So… the last two episodes of High School DxD Hero happened.
Episode 11
Oh cool, Sairaog’s… lady friend that kind of looks like a secretary? Her name is Seekvaira Agares, and I’m not even totally sure her name was said in the show. It’s cool though that a character with maybe 30 seconds of screen time gets an eyecatch. And a nice one at that.
This was the only non-eyecatch nudity of the final two episodes, and it’s actually a flashback from Rias’ nude scene in episode zero.
Episode 12
Another Rias eyecatch.
And that’s basically it. There was a very subtle jiggle moment for Asia (nothing really worth including here) but other than that there was basically nothing at all. No panty shots, no butt shots… not even cleavage shots! The lack of service was stunning.
Overall Thoughts
Story-wise, the ending to the season was solid especially if you love Shonen cheesiness. Though it was a little surprising (in a bad way) to see Issei emerge victorious in the final episode without even needing to use his harem or Rias for power ups. Nope, he beats Sairaorg with the power of love instead. It was love for Rias, but even still. Gaaaayyy.
The battle ends with plenty of time left for a throwaway nude scene, but instead of pointless nudity we get another pointless school festival instead, followed by a confession scene and kiss for Issei and Rias. Then there’s a post-credits scene with Azazel and a probable bad guy.
The dip in service wasn’t great, but overall I liked DxD Hero. I think it was a refreshing reset that the series really needed after BorN. In a way, it was the anti-BorN. BorN screwed up the story badly, but had amazing service. This season probably had half the nude scenes, but did a much better job coherently telling a story.
Japanese audiences seemed to respond well to this season as well, which certainly helps the odds of a season five.
Will there be a post-series OVA?
Maybe, but I’d bet against it. Most if not all of the OVA from previous seasons came bundled with a High School DxD light novel. The Light Novel published its final volume back in March, and the DxD manga spinoff published its final volume in April. That and there’s already been 13 episodes in the series (though it’s worth noting that season one had 14 total episodes).
If an OVA did happen, it would probably require a DxD spinoff novel to come out, or maybe an artbook. Maybe even the Slashd0g novel series (which takes place in the same universe and has DxD cameos)? They always seem to come bundled with print media.
When could it happen? Maybe soon, or maybe not. The High School DxD New OVA came out 18 months after the season ended, and the second OVA for season one came out 14 months after. If we don’t hear an announcement for an OVA soon that doesn’t mean it can’t happen later.
Will there be specials on blu-ray?
Given that we’re this close to the release and no word yet of them, it seems very unlikely. There’s a nebulous mention of a “web notice” on the BD extras, but that doesn’t really sound much like “OVA short” does it?
Will there be a season five?
This one is tough. On one hand, the series is done on the print side, and it’s rare for anime to continue once they no longer function as advertising for ongoing novels and manga. (edit: apparently the DxD light novels got a sequel. Yay!)
That said, the producers of this show felt strongly enough about the direction of the story that they completely changed studios and staff. And this new story they constructed opened up a ton of new plot threads and characters rather than closing them off. There was no attempt whatsoever to shoehorn in an anime original conclusion the way a lot of other anime do in this situation, in fact when TNK attempted to do that with DxD BorN the series producers fired them and even retconned TNK’s ending.
If this really is the end of DxD, it would seem so weird setting up Cao Cao and Sairaorg, not to mention the other 50+ characters with speaking parts in this season. There’s also a post-credits scene at the end of episode 12 with Azazel and some mysterious dude that screams plot follow-up. Episode 12 didn’t even feel like an ending to a season, much less an ending to a series.
And given how meticulous and deliberate the show producers were with the story this season, even going to a new studio and staff to accomplish what they wanted, I really doubt they would have set all this up without some kind of a plan to pay it off later.
Many people in the comments have also pointed out that the next major arc in the novels would make for a very convenient spot to end the anime if they wanted.
The show also appears to be a hit in Japan. It’s getting harder to gauge financials with anime as producers have found ways to rely on BD/DVD less now than in the past. But indicators show that Hero should expect solid disc sales, enough to financially justify another anime (probably).
I think we will probably see a season five. If we don’t, it will make a lot of the story decisions they made this season incredibly odd in retrospect. Though it might be that they have a series of OVAs or movies planned instead. I guess we’ll find out. Hopefully sooner than it took us to find out about season four.
Anyway, what do you guys think?
