Sep 4, 2015
There is a moment here that perfectly captures what made the original Date A Live so fun. Tokisaki meets Yoshino and describes her time with Shido with sexual details growing. Yoshino's reactions are priceless. Let these silly characters roam free and be as weird as the are, and it's all fun. The cast may even audition for a new season of Galaxy Angel.
Too bad it's just one scene.
Most of the time, the purpose of this OVA is unclear. Shido and Tokisaki are having fun, but it's not the Tokisaki we know. We don't get even glimpses of Tokisaki at her best - unhinged, dangerous and plain weird. Her school girl antics don't do much on their own, and Shido doesn't have enough personality to make the interaction interesting.
Meanwhile, Kotori, Tohka and Yoshino are being funny off-screen. Until the camera finally finds them, we get more of the Harem aspect than their personalities. They were smart enough to use Yoshino for that one moment where the personality is allowed to surface. After that, all they do is just stand there.
The twist in the end is supposed to give purpose to the whole thing, but it just raises questions. It explains all we got before, but we didn't need 25 minutes waiting for the twist. It's one that expands Tokisaki's nature a little, but not enough.
If anything, it makes you wonder why she was AWOL in the second season. She has such odd superpowers. The whole clone thing is fuzzy, but there is so much they can do with it. At worst, it just makes everything feel more tense and dramatic. But it's used here not to create tension or drama. All we get is a twist. If I saw this before seeing the second season, I'd probably be more disappointed.
It's frustrating, really. Date A Live doesn't just have brilliant character design. It has an odd concept that was cleverly used to tell a story, not as a punchline. The first season had its moments of clever subversions. Somehow, though, the creators keep fumbling with the material and never realizing its potential. The light novel series is still going and the franchise is big enough for all these spin-offs. Hopefully it'll get the ending it deserves. This is still worth a watch if you like the characters enough.
For some reason, Shido came off with a little bit more personality here. It felt like he had a hero's complex, a desire to help everyone he can. There wasn't enough time to develop it. Maybe he remains a plot convenience.
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Show all