Date A Live II

Still new at reviews but here I go. Date A Live 2, continues the story about Shido, who is a boy who has the ability to seal spirits, thus preventing them from doing large-scale damage, through dating them and eventually kissing them. In this second season, the story is slow to start, but it introduces the Twins spirits and the Diva spirit, along with an inverse version of an earlier spirit (no spoilers here lol).

I enjoyed Date A Live because of the unusualness of the plot. I mean, I haven't heard of a show where a person dates someone, and ... then kisses them to seal their powers before, so of course it had my interest. Season 2 has been a disappointment for the first few episodes, but finally it has gotten back to what it was known for, which is spirits fighting, mecha suit girls fighting, dates occurring, and other things of the sort. The art style of the show is nice because it keeps things light-hearted and not too deep, although there are a few sad moments in the show, but those few moments, are kept short and are many of the times, resolved.

Sound wise, the music is great. It's not 10/10 masterpiece by any standards, but its fitting and just sounds great, especially the opening theme. The characters are easy to remember special in there own way. Between the twin spirits, the Diva, Shido, the other spirits, etc. they are all memorable and in my opinion, likeable. Personally, I like Kurumi because of her craziness and time control ability, but they each have their own little niche that they fill in character development.

As I said before, the story is unique in it's own respects, and I've enjoyed it, even though this season was much slower at starting than the previous one. Since the show has picked up the pace and has shown more action, I've enjoyed it more and more, although when comparing this to the light novel, the anime is flying through the story, much faster than the LN ever did. To some, this is an issue, while for others, it helps to cut the small details and get the main story. I'm split on this but the LN is a good reads.

All in all, if you liked Date A Live, then you will like this but just hang in there if you think that it is slow. This season was largely about introducing new characters and revealing new things about older characters. If you haven't watched DAL and think that this show is weird, bad, confusing, etc. then give DAL a shot first

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?

Harems, a category of anime that involves one person of a specific gender, being surrounded by three or more members of the opposite gender, in hopes that they become the lover of the one person. While Harems aren't the most favorite out of all of the genres of anime, it doesn't always mean that there aren't some really good ones out there. Date A Live II, an anime in which I can safely say, is one of those few.

Story (7.89/10): For those of you who haven't seen the first season, Date A Live is an anime series that revolves around our main ... protagonist Shidou, our sixteen year old main protagonist, who has the ability to seal these otherworldly beings called spirits, who just so happen to all look like attractive/adorable human females from this world. The main idea of the series, is that our main protagonist must seal these spirits away peacefully by no other means than by making them fall in love with him, and sealing them with a kiss.

Now, from an idea standpoint, the story is as cliched and redone as it can get, as a similar series, called "The World God Only Knows" has done a similar sort of story focal point already. As far as idea originality, this series gets a six point rating at best. But why does the story get a higher rating you ask? That my dear readers is in the story arcs.

What makes this season in particular more interesting is the way the story was written out. Compared to its predecessor, Date A Live II has a lot more focus on its characters rather than general fanservice that other harem anime do. In fact, I personally can't even consider this as a true harem, as only a small fraction out of all of the girls in the series actually like the guy in that way. Each of its two story arcs give growth to the new incoming characters to the series, and to our main protagonist, making them feel a bit more real and less platonic. While the development did feel a bit rushed, it was commendable that the writers actually spent time on making the characters more in-depth and important rather than just one here, done, another, done with its characters.

Above all, what separates this story from a good chunk of harems out there, is mystery. THe series actually has a good mystery element that is sadly only really explored later on in the series. There's a lot of interesting questions that need to be answered, and that intrigued me, as the story felt like it was evolving into something greater than it would've been at first glance.

Aside from that, there were some downfalls of the series. Number 1 is well, the first episode. The first episode was quite a turnoff, as the actual story was really just a big misunderstanding that felt more like an OVA rather than a part of the main story. It did introduce the first arc somewhat, but overall, felt really unessecary and probably turned off some of its fan base due to how excessively comedic (even by date a live standards) it was. Number two is pacing. Some of the episodes admittedly did feel a bit rushed in what they were trying to achieve, making some stuff to go along in order to advance the plot. Given the small time frame of ten episodes, it was sad to see some details that could've used a little bit more explanation.

The ending itself felt a bit rushed. I wish the final episode was sort of drawn out into two episodes because it felt really rushed. It was a part of the series I was really itching to see, and to see the arc I anticipated so much become just a half episode standoff, it was quite disappointing really.

All in all, Date A Live II had a pretty decent story. It built on what it had before and made the story a lot more deeper and in depth than its predecessor, which is always a plus. On the other hand, there were some time issues with the series that just made it shine a little less than it could've.

Overview
+ Good story arcs
+ Great character development
+ Good mystery element
- Disappointing final arc
- 10 episodes. (The first season was 12.)

Characters (7.77/10): The characters of this series is definitely a high point. For every fan of this show, there is a girl that they love. (Kurumi all the way.) Of course, the series itself is a harem, so the gender ratios are well, a bit off.

Itsuka Shidou, our main protagonist of Date A Live who has the ability to seal these creatures called spirits with a kiss. (This guy gets quite a bit of action.) At first glance, one could call him just an average harem lead, a guy who's nice to everyone and doesn't want to hurt anyone's feelings, all the while with several girls after his D. (In this case, two girls.) So what sets him apart from many other harem leads? For one thing, he's not dense. He's actually fully aware of the love that some of the girls in the series give him, which makes the experience of watching not so hair-pulling worthy. (Unlike Infinite Stratos) As the series goes on, you can clearly see him prove his worth in the series as he shows himself to be very proactive in doing his job of protecting and saving spirits. The comical dating sim choice thing that occurs regularly in the first series becomes obsolete due to the fact that he chooses and says his own words, making his character feel all the more better.

