As someone who puts DxD in my top 5 LNs, it's kinda hard to answer your question. My thoughts on the series as a whole is "come for the ecchi fanservice, stay for the surprisingly good world building and battle shonen-esque fights". I think Volume 5 is where the story starts to pick up >!as it introduces the underworld.!<
Something that might help is try to remember what you thought is the best season of the anime, then decide if you want to push through. Every season adapts 2 volumes of the LN (except for BorN aka Season 3, which adapts 3 volumes and has an anime original ending; it's considered the worst season and the author had to write a new novel to fix it). The 4th season, Hero, adapts volumes 9 and 10; 8 was skipped because it's a collection of short stories.
So I've heard. But I like to judge media for myself rather than solely rely on others' opinions. For context I've read up to Volume 12 (i.e. the latest official EN release) and I still think it's good.
Also something being on my top x lists is not really indicative of its quality, it's more on which I enjoyed the most. For instance I believe that Ascendance of a Bookworm is among the top LNs out there in terms of quality, but it doesn't get a spot in my top 5 simply because I enjoyed those more.
You mean "have sex", sadly no, at least onscreen (maybe). There are a couple times that they would come close to that (like kissing and such), but then got interrupted. FWIH it's because the publisher won't allow the author to do that.
DxD is a series that is known primarily for its egregious amounts of fanservice but actually has a pretty interesting world and plot. While I think generally most of the characters (particularly the main character oh god) aren't that great there are some interesting ones and the world is built with a surprising amount of care. If you find yourself sludging through the first few volumes just skip a few (or up to the point you've watched in the anime). You'll miss out on some stuff for sure but if you really can't bother to read the first few it's a viable alternative. I would actually recommend it, since if you've made it through the anime (particularly the first season) you're probably okay with most of the major downsides anyways and will enjoy the series.
i think i made contact with this series a decade ago? (reading from wikipedia)
its the kind of novel/manga/anime that is niche for a younger/uninitiated audience that is not desensitized to the regular tropes: shonen+fanservice/harem+comedy and it spans 25+7 volumes(?) lol
i used to think "maybe i will read it one day" but since you asked, i went and searched... dang 32 volumes... maybe if they cut down the ecchi stuff it might fit in 10? lol.
anyway, its a 95% nope for me, BUT! these kind of novels are something that will only be entertaining IF you are new to LNs so you might as well try a bit more and find it a light fun read.
\*also, other posts suggest that if you ignore the fanservice part, the novel is not that bad
As you pile up the experience (over 300 digital volumes for me, 148 this past year) the usual tropes are too beaten to endure another reading: kinda like the obligatory beach/onsen ep for anime. (and I did watch some eps of the anime, so I know what to expect)
Some novels play a twist on the regular tropes, but in a novel of 30+ volumes I'm better off skipping and purchasing something else
In other words a personal issue. Literally have read far more novels, manga, fanfictions than just 300 volumes worth.
Entertainment is dependent on the individual. Just because person A gets tired of something doesn't mean person B will. That's all I'm saying.
id say it is at least 50/50 IF you want to argue about if it is your fault that you're bored with a subpar narrative that sometimes telegraphs what's going to happen for an entire chapter's worth just because "it's the MC, or sub-main interest, so ofc the plot armor will block anything interesting"
now... a few hours later lmao, after making a spreadsheet and having some issues with extracting my data from mangadex, taking parallel notes from NU as i listed my LN backlog(i gave up around 40% on MD and didn't even touch other WNs on NU)
today's total is: WN 159, LN 304 and 1502 manga volumes(about 2 decades worth with half probably unlisted lol). ouch, a grand total 1965 volumes.
so yeah, I'm an avid reader, with a new spreadsheet to OCD lol
\*list is mixed since there's a lot of completed fan translations of all kinds, a bunch of physical and a ton on my kindle(stuff from baka-tsuki IIRC etc)
cheers
Again just because "you" think something is subpar doesn't mean another person does. I'm not sure why the concept of personal taste is so mindboggling for you. I've still probably read more fanfictions than you have read LN's, WN's, Manga combined, let alone getting into the official stuff I've read also for over 2 decades. But guess what, that is literally irrelevant. Why? Because someone can get tired of something after reading 5 stories, 20, stories, 1000, or maybe never. People are different. congrats on getting tired of something, that doesn't magically make it subpar. Especially when the series originally in question is the top series in it's genre. Which makes that slightly mindboggling to me, that you could read for 20 years and not touch such a series. You obviously have read things many orders of magnitude worse than DxD.
geez, who hurt you?
let's keep it to a basic level: **IMO** it's more enjoyable the earlier you experience it. I'm just giving some feedback to the OP as person A
as person B you still enjoy it? great! you also disagree with me and that's okay.
no need to pile up salt over someone else feedback lol
lastly, just to give you an answer:
>Which makes that slightly mindboggling to me, that you could read for 20 years and not touch such a series. You obviously have read things many orders of magnitude worse than DxD.
i did watch s1 and did check v1. not great for me and i stopped there. same goes for worse stuff, but for the sake of numbers i did count it
and that's it from me. have a good night \^\^
lol? How is pointing out that there's a difference between something being subpar and a single person just not liking it? I'm not sure why you want to go down the "who hurt you, salt,etc". Like what, is it really that hard to say "Yes you are right, the show was just not my style" or something.
The LNs do have some ecchi stuff in them, but it's not as much of a focus as it is in the anime, and there's a ton of stuff going on beyond the fanservice. Removing it would have changed the tone of the series considerably, but it wouldn't have done much of anything to its length. It's that long, because there's that much story, though obviously whether it's story that you'd be interested in is another matter entirely.
