High School DxD Hero reveals 2nd PV

The debut episode is less than 3 weeks away!

There had previously been a trailer in October of last year, though that trailer mostly focused on action and story elements.  This trailer focuses on story, action, and service pretty evenly.

While I personally don’t like that all the returning girls have faces that are too similar now, I did like how a lot of the new girls turned out design wise.

Some of the animation looks stiff during action sequences, yet the opposite looks to be true during fanservice scenes.  Rias plowing into Issei right at the start shows a ton of shifting and fluid movement.  The scene right after with Rias and Akeno in the Onsen again shows constant movement.  I am starting to think that maybe part of the reason the character design detail was decreased this season was to make it easier to animate movement more fluidly.  Fewer little details to draw = easier to draw lots of movement.

I’m also impressed by the overall art quality.  I know it’s just a short trailer, but there’s very little evidence of quality inconsistency and the art uses a rich color palette.

I don’t know if hype is the right word, but after two years of barely getting by with scant ecchi offerings, it sure is damn nice to see a major ecchi franchise return, even if it does come with a new look.  This is still a beloved ecchi series with an avid fanbase and expectations that are still high.

Thankfully, the tradition of an uncensored airing will continue on AT-X, as the show is listed there with a parental lock.  Can’t wait.