angel22 - 2015-09-07 03:54:50

This series is the anime equivalent of The Bachelor. The Bachelor is a tv show where a guy dates a pool of women all vying for his affection. Throughout the show the girls often get jealous of one another and get into fights. By the end of a date or an episode the bachelor presents the lucky few with a rose, anyone who does not receive a rose is eliminated. Much like The Bachelor, Date A Live focuses around a high schooler named Shidou, who must date a collection of girls. The girls are humanoid beings called Spirits who come to Earth and in the process of doing so cause massive earthquakes than can destroy entire populations of people. In order to stop these tremors, Shidou must seal the powers of these Spirits by making them fall in love with him. Therefore instead of dating to become famous like in The Bachelor, or dating to get married in real life, the purpose of dating in Date A Live is to save the world. Yes, as corny and convoluted as that sounds this is essentially what the show is about.

Story

One of the fundamental differences between The Bachelor and Date A Live, is that the concept of elimination through the process of a rose ceremony is lost in Date A Live. If Shidou stops dating or makes the girls upset, the girls will regain their powers thereby being a danger to society. The purpose of this review is not to question the morality of either show, but you have to admit that in real life most guys do not openly date multiple women at the same time unless they are polygamous mormons. The obvious reason for this is because people get jealous, jealous people get angry, anger causes discord in relationships thereby ruining them. The show addresses this in a serious manner at first but eventually becomes a running gag as though it was conveniently brushed aside. This unsolvable flaw is eventually address by a deus ex machina solution of having the girls believe that Shidou is “saving them” which makes everything all ok. However the issue still remains, if Shidou ever develops truly romantic feeling for one girl, the other girls will eventually get upset and unintentionally destroy the world.

But this is not real life, this is a god damn harem anime. There are 2 types of harem anime, the first type is where the protagonist eventually or will eventually choose a girl, the second type is when essentially all the girls are chosen, a harem ending. Part of the fun in a harem anime is rooting for your favourite girl or rooting for the harem ending. However in Date A Live because Shidou can’t ever choose a girl, the anime limits itself to the harem ending. Therefore upon reflection, I felt part of the fun to be lost due to the plot.

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” This is a theme that was brought up with particular emphasis in the second half of the season. I found this to be the most interesting and something I wished could have been explored further.

Characters

The characters in general are very cute and have their own little quirks. In a sense, this very fact is a double edged sword. The majority of the cast has been written to be very one dimensional in order draw a sense of endearment from the audience. For example, the first spirit Shidou encounters is a girl named Tooka. Tooka’s is written to be dumb, she constantly thinks about food, likes having her head scratched, acts like a child, naive to a point of believing anything that’s been said. Tooka encounters some heartbreaking moments where I really felt bad for her, however her reaction towards these events felt artificial, fake and contrived in order to keep with this kawaii persona.

The protagonist Shidou really bothered me. In the anime he constantly tells girls that he wants to save them, that they will be together forever, etc. However when one of the girls gets angry at him for dating or kissing someone else, there were many instances where Shidou looked baffled as though he couldn’t understand why these girls felt this way. One of the most basic facets of being human is the ability to relate to one another. Shidou seems to lack this, he never once looked at the situation from the girl’s point of view. This leads to a heartbreaking realization, every girl does fall in love with Shidou, however Shidou never truly loves them back at a romantic level.

A character I really enjoyed was the primary antagonist, Kurumi. Of the characters she is definitely the dark horse. Her actions are not just evil, they are downright demonic and at times terrifying. So much of the show is cute and happy that the audience forgets the weight of what is actually going on. People are dying and not in a honorable or romantic way, but instead in a most violent, bloody and painful manner. Kurumi’s presence brought a shocking realization of this fact that I found to be quite effective.

Art, Animation and Sound

Here is where the series truly shines. Each girl has their own colour palette and real thought was placed into their attire and appearances. The characters designs perfectly fit the personalities of the characters. However besides the main characters I did notice small lapses where for instance background characters all had the same face. The animators were smart in having what I call “moe” scenes, where the art style completely changes into a less detailed cute style allowing them to cut corners. The animation is fluid, there are some intense action sequences where I never noticed any dropped frames. My favourite piece of artwork from this series was the over the top view of the city, the city is covered with craters which showed where the attacks and earthquakes took place.

The music in this anime was beautiful and very fitting. Simply listen to the opening of the show to get an idea of what to expect. The battle music took advantage of string instruments like the violin, scenes filled with warmth were accompanied by uplifting piano arrangements, comedic scenes had appropriate effects to suit the mood. Besides the music I have to praise the voice actors for this show, I wouldn’t make any changes.

