#high school dxd akeno moments

[reviewvines]

Akeno (High School Dxd)

[grey-eyed-menace]

"...what's your favorite genre?"

Wantanabe turns to look at him like he's grown a second head, and, rather pointedly, poked his arm with the history textbook, as if to check if he was solid, real even, which, fair, Issei supposed that was the tamest reaction someone would have after you accused them of amassing a secret harem under the noses of the student body.

"Is this your an idea of an apology? Planning to take me out?" There's no accusations behind the words, no disgust or fear, not even resignment, and Wantanabe sounds the furthest from scandalized as one could probably get, if anything, he's genuinely curious.

Issei bites down the instinctive urge to shout out a loud denial, to flinch back and show palable disgust, and, instead, he shrugs, wetting his lips a bit before speaking, "Yeah, sort of, I guess, you're apart of the Newspaper Club, right? Is there, like, a book signing in town you wanna check out? I'd be willing to pay."

Wantanabe's mouth contorts into a weird half-smile-half-frown, and... Pokes him with the history textbook again. It almost startles a laugh out of him, if he was being completely honest with himself.

"Not particularly," he replied, after seemingly mulling it over for a few moments, "I wouldn't mind hanging out at the mall though, this weekend? Mika and Yui-chan have something to take care of out of town, and Okabe-senpai has a family thing then, so I'm pretty much free."

"Saturday?" Issei blatantly ignores the whispering behind them, the obvious glares, the low hisses and swooning.

"Saturday, yeah. Meet you in front of that bakery on the west end of the Entertainment district? The one with the bagels?" And then, Wantanabe gives a genuine smile, a little sharp around the edges, (and are those fangs?), but it practically lights up his whole face, and Issei suddenly finds him questioning why he didn't try to make it happen sooner.

[Months later, Issei will question if this offer of friendship was a way to butter him up for a chance at being apart of Feyre Oriax's peerage.]

(Months later, he won't really care, as he sees Uri's silent peace offering decorating his desk. The same way he wont care when Minato, Kiba, and Zyndra all join up to physically lift him off his feet for a bruising hug.

Things like that tend to matter a little less when you're caught up with getting to know people your determined to call family.)

[jolyneswife-anime-reviews]

High school dxd anime review

Spoilers for high school dxd and tw for suggestive themes, nudity and attempted murder

(Preface - I have watched all the seasons of high school dxd apart from the last one, for reasons I'll get into in the section below)

“Even the phoenix that rises from the ashes can’t recover instatly from mental damage,” - Akeno

Genre: harem, fan service, fantasy, action, romance

Where I watched it: Funimation

Characterisation: 8/10 (the high school dxd universe enjoys a wide variety of very different characters. Although usually well developed and with distinct backstories, the female characters are sometimes reduced to potential lovers for the protagonists or tools for fan service, which can be irritating, especially when a character has the potential to be so much more deep than that, like Rias or Akeno.)

Setting: 8.5/10 (The setting and locations change a lot throughout the series, from the school, to churches during battles, hell, constructed realities for rating games etc., but in my opinion, this helps keep the story dynamic and interesting, as well as expanding on the fantasy element)

Plot: 7/10 (though interesting and engaging to begin with (I have a weakness for the whole concept of being a devil/a beginner adapting into that world while needing to protect himself from fallen angels + angels) the anime becomes overly reliant on fan service and sexual portrayal of female characters, particularly as it goes on and the plot becomes less engaging and a lot more forgettable)

Art style: 8/10 (All the characters were drawn to look really pretty and to an excellent level of detail in a beautiful style, similar to shojo. However, the animator changes in season 4 and the drawings are, in my opinion, less impressive. Settings are not drawn remarkably)

Comfort: 6/10 (While certainly not too heavy, there are some more tense arcs in the anime, but, above that, it just lacks that particular vibe all around mostly. There are some wholesome moments and funny skits which partially save it.)

