Currently finished: Episode 8
When it comes to animes that crosses boundary into the hentai land, my friends tell me that I have quite strange tastes regarding to what I think is good and what I think is bad. For example, I was not very fond of Highschool of the Dead due to its pointless fan service insertion but liked Sekirei; I couldn't stand Rosario Vampire but enjoyed Seikon no Qwaser and Queen's Blade. I think it mostly has to do with the expectations--the latter ones, I went in knowing what I'm going to get, but instead, there are far more than what I was expecting. On the other hand, the former ones, when they tried to sell you the series, they make them to be something different, but when it actually comes out, it turned out to be far less than I was expecting because everything was overly drenched with fan services. So it's all about whether the series is oversold or undersold.
That brings up the main point, which category does Highschool DxD fall into? You probably have guessed by now, it belongs to the undersold category, meaning it has turned out to be a better series than I was expecting. Honestly, I totally didn't expecting it to be anything other than some boobs bouncing harem series with some stupid fart jokes very much like what Rosario Vampire was. I know many would disagree, but the rather crude and blunt approach in both character building and humor is actually much more interesting than I was expecting. Since it's already crossed the hentai line, much like Seikon no Qwaser, it actually freed itself from trying to push the limit on the tease factors of the near hentai animes and simply use them as an element to build the story with. When you get used to it, it's actually quite fun to watch.
