High School DxD BorN – 05 [NSFW]
Worst. Disguises. Ever.
Welcome back for DxD BorN! The big debate in the comments last week was whether this week’s episode would get rid of Loki or whether he’d make a strategic retreat to be around for the end of the series as the main boss. How’d it turn out, and how’d the rest of the episode go? Let’s find out!
I Think He’s Done
Can’t keep the hero down
Well, we knew that Issei wouldn’t die there, because he’s the main character of the whole series. And as someone pointed out, the present from Ravel turned out to be Phoenix Tears, which were able to heal Issei so that he could use Mjolnir to get Loki. I told you we didn’t need Thor around. But there were contributions from the rest of the crew, most importantly from Saji, who was key to holding Loki where Issei could hit him. I talked a lot last week about how this fight was much smaller scale than the version in the books, and that really shows in Saji, who had gotten a big powerup to be able to fight Loki (and was late arriving as a result). Of course, he wasn’t all that great at controlling himself, but maybe they’ll show that another time.
Adopting a new puppy!
So is Loki gone for good? I dunno. Again, in the novel, he was much more comprehensively defeated (as a smoking corpse). But I don’t really see how they have another fight with him: Fenrir is captured by the Vali team (who used Gleipnir), Midgardsormr (‘s copy) is defeated by Sairaorg (Wait, how’d he get there?), and there’s not really much point to having Loki show up again. If he does, it would be something completely anime original, and I just don’t see how that would be necessary, or even anything near the scope necessary to outdo this fight, which despite the lack of Tannin, Vali, and Saji’s black flame was pretty much the main fight against Loki in the book. Maybe they were just preserving him for sometime possibly in the future? I dunno. But anyway, he’s gone for now.
Yeah, I don’t know what this was supposed to mean
Date Time
Issei doesn’t seem to remember that he said that he’d call her ‘Akeno’ a while ago
Something else they pulled in from LN 7, since they’ve been dealing with Akeno’s issues with her father Barakiel, is the date with Issei. One of her first chances at being a normal girl, and it’s certainly with the boy she loves. She even got Rias’ permission, or at least allowance. Thankfully the date peepers only made one ludicrously silly appearance. But it does give Akeno and Issei a chance to run away and try to lose them, ending up in the part of town that maybe a high school student shouldn’t be in. But a norse god is, and that’s how we get a confrontation between Akeno and Barakiel, with Issei there. One thing they really didn’t go into is the misconceptions that Barakiel had about Issei. Even if Akeno doesn’t want to acknowledge him as her father, Barakiel still cares about her, and has heard some terrible things about Issei, like that he eats breasts (quite the misunderstanding of oppai dragon). But she isn’t quite ready to accept that.
She looks just like her mom
We do finally get the story of Akeno’s past, at least the quick anime version. The child of a shrine maiden and a fallen angel, her family had been living a quiet life, until one day the intolerant townsfolk decided to get rid of them, killing Akeno’s mother and almost killing Akeno herself, while telling her it was her fault and that she was an awful existence. And the kicker was that Barakiel had not been there to protect his wife and child when they were attacked, causing the conflict in Akeno’s heart about him. It also caused guilt on both Barakiel’s and Azazel’s parts, as Azazel had been the one who asked Barakiel to do something that day, and of course Barakiel had lost his wife and daughter, and exacting vengeance on those who had attacked them could never bring them back.
Issei makes them glow, not for the last time
And Akeno wants to put those feelings of her past behind her, but can’t, so she tries to drown them out with making love to Issei. I think we have to give Issei a lot of credit here for stopping her (at least trying to), realizing what she’s doing, and then getting the real story out of her breasts. I do have to say that there’s one level that this worked better than in the books, and that is in abuse of “Talking is a free action”, as this revelation about Akeno’s feelings for her father were related in the middle of the fight with Loki (through really crazy circumstances). But it kind of relegates the “Chichigami” to a corny line by Issei, rather than helping to convey the sheer force that breasts play in his life. Maybe we’ll get to that later, but I kind of doubt it. It also leaves Akeno’s realization that she doesn’t hate her father as a bit of an anti-climax, as that event was otherwise precipitated by Barakiel taking a heavy blow in the fight with Loki, leading to a breakdown by Akeno.
Some Extras For You
So this episode dealt with Akeno in a much more compact way than the books, but in a way that loses some of the emotional depth of a crisis. The date with Akeno was pretty cute, and it’s no secret that I think she’s the best of the girls (just look up two lines). So hopefully Akeno is cleared of a lot of the hurting in her heart, and Loki is gone. In next week’s preview we get a look at a new character, but you guys (who haven’t read the books) can wait to find out who it is. It does mean we’re getting into the sixth LN, and I’m starting to think that they might just skip the main event in the fifth LN, because I don’t know how it really fits in now. That would be a shame, because it does give us some good content with some characters we know, but I’m just not seeing how they work it in. Maybe that was the point of having Sona, Tsubaki, and Saji go along with the Gremory Group.
