CCIX: "Highschool DxD"

Another anime dealing with unusual high school plots. Highschool DxD differs from titles I've seen before, and using high school as a setting... I couldn't help but be curious. But like YuYu Hakusho, it follows that "DEAD KINDA EARLY!?" scenario.

Suppose you are a second year student of Kuoh Academy, who has a overwhelming sexual appetite. With me so far? Now then, imagine that you live your life as normal until you meet a certain girl, Yuma Amano. You two start dating, and when alone, she reveals herself as a Fallen Angel and kills you. To add to things, you wake up with only you recollecting what happened, with abilities you aren't used to, somehow being nearly slain again. Lastly, you wake up somehow to find a naked Devil in your room, Rias Germony to be exact. As well as her identity, you find out that you, yourself, have been reincarnated as a Devil, obligated to work under her Devil family, with the "dreams" of being attacked twice not being dreams at all! For the lascivious Issei Hyodo, that's just the start of his problems, as he now works as the pawn of her family; his left arm sports a gauntlet known as a Sacred Gear, save that his powers as the newest Devil is pretty weak. Is it a dream come true? Has he found his ideal harem, save for the many threats to his life that occurs in the process?

This title is pretty recent, having began on January 6th and ending just last week. Despite lacking any English voices as of right now, Funimation has licensed this anime for the U.S. For now, it will be simulcast on their website. It's a guess, but if it does happen, Funico (Funi + Nico Nico) might see it as well. Still, while being simulcasted under them, Funimation will also see to its distribution on Blu-Ray and DVD. Most stations had their TV versions censored, with the exception of AT-X. Another romantic comedy and harem, it also has its mix of action, supernatural and fantasy, as well as its weirdness in some areas, but I won't spoil it for you by going into detail of that. The studio behind this is TNK (who was also involved with Karin and Cowboy Bebop: The Movie), and its episode length is only 12, so its pretty short. Aside from this there is also a special episode. While it does have it's doses of action and blood, it also has nudity even whilst censored, as well as its fanservice moments, so keeping it from those unsuited and young ones is a must! The seiyuus of Issei and Rias are (respectively) Yuki Kaji (who also did roles like Tai-Yan of Fist of the Blue Sky, the prequel to Fist of the North Star) and Yoko Hisaka (who voiced Mio Akiyama in K-On! prior to English dubbing.)

Highschool DxD is, yes, another harem anime, but in a way, I liked where it was going plotwise, so I'll have at it as an 8 of 10.