Ishibumi is born and raised in the Chiba Prefecture of Japan. He is a big fan of Pokémon and has collected every form of Gundam merchandise, which he writes about in his blog.
Sometimes all you need to see the value of something is to be exposed to worse experiences. This is what I felt like when I read this book.
The last couple of months ago I read the first four volumes of Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha, and although they were somewhat fun and entertaining, it just felt a little bit awkward for all those characters to have such a stern but willing opinion about sex. And now I finally know what I missed the whole time: Comedy!
I rated the first volume of DxD with 3 stars and sadly wrote no review about it, but since it was my first Light Novel after Sword Art Online, I guess I though something along the lines of "urgh, this reads like an anime." Throughout my read of this volume, I constantly though "Yay, this reads like an anime" - because Shinmai Maou just didn't. And that was what I was missing the whole time. Erotic scenes go so much nicer with comedy, than with stern, sometimes unsettling porn-vibes to them. Also Ise is just a great character for himself, and him interacting with other characters is even better. The comedy parts are also gold - almost every comedic scene is centered around or based on Ise's sex drive and thus fits perfectly into the story, no matter what the situation, because it is a story about Ise, so it makes sense for him to be present in that said situation.
Maybe I am somewhat biased, and maybe the five stars derive from my comparison with Shinmai Maou, but this is exactly the right book for me at the right time. I feel like I can't really justify the five stars other than with comparing it to lesser Light Novels, so maybe the words that I am looking for are:
Highschool DxD is how a highschool-ecchi-harem-fighting-shonen Light Novel has to be. It makes everything right that it wants and needs to do.
Yeah, that sounds good. Postscriptum: Ise's parents are the best parents in any kind of literature. Period.
En el que Hyoudou Issei es muy sobreprotector, Rias Gremory está dispuesta a todo y cualquier cosa con tal de no casarse con Raiser Phoenix… lo que incluye realizar cierta actividad con Hyoudou (no lo pienses, no lo pienses) y yo gano un saludable respeto hacia el [Boosted Gear] y hacia Kiba Yuuto y su [Sword Birth]. ...De acuerdo, y hacia Hyoudou también (solo un poco, ojo), especialmente por las partes finales del [Rating Game].
En una nota relacionada, nunca creí que vería a alguien ganar usando una cruz y agua bendita, pero aquí estoy y eso sucedió.
The 2nd novel reminded me why I loved the anime version. It covers the 2nd half of the 1st season. Humour/action/plot greatly improves. Really fun read.
Second half of the first arc in the series. Really love the translation and how it's been managed by YenPress. While I've already read up to volume 10 through fan translations, I hope I'll get motivation to continue until I reach the part of the story I don't know yet haha.
This volume in particular is pretty good but nothing spectacular *yet*.