Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Tell me do you know what a spacequake is? Basically a spacequake is a temblor in the Earth’s magnetic field. They occur in space and if they reach the Earth’s atmosphere they can cause electromagnetic interference with devices such as GPSs and radio communications. While not really all that harmful to the Earth, the total energy of a spacequake can rival that of a magnitude 5 or 6 earthquake. I bring this up because what scientist fail to tell us about spacequakes is that they bring girls with mysterious powers into our world as well. Don’t believe me? Well than you obvious haven’t seen Date A Live. Date A Live is a light novel written by Kōshi Tachibana in 2011 and still going to this day. The story centers around a high school boy who has to face these mysterious girls who appear from the spacequakes called Spirits and seal their powers so they can no longer cause any damage. The series has garnered quite a following since its debut having a short manga and two games set to be release sometime this year. In 2013 the anime studio AIC who gave us that god awful Maken-Ki anime (trust me the second season’s day of reckoning will come) decided to turn the series into an anime and since the second season has been announced I can think of no better way to celebrate the return of the series than by talking about the first season. Let’s save the world by dating one girl at a time and take a look at Date A Live.
Opening and Ending Theme
The opening for this anime is “Date A Live” by sweet ARMS. The opening is just epic as hell. Everything about just screams epic. The singer is good and instruments just screams epic. Did I mention this opening is epic as hell? For this anime we have 2 main endings that switch back and forth from. The first one is “Save the World” by Iori Nomizu which is a good song with a bit of humor added into the mix about how the singer wants you to date before she ends the world. It’s kinda cute in my opinion. The second ending is “SAVE MY HEART” by Iori Nomizu. This one was my favorite. I like how the violin controls the flow of the song from the beginning. The singer sounds cute and joyful and the animation kinda reminds of Infinte Stratos.
Episodes 1-4
So we start the anime off by hearing about a spacequake that happen in Eurasia 30 years killing over 150 million people and how after that spacequakes started happening all over the world causing massive damage and ending unsuspecting lives (geez I thought these things only appeared in space. Science lied to us, again). We cut to the present day where the spacequakes are smaller now and cause less damage but are still pop up quite frequently in the world especially in Japan (can these people get a break? I swear these people do nothing except live peacefully and provide us with hours of entertainment and yet they’re the ones who are constantly having their existence threaten). We then meet the main character of our show Shido voiced by Nobunaga Shimazaki being woken up by his sweet and ditzy little foster sister Kotori voiced by Ayana Taketatsu (Suguha from SAO. I swear this girl always finds a way to get into my reviews. Scene here: //youtu.be/gPUHpnLCIIM, that’s not how you wake a man up. But she’s so cute I’ll let it slide). It’s the opening ceremony for their school and Kotori wants to celebrate the occasion by going out to dinner at a family restaurant (yeah this girl wants the fancy stuff). At school Shido meets his new classmate Origami voiced by Misuzu Togashi who is a childhood friend of Shido that he’s forgotten, has a serious crush on him (obviously), and hands down the best character in the anime. I mean it, the girl is like Shouko from Baka and Test minus the whole yandere aspect. She’s smart, beautiful, and athletic, speaks in a doll-like robotic way, and is very asserted in her relationship with Shido (all the qualities of a fine bride). After school the spacequake alarm goes off in the city and everyone has to get to shelter but Shido uses his GPS to find out that Kotori hasn’t gotten to a shelter yet and is waiting by a family restaurant for him to arrive so they can eat (such