*Previously on Project Nitsuj*
*Seras is on top of Nitsuj punching him as he screams for mercy*
(Nitsuj): Ahh~ I’m sorry~! I’ll never do it again~!
*After throwing three more punches, Seras gets as Nitsuj lies on the ground in the pain*
(Seras): The next time you review Highschool DxD you better call me or else.
*She then stomps on Nitsuj’s stomach before walking away*
*Present Day*
(Nitsuj): Hello and welcome to Nitsuj. You know, it’s hard to believe it’s been 7 years since the last season of Highschool DxD.
(Seras): Considered a gold standard for harem/ecchi anime. Highschool DxD went on quite the run in the 2010s with multiple seasons, specials, and OVAs only to go silent in 2020s.
(Nitsuj): Despite multiple rumors online saying another season is in production, there’s been no word or trailer of another season as of yet, but fans still hold on to hope that another season will drop in the days to come.
(Seras): In the meantime, we’re stuck with their fourth season titled Hero. Released in 2018 and now under the production of Passione (Interspecies Reviewers and Rail Wars) after TNK botched the third season with their original ending, Passione promised to stay loyal to the source material and get anime on the right path. How did they do? Let’s fight out.
(Nitsuj): Let’s get ready to boosto! This is Highschool DxD Hero.
Opening and Ending Theme
(Seras): Our opening is “Switch” by Minami. The instrumental is awesome and Minami’s voice is nice as well. Don’t much else to say about this opening.
(Nitsuj): The ending is “Motenai Kuse ni (`ω´)” by Tapimiru. Honestly, the ending left no impression on me when I first watched it and it doesn’t leave one on me now. Even without the distracting fanservice that went along with this ending I still wouldn’t remember this song.
Special and Episodes 1-4
(Seras): So the new season of Highschool DxD starts surprisingly enough with the Diodora battle where Asia gets killed and Issei activates his juggernaut drive where he kills Shalba and then proceeds to keep going berserk which slowly kills him. Vali and his group show up with Asia and Irina shows up with the secret weapon to calm Issei down, the Oppai Dragon song (Nitsuj: A show for kids in the underworld. I really do wish they would have sang the song like an action hero opening). With Issei distracted by this strangeness (honestly, how are they keeping a straight face?) Vali comes in to knock some sense into him which allows him to regain his consciousness and calm down. Finally, Rias comes in and has Issei touch her breast which returns him to normal. Then Great Red shows up (Great Red: I’m back again bitches) and we also get to see Ophis the leader of the Chaos Brigade who takes the form of a loli. We end the episode with the school’s sports festival where Issei and Asia win the three-legged race and Asia confesses her love to Issei and kisses him (Nitsuj: Good for you Asia. You solidified yourself as Issei’s second wife).
The anime officially begins in episode 1. Issei, Asia, Xenovia, and Kiba are going on a class trip to Kyoto (huh, usually it’s the second and third years who go to Kyoto). So, since Issei is going to be gone for a few days Akeno, Rias, and Koneko use the time they have to have fun with Issei. Like, at the start of the episode Akeno tries to have fun with him in bed (Nitsuj: They just keep getting better each season), Koneko does her healing magic on Issei at school, and much later in the episode Rias allows Issei to enjoy her body for the night (Nitsuj: I mean, how has he not slept with any of them yet? They’re practically throwing themselves at him). The highlight of the episode comes when the group goes to Rias’s family mansion to visit her folks. While there they come across Sairaorg the cousin of Rias and the strongest of all the young devils. Zirech tells Rias that her next rating game will be against Sairaorg but before the match he wants to have a sparring match with Issei and he accepts. Issei and Sairaorg spar where for the first time ever we see a demon who isn’t a total douche to Issei. Despite Sairaorg’s overwhelming strength which puts him ahead of everyone, he respects Issei. He knows that Issei’s no slouch, he’s aware of his accomplishments and who he’s faced, and the truth is the two are alike. Sairaorg started at the bottom much like Issei despite being in a noble family. He trained himself day in and day out to achieve his dream of one day leading the devils (Nitsuj: He understands the value and meaning of hard work). The two continue their sparring match where it’s clear that Sairaorg is the stronger of the two but despite this Issei doesn’t lose heart and continues to fight him where he’s able to hurt Sairaorg (Sairaorg may be stronger, but he’s not out of Issei’s reach). They decide to call it quits with Issei and Sairaorg vowing to face each other again in the rating game. The episode ends with the day of the school trip and Issei getting on the train after receiving a kiss from Rias (Nitsuj: Boy if the other students saw that they would have killed him).
