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EP. REVIEW: High School DxD BorN


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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Sun Apr 12, 2015 9:39 am Reply with quote
Lol, so the harem king is back huh? The first two episodes were what I had expected despite some parts cut out. Issei's chemistry with the cast still remains amusing to watch though while there are new developments in the story in particular with spoiler[Koneko] lately.

I think they can capture all the most important events at this rate. I kinda like the series so far with the direction it's going.
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the-antihero



Joined: 17 Aug 2010
Posts: 726
PostPosted: Sun Apr 12, 2015 9:43 am Reply with quote
I hope this season fixes some of the crap they did in the 2nd season as it goes along. spoiler[Making God dead and Gasper's disturbing character traits. I really don't get why Ishibumi had to make these stupid decisions.]

Last edited by the-antihero on Sun Apr 12, 2015 11:35 am; edited 1 time in total
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Hameyadea



Joined: 23 Jun 2014
Posts: 3679
PostPosted: Sun Apr 12, 2015 10:52 am Reply with quote
Episodes #1-2:
(This post is based on the uncensored version)

The 1st episode leaves no room of doubting this show's premise - Tits & Ass. by the 10 seconds mark of Episode 1, we see Hyōdō Issei in his (recently remodeled) house, with a lot of other shots of T&A to follow.

After his fight with Possessor of the Vanishing Dragon Albion, Vali Lucifer, at the end of the franchise's 2nd season - High School DxD New - Issei and the rest of the Occult Research Club are going to the Underworld for a mandatory shōnen-shows trope: Summer Training Camp. During the train (!) ride there, Issei and the Club President Rias Gremory notice that Tōjō Koneko acts a bit odd; she's a bit more reclusive than usual and somewhat not concentrating both during the meeting and on the train. And with that, the general tone for these two episodes was set.

The art style of the show has, IMO, improved compared to New's. The characters have sharper models and better outlines overall. I thought that some of New's scenes looked a bit smudged in places, but maintained a fairly constant feel. I think the same about BorN's art (sans the smudgeness). The animation sequences during the fight/training with the dragon Tan'nin had a certain crispness to them, and the Training Montage of the other Club members were a feast; Kiba Yūto's sword swings looked like they were heavy and hard to perform (as they should), and Koneko's boxing had a sense of swiftness to her punches and sways. It is too bad that Akeno's training wasn't shown, but since that most likely was done to keep her results as a surprise to the viewer (I hope), I can understand the reasoning.

But one cannot describe DxD's art without mentioning the T&A, so here we go. spoiler[The designs of the females is as good as it was all the way from the first season. The aforementioned smugdeness wasn't present during any of the nude scenes (but it did, at times, during the calmer scenes, and a bit more during battle scenes, which was a shame). Unlike most ecchi shows, like this Spring Season's Triage X or the previous Season's Isuca, this show's breasts look real (or at least not placed in a some physical-bending universe). From an artistic point of view, it is worth mentioning that they haven't copy-pasted the breasts artwork from character to character, like in Triage X's case, but gave each female character an appropriate look and aesthetic that matched the character design.] While I still have some things to write on the subject, I'll refrain from doing so since I think I've made my point clear by now, and I feel and elaborating any further would be like treading water.

If I would have to pick a bone with BorN, however, it would most likely be over the voice-work. While Hikasa Yōko's (Rias Gremory), Asakura Azumi's (Asia Argento) and Itō Shizuka's (Himejima Akeno) voice-work make for a pleasant listening, Kaji Yūki's (Issei) voice does not, and being the voice of the male lead makes it a bit troublesome for me. I think that Kaji Yūki can voice perverted characters - I liked his performance as Yokodera Yōto in Hentai Ōji to Warawanai Neko. - but in this series (and I'm referring to the 3 seasons) he tries to oversell the part. Fortunately, he isn't unlistenable, he "only" sounds a little too overzealous - and no, I don't count that as part of the character's persona, since there were moments in other shows were he had small relapses during a scene or two.

Those two episodes were engaging and interesting throughout their run-time, and the last scene in Episode #2 - the meeting between Koneko and her elder sister spoiler[Kuroka] (I don't think her name was revealed in the show yet) - served as a great hook for Episode #3, without it feeling like a forced or annoying one.


