High School DxD BorN

Episode 29

Nobody who saw the end of this season's episode 4 (episode 28 overall) should have really expected that Issei was going to be left dead. It was just a matter of what contrivance would be used to get him back from what were clearly mortal injuries. Somewhat surprisingly, the series actually didn't have to pull something out of its ass to keep him alive (unlike a certain other recent fan service-heavy series I could name), as the key to his survival was specifically planted back in episode 2: the gift that Ravel Phoenix gave to him at the party, whose significance Issei failed to appreciate at the time, apparently contained another vial of curative Phoenix Tears. Hence Issei gets to unleash his beatdown on Loki using Mjolnir after all (and, in an amusing bit of timing, on the same weekend that a live-action Thor is unleashing all sorts of beatdown with Mjolnir in the Avengers sequel). Loki's departing words suggest that some manner of curse has been laid on Issei as a takeaway, although its impact is not apparent by the end of the episode. Hence whatever diabolical fury Rias's power was building towards at the end of last episode, that Akeno and Sona are so worried about at the beginning of this episode, does not get unleashed, which suggests that this was merely a foreshadowing of what we will actually see towards the end of the season.

The devils and Valkyrie had some help, however. A couple of the Chaos Brigade members (including Koneko's sister) show up long enough to spirit away Fenrir for their own as-yet-undisclosed purposes. The dread challenge of “summer school homework” awaits some of them on their return to the human world, with Xenovia and Asia getting help from Rossweisse (who continues to lament her inability to get a man) and Issei getting help from Akeno, who also takes him out on a date. Though Rias gave permission, the other girls still insist on not-so-unobtrusively spying on them (see the screenshot). Encountering Odin and Barkiel while giving the others the slip brings to a head Akeno's own issues about her relationship with Barkiel (i.e., her father), whom Akeno blames for her mother's death since he wasn't around when she was killed protecting a young Akeno. When she tries to use Issei to forget (yes, in that way), some weird magical effect happens which calls out her true memories of the time and helps her realize that she maybe hasn't been entirely fair about it all. Hence the episode ends with a possible gesture of reconciliation; bento have often been used in anime to symbolize one character's feelings towards another, but on this occasion it packs more meaning, and thus is more touching, than most.

As surprising as it is to say about a series like this, the aforementioned scene actually does carry a bit of emotional weight, and the presence of the fan service elsewhere in the episode (the nudity is back) does not detract from that. Its execution is still far short of one of the true tearjerkers, but the sentiment is there. It and the earlier scene of Koneko napping with her head in Issei's lap, which indicates both her acceptance of her nature and of Issei's efforts to help her with that, mark the conclusion of two of the three major early character development pushes, which now leaves only Rias – but that will likely be a full-season endeavor. Where the deal with the curse Loki supposedly placed on Issei goes should also be interesting to see. On the downside, the temporary intervention of the Chaos Brigade does sap some of the drama from Issei's eventual defeat of Loki.

The technical merits of the episode vary. Akeno looks great in regular clothing, and the other girls are satisfyingly goofy in their spying get-ups, but her date sequence with Issei is entirely composed of stills. However, the musical score, which has always been a plus, really shines here, especially in supporting the more peaceful moments. It is a major factor in making this into a good and satisfying episode overall.

English Dub of Episode 1: , The streaming dub for the series was announced only a couple of hours before episode 5/29 aired, so I checked it out, too. In my review of the first season I was ambivalent about the dub, as I regarded it as having a mix of stronger and weaker performances, but I was more positive about it in my review of the second season. My evaluation of the new dub, which features replacements in two key roles, is more in line with the latter. Josh Grelle, who already has extensive experience as the male lead for harem franchises like Date A Live and Infinite Stratos, is, as expected, a virtually seamless replacement for Scott Freeman's excellent earlier efforts. Kelly Angel makes her anime debut as the replacement for Teri Rogers as Akeno, and that will take a bit more getting used to. She is a decent fit vocally but has a noticeably different vocal quality than Rogers and does not come across as quite as sultry as the original Japanese performance. Rogers also took a little while to develop that aspect of Akeno, though, so this should improve with time. All other returning roles retained their original English performers, so if you liked them before, you will still like them now. Casting for new characters also seems okay; exactly who was voicing Kuroka wasn't announced but she seems a reasonable match for the husky original Japanese performance. As before, the script zings with all sorts of creative slang, although some of it is maybe a little too creative. (“Shogun of Harlem” in reference to Issei?) It definitely livens up even further what was already a pretty vocally lively series.

Rating – Episode 5: B+

Rating – English dub: B+

High School DxD BorN is currently streaming on Funimation.