is a Japanese

light novel A light novel (, Hepburn: ''raito noberu'') is a style of young adult novel primarily targeting high school and middle school students. The term "light novel" is a ''wasei-eigo'', or a Japanese term formed from words in the English languag ...

series written by

Ichiei Ishibumi is a Japanese novelist best known for his light novel series ''High School DxD''. Career In 2005, Ishibumi received a special prize in the 17th Fantasia Awards hosted by Fujimi Shobo for the light novel ''Denpachi'' that he submitted. He mad ...

and illustrated by Miyama-Zero. The story centers on Issei Hyodo, a perverted high school student from Kuoh Academy who desires to be a harem king and is killed by his first date, revealed to be a fallen angel, but is later revived as a devil by the red haired devil princess

Rias Gremory is a fictional character who appears in the light novel, anime, and manga series '' High School DxD'' authored by Ichiei Ishibumi. Rias is the main love interest of the main character, Issei Hyoudou. Rias is a high school student at Kuoh Acade ...

to serve her and her devil family. Issei's deepening relationship with Rias proves dangerous to the angels, the fallen angels, and the devils. ''High School DxD'' began serialization in

Fujimi Shobo , formerly , was a Japanese publisher that specialized in light novels, manga, role-playing games and collectible card games. Founded in 1972 and reorganized three times, it was at times an independent company and at times an imprint of Kadokawa F ...

's ''

Dragon Magazine Dragon Magazine may refer to: * ''Dragon'' (magazine), an American magazine for ''Dungeons & Dragons'' players * ''Dragon Magazine'' (Fujimi Shobo), a Japanese light novel magazine {{disambig ...

'' in its September 2008 issue. The first volume was released on September 20, 2008. A total of twenty five volumes is available in Japan as of March 2018 under their

Fujimi Fantasia Bunko is a light novel publishing imprint (trade name), imprint affiliated with the Japanese publishing company Fujimi Shobo, a brand company of Kadokawa Corporation. It was established in 1988 and is aimed at young adult male audience. Many light nov ...

imprint. A

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

adaptation by Hiroji Mishima began serialization in the July 2010 issue of ''Dragon Magazine'' and later in the March 2011 issue of ''

Monthly Dragon Age is a Japanese shōnen manga magazine published by Fujimi Shobo. The magazine began as a combination between ''Monthly Comic Dragon'' and ''Monthly Dragon Junior'', two former magazines published by Fujimi Shobo. The first issue was published in ...

'' with eleven volumes released. An

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

adaptation by TNK aired on

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certified b ...

's satellite channel AT-X and other networks from January 6 to March 23, 2012. The anime is licensed in North America by

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Sony through a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex. The service primarily distributes films and tel ...

, in the United Kingdom by

Manga Entertainment Manga Entertainment was a producer, licensee, and distributor of anime in the United States and the United Kingdom. Originally founded in the UK in 1987, the UK branch became Funimation UK and Ireland in 2021, also currently known as Crunchyro ...

, and in Australia by

Madman Entertainment Madman Entertainment Pty. Ltd., also known as Madman Films, is an Australian distribution and rights management company headquartered in East Melbourne, Victoria, specialising in feature films, documentaries and television series across theatri ...

. A second season called aired from July 7 to September 22, 2013. A third season called aired from April 4 to June 20, 2015. A fourth season called aired from April 10 to July 3, 2018.

Synopsis

Plot

is a former all-girls school that has recently turned co-ed, but it has a secret. Unknown to normal humans, , and comprise part of the student population. One of these students, Issei Hyodo, is a lecherous second-year human student who lives a peaceful life. After an ordinary school day, Issei is suddenly asked out on a date by a girl named Yuma Amano. After their date, Yuuma brings Issei to a local park and makes a startling request that she wants him to die for her. She reveals herself as Raynare, a fallen angel, and she tries to kill him. Using her summoning card,

, a buxom third-year student at Kuoh Academy, revives him. Issei wakes up the next morning, thinking that the events that occurred were all just a dream. Immediately after being attacked by another fallen angel and waking up, he notices Rias naked in his room. Rias reveals to Issei her true identity as a devil and says that as a result of his death at the hands of Yuuma, she has reincarnated him as a devil, making him her faithful servant in the process.