Yatogami Tohka is the main female lead of this series. While personally, I'm not that big of a fan of Tohka, I was a bit saddened to see her role become more of a supportive one rather than a more proactive one. Throughout the series, Tohka served little more than the role of just being there and coming in at the right time to make stuff happen. It wasn't until the final episode where her role really shined, only to be cut in half due to the small time frame.

The series on the other hand became quite focused on the three main spirits featured in this season; the Yamai sisters, and Miku. What I can say is the fact that these three are some of the most animated and thought out characters that I've seen in Date A Live other than the main two characters. The reason being is because their stories are quite thought out and detailed. Their stories made the series better on account of the fact that they grew alongside out main protagonist in terms of character development, turning into three dimensional characters that have more to offer than at first glance.

Aside from the more focused characters of the series, we have a whole slew of side characters that range from amount of screentime and importance in the series. What I didn't like was the fact that so many characters in the series that had quite a bit of significance in the first season, had barely any significance in this season. Kotori, who was a prominent character, was put in the backseat, along with Origami and my favorite spirit Kurumi, who had barely any screentime altogether. While it didn't impact the series too much as a whole, I did wish I could see these characters a bit more in this season than what was given.

But what I can say was a positive, was the fact that we now have established antagonists in the series. This season gave us some pretty interesting antagonists with motives that weren't quite clear to the characters or us, adding into the ever growing mystery of this show that I like. It was a good addition that could only really make the show grow even more.

Overview:
+ Good character development
+ Good established antagonists
- Important character demoted to supporting role
- Lack of screentime for some more important side characters

Art and Sound (8.00 and 8.01/10): The art for the series was definitely stepped up. The visuals of the series looked fantastic and glorious, the fight scenes were crisp, fluid and amazing. Every character looked great; there wasn't any sort of screw ups for the look of the characters. While the art did look good, there was one big flaw, and that is, darkness. For a good portion of the series, the show looks like Another. The entirety of the frame in some parts of the show looked completely black and made it really hard to see what was going on. It didn't really feel like a good experience and took away parts of the show overall.

And the required section for any ecchi show, fanservice. Date a live, with its cast of for the most part, largely chested females, has a quite significant amount of fanservice. Any time a spirit gets her powers sealed, their astral dress will fade, thus baring everything to our main protagonist. (I told you this guy gets some.) What I noticed is the fact that the fanservice seemed to be downgraded, as in there wasn't as much as there was in the first season. Because they put so much time into the plot, there wasn't as much fanservice as there could've been, and that made the series, at least for me, a more pleasurable experience to watch. Though there was some...unnecessary imagery that was used that I preferred not to have seen.

For music, the series came with a set of new OP and ED tracks, to me, far exceeding the original series's tracks. The opening sounded similar to the original OP, but different enough to make me like it even more. While it was a memorable track to me, it didn't stick out as something for a long term favorite. The ending on the other hand was a song in a storytelling sequence. The lyrics were that of a fairytale about a hero saving the princess, making this personally my favorite track of the whole series, as it teased about the final arc of the season, that ended up to be quite disappointing.

As for background tracks, the series reused practically all of them, from the quirky ones to the battle tracks, to my ever favorite mystical opera one that added suspense and mystery to the scene. The background tracks are actually quite good and make Date A Live, Date a Live.

Overview:
+ Upgraded visuals
+ Good new tracks
- Unnecessary imagery in some fanservice scenes

Personal Enjoyment (9.89/10): I'm not adding personal enjoyment to the overall average score for all categories, as it will skew the results. I won't lie, this series is a favorite of mine. It is my guilty pleasure anime, it was my friday afternoons, it was really the first series I marathoned in an entire night when the first season was finished airing. When I first saw that Date a Live was getting a second season, I was ecstatic, itching for the spring season to come out, as this was my most anticipated series of the season. Coming out of it now, I can say a few things seriously. (I'm coming out of fanboy mode now.)

Date A Live is one of the better harems you'll find. It's not the best one, but it's one of the better ones. Date A Live isn't a masterpiece. In fact, it has some negative feedback on some points on which I can agree on. By harem standards, it's a good choice to watch. By anime standards in general, you can find a lot of other things to watch. This season did a lot of things well that made the series shine more than before, but at the same time, it did some things wrong. If you don't mind fanservice or harems and like a decent plot that has mystery, action, and romance elements to it, then this series is for you.

Overall Score: (7.91/10)

The sequel to anime series Date A Live aired this spring known as Date A Live II and bought with funny moments, tragic moments and more spirits for Shido's harem while keeping the other cast members in it but are seen less than in the previous season.

Story - 8
The story of Date A Live II focuses more on Shido defending himself and the spirits against the DEM rather than his attempts to 'capture/save' the sprits which does have a more dramatic and interesting story to the series but in the end it felt like to me it drifted away from Shido attempting to seal the ... spirits but don't get me wrong that is still in there and is something to look forward to but it isn't as heavily focused on in this series but kind of felt rushed to me as the season was only 10 episodes.

Sound - 9
The opening to this season was similar to opening from the first which was good thing as I enjoyed both and was one those opening that I never skipped and watched every time, however the ending song was not as impressive and was skipped every time but then again I rarely listen to ending songs in anime.

Characters - 7
All your favourite characters from the first season will make an appearance in this one except with less screen time except from Tohka who appears just as much as the MC Shido does; with these characters their is very little character development so don't expect much from them but their are a few new characters introduced that are more eye catching and have more development which includes more spirits and DEM.

Enjoyment - 10
I enjoyed it but is not in my top 5 of 2014 but maybe the top 10.

My avatar says it at all who is my favourite girl in Date A Live franchise. But neither way, let's talk about the latest season of Date A Live, Date A Live II.

