HighSchool DxD Volume 21 (Afterword)

Continues on from The remaining hopes

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Afterword

Long time no see, it’s Ichiei Ishibumi. The fourth arc which was started in the second half of 2012 has finally ended. It actually took three years, so it’s really quite long. I was very nervous while writing the twenty first volume. I think the readers also thought that way. Volume twenty one was full of climactic battles! Indeed, that is so.

Sairaorg + Saji versus Bedeze -> Vali versus Aži Dahāka -> Ise versus Apophis -> Ise & Sirzechs versus Trihexa’s core

…A total of more than four climactic battles were included within this volume. More than any other in the past. As popular characters, Sairaorg and Vali also received a second power up. Sorry, it would only appear at the end of an arc like this so please forgive me…. Looking back on the fourth arc, this period was the most mentally difficult for me, especially during the period that I wrote volumes sixteen ~ nineteen. I had to prepare so many heroines (+Gasper) for the story, so it feels a bit too stiff. The content was also somewhat weak, and perhaps the reason is because it was very painful at that time to write. The attitude of ‘Regardless of whether it’s a heroine role, or the fight between some kids, I want to write it!’ continued to accumulate, and this eventually burst out in the previous volume, and the final part of the battle, this volume. And precisely because of this, this volume, the previous volume, and DxD’s second ~ twelfth volumes are the most satisfying for me. If the readers who didn’t finish reading the fourth arc because it was too long are seeing this, then I want to tell you ‘the fourth arc is finally over!’.

Changing the subject a bit, the next section is about Ise, Vali and the situation on Team [DxD]. Because this time it was Vali’s volume, I was finally able to dig into his true character. Since it won’t be good if he isn’t confirmed as Ise’s ultimate rival, the scenes of Azazel in this story were written around this. Much like the previous volume, Vali’s focus is also about parents. But it was a sad story this time. The two people have been made to stand at opposite ends of the spectrum. Vali finally Maouified! What he gained was a transformation power up. Moreover, I think Vali’s form will also become known as [DxD] [1]. If Ise’s new form is called [DxD] G (God), then Vali’s new form would be [DxD] L (Lucifer). By the way, the wyverns which appeared during Vali’s fight are Funnels [2]. Regarding the legendary [White Dragon], there are many versions of its name. DxD uses the ‘Latin [White] as etymology’, and contains numerous meanings to appear as [Albion]. While Ise and Ddraig underwent training, Vali also powered up accordingly, and used this opportunity to use the true name of [Gwiber]. Ise also responded in his style with the use of ∞ Blaster [3] + Longinus Smasher, a terrain changing blast with incredible firepower. Sairaorg has transformed into the Beast of Supremacy which was only mentioned previously. Dulio and Tobio have also displayed their Balance Breakers. However, neither of their special abilities have been completely revealed. Also, Elmenhilde has appeared once again. She already appeared once in the short story that was published in Dragon Magazine, and I will probably include it in the third volume of DX.

Next is about the boss of the fourth arc.
Rizevim has already prepared the stage for the event that readers hate very much. Thus, Aži Dahāka, Apophis and Trihexa were the best candidates for the enemies of the conclusion of the fourth arc. I especially enjoyed writing the fights of Aži Dahāka and Apophis. The character of Aži Dahāka was inspired by King Ghidorah [4]. And because of that, it had the feel of a boss when I was writing it. I was very happy to be able to write about this massive three-headed dragon like a monster. Apophis himself is a mass of unpredictable darkness. No matter how Issei attacked, he was unable to cause any damage. Aside from borrowing an extraordinarily powerful attack power, only a god named after the sun would be able to defeat him. Trihexa is considered to be a true monster. It could easily destroy the entire world. This time, it also caused massive amounts of damage to the territories of each faction, and it is also the most destructive force in DxD. If Azazel’s plan didn’t exist, then even more gods would have been defeated. A serious Great Red and Ophis in her prime would be roughly equivalent, or perhaps even superior than this. You can understand the abnormality of Ise who has inherited the power of both those Dragon Gods.

Allow me to change the subject again, this section is about the other world [ExE] [5]. The setting has finally been revealed. High School DxD will not be replaced by [ExE]. However, it has already been determined that they will come into contact with each other in thirty years. So, what will develop from that in the end? Please wait patiently. By the way, DxD is an original view of the world, and is not related to any actual myths. In fact, this has already been touched upon by the extra story of DxD. Bundled with the BD/DVD of the third season of the anime [High School DxD BorN] were the special short stories [High School DxD EX], in which the invasion from the other world and Ise’s children from the future were written about, of which there are a total of six parts. The extra short stories and their complementing optical media are a limited first production item. As I am unsure about the initial stock of each store, if readers wish to buy it, please keep an eye out for it.