Story arcs

Ishibumi has grouped the light novels into story arcs. The first arc, titled , ran through the first two volumes. is the second story arc and follows volumes three through six. follows volumes seven through twelve. The fourth arc, , follows volumes fourteen through twenty-one. The fifth and final arc of the series, , starts at volume twenty-two and ends at volume twenty-five. The author has announced a sequel to the series, which began on July 20, 2018. The light novels also feature a series of side stories set in between the main storyline and are often compiled into volumes. So far, three short story collections (Volume 8, Volume 13 and Volume 15) have been published.

Production

Ishibumi had previously worked on a horror genre series two years prior to the publishing of the first light novel for ''High School DxD''. In the volume 1 afterword, he mentions that he changed his writing style, and wanted to develop one in the school-life, love-comedy, battle, and fantasy genre. His main character Issei was made into a lecherous guy at the request of his editor. For the first volume, he made Rias a second lead character and heroine, and Asia to be the second heroine. Some of his characters are loosely referenced from the Bible, non-fiction books, and mythology. He created a world where the war between the three main factions (Angels, Devils, and Fallen Angels) is over, and where many famous angels and devils have already ceased to exist. He also added characters and legendary beasts from a variety of places from

Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...

to Japanese Youkai. The concept of Balance Breaker was to represent a super-powered version of the character's Boosted Gear, and he likens this to the Super Saiyan in ''

Dragon Ball is a Japanese media franchise created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. The Dragon Ball (manga), initial manga, written and illustrated by Toriyama, was serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1984 to 1995, with the 519 individual chapters colle ...

'' and the

Bankai This is a list of featured in the manga and anime series '' Bleach'', created by Tite Kubo. Soul Reapers are a fictional race of spirits who govern the flow of souls between the human world and the afterlife realm called the ''Soul Society''. T ...

in ''

Bleach Bleach is the generic name for any chemical product that is used industrially or domestically to remove color (whitening) from a fabric or fiber or to clean or to remove stains in a process called bleaching. It often refers specifically, to ...

''. Ishibumi intended to make the shounen-style light novel series that teenagers would be embarrassed to buy, yet was concerned that it might get an age restriction. In each of his afterword sections in the light novels, he makes numerous references to ''Oppai'' (breasts) and notes when he tries to make his characters more erotic.

Media

Light novels

''High School DxD'' began as a

series written by

, with illustrations provided by Miyama-Zero. ''High School DxD'' was published from September 20, 2008 to March 20, 2018 across 25 volumes. A bonus story, called , was released with the July 2012 issue of ''Dragon Magazine'' (released on May 19, 2012) as a

bunkobon In Japan, are small-format paperback books, designed to be affordable and space saving. The great majority of ''bunkobon'' are A6 (105×148mm or 4.1"×5.8") in size. They are sometimes illustrated and like other Japanese paperbacks usually ...

volume. The story takes place after Volume 12, and centers on Ophis' first shopping trip in the human world. After the release of Volume 25, Ishibumi announced a sequel, '. Continuing from where ''DxD'' left off, the first volume of the series was released on July 20, 2018.

Manga

adaptation illustrated by Hiroji Mishima began ñ. Ñl.lserialization in the July 2010 issue of ''Dragon Magazine'', and later in ''

'' in its March 2011 issue. It ended on April 9, 2018. The first volume was published by Fujimi Shobo on June 9, 2011, with a total of eleven volumes published under their Dragon Comics Age imprint. A spinoff manga, called , illustrated by Hiroichi, was serialized in ''Monthly Dragon Age'' from the October 2011 issue (Released on September 9, 2011) to the April 2012 issue (Released on March 9, 2012). Serving as a side story, the manga takes place after chapter 10 of the main manga, and centers on

Asia Argento Asia Argento (; born Aria Maria Vittoria Rossa Argento; 20 September 1975) is an Italian actress and filmmaker. The daughter of filmmaker Dario Argento, she has had roles in several of her father's features and achieved mainstream success with a ...

's first duties as a Devil. It was later released as a ''

tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...

