AniManga: Highschool DxD

 

Summer is in full effect and Holland is hot. It's been so hot I would gladly take a trip somewhere cold for a vacation.

I just finished watching season 1 of the AniManga, Highschool DxD. Season two has already begun and the first three episodes have been good.  

Highschool DxD is about a boy named Issei Hyodo who becomes a demon when he gets killed by a girl on his first date.  Issei gets resurrected by Rias Gremory a high ranking, she-devil and heir to the Gremory clan. He is given the option to serve as her slave or die. It's later revealed that the girl who killed Issei was a fallen angel, and she did it because she sensed he had power.

The show is funny and full of fan service.The first season follows Issei as he learns what it means to be a demon, while going to school. Issei attends a former all girls high school. He and his two friends are perverted teens in love with the female form. I can honestly say Issei reminds me a little of myself at 15. He loves breasts more than anything else and spends a good deal of time trying to see and feel them. 

His master Rias Gremory is aware of Issei's lecherous mentality and uses her large breasts to motivate him in his demon training. Issei must learn to control the hidden power within him called a Boosted Gear. The entire back story to what the Boosted Gears are and how their bestowed has yet to be revealed. Hopefully it will be fully explained in season two.

The main protagonists in season one were other demon clans. The Gremory clan along with a few other clans make-up the royalty in hell.  The story takes place after the last great war where Satan was killed and the older brother of Rias Gremory takes his place. The enemies of demons are the Angels which exorcise the evil ones using holy swords. The swords are blessed by god and even the slightest scratch can kill a demon.  There are also fallen angels which are angels who move between hell and heaven. They are more like mercenaries who do assassinations and seem to be as corrupt as demons.

In between the laughter and fan service there is a lot of action and battles. The fight sequences are a mix of magic and swordplay with a little martial arts. Demons organize their slaves into teams based off chess. Issei is a "Pawn." Rias is the "King." She also has a Queen, Rook, and Knight as part of her team.When they go to war with a rival clan, they show the moves of the pieces on a chess board.

The swords are a main plot of season two. The most powerful holy sword is called Excalibur and it was broken into 7 smaller swords to better distribute its power. When the church separated Excalibur into pieces they experimented on children to see which were compatible. When they couldn't find a match, they killed the children. There was one survivor of the experiment and he serves as the knight of Rias Gremory. Both the church and the demon clans want the Excalibur swords destroyed. The  problem is that rogue priests and fallen angels have them and the church and Gremory clan have to unite to defeat them. 

If you like action packed, comedy, shounen, anime....check out this series. I posted a clip from a battle between the Gremory Clan and Pheonix Clan below.