dedication, she must really like that fancy food). Shido ventures out into the empty streets to save his sister where he meets the Spirit who we later come to know as Tohka voiced by the always lovely Marina Inoue (Laura from Infinite Stratos) who thinks Shido has come to kill her like the other humans. Before Shido can explain his intentions (which no doubt is saving his life and possibly doing it with her) she gets attacked by the AST a special defense force whose job is to come in and kill Spirits whenever they appear (they need more practice) and Origami is one of their members (and so the love triangle begins). The AST try to kill Tohka but their attacks have no effect on her as she just uses her powers to block all of them (what’s the point of AST again? Wasting missiles and whatnot). Origami takes Tohka head on and the clash from their fight causes a huge explosion which knocks Shido out and he awakens on a flying aircraft owned by the organization Ratotskr whose purpose is to tame the Spirits peacefully (and how has that been working so far). He’s greeted by Reina a woman who seriously needs to start sleeping more (I can see the bags underneath your eyes) and gets taken to the bridge (main character on deck) where he meets the vice-commander and masochist Kyouhei and Kotori who is actually the commander of Ratotskr and is actually quite arrogant and belittles Shido at just about every corner with her superior attitude (okay can we get the cute ditsy sister that you would love to hug back? This arrogant sister makes me wanna slap her and not in a good way). Kotori tells Shido that there’s a way to defeat the Spirits peacefully but it will require his help. The next day in school Reina transfers to the school under the disguise as the school nurse (even though she has no medical certification. Good job on the background check school) where she leads Shido to a dark room where Kotori explains to Shido that the best way to defeat the Spirits peacefully is to get them to fall in love and kiss him (of course after all, //youtu.be/gIyE-8w6LME?t=13s, thank you Bosch). In order to get him to wow the hearts of the Spirits his first task is playing sim games that are stacked against him and any wrong choice he makes results in him starting all over again (reminds of Steel Battalion. The one that made you feel like a badass, not the shitty 360 one).
In episode 2 Shido completes the first stage of his training and thus moves on to the second stage, practicing on real women (this should be interesting). First up is his homeroom teacher who is 29 years old, innocent, and desperately wants to get married before she hits that 30 mark. With the help of Reina through his ear device he’s able to swoon her when he says he wants to marry her and she’s totally on board with the idea (wow, desperate much lady). After practicing on her and getting her hopes up for nothing he moves on to Origami where she accepts his confession and the two become girlfriend and boyfriend (scene here: //youtu.be/tT-emswoeKs, this is why I love Origami so much. She’s so cute, innocent, and downright weird at the same time). The spacequake alarm goes off again and Tohka appears in the destroyed school (alright no school for a while. Thank you mysterious forces of the galaxy). Shido approaches Tohka where after a bit of persuasion and the help of Kotori and her strange team feeding him lines he’s able to get on Tohka’s good side and increase her love points greatly. The AST come in guns a blazing but Shido tells Tohka to ignore them so they can continue talking. They continue talking while the AST continue to fire on her with their bullets not getting pass her force field (try a different tactic you idiots. If it didn’t work the first 1000 shots what makes you think it’s gonna work with the next 1000 shots. Seriously, people poured money into this defense force). After getting her love points up high enough Shido asks Tohka out on date but Origami comes in and gets in between them forcing Tohka to retreat (can you blame her, some cute space girl is trying to take her man). We end with Tohka reappearing before Shido and deciding to go on a date with him.