Final Thoughts

Story: 4/10

Characters: 5/10

Art/Animation: 8/10

Sound: 8/10

Enjoyment: 8.5/10

Overall: 7/10

Date A Live is like your summer blockbuster movie, where a lot of money is put into production, you have a great time while watching the film however after seeing the movie you start to realize that many of the plot element didn’t make much sense. The reason why this happened is because the show tries it’s best to be lighthearted and cute but at the same time deals with dark themes and concepts. At the end of the season I still had many questions that were left unanswered, which I’m assuming was intentional because there is a sequel, Date A Live II. At this point some of you might be asking why the high score? Yes, I had many complaints about the show, but the bottom line is that this is a harem anime about dating multiple girls in order to save the world. People who enjoy harem anime will definitely enjoy this, I know I sure did.  If there weren’t so many unanswered questions and unresolved conflicts I might actually give this show an 8/10 because I know harem fans will love it. Therefore have fun, enjoy the ride, but please do not think too hard about it.  I know I did and my head is still ringing.

hrolfson - 2015-04-08 17:10:02

My review of *Tokyo Ghoul √A*, a disappointing second season to an already disappointing anime. For the full review, please click on the link and let me know what you thought of the series in the comments.
From the beginning, Tokyo Ghoul √A was advertised as an anime original story by the of Tokyo Ghoul manga, Sui Ishida, and this idea is an exciting one to me as an anime-only-watcher. With so many fans complaining about how the anime butchered the manga, creating an alternate story by the mangaka himself should be an interesting way to appeal to both the manga and anime fans, right? Well, not if the story itself is more disjointed than Kaneki’s fingers at the end of the first season....

Just like the first season, Tokyo Ghoul √A kicked off with three strong and interesting episodes that made me interested in Tokyo Ghoul for the first time since the beginning of the first season. Unfortunately, Tokyo Ghoul √A's plot turns into an absolute mess. Various events are taking place without any impact or explanation, thus leaving the viewer confused and aloof. Manga readers might know what is happening, but for everyone else, the plot is all over the place.

Ken Kaneki is effectively sidelined throughout the majority of the series with only the action sequences focusing on his character until the final episodes, thus wasting all of his character development from the first season. The majority of the screen-time goes to first season's antagonists, the CCG, specifically Investigators Kōtarō Amon and Akira Mado. Thankfully, Amon continues to be the only worthwhile character in the entire anime, and his relationship with Akira, as rushed as it may be, is the best aspect of the series.

Sloppily written and just plain dull, Tokyo Ghoul √A is an absolute narrative disaster that lacks any semblance of cohesion. With that said, it is not entirely irredeemable thanks to a few minor aspects being executed surprisingly well amidst the gory mess of a plot. 
_Watch if you like:_ Tokyo Ghoul's first season,
*-3.5/10*

torn - 2015-01-30 03:50:09

Fun plot, great characters, lots of jealousy, great show... Very recommendable... And imo, one of the best ecchi/harem animes in history and I've watch a lot of em trust me.

And the opening is amazingly epic.

pokuneva - 2015-01-07 03:39:58

Another entertaining harem series. Date a live is a action/comedy/Harem that will entertain your every needs. (You sick pervert you lol just kidding)

The animation is pretty solid, the characters are all likable (Kurumi is best girl)
The action is above-average and the story is great over all.

guiseppe78 - 2014-11-27 08:18:37

Date a live is a great peace of work with lots of interesting character and shows a real pimp of main character and that there secrets to him. Also read the light novel probably one the most easy one to get into see more into the more epic part of the overall story of it. Date a live is so good and that that needs to be said.  

frances.mitchell - 2013-08-24 22:47:07

rozella.morissette - 2013-08-16 10:12:09

Summary:
Itsuka Shido is a high school boy. On the last day of the spring holidays, an explosion destroys the town and a girl in armor appears in front of him. Shido's sister-in-law, Kotori, tells him that the girl is called "Special Disasterous Designated Creature: Spirit", which causes a timespace quake. Kotori disclosed that she is the commander of the anti-spirit organization Ratatosk and orders him to go out on a date with the spirit girl. Kotori says, "I don't ask you to beat the spirit. Just let her fall in love with you and save the world."