'' volume on March 9, 2012. Yen Press had licensed the spin-off for an English release and released the volume on December 16, 2014. A second spin-off series, titled , was published between April and August 2013 issues of ''Monthly Dragon Age'' and was collected into one volume. Illustrated by SODA, it adapted the short stories found in the light novels.

Anime

adaptation produced by TNK and directed by Tetsuya Yanagisawa aired on

's satellite channel AT-X between January 6 and March 23, 2012. AT-X airings of the series are uncensored, while the airings on

TV Kanagawa (tvk for short) is an independent television station in Japan serving Kanagawa Prefecture and parts of the Greater Tokyo Area with favorable reception. The station was founded on April 20, 1971 and began broadcasting on April 1, 1972. Its call si ...

(which began on January 11, 2012) and other networks are heavily censored. Six DVD and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

compilation volumes were released by

Media Factory , formerly is a Japanese publisher and brand company of Kadokawa Future Publishing. History It was founded on December 1, 1986, and its headquarters are situated in Shibuya, Tokyo. It is a subsidiary of Recruit Co., Ltd. Media Factory was possi ...

between March 21 and August 29, 2012, each containing an

OVA , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...

short entitled . An OVA episode that is listed as episode 13 was bundled with the limited edition of the 13th light novel on September 6, 2012 on

. The script for the episode was handled by Ichiei Ishibumi, who is the author of the light novels. Another OVA episode of the first season that is listed as episode 14 is written by Ishibumi and was bundled with the limited edition release of the 15th light novel on May 31, 2013 on Blu-ray. A second season of ''High School DxD'', titled , was announced at the post-end credits of the 13th episode, and premiered on AT-X and

Chiba TV , doing business as , is a Japanese commercial terrestrial television broadcasting company headquartered at 11-25 Miyako-chō 1-chōme, Chūō-ku, Chiba serving Chiba Prefecture but spill-over is received in the neighbouring prefectures. It is a mem ...

on July 7, 2013. The second season adapts volumes three and four of the light novels and is split into two arcs: and . As with the first season, AT-X airings are uncensored, while airings on all other channels are heavily censored. In June 2014, Fujimi Shobo announced plans to produce a third anime season. It was announced on December 6, 2014 that the third season is titled ''High School DxD BorN'', and aired from April to June 2015, with the same staff and voice cast. The series loosely adapts volumes five through seven of the light novels for the first 9 episodes, with the last two and a half episodes comprising a completely original story; the second half of the season finale incorporates elements from both Volume 6 and Volume 7. At the 2016 Fantasia Bunko Daikanshasai, Fujimi Shobo announced that a new anime series was in production. In October 2017, it was announced that the fourth season is titled and it aired from April to July 2018. The season was produced by Passione, replacing TNK. In North America, all four seasons are licensed by

Funimation Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializes ...

for

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...

on their video website before releasing the series on DVD and Blu-ray and in Australia by

have licensed the series in the UK for a DVD and Blu-ray release in 2014.

released the first season of ''High School DxD'' on DVD and Blu-ray on August 20, 2013. Funimation released the second season of ''High School DxD'' titled ''High School DXD New'' on DVD and Blu-ray on November 11, 2014.

released the third season of ''High School DxD'' titled ''High School DXD BorN'' on DVD and Blu-ray on September 6, 2016. Funimation has also licensed ''High School DxD Hero'' and streamed it with a simuldub on May 1, 2018. The series has also been simulcast by

. Following Sony's acquisition of Crunchyroll, the series was moved to Crunchyroll. The series is licensed in Australia by

, but it was not released in New Zealand after the

Office of Film and Literature Classification The Office of Film and Literature Classification ( mi, Te Mana Whakaatu), branded as the Classification Office, is an independent Crown entity established under Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993 responsible for censorship ...

(OFLC) classified it objectionable it because "it encourages and legitimizes the pursuit of young persons as viable adult sexual partners". The series was reclassified R16 in 2022. ''High School DxD Hero'' is licensed by Funimation in Australia and New Zealand, with Madman Entertainment handling distribution.

Music

The music of the ''High School DxD'' series was composed by Ryosuke Nakanishi. Eight pieces of theme music are used for the three seasons. The opening theme for the first season is "Trip -Innocent of D-", performed by

Larval Stage Planning is a Japanese J-pop group formed in 2010 and is signed to Lantis. The group is also a member of the Sapporo-based music production group I've Sound. History Members The group was formed by veteran singer and then-I've Sound vocalist Eiko Sh ...

