High School DxD BorN - Overall Series Impressions & Total Series Rating

[Kairin]

This thread is to be used for discussing the entire episodes of High School DxD BorN ... your thoughts about the show, overall impressions, expectations and hopes about Blu-Ray/DVD-exclusive footage etc.

A few subjects you might want to ramble on about:

• General impression of the series.
• Opinions on the overall story, writing & plot devices.
• Thoughts about the animation quality.
• Characters/Character Design
• Voice Acting
• Which kind of footage (Blu-Ray/DVD-exclusive) you feel you'd really like to see.
• What the show meant to you.
• What could the creators/animators/writers have done better.

And so on.

The poll represents your total series rating. In other words, how you would rate all the episodes combined (1-10)? If you'd rather rate the whole series by technical/artistic merits, you can do so. An example:

Animation Quality: 1-10
Voice Actors: 1-10
Script: 1-10
Soundtrack: 1-10
Editing: 1-10
Enjoyment: 1-10
Emotional Involvement: 1-10

Average = Total Series Rating

Or a combination of the two. Or your general gut feeling.

Feel free to discuss and more importantly, have fun

[Reaperherpderp]

Originally Posted by MV5

No. They would probably ignore you anyway. I will tell you this, with how Ishibumi has been grilled with questions since the changes started to happen, and with the staff affirming that they will go back to the format of season 1&2 for season 4, they will never pull this type of ploy for the remainder of seasons they adapt.

Where has he been getting grilled? i follow him on twitter but sadly i cant read/speak japanese so i have to rely on google translate

[Chichiryuushintei]

Originally Posted by Reaperherpderp

Where has he been getting grilled? i follow him on twitter but sadly i cant read/speak japanese so i have to rely on google translate

In the posts on his blog he maid since the episode 2, he said people have been bombarding him with questions about the changes and answered a few.

Spoiler for v7 spoilersl:

He also confirmed Chichigami would appear, so I'm still wondering what the fuck he was talking about.

[Poodicus]

Originally Posted by Chichiryuushintei

In the posts on his blog he maid since the episode 2, he said people have been bombarding him with questions about the changes and answered a few.

He also confirmed Chichigami would appear, so I'm still wondering what the fuck he was talking about.

I can only hope it means for a fourth season, because we didn't see the Boob God at all this season, no matter what he says.

[Sacredus]

This series was just awful and was really painful for me to watch - especially last 3 filler episodes. Overall Born deserves nothing more that 4/10. I just want to forget that it existed and most probably this end for HDxD anime for me. Even if they create 4th season, IMO it will be just like Rosario 2 - fanservice anime only show that have almost nothing common with source material.

[ImperialFlameGod8190]

The truth is overall its below average. They did some things well but most things poorly. As far as adaptation wise yea this is miserable. Animation has never been an issue for me but hey thats me.
Rossweise's character was absolutely dreadful this season. vol 7 was completely lost in the fusion and vol 5 was cut up nicely at the end. I am looking forward to a s4 IF it happens because it would be an incredible season if done right.

However if they didnt make another i would understand it.

[Seafoam]

Originally Posted by ImperialFlameGod8190

The truth is overall its below average. They did some things well but most things poorly. As far as adaptation wise yea this is miserable. Animation has never been an issue for me but hey thats me.
Rossweise's character was absolutely dreadful this season. vol 7 was completely lost in the fusion and vol 5 was cut up nicely at the end. I am looking forward to a s4 IF it happens because it would be an incredible season if done right.

However if they didnt make another i would understand it.

You're damn right they made Rossweisse bad. They made her do absolutely nothing but cry when in reality she's one of, if not the strongest female in the whole peerage.

[GDB]

Right now I'm borderline between average, below average, and poor. I'll wait to see if anything changes in the BD or not, and decide after that.

[Starway]

Originally Posted by Obey Pyro

You're damn right they made Rossweisse bad. They made her do absolutely nothing but cry when in reality she's one of, if not the strongest female in the whole peerage.

Honestly did anything they say end up not being a lie they say they'll give more focus to characters and all we get is her crying in a corner all season matter of fact them butchering most of volume 7 means she most likely got less scenes that if they did this season without changeing half of it and then adding filler.

