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(Bonus: It’s the guy getting hurt to inspire a roaring rampage of revenge ( trope!) from the girl, for once.) The feeeeels! Then add on everyone crying for Issei, with Rias most of all.
HIGHSCHOOL DXD BORN MOVIE
A book can do this too, but since the reader controls the pace, this is something a movie or TV show excels at. There wasn’t enough time to consider that a possibility until it had already happened.
HIGHSCHOOL DXD BORN FREE
Here, Fenrir broke free of Kiba-kun’s balance breaker, and then the hammer appeared, and-chomp.
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The first time I saw it, I was so wrapped up in the moment, and the scene moved so quickly, that it didn’t even occur to me that the Joker could be lying until the reveal. The Joker tells Batman the locations where Harvey and Rachel are being held hostage. A good example is The Dark Knight, where: One of the great things visual mediums can do is control the pace so we don’t see the punch until it lands. The moment when Fenrir took out Issei was well done. I can ship them, right? Right? SHIPPING FURIOUSLY!! Nothing beats Kiba-kun complimenting Tsubaki, though, and her blushing. Xenovia and Irina back together was great, while Saji getting a thank you from Souna was adorable. I also enjoyed all the character combinations and interactions. (And after I was praising the show for taking it slow last week, ugh.) I like how Koneko-chan’s struggles jived with Akeno’s struggles, so them both making breakthroughs at the same time was satisfying. Part of it was seeing the realization of Koneko-chan’s and Akeno’s growth, even if Koneko-chan’s was tied in part to her feelings for Issei, which once again felt abrupt. Yet for all the odd stitch marks on the first part of the episode, I enjoyed the second half a lot. I like that DxD can encompass both of those, but we need an episode or two in between. Then there’s the tonal shift from powering up via breast pokes last episode, to full-on life-and-death, the-world-is-on-the-line struggles this time. It’s just galling when all the big shots are right there and don’t act because of reasons that feel so clearly contrived. LN readers, I know-their powers are so great that they would trigger the war or destroy the world or whatever. The reasons for why Rias’ and Souna’s teams went instead of the big shots who were all over this place also barely passed muster. Last episode felt like the end of a crisis, not the immediate prelude to a larger one. But you have to do it well, and the first half of this episode felt abrupt. Which I don’t have a problem with if it’s done for a reason, and done well-a story should be adapted to its medium, rather than directly ported over, because each medium has different strengths and weaknesses. I heard tell that season three is skipping around, and this stuff is from a later volume than the events of last episode.
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On the other hand, the battles were great, the character growth was satisfying, and the ending … cliffhanger, DAMN! On the one hand, the episode felt abrupt-suddenly there’s a climactic battle that the powerful characters couldn’t take care of for reasons.