Its good but the MC only shows interest in spirits....I feel sorry for Origami. She loves Sindo but he never does anything for her.
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rahulrathaur-567605 September 2020
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The original premise was moderately unique but it quickly turned into a more generic Harem anime.
That said during the three current seasons there are times where the show again rises to a higher level making it worth muscling through the lack luster filler. -
martin_merelesc2 March 2022Date A Live is just another series that takes the sci-fi theme and then mixes it with some new twists like the dating sim concept. It's a fun subject to embrace, but one that's hardly serious enough to listen to. The whole concept itself is weak, with rushed development and sequencing. The pacing of the series also seems to fall apart. The trick here is more than just a kiss. Rather, Date a Live just tries too hard and makes it almost too awesome for its presentation.
Date A Live II is pretty cool, but hang in there if you think it's slow. This season was mostly about introducing new characters and revealing new things about older characters. If you haven't seen DAL and think this program is weird, bad, confusing, etc., try DAL first.
Date A Live III for LA is a great step in the right direction, from the near aimless second season, and in line with the original first season. Sure the change in animation studio is a detriment, but if it's for the plot and all the tense stuff and backstories from character that NEEDED it, then Date A Live III is great in this regard.
Date A Live IV this season has some good points and some bad points that can definitely be corrected for the fifth season, but I enjoyed it nonetheless, despite still not returning to the quality of the first season, Date A Live is heading in a good direction after the mess last season. -
magarsumit27 July 2020I just happened to watch the anime to pass the time but i got addicted to watching it. Its great anime series;-)
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Date-A-Live is much better compared to other harems which rely on fanservice for popularity. Date-A-Live have a robust story and awesome character development, Kurumi's existence in this anime alone makes it miles better than other animes.
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denom-3310313 May 2020Okay, go into this series not expecting any realism. It's ridiculously funny, silly, has great action scenes. The voice acting is unbelievable. I really hope for season 4.
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totalovrdose5 February 2015When it comes to ecchi anime, I really don't mind the content, as long as the story and characters are provided the same level of attention as the sexual references and/or nudity. In a sense, Date-A-Live is rather tame in contrast with shows like Cat Planet Cuties, however what could have proved to be a very entertaining show, is foiled time and time again by an inability to provide a decent storyline.
This is evident through many of the awkward, deranged conversations. In one instance, the lead character admits to breaking into a girl's locker to sniff her sweaty gym clothes, in which she replies by admitting she's done the same to him. Rather than bursting into a fit of hysterical laughter, I sat there perplexed, wondering how the writer's could have developed such a punchline.
Over the course of the series, Shido is the embodiment of what it means to be a geek. When it comes to girls, they are more likely to pick on him than ever attempt a relationship, and his foster sister Kotori is much the same. His best friend Hiroto on the other hand is infatuated with a 2D girl in a dating simulation, though occasionally his behavior in the real world suggests he may not be heterosexual at all. The same goes for some of the reactions exhibited by women, the implied homosexuality, although meant as a sexy insert into the story, being entirely unnecessary.
In the world of Date-A-Live, Spirits, beings from an alternate reality that is never developed, and for reasons that are never conveyed, travel to Earth. This is not as simple as it sounds, with colossal destruction accidentally occurring upon their arriving, which has inevitably resulted in thousands of deaths. Despite the sweet temperament of many of the Spirits (though some are truly horrible), humanity has conceived a unit specially designed to eliminate the Spirits, with Kotori, and Shido's classmate Origami, who has an unhealthy crush on him, involved.
Shido it seems is an alternate resolution to the crisis. By wooing the Spirits who arrive (inexplicably, all of them are women), and giving them a kiss soon afterwards, he is able to relieve them of their powers to ensure they are able to adopt Earth as their home. As with much of the series, this ability of Shido's is again, seldom explored. Strangely enough, despite this occurrence, the Anti-Spirit Team (AST) continue their relentless pursuit of the Spirits even after they have been subdued, which will lead the audience to question why an alternate solution to the problem was required if violence is always the answer. Not only this, the AST cause an equal amount of damage to society, if not even more so, and yet nobody ever seems to complain.
The fact each Spirit has their own unique powers certainly adds a degree of interest, as the viewer can never truly anticipate what will happen, although many of the abilities are just a carbon copy of what has been explored in other supernatural/science fiction oriented anime.
