Story - During the first few episodes, Date a Live introduces us to a world in which beings known as “Spirits” cause what seems to be natural disasters on Earth, killing countless people in the process. Humanity has tried several ways of combating these Spirits until they finally set up on just using violence. A new method, however, was recently proposed, one without violence. And that method is kissing the Spirits to seal their destructive powers. Also, did I say all the spirits happen to be girls?
Date A Live uses its premise that would usually be shamed as just another excuse for a harem set-up in a very comedic way. And, it works, Date A Live manages to be genuinely funny and entertaining with its tongue in cheek execution. Date A Live manages to poke fun at waifuism, the harem genre, fan service scenes, and most importantly, the visual novel medium. There is one major problem though. During the middle, Date A Live realizes it’s time to stop joking around and time to form a serious plot. This is a big problem, because during the rest of the duration of the series, Date A Live is actually trying to be serious, and it does NOT work. An antagonist with no real depth is shoehorned in, just because there needs to be one. Drama commonly occurs, with no development or progression gained from it, it’s just there for there to be drama. Characters previously pushed aside become relevant only when the plot needs them to. Date A Live’s previously enjoyable comedic tones are ruined just because the writers felt there was a necessity for an actual plot to take place. 5/10
Characters- Date A Live is a harem anime at its core, so it’s characters aren’t anything special in terms of depth, but that isn’t always necessarily bad. Our main character, Shido Itsuka, is a white knight who plays the role of making the Spirits fall in love with him in order to seal their powers. With visual novel tropes, he succeeds in the comedic process of it. There’s a problem in this though, during each conquest of a Spirit, Date a Live seems to develop and characterize each Spirit through and through. During the end of it, however, Date A Live pushes off whatever development each Spirit got and just makes them a side joke for Shido’s harem, which wouldn’t be a problem if it wasn’t for the aforementioned serious plot that Date a Live tries to play later on. So basically, Date A Live isn’t winning anything in the character department.
Rambling aside, Date A Live’s grills do have a charismatic charm to them that makes them good picks for waifus. My particular favorites include Tohka and Kotori, so if you’re into those types of things, Date A Live does carry it around marvelously. 5/10
Art/Animation- Date A Live looks beautiful. It is consistent in quality, barley ever showing any off model scenes. The animation is pretty good, albeit nothing outstanding, but it doesn’t really need any fancy animation for the type of show it is. The most redeeming point of Date a Live, however, are the character designs for the grills. Examples being Kurumi and Yoshino, the former having a very appealing design that is obvious waifu bait, and the latter having a unique one that doesn’t seem to have been done before. Date A Live’s art does a good job distracting the viewer from its narrative flaws by having them focus on the grills. 8/10
Sound- For me particularly, not much of the soundtrack from Date A Live stood out. This isn’t to say that it’s bad. Date A Live’s soundtrack does a very good job at what it’s supposed to do, create a mood. The soundtrack accompanies whatever situation is going on onscreen in a synergetic manner, having no particular scene stand out because of it’s lack of music or inappropriate use of music. The voice actors do a good job making the characters, particularly the grills, stand out. As, as for the OP and ED, they’re nothing special. The OP gets you pumped for the episodes like it’s supposed to, and the ED is your average romance song sang from a female character’s point of view, of course, this is all subjective to one’s musical taste. 7/10
Enjoyment- Despite what may seem like me ranting on the show, Date A Live is a very enjoyable piece of media, shockingly enough. Maybe it’s the grills, maybe it’s the hope for it getting better, maybe it’s the fact that even though it tries to pull off a serious plot it still keeps some of its comedic tone, I don’t know, but Date A Live was a blast to watch. If you want to turn off your mind, but still want to watch something enjoyable, Date A Live is a good anime to watch if you don’t mind it’s narrative flaws. 8/10
Overall - Date A Live’s narrative does not work taken seriously, it has many flaws that don’t allow it to strive in a medium where originality is highly praised. If you’re looking for a story with depth, developed characters, a strong story, or if you’re bothered by every minor flaw of something, look away, Date A Live is not for you. If you’re a fan of the harem genre, looking for some good waifus, or if you just want to relax to a senseless anime, then Date A Live is a good recommendation. 6/10
