Wolfe reporting.
I've been putting off this review for a bit, probably because the anime disappointed me. I don't mind the dating elements as long as there's enough darkness and variety. By variety, I refer to the fact that most "dating anime" tend to fall under really, really predictable schema. You're practically watching the same thing with slightly different characters, anime to anime. That's why I had some hopes going into this one, as things happen that are not under the predictable schema of dating anime. Ultimately, though, it did disappoint my expectations.
If dating anime bore me, why did I even get my hopes up? Well, there're a few reasons. First of all, I love clocks (not digital). So, upon seeing a certain character around on the Internets, I started looking into Date A Live. She dresses beautifully with reds and blacks (red and black being my favourite colours), with one of her eyes being red and the other one being a clock. Honestly, you couldn't have appealed to me more if you tried with this character.
The other reasons I had hopes were the premise (which had enough of a twist to be entertaining) and the main character. But more on those later.
The Japanese デート・ア・ライブ transliterates to "Dēto a raibu", with 'Dēto' meaning both "date" and "to go on a date", 'a' being the equivalent of English letter "A", and 'raibu' meaning "live". I'll note that I called the anime "Date Alive" in title, versus "Date A Live". It's hard to know if I'm correct on the pronunciation, but that's how I chose to go about it. "Date Alibe" or "Date Aribe" would probably be a closer pronunciation.
Only Season 1 is out currently, consisting of 12 roughly 24-minute episodes (my favourite length for a season). They left a lot of things unfinished, so I'm fairly confident that a Season 2 will be released at some point, and I look forward to it.
Personal/Subjective Opinion: 10.5 / 13 (=80.7%)!
Score Without Edges: 9 / 13 (=69.2%)!
Objective Opinion: 4 / 5 (=80%)!
Average Score: 229.9 / 300 (=76.6%)!
Concept: While I think it takes two full episodes before this concept is fully explained, I don't feel as if I'm ruining anything. The concept is that there are Spirits in existence, creatures (or rather, women) who appear randomly and tend to cause destruction when they do. The government already has a branch of people to take care of this, the AST. Of course, for reasons unexplained, the AST consists only of women (mostly younger), and their armour choice isn't reasonable. When a Spirit appears, a spacequake occurs soon after. So, when a Spirit is detected, alarms sound and everyone in Japan goes into underground shelters. The AST then attacks the Spirit by guns and swords until the Spirit is dead or until it disappears (which can only happen if they lose track of it). Usually, a Spirit isn't able to be killed, and the entire team is usually only enough to annoy the Spirit. Because the concepts and plot are intertwined in this anime, I'll go more into the concept under "plot".
Introduction Sequence: 1 / 1. The introduction sequence was good, actually. It wasn't good enough that I watched it every time, but that's really rare (and, should I find one like that, it gets an edge). It's spoiler-free and character focused, with quick flashes of fighting and character shots. It gives you a good taste of what the anime is about. Link: Date A Live Opening.
Animation Style: 1 / 1. For a dating anime, it generally kept away from the chibi-style (which would have been an instant frowny-face) as far as I can remember. There's even a bit of mecha going on for the AST, as well as some beautiful fights (swords, inaccurate guns, the whole schebang).
Examples (I think these three really show the anime):
Music: 2 / 1. Hah, the music for this is actually incredibly fitting. There's obviously some time spent on it, too. I suppose for a dating anime, mood-setting music is a must. I'm even giving it an edge, because listening to it, it's like I'm back in the anime. Why can't all anime have music like this? The linked track is very fitting indeed. Link: Date A Live OST.
Plot: 2.5 / 3. Okay, to start out with, I'll say that this anime does indeed stand out among its genre. I know I did some bashing earlier because it didn't stand out as much as I'd hoped, but it definitely stands out, especially when Kurumi Tokisaki shows up. If you skipped to this section, please read my earlier "concept" section first. The main character is told that if he manages to get a Spirit happy enough and then if he kisses her, she'll no longer be the destructive Spirit she was before. Turns out Spirits don't actually want to destroy everything they're around, but it's because they have issues with controlling their power and they have no natural concept of value. Once the Spirits are "tamed" (that's the term I'll use), they're now able to control their power. They also hang around the main character, forcing him to go on dates with them every so often, slowly learning how to properly be a normal human in society (and making food discoveries).
As for the whole making-a-Spirit-happy-and-then-kissing-them part, that's all actually controlled. The main character (Shido) has an earpiece which allows him to speak and mainly to obey commands from an airship. This is where things get a little complicated. People everywhere love to play a dating game on their phones. So, when Shido is encountering a situation, the airship's board generate options for Shido. They then vote on these options, and the winning option is the one Shido has to use. If ever faced with too intense a situation, the airship can send out the situation to game-players, who then make a decision. The most popular decision on their part becomes the decision Shido must make.
