Date A Live

Three decades ago, more than a hundred million people fell victim to an unprecedented disaster that came to be known as a "spatial quake." Ever since then, humanity has built countermeasures to mitigate the damage from future catastrophes such as instantaneous evacuation methods and immediate rebuilding of any architectural damage.

At present, 16-year-old Shidou Itsuka lives alone with his sister, Kotori. One day, he gets caught in a spatial quake despite preemptive warnings. Miraculously surviving the blast, he meets a mysterious girl in its wake, who he soon comes to know as a "Spirit"—supernatural beings who are the cause behind these spatial quakes. Coincidentally, he learns of the "Anti-Spirit Team," a specialized military unit tasked with destroying these Spirits with brute force.

As if these revelations were not shocking enough, Shidou finds himself recruited into working for Ratatoskr, an organization dedicated to peacefully reducing the threat brought by Spirits—with his sister as its commander! As the new weapon of Ratatoskr, Shidou must nullify the Spirits' powers to prevent them from causing more havoc. His line of attack: go on dates with them, sealing the deal with a passionate kiss.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Edit
Background

Date A Live has been published in English by Yen Press under the Yen On imprint since March 23, 2021.

Edit

Related Entries

More characters
Characters

Yatogami, Tooka

Main

Tobiichi, Origami

Main

Itsuka, Kotori

Main

Itsuka, Shidou

Main

Tokisaki, Kurumi

Supporting

Himekawa, Yoshino

Supporting

Izayoi, Miku

Supporting

Kyouno, Natsumi

Supporting

Yamai, Yuzuru

Supporting

Murasame, Reine

Supporting

Reviews

May 24, 2024

Lecus01

Recommended

The light novel "Date A Live," written by Koushi Tachibana, is an intriguing blend of action, romance, and supernatural elements. Originally, I got into the "Date A Live" series starting with the anime release in 2013. Since then, my curiosity led me to the light novels, and I haven't been disappointed.

Positives:

Unique Premise: The story's core concept is quite unique. Shido Itsuka, a high school boy, must seal the powers of Spirits—beings causing destructive spatial quakes—by making them fall in love with him. Initially, this premise sounds like a typical harem setup, but "Date A Live" manages to twist it into something more engaging.

Character Development: One ...

Open

Gift

Nov 26, 2022

beta_worldline

Recommended

Date A Live (DAL) Light Novel Review

Story

Okay, I will be honest here. The plot progress is so slow like a snail for the first 15 volumes. The first 15 volumes are more comedy and less story. Comedy is highly subjective. For me, DAL comedy is really fun. There are a lot of parts where I laugh hard and sometimes, I cannot stop laughing. Story-wise, there are less interesting volumes. Reading slump is highly probable. However, volume 16 is where absolute greatness starts. The plot progress is definitely faster. Volume 16 and onwards give me a lot of thrill. Peak action. Stories are really so sad ...

Open

Gift

Apr 11, 2022

abystoma2

Not Recommended

There are multiple ways of getting into high rankings. One would be to write an actually interesting story with captivating characters and such. Another one would be to make a long running series that is a specific kind of awful, causing anyone but hardcore completionists or those who happen to be fine with the low quality to drop it after one or two volumes. Take a guess which kind it is this time.

Date A Live is, for most of its parts, painfully boring. I'll attempt to finish this review while I still remember at least something, before the brain finishes clearing up the fragments of ... memories in attempt to heal itself. It's titles like those that give light novels the bad name of subpar literature, with writing rivalring that of Harlequin.

The novel starts as a bland and blatant self-insert harem. Starts and keeps being for majority of the content. A protagonist whose main trait is being protagonist and appearing in places where there are damsels in distress situations happening. The harem members in question are like children. Not necessary in the appearance, but regarding their mentality. Immature and easily fixated, it was the only way to write them so there would by any reasoning they would even get so heavily attached to this protagonist. They have one collective brain cell and it has decided to make getting that Shidou's dick main goal of their lives. Like baby ducklings, they have imprinted on the first named male character they met, never once thinking someone with better personality than that of the cardboard. One exception would be Kurumi. She’s frequently hailed as the peak character, but that’s not exactly true. She simply isn't a bad character, so that makes her stand out as perceived masterpiece when every other character is awful.

