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 Archangel Michael through one of the Brave Saints, her ranking among his peerage being "Ace". 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". She is also a friend and former partner of Xenovia Quarta, a former human turned devil.

She is voiced by Maaya Uchida in the Japanese version of the anime and Kristi Kang in the English version, the former of whom also voices Hiyori Iki.

Appearance
Irina is a beautiful young woman around Issei's age with long light brown hair and violet eyes. Her hair is usually tied into twintails, each held with a blue scrunchy, but on some occasions she lets her hair down. She wears the standard Church battle attire, same as Xenovia's with some slight differences. After transferring to Kuoh Academy and moving into the Hyoudou Residence, she starts wearing the Kuoh Academy girls' school uniform, with black shorts under her skirt and an addition of white sneakers with blue accents. Following her Angelization by Michael, she wears a red "A" printed on her right hand, symbolizing her position as Michael's Ace. Irina also gains white Angel wings, and in the later volume, has a total of 4 wings.

Personality
Irina is a cheerful, carefree, upbeat, and enthusiastic person. She's also shown to be cooperative and open-minded to others as she's seen with Arthur discussing about Excalibur Ruler, although he stated that the location is secret. She's a devout Christian, showing great respect in God's teachings. During her first appearance, she was very harsh towards those who she perceived as an opposition to her religion. This was shown by how she and Xenovia treated Asia when they first met, as well as her reaction to Xenovia becoming a Devil but then apologized after learning the truth about God's deceased status.

The death of God of the Bible was a great shock for Irina, yet she still believes in his teachings and transferred her belief to Michael who is now the current "God". Irina later became great friends with Asia and the rest of the Occult Research Club members, even joining the ORC herself after learning about the truth. She began 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. She is shown to be very sensitive to and annoyed about being called "self-proclaiming" although it did not annoyed her at first..

Plot
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 (in the Manga she was defeated by Freed Seltzen), but was saved by Rias' group and recovered due to Asia's healing. At the end of the volume, Irina takes all the stolen Excalibur fragments back to the church and became disappointed at the fact that Xenovia had become a Devil. She reappears in Volume 6 after being angelized as Michael's Ace she was sent to Issei's Town as the Heaven's representative and from there she learned the truth about the reasons why Xenovia and Asia became Devils as well as learning about God being dead. After realizing the truth, Irina decides to fight alongside her new comrades and former partner, Xenovia to combat the threat of the Khaos Brigade. Afterwards, she transferred into the same class as Issei, Asia and Xenovia as well as becoming a member of the Occult Research Club. She then moved into the Hyoudou Residence in order to spend time with Issei. 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 students of Kuoh Academy. She and the rest of the Occult Research Club then encountered Khaos Brigade's Hero Faction who kidnapped the leader of the Youkai faction, 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. While they are able to corner Jeanne, Jeanne manages to take a child as a hostage to prevent them from further attacking her. Luckily, Kiba managed to save the child and Issei defeated Jeanne. After the return of Issei and the defeat of Cao Cao, Irina says she wants to go on a date with Issei, as does the rest of the Occult Research Club.