The women of the program are never fully developed, and although some are discussed as being intelligent and having other amazing qualities, they are only ever portrayed as desperate love seeking lunatics. This, although partially similar to other anime, where women inevitably pursue men, would not be so bad if not for Shido himself. Male protagonists in anime can often be interpreted as sweet, yet at the same time shy, and clueless to a woman's advances. Though Shido represents some of these traits, he is unable to see women as amazing individuals, whose time should be treasured and cherished, but as missions.
When hired to kiss gorgeous women, his initial reaction is to sigh and be discontent, which is largely the opposite of how I'd feel if given such an honor. But after wooing a Spirit, and having her fall for him, he fails to care for her feelings, or even acknowledge them, and simply moves onto the next woman and proceeds with his objective. The awkwardness this can cause is as predictable as it is obviously deliberate, however, despite his generally cheerful demeanor, I personally can't help but feel that Shido is not a smooth player as the series might have you believe, but an emotionally void ignoramus who fails to appreciate women or their feelings. This dilemma, coupled with his inability to navigate a conversation (on occasion requiring a room of people to relay potential sentences to him over a radio), only increases the addendum that largely, the lead character is generally unlikable.
The graphics are quite bright, and though some would argue that animation reserved for television is never nearly as fantastic as other varieties, Date-A-Live, although visually quite appealing, is not as spectacularly presented as other shows. This aside, the soundtrack, like with many anime, is very beautiful, the opening theme being especially entertaining. There are several tracks reserved for the concluding credits, but it is Save My Heart by Iori Nomizu that is the most captivating.
Perhaps I am being a little hard on Date-A-Live. Although I am an avid watcher of anime, and own a sizable collection that dwarfs some of the other film and television genres I quite enjoy, this particular series seems unable to peak my interest, despite there been some interesting twists I did not anticipate. If you prefer your women to be 2D, then maybe you'll find enjoyment in this product, but I personally prefer women who are a lot more realistic, intelligent, and who don't trip over themselves in an exaggerated fashion while chasing after love. If you love anime, especially the ecchi variety, you should probably pick up a copy of Date-A-Live, at the least to see if your opinion contradicts my own. If so, I'm glad you enjoyed it. As for me - I'm bummed I forked out $60 for this. -
Even though the English dub acting was so-so, I just thought the whole anime was rather off. This is regards to its characters like it concentrates too much on making the girl characters "sexy" as possible. For example like having cleavage clothing, bigger boobs, showing off panties, you know the rest. Not that I'm at all offended but it was rather overpowering with fanservice and boring.
I agree actually with the other reviewer that Shido is pretty much the "Mr Fix It guy" to the girls . It's like as if he was their God because like he's meant to be like this good natured type and the fact that most of the girls are spirits, makes them think he is the one for them as a human. I personally think Shido is a bit of womanizer since he has "romaticallly" kissed nearly every girl, including his own sister!
I would recommend this anime if you don't mind the overpowering of "cutesy" girls but other then that, try to avoid it so that you won't be dissaapointing yourself! -
marshallowen-092557 December 2019Great story and great characters, if you watch all three seasons (as of 2019) then you will have an anime you will never forget 10/10
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tasin-4741727 March 2022The only harem based animation where the girls played a vital role more than the male protagonist. In other animations,we see it's all about the male protagonist and his harems are dying for getting his attention. But in the date a live, the male protagonist was trying his best to get their attention and love to save them from getting destroyed . A story full of action, ecchi and comedy.
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tasevskijordan-2576121 June 2021This is a great anime. You have a lot of character developement and also full drawn potential. Imo its really fun to watch and you really bond with a few of the characters, even though some can be a bit annoying. The romance aspect in this is pretty big and there is only little action. The battles tempt to go the same way so you can kinda predict how they will end. Its kinda sad that Natsumi ( idk the japanese name) appears so late and gets so little screen time. Also you could argue that, at some points, it gets a little cringy. So if you arent into romance I wouldnt recommend this to you.
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Snootz14 April 2024Date A Live has one purpose and one purpose only: to put as much fan service and action as possible in a series. If that's what you're after, welcome to puberty central.
