High School DxD Hero

Episode 7

With this episode, the series is mostly back to its long-standing norm for fanservice shenanigans. Irina gets frisky with Issei when an innocent activity turns in a sexy direction, several of the other girls flash their chests and dogpile, and Rias has to fend them off. This is the kind of thing most viewers are watching for to begin with, but the scene where several of the girls flash Issei also highlights one of my two running gripes about this season: the character designs.

Even allowing for some normal growth as she matures, the difference between Asia's chest between here and last season is stunning, the kind of dramatic change that could only happen through magic or some kind of cosmetic surgery. I'd also have less of an issue if they hadn't made her bust so big that it's at odds with her petite build. Most of the other girls are at least a little bigger too, most notably Koneko. Clearly the creative team has decided to prioritize size over variety or shapeliness, and I'm not thrilled about it. (Mileage may vary depending on your fanservice preferences.)

My other running gripe also appears in this episode. Rias is back to being the featured girl, but she still shows little to no hint of the feistiness that defined her earlier in the franchise, which takes away a significant part of what makes High School DxD special. At least the story is finally back to bringing up the issue of how Issei is still formal with Rias (calling her "President" instead of by name), despite their relationship and his more informal address toward the other girls.

Beyond those factors, the episode is pretty decent. Issei participating in a “hero show” for the kids in his Oppai Dragon persona is rather amusing, as is the revelation that Ddraig might need counseling to deal with Issei's perversions; I'm curious to see where that goes. The business with Sairaorg's mother and what that tells about his backstory is also interesting, and I continue to enjoy the series trying to give Issei broader applications for his raunchy powers, even if Booblingual didn't work this time. Sairaorg also continues to be commendably portrayed as a good guy by devil standards; I do hope he and Issei get a chance to fight back-to-back instead of going at each other at some point. Some old concerns about how the Underworld is lacking in distinctiveness compared to the human world crop up, but those are minor considerations. The artistic slides in quality control are more concerning, (what's with Rias's head in the above screenshot?) but the music is still solid. In other words, there's enough that I like to offset what I don't like and keep the series in the positive zone for now.

Rating: B-

High School DxD Hero is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.