High School DxD BorN

Episode 36

At one point during this season-ending episode, what may be the series' most amusingly ironic line comes up. Issei says, “President, please always stay the strong and dignified person that you are” at the precise same time that we are treated to a back shot of Rias's black panties. (Apparently skirt and hair-fluttering breezes happen even in Dimensional Gaps.) In a sense, though, that scene encapsulates how the franchise has tried to handle Rias since the very beginning: make a lead female love interest who is noble and dignified, fiercely proud yet also caring, maturely sexy rather than cute, and quite capable of matching the most shameless anime girls when it comes to engaging in fan service. For the most part the franchise has succeeded at this, though periodically it also decides that it has to give Issei the opportunity to be The Man, typically at the expense of downplaying Rias. The first half of this episode is one of those crass times.

Perhaps not coincidentally, the first half is also the weaker part, even though it has the “climactic” battle between first Issei and Rias and then Issei and his duplicate. Issei's appeals to Rias while she is kicking the crap out of him eventually gain purchase, enough so that Rias is able to break out of the Red Dragon Emperor-styled get-up that she was in and come back to Issei's side. Issei's duplicate then appears, but after some dramatic speech-making Issei summons up another new power – one that even Ddraig was not familiar with – and toasts them. That's all fine and good and does bring a conclusion to that part of the story arc, but as hard as the musical score tries to drive the drama, that part does not click well at all, hence continuing the underwhelming storyline from the previous episode. It also makes Rias effectively useless and dodges yet another opportunity to get a better sense of what the “Ruin Princess” side of her really means.

The parts after that, where Issei and Rias have a romantic interlude (they finally kiss!) before returning to the regular world and then dealing with the aftermath of the recent plot lines, are much better and more fun. The fan service spikes up quite prominently during the latter parts and the long-expected permanent addition of Rossweise to the cast finally happens. How it happens is a little surprising, as she becomes both a teacher at the school and Rias's other rook (Rias actively recruits her because she wants another ranged magic-user in the group) as well as becoming a demon. Amusingly, what pushes Rossweise into accepting Rias's offer is a much better benefits package. (Apparently Odin was being a cheapskate on insurance in addition to other annoyances?) Little touches like that are where the humor in the series is most effective, and another dose of that comes when Issei's TV special finally airs, with him singing the “Oppai Dragon” song with a bunch of kids. That the song is used as the closer for this final episode is oh so appropriate.

And so the third season of High School DxD draws to a close. Its conclusion nicely wraps back to one of the key scenes of the first episode of the first season, and the season as a whole concludes some current storylines and character developments while still leaving plenty of room for more. While the season has had its ups and downs (including on the artistic front), it has largely remained true to its nature, and so I see no reason why it would not remain popular enough to justify further animation.

Rating: B-

High School DxD BorN is currently streaming on Funimation.