Irina Shidou

Irina Shidou is one of the many female protagonists of High School DxD and the childhood friend of Issei Hyoudou. She is a devout Christian who, even after learning of God's death, still follows His teachings. She later gets reincarnated as an Angel by the Archangel Michael through one of the Brave Saints, her ranking among his peerage being "Ace".

Appearance
Irina is a young woman around Issei's age with long, light brown hair and violet eyes. Her hair is usually styled into twin side ponytails, each held with a blue scrunchy, but on some occasions she lets her hair down. She wears the standard Church battle outfit during her introductory volume. After transferring to Kuoh Academy and moving into the Hyoudou Residence, she starts wearing the Kuoh Academy girls' school uniform, with the addition of white sneakers with blue accents and black tights under her skirt. Following her Angelization by Michael, she wears a red "A" printed on her right hand, symbolizing her position as Michael's Ace.

Personality
Irina is a very happy, upbeat person, as well as a devout Christian. During her first appearance in the series, she was very harsh towards those who she perceived as an opposition to her religion. This was demonstrated by how she and Xenovia treated Asia when they first met, as well as her reaction to Xenovia becoming a Devil. The God of the Bible was the center of her world, but with the discovery of His death, she has transferred her belief to Michael (the current "God"). When experiencing "impure thoughts" around Issei, her Angel wings start to flicker from white to black indicating that she is about to "fall" from her status as a true Angel to a Fallen Angel if she gives in to her desires.

History
Not much is known about Irina's history, other than the fact that it is suggested she was raised a Christian, she was Issei's childhood friend and they used to play together, and that she left Japan to go to England with her family. Also, her family possessed a currently unidentified Holy Sword.

Birth of the Breast Dragon Emperor
Irina first appears in Volume 3 in a picture with Issei from when the two were playing together. Her first appearance in person was alongside Xenovia under the orders of the Church to retrieve or destroy the stolen Excaliburs from Kokabiel and his men. She was defeated by Kokabiel while infiltrating his base and was left in a near death state by Kokabiel but was able to escape the worst with Asia's help. At the end of the volume, Irina takes all the stolen Excalibur fragments back to the church, disappointed at the fact that Xenovia has become a Devil.

She reappears in Volume 6 after being angelized as Michael's Ace and was sent to Issei's Town as the Heaven's representative, transferred into the same class as Issei, Asia and Xenovia. She then moved into the Hyoudou Residence. When Issei entered his Juggernaut Drive, Irina was the one that brought the Oppai Dragon Song to the battlefield.

The Heroic Oppai Dragon
In Volume 9, Irina goes to Kyoto along with the second-year student of Kuoh Academy. She and the rest of the Occult Research Club then encounters Khaos Brigade's Hero Faction who kidnapped the leader of the Youkais, Yasaka, in an attempt to summon the Great Red. She then fought against Jeanne but was defeated.

In Volume 11, she accompanies the Gremory Team to the Underworld, where they were attacked by Cao Cao and Georg, losing to the two. She was later handed the Excalibur Ruler by Le Fay Pendragon to fix the broken Ex-Durandal after her brother abandoned the sword.

In Volume 12, Irina, Xenovia and Akeno faces Jeanne in a three-on-one match using a prototype Holy Demonic Sword created by the Heaven.

The Legend of Oppai Dragon and his Lively Companions
In Volume 14, Irina takes part in the rescue mission of the Occult Research Club's kidnapped first-years and helps battle the Stray Magicians who took them.

Powers & Abilities
Like Xenovia, she is also a Holy Sword user (albeit through artificial means). She is a fast sword user just like Xenovia, and also a possessor of one of the seven Excaliburs, "Excalibur Mimic", which has the ability to morph into different types of shapes that its user desires. However, her Excalibur was taken by the Fallen Angel leader Kokabiel during her introductory volume, and was later fused along with the three stolen Excaliburs into a single sword by Valper Galilei.

Later on as an Angel, she uses light-based weapons such as a light sword, a light bow, and arrows. In Volume 12, she used a prototype of the Holy Demonic Swords that Heaven had produced based on the sword Yuuto gave Michael during the events of the peace treaty in Volume 4. She later gained the ability to use different elemental attributes on the Holy Demonic Sword, ranging from fire, ice, and lightning.

Quotes

 * "I shall judge your sins! Amen!" (Season 2 New)

Trivia

 * Irina's body measurements are B87-W59-H89 cm. (B34-W23-H35 in.) and her height is 164 cm. (5 feet 5 inches), according to the visual book with her data.
 * While having the same bust size as Xenovia, Irina is shorter and curvier than the latter.
 * Irina is the first non-Devil member of Issei's Harem.
 * Among all the girls, Irina has known Issei for the longest time.
 * Irina has become well-known for calling herself an "Angel", thus gaining herself the title "Self-Proclaiming Angel". As a vindictive insult, she has been recently called the "Self-Proclaimed Childhood Friend".
 * Whilst on the train she mentioned about wanting to build such train on Heaven. This might mean that Heaven is very vast or transportations in Heaven are not quite good.