So, poor Shido is basically the character you control in a dating game, with no power over what he gets to say. I actually found this very entertaining, although largely unrealistic. And, as time goes on and Shido tames more Spirits, things become more complicated (jealousy-wise). And, with regards to others getting jealous, Shido is as blind as a bat.
Later on, a particular Spirit is introduced... you guessed it, Kurumi Tokisaki. She is amazing. AMAZING. Up until this point, the entire anime has been cheerful/cheery and upbeat, as you can probably guess by reading my descriptions. She introduces everything dark, and she does so perfectly. The upbeat atmosphere is maintained, but with her introduced, it becomes disturbed, uneasy. You know that she's dangerous and/or "bad", but you're not quite sure why/how. Then you figure some things out about her, and she is just one amazing piece after another. Hint: she's killed a lot of people. A LOT of people. Everything about her makes me smile internally.
Lastly, there's a final piece of plot at the very end regarding another character (and this is somewhat unexpected, so I won't mention the name). I found this to be a bit odd, and it didn't quite land right, especially becomes no ends were tied regarding Kurumi Tokisaki. It wasn't bad, so I won't mark it down for it, but it wasn't my favourite arc change.
1.5 - unreality premise + Kurumi Tokisaki = 2.5 / 3.
Characters: 1.5 / 3. While the characters had their own mentalities and behaviors, most of them are given no back-story. While this is later used to add an unexpected element, I still found this to be frustrating. The Spirits are completely unexplained (you just have to accept that they happen), and all of them (alright, technically "most", not "all") have basically zero back-story. It seemed that the writers didn't want there to be back-story, so as to add elements or characters basically whenever they wanted to. The main character is given practically zero back-story as well, and if I recall correctly, it's as if he lost his memory, basically. Having said this, the main character isn't pathetically weak, which is refreshing. And, of course, my favourite character in this is Kurumi Tokisaki. She is well-developed in many aspects, a complex character. Pictures: Shido Itsuka, Tohka Yatogami, Origami Tobiichi, Kotori Itsuka, Yoshino, Kurumi Tokisaki.
1.5 - little back-story + Kurumi Tokisaki = 1.5 / 3.
Combat: 1.5 / 1. The combat was really good in this anime, surprisingly so. Of course, you have Stormtrooper Accuracy with the AST, but that's just another unrealistic element. I'm giving it a boost in combat, though not a full edge like Fate/Zero got. That's not to say that combat happens a lot, but when it does, it landed well. Sadly, I was unable to find a clip for the fighting that happens most.
Power Balance: 0.5 / 1. The Spirits are seriously powerful, to the point of being OP, but they seem to be countered reasonably by the AST. Admittedly, that's a team of people against the single Spirit, but it keeps the Spirit on the run, which seems even to me. The only issue is that one particular character is seriously OP; were it not for him/her, I would give this category a 1 / 1. However, because of spoiler-related reasons, it wouldn't be wise for me to inform you on which particular character it is. Hint: fire.
Addictability: 0.5 / 1. In the beginning, the anime was very addicting. However, after you got used to the elements present, things slipped back towards the cliché dating anime... until Kurumi Tokisaki is introduced. So, while the beginning and end of Date A Live were very addictive, the middle slackened.
Darkness and Bloodiness: 0 / 1. It seems pretty unfair to rate down a dating anime in this category, because darkness/bloodiness and dating anime are pretty much mutually exclusive. Regardless, I have it as a category, and it is addressed. For the sake of this anime, I'll pretend that this category is an edge, so the score without edges will remain unaffected. While the anime has some dark elements introduced with the introduction of Kurumi Tokisaki, this is only for the last few episodes, and isn't enough to boost this category to a 0.5. There is zero bloodiness. There is very little darkness. As with F/Z, there are some referenced darkness/bloodiness (mainly with Kurumi Tokisaki), but I don't get to see them! That's seriously not cool.
Believability: This anime has some believable elements, and a lot of unbelievable elements. For instance, under the main premise, the main character get fed his responses via earpiece. Now, in the real world, people won't let you hesitate that long in a conversation, nor would they fail to notice you back-talking to the people on the other end of the earpiece. Not only that, but characters are basically invincible, able to smash through buildings and only get a few non-bloody smudges on their face. Of course, any character that is able to rest, no matter how brief, is fully healed. While reality wasn't completely thrown out of the window, it was absent enough that I noticed, and that isn't good. Last but certainly not least, you have the main character's ability to make others fall in love with him. Now, I suppose I could be mistaken, but I think it would take more than a "hello" and "you look nice" to get just anyone (and I mean anyone) to fall head-over-tails in love with you.