At the start of episode 2 we see Issei trying to talk to the former red dragons before (Nitsuj: Sort of like Avatar? (Seras): Yes). Before leaving for his trip, Azazel told Issei that if he wants to unlock a new drive that’s safer than the Juggernaut drive, then he must quell the lingering grief of the previous red dragons within him. In order to do that, he allows his subconscious to drift into his gauntlet where he comes face to face with the former red dragons but they don’t respond to him (these guys look stoned off their asses). He’s tried communicating with them multiple times but has no luck until he finally meets Elsha the strongest female red dragon (Nitsuj: And all around sexy lady. I bet Ddraig was glad he got stuck with her). She, along with Belzard the strongest red dragon that ever lived (he beat the white dragon twice) never really show themselves to others but they’ve made an exception for Issei as they’ve come to like him and find him interesting (he’s like the perverted child they never wanted but somehow got and came to love him). Elsha gives Issei a box courtesy of Belzard which is said to contain the potential of the red dragon. Thanks to a key he got from the current Beelzebub he’s able to open it but the potential runs off and starts going into other people which turns them into perverts (oh my God, I think the Jacks are possessed by this thing. (Nitsuj): I seriously doubt that). Ddraig says not to worry as since it’s Issei’s potential, it’ll eventually come back to him one way or another. The group finally arrives in Kyoto where Issei gets a small Japanese style room all to himself which will serve as the meeting spot for our young devils. They then check out the sights where Issei gets attacked by youkai at a shrine being led by a young kitsune who claims that the devils kidnapped her mom (does she have big breasts? If so I have a good guess who took her. (Nitsuj): Don’t look at me, I already stole one fox from a temple, so my quota is filled). Issei and the others manage to fight off the youkai and report what happened to them to Azazel who says he’ll look into it. Later on, Issei tries to peek in on the girls bathing but standing in his way is Rossweisse. The two have a fun fight where Issei manages to break dress her (Nitsuj: Nice proportions indeed). Issei along with the other devils there get called in by Azazel who tells them that the devil faction is trying to form a pact with the youkai in Kyoto however their leader Yasaka, a ninetailed-fox has gone missing and they believe the Khaos Brigade is behind it.
In episode 3 Issei and the others get pulled from their school trip and go to the yokai realm where they meet Kunou the daughter of Yasaka and current leader of the youkai in Kyoto. They clear up the misunderstanding from last episode and agree to work together to find Yasaka. After that not much really happens until the end. We get an ecchi situation between Issei, Asia, Xenovia, and Irina where Asia kisses Issei, Xenovia tries to have sex with him (Nitsuj: That girl is a go-getter), and Irina does her best to keep her composure so she won’t become a fallen angel. The next day Kunou takes them on a tour of Kyoto where they get sucked into a dimensional gap and come face to face with members of the Khaos Brigade.
In the first half of episode 4 the devils (Nitsuj: Plus, one angel and fallen angel) take on the Hero Faction of the Khaos Brigade led by Cao Cao (a descendent of the original Cao Cao from The Three Kingdoms). Azazel takes on Cao Cao himself while the others take on the other members of the Hero Faction with Issei taking command and telling everyone what to do (wow, the pervert takes a command and gets things done. The world is ending). Rossweisse shows up drunk and unleashes a barrage of attacks on everyone and member of Vali’s team named Le Fey Dragon shows up with a god destroyer to punish Cao Cao for acting on his own but he takes it out himself. We also see that Le Fey is a fan of Issei (Nitsuj: Then drop the zero and get with the one who likes to get ero. (Seras): You talking about Issei or you?). Cao Cao decides to retreat but he tells them that the Hero Faction will conducting an experiment at Nijo Castle tonight with Yasaka as the test subject. In the second half the devils get ready to raid Nijo Castle and rescue Yasaka. The members of the student council along with Azazel will be on defense and defend the hotel while Issei, the members of the Gremory family, Irina, and Saji will go on offense and attack Nijo Castle with Issei once again taking the role of commander (Nitsuj: His first order. All girls must show him their boobs). Before they head out Azazel hands Issei a red sphere which Ddraig says is his potential (Nitsuj: We sure that belongs to Issei? (Seras): It’s been going around Kyoto and turning everyone into molesters. (Nitsuj): Yep, it’s Issei’s). They meet up with Kunou at the train station who wants to go with them to save her mom and they allow it. They get pulled into another dimensional gap where they all get separated. Issei and Kunou are together and get attacked by a member of Khaos who can control shadows and who Issei fought before in the past. He activates his balance breaker mode (first Azazel now him. I thought the balance breaker mode was only reserved for those with special talents) which gives him armor identical to Issei (Nitsuj: Except it’s made of shadows which makes it slightly cooler). Issei’s attacks have no effect on him and he soon finds himself at the mercy of the shadow man.
