Date A Live IV

Despite the numerous challenges he has overcome so far, Shidou Itsuka's mission with Ratatoskr is far from over. In a departure from his daily routine, Shidou encounters a starving woman lying on the street and ends up helping her. After the two arrive at her apartment, the woman introduces herself as Nia Honjou—a popular manga artist working under a pen name. However, cutting straight to the chase, Nia reveals that she is also a Spirit and is aware of Shidou's secret operation.

Interested in seeing his charisma firsthand, Nia challenges Shidou to win her over on a date. As he strives for an opportunity to seal her powers, Shidou learns more about Nia and her history with Deus Ex Machina Industries, a name he is all too familiar with...

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Date A Live IV adapts novels 13-16 of Koushi Tachibana's light novel series of the same name.

Date A Live IV was scheduled to premiere in October 2021, but was delayed to 2022 due to various undisclosed circumstances.

The series was released on Blu-ray and DVD in two volumes from August 24, 2022 to September 28, 2022.

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Adaptation:	Date A Live
Prequel:	Date A Live III
Sequel:	Date A Live V

Uchida, Maaya
Japanese

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Staff

Umeda, Masakatsu

Producer

Fukaya, Naruki

Producer

Ishigami, Joutarou

Producer

Takagi, Junichi

Producer

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Opening Theme

"OveR" by Miyu Tomita

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Ending Theme

"S.O.S" by sweet ARMS

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Jun 24, 2022

Marinate1016

Recommended

Date a Live has been passed around like an unwanted step child from studio to studio over the years. Luckily, it seems like it finally has a home in GEEKTOYS that are not only committed to faithfully adapting the story, but enhancing it where necessary. Finally, people who haven’t read the LN can find out why this series is so loved.

Seasons 1-3 of Date a Live were riddled with a slew of quality issues. From pacing and cut content, to subpar animation and art, major quality of life improvements were needed. While on the surface DAL may seem like a generic harem romcom, there’s actually ... a pretty interesting story beneath the surface that a lot of people did not get to experience properly because of how poor the previous adaptations were. After the job that Geektoys did on Date a Bullet, the Kurumi based spin-off, I was cautiously optimistic they’d bring that same level of dedication and care to season 4 and they absolutely did.

For me the biggest and most noticeable improvement over previous seasons and my largest source of enjoyment was the pacing. The two new girls that get introduced in this season both got adequate screen time and development during their arcs. It really felt like the staff wanted you to accept these girls as unique members of the cast and actually give them unique personalities. In previous seasons, you’d get a harem member introduced for an episode or 2 and then they’d fade into obscurity. 4-5 episodes for the new girls this time around was really a breath of fresh air. I will never understand the need to rush things like we often see in this medium. I think the overall story benefitted from the pacing improvement too. I actually was able to get invested in and care about the arc(s) this season. It’s hard to do that when things are just brushed over like in seasons 1-3.

The artstyle is probably going to be the biggest change people notice at a glance. For me, I loved it. I think the colours in this season are very bright and attractive, the character designs are IMO much better than seasons 1-3 and although there was some Tohka Boob nerfage, I am largely fine with the changes. I think it feels like DAL for a modern audience.

The bottom line is if you hate DAL, season 4 isn’t going to make you like it. While there are massive quality improvements, it’s unlikely to be enough to drawback people who dropped the series years ago. It’s still Date a Live after-all. This feels like a treat for those of us who stuck it out. The dedicated fans who were looking forward to Kurumi refrain and peak DAL. We sat thru the awful animation and rushed story to be rewarded with this gem. As someone who loves DAL and these characters, that’s all I can ask for. Hopefully season 5 continues the trend.

DAL S4 gets 9 dates out of 10.

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Jun 24, 2022

KANLen09

Recommended

4 years, 4 seasons, 4 studios, 1 spin-off series, 1 honorable decade's anniversary to live by, and hundred and thousands of people's lives changed.

It's pretty much said that out of all the series that has managed to survive the endless years of growing popularity and reputation despite the good and the bad, it's gotta be novelist Koushi Tachibana with his acclaimed LN series Date A Live that has now in this year (2022), reached its 10th Anniversary milestone. That, which is already a damn remarkable achievement in and of itself with the LN having spanned from 2011 to 2020, a full 9 years of what ... was at the time, a ground-breaking rom-com harem series that's disguised with the sci-fi elements and the cast of Spirit girls which have now become an instant classic amongst fans of both the LN and the anime.

Sure, what DAL has to offer in Seasons 1 and 2, truly showed off the best portions of the franchise with the classic mid-2010s production (that wasn't pretty) with great pacing that still held its value, then the horrible Season 3 which began the "source material rushing" game with the worst abominable animation to date. And with the 3+ years gap from Winter 2019 to this season, the newest season of Date A Live has finally come out, but I need you to acknowledge that everything is the same same, but different this time.

Season 4 continues in the rushed pacing edge of Season 3 that's now become the norm, covering Volumes 13 to 17 of the LN that features the new Spirits Nia, Mukuro and refocusing on the dangerous but best girl Kurumi (she's literally the poster girl for DAL since the series started). It should not be a surprise to see Shido Itsuka and the saved Spirit girls face off against the wishes of D.E.M. with Isaac Westcott and his nefarious plan to exploit the Spirits powers for his own agenda, but even more so, is more of the repetitiveness of saving more Spirits, getting them to acknowledge their own difficulties being damsels in distress, and the final outcome of Shido sealing their powers with a kiss to eventually become allies in his mission together with his sister Kotori and Ratatoskr to free Spirits being threats to mankind. This is a staple of the series that to question Koushi Tachibana of how he managed to think of an intricate plot that has many loopholes that all come together to reach one conclusive answer, either he's a wanker, a genius or a madlad. But to find out how all of that wraps up in its final touches, we would need to watch the remainder season (or 2) to find out if the ending sticks its landing. Until then, this is only up until the most recent adapted volume.

