High School DxD Hero

Episode 11

High School DxD has always been pretty good, but rarely have I felt that it even approached greatness in anything beyond its fanservice. Episode 11 is one of those rare times. I'd even go so far as to say that this is the best action-focused episode of the franchise to date, and maybe its best episode period. I was expecting some potent fights with Sairaorg now ready to rumble, but this skirmish exceed my expectations!

Sairaorg is the key to all of it, too. The early-season episode where he sparred with Issei gave us a taste of what he can do, but with no holds barred, we can finally see why he was considered to be a 12-point piece. He's a tremendous physical specimen, a rare anime muscleman who's convincingly proportioned, and he proves to have the raw power, speed, durability, and fighting skill to go toe-to-toe with even the strongest foes. His fight against Kiba, Xenovia, and Rossweisse was exciting and dynamic, with the other three able to get their blows in before being trounced, forcing him to use his Phoenix Tear to recover a severed arm. Yeah, they couldn't ultimately stop him, but it was an effective strategic play nonetheless. The story then wisely acknowledged that Issei going up against Sairaorg's queen wasn't going to be a worthwhile fight, cutting it short by having Sairaorg retire her before Issei landed a potentially deadly hit. Then it solved the problem that I have been harping about for the last couple of episodes – that the whole dice-rolling thing was going to be an issue eventually – by having Sairaorg propose the most sensible thing, that the final combatants should square off as a group.

That leaves Rias and Issei against Sairaorg and his Pawn, who turns out to be the legendary Lion of Numea. Unsurprisingly, pure-caster Rias is at a disadvantage against him, while Issei squares off against Sairaorg more or less evenly, though I still think this is contributing evidence to the way Rias has been downplayed all season. As stupid as I normally find his “I have to defeat you at full strength or it won't mean anything” bravado when Issei insists on donning the Lion of Numea as a suit, I did feel that it served the purpose of necessary power escalation quite well. Issei's internal experience as he lay on the precipice of being knocked out was also standard fare, and the previous wielders encouraging him to go Juggernaut Drive was expected, but I found this scene to also be handled much better than normal, to the point that it didn't feel trite. Maybe the excellent use of music had something to do with it. Whatever the case, Issei looks sharper than ever in that final shot, the culmination of what he's been striving to be.

If I have one quibble about this episode, it's that Issei's anger seems out of proportion to what's going on. He knows it's a contest and that Sairaorg wasn't seriously trying to kill or be sadistic. I get that he doesn't like seeing his friends get beaten, but going into a killing-level rage over what happened is excessive. Still, the season finale next week faces quite the challenge in equaling or topping this one.

Rating: A

High School DxD Hero is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.