Episodes 5-8
Episode 5 starts off with Issei beating the shadow guy by dousing him in the flames of the dragon and punching him in the face (one of my favorite forms of torture). Issei and Kunou meet back up with the others and they all reach the hideout of the Hero Faction where we find out that they’re plan is to use Yasaka and the chi of Kyoto to lure out Great Red so they can kill him here in Kyoto (Nitsuj: No~ fight him in Tokyo or Osaka. Kyoto doesn’t have supernatural insurance). Issei takes on Cao Cao, Kiba and Xenovia take on Siegfried, Rossweisse takes on Hercules, Irina takes Jeanne D’Arc, Saji tries to save Yasaka (and Asia and Kunou just stand there and look cute). We see that the Heroes each have a balance breaker mode which they use to take out the others (talk about a bargain sale. Way to downplay the balance breaker. (Nitsuj): Exactly. Although to be fair these guys did inherit the powers of some of history’s greatest heroes and legends, so them having a balance breaker is totally justified). As Issei sees all of friends and allies fall before him he cries over how weak he is and can’t perform at the crucial points in battle (the same can be said in the bedroom. (Nitsuj): Hee-ohh~) he receives a visit from Elsha who tells him to instead unlock the powers of the Red Dragon using what gives him power (Nitsuj: And what’s his nickname again? (Seras): The Oppai Dragon). Issei uses the orb given to him by Elsha which summons a legion of oppai zombies (think zombies except only a threat to females) and they create a summoning circle where Issei summons the pair of breasts that gives him power, Rias.
In episode 6 Issei pokes the breast of Rias (Nitsuj: What I would give to be that magnificent bastard right now) and awakens to the powers of the Red Dragon as Rias disappears. Issei fires shoulder cannons at the Hero Faction where they dodge it and then Issei promotes himself from bishop to knight to rook to deliver a flurry of attacks on Cao Cao who managed to defend against them all but admits that he would have died had he not had his spear to protect him. The dimensional gap finally opens and instead of Big Red coming out they instead get Yu-Long one of the five dragon kings and with him is his good buddy the Great Buddha. Buddha takes over where he manages to take out Siegfried and completely neutralizes Cao Cao’s holy spear (wow. I’m no Buddhist, but praise be to Buddha). Yu-Long manages to subdue Yasaka and the heroes decide to retreat but Issei just wants to get one good shot in on Cao Cao so he fires his arm cannon at him (Nitsuj: Issei has become Iron Man) where he manages to hit Cao Cao in the eye (Nitsuj: Oh~ he’s gonna need an eyepatch). It takes the other heroes to calm Cao Cao down but he vows to defeat Issei and show him the true power of his spear. With the heroes gone and Yasaka regaining her normal form (Nitsuj: She’s a FILF. (Baron): I bet she gives the best tail-jobs around). So the next day the group heads home where things with the youkai are looking good and Kunou obviously has a crush on Issei and will join his harem when she gets older (Nitsuj: If she grows up to look anything like her mom then I say Issei is a lucky man).
