Eight years after it came to an end, one fan-favorite anime now streaming with Crunchyroll has unfortunately gotten a disappointing update about a possible return for a new season. Fans might have seen a lot of major franchises making their return to screens in the 2020s through either new seasons coming years after the fact, or brand new reboots or full sequel projects. There has been one fan-favorite series in particular that fans want to see more of, but it’s been fairly quiet ever since Season 4 ended in 2018.
High School DxD has been inactive since Season 4 of the anime aired back in 2018, but the original story behind it all has continued with lots of more of the story (and even a new sequel release). Fans have been hoping to see the anime making a comeback for Season 5 sometime in the future, but unfortunately an update shared by one of the stars behind the English dub release, Jamie Marchi, revealed on social media that the next season is no closer to being real than before, “[N]o. I still haven’t heard anything about a fifth season.”
High School DxD is in a very weird boat when it comes to the anime release, however. Not only has it done its own original materials based off of events from Ichiei Ishibumi and Miyama-Zero’s original light novel releases, but it had already attempted to reboot the story after the previous adaptation did its own thing. Its fourth season is the most recent with High School DxD Hero releasing back in 2018, and it’s totally different from the previous three seasons with new staff, production studio, and more behind it all.
High School DxD Hero was meant to steer the anime back in a proper direction with a complete adaptation of the original light novels’ story. The new studio was reportedly under a mandate to make sure they don’t take as many creative liberties with the story as the first three seasons did, but ultimately is still the final anime release we’ve gotten for the franchise since. Which is a shame considering there’s still a ton of material that seems perfect for a potential anime adaptation down the line.
Producers behind the scenes of High School DxD have been sharing their hopes for more of the anime since that fourth season wrapped years ago, but it’s yet to be revealed if that could actually happen. There’s been hopes for projects like even a potential feature film, but as we near a decade since the end of that fourth season it’s looking unlikely. It’s not an impossible task, however, as there are all kinds of franchises that came back for new episodes.
High School DxD has just as much chance at a return as other franchises, but it probably has a better shot of coming back with a full reboot instead. A new anime adapting High School DxD from the very beginning for a new generation is probably a better sell than trying to pick back up from a potential fifth season.
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