Reviews

Jun 13, 2014
There comes a time while watching anime where you get this kind of 'itch' that can only be scratched by a very specific genre of show, for some people this itch could be an over-the-top action show like Black Lagoon. for others it could be a good mind-fuck show like Serial Experiments Lain or Evangelion. But for me and my easily-satisfied outlook on anime, this 'itch' is most commonly a dumb harem show with beautiful girls and a dash of action! So when I found out that one of my favourite harem was getting a sequel? Well that was all gravy for me!

Story - 7/10:
I've got to be honest, the story really isn't the strongest part of this show; which is pretty standard for the genre its from. It continues from shortly after where the first season left off, Shido is still the Spirit Pimp, Tohka is still annoying and the rest are just...there.
The second season covers roughly volumes 5-7 of the Light Novel which means the introduction of two new Spirit types; the Hurricane Twins, Yuzuru and Kaguya Yamai and the Diva AKA Miku Izayoi. Of course the formula of 'Kiss the girl, save the world' doesn't change, but the story managed to break away from the formulaic first season thanks to the personalities of the two new additions.

Art - 5-8/10:
I had to look this up to see if it was actually a Gonzo show because the art and animation varies so much its unbelievable, the first episode looked awful in regards to art style and the character styles in the OP urked me to the point i skipped it, i mean, what the hell was up with Kurumi? Nevermind. It seemed they focused their budget solely on the second half of the series once the new spirits where introduced and we could get into the real meat of the story. The fight scenes looked absolutely stunning with the wide range of colours creating some of the most satisfying and complimenting action scenes i have ever witnessed in a harem show (or is that not saying much? I don't know) however in the less interesting parts of the show they pulled an Evangelion and skimped wherever they could during scenes of dialogue. Another part that annoyed me was the lack of quality during Miku's live performances where her mouth wouldn't even come close to matching the sync of the song being played, its not that much of a problem as the song's themselves were amazing, but it was noticeable enough for me to mention it here.

Sound - 9/10:
As a Japanese speaker myself, i can openly and happily say this dub was pretty strong, Kurumi's voice actress was brilliant at nailing her slightly Psychotic yet simultaneously adorable personality, where she could switch between the two on a whim. The OP sounded beautiful despite somewhat cheesy lyrics and the ED was also pretty strong if albeit containing nothing particularly noteworthy to mention. Miku's songs made specifically for this season were a nice treat as her final song in episode 10 was one of the best songs i've heard from within an anime show.

Character - 7/10:
The biggest strength and biggest problem of this show was the characters; the one's who got a lot of screen time were developed nicely despite the shortage of episodes, Miku's tsundere personality and view on men was a whole was a nice touch and amusing thing to watch considering what Shido must do to seal her powers. The Yamai twins were also great, with one having an unmoved, somewhat 'Rei ayanami/Yuki Nagato' personality- often submissive but very calm and collected, contrasting to her abnoxious and loud twin sister who is often very reckless.
The characters who weren't developed at all or any further, however, was a HUGE problem for me. The most abvious lack of development was that of the character 'Jessica' who's motives and ambitions would have completely gone over my head if i hadn't already read the Light Novels, she was so poorly developed that i was becoming rather impatient that she was still a 'thing' almost 4 episodes after she was introduced. Another example of poor development was that of the fan-favourite loli, Yoshino, who spent the entire first half of the season at home, irrelevant, watching TV dramas that just so happen to either match the situation going on with the other characters or predicted the future. Finally, the antagonist of the story, Westcott, was also poorly developed, but considering he is probably going to be the antagonist of the recently-announced Date A Live movie, i can kind of forgive it and respect that they didn't rush him.

Enjoyment - 8/10:
I consider a Date A Live franchise as one of my guilty pleasures, i'm aware that there's nothing really special to make me want to watch it, but I watch it anyway because its just pure mindless fun. The second season doesn't necessarily to as good a job as the first season but that all depends on what you expected from this show in the first place, at the time i watched this, i wasn't in the mood for anything thought-provoking and it was there to satisfy me. The character arcs were incredibly fun to watch, throwing in new twists to the typical 'win them over and kiss them' formula that was rather refreshing and i respect Tachibana-san (the mangaka) for not rehashing the same archetypes over and over again. the ending was slightly rushed but that's what I expected after the plot twist in episode 9 so its not really affected me - especially knowing more is to come.

Overall - 7/10:
It wasn't a clean-cut show, in fact its pacing and execution of the arcs were poor, however, like every harem, its the characters that matter; the characters that you can really get behind and root for and the second season did the job well for the ones it did bother to develop. The music and voice-acting was on point and the story was above average for the genre its from if albeit a little too ambitious and convoluted for a 10 episode series, the show does indeed scratch the itch of a dumb fun show, and really, what more could you ask from it?
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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