Next are my acknowledgements. Miyama-Zero-sama, editor H-sama. This time I bothered you right up until the deadline, so I’m very sorry. Thanks to you, the script that I finished could be published.

The fourth arc has mostly ended. Yes, the second half of the next volume will be the beginning of the final arc! The fifth and final arc will have the main themes of ‘DxD’s final decisive battle’ and ‘lively ceremonies’. The first half of the next volume will act as the epilogue of the fourth arc, as well as the graduation ceremony of Rias, Akeno and the other third years. It will be the end of a generation. Volume twenty two will have Rias and Akeno as the focus. Also, it was mentioned in the second volume of DX that volume twenty two would have an intriguing start to look forward to. A flag has been buried in this volume. I think the fans will be very excited to continue. As such, the second half of the next volume will be the start of the fifth and final arc. I’m very grateful to the readers who can accompany DxD to the end.

(Part 1 of 1) (16/8)

[1] Kana was Diabolos Dragon. The next two instances of DxD are also Diabolos Dragon.
[2] Gundam reference to the Funnel-Type weapons.
[3] Pronounced as: Infinity Blaster.
[4] Reference to the golden three-headed dragon in Godzilla.
[5] Kana was Evie Etoulde.

This is the end of High School DxD Volume 21.

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69 Responses to HighSchool DxD Volume 21 (Afterword)

  1. dragon-maou says:

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    Zxzxzx, a humble suggestion. When you translate future DxD chapters could please use less Japanese words like sekiryuutei, hakuryuukou, onii-chan etc. Since it’s an English translation I personally prefer as much pure English possible. Tbh using words like kawaai, baka and such just to show that someone knows a few Japanese words isn’t right after all Japanese is vast language.  I am not  referring to you, but to people out there. It won’t do justice to a language, a culture just using words learned in an anime ( again I am not referring to you zxzxzx).if anyone is offended my personal view please feel free to criticise.

     

    • zxzxzx says:

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      Well, the primary purpose of leaving words in their romanised Japanese form is because there may not be a close enough English equivalent to express the meaning and context, or it is a continued convention in the project. When I first started translating DxD, I posted up a survey to ask what the preference was, and the vast majority of responses indicated that the preference was “Sekiryuutei” / “Hakuryuukou” over “Red/White Dragon Emperor”, as well as the usage of “tou-san/kaa-san” over “dad/mum” or “father/mother”. Since the majority of readers seem to prefer this, and also because these terms have already been used in previous volumes, I will be continuing to use them.

  2. dragon-maou says:

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    zxzxzx, I am not sure if you have read HS DxD volume 22 life 3 but it has released by code zero and you said about continuing from life 4. So can we expect a tentative date soon or you can just say if you will continue from November start, middle or end. Of course no pressure. If you are not sure yet no need to answer. I can understand if you are busy or don’t want to create unnecessary hype.

  3. jayjayy says:

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    I don’t know any thing about anime just started 2 months ago

  4. jayjayy says:

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    Sup zxzxzx do u know where I can read seiken tsukai no world break……

     

    • zxzxzx says:

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      It’s on Baka-Tsuki. Only one volume is done at the moment, but I believe that it was recently picked up by Setsuna, and so you could expect future updates from him.

  5. (Diabolos dragon)dragon -maou says:

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    Hey zxzxzx it would be a great help if you could tell me how to navigate to and through archive of baka tsuki
    It’s really confusing
    It would also be helpful if you could provide the link for Google Drive storage of light novels

    • zxzxzx says:

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      What do you mean? Baka-Tsuki is now back up so you can read everything on there. If you’re looking for LN PDFs, you’ll have to look around for them on the web as I don’t use Google Drive for storage.

      • dragon-maou says:

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        There are many LN which have been licensed but unfortunately even though they are licensed no progress has been made on translating them by official translator or are unavailable in my region. My region has a very weak anime/manga/LN fan following hence no local bookstore sells them and most of them are not available online.

        Like campione! If translations are available in archives for LNs but can’t be hosted officially by B-T. I would really like to read them.

  6. tiggz says:

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    hey zxzxzx do u know where I can read strike the blood

     

    • zxzxzx says:

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      Hey mate, appreciate it if you don’t post duplicate comments. As far as I’m aware, Strike the Blood is a licensed series, so the novels should be available in retail bookstores and available for order on sites like Amazon.

  7. Anonymous says:

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    hey zxzz have u read life 2 of vol22 yet if if so what do u think of ishibumis answer as to why issei hasnt gotten laid yet?