In episode 3 Shido and Tohka begin their date which is basically an eating/cute fest. First off, buying Tohka some soy bread (scene here: //youtu.be/Ive3uPNRuvE, love how ribbons keep moving by themselves), next up Tohka throws her trash away and wants to get praised for it (scene here: //youtu.be/SvTsk7S3qyg). They go into restaurant where Reina and Kotori are posing as maids and give Tohka the overkill meal (scene here: //youtu.be/CLyTACFRVeY, where does she pack it all? This woman eats more than a celebrity who just got off their 1 week diet when really it’s a 12 week diet). After the restaurant they head to the residential area where the members of Ratotskr have set up a small festival complete with fee food for Tohka to enjoy herself (scene here: //youtu.be/tbiNZiHtsfI, Good Lord. Goku, Vegeta, Luffy, Naruto, Toriko, Natsu, Kirby, Coop, and goddamn Chowder’s appetites are fucking butch compared to Tohka. I swear even Fat Albert would be like “Hey, hey, hey Fat Albert’s all good and full. Send the bill to Mr. Cosby”). They also also get invited to go inside Dream Park where the date can really begin but Shido isn’t ready for that yet (scene here: //youtu.be/azaVKudcZP0, Shido I just want you to know one thing, //youtu.be/xf24TmzihjE?t=1m41s). After having fun in the food festival it starts to rain and they seek shelter in the local arcade where they do anime cliché 147 and play the crane game where we get possibly the most epic crane game moment I’ve ever seen. They finally go to watch the sunset where little do they know Origami has been following them all day, has rounded up her team, and is holding a sniper rifle with a clear shot at Tohka. She final gets the green light to fire but Shido somehow sees her and pushes Tohka out of the way where he takes the shot and gets a piece of his side taken off (way to go Origami you just killed your boyfriend. Good Lord what kind of caliber gun was she using? It looks like somebody tried to eat him but got bored halfway through). Filled with hatred and anger at seeing Shido die Tohka goes on a rampage unleashing her full power (scene here: //youtu.be/4l1sDjmDU98) and targeting Origami who is frozen with fear and shock at the site of having killed her boyfriend (yeah I’m not gonna lie that was kind of a bitch move on her part). But somehow Shido’s body heals his injury and he returns back to life (holy shit he’s a Wolverine) and he goes to Tohka where he’s able to calm her down but she begins losing control of her power and needs to release them somewhere (go back to the Dream Park). Instead of using my plan Shido just kisses her and we see he has the power to seal the abilities of a Spirit making them human, and having their powers for his own (just imagine Megaman without the killing or robots. Also for some reason she gets naked when they kiss. Why did she get naked? Wait, why am I questioning this? It’s a harem anime, this is normal).
For a majority of episode 4 we focus on Shido and Tohka. After Shido sealed Tohka’s powers she pretty much becomes a normal human girl and starts to attend school with him as well as live with him (I’m pretty sure this is an anime cliché let me look it up. *Grabs the anime cliché book* Ah here it is, anime cliché 78, the mysterious being living with you in your house and going to school with you). Origami apologizes to Shido for killing him (yeah an apology isn’t gonna cut it. Either he gets to second base or he’s calling this relationship off) and she can’t piece together that Tohka and the Spirit from yesterday are the same person (how is that possible!? How do you not recognize the Spirit you’ve been trying to kill for days? What, does she have Superman’s hypnotizing glasses or something or is Origami just blind). After a few funny bits at Shido’s home and Tohka and Origami competing with each other in school for Shido’s affection another spacequake occurs and this time the girl is a loli (//youtu.be/wOxt9PoJNkg). I am so tired of people adding lolis into their harem stories. It’s sick, disgusting, wrong, and most importantly unacceptable (//youtu.be/07So_lJQyqw). So anyway, Shido leaves Tohka with the somewhat crazy teacher and goes to meet the Spirit who we’ll come to call Yoshino voiced by Iori Nomizu (Black Rabbit from Mondaji) a quiet girl who prefers to speak with her rabbit puppet Yoshinon who is more outspoken and blunt that you swear the two were different people. It’s kinda like Plank from Ed, Edd, n Eddy, you know he’s imaginary and comes to life thanks to Johnny but at times you wonder is Plank really alive or is he just a reflection of Johnny’s innermost thoughts. After Shido accidently kisses her Tohka walks in on them (oh shit, this is bad) and becomes unstable unleashing her powers (you know how it’s bad to cheat on your girlfriend and she finds out? Well imagine cheating on your girlfriend who has super powers and she finds out. Not a good situation). Things get worst when Yoshinon starts to mock Tohka by saying Shido likes him (or her, I don’t know) more than Tohka which causes her to snatch the rabbit from Yoshino (she is arguing with a puppet. I don’t know if this is funny, cute, or just sad). This causes Yoshino to freak out and she uses her powers to summon a giant snow rabbit monster (O_O what the fu-) to go on a rampage and escape leaving Tohka upset with Shido and thinking he likes Yoshino more than her (man if this was Persona 3 the social link would have been broken).