Last edited by Hameyadea on Sun Apr 12, 2015 11:07 am; edited 2 times in total
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Zuwaiss



Joined: 09 Jan 2015
Posts: 59
PostPosted: Sun Apr 12, 2015 11:06 am Reply with quote
Correcting the review, the boy they met wasn't Rias' younger brother, but Sirzech's son.

And it seems Funi still can't fix Sirzech's name to what it should be, oh well...
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Izanagi009



Joined: 20 Oct 2014
Posts: 464
Location: Pittsburgh, PA, USA
PostPosted: Sun Apr 12, 2015 2:39 pm Reply with quote
I like the show but one concern I have is the pacing of all the plot elements

As someone who has read the light novels spoiler[ the meeting of the Asgardian gods, Loki's attack, the ratting game between Sona and Rias, The rating game between Sairoag and Rias, and the arrival of the hero faction] seems to be compressed a bit. This makes me concerned that they are trying to compress too many of the light novels into 13 episodes if this is indeed going to be a one cour season. If it isn't then my concerns will be resolved but I still have some reservations
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ValkyrieZeroZeroOne



Joined: 06 Apr 2005
Posts: 432
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Sun Apr 12, 2015 5:35 pm Reply with quote
Izanagi009 wrote:
I like the show but one concern I have is the pacing of all the plot elements

As someone who has read the light novels spoiler[ the meeting of the Asgardian gods, Loki's attack, the ratting game between Sona and Rias, The rating game between Sairoag and Rias, and the arrival of the hero faction] seems to be compressed a bit. This makes me concerned that they are trying to compress too many of the light novels into 13 episodes if this is indeed going to be a one cour season. If it isn't then my concerns will be resolved but I still have some reservations


The DxD Wikia is listing that it will cover Books 5-7. It also lists the first six episode titles, which has the title of the first chapter of Book 6 starting in the sixth episode. That doesn't leave a lot for Book Seven if it's only a one-cour season. Previous DxD seasons aired 12 episodes, not 13 (and the "13th" episode was always an OVA which was either a side story from one of the compilation volumes ("Episode 13" of Season One) or a completely new story that was either included only in the home video release or included on a bonus disc distributed with a special edition of certain volumes of the light novels.

Have they actually listed an episode count anywhere? Nothing that I've read has actually mentioned how many episodes this season will have.

I echo the previous comment that Millicas Gremory is in fact Sirzechs' son, and by extension Rias' nephew. That's explicitly stated.

I'll never understand where the translators at Funimation got the idea that the "Sir" in Sirzechs was a title like a knight's... it's always pronounced as a single word.
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Tuor_of_Gondolin



Joined: 20 Apr 2009
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 12, 2015 6:06 pm Reply with quote
ValkyrieZeroZeroOne wrote:
I'll never understand where the translators at Funimation got the idea that the "Sir" in Sirzechs was a title like a knight's... it's always pronounced as a single word.

For the same reason that Lord Genome is spelled Lordgenome in TTGL. I think that it has something to do with the translation between Japanese and English. After all, in English, we don't combine names and titles like Kuro-Sensei which might come out Teacherkuro.

I think calling him Sir Zechs makes more sense for English-speaking audiences than Sirzechs does, so I'm fine with Funimation doing it that way.
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Zuwaiss



Joined: 09 Jan 2015
Posts: 59
PostPosted: Mon Apr 13, 2015 12:31 am Reply with quote
Tuor_of_Gondolin wrote:

For the same reason that Lord Genome is spelled Lordgenome in TTGL. I think that it has something to do with the translation between Japanese and English. After all, in English, we don't combine names and titles like Kuro-Sensei which might come out Teacherkuro.

I think calling him Sir Zechs makes more sense for English-speaking audiences than Sirzechs does, so I'm fine with Funimation doing it that way.


