High School DxD NEW Episode 8 – The Class Observation Begins!

Impression:

 Episode 7 was another of those ‘passive episodes’, or, as I like to call them ‘set up episodes’. The most significant thing that happened in this episode was the kiss that occurred between Rias and Issei and considering the fact that he’s seen/squeezed her boobs on so many occasion, it kind of felt a bit lack luster… ah, who am I kidding, I f*cking loved it and I know you did too. I guess kissing is a much more intimate thing in Japan than here in the West? Again, who am I kidding, pretending to be some expert on Japanese culture. What a fool I am. This kiss though – it pretty much confirms the Issei Rias romance that we all knew was impending, but I’m just glad that we finally got to see it come to fruition… in a not so carnal sense, that is.

 You know, I thought that the whole ‘Class Observation’ thing would be more epic, a demon peerage evaluation, if I may. But no, it’s just a plain and simple class evaluation, parents and all. Such a disappointment. The evaluation itself was hilarious, Issei’s masterful clay sculpting being the center piece. It’s just nice to see the character having a little fun, y’know? They’re not battling Fallen Angels and they’re not in a life or death situation, they’re just trying to get into each others pants and that’s great…!

 The ‘Dragon Legend’ and the foreboding fight that ‘must’ occur between the White and Red dragons was… well, confusing. The info dump felt a bit much and I didn’t like how they removed me from the episode to fill me in with more background information. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all up for developing the lore of the world, but when that lore is as convoluted and nonsensical as this… well… I guess it is High School DxD; a show definitely not known for it’s enthralling story arcs. I don’t know, perhaps I was expecting a bit too much from the Red Dragon White Dragon flashback… a war that started because – oh, wait they forgot… give me a break. That’s just lazy story telling.

 The appearance of Rias’s father also unsettled things, mainly for Rias however, but, nevertheless, he unsettled things. I not sure what Rias’s deal is with her father, she herself becoming easily annoyed whenever he spoke and a generally apprehensive approach to talking to him (although I guess nobody messes with the Lucifers…), but it did however become much more obvious that there is/was much more to her ‘depression’ then there initially seemed to be. The sweaty hands when Vali approached Issei, the random kissing of Issei… you know, I’m beginning to think that it’s Issei that’s the issue here. I am, of course, joking, without Issei Rias would be married to a douche bag, but I’m hoping that they elaborate of Rias ‘depression’ in the upcoming episodes, because I think it’s important to develop the characters, even in ecchi.

 Now let’s talk about Serafall… she really wasn’t necessary in this episode. High School DxD has a habit of introducing characters momentarily and then reintroducing them later so as to give that of foreboding – and I don’t like it. No me gusta. I understand that ‘that’s how it happened in the novels’, and whilst it’s funny (sometimes) and gives us something to look forward to, it takes the viewer out of the moment, confusing them with, yet more, characters to remember (I had to Google Serafall’s name because, you know, it’s not that memorable) and it’s actually quite annoying. I’m struggling to keep up with the cast as it is! I can barely remember the names of most of them and now you cramming more into the series? Just how many Japanese names do you think I can remember?!

 But I digress, episode 7… was plain. In every sense of the word. No boobs for all you ecchi fans out there, so that aspect of the series was neutered (for an episode anyway), no real plot, so what little of that there was was also neutered… This episode was High School DxD in it’s most basic form and, whilst I found it entertaining for a little while, I was kind of bored by the end of the episode… that was, until Asia burst in on Rias kissing Issei and cutely clung on to him like the hapless blonde that she is… so kawaii… Here’s to team Asia! A quickly sinking ship that only just set sail…