User:Sjones23/List of High School DxD characters

The High School DxD light novel, manga and anime series features a diverse range of characters designed by Miyama-Zero with their storylines created by Ichiei Ishibumi. The series revolves around a

Creation and conception

Ichiei Ishibumi, the light novel's author, wanted a change of style for High School DxD as. In creating Issei Hyodo, Ishibumi's chief editor wanted to make the main protagonist into a lecherous guy; Ishibumi also took inspiration from other protagonists of the harem genre in creating the character. He used events depicted in the bible and non-fiction books as reference for the series.

Main characters

Issei Hyodo

Voiced by: Yūki Kaji (Japanese); Scott Freeman (English)

Issei Hyodo (兵藤 一誠, Hyōdō Issei) is a second-year student at Kuoh Academy and the male protagonist and viewpoint character of the series. When his first girlfriend, Yuma Amano, nearly kills him, Rias Gremory saves him and revives as a Devil of her own clan, making him a member of the Occult Research Club. His rank is "Pawn", and while his powers as a Devil are low-ranking, on his left arm he wields a Sacred Gear called "Boosted Gear". He works hard day and night for the sake of his master, the high-ranking Devil Rias. His goal is to one day rise in rank into a high-ranking Devil so that he can gather his own servants and create his own harem, becoming a "Harem King" (ハーレム王, Hāremu Ō).

Despite the fact that he is a pervert, he attracts numerous girls around him: Rias, Asia, Akeno, Koneko, Xenovia, Irina and Ravel. This is due to him wanting to protect and help them despite almost dying at the hands of his opponents. He is oblivious to the girls around him being in love with him. Early on in the series, Rias explains the reason why she cannot have any more Pawns other than him is because she had to use all eight Pawn pieces to bring him back to life; the reason it took all eight Pawn pieces is because the more powerful someone is or has potential for, the more pieces it takes to resurrect them as a Devil and his Sacred Gear raises his potential very high.

In the light novels, it is revealed that Issei's Sacred Gear has more capabilities then what has been shown before. The Boosted Gear is actually a forbidden Gear which starts off as a gauntlet at its first stage. While training and mastering its powers, the Sacred Gear will begin to spread throughout the body as an armor. Once fully mastered, it is said to be able to kill a Maou or a God. This is because the gauntlet doubles the user's power every 10 seconds without limit, the only restriction being the user's own ability to handle the power. Hence why Angels, Fallen Angels, and Devils fear this power. Additional powers will be either unlocked or created based on the thoughts and feelings of the wielder as he/she uses and masters the Boosted Gear.

In Volume 4 of the light novels, prior to the meeting of the three factions, he receives St. George's Dragon Slayer sword, Ascalon, from Archangel Michael. Due to his training in the Underworld with former Dragon King, Tannin, he obtained great stamina that he can use when he gained his Balance Breaker, which he does during his fight with Kuroka where he gained full-access to his Balance Breaker. Issei has a tokusatsu show in the Underworld called Breast Dragon Emperor Oppai Dragon (乳龍帝おっぱいドラゴン, Chichiryūtei Oppai Doragon), which stars him as the main character named Issei Gremory (いっせい・グレモリー, Issei Guremorī) and is popular among the children.

Issei's Sacred Gear, "Boosted Gear" (赤龍帝の籠手（ブーステッド･ギア）, Būsuteddo Gia, lit. "Red Dragon Emperor's Gauntlet"), is one of the Thirteen Longinus, where one of the Two Heavenly Dragons, Ddraig, the Red Dragon Emperor, resides. Issei is nowhere close to mastering his Sacred Gear, and as a result when he enters Juggernaut Drive, 99 percent of his lifespan is sacrificed, though Koneko is able to use her powers to slowly restore it. During Rias' Rating Game against Riser, Issei's Boosted Gear transformed to its second form, called the Boosted Gear Gift (赤龍帝からの贈り物(ブーステッド・ギア・ギフト), Būsuteddo Gia Gifuto, lit. "Gift of the Red Dragon Emperor") which allows him to transfer his boosted powers to other people or objects, or temporarily transfer powers or properties of people and objects to his gear to augment his own abilities. This ability was developed due to Issei's desire to help and protect his friends. Later, during Volume 5 of the light novels, the Sacred Gear augments the ability by blinking the jewel to indicate enough power has been charged up for the task he intends to use it for. This way time and power will not be wasted by using too little for the task, or exhausting him faster by using too much. During his fight against Vali, Issei placed one of Albion's jewels on his right gauntlet, resulting in the creation of the "Dividing Gear" (白龍皇の籠手（ディバイディング・ギア）, Dibaidingu Gia, lit. "White Dragon Emperor's Gauntlet") which allows Issei to use the White Dragon Emperor's dividing powers. However due to it consuming Issei's lifespan, he was banned from using it by Azazel. Issei can also fire a beam of energy from his Boosted Gear by concentrating his magical powers, which he dubs the "Dragon Shot" (魔力弾（ドラゴンショット）, Doragon Shotto, lit. "Magic Bullet").