You'd think everyone else would translate it that way, if it was intented to be such, don't you? And besides, if Sirzechs would be a "Sir" (which could be understandable, due to being the current Lucifer), why aren't the other members of the Four Great Satans called "Sir" (or something similar for females, like Serafall)? It's just smells like a translation mistake, plain and simple.
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OutCastLV



Joined: 06 Sep 2014
Posts: 17
PostPosted: Mon Apr 13, 2015 11:50 am Reply with quote
so far not bad..i like the development...even if they cut it short a bit...

i just hope they wont try to rush too many LN chapter in one go....if so..than that will suck hard Razz
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Docoda



Joined: 26 Dec 2014
Posts: 10
PostPosted: Sun Apr 19, 2015 10:11 am Reply with quote
Review writer on EP3. I have to point out a mistake you did.
spoiler[It was not Akeno's father that teleported Loki and Fenrir away. It was Ajuka Beelzebub, one of the satans, that did it.]

If you review, make sure you got your facts correct. It's kinda getting irritating to see so many reviews with mistakes popping up.
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Izanagi009



Joined: 20 Oct 2014
Posts: 464
Location: Pittsburgh, PA, USA
PostPosted: Sun Apr 19, 2015 10:13 am Reply with quote
Well, I was right about one thing

They are definably compressing plot threads together as Kuroka's appearance and Loki's introduction were not in the same novel or day in world.

this could mean that they are omitting spoiler[the Rias vs. Sona rating game which has Issei introduce bilingual] not sure if that's a good thing or not.


Last edited by Izanagi009 on Sun Apr 19, 2015 1:36 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Kadmos1



Joined: 08 May 2014
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 19, 2015 10:20 am Reply with quote
We get to the anime physics of a buxom demonic anime girl's nipples in this episode.
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Some Otaku



Joined: 19 Apr 2015
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Sun Apr 19, 2015 11:51 am Reply with quote
I don't like it when there is a major difference from the original source material at all. If I'm not wrong, there's suppose to be a rating game between Rias's group and Sona's group happening afterwards, not a battle with Loki and Fenrir, which is supposed to happen later on in the story. Maybe they're doing this just to combine 2 volumes (volume 5 and 7) of the light novels into 1? imo, things will come out really messy if that is the case.

And also, whats with the lousy character designs for Loki (just for his hair though), Fenrir (with horn-like things sticking out on both sides of his body, seriously?) and Ajuka? They're horrible...

And also, in the review, Koneko's older sister name is not Kuroko, it's Kuroka.
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Kadmos1



Joined: 08 May 2014
Posts: 13540
Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP
PostPosted: Sun Apr 19, 2015 2:18 pm Reply with quote
Considering the show has various buxom girls and the Japanese Issei is the Japanese Eren Jeager, I find that this show is an "Attack on Titan" series of a different sorts. That is, Issei wants to grope the large boobs.
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SilverTalon01



Joined: 02 Apr 2012
Posts: 2401
PostPosted: Sun Apr 19, 2015 6:38 pm Reply with quote
I found the serious / desperate tones the VAs were using along with the serious background music made the power up thing absolutely hilarious. I was watching the episode while eating dinner and I almost choked on my food. That scene was so well done... which made the whole Fenrir thing really sad. I thought Loki's design was alright as I kind of expect Loki to look goofy, but what a lame looking Fenrir.

Also while I would rather them not rush things as I usually find LN adaptions rather weak when they try to cram an unreasonable amount of volumes into a single season, if the only thing they're cutting / drastically reducing the time spent on is the spoiler[Sitri rating game] then I probably won't mind too much as I found that to be pretty boring. spoiler[ Bilingual] does come up again later though so I wonder how they will handle it if they skip that.

Quote:
This episode also introduces the other character featured prominently in the closer: Rossweisse, the business suit-wearing woman with the long gray hair, who is apparently a Valkyrie that, in Odin's own words, has had trouble securing a man, something which she must be so mortified about that it must be a major concern for her. Setting aside how tired and sexist that is (even by fan service show standards), that is presumably her ticket to fitting into the harem scenario, as it appears that she will be a regular at Rias's school starting next episode.


Wait what... I wouldn't be shocked to see other reviewers go there, but I didn't see that coming. I mean the tired part sure, fair enough. Sexist? Seriously? The series played the exact same freaking card with Issei's friends and they are mocked and have dramatic responses to not being able to get a girl friend.

If anything, calling it sexist seems in itself sexist because it sounds like you're implying that a female character shouldn't be treated like the male characters. Now I realize that probably isn't what you meant, but that is how it sounds to me at a glance.
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