So Date A Live II just follows the story from the first season. This sequel adapts the Light Novel's Volume 5-7 that only lasted for 10 episodes so the story is pretty rushed. And also, the first episode itself was a filler so basically, if you hate Tohka, just skip it to the second episode.

Keitarou Motonaga still directs this season. Notably known for directing Legend of the Galactic Heroes, School Days and more, ... he did a good job for directing this series although there are some failures and sorts.

I'm not kidding if I'll say the quality of the animation in this season was terrible. Sure, the fanservice scenes was kinda good but the action scene was poor animated. The last 2 episode's animation really proves that AIC Plus+ is really short in budget. So in short, the art was mediocre.

A good thing about this season is the sound. Pretty comparable to Sidonia no Kishi's sounds but the main point here is when there's an action scene, I felt that it was an action scene because of the OST. sweet ARMS returns to perform the OP song "Trust in You". Kaori Sadohara (who is an actual member of sweet ARMS) performs the ED theme "Day to Story" which is pretty good and a reliever of the show.

If you'll ask about the voice acting. The casts from the first season returned but I'll pinpoint Marina Inoue here voicing Tohka. I thought that she gave justice to develop Tohka's voice in this season, maturing her voice and her song performance beats up Minori Chihara songs. And going to Minori, voicing Miku Izayoi not fits for her. The truth is, I'm pretty hyped for her voice but it turns out that it lacks something. Maaya Uchida and Sarah Emi Bridcut did a good job voicing the Yamai twins. But overall, I don't have any complaints besides Miku's voice.

Lets go to the characters. Well, Shido took a level to become a baddass which is a good character development for him. But same old as in the first season. Still oblivious and acting like an hero wanting to save a Princess and only relies to Kotori's orders. Either way, his baddassness is pretty good.

Tohka returns as your naive but a sweet Princess which I think also developed too in a way that she tries to understands Shido and its actually good for her to be honest and rather became a supporting character rather than the main character. She too, took a level to become a baddass and Episode 6 and Episode 10 managed to make her shine.

Origami, Yoshino, Kotori and Kurumi just pushed to a side to become supporting characters. But if you love Kurumi, she will appear later so don't rage about it. The three new Spirits will not be spoiled for you but they are still, added to Shido's harem.

Overall, a simple 'very good' is my enjoyment in this series. There are a lot of pros and cons but still, Date A Live II is a heck of a ride for its fans and viewers. Let's wait and see the OVA and the Movie.

This anime is one of the best (if not the best) i have watched so far that has gotten me so easily intrigued in the story. I have never seen anything quite like it and I've tried to look in a lot of places since i like this anime so much and can't wait for the new movie that is coming out.

WARNING may contain spoilers:
Although this season has had quite a lot less dates if any it still managed to add in some new spirits and have romantic scenes. In this season The main character Shido has gained powers from some of the spirits he ... has sealed the powers from making it so that a season 3 could have a lot more action in it and get even more interesting than this one!

The comedy and the fan service has just increased with this season

Date A Live II follow volumes 5-7 of the light novels. The first half of the show deals with these competitive Yamai Sisters, Kaguya and Yuzuru, who were the same spirit until one day the two were split up into two. Now they compete with each other to prove that they are the real Yamai. They have had 99 matches (25-25-49) and there last competition is to see who can seduce Shido and he would be the deciding factor. The second half of the show is Shido trying to save a spirit called "Diva", ... Miku Izayoi, but the problem is that she is bias against males because she use to be a pop star who got caught up in a false scandal after refusing to sleep with a TV producer. She later lost her voice due to psychogenic aphonia and made contact with a sprit named "Phantom", the same spirit that gave Kotori her spirit powers, and regained her voice to sing again. Aside from the spirits there is a new threat called Deus Ex Machina (DEM) and I'm going to be honest I forgot what their goal was, but I think it's on the lines of world conquest or something like that.

Let's talk about the Yamai sisters. Kaguya is very childish and has an outspoken personality. Yuzuru speaks very robot like by stating her response and then giving the actual response. Like if I said, "The Giants won the World Series". She would more or less say "Confirmation. The Giants did win the World Series." Miku is not only a pop star, but also she is attracted to those of the same sex making her fall for Shidou would prove to be quite the challenge.

There is one joke that is set up at the beginning of the show where you could see coming a mile away and you know it's coming, but you just want to see the reactions of the characters.

Once again the animation is pretty good.

The one downfall is the increase in fan service. I really don't mind fan service in general, but when the show has more fan service than it's previous season it gets awkward.

Date A Live II is still a very good show. This show is just a guilty pleasure for me and once again it's a show that I could just sit down and just enjoy it and not think is it as good as others say it is. So my grade for Date A Live II is 8/10.

This is my first review, so please don't hurt me. Also, this is my second time writing this due to the face >.(then an arrow pointing to the left) causing everything after it to be erased after submitting. Apologies on rushing.

This anime needs justice, and it needs it now.

Story (8):

Alright, so many parts were rushed due to the anime being only 10 episodes. The first 2 or so episodes were, in my opinion, crap. After that, the anime really got its sh*t together. First off, consider all the genres this anime has. Don't expect it to
have extremely good plot like other anime that don't ... focus on the genres this does. Now that we got that out of the way, onto my actual thoughts.

Sometimes, I would stop and think "is that it?". I myself have never read the light novel or read the manga. The manga hasn't actually progressed past Shido talking to Tohka for the first time (I believe). So I can't really say that the story was great. Nonetheless, it really good for what it is. I can't delve too much on this without spiling anything, so I'll just have to say that it was excellent.

Art (10):

Can anyone really argue that the art isn't anything short of amazing? All the girls have their own special and unique design with lots of colors. Nothing to complain about here. The scenery is also beautifully designed and never boring. Oh, and did I mention the girls? They are just absolutely beautiful. I doubt many people would disagree on me with this. No character designs look alike (except for the Yamai sisters which doesn't count).