Addictiveness: 8.5/10 (plot twists, as well as a generally dynamic storyline and intense situations, make this anime pretty addictive- there is always something new and exciting going on)

Philosophy: 4/10 (if you're being generous, you could argue that Issei, with his superficial perverted and harebrained attitude, yet his true love and commitment to his friends, can remind us that the truly important things in life and about someone's character are very few (loyalty, determination, strength etc), but in general the anime gave me nothing much to think about. However, there is some interesting ideas to be discussed around characters such as Rias or Akeno, and wether them being portrayed as badass and strong is undermined by the show constantly sexualising them. If you want more on my thoughts regarding Rias as a character, I have made a separate post going into more depth on her.)

Originality: 8.5/10 (the whole warped depiction of heaven and hell, as well as angels and devils, is very unique and refreshing, as is the idea of bringing those battles to earth and putting a modern and relatable twist on them. I also love the chess concept used in households/during battles, it works very well and is incredibly original.)

Consistency: 4/10 (the series starts off as highly exciting and engaging, with a fast paced, action filled plot and questions that need answering, as well as several very intense situations the characters need to deal with, but as it goes on, it becomes a lot less gripping and intense and a lot more forgettable - it becomes easy to lose touch of what is happening or simply to become disinterested in later seasons. Because of this I did not even bother with the last season.)

The plot

High schooler Issei Hyodo is highly unsatisfied with his life- his wishes to date and get intimate with girls are nowhere near coming true, as none of the girls at school come near him due to his reputation as a pervert. One evening, a beautiful girl by the name of Yuma, who he's never met before, asks him out, claiming to have seen him walking home and taken a liking to him. He accepts, so the two go out on a date. While they're in the city, a girl with a strange outfit hands a peculiar flyer to Issei, who thinks nothing of it. To end what was seemingly a fun and ordinary day, the two walk to the fountain. Yuma then starts asking Issei if he would die for her, and, without elaborating, transforms into a fallen angel and stabs him, telling him to blame God and not her. Confused and bleeding out, Issei is left to die near the fountain by Yuma. As he dies, he starts thinking of Rias Gremory, one of the most attractive girls at school, and summons her out of the flyer he had been given earlier. She revives him by inserting items resembling chess pieces into him, telling him to live for her. The next morning, Issei wakes up in his bedroom with Rias sleeping next to him, naked and with her devil wings out. Incredulous, he asks her what is happening, and Rias explains that while they didn't do anything, she can only sleep if she's completely naked. She also tells him she's a devil, and has bought him back to life as one of her devil servants. As the day goes on, Issei realises there seems to be no trace of Yuma left - no one can remember her, and her email and phone number no longer seem to exist. Rias then introduces him to the other devils of her household, and explains that they are all her servants. This marks the start of Issei's life as a devil, which starts with simple tasks like handing out flyers. The group grows very close after a while, especially after battling fallen angels, rescuing Issei's friend, Asia, from a stray priest and converting her to their team, and saving Rias from being forced to marry Phoenix after losing a rating game to his household. However, Issei has a special, unique ability, which he must train and strengthen in order to use, but potentially makes him one of the most powerful devils out there. As time goes on, the group encounters more rivals, particularly from the church, and a lot of new comrades. The truth also starts to surface about Rias' feelings for Issei, feelings that aren't hers alone.

Masterlist

[shadowwrath264]

Objective Complete 1/2

A hot chick going loco in a mansion to complete her objective by getting what Cerebro wants.

Which are these two crystal-like shards. Hmmm.... I assume the crystal with veins belongs go Gan-Q and the other with Gold-like crystals embedded on the shard belongs to Reigubas.

Well.... the dude says that they are quite rare to find and could cause a fortune so, it should be something.

But sadly man, you can't have it as they will be turned to Kaiju Medals in moments. So, like what Akeno from High School DxD would say, "Whoopsie on you~~." But one question comes to mind..... where's the other cute chick?

