Date A Live

I actually have already watched this show 8 years ago when it first came out, Thought it was trash, Then dropped it. 8 Years after, today, with much more watchtime on various anime and experience from playing dating sims and visual novels now rewatching it made me change my mind about this show.

I do tell you right of the bat that this show is no near masterpiece. It still has a lot of mishaps though I do think it's a pretty decent one now with experience.

The show has pretty much lots of elements in a dating sim, heck it is pretty obvious that referencing ... a dating simulator was taken into account when making the storyline.

It does well in presenting a Dating Sim environment. Guy who has tasked to basically make girls fall in love with them, to basically save humankind. While a small group of people helps him by using a 3 choice system similar to decision making in dating sims. Plus hitting the worst decision may lead to cringeworthy moments leading to dropping a girl's affinity is well presented in this show.

Although one episode hit me hard and was episode 8 in particular where MC is dating multiple girls at once which is an essence of playing a dating sim "efficiently". This is well done in particular since it also sparks realism seeing how the MC is pretty tired after all that happenings.

This does not mean the show is all good though as there are many mistakes the show makes but this one in particular is worth to mention. It is highly fast paced. I don't actually have problems with the pacing of the introduction of characters but I have a problem with how they affect the story. Since almost all the characters pretty much majorly affect the main story unlike some other great shows where they just do this on another season. It feels like it does this just to make the show feel and look awesome in paper, it accomplishes that yes but only on paper. It also weakens the surprise factor more as there are just so much happening you're not gonna even get surprised anymore. Although this does accomplish a no-filler approach though so it still kind of does that well in that regard. Heck I tell you, even the swimsuit episode isn't a filler.

Other things I'll talk about are the characters. The characters have drastically unique personalities, There's not much cliché aura to them. It's also a part of a dating sim to have characters that have drastically different personalities to have a different approach on the other characters. The Opening sequence is nostalgic, making me feel when it was 8 years ago talking about why the show just doesn't make sense.

So should I recommend you watch the show?

If you like dating sims then do so, oh wait. Check out Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai first since that show has a much more delicate approach on the topic. The two are also similar in a sense making me think that did date a live actually referenced kami nomi zo shiru sekai?

If you don't have a lot of experience or just not like the genre in general then don't.

6/10

***This is a spoiler free review***

Continuing on from the recent trend of turning great light novels into subpar anime, Date A Live proves to be a mediocre romantic comedy that fails to bring anything worthwhile to the genre.



Story: 4.5/10

I’ll admit that the first episodes did draw me in as the idea of someone “wooing” mythical creatures in order to keep them from destroying the world seemed like a fresh idea. The main plot boils down to our main male lead Shido having to “tame” these magical spirits in order to keep their magical outbursts in check. So yeah it turns into a harem since ... by the end of the season he will have four or so girls wanting his D. This however is not the downfall of the series; I tend to like harems IF they are done well enough. This anime falls very short in my opinion because the cast just doesn’t flow very well with each other. The main female lead Tohka is just a whiny and needy girl that gets mad at Shido for literally everything. It also doesn’t help that the show is extremely predictable and drags towards the final episodes. Overall if you are looking for a thought provoking show this is one you need to steer clear of.

*Something I forgot to add; there is a pretty large amount of fanservice in this anime but I never found it too distracting.*

Animation: 6.7/10

Something the show does seem to pull of reasonably well is the visual presentation. Both the fight and more tame dialogue scenes have good quality which seems to hold throughout the entire season without degrading in quality. Character models in my opinion could have been better but they were “good enough”. Have to admit though that the eyes in this anime were really well done (don’t know why I love eyes so much but yeah it’s the only decent thing Tohka had).

Sound: 5/10

There really isn’t a lot to comment on for the sound of this anime. The soundtrack is generic at best and the voice actors did an “ok” job. Sound is an important thing to try to capitalize on since it is so pivotal to the overall experience of video media. This anime fell short in my opinion but by no means completely failed on the audio presentation.