I just love it, can't get enough of the beautiful art.

Sound (9):

It was nice to have Diva actually voiced by the singer Chihara Minori. Some may think her voice can be too high pitched, but I'm completely fine with that. She sang the OPs (and EDs?) of Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere.

The OP,in my opinion was great and memorable. I find myself listening to it from time to time. As for the ED, I don't have much to say about it since I'm not a fan of music with that kind of tune.

The background music is never out of place and can describe the scene well. It can set the mood for certain yanderes or a funny scene.

Character (7):

Don't get me wrong, I love the characters. But there just wasn't enough time to get enough airtime for all the characters.for example, the Uamai Twins didn't get much development and I was a little disappointed. If only it got 2 more episodes or they didn't mess around in the first episode, maybe, just maybe, the characters could've been developed on much better. Just my 2 cents on that topic.

The characters are very love able (Kurumi is the best girl!) and can just be soooooooo cute. Kurumi is just one of the most awesome characters (and OP) in this series.

Also, drum roll please, our protagonist (Shido) grew some balls! Ironically he grew them while cross-dressing but it was a glorious moment. Can't go much more on that topic to prevent spoilers.

Enjoyment:

I found myself watching episodes 4-10 in a single sitting. I just couldn't tell myself to not watch the next episode. The suspence would've killed me! I slept at 5 AM just to finish the anime!

Sometimeswe forget that anime is all about entertainment, and whether we enjoy it or not is what determines if it was good or not. It'd be like giving a hentai a bad review solely because the story was crap. It's so we can enjoy it, no matter what flaws it had.

Yes, I didn't touch up on the flaws, and it is you to decide whether you absolutely can't watch this anime with those flaws. But for me, this is my review and I'm sticking to it.


Date a Live II, an excellent anime.

This is LolCaptain signing out.



*please excuse the rushed review, it's 2 AM and I really need to start watching my anime.*

Only two distinct words came to my mind when I was made aware of a sequel to the infamous work of Date A Live studio's magnum opus, Date A Live.

Note: for the most accurate representation of my opinion, please play this music for the remainder of the review.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYAyUfFZf3Y

MOMMA MIA!!!!! WACKA WOCKA???? BONGO WONGOS???

The main cast is all back, including fan favorite MC Chad McCuckStick, on his live-threatening Earth-endangering quest to kiss a woman. The stakes are high, and the tits are large in Date A Live season 2. Immediately, the viewer is thrusted into a vicarious school-trip arc, where Chad has to undergo his ... greatest trial yet: seducing twins. The pressure refuses to let up the remaining eleven episodes - but I won't spoil the fun. Season 2 of Date A Live explores concepts simply nonexistent in the viewer's brain up until this point - what if the woman DON'T want to kiss the MC? What if they aren't attracted to him? What happens if Tohka's swimsuit falls off before the thirteen minute mark in the first episode? Safe to say, this show WILL keep you on your toes.


For the intelligently superior, Date A Live continues to deliver with subtle opinions on controversial political topics. I enjoyed how Date A Live cruelly depicted the power of influence and the harsh consequences it can bring. It can be easy to miss this dialect given the nature of the show - I believe this could be commentary on how sexual tension can become causation for a loss of focus, but this is a thought train for my doctoral thesis.

In any matter, no matter if you are blind or deaf, this is a show you cannot miss.

This was actually a very disappointing series, especially after all the buildup from the first season. First thing that struck me was the change in art, which, for me, was very unwelcoming. The opening soundtrack was, undeniably very good (as expected from SWEET arms), and the closing wasn't bad either.

The second season was meant to be the general plot development season, however, the studio was too disorganized and couldn't notice that it was beyond their budget. They had to kill the story off right when the main plot twist was meant to happen and they spent too little time developing and concentrating on the ... different characters, I read the light novel, and most of the details were left out.

I heard that the studio is going to make a movie to finish it off, so if you ask me, just save this season for when the movie comes out.

I watched the first season and absolutely loved it. I was a little against the mecha genre, but this anime has a really good balance between mecha, school, and harem. With this second season, I enjoyed the advancement in the plot and relationships. Although the plot is nice, some of the major plot points came out of nowhere and still confuse me (introduction of characters, the cause of major plot points like the ending). I really enjoyed the music in the anime especially in the final scenes of the last episode. Overall, if you enjoyed the first season, then the second season is the same. ... I hope for some OVA or hint at a next season, because the last episode just drops a plot point and ends it right there.

Rarely do I say the second season was as good or even better than the first. Pleasantly surprised... Lets just hope the finishing movie I'm about to watch next follows suit...
The story is obviously how it continues from the first season (which I must say is also very good), when you read the plot in your head, understandably you might think "what a shit story line", but it only really starts to makes sense once you watch it, and although it is slightly ridiculous, you have to remember... This is a fucking anime.
Overall I did enjoy the story although there is room for improvement ... to which I could drone on for hours about little niggly bits I wont bother, its fucking half 12 at night, I have work tomorrow and I'm knackered

The art work I cant really fault, but it would nicer if it was a tad more crisper and sleek, but hey ho I cant expect too much.

I watched the dub because I'm not "A Hardcore Anime enthusiast", but fuck what people think about dub, It was licensed by funimation so its obviously going to be good. NOT GREAT. Just good. The voice acting was very good, but I did feel at certain points the should have been more sound, or at least a better sound in certain scenes, but this didn't bother me too much.

The Character development sort of tailed off from the first season, it didn't really expand too much on the new characters, but it was probably for the best, otherwise it would have gotten rather complex.

Overall I have enjoyed this anime well; it nicely balanced comedy and ecchi scenes (some of which I think I enjoyed a little too much) and the super duper serious dramatic stuff, it had an interesting and ... different plot to say the least, but somehow it really does work, and lastly good sound and animation to execute it all quite nicely. I do look forward to watching the movie to finish it all off, although I am very scared of another shitty movie ending * cough Sora No Otoshimono cough cough*.

