Hello, Nitsuj here and welcome to the side blog the blogs between the blogs. As you all know we’re in the middle of the Sequel arc and in my research for animes to review I noticed that a few animes had movies and OVAs come out. Since movies and OVAs technically count as sequels to animes I’ve decided to include them in the Sequel arc and since there’s a number of them I decided to turn them into side blogs otherwise we wouldn’t be able to get to the anime I want to review. So for our first side blog in the Sequel arc let’s take a look at the Date A Live movie Mayuri Judgement. The movie was released in 2015 and was announced at the end of the second season with Production IMS producing it. The whole movie is an original story supervised by the author himself Koushi Tachibana and did surprising well at the box offices and in DVD sales. Let’s see take a look at this movie and see what all the fuss is about.
The movie starts off at a Miku concert (the bi-curious idol, not the virtual one) where she sings a very catchy song (but then again it’s Minori Chihara, what did you expect? Scene here: https://youtu.be/fpreEAcFYpA). After the concert they have a private afterparty at a waterpark (best to get the swimsuit fanservice out of the way) and they all head home for the night. The next morning Shido wakes up and sees a large bubble sphere (https://youtu.be/oFs3lOqr1UE) floating over the city. Shido is the only one who can see it but Ratotskr uses their sensors and pick up traces of the sphere where after analyzing the sphere they detect traces of energy from the spirits that Shido has conquered. They believe the sphere is a manifestation of the spirits subconsciousness bought on by their feelings for Shido (no doubt the sexual tension building up and about to explode) so they tell Shido to go on a date with each of the girls in order to relieve their stress.
The girls, as you would expect are excited and draw numbers to decide their order. The first date goes to Kaguya where she uses an outdated date book to setup her date at a French cuisine restaurant only to arrive at the spot and discover a ramen shop (the cheap man’s cuisine). She then tries to take Shido to a pool and darts bar only to see it’s been replaced by an arcade but they still go inside anyway and have fun (it’s an arcade in Japan, how can you not have fun?). Despite these mix ups, both Shido and Kaguya have a good time and he wins her a stuffed cat doll which she likes very much (a trophy of their first date. Scene here: https://youtu.be/3dEgFIIcFXI). The second date is Miku where in order to go outside and not garner attention (or have anyone try to kill Shido) Shido dresses up as his female counterpart and they go shopping trying on different outfits for him (which he looks good in I can’t lie) and have a good time (scene here: https://youtu.be/WV5yN2pDnGo). The third date belongs to Yoshino (call the cops) where they meet up at a shrine, the same shrine where Shido first met Yoshino (and where she established herself as being one of the best lolis in anime). For her date, all she wants to do is just hang around the shrine and play with Shido (it’s a simple date but for someone like Yoshino who doesn’t get to spend a lot of time with Shido and at a disadvantage in terms of intimacy, this date is nice and cute. You don’t always have to go out on a date, sometimes just staying in one place, having fun and hanging out with the person you like is all you need for an enjoyable experience. Scene here: https://youtu.be/QbIh-UXs4Qs). Yuzuru is the fourth date (well this should be interesting) where she gets some advice from Origami who’s in the hospital (again) and while Yuzuru appreciates the advice she comes to the conclusion that she can’t keep relying on Origami so she adds her own spin to the date by going to an art gallery, getting a necklace from Shido, and then taking him into a love hotel (she’s got the right mindset). To be fair, she made the right choice because Origami wanted Yuzuru to bring Shido to the hospital where she had a trap laid out for him and everything (she just keeps proving why she’s one of the best girls in this anime. Scene here: https://youtu.be/E7p3Fksd2JA). In the fifth date Kotori takes charge and all she does is make Salisbury steak with Shido, something they haven’t done in a while but something that she enjoys doing (again, simple date where all she does is just hang out with the person she likes and do something they both enjoy). Tohka and Yoshino join them where Shido goes to get some dressing from the fridge and notices a blonde girl in his house (is she American?) who’s been following Shido around on his dates and everything (scene here: https://youtu.be/Tq2sIRp8L_I). Shido chases after the girl only to run into Kurumi (oh boy, when do we do her date?) who can also see the bubble sphere and tells Shido he’s doing the right thing but tells him to be careful as the human heart is unpredictable (true, and that’s what makes it so exciting. Scene here: https://youtu.be/BSP1_jeHE1w). The final date is Tohka where all this time she’s been studying the other dates to create her perfect date with Shido. Her conclusion, not enough food in their dates so for her date she and Shido are going on an all you can eat spree (oh~ my wallet). They’re date goes well as not even the appearance of a wild Origami seems to stop it but when the mysterious blonde shows up that’s a whole another story (scene here: https://youtu.be/mQxM7AyKiOg).
The mysterious blonde shows up again and not even Tohka can see her but Shido is determined to get to the bottom of her identity. The blonde reveals herself to be Mayuri and that giant bubble in the sky is Cherubiel. Mayuri is the operating persona of Cherubiel and her job is to monitor spirits and their vessel to judge if the vessel can contain the power of the spirits (if they can’t, Cherubiel activates and destroys the world. . .in theory). Mayuri’s conclusion is that Shido has things under control (surprisingly yes. Whatever problem the spirits have, Shido’s been able to fix it and come out on top) and thus she and Cherubiel are not needed anymore and will fade away into nothingness. Yet, for some reason Mayuri is sad as she wanted to spend time with Shido as well (it’s not too late). Before she can vanish Cherubiel starts going berserk and attacking the spirits as well as the city (can’t we go one week without the city going all Evangelion on us?) because of Mayuri. Mayuri has developed feelings for Shido and she’s jealous that the others got to spend time with him while she never got a chance (that’s understandable). As a result, Cherubiel now believes Shido isn’t a proper vessel and is now going berserk trying to destroy everything along with Shido (well my theory was right. Score 1 for the Nitsuj). So, for the next 20 minutes we get our climatic battle where everyone tries to save Mayuri (who was created from the energy of the others). Shido’s resolve to save her resonates with the others and they receive a huge power boost which they use to save Mayuri and defeat Cherubiel. However, despite defeating and destroying Cherubiel, Mayuri is still going to vanish because she’s made of spirit energy and sealing a spirit seals up their energy that means Mayuri can’t exists (scene here: https://youtu.be/m7CozJdouJg). A few days go by where Shido is alright (you only knew her for like 5 minutes man, how are you gonna get all emotional and over the top like that?) because he knows that Mayuri still lives on inside of them because she was born from them. We end the movie with the girls getting ready to host the second date with Shido contest (great, this time we’ll add Origami, Mana, and Kurumi to the mix).
Final Thoughts
So that was Mayuri Judgement and it was a good movie. I did like the dates that Shido went on with all the girls in his harem, how each one was different, and showed off the qualities of each other. However, I do wish we would have focused more on Mayuri. Despite being in the title of the movie we don’t spend anytime with her and it’s a huge letdown from a story perspective as she did seem like an interesting character who you wanted to learn about. Once again, the characters really don’t get developed nor does the plot of the story but to be fair this movie is technically non-canon so there’s limits on what they can do with the characters but still I would have liked to see some development with the characters. The animation is good and the soundtrack is once again impressive here. There’s not a whole of fanservice in this movie which I’m okay with and the final fight scene is good as well.
Final Score
The final score for Mayuri Judgement is a 7/10. All in all this was a good movie If you’re a fan of Date A Live then this movie is good watch and something worth checking out. Will Mayuri return? The chances are low, but if the author does decide to make her canon I think she be a great addition to the cast as there does seem to be a lot they could do with her. Thanks for read and I’ll see you time on Project Nitsuj.
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