Characters: 4.5/10

Harems are only successful if you have the characters to back up the ridiculous notion of calling a man (or women) liking multiple partners a sane thing. In Date A Live, Shido is kind of just thrown in to these turn of events and really doesn’t have a saying in his own actions so he gets a pass. The characters he is tasked with “taming” however just make the show boring to watch. As I mentioned earlier, Tohka is an annoying crying female that overreacts to everything. Kotori (Shido’s sister) is your typical generic tsundere who has a small twist to her character towards the end of the series but I didn’t care for her so whatever. The other two spirits in the show Yoshino and Kurumi were also pretty generic and uninteresting. The only thing they brought to the table was that Yoshino was super ultra cute which can only go so far. So what the show boils down to is its wild card character, Origami. Presented as an emotionless tomboy, she provided many unique and funny scenes with Shido. She developed feelings for Shido fairly early on which provided some interesting moments between her and the other spirits. She is the sole character that I ended up liking in this show.

Overall: 5.2/10

It really is a shame what is occurring in the anime industry at the moment. I have now seen three really good light novels (Sword Art Online, Oniichan Dakedo Ai sae Areba Kankeinai, and now Date A Live) become these really average anime when they could have been so much more. Actually in general I have noticed that animation studios are playing it safe with these high school romantic comedies and not taking risks on more farfetched plots. The last really good show that was nothing like anything else I had seen was Fate/Zero back in 2011. While this season of anime has brought a couple good shows (thank god for Chihayafuru 2), we are getting too many of these romcons at once. I hope that the next anime season brings some more daring shows.

Enjoyment: 4.6/10

Thanks for reading my review! If you liked my writing style, would like to see some other reviews, or just want to talk, please stop by my page!

Sincerely,
Awesome Drummer

Part 1 English
Part 2 Bahasa Indonesia

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he anime that's like a romantic comedy mixed with a dash of sci-fi and a sprinkle of supernatural. And let me tell you, it's a ride that's almost as wild as my final task.

The animation is decent, nothing to write home about, but it gets the job done. I'll give it a solid 7/10, like a mediocre Tinder date.

Now, the character development is there, but it's not exactly groundbreaking. It's like watching a teenager go through puberty - it's awkward, but you know it's necessary. So, a 7/10 for that.
...
The story is where this anime shines. It's like a rollercoaster of emotions, with twists and turns that'll make your head spin. I'll give it an 8/10, like a good cup of coffee.

The art style is impressive. It's like a beautiful painting that you'd see in a museum, except it's animated. So, an 8.5/10 for that.

The voice over work is solid. The actors do a good job of bringing their characters to life, but it's not exactly award-winning material. So, an 8/10 for that.

Now, the music is where this anime falls short. It's like listening to a middle school band try to play a Beethoven symphony. It's just not great. I'll give it a 3.6/10, like a soggy sandwich.

Overall, I had a good time watching "Date A Live." It's not perfect, but it's definitely worth a watch. So, I'll give it an 8/10 for enjoyment experience.

And the final score for "Date A Live" is a 7.4/10, like a second-hand car that's seen better days. But hey, sometimes those cars can be the most fun to drive.

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Anime ini seperti komedi romantis yang dicampur dengan sedikit sains-fiksi dan sedikit unsur supernatural. Dan biarkan saya memberi tahu Anda, pengalamannya hampir sama liar dengan tugas akhir saya.

Animasinya cukup bagus, tidak ada yang luar biasa, tapi cukup memadai. Saya akan memberinya skor 7/10, seperti kencan Tinder yang biasa saja.

Perkembangan karakter ada, tetapi tidak begitu luar biasa. Seperti menonton seorang remaja mengalami masa pubertas - canggung, tetapi Anda tahu itu penting. Jadi, skor 7/10 untuk itu.

Ceritanya adalah tempat di mana anime ini bersinar. Ini seperti rollercoaster emosi, dengan belokan dan tikungan yang akan membuat kepala Anda berputar. Saya akan memberinya skor 8/10, seperti secangkir kopi yang enak.

Gaya seninya mengesankan. Ini seperti lukisan indah yang biasa Anda lihat di museum, kecuali ini dianimasikan. Jadi, skor 8,5/10 untuk itu.