Episodes 5-8
In episode 5 Shido finds Yoshino looking for Yoshinon and decides to help her find him. They have no luck and take a break at Shido’s house where he feeds her (dude you are seriously making me think about calling the cops on you) and Yoshino opens up to him (//youtu.be/6nSKkwzwdW4?t=3s, not like that you sickos). She explains to Shido how Yoshinon is a representation of what she’s always wanted to be, someone who’s cool, strong and out-going basically her idea of a hero. She tells him how she’s afraid of being alone and hurting others which is why she never fights back against the AST and instead just runs away from them (okay, I have to admit despite the fact that she’s a loli in a harem anime I will admit Yoshino is rather cute throughout this scene). Shido tells Yoshino that from now on he’ll be her hero and as he tries explaining what a kiss is to her (they’ll move up to the bird and bees tomorrow) Tohka walks in on them making Yoshino disappear out of fear (she is smart to leave) and Shido digging himself into an even bigger hole (Shido. You got some explaining to do~). But the explanation will have to come later as Kotori has figured out that Yoshinon is in the possession of Origami and thus Shido has to go to her place and get him back. Shido goes to her place where Origami makes the suggestion that she’s possibly a pervert and stalker who wants to get inside Shido’s pants. Don’t believe me well how about this. When Shido goes to her house she greets him dressed as a maid just because he told his friend he likes maids. She slipped an aphrodisiac into Shido’s tea to make him get hot and bothered and then goes to take a shower hoping Shido will come and join her and when she gets out of the shower she returns to the room wearing nothing but a bath towel. Jesus Christ, Origami, you guys haven’t even gone on a first date and you’re already trying to get inside his pants? I like you and all but girl you’re making Chizuru from Kanokon look subtle and that’s saying something. Shido manages to get Yoshinon while Origami wasn’t looking and just in time because the AST has found Yoshino and is attacking her forcing her to call out her giant rabbit monster (O_O again, what the fu-) and she goes on rampage freezing up the city. Tohka shows up finally understanding the situation and agrees to help Shido by getting the AST to chase her. Shido is able to reach Yoshino in her blizzard storm fortress by charging head first into it surviving somehow (nothing less from a Wolverine) and he returns Yoshinon to her and kisses her sealing her powers and causing her to be naked (urgh, excuse while I go wash my eyes from this uncleanliness). With Yoshino’s powers sealed away she’s now a normal girl and moves into the new apartment complex Kotori built for the Spirits (make Shido the manager).
Episode 6 turns out to be the funniest episode in the season. It’s the classic hot springs episode where Shido along with Tohka, Yoshino, and Reina are trying to go to the hotsprings to relax but unbeknownst to them the AST is also heading to the hotsprings for a much needed rest and relaxation. As the group is making their way to the hotsprings the crew of Ratotskr notice AST is right behind them so they activate a bunch of traps hoping to slow them down and stop them from reaching the hotsprings. This of course doesn’t sit well with the members of AST especially their leader who was looking forward to the hotsprings the most and the oldest member of the team at 27 years old (so what the rest of the team is made up of high school girls? Is the military trying to traumatize them or something). She finally snaps and goes into complete rampage mode, starts shooting at everything, and even orders the team to start shooting nonstop saying she’ll punish anyone who has bullets left in her mag. After the dust has cleared both sides reach the hotspring only to have Yoshino accidently freeze the springs because of Yoshinon’s head falling off from the barrage of attacks. Luckily, Kyouhei has dug up a hotsprings and Shido gets to enjoy it with Tohka and Yoshino.
