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Meanderings
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Thursday, 26 January 2012 01:12 |
Issei Hyodo's high-school life hasn't been quite what he'd hoped: he'd enrolled in a formerly all-girls academy in the hope of forming a little harem around himself, but nearly 2 years later he's still depressingly single. But good fortune arrive in the form of Amano Yuma, who's been watching him from afar and wants to be his girlfriend - but, on their first date, she turns into a devil and stabs him in the stomach. Luckily, he's saved by flame-haired Rias Gremory, the buxom president of the school's Occult Research Club. Which is when things really start to get weird...
Right. Off the bat: I was expecting to hate this, as the pre-season "hype" for it was not good. It's publicity also rubbed me up the wrong way, with talk of "normal, perverted boy" and "formerly all-girls school" invoking epic eyeroll before I ever got to see it. And then Funico picked it up for simulcast, honour demanded I at least check it out, and, y'know, it really isn't all that bad. With certain provisos.
Explanation. I was talking about fanservice on Twitter before I got to the series: specifically, how fanservice does not equal quality - but that fanservice can, occasionally, make up for quality. Highschool DxD falls firmly into that category. There is a story here that could even come into play in a big way - the three-way war between devils, fallen angels, and angels of the more heavenly variety, and how Issei's "Sacred Gear" could have an effect on that - but for now, it's all about the t&a. Which is fine - it's done in a visually appealing way, and since I appreciate a good dose of gratuitous fanservice from time to time (and this is the only fanservice show that I've picked up so far this season), it works for me. I hope it'll kick into story mode before too long, because the setup for that is clearly there but, y'know: I'll probably stick with it anyway.
THE GOOD: If you enjoy t&a shows, this should be right up your alley. It's heavy on the fanservice, but not in an entirely tasteless way.
THE BAD: If you don't enjoy t&a shows, there's not much else here (so far) to give you any sort of reason to watch it.
It's just a shame the Funico stream isn't the unedited version, but you can't have everything. In the "mindless fun" category, it's good enough to keep an eye on.
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Backbites 