The story has terrible pacing, 22 volumes of it is just an absurd stretch. There are barely any stakes, as situations like “oh no a main character is in immediate danger” have no problem transitioning into a fanservice parade. With the exception of the closing volumes, the inserted drama also feels more of a “look, something is happening in the story, please don’t throw the volume away” rather than an earnest attempt to move the plot forward. After finishing the novel, I went over some volume summaries to refresh my memory a bit. I was surprised to say it didn’t actually sound so bad. So I went back and browsed through the volumes. Yeah, in summary the story doesn’t sound half bad. However, in the actual full text, it is so drowned in useless filler and cliché fanservice scenes, any potential for an interesting storyline is silenced. So definitely, Date A Live has potential, would it get into hands of a capable writer.

While the last two or so volumes actually weren’t bad, that is way too few readable volumes out of 22, so I honestly cannot recommend picking this up. Yes, the later reveals migt align with what was estabilished earlier, but that still doesn't take away the boringness of those previous volumes. If you really want to know the story, just go for the volume summaries. While that way you won’t be able to mark this as completed on MAL, it would definitely be the more enjoyable and less time-wasting way of digesting the plot of Date A Live. Do not let my sacrifice be in vain. However, should you be a fan of regular harem storylines, feel free to go for the actual volumes, you will likely enjoy those.

Open

Gift

More stacks

Interest Stacks

Strong Companions protects Male Protagonist in fantasy/isekai

by MagicFlier

16 Entries · 10 Restacks

Light Novel Starter Pack

by VicRock14

50 Entries · 55 Restacks

The 44 Dere Types

by g10r1x

50 Entries · 16 Restacks

More recommendations
Recommendations

View All

More news
Recent News

Fifth Season of 'Date A Live' Announced

The 12th and final episode of the Date A Live IV television anime announced on Saturday that a fifth season is in production. The new season will air under the titl...read more

Jun 24, 2022 9:49 AM by DatRandomDude | Discuss (64 comments)

North American Anime & Manga Releases for April

Here are the North American anime, manga, and light novel releases for April Week 1: April 5 - 11 Anime Releases Grenadier: Hohoemi no Senshi (Grenadier: The Beautif...read more

Apr 4, 2022 6:07 PM by Aiimee | Discuss (4 comments)

More discussions
Recent Forum Discussion

Will there be anymore Date A Live? AceMin - May 12	22 replies	by removed-user »» Jun 24, 7:09 PM
Why does this have a higher score than the anime (no spoilers) BigBowlNoodleBoi - Sep 19, 2021	13 replies	by baconriceneggs »» Jun 14, 4:41 PM
Why do people like Tokisaki Kurumi? ZeroMajor12 - May 9	3 replies	by Laplace_kun »» May 10, 10:45 PM
Date A Live Volume 22 Discussion (Beware of spoilers) WaterLord - Jul 28, 2020	15 replies	by Hashiriya_weeb87 »» Oct 19, 2023 1:57 PM
Date a live LN ShadowOnyx01 - Jun 20, 2022	8 replies	by mizunos404 »» May 14, 2023 8:15 AM

Date A Live
Edit

What would you like to edit?

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Available At

Resources

Edit
Synopsis

Edit
Background

Related Entries

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-

More characters
Characters

Reviews

Interest Stacks

More recommendations
Recommendations

More news
Recent News

More discussions
Recent Forum Discussion

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

Date A Live Edit What would you like to edit? SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Available At

Resources

EditSynopsis

EditBackground

Related Entries

Visit MALxJapan MALxJapan -More than just anime-

More charactersCharacters

Reviews

Interest Stacks

More recommendations Recommendations

More newsRecent News

More discussionsRecent Forum Discussion

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

Date A Live
Edit

What would you like to edit?

Edit
Synopsis

Edit
Background

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-

More characters
Characters

More recommendations
Recommendations

More news
Recent News

More discussions
Recent Forum Discussion