In episode 7 we get introduced to two new characters. The first one is Kurumi voiced by Asami Sanada who is another Spirit who has transferred into Shido’s school and so far my favorite Spirit in the series because of her dark beauty, seductive voice, mysterious personality and that cool theme that sounds like something out of noir film (//youtu.be/kDXTHZameXo, *in a noir voice* when the girl walk into the room are eyes met and I knew she was trouble. How did I know? Because I always attract trouble. Momma always said I attract trouble and boy was she right. But this was the kind of trouble I didn’t mind getting involved with). She takes a great interest in Shido making passes at him and even giving him permission to see her panties (wow another possible pervert to the harem and they say boys are horny). The second character we meet is Mana another military girl who’s bought in to help the AST hunt Spirits since she’s killed one in the past. But that’s not important, what is important is that she claims to be Shido’s real little sister saying that when they were little they were separated. She also makes hints that she thinks of Shido more than just her brother (lady, that’s your brother! Find someone else). Nothing much happens other than meeting these two characters except for one major event. Mana and AST confront Kurumi and actually kill her (1 out of 3 and billions of yen worth of city destruction. Was it worth it Japanese government) but the next day she shows up at school like nothing happened and confronts Origami telling her that the only reason she transferred to the school was to get close to Shido because not only does she like Shido (lucky bastard), not only is she straight up horny for him (if he does not tap that ass I will fucking stab him), but she wants to eat him and absorb his powers (okay stay away from her, this girl is obviously yandere).
Moving on to episode 8 Shido asks Kurumi out on a date for tomorrow and she agrees (really!? You’re going out with her? Despite the fact that you saw footage of her getting killed!? He’s crazy). But that’s not the only date he’s got, he also has a date with Origami whose worried about him and doesn’t want him to be alone, and Tohka who gets tickets to the aquarium from some classmates and uses her feminine charm to get Shido to agree to the date (scene here: //youtu.be/ufy9meWXoXw, now why can’t you AI girls try seducing me that way? I be much more open to your ideas and requests if you did what Tohka was doing. (Isis): Pride. (Mira): Pride. (Shizuku): Pride. (Yin-Yang): Pride. (Chibi Isis): Underage. Plus, I’m too cute to say no to). So the next day Shido prepares for his multi-dates (these kinds of things never end well) where he starts with Tohka where he actually gives her a compliment without having to be told to (scene here: //youtu.be/wa6_9IrJEog, man Tohka really knows how to make people OD on cuteness). They go to the aquarium where Shido makes an excuse to slip out and go meet up with Kurumi (who even dresses evil) and he goes lingerie shopping with her (wooow~, that’s all I can say, wow) where he picks out some sexy black underwear for her to wear (surprisingly it suits her. Scene here: //youtu.be/ZufnFOgGenw, *in a noir voice* as she stood before me all decked out in her sexiest black lingerie I knew right then in there I wanted her and she wanted me. If the shopkeeper hadn’t been around along with other pedestrians I would have took her right there on the floor 5 times. 6 times depending on the time of day). He makes an excuse to slip away from Kurumi and goes to meet up with Origami where they have a light lunch before going to the movies where Origami tells Shido he’s staying over at her place tonight (could this girl be any more blatant in her feelings for Shido. Seriously what promise did Shido make with this girl in the past? She’s almost making Shouko from Baka and Test look normal). After hanging with Origami a bit Shido slips out and meets back up with Tohka where we just get a montage of him multi-dating and actually pulling it off (scene here: //youtu.be/GpmSWhrodcU, nice save Yoshino). While in the park waiting for Shido, Kurumi hears a couple of guys tormenting a kitten with BB guns (what the hell is wrong with these guys) and Kurumi decides to join them but instead of trying to shoot the kitten she switches the target to them instead and uses a real gun to kill them (normally I be freaked out by this but I’m actually fine with this. Yeah, I don’t like people picking on creatures weaker than them). Once Shido shows up disgusted and terrified by the blood (geez I thought this was a harem anime not a horror anime) Kurumi decides it’s time to become one with Shido but she gets pussy-blocked by Mana who shows up to save him (alright, so far Mana is the better little sister).