About Highway
Proving that you don't have to be young to love anime, I enjoy all genres and styles of shows. If it's not hurting anyone else, you should never be ashamed of what you like!
POWUH: iLurker with 13 comments
Loki did not die in the books however he was just sealed away.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Ah, that’s probably true. But he was more comprehensively beaten, even Loki himself saying he was. Instead, here he says something about cursing them and just kinda disappears. That’s why there’s even the possibility of him showing up again (not that I think he will).
POWUH: Beginner (20-35) with 33 comments
Yeah, I was disappointed in the way they compacted that scene with Akeno trying to have sex with Ise, in the LN he actually gives a speech about it while hugging her, it was really sweet.
The Oppai Dragon is not a thing yet, so Barakiel doesn’t know much about Ise, it’d be weird for him to accuse him of eating breasts and stuff.
I lol’ed at Ise having hallucinations of boobs in the sky and the heroines stalking them. xD
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
They might have done a little better with Ise refusing, yet comforting, Akeno. He was certainly more adamant in his redirection of her.
I mostly added the stuff about Barakiel’s attitude because there was a lot more tension between the two of them that was left out, partly because of moving it up. The show also leaves out that Barakiel ends up accepting Issei in his and Akeno’s life, and acknowledging that he is a good person for Akeno.
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 110 comments
so even in DxD series yea loki is still a “puny god” & yet when issei lift Mjolnir hammer does it means he worthy to rule asgard someday?!
after all akeno’s story give daddy issues yet reasons for at least issei somehow manage get akeno realize to re-connect to daddy.
(related note DxD s3 dub is here with 2 big changes of it http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2015-05-02/funimation-unveils-high-school-dxd-born-broadcast-dub-cast/.87766 INDEED well dvd-blu coming in 2016 i guess?)
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
That could be and it seems a lot of people are capable of ruling Asgard. I saw Avengers: Age of Ultron two days ago and someone else was capable of holding Thor’s hammer.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
They didn’t make it clear, but it’s a copy of Mjolnir. They had thought about asking Thor for the real one, but it was easier to get the copy.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
If a copy can pack that much of a punch, imagine what the real thing can do.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
So, Kinko’s, Staple’s? Custom 3-D printer? I’ve had complications over a simple work order involving a poster…can’t imagine the trouble a mystic hammer would cause. I guess the first question they would ask is, “Is this copyrighted”?
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Dark elves and dwarves. And I don’t think they exactly got permission, they just did it. It just turned out to be convenient.
POWUH: Beginner (20-35) with 33 comments
Actually it’s the real thing in the anime. Ishibumi himself said it.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
There are times when the “voice of god” should keep his mouth shut. Why contradict what’s in the book already?
POWUH: Beginner (20-35) with 33 comments
No idea. I think Ishibumi is kind of crazy.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Rather quick and anticlimactic in spite of the dramatic cliffhanger from the previous episode. Knowing this entry’s title thanks to the preview, a part of me figured the fight against Loki would be short lived. Just didn’t know how everything was going to progress to that end. Well, in the end, it means he’s being set up for a much harsher ass kicking and a narcissistic bastard like him rightly deserves it.
Pretty much a start to Akeno’s true road to recovery from childhood trauma. Whatever made Barakiel distance himself from Akeno and her mother at the time had to have been important. Like Issei suspects, there’s nothing about his aura that gives the impression of a coldhearted, uncaring person. Someone like that wouldn’t watch over them after unintentionally uprooting his lover’s life with her family.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I did mention what it was, as Azazel confesses to Issei that he has guilt over Akeno’s situation because Barakiel had been performing a mission that Azazel had asked him to do. It was not a frivolous thing either, but described as ‘Something only Barakiel could do’. That still gave the opportunity for the bad guys, but it was not negligent on anyone’s part.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
For me the Loki fight felt so over-choreographed. It just reveled in “this is a placeholder, the real fight is much later”. So it’s a non-starter.
They’ve seemed to have dropped the ball in characterization this series. Both Koneko and Akeno just the shortest of bits that have to be stretched out to appreciate.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Maybe it’s just me knowing what content there is in the books, but I really don’t think there’s going to be more Loki. What’s he going to come back with? Fenrir is gone. Midgarsormr’s copy is gone. Loki was betrayed by the Vali Team. He lost to an ad hoc group of high school kids, who are admittedly very strong, but aren’t really ‘god level’. If he’d pulled back and took Fenrir and the others with him, maybe I’d see that something would happen later. But right now there’s nothing to actually happen.
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
He can always find an Infinity Gem. Wait wrong series Loki.