Issei himself has also invented an array of techniques that go with his perverted nature. During the training in preparation for Rias' Rating Game against Riser, he invented the Dress Break (洋服崩壊（ドレス・ブレイク）, Doresu Bureiku, lit. "Clothes Collapse"), which allows him to strip the clothes of females after touching them with his hand. While training for the Rating Game with Sona Sitri and the Student Council, he achieved a Buddhist's "enlightenment" by focusing on his desires rather than try to control or restrain them. This resulted in his inventing the attack "Bilingual" (乳語翻訳（パイリンガル）, Bairingaru, lit. "Breast Translation"), which allows him to talk to the breasts of females and learn anything the opponent knows. He is the only one who can hear the breasts "talking", but it seems to connect to the opponent's heart and whatever asked is answered truthfully no matter how the opponent feels. Although perverse and restricted to females, this is a powerful (although not flashy) ability as he can learn everything about an enemy's powers, strategies, etc. as shown during the Rating Game with Sitri. He also used it on Diodora's pawns and Jeanne to find out their next moves, allowing him to come up with an unstoppable counter. However, due to its perverse nature and that it could only be used on women it was banned.

In Volume 8 of the novels, Ajuka Beelzebub, one of the Four Maous and the original creator of the Evil Pieces system, remodels Issei's Piece so that he can use Promotion anywhere and at any time. By using Promotion, he is able to use Knight, Rook, and Bishop ranks, and can achieve Illegal Move Triaina (赤龍帝の三叉成駒（イリーガル・ムーブ・トリアイナ）, Irīgaru Mūbu Toriaina, lit. "Red Dragon Emperor's Three-Forked Promotion"), which makes Issei's Balance Breaker, the Boosted Gear Scale Mail (赤龍帝の鎧（ブーステッド・ギア・スケイルメイル）, Būsuteddo Gia Sukeiru Meiru, lit. "Armor of the Red Dragon Emperor") armor, change to other forms using Promotion not on himself, but on the armor as well. However if separated from his Evil Pieces for whatever reason, he cannot use Promotion or the other forms, as those abilities are a combined result of the Evil Pieces working with his Sacred Gear and thus will not work without both. It is unknown whether he can promote himself to Queen while promoting the armor to something else or if he has to share whatever promotion is used on the armor. He can still promote himself without promoting the armor which he sometimes uses to preserve stamina, as promoting and using the promoted armor forms expends a lot of stamina, especially if he uses multiple armor promotions within a short period of time.

• In Knight Form, called Welsh Sonic Boost Knight (龍星の騎士（ウェルシュ・ソニックブースト・ナイト）, Werushu Sonikku Būsuto Naito, lit. "Dragon Star Knight"), he possesses enormous speed that far surpasses Sairaorg's speed, but makes his armor thin, and so it has low defense.
• In Rook Form, called Welsh Dragonic Rook (龍剛の戦車（ウェルシュ・ドラゴニック・ルーク）, Werushu Doragonikku Rūku, lit. "Rigid Dragon Tank"), he possesses massive power and defense, but has low speed because of the massive, thickened armor.
• In Bishop Form, called Welsh Blaster Bishop (龍牙の僧侶（ウェルシュ・ブラスター・ビショップ）, Werushu Burasutā Bishoppu, lit. "Dragon Fang Monk"), he possesses an enormous amount of magical energy in which he applies it to the two cannons at the back of his armor which can both simultaneously fire the Dragon Blaster (ドラゴンブラスター, Doragon Burasutā), a severely boosted equivalent of his Dragon Shot capable of leveling battlefields and briefly warp space-time. The drawbacks to this is the amount of time it takes to charge the cannons and stamina lost with each shot. However, this can be replenished by Rias' "Oppai Beam".
• In Volume 10 of the light novels, he later gains access to a Queen Mode, called Cardinal Crimson Promotion (真紅の赫龍帝（カーディナル・クリムゾン・プロモーション）, Kādinaru Kurimuzon Puromōshon, lit. "True Crimson Dragon Emperor") which is equally as powerful as Juggernaut Drive. Juggernaut Drive is similar to the full-bodied armor of the Boosted Gear, the Scale Mail, which gives him the Balance Breaker ability except the host (Issei) loses consciousness, the posture and shape changes from a humanoid Dragon-armored form to a dragon form, and Ddraig goes on a berserk rampage, rapidly eating up the host's lifeforce until death. He also has access to a form called "True Queen Mode", which combines the abilities developed in the other forms. So the more power and defense he develops in Rook form, the stronger the power and defense of True Queen Mode is. However, he has to develop the other modes somewhat equally or it will create an imbalance when combined. As such, until he gets better at stabilizing and using True Queen Mode, he will only be able to use and maintain it for short periods of time before it shuts down, leaving him exhausted. For the time being, he will train to build up and stabilize True Queen Mode and will just promote himself to Queen, but not the armor. Like the Bishop Form, there are two cannons he can charge (but at a faster rate with more power) and fire, but are connected to the armor's wings instead of his shoulders.
• Super Gigantic Balance Breaker (超巨大禁手) is a form Issei attained in Volume 12 by combining with Great Red. In this state, Issei is in his normal Scale Mail armor, but is an enormous giant the size of Great Red. He uses this form to destroy the largest of the thirteen beasts created by the Annihilation Maker, Jabberwocky. In this form, his powers are boosted to an extreme that he could literally destroy an area in the Underworld. For example, the Longinus Smasher that blasted Shalba away with one hit would not only kill Jabberwocky, but destroy that part of the Underworld Jabberwocky was standing on as well. However, Issei will not be able to use this form again unless Great Red returns and willingly combines with him again. The only reason Great Red did it at the time was because, according to him, he did not like the way Jabberwocky was glaring at him.