[dewbond-blog]

The Summer of Love: The English Dub of High School DxD

We will be jumping into the second half of season one next week with a look at the “Raiser Arc” and all it brings to the table, but this week I wanted to steer the Summer of Love into a topic that many people don’t really discuss: The English Dub, and my overall thoughts and feelings on it. There is a good, a lot of good, and some slightly not so good. So join me after the cut as we jump into our next chapter of The Summer of Love, the dub! This is another long one, so be ready!

To discuss the English Dub of High School DxD, it is important to give some backstory about English dubbing of anime in general. If you grew up in my generation, (late 90s, early 2000s)  then you are very familiar with the 4kids of era; a time in which the american company 4kids entertainment pretty much had a stranglehold on the western anime market. Simply put, they called the shots and every anime that was actually on television had to go through the 4kids “Americanizing process.” Needless to say, this was a bad thing.

Cardcaptor Sakura had it’s entire yuri/yaoi subtext removed and whole episodes removed. Dragon Ball censored and omitted world building, Yu-Gi-Oh became a “so bad it’s good” mess of a dub. Vision of Escaflowne became a shadow of it’s former self. Monster Rancher went from a 50+ episodes series to only a handful, and of course what they did to One Piece. The list just goes on and on. The 4kids era of anime was not a good time for the youthful medium, and frankly the wounds inflicted by this era are still fresh in many minds of my generation.

Things have gotten far better since then, with companies like Funimation, Sentai Filmworks and Aniplex taking over the dubbing market and delivering quality dubs of anime that are true to form and (sometimes) even superior to their Japanese counterparts. Yet despite this massive improvement there are still many who refuse to even give an English dub a chance, whether it is loyalty to the “authentic’ Japanese version, or trauma for the scars of the 4kids era.

Now how is this connected to High School DxD? Well not really that much, but I think it is important for readers to understand why people are somewhat hesitant on English dubs, despite a whole new generation growing up with them. There are old wounds that have yet to heal, and in this era where censorship is a hot button issue, I wanted to explain why.

Anyway, let’s get into the dub itself, and let’s start by talking about the cast.

The Cast

The English cast of DxD is frankly very strong, though it has been a cast that has had a few replacements. Akeno has been voiced by two different actress, as has Asia, and the while voice changes are noticeable, they thankfully don’t differ too much to make much of a difference. What I can say is that Asia and Akeno are both voiced excellently, with Asia being played with that cute innocent perfection, and Akeno with a level of sultry seductiveness that, while not on par with her Japanese seiyuu, gets the job done well.

The biggest voice change though has to be Issei himself, who was voiced by both Scott Freeman and later Josh Grelle, and while the change over in season 3 is a rather noticeable change (unlike Akeno’s voice change in the same season), with many people being initially put off by the sudden shift in voices. I can both say that they play an excellent Issei and bring a-

Wait..what’s this?

Fuck…do I have to do this? Do I really have to bring it up? REALLY?

ALRIGHT FINE…FINE..I’LL FUCKING ADDRESS IT.

In 2015. Scott Freeman, the voice actor of Issei and several other Funimation dub roles, was arrested, convicted and imprisoned for the possession of Child Pornography. Funimation rightfully and subsequently cut all ties with him and his roles current and future were replaced with new actors, hence the sudden change to Josh Grelle in season 3 and later 4.

Anyway, Issei’s work in the English dub marks the first, but not the most significant change in the DxD anime. While the script plays him true to form, Issei’s performance in the dub is markedly more “american” compared to his Japanese counterpart. While it is 100% loyal to the authentic story, there is a lot more ‘sex jokes’ and ‘western references’ that peek out from time to time. I’ll get into this when I discuss the script, but I did find it worked quite well for the story, and both voice actors are able to ‘get serious’ when the time comes, especially in season 4 when Josh Grelle gives his best performance as a harem lead, and this guy has MANY to his name.

