High School DxD Hero
ハイスクールDxD HERO
- Action
- Comedy
- Ecchi
- Romance
- Supernatural
- Harem
- Mythology
- School
- Episodes
- 12
- Duration
- 23 min per ep
- Aired
- Apr 17, 2018 to Jul 3, 2018
- Status
- Finished Airing
Synopsis
After pulling his master Rias Gremory back from the Dimensional Gap, Issei Hyoudou—the Red Dragon Emperor with dreams of becoming a Harem King—settles into everyday life at Kuoh Academy with the Occult Research Club: Yuuto Kiba, Asia Argento, Xenovia Quarta, and Irina Shidou. Their routine takes a turn when the group heads to Kyoto for a school trip.
A quiet visit to a temple, protected by one of Rias’ spells, is shattered when local youkai attack. In the aftermath, the club discovers that Kyoto’s legendary nine-tailed fox guardian has been kidnapped—and they’ve been set up as the culprits. With the city on edge and trouble brewing behind the scenes, Issei and the others are forced into action to clear their names and prevent the trip from becoming a catastrophe.
Back in Tokyo, Rias remains behind with Akeno Himejima and Koneko Toujou, increasingly uneasy about leaving Issei surrounded by the other girls. Beneath the jealousy lies a deeper uncertainty, as Rias continues to wrestle with feelings she hasn’t been able to put into words for months.
Otaku Consensus
High School DxD Hero is received as a necessary course correction for the franchise: Passione’s cleaner, rounder redesigns and Yoshifumi Sueda’s brisk direction make the fourth season feel closer to the light-novel energy than the divisive detours that preceded it. The Kyoto youkai material gives the season a sharper mythological identity, while the recurring complaint is equally consistent: the studio switch and character-design overhaul remain polarizing, and the ecchi comedy can still undercut dramatic momentum.
Why You Should Watch
Watch High School DxD Hero if you want battle-shounen power escalation, demonic politics, and unapologetic harem comedy without the self-seriousness that weighs down many supernatural action shows. It scratches a similar itch to To Love-Ru on the fanservice side and Date A Live on the “romance plus escalating supernatural factions” side, but with a louder mythological toolbox: devils, dragons, religion-coded powers, youkai, and school-life chaos all occupy the same room. This season is especially valuable for viewers already invested in the franchise because Passione’s takeover gives the cast a visibly different texture, while Kenji Konuta’s composition keeps the 12-episode run moving between comedy beats, faction lore, and combat payoffs rather than lingering in recap mode.
Key Characters
- IIssei Hyoudou
Issei remains one of ecchi anime’s most recognizable leads because his ridiculous Harem King ambition is treated as both a punchline and a genuine emotional engine for his loyalty in battle.
- RRias Gremory
Rias stands out because the season pushes her beyond the usual harem-center role, framing her pride, insecurity, and authority as parts of the same noble-devil identity.
- AAsia Argento
Asia gives the cast its gentler emotional register, balancing the franchise’s loud fanservice with a sincere religious-background contrast to the devil society around her.
- XXenovia Quarta
Xenovia is memorable for how bluntly she collapses the distance between holy-war baggage, school comedy, and romantic competitiveness.
What Makes It Stand Out
- 1
Passione produced this 12-episode season, marking a visible studio shift for the franchise and bringing Makoto Uno’s character designs to the screen instead of continuing the earlier TV look.
- 2
The season’s visual identity is tied to Miyama-Zero’s original character design credit, but Uno’s TV adaptation gives the cast softer facial shapes and a more polished late-2010s harem-action finish.
- 3
The Kyoto material foregrounds youkai and Japanese religious iconography, which aligns with AniList’s high Religion, Youkai, Kemonomimi, Demons, and Dragons tag presence rather than limiting the season to devil-school comedy.
- 4
Kenji Konuta’s series composition has to compress school-trip comedy, harem jealousy, faction conflict, and action escalation into a single-cour structure, making Hero one of the franchise’s more densely packed seasons.
- 5
The season’s reception numbers show its split identity clearly: a solid MAL score of 7.23 from over 306,000 votes, an AniList score of 69/100, and enough franchise loyalty to sit at MAL popularity #451.
Fun Facts & Trivia
- Fun fact 1
- High School DxD Hero aired from April 17, 2018 to July 3, 2018, placing it in the Spring 2018 TV season as a compact 12-episode continuation.
- Fun fact 2
- The key creative chain is unusually clear: Ichiei Ishibumi is credited for the original story, Miyama-Zero for the original character designs, Yoshifumi Sueda for direction, and Kenji Konuta for series composition.
- Fun fact 3
- The English-side production credits list Gen Fukunaga as executive producer and Michael Harcourt as producer, reflecting the franchise’s established international distribution footprint.
- Fun fact 4
- AniList’s tag spread quantifies the show’s identity with unusual precision: Heterosexual at 96%, Female Harem at 93%, Nudity at 88%, Demons at 85%, Dragons at 80%, and Religion at 79%.
- Fun fact 5
- Even as a later franchise season, Hero has major database visibility: MAL lists it with 306,682 votes, rank #3538, popularity #451, while AniList records 2,624 favourites.
Studios
- Passione