(Nitsuj): Episode 7 is a relaxing episode. In the first half Issei and the others are doing a hero show for kids who are fans of the Oppai Dragon (Seras: Oh my God, this got popular? (Nitsuj): Just goes to show you that with the right amount of marketing, anything can be used to corrupt the youth). The show is a success but one of the kids showed up late and missed the show and everything so Issei makes a surprise appearance in front of the boy to cheer him up. Rias saw Issei’s act of kindness and praises him for it (it was a nice gesture). Rias’ mom comes in and helps move the ship along by telling Issei to start calling her mother and telling Rias to properly tell Issei how she feels one day (Seras: No offence lady but your grandsons are going to be handsome, badass, and perverted bastards). In the second half we see that Ravel has transferred to Issei’s school as a 1st year student. While she’s popular among her classmates, she has a hard time interacting with them as she’s not sure how to interact with humans. Issei and Rias tried to get Koneko to befriend Ravel and help her out but she sees Ravel as more of a predator trying to sink her claws into Koneko’s property and Gasper is too afraid of her. After school we see everyone in the occult research club get the clubhouse ready for the fall festival where they’ll be doing fortune telling, a haunted house, and a café (three events in one place and having the hottest girls at the academy. They’re gonna clean house). As they’re working, Rias calls Issei to come with her to visit Sairaorg’s mother Misla at the request of his butler. We find out that when Sairaorg was born he didn’t have any demonic power nor did he inherit the power of destruction which was the staple of the family. Sairaorg was seen as an embarrassment to his family and Misla was abandoned by the man she loved for giving birth to a “faulty son”. Despite these hardships, Misla raised Sairaorg all by herself, encouraging him to make up for the areas that he lacked. Misla’s words worked as Sairaorg quickly rose through the rankings and came to be seen as the strongest of the young devils but just when things were going great, Misla was struck with a rare demonic disease that put her into a coma where in time she’ll die. The butler wants Issei to use his Boobing to speak to Misla’s chest (Seras: That’s what you’re calling it, The Boobing? As in the Shining? (Nitsuj): Quiet woman! I’m trying not to get sued here) in the hopes of making contact with her but it doesn’t work. Issei can’t hear her voice no matter how hard he tries. He even goes into balance breaker mode to strengthen his skills but can’t hear Misla’s voice at all. Sairaorg shows up and thanks them for trying to help his mother, and tells them he looks forward to their rating game.
Nothing much to say about episode 8. The group goes to a press conference for their rating game where it devolves into a Q&A about Rias’s breasts (Baron: Now there’s a panel I wouldn’t mind being a part of). The real story of the episode is with Issei and Rias and their relationship. Just like in the last season (actually all the way back to season 2), Rias wants to know what Issei really thinks about her. Is she just another person who Issei sees as nothing more than a friend who he wants to protect or is she something more to him? To Rias, Issei isn’t just her servant, he’s her savior, her hero, and the one person who she can be herself around. But the problem is there’s always been somewhat of a wall between them, a wall that keeps stopping them from going to the next level in their relationship and that wall is Raynare. Raynare really did mess up Issei, so much that he’s somewhat afraid of getting into a serious relationship as he’s afraid what happened with Raynare will happen again (Seras: And that’s something no one should go through). In the episode we see Rias try to show Issei that her feelings for him are much more than the others. She goes into the sauna with him, pushes him down, and then proceeds to kiss him where it looks like they’re about to go all the way (Seras: Probably not the safest place to have sex. (Nitsuj): Nope. But it is hot. In more ways than one) only to stop when Issei fails to call Rias by her name. This prompts Rias to asks Issei what he thinks about her and he simply says ‘president is president’ and she leaves (blue-balled in the sauna). At the end of episode she asks him the same question and he gives the same answer where this time she runs out crying and the others bash Issei for not understanding her feelings. This was my major gripe with this episode. Yes, I agree, Issei was being inconsiderate of Rias’s feelings but everyone else is being inconsiderate of his feelings. Issei was killed by Raynare, a girl who he thought liked him only to find out that she had no feelings for him whatsoever and was just toying with him for her own amusement. Issei was traumatized by this event so much that a part of him is afraid to go into a serious relationship because he believes what happened with Raynare will happen again. This is a mental battle that Issei must battle on his own (Seras: Better do it quick before he loses something valuable).