However the biggest and frankly best change has to be Jad Saxton as Koneko Toujou, who completely re-invents the character for the English dub. In the Japanese version, Koneko is the quiet little kouhai who seems to only have one single emotion, very much in the veins of the Rei-clones that had a stranglehold the industry for years. The English dub however turns this completely on it’s head. Koneko becomes a motor-mouthed little girl who, while still holding true to the character’s spirit, adds far more to the plot and group chemistry than her Japanese counterpart. I just find Jad Saxton’s Koneko to be a far more interesting character, acting as a sort of the reality foil for Issei for many season, and still willing to call him out on his perverseness even after falling in love with him. Frankly, the difference between the two voices is astonishing, just watch this comparison clip.

The rest of the cast do a find job. Jamie Marchi as Rias is an excellent casting choice, and while I prefer the Japanese voice, Marchi’s signature voice is able to play both sides of Rias’ personality well and she only gets better as the seasons roll on. Kiba, Gasper, Xenovia and Rossweise are all again done very well, but it is only really characters listed above who are the real stand outs.

The Script

Remember how I brought up 4kids at the start of this post. Well I did also bring that up, because the English script of High School DxD does feel very much like a bit of a holdover from that era of anime dubs. There is more than a hint of the adapters putting in their own lines and having some fun with the dialogue than compared to other shows. It was clear to me that the writers were having some real fun trying to adapt this show for an English dub, and while some may grumble by only  being a 90% authentic script, the show does give us some great memorable one-liners like:

“I’m gonna make you eat those words like a kid doing the tide-pod challenge!”

“Cunt-tuckey fried chicken over there is in love with you”

“Forgive dat ass, don’t spank it!”

“Her milk-shakes are all over my yard”

Those are just some of the examples of the fun bit of humor that is injected into the series via the English dub and yes, it is not for everyone and yes, it is going to turn some of the purists off. Yet the voice actors give it their all and when the time comes for the show to “get serious” like with the Akeno break down, Asia story-line, the Issei/Rias fight, and more, those actors absolutely step up to the table and deliver excellent performances. So I can forgive them for having just a bit more fun with a show that is, again, about busty big boobed girls fawning over a perverted idiot.

What I do NOT forgive though, is the “president gaffe,” which undermines a vital and important plot point.

See, there is a very clear reason that Issei calls Rias “president throughout most of the anime’s run.” It helps show the class and social difference between the two characters and how, despite Rias falling truly deeply in love with Issei, her social status and his role as a servant make him hesitant to step up. It is only when that issue comes to a head that does Issei finally start calling Rias by her full name, and it is a great moment to cap off four seasons of development.

The dub however ignored that completely for the first four seasons and admitted that they weren’t aware of just how important it is. While they do address it in the season 4 dub, making an offhand comment that “Issei has been calling her President a lot lately” it doesn’t really fix the problem and remains an annoying nitpick for me. Is it a deal breaker? No, but it is a pretty glaring problem when looking at the series as a whole.

Final Thoughts.

Overall, the English Dub of High School DxD is a great one, and I honestly love it to death. As i said in my primer, I would have watched the series dubbed to do this event, but I wanted to be faithful to the Japanese release. The dub is still my go-to way of watching DxD and I suggest anyone to give it a show after watching a bit of the OG Japanese version. It’s not perfect, but it’s made with love and affection and doesn’t stray too far from it’s routes, but when it does what 4kids never could do to anime. It adds something without taking anything away.

[ecchifortheplot]

High School Dxd

haven’t heard of it | absolutely never watching | might watch | currently watching | dropped | hated it | meh | a positive okay | liked it | liked it a lot! | loved it | a favorite

don’t watch period | drop if not interested within 2-3 episodes | give it a go, could be your thing | 5 star recommendation

fav characters: Rias, Issei, Akeno, Xenovia, Kuroka, Koneko, Raynare, Serafall, Orphis, Rossweisse, Irina, Asialeast fav characters: Freed,  Raiser, Diodorafav relationship: Issei x Riasfav moment: When Issei punches the shit outof Raynare in the first Seasonheadcanons/theories: Issei will prolly succeed with his harem so welpunpopular opinion: Asia gets too much spotlighthow’d you find it: exactly. random thoughts: Boobs weigh heavier than a man’s life.  - Issei Hyoudo

[armxda]

1-30 :3c

Anime Asks! (HOW DARE YOUUUUUUU)

1. first anime you ever watched

It’s this basketball anime called Slam Dunk. Remembered that it was pure awesomeness. Sakuragi was the dude every boy wanted to be when I grew up. Then it evolved to Pokemon and so on so forth.