MyAnimeList Link

Stream Link

Story: 7/10
Was definitely a unique harem, but a harem nontheless~
One thing to mention while on that topic though, is that it actually had a pretty decent story. I was impressed.
But y'know, it had all those typical harem features so I gotta admit almost everything was pretty predictable.
But again, heavy emphasis on that almost everything, because there were a couple parts that I totally didn't see coming. Especially the ending. <-- carrying on into a 2nd season. Overall I'd say the story was okay, and don't recall ever being bored~ ^.^ (hardly any filler stuff at all).
Characters: 9/10
For a harem, I was impressed that many of the characters got a ton of interaction, screen time, and backstory.
Aside from all the main girls being awesome ;D, I even enjoyed theside-characters! For example, whenever they were out in public, they'd always run into these three girl classmates that are loafing about and there was this one girl with glasses that always got her one'liner off where she manages to find an excuse to call Shido, "creepy/gross" one way or another XD. Definitely my favourite side-character.
Also the main girls. All of them were so unique, had totally different character traits, and AMAZING costumes/wardrobes *.*
I mean.. c'mon... Kurmi?!!!!??
She's like one of the hottest characters ever created in a long time!

Just look at dat!

Music: 10/10
You know... we're in the year 2013 now, and I'm loving it~
Music and art always seems to be flawless ^.^
But back on topic... all I gotta say is.. DAT OPENING SONG.

One of the best openings of the season, and amazingly enough became my top played OP on iTunes rising to 1170 plays within the first week XD Best harem opening song ever?
(Note: at 1:31 you can see the side-character I was raving about earlier..)
Aside from the OP, the background OST was also fairly good and I downloaded it as soon as it was available *.*

Art: 10/10
You know... we're in the year 2013 now, and I'm loving it~
Music and art always seems to be flawless ^.^
Deja-vu???

How about a teaser then...

If this doesn't make you interested in Date A Live, then I don't know what will!

Overall Enjoyment: 9/10
Defintely enjoyed it, haven't seen a good "newer" harem in a while, but I'm gald I came across this.
I mean.. it had one of my favourite voice actors in it, it had TONS of GRREEAAT fanservice, mechas, comedy.. what more could I want? The only reason I didn't give it a ten was due to the cliffhanger ending, which I personally felt was unecessary story-wise, but understand that they want to milk out as much $$ as possible with this so they just popped it in there~

Who would I recommend this to? Harem lovers~

FINAL RATE: 45/50
Above average harem anime I'd say, great girls <3

I enjoyed this series as it provided a few chuckles, and some tasteful ecchi moments but not to the point where the female characters' boobs have a rave party at every moment,(Highschool of the Dead), and the unique dating harem aspect. I highly recommend watching this series if you liked similar anime such as Angel Beats!, or Sekirei, the To Love Ru series and Sora No Otoshimono (Forte). They fill the time well and the episodes aren't full of too much filler, with some comedy on the side you'll blitz through all 12 episodes in a few hours without knowing it. It's a definite good series and worth watching, the only fault I find it with is the change of pace in the plot development, and the possibility of not having a second season XD.

(though I really, really, hope for that second season... )

Recommendations:

- The World God Only Knows -
Yeah to those who watched The World God Only Knows, this is just like it. Just with... lesser girls.

- Sekirei -
Probably the anime I thought this was most similar to, although Shido wasn't competing against any other guys XD But they way he had to "save" the girls was similar ^.^