Episodes 9-12
If the end of episode 8 left a bad taste in your mouth, then episode 9 washes it out. It starts with Issei realizing that Rias has feelings for him and that he loves her not only as his master but also as a woman (a woman with an amazing body that real high school girls dream of having). However, he’s afraid to confess his feelings as he thinks he could be wrong and if he goes all in he’ll just wind up getting his feelings hurt and their relationship will be over (Seras: And I highly doubt he could take another hit like that and walk away stable). Akeno, Asia, and Koneko come in hearing him come to his realization where they strip and perform some healing arts on him where they too realize that they were being inconsiderate to Issei’s feelings. Asia asks Issei if he still thinks about Raynare and this causes him to shed tears. Despite the fact that he knows Raynare used him, killed him, and had no feelings for him whatsoever, she was still his first girlfriend (Seras: A bitch of a girlfriend but still a girlfriend). You have to remember, before Issei met Rias he was just seen as nothing more than a pervert. A social outcast, someone the girls would never even think about dating because he’s considered strange by the standards of the world. Raynare, disguised as a beautiful girl approached Issei and became his girlfriend where for the first time in his life he felt normal and could be accepted by the world. Except, she didn’t love him the way he loved her and as a result she hurt him emotionally, physically, and mentally. Issei’s no fool (a slight idiot yes) he knows that Akeno, Asia, Koneko, and the others have genuine feelings for him but a part of him is afraid to take that next step as he’s afraid he’ll be rejected by them the same way he was rejected by Raynare (Seras: Wow, that’s heavy. (Nitsuj): I would like to point out that the light novel actually did this scene way better on an emotional level. We see Issei cry all while saying “I’m actually scared of getting along with girls! I’m scared that if I took another step to get along well with everyone, everyone would just reject me and laugh at me! I know all of you aren’t bad inside my head but the more I think about it, the more it makes me want to stop! And I… don’t want… to taste the same thing ever again…”. This is where Issei is being completely honest with everyone. He’s put his heart out for everyone to see for the first time ever since the Raynare incident. It’s both sad and beautiful as we see someone we’ve gotten to know suffer from a scar so emotional and mental that it’s completely stopped him from developing a meaningful relationship with others). After putting his heart out there for the girls to see they all say that they love Issei more than anything, their feelings for him are genuine, and that he should have more courage to be honest with Rias (yes, be honest! Get you some of that glory). In the second half of the episode the group has arrived in the floating city of Agreas where the rating game will be held and everyone comes out to watch it. Even Raiser makes an appearance to wish Rias good luck and even gives his blessings to Issei and Ravel. Now unlike the previous rating games we’ve seen, this rating game will instead be done in rounds as the kings will send out their pieces to fight by rolling dice. Each piece has a different number value (i.e knights are worth 2 points, pawns 1 point etc.), each team has one phoenix tears, and if the king decides to enter a battle and gets defeated that’s an automatic victory for the other team. In the first round they roll a 3 and each one sends out a knight to do battle. Rias chooses Kiba while Sairaorg chooses his knight Beluga to do battle.
We start episode 10 with Kiba and Beluga fighting. You would think Beluga would have the advantage of speed seeing as how he’s riding a horse but no, Kiba is able to match the horse’s speed and everything (damn son, why aren’t you running track?). Kiba pulls off the win using a new form of his balance breaker where he summons his own squad of swordsmen to battle. In the next match-up, Rias sends out Koneko and Rossweisse (Seras: The power of the rooks shall be put on display) to take on Sairaorg’s second knight Liban and his rook a rock monster named Gandoma (he looks like he has big strong hands). Koneko and Rossweisse focus their attention on weakening Gandoma until Liban decides to take action and show off his powers to control gravity. He uses his powers on Rossweisse to keep her down and she fires a spell at him only to have it stopped by him just like she planned. That spell was a deflector spell and allowed her to trade spots with Gandoma where she launches a full attack on both of them. Both of Sairaorg’s pieces go down but they manage to take Koneko down with them (Seras: Damn it, that’s the second time she’s been eliminated first). In the next match Sairaorg publicly announces that he’s sending out his bishop Coriana and calls out Issei saying that she has techniques to counter his perverted nature (that is a bold claim). Issei accepts his challenge and enters the next match alone where Coriana starts the match by stripping and posing for him (woo~ *throws money*. (Seras): You realize you’re throwing your money at nothing, right? (Nitsuj): Had to be done. Would had thrown it at you but I know you wouldn’t do anything. (Seras): Try me). It’s clear that one dragon shot would