Episodes 9-12 and OVA
We start episode 9 with Mana killing Kurumi and not batting an eye (fatality). Shido leaves shocked and unsure of what to do or how to handle what he saw but luckily Tohka approaches him later and continues their date where she lifts up his spirits and tells him not to worry about it (easy for you to say, you didn’t watch two people die before your eyes). The next day he goes to school and tells Kurumi he’s determined to save her but Kurumi doesn’t believe him and decides to test him. She puts up a barrier around the whole school knocking out everyone except Shido, Tohka, and Origami and tells Shido to go to the roof where she explains to Shido she has the ability to control time not on the world but on herself which is why she keeps on reviving. However, this power takes a huge tow on her body so in order to keep using the ability she needs to keep consuming people which is why she goes out of her way to kill other people. Tohka and Yoshino were just defending themselves, Kurumi on the other hand was killing because she wanted to kill. She tells Shido that the barrier they’re in will absorb the energy of the students until they die but she’ll lift the barrier if Shido takes back what he said this morning (lady he’s trying to help you be reasonable). Shido refuses to give up on her so she goes to plan B and decides to summon a spacequake and level the city. Shido figures out that the reason she’s doing all of this is out of fear because for most of her life she’s been hunted and killed by humans so she’s come to fear them. She may not show it but deep down she’s really afraid of humans and sees that everything they say to her is just a lie to get her to lower her defenses. In an act of badass-ery Shido tells Kurumi to stop the spacequake and take down the barrier or he’ll take his life by jumping off the school roof. Kurumi doesn’t believe him and he jumps off the school roof only to be saved by her (you love him) and she gets rid of the barrier and spacequake (well played Shido. Very badass). Shido is finally able to get through to her but before she can accept Shido’s offer she gets killed by herself from another timeline. Her other self captures Shido and is about to eat him until Mana comes in to stop her but this time Kurumi is serious and she uses her powers and guns to freeze Mana and shoot her a few times to stop her from fighting. Tohka and Origami show up to help but Kurumi summons more of her other selves from different timelines to hold them back (it’s an army of yanderes, we’re screwed). Kurumi decides to summon another spacequake to teach Shido a lesson but it gets stopped by Kotori who we find out is a Spirit (//youtu.be/TH6Acpzurb0).
We start off episode 10 with Kotori taking on Kurumi in what I wanna say is a decent fight but really both sides are lacking in fighting skills. Kotori is kinda slow, weak, and a little clumsy while Kurumi relies too much on her time powers and clones making her fight like an amateur and give up easily though I will admit the time guns and using the Persona 3 method to use her powers is pretty cool (scene here: //youtu.be/sT4GvB1Y7ag). Kotori manages to regain control of herself and redirect the shot missing Shido and just knocking him out for a day. He wakes up the next day where Reina tells him that everyone is okay but they’ve all been hospitalized and Kurumi has gone missing (great, the yandere is on the loose. I feel safe). He goes to visit Kotori where she tells him that she was originally human but was turned into a Spirit 5 years ago when they were both kids by something unknown to both of them. When she first got her powers she lost control of them and caused a huge fire in her residential area but Shido somehow sealed her powers away and made them his which is why he was able to revive from Origami shooting him. She also tells Shido that whenever she uses her Spirit powers she becomes a different person and has the desire to kill and destroy anyone and anything for no reason (sounds like internet trolls to me). Reina tells Shido that the only way to save Kotori is to go on a date with her and reseal her powers, if he fails Kotori will activate her powers again and the little sister that Shido loves will be gone forever (are they seriously telling him to date his foster sister and kiss her? Have you no morals, this is disturbing). After that heavy scene Shido goes to the hospital to check on Mana and Origami (Tohka’s fine out of all the characters she was the one who got the least hurt) where he runs into Origami and a slew of funny moments come our way (scene here: //youtu.be/Ww8zwjBpDBY, she always finds a way to make things funny again). After all the funny moments Origami gets serious and ask Shido if he knows who that fire Spirit was from yesterday because it turns out when Kotori lost control of her powers 5 years ago she accidently killed Origami’s parents and since then has been obsessed with that Spirit and getting her revenge (damn, your sister killed your girlfriend’s parents. I guess you won’t be inviting her to the wedding). Of course Shido plays the fool and says he doesn’t remember what happen yesterday to protect Kotori.
