High School DxD (Episode 12) - I'm Here to Keep My Promise!

Rias lost the Ratings Game and is now to be married to Riser Phenex, but Issei isn’t about to give up just yet. He may have one more trick up his sleeve… literally!

This Post Contains NSFW Images!

I Pick a Fight!

Issei woke from his battle with Riser Phenex several days later to discover that Rias was set to marry Riser. Grafia appeared before him offering him the chance to intervene and possibly win Rias’ freedom. He jumped at the chance but not before making a deal with the Red Dragon Emperor.

Riser was keen to show off his latest trophy and had Rias wear a wedding dress to the announcement party. She wasn’t too happy about the whole situation, and this just made things worse. Then, just as the party was getting started, Issei burst in and started causing trouble. Koneko, Kiba, and Akeno quickly backed him up.

Finally, Rias’ brother offered Issei the chance to fight Riser one on one with the winner getting whatever they desire. Issei just wanted Rias back and so the fight began. Only this time, Issei had made a deal with the Red Dragon Emperor to be able to use his full power, although he would only be able to sustain it for ten seconds. In exchange, Issei had given his arm to the dragon.

This proved to be the turning point in the fight as his dragon arm was able to hold a cross which is deadly to devils. He used it on Riser just when he was certain of victory and Riser’s sister jumped in to forfeit the match. Issei had won and Rias was overjoyed.

Favorite Moments

High School DxD Uncensored Episode 12 Rias Crying

The absolute highlight of the episode has to have been when Issei delivers the classic “how dare you make Rias cry?” line, before taking down Riser. For some reason, it’s always such a powerful line to deliver, and it worked well once again here. I really felt the emotion of Issei’s words and actions throughout the fight.

That’s a cool moment. I liked when Issei crashed the party and started fighting. Akeno, Koneko, and Kiba all looked at each other and then piled in too. I also liked how Rias’ brother was meddling while trying to maintain his neutral stance.

Yeah, that was clever of him, to use Issei as a “third party” to crash everything for his sister. Just shows that he’s a good guy in the end, despite his title…

It was a bit of a crappy deal with the Red Dragon though, his right arm for ten seconds at full power, especially knowing that that was nowhere near full power.

True, but then again… he has a dragon arm. That’s pretty cool. It’d be one thing if he could never use that arm again, but at least he can still use it in the dragon form! Just has to tell his classmates that he’s cosplaying or something, or that it’s a Michael Jackson thing…

Haha! Maybe…

Episode Thoughts

A very climactic end to the season, with Issei proving himself as someone with some clout, and not just a weakling. By taking down Riser he has essentially levelled up, and now that we’ve seen a shot of his full potential we have an idea of what sort of power level he is working towards.

Agreed. The full suit of armour is pretty spectacular. I liked how we had the big loss in the ratings game for Issei to step up and win the season. It was also cool to see a lot of the foreshadowing come to fruition with the holy water and the cross.

Yeah, a very creative way to finish Riser off. His arrogance was his downfall, because he simply didn’t think anything could possibly defeat him. That’s probably my one criticism, is that we didn’t get to see much from Riser despite him being the big villain from the season.

That’s true. He was definitely a one-note moustache-twizzling villain and even then we didn’t get to see him do much. Even his fighting was fairly underwhelming. In the ratings game he just took a lot of hits and then punched Issei around a bit. He could have done with some flashier moves.

The one other interesting thing to note was that the season finale didn’t give us much in terms of ecchi either. I feel like maybe the ball was dropped a bit there, but then again, DxD has shown that it is a very strong story-based anime that also boasts great ecchi when it fits, but isn’t always necessary.

This was definitely a story progression episode which, as you pointed out, had very little ecchi content, but I was fine with that. It was a satisfying conclusion to the season and we saw Issei and Rias get a little closer.

If anything these past few episodes were DxD’s way of showing that they don’t need ecchi to provide high-quality episodes.

But it’s always welcome too! It’s still one of the best at getting the balance right and not forcing it into moments that would feel off.

Definitely, and you just know that next season will jump right back into the ecchi!

They do like to open with a bang. I’m looking forward to it.

S2 here we come!