be enough to take her down but Issei just can’t bring himself to take down a woman stripping in front him (what man could do that?) until she makes the one mistake you should never do when stripping, removing your panties first (Seras: What! That’s ridiculous! (Nitsuj): No it isn’t! Oh yeah, you women think stripping isn’t all that hard. Just remove your clothes and do a sexy pose. Well it’s all about sexual appeal and keeping the man entertained in the palm of your hand! Wearing a bra with no panties isn’t sexy, it just looks weird, but wearing panties with no bra is way sexier and drives men wild). After she makes this mistake Issei opens fire on her and wins the match. Moving on to the next match we have Xenovia and Gasper (Seras: Oh God, he has more fanboys than Xenovia and Xenovia has more fangirls than Gasper) against Sairaorg’s rook Ladora (who seriously needs to eat. For God’s sake, give the man a donut or something) and bishop Miseeta where Gasper steps up big time. During the match, we discover that Ladora has the power to turn into a dragon and Miseeta puts a seal on Xenovia which stops her from using Durandal. Gasper can remove the seal but it’s gonna take some time so in order to protect Xenovia, Gasper sacrifices his body to keep her safe (with this, I can say with confidence that Gasper is a man. (Seras): A very feminine man). While Gasper is forced to retire from the match, Xenovia avenges him by taking down Miseeta and Ladora. With this victory, Rias’s team has lowered Sairaorg’s numbers down to 3 while they still have 6. Akeno takes on Sairaorg’s queen Kuisha where in a surprising turn of events Akeno loses (has anybody noticed how all these matches are a letdown. (Seras): Yeah they really are. In the light novel the matches were a lot more intense and exciting. The anime is also lacking in Azazel’s commentary. His commentary really helped heighten the intensity of the matches and provided insight into why this tactic worked). In the final match of the episode they finally roll a 12 which means Sairaorg can finally fight but not against Issei (oh no, that fight comes next episode). Instead, he’ll have to settle for Kiba, Xenovia, and Rossweisse who decide to take a bullet for the team and go out to face him themselves in order to preserve Issei.
Episode 11 starts with Kiba, Xenovia, and Rossweisse taking on Sairaorg where it goes about as you would expect (Seras: They got their asses kicked). To their credit, Xenovia did manage to chop off one of his arms which will force him to use his phoenix tear in order to reattach it and they did actually damage him a little bit (so while they lost, they did force the enemy to use his item as well as damage him if only a little). The next match is Issei vs Kuisha which is hands down the shortest match this whole arc as Issei moved by his teammates sacrificing themselves against Sairaorg unleashes his rage on Kuisha and beats her with one hit (Seras: As if the matches weren’t short enough already. Also, Issei didn’t attack her. Sairaorg forced her to retire. He knew that if Issei’s attack had hit her she would have died). After that display of power, Sairaorg suggests they stop playing around and go for the endgame with a team battle between the remaining participants and the judges allow it (https://youtu.be/GcTm93YztSg?t=2s). The final battle begins with Asia on the sidelines as an alternative (she would have been dead weight in the fight anyway) and Issei exchanging blows with Sairaorg. As for Rias, she gets stuck with Sairaorg’s only pawn Regulus, who reveals himself to be the golden lion of Nemea the same lion that was said to have fought against Heracles in Greece mythology. It was sealed within a sacred gear and turned into a powerful battle axe where the owner was killed by thieves, but the axe transformed into a golden lion and killed the group that killed his owner (Shizuku: If only it transformed into a tiger it’d be the best axe ever). Sairaorg found him and made him a part of his family but because the beast doesn’t have a master its powers are unstable and dangerous meaning he can only participate in a fight when Sairaorg is around him (loose cannon). Regulus manages to hurt Rias quite a bit which forces Issei to use the phoenix tears in order to save her just when it seemed like he was gaining the advantage over Sairaorg. Regulus begs Sairaorg to use him but he refuses until Issei practically begs him to use his full power in their fight in order for this fight to have true meaning. Sairaorg compiles and uses Regulus to give himself a golden suit of armor (If Issei is the dragon who soars through the skies then Sairaorg is the king of beasts who rules the land beneath the sky and longs to surpass what he cannot claim). With Sairaorg fused with Regulus he becomes incredibly powerful that he manages to knock out Issei (Seras: I’m sure he’s regretting his choice from earlier). In Issei’s consciousness, the other red dragons try to get him to activate his juggernaut drive and kill Sairaorg in his rampage but the cheers from the children and the sight of Rias manage to stop him from going into juggernaut drive deciding to follow a new path (one ruled by pervertedness and boobs rather than rage and anger) and receives a visit from a former white dragon who gives Issei a new power to help him follow his own path. Issei returns to reality and gets back up revealing a new drive mode.
