High School DxD Review: A Boy Killed on His First Date Becomes a Devil and Then Things Get More Complicated

Quick Take

• The light novel adaptation that is honest about what it is — the action is genuinely creative (Boosted Gear's power-doubling mechanic produces interesting combat scenarios) and the fan service is extensive, and neither apologizes for the other
• The mythology — three-way war between Heaven, Grigori, and the Underworld — is developed with more detail than the premise suggests it would be
• 25 volumes complete; the definitive supernatural harem action manga for readers who want both the action and the content

Who Is This Manga For?

• Adult readers who want supernatural action manga with explicit fan service
• Anyone interested in Christian and devil mythology filtered through Japanese fantasy
• Fans of power-escalation action manga with creative combat mechanics
• Readers who want complete manga — 25 volumes, full resolution

Content Warnings & Age Rating

Age Rating: M (Mature) Content Warnings: Explicit fan service including nudity; mature sexual content throughout; action violence with supernatural combat; harem dynamics

This is a genuinely mature series. The M rating is accurate and the content is significant.

Yu's Rating

Category	Score
Story Depth	★★★☆☆
Art Style	★★★★☆
Character Development	★★★★☆
Accessibility for Non-Japanese Readers	★★★★★
Reread Value	★★★☆☆

Story Overview

Issei Hyodo's dream is a harem. His first date kills him. Rias Gremory, a third-year student who is secretly one of the devil nobility, revives him as her servant using a Bishop piece from the devil chess-based system of servants.

Issei discovers he possesses a Sacred Gear — one of the divine artifacts distributed to humans — called Boosted Gear, which doubles its user's power every ten seconds. This makes him potentially dangerous but also extremely useful. He joins Rias's peerage, which poses as the Occult Research Club, and begins learning what it means to be a devil.

The series follows the escalating conflict involving the fallen angels of Grigori, the remnants of Heaven's forces, and the Underworld's devil factions, with Issei's Boosted Gear becoming increasingly central to the conflict.

Characters

Issei Hyodo — His quality is unusual: he is genuinely motivated by wanting to be strong enough to protect the people he loves, and his stated desire for a harem coexists with sincere affection for specific people. The series develops his feelings with more honesty than the premise implies.

Rias Gremory — The devil noble who revived him develops beyond her initial role as the powerful senior. Her specific history and the political pressures she navigates provide the series' larger stakes.

The peerage — Asia Argento, Koneko, Akeno, Xenovia, and others are developed across 25 volumes with individual arcs and motivations. The ensemble becomes the series' genuine strength.

Art Style

Miyama-Zero's art handles the extensive fan service and the action sequences with consistent quality. The Sacred Gear designs are visually distinctive, and the character designs are clear across a large cast. The mythology-inspired designs for the various supernatural factions are inventive.

Cultural Context

High School DxD filters Christian theology, Islamic angels, and Western supernatural tradition through Japanese fantasy conventions — the result is mythology that is freely adapted rather than faithful and all the more entertaining for it. The chess-based devil servant system is an original invention that provides interesting social structure.

What I Love About It

The combat sequences where Boosted Gear's mechanics interact with other Sacred Gears or supernatural powers — where the power-doubling creates specific tactical problems and solutions rather than just making Issei generally stronger — are the series' most creative content.

What English-Speaking Fans Say

Western readers describe High School DxD as the series that turned them from viewers of the anime into readers of the manga — the source material is consistently described as richer than its adaptation. The mythology development is praised by readers who didn't expect to find it interesting.

Memorable Scene ⚠️ Spoiler Warning

Issei's confrontation with Raiser Phoenix — the antagonist whose regeneration appears to make him unbeatable and whose relationship to Rias provides the series' first major stakes — is the series' first complete action climax and the moment the series earns its premise.

Similar Manga

• Trinity Seven — Magic school action, less explicit
• Highschool of the Dead — Supernatural action with mature content, horror premise
• The Testament of Sister New Devil — Similar premise, different execution
• Seraph of the End — Three-faction supernatural war, no fan service

Reading Order / Where to Start

Volume 1 — Issei's death and revival.

Official English Translation Status

Yen Press published all 25 volumes. Complete and available.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• The Boosted Gear combat mechanic generates creative fight design
• Complete 25-volume arc with full resolution
• The mythology develops with genuine detail
• Character development is more substantial than the premise suggests

Cons

• The M-rated content is significant and pervasive
• Power scaling escalates significantly in later volumes
• The harem premise is what it is

Format Comparison

Format	Notes
Individual Volumes	Yen Press; complete
Digital	Available

Where to Buy

Get High School DxD Vol. 1 on Amazon →

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