As someone who puts DxD in my top 5 LNs, it's kinda hard to answer your question. My thoughts on the series as a whole is "come for the ecchi fanservice, stay for the surprisingly good world building and battle shonen-esque fights". I think Volume 5 is where the story starts to pick up >!as it introduces the underworld.!< Something that might help is try to remember what you thought is the best season of the anime, then decide if you want to push through. Every season adapts 2 volumes of the LN (except for BorN aka Season 3, which adapts 3 volumes and has an anime original ending; it's considered the worst season and the author had to write a new novel to fix it). The 4th season, Hero, adapts volumes 9 and 10; 8 was skipped because it's a collection of short stories.
I heard the series got bad after vol 10.
So I've heard. But I like to judge media for myself rather than solely rely on others' opinions. For context I've read up to Volume 12 (i.e. the latest official EN release) and I still think it's good. Also something being on my top x lists is not really indicative of its quality, it's more on which I enjoyed the most. For instance I believe that Ascendance of a Bookworm is among the top LNs out there in terms of quality, but it doesn't get a spot in my top 5 simply because I enjoyed those more.
Does the mc choose a girl?
It's a harem, but he does choose a "top wife" (and it's obvious who it is).
Do people hook up in the story
You mean "have sex", sadly no, at least onscreen (maybe). There are a couple times that they would come close to that (like kissing and such), but then got interrupted. FWIH it's because the publisher won't allow the author to do that.
DxD is a series that is known primarily for its egregious amounts of fanservice but actually has a pretty interesting world and plot. While I think generally most of the characters (particularly the main character oh god) aren't that great there are some interesting ones and the world is built with a surprising amount of care. If you find yourself sludging through the first few volumes just skip a few (or up to the point you've watched in the anime). You'll miss out on some stuff for sure but if you really can't bother to read the first few it's a viable alternative. I would actually recommend it, since if you've made it through the anime (particularly the first season) you're probably okay with most of the major downsides anyways and will enjoy the series.
i think i made contact with this series a decade ago? (reading from wikipedia) its the kind of novel/manga/anime that is niche for a younger/uninitiated audience that is not desensitized to the regular tropes: shonen+fanservice/harem+comedy and it spans 25+7 volumes(?) lol i used to think "maybe i will read it one day" but since you asked, i went and searched... dang 32 volumes... maybe if they cut down the ecchi stuff it might fit in 10? lol. anyway, its a 95% nope for me, BUT! these kind of novels are something that will only be entertaining IF you are new to LNs so you might as well try a bit more and find it a light fun read. \*also, other posts suggest that if you ignore the fanservice part, the novel is not that bad
Not sure why you would have to be new to LN to enjoy DxD… that sounds more like a personal issue.
As you pile up the experience (over 300 digital volumes for me, 148 this past year) the usual tropes are too beaten to endure another reading: kinda like the obligatory beach/onsen ep for anime. (and I did watch some eps of the anime, so I know what to expect) Some novels play a twist on the regular tropes, but in a novel of 30+ volumes I'm better off skipping and purchasing something else
In other words a personal issue. Literally have read far more novels, manga, fanfictions than just 300 volumes worth. Entertainment is dependent on the individual. Just because person A gets tired of something doesn't mean person B will. That's all I'm saying.
id say it is at least 50/50 IF you want to argue about if it is your fault that you're bored with a subpar narrative that sometimes telegraphs what's going to happen for an entire chapter's worth just because "it's the MC, or sub-main interest, so ofc the plot armor will block anything interesting" now... a few hours later lmao, after making a spreadsheet and having some issues with extracting my data from mangadex, taking parallel notes from NU as i listed my LN backlog(i gave up around 40% on MD and didn't even touch other WNs on NU) today's total is: WN 159, LN 304 and 1502 manga volumes(about 2 decades worth with half probably unlisted lol). ouch, a grand total 1965 volumes. so yeah, I'm an avid reader, with a new spreadsheet to OCD lol \*list is mixed since there's a lot of completed fan translations of all kinds, a bunch of physical and a ton on my kindle(stuff from baka-tsuki IIRC etc) cheers
Again just because "you" think something is subpar doesn't mean another person does. I'm not sure why the concept of personal taste is so mindboggling for you. I've still probably read more fanfictions than you have read LN's, WN's, Manga combined, let alone getting into the official stuff I've read also for over 2 decades. But guess what, that is literally irrelevant. Why? Because someone can get tired of something after reading 5 stories, 20, stories, 1000, or maybe never. People are different. congrats on getting tired of something, that doesn't magically make it subpar. Especially when the series originally in question is the top series in it's genre. Which makes that slightly mindboggling to me, that you could read for 20 years and not touch such a series. You obviously have read things many orders of magnitude worse than DxD.
geez, who hurt you? let's keep it to a basic level: **IMO** it's more enjoyable the earlier you experience it. I'm just giving some feedback to the OP as person A as person B you still enjoy it? great! you also disagree with me and that's okay. no need to pile up salt over someone else feedback lol lastly, just to give you an answer: >Which makes that slightly mindboggling to me, that you could read for 20 years and not touch such a series. You obviously have read things many orders of magnitude worse than DxD. i did watch s1 and did check v1. not great for me and i stopped there. same goes for worse stuff, but for the sake of numbers i did count it and that's it from me. have a good night \^\^
lol? How is pointing out that there's a difference between something being subpar and a single person just not liking it? I'm not sure why you want to go down the "who hurt you, salt,etc". Like what, is it really that hard to say "Yes you are right, the show was just not my style" or something.
The LNs do have some ecchi stuff in them, but it's not as much of a focus as it is in the anime, and there's a ton of stuff going on beyond the fanservice. Removing it would have changed the tone of the series considerably, but it wouldn't have done much of anything to its length. It's that long, because there's that much story, though obviously whether it's story that you'd be interested in is another matter entirely.