In the final episode Issei fights Sairaorg in his new drive mode which is really his queen mode where he takes Sairaorg to his limits and manages to knock him down. Just when it seems like Sairaorg is done, he sees his mom, standing there, and encouraging him to get back up and fight for his dreams. With the words of his mother, Sairaorg is able to stand back up and fight where the fight just becomes a straight up brawl between these two (no magic, no words, just fists. (Seras): Probably the manliest thing in this anime). Issei’s balance breaker mode finally expires but despite this Issei is still ready to fight but it’s not needed as Sairaorg lost consciousness halfway through their brawl but still remained standing (badass! Despite being unconscious this man’s body is still ready to fight for his dreams. Okay, I’m convinced. Sairaorg should have been the Welsh dragon. This guy is the rival Issei needs, not Vali. Vali should have been just this powerful guy obsessed with fighting while Sairaorg should have inherited the power of the Welsh dragon and be Issei’s rival). With Sairaorg unable to battle, Issei wins the match and gives Rias the victory. After recovering in the emergency room with Sairaorg, Sairaorg encourages Issei to confess to Rias (Seras: You two would be the best of cousins). After that, we return to the real world where the school has their fall festival and Issei confesses to Rias at the closing ceremony calling her by her real name and everything. Even the others busting in on their confession doesn’t ruin the moment. With tears her eyes, Rias says she loves Issei too and the two kiss solidifying their relationship with each other (scene here: https://youtu.be/W3XJs1lTjtw?si=N-jboL1TSLwJi3o7). Sairaorg also gets a good ending as her mother has finally awoken from her coma.
Final Thoughts
(Nitsuj): And that was the fourth season of Highschool DxD. Despite the hard reset this season took and introducing a bunch of new characters not shown in the previous seasons, this season was still a good watch. We get some good fights, the new characters were nice, and Issei finally confessed his feelings to the girl he loves. Something a lot of MCs fail to do. The lead up to the confession was done correctly and doesn’t feel forced. Rias loves Issei because he fully accepts her for who she is and will do anything to make her happy. Issei loves Rias of a leader and as a woman. He respects her power and love for the members of her family. She doesn’t treat everyone as disposable pawns, but as actual friends that she cherishes. He’s drawn to Rias’s beauty and aura that makes her untouchable to the masses, but she can act like a spoiled child who wants to keep Issei to herself. The emotional road he took to get here was rough but in the end he found the woman for him who will love and accept him for who he is and vice-versa.
(Seras): Once again the fanservice is great here. Sure, it’s a little cliché by today’s standards and during the airing of this season it was starting to go out of style, but even so it’s still good and used effectively. People are torn between the old and new animation style. On the one hand the new animation style closely matches the drawings used in the novel meaning the anime resembles the novel more. However, I do like the character designs from the old animation more as the girls had been more mature appearances that matched their character. In the end, both animation styles are good in my opinion and I can’t imagine the series without the other now. Music is still good and as far as action goes I think this season was better than the previous season. Like Nitsuj said, Sairaorg should have been the Welsh dragon. He’s the perfect rival for Issei and the dragon would finally have more presence in this anime than with Vali who has little or nothing to do with this season. It honestly feels like he doesn’t need the dragon. We could have just made him a dragon slayer obsessed with besting the dragons and proving he’s the most powerful being ever. It’d be a better use of his character.
Final Score
(Nitsuj): My final score for this season is a 7/10. A solid anime with a good ending.
(Seras): I’m also going to have to give it a 7 as well.
(Nitsuj): With the way this season ended you’d think that this was the finale of the series, but in truth we’re only about 1/3 of the way through the series. There’s a lot more to see and I hope someday we get the continuation of this series. It’s a good fanservice series that’s more than just fanservice and deserves to tell the rest of its story.
(Seras): Until then, thanks for reading and we’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.