There will be no big difference from the 1st season of Date A Live series (the 1st season: Spring 2013, 12 eps + OVA, Studio AIC PLUS+ and the 2nd season: Spring 2014, 10 eps + OVA, Studio Production IMS). The story still tells about the spirits, whose destroying power are so damn dangerous for the future of the world. These women spirits then being haunted by the AST, somewhat futuristic organization with so many handy weapon to handle spirits, and even the missions to kill 'em. On the other hand, there is an organization called Ratatoskr whose mission to seal the spirit powers by ... luring them with "a date."
The one who carries the task of dating the spirits is Itsuka Shidou, As time passes, Shidou discovers the true form of his younger sister, Itsuka Kotori, as a spirit too. Itsuka Kotori is the one behind the Ratatoskr organization, the head of Fraxinus under Ratatoskr's command. Later, Shidou makes his move and successfully bring the spirit under control, sealing their powers by dating [Shidou makes them believe that they are precious and wanting by someone so they will learn how to love and embrace others rather than destroying living being with their unbelievable spirits power]. The 2nd season brings the same story, but with new characters to fill the scenes.

​
The show indeed silly and funny while the battle scenes are good. As the starter, the humour was very bad. Tohka powers are fluctuating due to her suspicion over Shidou and Origami affected by the television show she and Yoshino routinely watch. This and all jokes of story opening irritates me since it makes everything looks like silly coincidences, and it turns worse when analytically it happens just for the bridge to the main course of story.
The detected Spirit power comes from Tohka makes her being targeted and immediately be pursued to get killed. Summary the silly television show raises Tohka's power and lead her into a mess faster. In the middle of our main course, we are entertained by new characters and so many fan services out of nowhere as a downfall. I don't mind with fan services as long as it places right on certain situations like the 1st season. The 2nd season presented the ecchi-ness in such low level of beast.


Due to many newcomers in this series, I can't identify clearly the development of characters. It feels like all of them forced to involve in every new conditions and troubles that lead to the main course but vaguely, weakly developed. The character introductions seem not natural anymore, the coincidental meetings are not making sense.
If I should combine two aspects, animation and character development, then my opinion is the animation went so damn well but the story was in rush, it was not good since I could feel the tense of the fighting without the good story and development followed. From the story aspect, Date A Live II series is my guilty pleasure, an average but has a pretty nice animation. The enjoyment boosts a bit around the end of the show, two last episodes are such a blast! All hail war among AST & Spirits ⁽ˆ⁰ˆ⁾

The music is so-so. OP theme is sung by sweet ARMS "Trust in you" and ED theme is sung by Kaori Sadohara "Day to Story". Sadly the catchy character songs aren't my favorite either. Only the insert songs are quite nice, but just by the insert songs won't help much. What needs to be underlined is Kurumi's seiyuu scintillating voice, gives only Kurumi extra point in my sight. The mysterious, psychotic aura of Kurumi is increasing unstoppable whenever she speaks in absorbing tone.


I still enjoy the series because of its graphic and intense fighting, especially last two episodes it's still burning in my brain. Feels like the story shows us the meaning of trusting someone and try the hardest even if others stop to looking at you. My rate is 7 only.
Pros:
Good animation
Intense fighting scenes
Cons:
Overwhelming amount of fan service
The progress of story is somewhat so silly (like ecchiness only)

*MINOR SPOILERS*

Ah this one, it's one of my favorites, and for good reason....

So starting with the story, it's pretty much an "Addition" to the first season, as Shido still tries to seal away more spirits. Toward the ending it ramps up, as Shido tries to stop the DEM and save Tohka. But, not much else "Story" wise here.

This, like many others, has a really nice artstyle and animation to it. Everything is so fluid and it's all so pleasing to the eye.

The OST is alright, i enjoy it, and the English Dub is also really well done, i love the how everyone sounds. But again, ... not much else to say here.

So here is where the anime shines. You have some characters that you may be familiar with, and then you have a few new ones. Now, this anime does a perfect job at having a diversity of personality from each character..and i love that. Being a harem anime, expect a lot of new girl characters and only one guy character, as far as i'm aware. But overall, the anime has a good diversity of personalities, and the characters are all very memorable.

The overall enjoyment for this anime is a 10/10, i loved every minute of this anime. Many won't agree with me, as they'll say things like, "Oh well there's no story", and i personally think that THESE type of anime, where it focuses HEAVILY on characters and not the story, and just has that fun, playful vibe, just makes it all the more enjoyable to watch. And i personally think it's good to just watch this type of anime to get a bigger diversity, and to take a break from the other story heavy anime that i have or am watching, again, this is all my opinion. I do however, hope they do make a season 3, i can see some more development there, as we don't know what Kurumi is going to do with Shido...anyways this is a good watch if you're ok with lackluster story, and memorable characters.

Date A Live was an awesome experience.

The music in this series is excellent! Each character has their own sinister track that fits them perfectly. The story is an incredibly cool twist of fate that manages to hinge on the humor of dating. The relationship bonds that develope are strong and standing. The character art is also very impressive and the action that ensues during battles is packed. This series will have you rolling in laughter with each episode. The only thing I have a problem with are a couple of aweful charcaters that were injected... If it weren't for the brat sister archetype and increadibly ... awkward hyper-sexualized puppet child, this anime could have come very close to squeezing an impossible 10/10 from me. All in all, the fanservice, story, art, and music are rock solid. You must watch this.

Here we are with season two.
It starts a month after the previous and it seems things have gone back to normal, Tooka and Yoshino are living with Shidou in the complex Kotori had built for them all.