For the first part of episode 11, Shido goes through training to prepare for his date with Kotori which will be in a water park. In order to get him accustomed to seeing girls in swimsuits without popping redwood he goes shopping with Tohka and Yoshino looking to buy swimsuits. Origami shows up and a swimsuit battle ensues between Tohka and Origami (scene here: //youtu.be/mJ0Q5qs9sSA, I would provide color commentary for this scene but I think the vice commander says what I would have said). The day of the date arrives and Shido takes Kotori to the water park along with Tohka and Yoshino (why are they here? Read the situation girls and leave) and the date begins. Things don’t seem to be going well on the date as Shido just can’t seem to relax around Kotori and be himself (also, his support isn’t helping him out all that well). Shido decides to wing the date losing the ear piece and instead take Kotori to the theme park next door. Back on Origami’s side she goes to her base where they get new mech equipment (which looks like something they stole from Infinite Stratos) said to be able to kill Spirits and she finally sees the footage from the battle with Kurumi and sees that the Spirit who killed her parents was Kotori (now before you do anything rash Origami I just want you to remember this is the sister of your future husband).
In the final episode Shido and Kotori go to the theme park where the date seems to be going better and the two are having a good time (I would say this is cute but this little thing in my head called a conscience keeps telling me THEY’RE BROTHER AND SISTER! Yes, I know they’re not biological and it’s to save her life but still this whole thing is just unsettling. Couldn’t we go back to the Kurumi story instead? That was really getting interesting). As Shido moves in for the kiss Origami shows up (oh thank God) with the new mech equipment and fires on Kotori. This of course forces Kotori to activate her Spirit powers and the two fight where they both petty much lose themselves and go all out trying to destroy each other. Origami manages to capture Kotori and is about to kill her but Tohka and Yoshino come in to stop her and fight her giving Shido enough time to get Kotori to safety and seal her powers (scene here: //youtu.be/1plhOysD9M8). With Kotori’s powers sealed Origami no longer has a reason to kill her but she refuses to let go of her anger so Shido tells her to kill him instead since he now has her powers. Origami holds back and her body finally reaches its limits as she faints where she is soon arrested by her superiors. Back on Shido’s side Reina tells him some shocking news to end the season. Kotori’s parameters for Shido never changed throughout their date, in fact they were all high (so the little sister has always had a crush on the big brother? Is that sensation in my mouth the feeling of me about to throw-up from how wrong and disgusting this is).
There is an OVA that came out in December of last year which was used to build hype for the second season. In the first half Kotori feels that Origami has gotten too close to Shido so she orders him to go on a date with her and make her hate him (impossible). On the date he tries to convince her that he’s a straight up pervert but it turns out Origami is just as big a pervert as him (don’t believe me, then watch this scene: //youtu.be/5A68WEdTNbQ). As he’s practicing his break up lines Tohka calls him on her cellphone and she gets the idea that Shido hates her now. This causes her spirit energy to go out of control and destroy a small part of the park out of sadness but Shido arrives and explains the misunderstanding returning Tohka to normal and maxing out Origami’s enjoyment level because she overheard their conversation on the phone and mistakes Shido’s apology to Tohka as a confession of love to her. In the second half Tohka gets embarrassed by Origami at school so in order to relieve stress she goes to the arcade with Shido and play games where Origami is the villain in each one (such as this classic zombie shooter: //youtu.be/ZBbG37D5wC4) and they even have a small cameo of the Spirit twins Kaguya and Yuzuru (looking forward to seeing them in the second season). Near the end of their date Tohka wins Shido a phone strap plushie from the crane game and gives Shido a picture of her from the photo booth where we find out later she took it naked because the only picture she’s ever taken is a medical picture so put 2 and 2 together and you’ll figure out why she did the thing she did. This OVA is alright, it’s funny, and helps build up excitement for the second season. If you wanna watch it I say go ahead you won’t be disappointed and if you decide to skip it you won’t be missing anything important.