Pekerjaan pengisi suaranya solid. Para aktor melakukan pekerjaan yang baik dalam memberikan kehidupan pada karakter mereka, tetapi bukan materi yang layak untuk memenangkan penghargaan. Jadi, skor 8/10 untuk itu.

Sekarang, musiknya adalah kelemahan dari anime ini. Seperti mendengarkan band sekolah menengah mencoba memainkan simfoni Beethoven. Tidak bagus. Saya akan memberinya skor 3,6/10, seperti roti lusuh.

Secara keseluruhan, saya memiliki waktu yang baik saat menonton "Date A Live". Tidak sempurna, tetapi pasti layak ditonton. Jadi, saya akan memberinya skor 8/10 untuk pengalaman kesenangan.

Dan skor akhir untuk "Date A Live" adalah 7,4/10, seperti mobil bekas yang sudah melihat masa-masa yang lebih baik. Tapi hei, terkadang mobil-mobil seperti itu bisa menjadi yang paling menyenangkan untuk dikendarai.

Well... Let's start with this.
I dislike harem anime and don't like fan service. And I only watched this because of the Anime Watching Challenge (ecchi/harem anime).

The story was ok, although uh, the sudden "she's the X??" etc. was like 'okayy"

It wasn't all that bad. The action was pretty good, the opening song was great, I am not a big fan of naked girls and stuff, but okay... I knew what I was getting myself into.

The art, besides that, was great, I mean, even with that it was pretty good too. As I said, I liked the opening song, the OST (original soundtrack) was good ... as well. Characters, well, they were diverse, although the harem was quite interested in the main harem guy, as harems usually work that way.

I did enjoy most of it. Honestly my biggest dislike was the fan service and harem, but it was made to be a harem anime, and so I did not factor that into my overall review score.

Alright let me be clear is this anime good. No, their's to much fan service, far too much is unexplained, the story is straight up dumb like really dumb, the main character is generic as hell and not the only one. If you come to this anime expecting to see something legitimately good you will be disappointed.

On the other hand if you made it past the first five minutes I can only assume that's not what your looking for in this anime. If you like me came to this anime with the mindset that your about to watch a stupid anime, overloaded with far ... too many cliches and far to much wish fulfillment, then I think you'll be delightfully surprised. Some of the characters are actually pretty fun and some of the character interactions are actually pretty sweat and emotional. To the shows credit it actually is pretty funny sometimes, overall it's a fun watch and ocasionally it actually crosses over into being legitimately good once in a blue moon. The spirits character designs are actually legitimately good, especially nightmares.

It's not a good anime but I wouldn't call it a bad one.

Date A Live...
Quite a quirky and weird anime. I am NOT going out for judging y'alls interests in this 'cause it's of course Harem, Comedy, Mecha, Romance, School and Sci-Fi... So that in one I can see why people like it so much.

It has its cringy but amusing moments, the anime in it isn't THAT good at making up the story itself though not gonna lie. But of course I'm no one to judge.

Art 'n' sound: The art and sound is amazing!
Story: It's decent I'd say, cringe and amusing in one as I said, but it is not something I'd watch over and over again.
Character(s): ... Everything is amazing, personalities etc.
Enjoyment: It was hard choosing but I'd choose the enjoyment for this an 8 or 10 not gonna lie...
Overall: A decent 5.

I don't have quite so much to say about this anime, but do I reccommend this anime?; Hard to say from me, but YES if you do enjoy these kind of cringe/funny animes with a weird story to it.

Much like the half-season of this anime I've seen, nothing in this review checks out.

This anime is the culmination of the phrase "greater than the sum of its parts" because even though it's a fine show everything in it is reminiscent of diarrhea. Watered down and crappy. The story is exactly as you'd expect; repetitive. Within the first six episodes we have two forced main characters split up and then get back together and I couldn't care less about it.

The main character is serviceable, I guess, but everyone else is just window dressing or an asshole, which does not make for a pleasurable viewing experience.

The ... animation is okay but looks terrible by modern standards, the sound is fine, and my enjoyment of it was almost nonexistent. And yet, everything I've heard about this series suggests that it gets better with time, but I'm going to give it a 7 as an act of mercy and so that I don't have any guilt over not finishing it.