English Dub Review: High School DxD HERO “That’s Right, Let’s Go to Kyoto”

I happen to be a man, too!

Overview (Spoilers)

Well, the time has come. That magical time in every Japanese high-schooler’s life when they make the migration for a tour of Tokyo and all its sights. There are a few things they have to do before they go, though. Koneko takes Issei off to the side to help his healing. His use of the Juggernaut Drive used a ton of his life energy. Fortunately, this can be done using her sage arts by cuddling up while half naked. Because reasons. Rias interrupts the proceedings before they get a bit more personal. They need to make a trip over to the Gremory estate. Her cousin Sairaorg is in town, and wants to spar with her best fighter.

Sairaorg is no joke. Though he’s of the Bael clan, he didn’t inherit the power of Destruction. Without that, he was rejected by his father and could not become head of the household. At his mother’s urging, he put everything he had into becoming physically strong. His training made him intense enough that he can’t be harmed by the direct magic attack.

So, that doesn’t bode well for Issei. He switches to Rook mode for its defensive abilities, but he’s still outclassed by Sairaorg’s overwhelming power. He manages to get some good hits in, but he’s taking serious damage. That’s when everyone reveals Issei’s secret. He gets more powerful when he grabs boobs. Sairaorg heard the rumors about this but didn’t believe them. Rias offers her boobs as a tribute, but her cousin stops the match. It wasn’t really meant as more than an exhibition match, and Issei is close to a breakthrough. The two are destined to grow even further in power.

The gang returns to the real world, and the sophomores are off to Tokyo. Rias hands the team some ID cards. These are especially enchanted, allowing the devils on the team to enter into the landmark temples in Tokyo. She also gives Issei a surprise kiss, just as a way to tide herself over until his return.

Our Take

This may not be my favorite show on my list, but one thing I have to say for it: It’s funny. The dialogue in this dub may be raunchy, but it’s impeccably written, and even better performed. I mean, was there any doubt? The voice acting staff is top notch, one of the things that surprised me about the show. I wasn’t expecting to see names that I recognized on this project. Josh Grelle breathes life into Issei’s many quips.

The plot on this episode was more than a bit thin, but that’s not what you came to this show for, was it? You come here for action, right? Right? The animation in this show is insane. I’m actually a bit disturbed that shows like this can afford to have high-quality visuals throughout, while other shows with more plot and depth quickly lose funding. Le sigh. Still, the combat is intense, and other movement throughout the show is smooth and without errors. I mean, the jiggle physics are alluring alone, which means they’re actually working to make the animation work right.

Unlike the sound engineers. The opening scene had a bunch of sounds related to boobs squishing that are neither normal nor attractive. They were downright gross, like slime squelching. This later gave way to the typical bouncing sound we’re used to.