[Reaperherpderp]

Was there anything talked about at the event they had today? Or was it just like a fluff event for sales etc?

[Chichiryuushintei]

Originally Posted by Reaperherpderp

Was there anything talked about at the event they had today? Or was it just like a fluff event for sales etc?

It was just some stuff with the VAs and screening of some episodes. Nothing major really.

[Relthenar]

Overall, I vote this as a 5. The only reason I give that is that they did do small parts of it really well and the animation overall was the same quality as the previous seasons which I did like. If I judged it base solely on the story line, then it would rate a 2 or less, but I did upgrade it because of certain parts that I did like.

Some examples is where Akeno shows up in the bed in the first episode, the time when Rias and Isse confront Kouroka in the 3rd episode, and the sequence on the practicing of the 3 legged race. There are a couple of others that were even shorter, but that was the ones that stood out the most.

The worst part was how the handled the whole Loki thing. It was more like they were trying to cash in on the Marvel Movies use of Loki, then actually writing him in for good story telling.

As for Rossweisse, I totally agree with how horribly they used her in this season. I was completely stupid. Probably meant to be comic relief, it was just plain annoying instead.

Also, the score for the episode could have been really good, but the use of the music was at best seriously flawed and at worse horrid.

The fight scenes were not in my opinion used correctly at all nor did it have any of the fun as in previous seasons. It was tiring and lacked any spirit.

[MV5]

Originally Posted by Reaperherpderp

Was there anything talked about at the event they had today? Or was it just like a fluff event for sales etc?

Originally Posted by Chichiryuushintei

It was just some stuff with the VAs and screening of some episodes. Nothing major really.

The main animator was asked questions on twitter about season 4, he said that the decision to green light happens after the anime airs. Basically a code that translates to "we have to see how it sells first".

[B214]

Overall thoughts on the season.

Not really the best season, the mix and mash wasn't really the best, and the cutting of the scenes did ruin what i would feel is good. So here goes.

Pros:

1. Loki's curse, it strengthen the impact on how much Raynare's action on Ise affected Ise. In the LN, only subtle hints were given, here it's much impactful.
2. More screentime for various characters, especially like how they added pivotal role for Ravel, Ajuka, Great Red and Ophis for their anime original context.
3. They corrected Ravel's design.
4. Kiba x Tsubaki, yeah i ship those two, got a problem.
5. Divide Dividing Juggernaut Drive. I was expecting only 1 Juggernaut Drive, so having a chance to see Vali's JD is quite a good addition to me.
6. Arthur, or to be exact the Caliburn, in the LN we barely know a thing about the sword, at least here we get some info on it.
7. The hints on future events, among the best the Down Fall Dragon Spear protecting Asia, feels much better here than just being introduced randomly in the LN.
8. Oppai Dragon still safely introduced.
9. The Diodora character depiction. That was flawless in my opinion.
10. Shalba, he looks surprisingly normal. In fact i kinda wished that Shalba's design was used on Ajuka instead.
11. Rias and Ise losing their memories of the confession, at least V10 won't be damaged yet.
12. The story can still be linked to the main plot. This is the most important part.

Cons:

1. Removing of the first Rating Game. No matter what i feel that the removal of the RG was a bad move. I'm not going to talk about everyone but just Saji will be enough. Not only did they remove Saji's character development but they even ruined it completely by having the Vritra Gears implanted into him without side effects. Saji's character is almost the parallel of Ise which was strongly shown in the Rating Game, in the anime not only did the similarities was removed, they even made the rivalry and mutual respect Ise and Saji strongly displayed towards each other look completely not existing.
2. The power scaling, i can't tell if it's a good thing or a bad thing. They make everyone especially the one who fought Loki seem much stronger an make Fenrir look weak.
3. They didn't make Kiba use Durandal, seriously they remove that just to add Sairaorg punching Midgardclone? Why?
4. Loki's curse. I'm sure most will be confused on i'm placing this here after putting it on the pros but that's because it's also a con. The moment they change the main target of the curse to Rias it kinda lost its purpose. To me, BorN was focusing too much on Rias' feelings or specifically Rias herself rather than focusing on character development for others like the LN does, so the Loki curse was a huge con on that.
5. The target of Loki's curse, this is another thing i find is bad plotting. As mentioned in 4, BorN focused too much on Rias at the expense of others. The curse if used properly on other characters might be a much solid plot than Rias.
6. Lack of actual character development. None for Saji, none for Sona, none for Kiba and minimal for the girls especially hated with how they dealt with Akeno.
7. More screentime for characters, another pro that is a con at the same time, i don't see any good reason for all those random Sairaorg bits, it doesn't really help in making him look strong in fact it just looks weird. Irina and Rose too, while its good to see them have more screentime, i can't shake off the feeling that they are just background characters for the second half.
8. Dimensional Gap, i don't understand a thing about how it really works anymore.
9. Loki being hinted as a part of Khaos Brigade yet he doesn't seem affiliated at all, which is it?
10. Rias and Ise losing their memories of the confession, then why focus so much on Rias, you could've cast the curse on someone else with an actual issue instead. >___>
11. Too many questions left unanswered, where did Gleipnir come from, what happened to Loki? Are some one the questions.
12. No Mil-Tan, was kinda looking forward to that.
13. No Ketsuryuukou nickname for Vali.

