Have you ever sat down to think, what would my life be if was a dating sim controlled by friends or family? Of course no one has thought something like that at least I hope not. I spent a small time watching the anime titled Date A Live, which at this time has two seasons. The first season is in English, but as for the second I’ve yet to find any word if it’ll be dubbed. What is the anime title Date A Live? What if you found out for reasons unknown you couldn’t die and that your life has been turned into a dating sim. Yes, a dating sim! How so? It’s due to these girls known as spirits who cause destruction when they appear on earth. (Be warned a bit of the text below is a really small chunk of the first episode.) What’s the story of Date A Live about? Years ago in the story a strange phenomenon called a “spacequake” destroyed a huge area on the planet. (Not all, but a good area of a city.) This serious disaster cost the lives of 150 million people. What would’ve caused this? No one knew at that time, but as time passed smaller quakes hit the world. During the events of one such spacequake years after the first, our main character, “Shido Itsuka,” is rushing to his sister who would wait for him at an area they planned to meet at later during the day.
During his school day the alarm goes off that a spacequake has been detected and that all within the city should go underground to stay safe. However, to check if his sister is okay and safe he checks on her location and notices she’s at the planned area and, as you can guess any brother would, runs to protect his sibling. While on his way, the quake hits and Shido meets a mysterious girl who’s a Spirit. Little does he know of the female’s origin and what’s going on. Here is where the series gets good, after Shido meets said Spirit you’ll find out he must date any and all who come to the planet and save them. You might be asking yourself, how does a young 16-year-old woo a spirit? That’s a good question, but you’ll need to watch the series to find out.
As for the look of the series, it’s like any other anime that has been out. Don’t get me wrong–a lot of recent releases as well as past releases look great. The great battles you’ll see in the series as well as the love triangle and funny skits from start to end. The story is solid, the art style and fan service are all hitting the key points in keeping me pulled in. (No it’s not because of the boobs!) When it comes to the music within any show I do take notice due to being someone who was in band a bit in my past. With each bigger battle and branch of the story they’ve done a good job with providing music that matches the situation. The acting within the series is quite well, but I’ve grown used to it. Many of the actors do a great job and there is no need to say in this review that they’ve done a decent job in presenting themselves and the characters.
When it comes to the story of the series, it presents itself very well with non-stop action and keeping viewers (like me) pulled in. As each episode progressed, the more I wanted to know what was going on and what troubles Shido will put himself into. Wouldn’t you expect there to be trouble when he’s seeing a few girls at once throughout the series? Overall, I’d say it’s a worthwhile anime to check out, but as for the price tag and the amount of content of the series it’s something to think on. (Though with me being someone who likes this type of anime, it’s totally worth it.) You can check out this series on FUNimation and if you happen to like what you see, by all means buy it.