, while the ending theme song is "STUDYxSTUDY" by the voice actress unit

StylipS Stylips (stylized as StylipS) is a Japanese pop idol group, specialized in performing anime soundtracks. Career In 2011, four voice actresses: Arisa Noto, Yui Ogura (from the pop idol group YuiKaori), Kaori Ishihara (also from YuiKaori) and Mah ...

, consisting of

Arisa Noto is a Japanese singer, actress, voice actress and choreographer. She is a member of StylipS, a former member of Ongaku Gatas and was part of Hello! Project. Career Noto joined Hello! Project in June 2004 and became part of the group's trainee ...

Yui Ogura is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Gunma Prefecture. Career In 2009, Ogura performed the motion capture for Hatsune Miku in the game '' Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA''. Ogura was a member of the Japanese idol duo YuiKaori with Kaori ...

Kaori Ishihara is a Japanese voice actress and singer managed by Style Cube. She was formerly part of Up-Front Agency in which she was involved with Happy! Style and Team Dekaris. She was affiliated with Sigma Seven from 2013 to 2017. She was a member of Styl ...

, and

Maho Matsunaga is a former Japanese voice actress and singer from Tokyo. She was a member of the pop idol unit StylipS. She is currently retired from her voice acting career and graduated from StylipS in May 2016. Filmography Bold ''denotes leading roles.'' ...

, who all had voice roles in the anime. The songs were released as CD singles on January 25 and February 5, 2012, respectively, under the Lantis label. An

original soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of ...

was released on March 21, 2012, also under the Lantis label. A

character song An image song or character song is a song on a tie-in single or album (often called an image album or character album) for an anime, game, ''dorama'', manga, or commercial product that is sometimes sung by the voice actor or actor of a character ...

mini-album, called , featuring the main female cast from the anime series, was released on June 27, 2012 under the Lantis label. The second season featured an opening and ending theme for the two arcs. The opening theme for the first arc is "Sympathy" by Larval Stage Planning. The ending theme for the first arc is by the , featuring

Yōko Hikasa is a Japanese Voice acting in Japan, voice actress and singing, singer affiliated with I'm Enterprise. Biography Hikasa became interested in acting while watching ''Sailor Moon'' and ''Neon Genesis Evangelion''. She attended Nihon Narration Engi ...

Shizuka Itō is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Tokyo, Japan. She is represented by Ken Production. She won a "Best Actress in Supporting Roles" award at the 10th Seiyu Awards for her roles in ''Prison School'' and ''Sailor Moon Crystal''. She is w ...

, Azumi Asakura, and

Ayana Taketatsu is a Japanese voice actress and singer.Doi, Hitoshi"Taketatsu Ayana" ''Seiyuu Database''. January 3, 2011. Retrieved January 12, 2011. Biography She attended Nihon Narration Engi Kenkyujo, a voice actor training school before becoming affili ...

as the respective voices of Rias Gremory, Akeno Himejima, Asia Argento, and Koneko Toujou. The opening theme for the second arc is by Zaq. The ending theme for the second arc is by the Occult Research Club Girls, featuring the main female voice cast from the first season with the additions of

Risa Taneda is a Japanese voice actress and singer affiliated with Office Osawa talent agency. She is also a member of the seiyuu idol unit ''Rhodanthe*'' () since 2013, along with Nao Tōyama, Asuka Nishi, Manami Tanaka and Yumi Uchiyama. Some of her maj ...

and

Ayane Sakura is a Japanese voice actress. She is affiliated with Aoni Production. Her roles included Natsumi Koshigaya in ''Non Non Biyori'', Secre Swallowtail in '' Black Clover'', Ochaco Uraraka in ''My Hero Academia'', Tsubaki Sawabe in ''Your Lie in April ...

as the respective voices of Xenovia and Gasper. For the third season, the opening theme is "Bless Your Name" by

ChouCho is a Japanese singer from Osaka Prefecture and is signed to Lantis. Career ChouCho initially formed the band ''Lotus Lotus'' in 2007 when still in high school and performed covers of songs from anime. Starting in June 2008, ChouCho began submi ...