This season feels a little different from the other in the beginning but it all comes back together pretty quickly.
With two less episodes than the prior it feels a little rushed at some points and things seem to be just happening for the sake of filling episodes.
The comedy is the same as before, still decent amounts of panty shots and cute girls which are easy to like.
There ... is two new Spirits though, Yuzuru and Kaguya plus Miku.
I was hoping that with the new season it would continue on with Kurumi, learning more about her and seeing what happens with the desires she was for Shidou. So I was a bit disappointed that what seemed to be a main plot point was just brushed aside.

Trying to put the two seasons together, it fits just because it's the same characters and they carried the main points of the story over, Shidou helping Spirits and the organizations involved, but from where the first season was going at the end and it being continued in this season, it really doesn't happen. I think the main feeling of that is the situation with Kurumi. It should have been a lot more prominent and then everything would have come together a lot better.

Hopefully with a third season that will all be addressed.
Saying all of that though, I did enjoy what it all built up to and I'll definitely watch more if there is another season. Just the disconnect ruined how much I enjoyed the first season compared to this sadly.

Don't read this if you want to read a short review or one with a lot of positive stuff in it, I will mainly write about what I didn't like and it became quite long. Since it was quite long, I also couldn't be bothered to read it again to check for grammar or redundant parts. This might be interesting to read if you wonder about the flaws of the show from the point of view of someone who actually enjoyed watching it overall.

A fatal flaw of this show is that while it’s kind of like a harem series and the very idea of making ... girls fall in love with you, at least to some extent(since “date” is even in the title and going on dates and trying to make people fall for you is most of what this thing is about) means the ending should be one in which he’s married to everyone, right? He should get all, or at least most, of the girls that he’s seducing. That’s the very point here, that’s what this is about or should be about. It’s not a story where he should romantically fancy just one or two people and decide upon who he likes the most. That’s not the deal here, or at least it shouldn’t be. But all too often, harem stories are just fake garbage, sadly. I don’t care whether or not it’s realistic to keep several girls with different personalities, love them all somewhat equally and for them to be satisfied with the situation. No, of course it’s not realistic irl. That, however, doesn’t mean it’s not perfectly plausible in a fantasy story, especially when the plot is far weirder and riddled with holes and chaos than something like having several wives could ever be.

Monogamy and polygamy and the romance stories born from those settings are very different and comparing them is just, excuse my language, retarded. In monogamy, it’s about deep love with a single partner, in polygamy, it’s more about an unified love between several people and the beautiful bond all of them build as they pretty much become one big family, more focus should be put on the balance between all of them than deep, individual love. When you make a story like this and it somehow seems more like many of these girls just love you as a friend rather than lover and you, the mc, doesn’t love anyone for real, it’s just irritating, very much so. Especially when he seems to zoom in on just one person much more than others, which quite obviously is the first spirit he seduced(seems there's a law where the first girl introduced=most important). Am I asking for too much? Well, perhaps. I just hate it when authors write up several love interests and give all of them pretty much equal yet differing charm while feeding us the “he’s going to end up with a harem” idea from the very start, but seems to fail following through with it. Well, if the mc himself was actually a very likeable character that wasn’t something of an incompetent playboy that just wants to have everything but give nothing and decide upon nothing, I wouldn’t have minded that much in the first place. Even if he made it clear that he would only love one person, that would still be good enough. It’s that he keeps on seducing people and there’s this mood going on where he can’t commit to anything whatsoever, be it polygamy or monogamy, that pisses me off the most here.

The anime/novel also takes itself too seriously at times. Bringing too much tragedy or drama into a story that has no potential to ever be a serious, good story with a solid plot. This is NOT a truly great story by any means of the word. I like the relationships in the story and the characters, the interactions are fairly nice, but the story is a huge mess and the attempt to introduce excessive drama and plot into something that shouldn’t have one just feels alien to me. It doesn’t do the novel/anime any good, it’s just a detriment. How could I ever take a story seriously and enjoy the drama when the settings and story is all over the place and, quite frankly, subpar with holes everywhere. Hell, just the simple fact that he can spend dozens of seconds TALKING OUT LOUD to the empty air while chatting with the people on the ship giving him instructions or that he can wait for at least a dozen seconds before giving a reply is ridiculous enough, the girls freeze up as if they’re truly from a game while waiting for his reply, but that’s far from the only cringeworthy and stupid thing going on, things like only girls being able to use any of the combat gear with no explanations as to why that is(what? is it powered by girl power? Breast milk? something somehow only female humans have? If you tell me some bullsh*t like that, I’ll punch you, it’s just stupid) another one of many, well, we don’t actually know anything about any powers in this anime, it’s just left at it being “Fantasy, magic, ‘nuff said” level. Not saying I didn’t find the story fairly enjoyable, I just feel like the author tries to grasp for things he’s not capable of ever grasping, at least not with the basic settings and the previous “story” we have been presented with in this novel/anime.

Let’s be perfectly honest here, this setting isn’t that good and saying it was meant to be serious is just a giant joke in and of itself. Writing a serious story with good drama and even tragedy, horror or anything else, takes a lot more thinking than just writing a random comedy with some elements you like. If the story isn’t solid, it’s never going to be good if it’s supposed to be serious and if you want it to be ridiculous, even cringeworthy, silly and utterly childish at times, you can’t just randomly put in serious drama whenever you feel like it. It doesn’t work like that. Not saying comedy can’t be combined with drama and tragedy, good lord, it can. Just not this type of comedy that relies on things being absurd and the setting being sketchy at best. So, my tip to you is to skip the obviously serious parts, it’s very easy. It’s really not an anime that goes on for long enough even with both seasons for it to matter if you skipped all serious parts that didn’t interest you. I recommend not to skip kurumi’s scenes though.