Neutral:

1. Rias in Scale Mail, well i know it's not the best thing, but i don't think it's the worst either.
2. No Chichigami, maybe they'll show him next season, IDK.
3. Sona-Saji hints.
4. The sports festival as the ending.
5. The decreased in fanservice, since they went for a more serious feeling so i guess this was normal, but still a bit pitiable.
6. The Triaina hint, well since Ise didn't use promotion so it wasn't the Triaina so i suppose it barely saved it from being a con.
7. Kuroka's sis-con level. It's kinda stronger here than the LN for sure.

Questions:

1. What's the whale like creature inside the Dimensional Gap? Is it something important?
2. How did Rias and Ise end up at some random beach? More like where in the Dimensional Gap did they end up there? Was it because of Great Red's power to control dreams that caused it or was it something else?
3. Was there a reason to change the Mjolnir to the real one? More like if you have time to transport the real one why not just sent Thor instead. >___> That would've been much logical.

All in conclusion, there was few issues with the middle part, but the ending part leaves much to be desired. I feel that this season slaughtered too many character defining moments, personally i kinda hoped that they used the curse on Akeno instead of how they handled it like a minor plot. The animation wasn't so good like the previous two seasons but still acceptable. Now hopefully the short specials can soothe the anger for us.

[Benigmatica]

Gotta say, it's a step down from the previous season. While BorN has some great moment like the Juggernaut Drive, I'm disappointed that it didn't handle some plot points like Akeno's resolution with her father Baraqiel, as well as Loki who did most of the damage early on the series but he sealed himself after Episode 10!

Good season, but not as great as the previous seasons!

[Parry999]

Originally Posted by B214

[*]Rias and Ise losing their memories of the confession, then why focus so much on Rias, you could've cast the curse on someone else with an actual issue instead. >___>

[LIST=1][*]What's the whale like creature inside the Dimensional Gap? Is it something important?[*]How did Rias and Ise end up at some random beach? More like where in the Dimensional Gap did they end up there? Was it because of Great Red's power to control dreams that caused it or was it something else?

.

Every played kingdom hearts? They straight up ripped off the realm of darkness.

[Marcus H.]

I guess from the reactions I've read all over the place, then it means that BorN wasn't as good as an adaptation of the LN?

[Nvis]

Not enough Kuroka, the saviour of the show.

[MV5]

Originally Posted by Marcus H.

I guess from the reactions I've read all over the place, then it means that BorN wasn't as good as an adaptation of the LN?

Can season 3 really be called that? Only bits and pieces of the light novel were used, while Vol.6 was the only thing close to being adapted(even that had changes). The rest was anime original, which have been only meet with questions and criticism. Also the occasional doom and gloom about a new season being shattered while pre-order sales indicate the direct opposite. This season has been a roller coaster.

[Benigmatica]

Originally Posted by MV5

Also the occasional doom and gloom about a new season being shattered while pre-order sales indicate the direct opposite. This season has been a roller coaster.

I can agree with you on HS DxD BorN. If some of the veterans want a straight adaptation with 4 episodes per volume, Ishibumi-san and TNK should have done that a long time ago!