Anime Hajime Review: Date A Live

Series Synopsis

30 years ago, a phenomenon known as a spatial quake devastated central Eurasia, resulting in no less than 150 million casualties. Since the cataclysm, smaller quakes have struck at random all over the world. Today, Shido Itsuka (voiced by Nobunaga Shimazaki) and his foster sister Kotori Itsuka (voiced by Ayana Taketatsu) live under the constant possibility of another event.

At the start of the new semester, Shido is taken aback when the school's smartest and most beautiful girl, Origami Tobiichi (voiced by Misuzu Togashi), takes an interest in him. He is given no time to reflect as sudden spatial quake alarm is triggered.

Before reaching the safety of a shelter, Shido gets the sickening feeling Kotori is in danger. While out searching for his sister the quake hits, but what comes next is the last thing Shido was expecting. From the epicenter of the blast emerges an armor-clad girl wielding immense supernatural power.

The girl (voiced by Marina Inoue) comes under attack from a barrage of missile fire from a highly advanced combat unit armed with a mix of state of the art technology and magic. Among these soldiers is no other than Origami. Although the mysterious girl effortlessly defeats her attackers, Shido can’t help but notice the sadness on her face.

Following the battle, Shido is taken under the protection of the shadow organization known as Ratatoskr. Adding to the ever growing list of surprises, Kotori reveals herself to be the group’s commander and she has a special job only her older brother can do.

Shido

Spatial quakes are caused by entities known as Spirits. Unlike the rest of the world, Ratatoskr’s mission is not to kill these beings, but save them. This is where Shido comes in for he has the ability to seal a Spirit’s destructive power. However, in order to achieve this Shido must have a Spirit fall in love with him; a lot like one would do in a dating simulation game. His first mission becomes saving the girl, who he names Tohka.

Tohka

Despite face up against forces which could easily kill him, Shido quickly accepts his responsibility and does all he can to see that every single Spirit is saved.

Series Positives

For better or worse the one thing that can be said about Date A Live is it’s going to do whatever it’s going to do.

Confidently I can say this was a series I enjoyed and had a really good time with. Knowing there’s a second season has me interested. Sure this show might have one…two…a s#$@ ton of problems, but being dull is not one of them.

The Characters

Origami

There's no getting around it. This is a harem anime through and through. This type of show may usually have a certain sexual appeal that I’m not going to pretend I wasn't expecting, never have I seen a harem series succeed on this alone.

For a harem anime to work, and I mean really work, it needs to have characters worth caring about. Date A Live manages to do this.

Now if you’re looking for variety or something new, well then you’re out of luck. The main girls of Date A Live follow many of the already established archetypes.

Tohka's the lovable airhead (a direction I’ve got admit I was not expecting based on her introduction). Origami's the aggressor who doesn’t care about personal boundaries or public decency. Kotori's outwardly tough, inwardly sensitive tsundere; a trait which only comes about the moment Shido learns of Kotori’s role as commander of Ratatoskr. Plus there’s another girl, Yoshino (voiced by Iori Nomizu), who's the shy, quiet type as well as f@#$ing adorable.

Although having seen each and every one of these characters an untold amount of times, they remain reliable as long as they're used properly. That’s where Date A Live gets it right. Sure you might know exactly what a character is going to do before they do it, but they’re still effective in their respective roles.

Then what about our lead, Shido?

Yoshino

I like him and that right there probably tells you a lot about his character.

I make it no secret about my distain towards the whinny wimpy mains which often plague this type of show. They’re not interesting, they’re annoying as hell, and they would, or at least should, defiantly be the first person to die the moment s@#$ hits the fan.

That’s not Shido.

Kurumi

He’s a funny straight man when the show is in antics mode. However when things get serious, Shido possess a strong air of confidence. When faced against a problem he doesn’t rely of dumb luck. There’s no hesitation when he needs to make a stand and he will take a bullet to save his friends.

Together, this cast is able to carry this series through a story which is actually pretty good. When it’s trying to be goofy, it can be silly and charming. There are a few reoccurring jokes that don’t work, but I’ll get to those in a bit.

When this show attempts to get serious, it gets quite intense. It was during these moments when the power of these characters shined the brightest. When something threatening or dangerous was happening, everyone was legitimately scared, angry, hurt, or frustrated. Too bad these moments may have come out of f@#$ing nowhere, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

In any other series, this is where I would end it. But those who have already seen this show, they may be thinking I’ve forgotten something or that I might be listing it as a negative. Neither are the case, I was just saving it for now.

Kurumi Tokisaki

I don’t know where she came from and she single handedly 180-ed the entire tone of this series, but Kurumi Tokisaki (voiced by Asami Sanada) was awesome.

She is the one thing making Date A Live standout. If you were to ask me where Kurumi would fall in the standard harem character troupes, I wouldn't have an answer for you. I don’t think she does.

Kurumi will murder and murder violently. If you’re now thinking yandere, you wouldn't be fully wrong. That’s just one of many the possibilities with her. She could also possibly be a regretful, scared, or tragic character. Then again, she could simply be bat s@#$ insane and doesn’t give a crap about a person’s well-being.

To say she was a wild card isn’t quite right since when given the choice she will most likely kill you. Yet there's always the chance you might be able to talk your way out of it.

Series Negatives

Date A Live is chock-full of bull s@#$ to the point where it’s a miracle it remained standing.

This series is largely inconstant, it takes random turns for no apparent reason, it relies on jokes and premises which get old fast or were never funny to begin with. At times the story doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. And character personalities appear from out of the blue with little to no explanation.

Yes there might be a season two and yes it is possible a lot of these problems might be addressed in it, but this show was extremely lucky to even get a second season.

No Commitment

For a while I couldn’t figure out what I didn’t like about this series. There are so many tiny problems and to go over them all would take up too much time. Also, many of the things I like where heavily connected with the things I didn’t.

To start, I’m not completely thrilled with Tohka’s sudden character shift. Although I think the character she became was fine in the end, it certainly wasn’t the person we were introduced to. The same could be said for Kotori, but at least her shift made sense.

Date A Live put a heavy emphasis on it's dating sim approach to saving the Spirits. Not a bad idea, but the way it was executed made it come off as obnoxious. It was clear Shido did much better on his own and the whole gimmick was just that a gimmick; one which was not working.

Another issues is with Kurumi, who is an awesome character, but her inclusion came so far out of left field. Suddenly the series got bloody, threatening, and creepy. It may have been done well, but in no way shape or form did it fit with the already established lighthearted atmosphere. An atmosphere, by the way, which came back and seemed to forget the dark path it went down.

Even the ecchi moments were all over the place. At times they're shoved in your face. Other times they're held back. Then there were long periods of nothing.

Damn it, if you’re going to do something, f@#$ing do it.

That’s when it hit me. Date A Live never once committed to a single element. It wanted to do some many different things and have so many different angles. Some were good, some were not. However, none of them were ever given the chance to be fully explored.

This is what I’m hoping comes out of season two. If Date A Live simply stopped trying to do a hundred things at once and focus up, there could be something fantastic here.

Final Thoughts

Harem anime are often very hit or miss. Date A Live is a hit, provided you’re willing to accept a lot of nonsense.

This show may be all over the place. It did some things great, over things it needed to drop. Luckily it has a cast of characters and a decent story going for it. I want to see where everything goes. I want to see what becomes of everyone. There are things to enjoy out of this show and by no means am I over it.

Despite its many, many flaws, Date A Live is still worth checking out.

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