Well, let’s add one more complaint to the list. Like in season 1, the mc is still a giant pushover who screams “friendship” and “sacrifice myself” all the time. He’s essentially just a chatterbox that talks and talks with passionate speeches and more often than not, he’s screaming the names of the girls whenever something happens while being able to do nothing yet he’s constantly rushing headlong to his death as if he has some weird masochistic suicidal urges. He also shows no will to increase his powers whatsoever, he seems content being a pushover that can do nothing but push his ideals and petty feelings around, trying to force everyone to accept it, this is despite the fact that he obviously has supernatural powers that he can use and should be able to harness with training, but he doesn’t care, as if it would all just happen by itself(which it obviously will, I guess).

I mean, he’s not the worst japanese mc of his type, but he’s sure as hell not a good one either. Going with the flow and selfishly trying to save everyone while giving zero considerations to his own limitations or life, nor any consideration towards the feelings of everyone who loves him, seems to be his special skills, he's certainly not a smart guy, he's pretty damn stupid and never uses his head for anything noteworthy. It’s as if he’s trying his damn hardest to prove to the viewers that he’s such a goodie-two-shoes that cares so much about everyone that he puts them above his own life, as if that’s a desirable trait(it’s not, proving that you're a good guy by acting like a suicidal retard is never a good way, it just shows he's a moron who has no grasp on his own abilities or situation). Well, I guess no japanese fantasy woman can resist falling in love with anyone who willingly sacrifices themselves for them… Oh, wait, we’ve seen that happen with other characters too(in other manga/anime/novels), them sacrificing themselves for love, sadly they get nothing but a grateful nod or a few tears even if they die, sucks to not be the mc who has special protagonist pheromones that enchants any woman in their proximity. It’s amazing, you know, it’s like an on/off button. As soon as he gets too close to them, they suddenly become completely enamoured with him, there’s no gradual love development, they either love him with all their heart or doesn’t think anything much of him, there’s no middle points.

It doesn’t get better when he’s also a fool and pushover when it comes to following up on his actions and romance in general, he doesn’t truly fall in love with anyone, yet he seduces them and like any other japanese mc in works like these, he seems perfectly content pretending to be ignorant and not answering to any character’s feelings despite knowing perfectly well they love him, doing his utmost to push aside any event where they try to confirm his feelings. Tsk, I don’t know about you, but I often want mcs like these to be kicked to death by a horse. Sure, they’re nice guys, but their personalities are infuriating when put into a mc. It’s one thing to have side characters that are eager to die and has no grasp on the situation while being indecisive and reluctant to move on with anything at all, but the main character? I don’t see how it’s ever a good idea unless it’s a comedy manga/novel/anime and he’s SUPPOSED to be a hopeless cretin. Sure, some people won’t agree with me, we all have different preferences, but I honestly detest idiots like this mc. However, luckily enough, he wasn’t actually THAT bad, he was just annoying at times. Most of the times my feelings for him were kind of neutral, he wasn’t that infuriating most of the time, maybe because comedy was the main focus of this show despite a third being serious. The girls easily balanced the show up as well, generally possessing vibrant personalities that offset the mc’s foolishness and shallow personality.

I liked this story a lot, but going above 7/10 is just not possible, that’s me being generous because I truly did enjoy big parts of this anime thanks to its relationships and the characters, most of whom felt alive and truly likeable. It’s enjoyable, but it has massive flaws as well. Disregarding my pure enjoyment and judging it just from how I view the show overall, I’d say 5/10 for average would be a fair score. I might make it look like I actually hate this show, but I just don’t have that much positive to write about it other than liking most of the characters and their interactions along with the mood and pace of the show, writing up the negative parts is much easier because that’s what caught my attention the most. By the way, the comedy in this anime is so-so, I can see where it tries to be funny while often ending up as cringeworthy, but sometimes it does manage to tickle my funny bone. Had I been several years younger, I might’ve bust a gut laughing at it at times, but after being through around fifteen years of thousands of works, be it manga, anime or novels, japanese, chinese or korean, I’ve become numb to most stuff. Just like when you’ve seen a certain thing or heard a joke too many times, I just don’t find it that funny anymore and I find it very easy to find flaws that I didn't find when I was younger. Well, being numb to it doesn't make it impossible to realize if something would be funny for other people. If you’re a teenager or at least not that experienced when it comes to these things, I can probably assure you that this is going to be hilarious for you and a truly awesome anime in more ways than one, well, that is if you’re into some fair amount of fan service and silly jokes often regarding juvenile topics, like ones regarding out of place and surreal eroticism.

That's all, sorry for the long review, you can have a cookie if you actually read it all.

Strap in for Date A Live II, the anime sequel absolutely nobody asked for and progresses the plot in no way whatsoever, but still manages to entertain by being a dumb harem comedy show. It has lots of pretty colored lasers and those wonderful “pew pew” sounds that accompany the beams! An anime that introduces us to a bevy of characters while still focusing on a main character as flat as the plateau on which this anime doesn’t stand. Get ready for ten rousing episodes packed to the brim with all the things we were mildly amused by in the first season.

In all seriousness, Date ... A Live II is more entertaining than its predecessor. It only focuses on the conquering of three females (and two are technically one) while giving us a lot more action and a lot less stupid. Trust me, this anime is still stupid, but less so than the first season. Which could be because it’s mercifully shorter or because the show jams a lot more “plot” into the ten episodes than most shows of its’ length. That said, it’s still going nowhere fast and only serves to introduce characters rather than build on the cast already there, and also introduce bad guys who run away at the end, perhaps to return for a third season or the upcoming movie.

The anime picks up where the last season left off. The first episode is an ill foreboding of things to come. It attempts to remind us that Tohka is an idiot while also annoying us to death by retreading territory we’ve already seen. Thankfully, after that, the series gets much better. We are introduced to twins who are two parts of a whole, fighting to find out who will disappear and who will attain the title of the true spirit they belong to. Neither character is impressive at all as one is basically Tohka and the other is basically Origami.

