High School DxD BorN Series Review

High School DxD BorN is the third season of the famous harem series, and to be honest, I’m almost surprised that it lasted this long. Since I’m the type to push aside seasons of anime I am not a huge fan of at a later date, this one had slipped my to-watch list for a very long time. However, I managed to actually watch the entire season without too much of a sweat!

Now, let’s be real here. I wrote similar reviews on the first season and the second season. To be honest, the third season is not all that different. High School DxD BorN keeps a lot of the ecchi and harem themes of the previous seasons, and in fact, it only seems to grow every season in the amount of unabashed nudity and of course the number of girls that slip into Issei’s (main protagonist) bed at night.

Don’t get me wrong, I love these girls. Part of the reason my interest lasted for three seasons is these lovely characters. Their personalities are amusing and the situations that they find themselves in are no doubt hilarious.

High School DxD stars Issei Hyodou as he is introduced to a world of supernatural creatures, including angels and demons. He becomes one of them after a brush in with one of them. Ever since he’s been living out his life as a demon in… non-peace. It should be noted that this new life came with a group of beautiful girls. If you’re unfamiliar with the main character, one of the key-traits of his personality is his great love for breasts. He loves seeing them, loves touching them, etc. He’s a Grade-A pervert… with a conscience.

Since this anime involves a harem (and it actually self-identifies as the ‘harem king’) the majority of the girls in the anime end up falling madly in love/lust with the main protagonist, and for a guy who has obvious needs, one would think that he’d be falling over his ass to accept the love of these beautiful girls. Fortunately (or unfortunately?), Issei is an earnest idiot who practices consent.

Plot-wise, High School DxD BorN is an overall meh, but we are not here for the plot, are we? If you’re not new to anime, then you’re familiar with the long waiting periods in-between seasons (for anime) and volumes (for mangas.) This is normal, after all. Not only does the mangaka have to write the story but they have to draw the illustrations for it as well. This serious lag between content is what caused this meh of a season. We got stuck in a point of the story where not much was happening and nothing big enough to be consequential happened during this season. I would assume, that this means, that the next season will be a lot bigger plot-wise.

As for technical aspects, not much has changed between High School DxD BorN and the first two seasons. It should be noted that the art and animation have started to look more modern. An obvious effort was made to improve the overall feel. The new art gave the 2-D animations a more 3-D feel and the voice acting is still great.

Ultimately, High School DxD BorN, is a pretty solid anime. The battles and the main story arcs could have been better. However, the characters themselves were well-rounded and the fanservice is abundant. Nudity and crass language are ever present. The characters are more than happy to indulge in their guilty pleasures.

Here is a quick rundown of the pros and cons!

Plus:

The female characters are loveable and hilarious
Female character development incoming
High School DxD remains unabashed about everything.
The anime is stepping up on its art and animations! It looks much more modern and more 3-D looking.

Minus:

The story arcs are a little stagnant
Not something you can watch in public

If you’re not a part of the intended target audience (teenage boys), then you might not find this to be suitable for you. However, it is a ball of laughs, one that might be worth the blunt storyline for. I’d say give it a chance if you liked the previous seasons.