. The ending theme is "Give Me Secret" by StylipS. For the fourth season, the opening theme is "Switch" by Minami and the ending theme is "Mote nai Kuse ni(｀;ω;´)" by Tapimiru.

Video games

Kadokawa Games Kadokawa may refer to: * Kadokawa Corporation, the holding company of the Kadokawa Group **Kadokawa Content Gate and Kadokawa Mobile, both former names for BookWalker **Kadokawa Future Publishing, a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation and the publ ...

announced in July 2013 that a videogame adaptation of ''High School DxD'' was in development for

Nintendo 3DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generatio ...

. Originally scheduled to be released in Japan on November 28, 2013, it was delayed in order to "improve the product's quality", and was instead released on December 19, 2013. Described as an "erotic battle adventure", the game features a visual novel and turn-based battle system. A

PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita, or Vita) is a handheld video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, and in North America, Europe, and other international territo ...

game titled ''High School DxD New Fight'' was released on August 28, 2014 in Japan.

Other media

internet radio Online radio (also web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio, IP radio, Internet radio) is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not transmitted ...

show, called , aired on HiBiKi Radio Station on December 12, 2011. A

trading card game A collectible card game (CCG), also called a trading card game (TCG) among other names, is a type of card game that mixes strategy game, strategic deck building elements with features of trading cards, introduced with ''Magic: The Gathering'' in ...

by Prism Connect featuring characters from the series was released on July 27, 2012 in a starter deck and

booster pack In collectible card games, digital collectible card games and collectible miniature wargames, a booster pack is a sealed package of cards or figurines, designed to add to a player's collection. A box of multiple booster packs is referred to as a b ...

Reception

According to

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...

, ''High School DxD'' was the sixth top-selling light novel series in Japan for 2012, selling a total of 654,224 units. Also, in 2013 ''High School DxD'' sold over 346,173 copies according to

. The English version of the first manga volume reached No. 2 in the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

best-seller list. As of March 20, 2018, the first 25 volumes had 4 million copies in print. The anime adaptation of ''High School DxD'' received mixed reviews, with critics praising the visuals, musical score, and sometimes the fanservice. The plot left critics divided. Sequential Tart, in a review of the anime, praised the animation quality, voice acting, and fanservice scenes, as well as the depth of the "actually really engaging" plot. Finding the animation "to die for" and the music "fun throughout", Active Anime lauded ''DxD'' as "a kick ass action comedy that's crazy sexy", with "sexy devil ladies, a hero with heart, and exhilarating action mak ngthis a win-win!" Stig Høgset of THEM Anime Reviews agreed on ''DxD'' being "a whole lot of fun", praising the characters, fanservice, and visuals. Writing that "''High School DxD'' turned out to be a really pleasant surprise", Høgset continued that "I will certainly look into the sequel if FUNimation ever gets it out the door on disc." Anime News Network's Theron Martin in his official series review of ''High School DxD'', praised the color, musical, fanservice and character developments, but criticized the lack o''f freshness of the show'', concluding that "Evaluated as a general release series, ''High School DxD'' has enough going for it to be a little better than average. Evaluate it as a fan service-focused series, though, and it is one of the top recent titles of its type."

Notes

References

External links

Japanese * at Fujimi Shobo * * at AT-X English * at Yen Press * at Funimation * * {{Passione 2008 Japanese novels 2010 manga 2012 anime OVAs 2012 anime television series debuts 2013 anime television series debuts 2013 video games 2014 video games 2015 anime television series debuts 2018 anime television series debuts AT-X (TV network) original programming Animated television series about teenagers Anime and manga based on light novels Anime and manga controversies Classical mythology in anime and manga Comedy anime and manga Demons in anime and manga Harem anime and manga Fujimi Fantasia Bunko Fujimi Shobo manga Funimation Harem video games Japanese comedy novels Kadokawa Dwango franchises Light novels Nintendo 3DS games Norse mythology in anime and manga Passione (company) PlayStation Vita games School life in anime and manga Shōnen manga Supernatural anime and manga TNK (company) Television series about angels Television series about demons Television shows based on light novels Video games developed in Japan Works banned in China Yen Press titles