The other introduction is the obligatory idol character. Named Miku. Never heard of an idol named Miku. She’s a lot like Kurumi to me. Very weird and manipulative. So as far as new characters, very little new ground is established. Everything’s a new face on someone we’ve met before.

The characters from the first season barely get any time or development. Kurumi returns and seems like a completely different character. Instead of the weird, crazy-ass yandere of the previous season, she’s a very moe lunatic. She helps Shido, the sort of thing I didn’t think a character trying to kill him only a season ago would do.

While characters aren’t impressive, the plot is decent enough to keep it interesting. Evil organization. Fighting. Kidnapping. Pretty arbitrary plot devices that culminate in an uninspired ending followed by a quick epilogue punctuated by the obligatory original pop song by our idol.

Animation has been downgraded from season one. The budget is obviously cut and the team worked with what they had. It’s not that the animation is bad; it’s just not as crisp as it was before. And truthfully, the animation was probably the best thing Date A Live had going for it.

I can’t fault this season for as much as I did the first one though. I thoroughly enjoyed everything beyond the first episode. It wasn’t smart by any means but its focus on two threads rather than three or four made it more bearable. The fact it was plot-centric over comedy-centric also made it more fun to watch. You do root for Shido and Tohka to get together and care about the finale even if the characters aren’t as three-dimensional as you like. But with all that, it sidelines the great characters of the first season. Yoshino’s just along for the ride. Origami is there but not at all as funny or interesting as she was in season one. We’re given a lot of the new rather than balancing that with the old. And even if the new meat is freaking adorable and Miku is a great addition (the twins, eh), you can’t sideline characters that a lot of fans came in to see more of. In that regard, it’s like a cocktease. You want Origami? Tohka? Kurumi? Too bad. Origami’s too busy not being in the show, Tohka getting kidnapped, and Kurumi is being a completely different character.

I hate that I enjoyed this so much, but it’s one of those dumb harem/comedy shows that gets it right. While Ben-To and The Devil is a Part Timer stay stagnant because of one good idea and an inability to expand upon it, Date A Live II’s open enough to allow for nonstop action and stupidity without it getting stale. Hell, this season doesn’t even use the idea of the folks on the ship deciding what Shido says to the girls but for twice. This is like a departure from everything that the first season had going for it, but it’s better because of that. It’s let loose the stupid and made me realize that maybe I don’t need Tohka or Origami to make Date A Live work. Maybe they were hindering the first season. Why else would this one work better for me? Maybe putting more focus on a smaller group of characters produced better results, even if the characters weren’t that memorable or well thought out. Maybe focusing on a bad plot instead of underwhelming humor is a good thing. Even the few instances of humor this season managed to be funnier than anything season one produced.

Huh.

Date A Live II is sure to please fans of the first season, though they might find problems with the execution. I found it to be a much better, shorter, and more enticing product. Much as the second season of Chuunibyou did a better job of making me care about a series I cared little for, Date A Live II makes me somewhat excited to see what the future holds. It may not be great, but it’s good, dumb entertainment.

Date A Live II

Once again after season 1,you never disappoint me. This had been one of my favourite anime! The story is outstanding! Shido still maintaining his duty to save all the spirits by dating them and make them fall for Shido!

I love how they start the beginning of episode 1, flashback 30 years ago! And the new OP is WOW! Very enticing, they really had the beat going on!

The characters design were somehow I think improved if I say so myself. Honestly it's one of the best anime I ever watched!

Starting from episode 9 really makes me chasing it! How he planned his next ... move. I also kinda shocked for what happen at the end. Must watch I must say!

Thanks for making Date A Live!

Here we are for the second season. I was looking forward to watching this since I liked the first season. I definitely was wanting more and I got more. So let's hop right in.

Story: 7
So the second season wastes no time and jumps right back into it, giving fans one episode to refresh them on the way the plot works. The plot here works in two, VERY noticeable arcs. One is based around a school field trip and the other around a school festival. without giving away too much, the first arc feels more enjoyable while the second arc has more plot progession. Not ... to say there isn't any plot progression in the first arc, it's just that the new things you learn are things you figured were going to happen. And that's also not to say that the second arc isn't enjoyable, it's just that most of what the plot is centered around is unlikeable. Overall, a nice continuation but not as good as the first.

Art: 7
A noticeable downgrade this time around. Ok not that noticeable but it is there. Characters still look nice and the backgrounds still feel a bit alive, it;s just that the animations a little lacking this time around.

Sound: 10
Still a great job by the sound team. The OST is great with the Op and Ending being two great highlights. the background pieces are also very nice with a few tracks returning from season 1. there is also a nice little effect that I liked with one of the new characters Miku. Whenever she used her power, there was a nice accompanying organ note that played along with it that I liked.

Characters: 8
So like a mentioned there are a few new characters this time around, three of them being main characters. The first two, (whose names are excaping me right now and I don't fell like looking it up so shut up lol.) are met in the first arc. The last, Miku, is met in the second. Now if you have followed everything I've said up until now, you can probably figure out how I feel about Miku. She is a new problem I had with the series. I understand the reason why she acts the way she does (thank you guys for doing that this time), but she still comes off unlikeable and her coin flip of a personality doesn't help. Speaking of characters who needs their backstory explained, Origami is back and no, her back story is still not exlained. So we can sit here wondering some more. On a final note, Kurumi doesn't show up a lot and that is a problem lol. When she does it's great but that is for about two episodes. (#KurumiBestWaifu #NoShame lol)

Enjoyment: 7
At the end of the day, I will walk away from this season satisfied but not to the same level as season 1 left me. Season 2 was good in a lot of ways but opened up a new set of problems that show more this time around. I enjoyed it though so if you liked the first season, you can enjoy this one.

Overall: 7


This averages the series up till now to a 7.