The initial credits in each episode will give you an idea what to expect: fully nude women (only the bits not shown), scanty and revealing "armor", and very little sensible plot to go with it.
We have a guy who for some unstated reason seems to be the only person in Japan (a high schooler no less) who can woo and subdue a "Spirit". Although a nice guy, he seems to have the emotional and sexual experience of a 12-year old. He not only seems unaware of the intense feelings of his conquests, but is actually terrified of them (typical anime meme).
The girls are equally 2D. For some unknown reason when he first kisses a Spirit their clothing dissolves from around them, leaving them fully naked in his arms. That's not the last time they will be naked around him, since despite his terror of women he seems to have no problem at all bathing nude with several of them in a natural hot spring (and absolutely no one thinks anything odd of that). That's typical of this series.
The plot is virtually non-existent. It is clearly stated what is happening, but never explained as to why. The real absurdity is them forming this non-violent, peaceful solution to disasters... but totally failing to call off the uber-military attack force that seems to always show up just as the potential disaster has been diverted. "Are they insane or merely stupid?" will be a regularly-asked question here.
Overall this is a 90% "fan service" anime with a rather lame and unexplained barely-story thrown in. Typical sister-crush meme, definite harem them with the girls falling all over a guy who wants nothing to do with these naked girls all around him. Truly, this is one for those looking to see a lot of bewbage and huge explosions, because that's about all this is. The plot is as predictable as they come: guy finds girl, guy romances girl, girl gets naked A LOT, guy freaks out every time that happens (also A LOT), lather, rinse, repeat. Meme city. -
Over 10 years has Date A Live has survived. It is very difficult for modern viewers to understand how big Date A Live was when it aired. It had the fastest light novel to anime adaptation ever. By volume 3 or so they already decided on the anime. Now it didn't have the insane production values that something like Sword Art Online has had. I want to mention this is not an exhaustive discussion. You can probably write a mini novel as review of this series and still not cover every topic. And this is only a spoiler free review.
I was initially going to delay a series overview based on what came after but judging by recent articles on the production committee, I felt it was imperative to write the review now. Since the series is approaching its end. Even tho 10 years feels like a long time, especially since most light novel series try to run on for very long but usually get cut short. But Date A Live aimed to follow the continuous story. By focusing on an overall grand narrative. This allows one season the novels to fluidly connect to each other. I feel around 20 or so is the best length. Anymore is simply too long. And I don't want it devolve into something like the fate series that has way too many spinoffs for its own good
Date A Live is a very difficult series to write a review for. This is because it does so much things right, so much things new, it would be a very very long review. You know a show is simply amazing is when it is difficult to write a review for. Vs when a show has a ton of problems, you can quickly pinpoint what it did wrong, and make a pretty concise review.
In short, you can call it a masterpiece. This is because Date A Live broke so many boundaries of what is genre can achieve. Not only did that, but it that under some of the hardest conditions. You cannot just outlast AOT these days, and still be relevant. People grow older, go to school, get jobs, aren't online. New shows come out as publishers want to create a cycle of pump and dump but never follow through. Publishers usually pick shows based on genres and the anime will scale depending on how big the publisher is. Like a manga publisher will tend to really stretch the show to fill all tv slots. They will adapt it slowly, put a lot of fillerish episodes effectively turning into a cw series. But a light novel publisher would try to keep it somewhat concise, but chooses to aim to promote a ton of light novels over a few. Date A Live But I would like to go in depth of what Date A Live has done.
Date A Live is a jack of all trades but MASTER of all. It has done that by completely subvertly everyone's expectations of when they see the show. You expect a nice relaxing shows with girls and some fighting, but as soon as you get in, you get introduced to a grand narrative with an amazing unique world, mysteries, villians, foreshadowing all of it towards a grand, epic, emotional finale.
Every season we have a new girl. This prevents the show from getting or feeling old. It makes the show refreshing, unique. Also by focusing on a new girl each season, it gives us time for But in addition it is overall adding more and more layers to the overall conflict. Especially season 2 onwards when the major villians appear and get involved. As these two things compound together thereby adding towards the greater conflict and thus a grand finale. But not only that, there is a ton of mysteries across the entire show. Including the origins of the conflict, villains, overall lore.