    • zxzxzx says:

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      I haven’t read Life.2 yet, only Life.1. As for the reason, one of those may be the fact that highly explicit content may not be allowed by his label/editor/publisher and that’s not something likely to change, or simply because he has been too busy to actually settle down for a while. If you think about it, everything that’s happened so far has been in the span of one year, and Issei has simply been fighting battle after battle. Like he says himself, he wants to live a peaceful life, but it isn’t possible for him until every enemy is defeated. But at least we know that he eventually gets around to it — the proof of that is EX. IMO, I think it’ll happen after he marries one of the girls and goes on a honeymoon. It wouldn’t happen if things weren’t peaceful, and none of the other girls would be around to interrupt either.

  8. tkzz says:

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    Does anyone know where I can read campione volume 18.

  9. tiggz says:

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    Is my man going to get laid the ratings are going down cause of this

    • Anonymous says:

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      my god ishibumi sensei actually explains why issei get into ero situations and does nothing despite being THE pervert  in LIFE 2 of vol 22and DXD could have gotten an even higher rating as people were complaining as to the problem stated above as there was no reason why issei hasnt gotten laid yet i hope the rating will improve more on novel updates and as i have been reading a lot of chinese novels around daoism and buddhism and u know xianxia novels the stated reason makes sense in that logic.so i will take issei a bit more time to get laid

  10. tiggz says:

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    I just want to say thx a bunch for translating high school dxd zxzxzx

  11. Anonymous says:

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    my god ishibumi sensei actually explains why issei get into ero situations and does nothing despite being THE pervert  in LIFE 2 of vol 22and DXD could have gotten an even higher rating as people were complaining as to the problem stated above as there was no reason why issei hasnt gotten laid yet i hope the rating will improve more on novel updates and as i have been reading a lot of chinese novels around daoism and buddhism and u know xianxia novels the stated reason makes sense in that logic

  12. mayurijudgement247 says:

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    Hei zx, I haven’t read EX yet in BT because I heard that some part has not full,it just summary.Can I presume that EX is finish translate?

    • zxzxzx says:

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      I just checked, and it still appears to be the draft summaries which were copied from Ariel’s site. So, no, they are not yet full translations.

  13. Anonymous says:

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    So arch 5 is the last of highschool dxd?

    how many volumes are left?

    will we ever see rias marry issei?

    in the anime will there be more then 3 seasons?

    I have so many questions and i have a feeling in my heart that 1 of them wont be answered.

    • Anonymous says:

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      same

    • zxzxzx says:

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      Yes, this is stated to be the last arc by Ishibumi. It is uncertain how many volumes are left in the series, but Ishibumi has said that it will probably not be over 30, although he still wants a volume per girl. I’m not sure if we’ll see Rias and Issei getting married, but I personally think that there is a very high chance of that happening as it is a major milestone that I think will be included. In terms of the anime, we’ll just have to wait and see.

  14. Luckyrocks says:

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    Hey anyone able to access to high school dxd in baka tsuki?

  15. (Diabolos dragon)dragon -maou says:

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    Hey zxzxzx have you read life 1 of volunteers 22  by code zero?

     

  16. soheil says:

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    hi zero san thank you for your hard work please translate DxD volume 22 to

  17. Anonymous says:

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    i get the feeling that isseis two perverted friends will end up in his peerage and is two eyes scouter ability is actually a a scouter type sacred gear that would make a lot of sense

  18. Scott says:

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    Hopefully he continues highschool dxd as like university dxd or something because i love the series the charecters everything.

  19. VJ#WOLF says:

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    thanks a lot zxzxzx, its because of you that i was finally able to finish this arc.

    i am enjoying it till now from bottom of my heart, and can’t wait to read the next arc already had so many thoughts about it. i am looking forward to see your translations next.

    it’s finally getting more and more interesting 🙂 🙂

  20. Anonymous says:

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    After Ishibumi finishes the Final Arc. Will He be doing Spin-Off Series of DXD???

  21. kenchan223 says:

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    Holy shit, I can’t believe that the next volume would be the start of the final arc… T^T

    I’m going to miss this so much once it ends 🙁

    Hope he makes a continuation of Ise and his future team (I highly doubt it)~

    Still… 3 years though, holy shit! And thanks zxzxzx for translating this far from 18 onwards as if it weren’t for you, us english readers would be whining to death about when its coming out lmao. All of us appreciate your hard work and efforts for making this possible for us readers to read your work and as always, “We” are forever thankful for it!

    I don’t know if you will continue to follow ishibumi-san’s “new work” once DxD is over (which is in the near future) but lets not expect that yet.

  22. Anonymous says:

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    hi zero san im a fan of your work i have a request if you can please translate ex volume cuz its half remains. thank you for your hard work

     

    • zxzxzx says:

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      The other translated half already exists on Ariel Saeba’s blog. It is not on baka-tsuki yet because Ariel is currently busy with his thesis and does not have time to edit it yet. Please be patient for a bit longer.