At the end of Volume 10 of the light novels, Issei confesses to Rias, calling her by her first name for the first time. She accepts his feelings in tears of joy and the two officially become a couple, although it seems none of the other girls (Akeno, Xenovia, Asia, Koneko, Irina, and Ravel) have given up on Issei. In Volume 11 of the light novels, Issei took a promotion test along with Akeno and Yuto to be promoted from low-ranked Devils to middle-ranked Devils, and Rias' mother suggests that Issei and Rias get married.

In Volume 12, Issei's original body is destroyed due to Samael's curse but gains another body through the help of Great Red and Ophis. Until his Evil Pieces were restored, he was essentially just a small True Dragon (Humanoid Dragon, later Dragon/Devil hybrid) and not part Devil. Due to the increased Dragon elements from Ophis and Great Red, his power base, magic ability, and stamina are stronger, but he is more susceptible to damage from Dragon Slayer spells or weapons. The only reason he can wield Ascalon is because all three factions modified it so he could. In Volume 14 it is revealed that his life force cannot be analysed due to his new body being made from Great Red and Ophis' power (which has never even been closely done before,) and his life force hasn't stabilized yet. This is because his life force either becomes zero (without killing Issei for some reason) or turns into infinite which can't be measured. The zero most likely represents illusion meaning Great Red and the infinite represents Ophis, though not even Azazel knows whats going on. Despite this, for unknown reasons his life force will stabilize in a 'normal' range for a while after having Rias and Akeno scatter his dragon power and Koneko using her senjutsu to heal his life force. Azazel says that this will stop his life force from overheating due it suddenly dropping to zero then increasing to infinite drastically. At the end of Volume 12, Issei is officially promoted into a Middle-Class Devil.

In the Volume 13 short story "The Worries of the Next, Next Heir" (which takes place after Volume 12), Issei is given a familiar, the living Norse flying ship Skithblathnir, by Surtr Second. Although it is only the size of a toy boat, according to Mathers, it will continue to grow and evolve into different forms by using the aura and imagination of its master as its source. Second also jokes that if Issei is going to become a harem king he needs a harem palace. With Issei as its master, it might grow into a flying harem palace. He later names it Ryuteimaru (龍帝丸, Ryūteimaru) in Volume 14.

References

High School DXD light novels

Entire series

• Ishibumi, Ichiei, ハイスクールD×D (in Japanese). 15 vols. Fujimi Shobo 2008-present.

Individual volumes

1. Vol. 1 (ch. 1–3): 学園黙示録 HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD 1. March 2007. ISBN 978-4-04-712483-7. (in Japanese). and Highschool of the Dead Vol. 1. January 2011. ISBN 978-0-316-13225-1 (in English).
2. Vol. 2 (ch. 4–7): 学園黙示録 HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD 2. April 2007. ISBN 978-4-04-712489-9. (in Japanese). and Highschool of the Dead Vol. 2. April 2011. ISBN 978-0-316-13239-8 (in English).
3. Vol. 3 (ch. 8–12): 学園黙示録 HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD 3. October 2007. ISBN 978-4-04-712515-5. (in Japanese). and Highschool of the Dead Vol. 3. July 2011. ISBN 978-0-316-13242-8 (in English).
4. Vol. 4 (ch. 13–17): 学園黙示録 HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD 4. March 2008. ISBN 978-4-04-712537-7. (in Japanese). and Highschool of the Dead Vol. 4. October 2011. ISBN 978-0-316-13245-9 (in English).
5. Vol. 5 (ch. 18–22): 学園黙示録 HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD 5. September 2008. ISBN 978-4-04-712563-6. (in Japanese). and Highschool of the Dead Vol. 5. January 2012. ISBN 978-0-316-13246-6 (in English).
6. Vol. 6 (ch. 23–25): 学園黙示録 HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD 6. July 9, 2010. ISBN 978-4-04-712673-2. (in Japanese). and Highschool of the Dead Vol. 6. April 2012. ISBN 978-0-316-20943-4 (in English).
7. Vol. 7 (ch. 26–29): 学園黙示録 HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD 7. April 26, 2011. ISBN 978-4-04-712691-6 (in Japanese). and Highschool of the Dead Vol. 7. July 2012. ISBN 978-0-316-20944-1 (in English).