The overall lore takes a mix of things from mecha, biblical references, as well as just general aspects of life. It eventually feels unique enough where you can immerse yourself. From all the unique and beautiful locations. The soundtrack thus adds to the legendary But while the cast of Date A Live is big, it still never loses its main focus from Shido, Tohka, Origami and its main villain of Westcott and Ellen. And by focusing on the primary villain as well as it how connects the origin of the conflict and the cast. And thus the narrative is coherrent. This gives Date A Live incredibly rewatchability. This is phenomenally rare for a series of its goofy genre. And this is largely thanks to the overall combination of foreshadowing, humor, action, storytelling, gradual crescendo, and emotional impact.
As you just continue, there is honestly not much you can complain about this show season 4 onwards. Season 3 clearly hampered but poor animation. The general consensus it is a masterpiece, incredible, at worst okay. It is pretty much just doing a lot of things right. If the only criticism of the series is it is a harem, calling the fandom names, saying you didn't watch it, ur series is pretty much doing everything right.
For the character designs, they are almost certainly some of the most beautiful, vivid, unique desisn I have seen. All have elaborate dresses, cute designs that tie into their individual quirks and powers.
As for the production of the anime itself, you can see that they heavily focused on adapting series above else. Goodshow puts its company on the line to finance the show after Kadokawa wanted to drop it in season 3. They weren't one of the companies that chose to Production values shot up. A lot more merchandise. Even tho Date A Live may end, you can never really replace a series that lasted 2013-2024. Since effectively a lot of stuff that aired that time isn't here anymore. The anime bubble completely burst several years earlier in 2008. We were effectively in an almost anime recession. Ultimately Date A Live is a series fans are especially grateful for. One of the few light novel series that nearly managed to nearly completely adapt the entire story. A story that under all odds managed to give a massive satisfying payoff. It will a remain a memento that cannot be replaced of the early 2010s anime. It is a common joke that the community's favorite anime changes every season, and picking their one they value above all else would be like picking their favorite child. Anime industry is ultimately something difficult to keep up with as there is just too much coming and so much you can spend. -
superjeremi4 December 2023"Date A Live" stands out as a captivating and entertaining anime that skilfully blends thrilling action with romantic elements. Its unique concept of using romantic encounters to seal devastating spirits from another world results in an intriguing narrative and unexpected twists and turns.
The characters, notably Shido Itsuka and the female spirits, are well developed, each bringing a unique dynamic to the story. High-quality animation and impressive action scenes add a visual dimension that delights audiences. Light-hearted humor, judiciously integrated, adds a touch of levity without compromising the seriousness of the issues at stake. In addition, the anime successfully explores the evolving relationships between the characters, adding emotional depth to the overall story.
"Date A Live" is a refreshingly entertaining experience, seducing viewers with its originality, engaging characters and successful balance between different genres. And finally, Kurumi, oh Kutumi, is my favorite character (I'll say no more). -
enparks24 March 2023This show is beautiful, the story is interesting, but you know what happens when there's a harem in one anime, it always will be that one girl you will Like and others you will hate, so you get the idea! With that in mind there's one girl named kurumi tokisaki who is overrated, there more fanart for her than anyone else in the show, please show them some more love. So the art style change in season 3 and 4 which is bad for season 3 while season 4 just had cgi fights that felt like a video game, season 1 and 2 studios went bankrupt sadly so that why we have different studios and artstyle for the other seasons. So if you plan to watch the movie, it non Canon so it really your choice, they have spin offs I might give that a watch before I review it. That all thanks for rea.
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dunkinpanderson4 January 2024If you are looking for any anime worth your time... this is it mate. I really hope they realese season 5 of this series and I would love to see how it continues. The charactors are awesome including the plot and I really hope the animation style does not change. I hope the director also realeses other works. All in all this deserves the 10 star review and i hope to see more date a live in the future. In case you werent aware of the realese schudele here it is Date a Live television series adaptation animated by AIC Plus+ aired between April and June 2013. A second season by Production IMS aired between April and June 2014. An original anime film, Date A Live: Mayuri Judgement, was released in August 2015. A spin-off light novel series, Date A Live Fragment: Date A Bullet, began publication in March 2017. A third season by J. C. Staff aired between January and March 2019. A fourth season by Geek Toys aired from April to June 2022. A fifth season is set to premiere in 2024.