    • mpz28 says:

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      If you haven’t looked yet EX is now on BT in full.

      • zxzxzx says:

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        Parts 4 to 6 of EX on Baka-Tsuki were posted there without Ariel’s permission and are just summaries or incomplete works. He’s currently busy with his thesis, but still working on editing them so the actual translations will probably take some more time.

        • mpz28 says:

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          Ok, i was just about to read them, i read on Areil’s blog that he had done part 4 & was doing the other 2 parts slowly when time allowed while doing his thesis, so when i seen them there the other day i just thought he may have rushed them through, but at the same time i know some people haven’t even read the summaries, now at the same time they are good enough to put on there for now until the fully translated parts are done, and it takes some pressure of Ariel until he finishes his thesis.

  23. Aldi Phenex says:

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    Thanks a lot Triple Zero for translating.
    Considering Codezero already translating volume 22, what would you do for the next?

  24. Zantius says:

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    Damn, fifth and final arc eh?  Hard to believe that we are entering that phase where DxD is about to make its journey to the end but all good things must eventually reach their conclusion.  I wonder how many volumes will this arc take us to?  Will we have the setting of the 30 years to come? Will all the characters that had to bow out come back? All these questions and more will be answered eventually in the coming volumes of Highschool DxD! (Had to have DBZ narration moment) but anyways, damn good read. Glad to see the fourth arc finally end of sorts.  And of course, thank you Triple ZX for the hard work and dedication you put into translating DxD for all of us who wish to read it.

    I wonder how far Ishibumi will go with this? I’d like to estimate around 27 this will end and at most 30 volumes but the muse could be strong enough to go way beyond that.

    • zxzxzx says:

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      Yep, we’re finally getting there. Personally, I think DxD has enough in it for two more arcs but I think that it will end at around 30 volumes.

    • mpz28 says:

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      If you read Ishibumi’s blog not so long ago he doesn’t want to go past 30 volumes, but as we know that will depend if sales stay up as well, so if it keeps selling we should be fine till then, i would hate to have a rush ending being so close to a end now.

      • Anonymous says:

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        Let us pray that the sells are more than enough to make him reconsider his position. As you said, It would indeed be a shame if he did not want to go past chapter 30 only to realize he’d have to rush the ending.

  25. (Diabolos dragon)dragon -maou says:

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    thanks zxzxzx

    why is everything on hold ? no pressure just  curiosity

  26. Anonymous says:

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    Thanks a lot!!! I will look forward for the final arc ,patiently.. it is easy to say but bit hard for me..?

    Thanks a lot again brother

  27. Kemm says:

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    Thanks for your work.

     

    editor H-sama <- Ishibumi-sensei is messing with his editor; I know it’s customary for authors to address their editors in their acknowledments by latin initial, but when writing a perverted series and said initial being ‘H’, I believe it should’ve been better if he went for the second most common way and changed it to the kana initial…

    • zxzxzx says:

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      You’re welcome. Well, I also felt like the ‘H’ was a joke at some point, but it’s been that way since the early volumes. What makes it funnier is that this is the supposed editor who was telling Ishibumi that he couldn’t write certain scenes and such.

  28. mpz28 says:

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    Fantastic Volume that topped off a action packed arc, it has been one hell of a ride, as always thanks for your hard work in translating this and other DxD related stories as if it wasn’t for the hard work you (plus our other translators) put into this then we as the english reading fans wouldn’t get to enjoy reading this.

     

    So once again thanks for your hard work & hope you have a good day/night.  🙂

    • DragonOsman2 says:

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      Agreed.  I’m also really thankful to TripleZerox, Code-Zero and all other translators who are working on o have worked on DxD-related stuff.

    • zxzxzx says:

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      No worries. Thanks for staying along patiently to support me and the other translators, and have a good night yourself.

  29. ospis12 says:

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    I can’t believe that I started reading this light novel in march and now volume 21 is finished. It felt like it passed in no time. I’m also really excited for new story arc in next volume.

    Thank you triple ZX for translating all these volumes.

  30. DragonOsman2 says:

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    Thanks for this, Triple-Zerox!  Appreciated.

    I just have to point out some typos I noticed:

    Sairaorg + Saji versus Bedeze -> Vali versus Aži Dahāka -> Ise verus Apophis -> Ise & Sirzechs verus Trihexa’s core

    The second and third instances of “versus” there are missing the S after the R.

    Anyway, another thing I can’t help but point out because I’m excited abou it: Ishibumi called both Great Red and Ophis as Dragon Gods!  I’m really happy.

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