Philosophy: Oh, there's a laugh. Philosophy. Listen, if you're going to a dating anime for philosophy, you're doing it wrong. I don't think there's a drop of philosophy to be found here, except for the typical "make love not war" sort of background mentalities. Instead of killing the dangerous creature, we're befriending it. Yay. Hearts and smiley faces. Fluff.
Pros and Cons: Edges on music and combat. Weaknesses on believability, middle of anime, and darkness/bloodiness.
Objective Opinion: 4 / 5. Animation Style had good effort (1), music stood well alone (1), reality wasn't well-represented (0), introduction sequence didn't have spoilers (1), and there were good characters (1).
Wallpapers:
AMV's:
E.T. Remix (Katy Perry) - This one is really good! I've never seen cut to beats like this. Hopefully my next AMV (which will probably be Ergo Proxy) will be cut more like this.
The World Calling (There For Tomorrow) - This one is really good too!
Had Enough - This one focuses on Kurumi Tokisaki, though it isn't very talented cutting. It shows all the dark this anime has to offer (not much).
Agony (Kotoko) - This one is more of a character-focus, with some of the romance. It's well-cut, just not to the song.
Next time:
I'm hoping to do Ergo Proxy next time, but I might choose something else. I might even re-review some of my first reviews (because my first few reviews were terrible, and some of my favourite anime). We'll see. In case you hadn't figured out, I'm the one who posts on Mondays.
Wolfe out.
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| Logo. Source. |
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| Red & Black. Seriously tailored to me. Source. |
The other reasons I had hopes were the premise (which had enough of a twist to be entertaining) and the main character. But more on those later.
The Japanese デート・ア・ライブ transliterates to "Dēto a raibu", with 'Dēto' meaning both "date" and "to go on a date", 'a' being the equivalent of English letter "A", and 'raibu' meaning "live". I'll note that I called the anime "Date Alive" in title, versus "Date A Live". It's hard to know if I'm correct on the pronunciation, but that's how I chose to go about it. "Date Alibe" or "Date Aribe" would probably be a closer pronunciation.
Only Season 1 is out currently, consisting of 12 roughly 24-minute episodes (my favourite length for a season). They left a lot of things unfinished, so I'm fairly confident that a Season 2 will be released at some point, and I look forward to it.
Personal/Subjective Opinion: 10.5 / 13 (=80.7%)!
Score Without Edges: 9 / 13 (=69.2%)!
Objective Opinion: 4 / 5 (=80%)!
Average Score: 229.9 / 300 (=76.6%)!
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| It's like female armour in video games. Source. |
Introduction Sequence: 1 / 1. The introduction sequence was good, actually. It wasn't good enough that I watched it every time, but that's really rare (and, should I find one like that, it gets an edge). It's spoiler-free and character focused, with quick flashes of fighting and character shots. It gives you a good taste of what the anime is about. Link: Date A Live Opening.
Animation Style: 1 / 1. For a dating anime, it generally kept away from the chibi-style (which would have been an instant frowny-face) as far as I can remember. There's even a bit of mecha going on for the AST, as well as some beautiful fights (swords, inaccurate guns, the whole schebang).
Examples (I think these three really show the anime):
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| AST on the attack. Source. |
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| Princess thinking deep thoughts (sarcasm intended). Source. |
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| Pain. Poor main character. Source. |
Music: 2 / 1. Hah, the music for this is actually incredibly fitting. There's obviously some time spent on it, too. I suppose for a dating anime, mood-setting music is a must. I'm even giving it an edge, because listening to it, it's like I'm back in the anime. Why can't all anime have music like this? The linked track is very fitting indeed. Link: Date A Live OST.
Plot: 2.5 / 3. Okay, to start out with, I'll say that this anime does indeed stand out among its genre. I know I did some bashing earlier because it didn't stand out as much as I'd hoped, but it definitely stands out, especially when Kurumi Tokisaki shows up. If you skipped to this section, please read my earlier "concept" section first. The main character is told that if he manages to get a Spirit happy enough and then if he kisses her, she'll no longer be the destructive Spirit she was before. Turns out Spirits don't actually want to destroy everything they're around, but it's because they have issues with controlling their power and they have no natural concept of value. Once the Spirits are "tamed" (that's the term I'll use), they're now able to control their power. They also hang around the main character, forcing him to go on dates with them every so often, slowly learning how to properly be a normal human in society (and making food discoveries).
