Issei Hyoudou

Issei Hyodo is the male protagonist of High School DxD. He lives with his parents and is currently a second-year student at Kuoh Academy. His rank in Rias' peerage is "Pawn", and his power as a Devil ranks at the bottom so far (which increases as the series progresses). However on his left arm he wields the Sacred Gear, Boosted Gear. His goal is to one day rise in rank into a High-class Devil so that he can gather his own servants and create his own harem.

Appearance
Issei is a young man in his adolescent years with an average body build, short brown hair, and light brown eyes. Following his training with Tanninim, he has gained a more muscular build with a chiseled chest and rock-hard abs.

While he has worn various outfits throughout the series, his most commonly worn outfit is the Kuoh Academy boys' school uniform, which consists of a black blazer with white accents over a white, long-sleeved dress shirt with a black ribbon on the collar, matching black pants, and brown dress shoes. However, Issei's uniform differs in the fact that he wears a red t-shirt underneath his open dress shirt and blazer, and wears blue and white sneakers in place of dress shoes.

Personality
Despite the fact that he is a pervert, he attracts numerous girls around him: Rias, Asia, Akeno, Koneko, Zenovia, Irina and Ravel. This is due to his kindness of wanting to protect and help those who are important to him despite almost dying in the hands of his opponents. He is also oblivious to the girls around him being in love with him.

History
Issei is the only child of his family. Not much is shown on his past, except the fact he is a childhood friend of Irina Shido. He attends Kuoh Academy one year before the story.

Plot
Issei's first girlfriend, Yuma Amano, suddenly kills him, but Rias saves him and brings him back to life as a Devil of her own clan, making him a member of the Occult Research Club. Issei eventually confronts her once again, this time with the life of Asia Argento, a nun he took a liking to, on the line as Raynare prepares to take Asia's powerful Sacred Gear by force. Issei defeats her in their final showdown after activating his true Sacred Gear, which Raynare mistook as a Twice Critical. Before being terminated by Rias, she desperately begged Issei to save her, even going as far as saying she loves him. However, Issei sees through her ruse and allows Rias to kill her.

He later assisted his master, Rias, in her Rating Game against Riser Phoenix, a pure-blooded High-class Devil who was her fiance at that time. Although Rias' team lost the match, Issei confronts Riser one more time in a one-on-one fight with Rias' engagement on the line, and won through the strategy he formulated beforehand.

In Volume 3, he meets his childhood friend, Irina Shido, who was under the Church's order to retrieve the stolen Excalibur swords. He also found out on Yuto's past and decided to help the latter to overcome his past. The Occult Research Club was then confronted by Fallen Angel leader Kokabiel, and was overwhelmed until the interference of Vali Lucifer who came to retrieve Kokabiel under Azazel's orders.

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 the Archangel Michael, and later assisted during the attack caused by the Chaos Brigade. In Volume 5, he goes into the Underworld with Rias and his friends for the gathering of the young Devils. During that time, he trained in one of the mountains of the Underworld with the former Dragon King Tanninim, and obtained a 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.

In Volume 6, Issei activated the Juggernaut Drive of the Boosted Gear due to the negative feelings that appear after the apparent "death" of Asia caused by Shalba Beelzebub and made him go berserk. He went on to defeat Shalba but was incapable of stopping himself until Azazel composed an Oppai Dragon Song and used Rias' breast as a switch to help release the Juggernaut.

At the end of Volume 10 of the light novels, Issei cannot hold back his feelings for Rias and confesses to her, 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 the Great Red and Ophis.

Powers & Abilities
His Sacred Gear is the Boosted Gear, one of the 13 Longinus, where one of the Heavenly Dragons, Ddraig, the Red Dragon Emperor, resides. It is said to have the power to kill a God when fully mastered. His Sacred Gear ability is to double his power every 10 seconds without limit, and his sub-ability can transfer the multiplied power to a being or object which make him great in terms of support.

In his initial battile against Vali, Issei placed one of the Jewels of the latter's Divine Dividing on his Scale Mail armor, creating the Dividing Gear which allows him to use Albion's dividing powers. This ability, however, reduces Issei's lifespan and thus was banned by Azazel.

Issei has also invented an array of attacks that go with his lecherous nature. During the training in preparation for Rias' Rating Game against Riser, he invented the Dress Break, which allows him to strip a female's clothes after coming in contact with them by concentrating his magical energy on the clothes. He has also invented the attack "Bilingual", which gives him the ability to talk to the breasts of all females, during his training with Tanninim when he could not see Rias for nearly a month. It is a helpful technique as it helps Issei learn his opponents' plans and strategies by asking their breasts; however due to complaints from the female fighters, this technique was banned in Rating Games. Issei can also use fire-based attacks, which were taught to him by Tanninim during their training.

Due to his perverted nature and overwhelming sexual desire, he has been known as a person who can defeat any female opponent using his special techniques, and the females who know him are scared of fighting him because of this personality. In fact, he achieved his Balance Breaker just by poking Rias' breast, and gained Trianna by using this, too. In Volume 11, by using Boost on Rias' breasts, he can replenish his stamina and aura. In the latest volume, Issei became the most powerful fighter in Rias' peerage.

Trivia

 * 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 and is popular among the children.