem hijinks. And so in that regard this series should be commended for a certain amount of truth in advertising. The typically horny high school male at the center of the series, Hyodo (transliterated as Hyoudou by some online sources) Issei, has one thing on his mind, if you can call what passes for his thinking process as actually taking place anywhere above his beltline. Characters like this exist by the score in anime, and Hyodo is about as typical as they come, oogling eyes and all. But High School DxD borrows a few tropes from other anime subgenres when it does the rather unexpected thing of killing poor Hyoudou off just when it seems he’s about to consummate a relationship. That might seem to make Hyodo a kind of amorous version of, say, Yu Yu Hakusho, and in a way that analogy proves to be true, for Hyodo is brought back to a kind of life by a magical entity and who discovers he may have talents other than simply chasing after girls. It’s hard to come down too hard on High School DxD, for it’s a series that doesn’t pretend to be anything other than what it is, namely a fan service laden comedy effort that offers lots of jiggling bosoms and the requisite ubiquitous panty shots, wrapped within a fitfully interesting story of Hyoudou’s efforts to wend his way through his new level of existence. The show is flat out derivative most of the time, but it’s enjoyable enough, given that a reasonably low bar is set and one dials the “expectation meter” toward the mindless entertainment side of the spectrum.
High School DxD is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is generally a sharp and nicely detailed looking high definition presentation, one that benefits from some patently cool animation techniques (keep an eye on the sky when Hyodo first encounters the demons—it swirls like one of those tie dye paint wheels, in a very interesting looking sequence). The show is bright and colorful and boasts sharp line detail. There are a couple of significant anomalies, though, that some may find bothersome. Banding is quite apparent throughout the episodes, as is some really noticeable motion judder when the camera pans across the animation, something that tends to make those bosoms jiggle in an even more unlikely way than they already do.
High School DxD features an English dub delivered via Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and the original Japanese language track delivered via Dolby TrueHD 2.0. As should be expected, the English dub is significantly more powerful and boasts a really nicely rendered low end which is dampened quite a bit in the 2.0 mix. The English voice work is also quite good, especially with regard to Hyodo and his buddies. Surround activity in the 5.1 mix really only explodes in some of the action sequences as well as in the show's theme music and underscore. Fidelity is excellent and dynamic range is very wide.
As I've mentioned in other anime reviews that feature ubiquitous fan service, I'm well outside of the target demographic for this type of fare, not to mention the fact that I'm happily married with two teenage sons (who would probably be more drawn to shows like High School DxD than I am). But this series is goofily enjoyable if taken on its own low scale merits. It's derivative, repetitive and completely predictable, but it also has an unexpectedly sweet and endearing quality to it, at least if you go in without unreasonable expectations. This Blu-ray set offers decent if occasionally problematic video and nice sounding audio, as well as the usual assortment of FUNimation supplements.
2012
Classics
2012
2013
Limited Edition
2013
Classics
2013
2015
Limited Edition
2015
Classics
2015
2018
Limited Edition
2018
(Still not reliable for this title)
Essentials
2011
デート・ア・ライブIV / Season Four
2022
Limited Edition
2010
2011-2012
To LOVEる -とらぶる-
2008-2015
モンスター娘のいる日常 / Monster Musume no Iru Nichijou
2015
はたらく魔王さま! / Hataraku Maou-sama!
2023
2008-2009
Anime Classics
2008-2009
Classics
2015-2016
Sora no Otoshimono Forte
2010
ノーゲーム・ノーライフ / Nōgēmu Nōraifu
2014
2010-2011
2011-2012
2022
Essentials
2008
IS〈インフィニット・ストラトス〉
2011
2015
2010
Asobi ni Iku yo! / Essentials
2010-2011