As for the whole making-a-Spirit-happy-and-then-kissing-them part, that's all actually controlled. The main character (Shido) has an earpiece which allows him to speak and mainly to obey commands from an airship. This is where things get a little complicated. People everywhere love to play a dating game on their phones. So, when Shido is encountering a situation, the airship's board generate options for Shido. They then vote on these options, and the winning option is the one Shido has to use. If ever faced with too intense a situation, the airship can send out the situation to game-players, who then make a decision. The most popular decision on their part becomes the decision Shido must make.
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| One of the guys who plays the game is Shido's friend. Source. |
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| Kurumi Tokisaki! Source. |
Lastly, there's a final piece of plot at the very end regarding another character (and this is somewhat unexpected, so I won't mention the name). I found this to be a bit odd, and it didn't quite land right, especially becomes no ends were tied regarding Kurumi Tokisaki. It wasn't bad, so I won't mark it down for it, but it wasn't my favourite arc change.
1.5 - unreality premise + Kurumi Tokisaki = 2.5 / 3.
Characters: 1.5 / 3. While the characters had their own mentalities and behaviors, most of them are given no back-story. While this is later used to add an unexpected element, I still found this to be frustrating. The Spirits are completely unexplained (you just have to accept that they happen), and all of them (alright, technically "most", not "all") have basically zero back-story. It seemed that the writers didn't want there to be back-story, so as to add elements or characters basically whenever they wanted to. The main character is given practically zero back-story as well, and if I recall correctly, it's as if he lost his memory, basically. Having said this, the main character isn't pathetically weak, which is refreshing. And, of course, my favourite character in this is Kurumi Tokisaki. She is well-developed in many aspects, a complex character. Pictures: Shido Itsuka, Tohka Yatogami, Origami Tobiichi, Kotori Itsuka, Yoshino, Kurumi Tokisaki.
1.5 - little back-story + Kurumi Tokisaki = 1.5 / 3.
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| Swordfighting! Source. |
Power Balance: 0.5 / 1. The Spirits are seriously powerful, to the point of being OP, but they seem to be countered reasonably by the AST. Admittedly, that's a team of people against the single Spirit, but it keeps the Spirit on the run, which seems even to me. The only issue is that one particular character is seriously OP; were it not for him/her, I would give this category a 1 / 1. However, because of spoiler-related reasons, it wouldn't be wise for me to inform you on which particular character it is. Hint: fire.
Addictability: 0.5 / 1. In the beginning, the anime was very addicting. However, after you got used to the elements present, things slipped back towards the cliché dating anime... until Kurumi Tokisaki is introduced. So, while the beginning and end of Date A Live were very addictive, the middle slackened.
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| FOOD. Source. |
Believability: This anime has some believable elements, and a lot of unbelievable elements. For instance, under the main premise, the main character get fed his responses via earpiece. Now, in the real world, people won't let you hesitate that long in a conversation, nor would they fail to notice you back-talking to the people on the other end of the earpiece. Not only that, but characters are basically invincible, able to smash through buildings and only get a few non-bloody smudges on their face. Of course, any character that is able to rest, no matter how brief, is fully healed. While reality wasn't completely thrown out of the window, it was absent enough that I noticed, and that isn't good. Last but certainly not least, you have the main character's ability to make others fall in love with him. Now, I suppose I could be mistaken, but I think it would take more than a "hello" and "you look nice" to get just anyone (and I mean anyone) to fall head-over-tails in love with you.
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| Hearts and smiley faces. Source. |
Pros and Cons: Edges on music and combat. Weaknesses on believability, middle of anime, and darkness/bloodiness.
Objective Opinion: 4 / 5. Animation Style had good effort (1), music stood well alone (1), reality wasn't well-represented (0), introduction sequence didn't have spoilers (1), and there were good characters (1).
Wallpapers:
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| Epic wallpaper 001. Source. |
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| Kurumi Tokisaki the incredible. Reds & Blacks. Source. |
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| Princess. Source. |
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| Just another cool wallpaper 002. Source. |
AMV's:
E.T. Remix (Katy Perry) - This one is really good! I've never seen cut to beats like this. Hopefully my next AMV (which will probably be Ergo Proxy) will be cut more like this.
The World Calling (There For Tomorrow) - This one is really good too!
Had Enough - This one focuses on Kurumi Tokisaki, though it isn't very talented cutting. It shows all the dark this anime has to offer (not much).
Agony (Kotoko) - This one is more of a character-focus, with some of the romance. It's well-cut, just not to the song.
Next time:
I'm hoping to do Ergo Proxy next time, but I might choose something else. I might even re-review some of my first reviews (because my first few reviews were terrible, and some of my favourite anime). We'll see. In case you hadn't figured out, I'm the one who posts on Mondays.
Wolfe out.
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