Final Thoughts
This anime is actually very good. The overall story is fun and interesting, it doesn’t take itself too seriously, has a lot of funny moments, and has possibly the weirdest harem I’ve ever seen in an anime. The characters are the selling point for me in this anime. Shido is just the right kind of main character. He’s not dumb, weak, short-sighted or bland like you’re normal male character in harem animes. He’s quite smart, tough, has a few badass moments, and does deeply care about the girls he’s around. The other girls kinda fall into typical harem characters but they all have their unique traits that make them interesting. Tohka is the tsundere but she doesn’t really act like one. She’s very open to her feelings about Shido and has a lot of cute moments. Yoshino is the shy girl but I do like that she speaks her true feelings with her puppet and does act like an innocent cute child. Origami is the stalker who deep down is a pervert and will have you laughing throughout the series but she has her dark past and is consumed by it. Kotori and Mana are the little sisters who have a crush on the big brother but they’re different from each other. Kotori tries to act tough and in control but deep down she’s quite scared and cute while Mana is more straight-forward and open. Finally, Kurumi is the yandere who deep down is really afraid of people because she’s been hurt by them so much in the past that she kills them out of fear before they can kill her. I think this explains why she wanted Shido to take back what he said about saving her. She doesn’t believe she can be saved or someone has tried to save her in the past but failed and turned on her. She’s scared and afraid of her own powers so she creates this wall around herself to hide that fear and instead attacks others to keep the fear at bay. It’s quite deep and tragic which makes you feel very sorry for her. That’s pretty impressive, I usually don’t feel a thing for yanderes but for Kurumi I really do feel sorry for her and want her to be happy in the end.
The animation is alright, its standard animation, music is awesome and one of the best things about the anime, and fight scenes aren’t really that good. The only fight scene I got interested in and entertained me a little was Kotori and Kurumi’s fight but even then as I said before it’s a weak fight because both characters have bad fighting styles. Other than that the other fights were either one-sided or just there to be silly. There are a few ecchi scenes in the series but in all honesty they get drowned out by the cute and funny scenes so if you’re worried about ecchiness in this anime just know it’s not really all that bad and there aren’t that many of them. A few things I didn’t like about the anime is how they dropped Kurumi’s story and just went to Kotori’s story which as I noted I didn’t like because their brother and sister. If they were childhood friends it would have been alright and I know they’re not biological but it’s still disturbing in my eyes. I mean would you really date your foster sister if you had/have one. I know it’s to save her and I’m fine with that but to have Kotori actually have romantic feelings for Shido that’s just wrong. I also didn’t like how Origami was actually prepared to kill Shido at the end out of revenge. That goes against her character, she would never kill Shido out of revenge even when she killed him in episode 2 she was so traumatize by what she did that she didn’t even try to defend herself when Tohka attacked her so her actually being ready to kill Shido to fulfill her revenge is stupid. Probably my biggest complaint is this one annoying side character in each episode. There’s a classmate of Shido who shows up with her friends and whenever she finds something disturbing or Shido doing something she just says gross. That’s all she says and it’s annoying to no end. It’s like she was put into the series for the sole purpose of annoying the viewer get rid of this character please.
Final Score
The final score for Date A Live is a 6.5/10. It’s a good anime, with good characters who you really do come to care about and like, an interesting and fun story, and lots of cute and funny moments with a few ecchi moments added in there. If you’re looking for a good and funny harem anime with a good story that’s not too ecchi than give this anime a chance and if you liked the first season be sure to check out the second season coming next month. Thanks for reading, I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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