- To Love-Ru -

Typical harem recommendation to the lord of all harems.. >.>

hackett.mollie - 2013-07-22 23:28:48

This story really seems to be absurd and I have to admit, that it actually really is. That was the point, where it got a lot of attention for. Deserved?Story: The Anime is adapted from a Light Novel of the same name: "Date A Live". It's takes place in a quite near future (at least it seemed to be future), where events called Spacequakes happen, because of which many people die. To prevent this from happening, everyone gets evacuated whenever they happen. The Anime now revolves around Itsuka Shidou, a normal highschool boy that one day wittnesses a space quake and finds a girl in an armor standing in the middle of it. She immediatly attacks since she thinks he wants to kil her. Fortunately Shidou is safed after explaining to the girl that he was just searching for his little hyperactive sister. He finds himself in a big space ship, where he finds out that the sister he had been searching for, is the tsundere leader , of an organization that needs him to seal the powers of the girl from the Spacequake called "Spirit".Date A Live definitely gets a bit of credit for the originality of the whole concept (I mean saving the world by dating hot girls...I guess it's the dream of every teenage boy). The execution though is only mediocre. The show is set up as a romantic comedy, with your typical fanservice (4 pantyshots in first minutes) and the typical humor (which I myself don't like but that depends on the person). Later on though, where the big twist starts to happen the series suddenly gets darker, seemingly pulling of a Madoka Magika and just fooling around a few episodes and then turn everything into epic darkness. But it doesn't follow that path and doesn't decide where to go, so they just put in a dark scene and a bit fanservice right after, which doesn't fit at all.6/10Characters: The characters are in total quite ok. At first seem to be quite generic, but as you dive a bit deeper, you can see some developement and some attachment to the characters presented.Itsuka Shidou is the typical main protagonist, that wants to help everyone and doesn't have ANY further motive. He reminded me a bit of Emiya Shirou from the Fate/Stay Night Series, but a little better executed.Yatogami Tohka, is the spirit from the spacequake Shidou witnesses. She doesn't believe in Shidou at first, but as it goes on she realizes he was serious about the saving the spirit thing.Itsuka Kotori starts off as the cure little sister character that only seems to be there for the fanservice, but it's not that late until we see her Tsundere side as the leader of a group which wants to save the sprit.7/10Art: Date a Live has been animated by AIC Plus, which never had any major work before, the only thing that might be notable being "Asobi ni Iku yo". The Animation is nothing spectacular. The fighting scenes are quite well done, but all the other scenes were rather mediocre. The character design looks quite good and whoever is supposed to look cute looks cute as well.5/10Sound: The sound was at some points really good. The Opening was one of the best of the whole season in my opinion and it actually got used in an instrumental way several times within scenes later on. The voiceacting was quite ok but not incredibly good. Personal enjoyment: To be honest...I got bored quite often! While the first half of the series only focused on humor I didn't like (I just have a weird taste I guess), it really wasn't good for me and I would've given it a 4/10 then. When the show reaches a certain episode though, it kind of gets really interestiing and I found myself even looking forward to next week. If it would have kept this up, it might have scored a lot better!5/10In total Date a Live is an anime with an original concept, that was not really well executed. When it just got interesting it went down to being a fanservice Anime again, and that was what annoyed me!in total: 6/10

brian15 - 2013-06-30 20:32:14

Date A Live is a harem anime where the girls have super powers. The goal of the protagonist is to seal away these powers by getting the girls to fall for him and then finishing off the process with a kiss. Obviously, he does this by dating them.

Shidou is the lucky male character who gets all of the girls to fall for him in this series. He is specially gifted to help the girls in the series, most of which are spirits, powerful beings which have wrecked havoc and destruction throughout the land. But as the lead is sees them as nice girls who just want to live normal lives.

The girls themselves tend to be rather extreme versions of the stereotypes they represent. For instance, Tohka is extremely simple minded and lacks any type of common sense. Any character development is rather superficial as a lot of it is done within the handful of episodes each one gets for their arch. However, each of them is undoubtedly entertaining.

You might be wondering if there is like a main enemy they have to band together to fight. Well, yes and no. One of the girls, Origami, is a member of a group tasked to destroy spirits, but she is often conflicted because of her love for Shidou. She seems to monopolize a lot of the best lines, which is kind of unfortunate since she's probably the least likable of the characters. But, the true enemy is not really revealed until the very end, in a season 2 preview...

The action sequences in the show are very impressive as is the art for the show along with the humor is really the main draw. There is really not any character development and the plot is typically bland for a harem.

If you watch this show you're not doing it for the story, character development, or any of that. You probably just want to watch a mindless show to have a good time. Well, that is essentially what you're getting. Not spectacular, but not bad. If you want to compare this series to something else it's like a cross between The World God Only Knows (with less engaging archs) and Heaven's Lost Property (with somewhat less fleshed out characters), but Date A Live has more entertainment value and ultimately better humor.

In the end Date A Live is rather shallow with some uneven episodes in the middle, but likeable characters and some very appealing action sequences. It's a show where you can forget about a lot of it's flaws, which says a lot.

linwood.gleichner - 2013-05-30 02:14:52

Date A Live is not your average everyday harem anime, it's unique and a breath of fresh air.

Story : I would describe Date A Live as a epic harem that involves battles, in a sense it's the same as The World Only God Knows, however the way it's executed is completely different.

It contains epic battles and is a light-hearted anime at the same time, overall I greatly enjoy the story.  

Character : There's a wide variety of different characters from Date A Live, some are interesting, others are there just for the added joke/comedy.  Characters have been a positive experience for me, they are funny and have good personalities.  

Animation : Animation from Date A Live is just spot on, especially with some of the battle scenes the animation is just down right stunning, it's not something you expect to see in an harem, so yes it's pretty good.

Sound : I love the soundtrack from Date A Live, the sounds fit in perfectly in the scenes and helps create that epic moment, really well executed!

Overall : Date A Live is a unique harem anime that involves fighting, it's enjoyable, heart-hearted, and epic at the same time.  I don't believe this show is for everybody, but give the first three episodes a try before deciding, I believe this is a must watch if you enjoy harem and comedy along with epic moments.