For Shido to save the new Spirits plus a familiar face this time, he has grown immensely but still needs help from Kotori's now experienced Ratatoskr team and the Spirit girls that he has saved thus far from the previous 3 seasons. The playful manga illustator-cum-hardcore Otaku Nia Honjo with her Angel Ratziel taking the shape of a tome/bible that can read people's histories; the emotionless Mukuro Hoshimiya who's confined in space and sealing her own heart away from all the hurt gathered in her growing up years, with her Angel Michael taking the shape of a large key that can either lock or unlock abilities; and last but not least, the ever-so-lovable dangerous-cum-seducting girl Kurumi Tokisaki with her Angel Zaphkiel that for the first time since her introduction all the way back in Season 1, finally showcases her reasons of how she was affected by the main poltergeist that turned her into who she is today. It's not a problem following how the source material has been rushed to oblivion, given that Season 3 was where the issue that started which culminated in a drastic change, and Season 4 here just follows the groundwork that the previous season has laid thus far, and ultimately, whether you like it or not, this is the new standard of DAL, no reasons required. And ultimately, at the behest of the general audience whom still has a hope for DAL to be properly paced, there is no more turning back from what the staff team has decided to do and go forth with the decisions made.

Speaking of the staff team, you might've realized that the team hails from the Date A Live Judgment: Date A Bullet spin-off anime, and for good reason: when Season 3 was announced on Twitter by Koushi Tachibana himself, and thus when it aired and finished its run, I'd presume that the author didn't really liked what became of that season with the horrendous pacing and palpitable J.C. Staff production values that didn't quite measure up to AIC Plus+ and Production IMS's levels, and this is with a 5 year time-gap to button things up that could've been so much better. I know I lamented back when Season 3 finished its run, saying that it is the black sheep of the adaptation to date back in 2019. Within the same year, when the Date A Bullet spin-off 2-part anime film was announced with an entirely new staff team and produced by Geek Toys (which at the time, made high-profile mediocre anime such as RErideD), I was genuinely worried that they would not deliver, and to my surprise, they did. And while it was certainly jarring that the inclusion of 3DCG harms the experience of watching the series in wholly 2D, the overall production was certainly the best out of the 3 seasons out at the time. And although this season was set back from a delay from its original release season of last Fall (when COVID struck like mad), the same staff team are back to helm Season 4 with the help of famed series composer-cum-scriptwriter Fumihiko Shimo, and even with a limited budget to boot, Geek Toys's production values are a step up in the right direction, and just like the Date A Bullet spin-off, certainly is a substantial improvement, the best that I have seen DAL to date. It wouldn't be a surprise if the same staff team reprised their roles for the remainder season or 2 going forward along with Geek Toys, but it'd be a hilarious joke if it was the case to switch to other studios just to keep the tradition alive.

DAL's music has always been very memorable, and IMO this is a hallmark to tell if you're a DAL fanatic who's been keeping up with the anime adaptation for years till today. But for some reason, I felt that out of all the OSTs in the 4 seasons thus released, this season is easily the worst of the bunch. Don't get me wrong, Miyu Tomita's OP is decent (that in all honesty, sounds average at best), but whose mad idea was it to break the decade-long tradition to replace the legendary girl group sweet ARMS whom has been pumping out classic and memorable DAL OPs? As a result, their ED song just sounds weird and not in a good way either, easily the worst song out of the entire franchise. Why, WHY??? Can someone tell me WHY this has to happen? If sweet ARMS isn't reinstated for the OP for the remainder season(s) going forward, I'm sorry to say that "old is gold, new is loads of BS".

Overall, Geek Toys under newbie director Jun Nakagawa has solely kept the DAL tradition of a decent part-and-parcel of the series alive, though keeping confined to the standards of Season 3's pacing, it felt like he has no choice but to continue the mess that the previous director Keitaro Monotonaga has already established behind due to his lack of experience. But you can't also fault him for having to know and work with what is best since he is just a replacement for the ousted director which shat the franchise in the most horrendous of ways, leading to the overhaul effect of the staff team. But still, I can be confident to finally say that DAL is back to its recognizable form of years past (not counting Season 3), and that's all I am asking for is more greatness.

Just one or two more seasons to go for adapting the remainder of DAL's content, and we can finally wrap up a remarkable and great LN series to put it to rest. When will they come, I'm praying that it will be soon enough.

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Jun 24, 2022

_Redo_

Recommended

--This review is spoiler free--
I am editing my review, as I've seen multiple mistakes within my review.
Date a live IV was an absolute blast. The animation is clean and the art is looking as bright as ever. I never thought that the studio that animated the beautiful Date a bullet movies would be animating season four. My expectations for date a live IV were high, and they did just enough for me.

--Story--
The story continues with Shido Itsuka and his spirits trying to seal other spirits.

The story is as great as usual. It isn't dull and it was continuing to get better each episode. Some ...

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How much content from the LN is left to be adapted? Hystique - Apr 19	11 replies	by supergaming123 »» May 24, 12:16 PM
Poll: Date A Live IV Episode 10 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Jun 10, 2022	50 replies	by icefirestone23 »» Apr 6, 4:30 AM
Miku Nerfed JayKitsuneTV - Mar 21	7 replies	by Kermit-SAMA »» Mar 23, 7:15 PM
Poll: Date A Live IV Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Jun 24, 2022	149 replies	by Animemasterxaha »» Mar 8, 1:39 AM
Poll: Date A Live IV Episode 11 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Jun 17, 2022	75 replies	by Gator »» Feb 8, 2:49 AM

Date A Live IV

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