Wait, Someone Wrote A 55-Page Paper On ‘High School DxD’

High School DxD is one of the most famous, and infamous, anime in the industry today. The newest season of the series is set to premiere, and some fans have been wondering why so many other fans were so excited to see the series come back.

But while High School DxD has its detractors, no fan has defended the series with a 55-page long thesis on why the series is successful for them. You’re going to want to sit down for this one.

Reddit user HPrince1 shared a 55 page essay they wrote defending, and elaborating on their love of High School DxD. Stating in their 55 page essay (which you can find in full at this link, but caution due to language), that they wrote the paper not to change any minds but to simply explain their love. Throughout the 55 pages, HPrince1 details the positive elements of the series’ characters, romance, harem, and naturally, they go into the series’ most infamous element, fan service.

As for the series’ fan service, HPrince1 argues that the fan service does divide the audience and limits the reach of High School DxD‘s audience, but at the same time, because of that same focus on a esoteric audience, the series provides stronger fan service.

Once they explained the reason why the fan service of the series is so effective, HPrince1 goes on to defend how even the fan service feels earned within the universe of the series. The romance, for example, between the main women in the cast and main character Issei is not guaranteed, as many girls in the series did not develop a crush on the main character until at least the end of the first season.

HPrince1 posits that the fan service merely is meant to punctuate the other elements of the story in order to make it stronger overall. With a focus on character, and making Issei a hardcore pervert (which is the antithesis of many male centers in harem anime), the fan service highlights moments of comedy and misunderstanding. This is even used as a way to balance out the intensity of the action scenes, which feature perilous situations but allows the audiences to enjoy the action free of peril thanks to well place humor.

To finish out the essay, HPrince1 argues the strength of the main romances between Issei and the central girls. Arguing Issei and Rias’ relationship is one of the strongest connections in the series (and other anime), Akeno and Issei (as Issei clearly denies her advances at certain points), Issei and Asia (as Issei genuinely does not reciprocate Asia’s love and only sees her as a sister), and Issei and Koneko’s relationship as she slowly comes to respect Issei’s victories and efforts.

To conclude their 55 page essay, HPrince1 states that High School DxD changed their life and means a lot to them, so much so that they wrote the 55 page essay in the first place. If the argument presented here does not get you to look at High School DxD differently, that is perfectly fine.

Every anime fan has a series that they love and dedicate themselves to the same extent as HPrince1, and your ‘High School DxD’ level love could be seen as odd to the next fan. So it is great to acknowledge every fan’s different loves and enjoy more releases.

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.

Based off a series of light novels by Ichiei Ishibumi with illustrations provided by Miyama-Zero, the series began serialization in 2008 as part of Fujimi Shobo’s Dragon Magazine. The series has since been collected into 22 volumes, and has spawned a manga adaptation as well. The manga has been handled by Hiroji Mishima starting in 2010, and has 22 volumes currently available as of 2006. The series has since spawned three anime series before, and were all licensed for an English language release by Funimation running from 2012 to 2015 in various intervals with the latest iteration of the series premiering later in 2018.