'High School DxD' Just Went Full 'Naruto'

High School DxD is a speedy series that often covers a lot of ground for its arcs within a short time, and that's no different for the fourth season, High School DxD Hero. But fans certainly didn't expect the latest episode to ramp up as fast as it did.

As Issei and his friends are fighting the mysterious Hero Faction in Kyoto, the series goes full on Naruto as one character becomes a giant Nine-Tailed Fox and has a Kaiju battle much like seen in that series.

The Hero Faction made its move in the last episode, and revealed why they originally kidnapped the leader of the Kyoto Youkai, Yasaka. Using her abilities, she is needed to forcibly open the gate to the Fifth Dimension where the Great Red Dragon resides.

As Cao Cao and the rest of the Hero Faction seek to kill Great Red, they force her into her Nine-Tailed Fox form and are using her to open the gate by keeping her in one spot with a sort of hypnosis.

Not only does the Nine-Tailed Fox form share a similar size with Naruto's Nine-Tailed Fox Kurama, Yasaka shares the power as well given how well she's able to stand against the fully formed Vritra, the Prison Dragon.

While their battle has just begun, seeing giant Kaiju fight like this callsback to the mecha-like Kaiju action of Naruto's battles with Sasuke. Although High School DxD Hero has yet to reach that same peak admittedly, it does come close.

If you are not familiar with High School DxD, then you should know the series is one rooted in supernatural adventures and gratuitous fan service. The story follows a boy named Issei Hyodo who is best known for his perverted ways. After being asked on a date, the boy is killed when the girl turns out to be a fallen angel. Issei is revived by a busty classmate of his named Rias who is a devil herself, and she contracts the boy to become her new pet as she reincarnated him into a devil during his resurrection.

High School DxD Hero originally premiered April 10, is scheduled to run for 13 episodes, and is currently streaming on Crunchyroll and Funimation as well. The English dub cast of the series includes the returning Josh Grelle as Issei Hyodo, Jamie Marchi as Rias Gremory, Kelly Angel as Akeno Himejima Jad Saxton as Koneko Tojo, Alison Viktorin as Gasper Vladi, Sean O'Connor as Yuto Kiba and Lauren Landa as Xenovia Quarta.

Yoshifuma Sueda (Rail Wars!, MAOYU) is directing the series for producer Passione (Rail Wars!, Hinako Note). Kenji Konuta (Blood Lad, Servamp) is composing the music for the series, and Mokoto Uno (The Qwasar of Stigmata, Rail Wars!, and Love Hina) will be designing the characters of the series. Minami is performing the opening theme "Switch," and the ending theme, "Motenai Kuseni" is performed by Tapimiru.

For those unfamiliar with Boruto's predecessor Naruto, it has quite a storied history. Originally created by Masashi Kishimoto, the series ran in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump for 700 chapters. The story follows Naruto, a young ninja with a sealed demon within him that wishes to become the leader of his home village. The sequel, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations is set several years after the events of the original Naruto story and featuring the children of many of its key characters such as Naruto and Hinata.