2. first anime crush

Misty from Pokemon. FOR SUREEEE.

3. favorite anime character

If I had to narrow it down to three, it would be Masayuki Hori from Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun, Miyazono Kaori from Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso & Kuro Usagi from Mondaiji Tachi!

4. least favorite anime character

Again, three of them. Makoto from School Days, Kirito from SAO & Priscilla from Re:Zero.

5. list all anime you have ever watched

FUCK NO

6. popular anime you didn’t like

Tokyo Ghoul. For sure. And also SAO, BUT I will admit that the first half, the arc in Eincrad WAS GOOD.

7. anime you are currently watching

KonoSuba Season 2, Akiba’s Trip The Animation & Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid~ Thoroughly enjoying every single one of ‘em.

8. anime character you are most like

Easy. Hyoudou Issei from High School DxD. His personality explains it all. But I’m not a TOTAL perv!

9. favorite anime child

 Ushio. Nuff’ said.

10. favorite anime animal sidekick

Ein & Zwei!

11. anime you didn’t expect to like but did

Surprisingly, Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun. I thought that it was going to be a stereotypical Shoujo anime, but I was proved WRONG. SO. VERY. WRONG.

12. anime that should get more attention from others

Charlotte. For a Maeda Jun work, it was kinda underwhelmed for some reason. BUT IT GOOD.

13. funnest anime you have watched

Sakamoto Desu-ga? FOR SURE.

14. saddest anime you have ever watched

A split between Your Lie in April, AnoHana, Clannad, Angel Beats & Plastic Memories.

15. anime you never get sick of watching

High School DxD. Cause plot & “plot”.

16. 10 best animes you have watched

In no particular order:

KonoSubaYour Lie in AprilHigh School DxDRe:ZeroWorking!!Assassination ClassroomBlack Rock ShooterGekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kunNo Game No LifeFood Wars

17. biggest anime crush

Akeno Himejima from High School DxD~ (Ara ara ufufufu~)

18.10 worst anime you have watched

Sword Art OnlineSchool DaysAttack on TitanValkyrie Drive MermaidDangan Ronpa 3: Future ArcHimouto Umaru-ChanNetoge no YomeMusaigen no Phantom WorldRakudai Kishi no CavalryGATE.

19. favorite anime ships

Todoroki Yachiyo & Jun Satou from Working!! & Raku & Onodera from Nisekoi. I KNOW WE LOST THE WAR. BUT AAAAAAA

20. least favorite anime ships

Raku & Chitoge from Nisekoi. Also, as much as she did NOTHING wrong, Subaru & Emilia from Re:Zero.

21. anime that made you cry, when

Endings of Angel Beats, Plastic Memories and the absolute hardest one was AnoHana.

22. age you started watching anime/person who introduced you to it.

I actually discovered it on my own when I was a kid! But I fell out of it and not until my first year of college, my friend  introduced me to High School DxD. AND IT WAS GLORIOUS.

23. unpopular character you love

Usagi Saionji from Anti Magic Academy: 35th Test Platoon.

24. popular character you hate

KIRITO FROM SAO. I CANNOT EXPRESS MY HATE ENOUGH FOR MR. GOD MODE + PLOT CONVENIENCE.

25. anime you would recommend to someone who hates anime

ToraDora & Kill la Kill are a good ones to start!

26. manga you have read all the was through

DON’T OWN ANY.

27. anime you plan to watch in the future

There’s a 4th season of High School DxD coming out! HYPEEEEE

28. most upsetting moment in anime, why

“I love Emilia.” YOU ALL KNOW WHY

29. anime that deserves another season

One Punch Man & AGAIN, Gekkan Shoujo. NEED IT.

30. one anime conclusion you would change

Death Parade. I MUST KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!!