Anime Reviews (2010-2019): Date A Live – The Complete First Season (a Neo-Tokyo 2099 Digital Review) (2013)

“Date A Live – The Complete First Season” is recommended to those who are in the mood for a short and entertaining anime series that provides a lot of laughs, action and drama.

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TITLE: Date A Live – The Complete First Season

ANIME RELEASE DATE IN JAPAN: 2013

DURATION: Episodes 1-12 (300 Minutes)

BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, 4×3, English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0, Subtitles: English

COMPANY: Funimation

RATED: TV 14

Release Date: April 8, 2020

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Originally Created by Tachibana Koushi

Original Charater Design: Tsunako

Directed by Motonaga Keitaro

Series Composition: Shirane Hideki

Character Design by Ishino Satoshi

Art Director: Ito Hiroshi

Anime Production: AIC Plus+

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Featuring the following voice talent:

Shimazaki Nobunaga/Josh Grelle as Shido Itsuka

Inoue Marina/Michelle Rojas as Tohka Yatogami/Princess

Sanada Asami/Alexis Tipton as Kurumi Tokisaki/Nightmare

Sadohara Kaori/Anastasia Munoz as Tamae Okamine

Endo Aya/Barrett Nash as Reine Murasame

Taketasu Ayana/Bryn Apprill as Kotori Itsuka

Misato/Felecia Angelle as Mana Takamiya

Koyasu Takehito/J. Michael Tatum as Kyōhei Kannazuki

Togashi Misuzu/Michelle Lee as Origami Tobiichi

Katsu Anri/Nick Haley as Hiroto Tonomachi

Nomizu Iori/Tia Ballard as Yoshino/Hermit

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In a world devastated by mysterious spatial quakes, Shido isn’t what you d expect in a hero. He’s an average Joe who gets bossed around by his adorable little sister and mocked by the popular girls at his school. You’d definitely pick him last for dodge ball, but when it comes to saving the planet from imminent destruction, Shido’s got one thing going for him: intergalactic hotties can’t keep their hands off him! When the secret to stopping the spatial quakes turns out to be romancing the extraterrestrial Spirits responsible for all the chaos, Shido the loveable loser becomes the hero of all humanity. For every Spirit he makes out with, mankind breathes a little bit easier. Kiss the girls – save the world. That name of the game is driving the space babes crazy, and nobody does it better than Shido!

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Please note: The following review is not for the Blu-ray release but the digital version.

Back in 2011, writer Tachibana Koshi and illustrator Tsunako created a Japanese light novel series titled “Date a Live”.

The series has received a total of three anime adaptations and a fourth is currently in production.

While we review a lot of anime series, “Date A Live” was a series that dropped off our radar and with the first season being re-released in 2020 (to coincide with the release of “Date A Live III”), I decided that I should finally give this anime series a try.

Considering that four anime adaptations have been made, that tells me that this series must be quite popular or has a fan following.

The first anime season was produced by AIC Plus+ and available on Blu-ray/DVD and also on digital courtesy of Funimation.

The series first begins with a tragic phenomenon which hit Eurasia which caused a “Spatial Quake” which killed 150 million people.

Fastforward 30-years-later, smaller spatial earthquakes still affect the world.

We are first introduced to Itsuka Shido, a normal high school student who lives with his adopted sister Kotori.  On the first day of school, Shido promised his sister that he would take her out for something good to eat at a restaurant.

While at school, he is greeted in class by Tobiichi Origami, the smartest, the most athletic, popular girl in school and is known as “Super Genius”.  But Shido has no recollection of her.

While at school, a spacial quake immediately happens and as all the students retreat to the school shelter, Shido hopes that Kotori evacuated but realizes that his sister may be waiting for him at the restaurant.  When he checks the GPS, he realizes that she is.

He leaves the shelter to run and find her but the road in front of him is blasted and in the crater is a woman in a strange uniform holding weapons.   She threatens to kill him, saying that all humans want to kill her.  But Shido tells her that he has no intentions of hurting her.

Immediately, Tobiichi Origami with an army of women start attacking the woman and for Shido, he doesn’t understand what is going on.  And while the two battle, Shido gets injured and wakes up in the sick bay of a spacecraft known as the Fraxinus.

Shido is taken to the bridge and finds out that his foster sister, Kotori is the commander of the spacecraft and works for the Ratatoskr.  He is shocked that his loving sister is a different (tsundere-style) person.

She tells Shido that the woman he saw is a monster called a spirit.  Her appearance on their planet makes things blow up.  And the spacial quakes that happen are due to Spirits.  Tobiichi Origami is a member of AST, the ground forces Anti-Spirits Team that are tasked to kill Spirits.  But there is a third way to stop the Spirits and that is why Shido was brought aboard the Fraxinus.  He will need to assist them and can’t say no.

Shido will have to undergo training and he has to be trained to seduce a spirit.  With a headphone in one ear, Kotori and her staff try to feed information to Shido, to help him get people to like him and date other people.

With another spacial quake about to happen, what happens when Shido comes across the woman he saw earlier?  And finds himself interested in her and her in him?

And what happens when Shido confronts other mysterious young ladies?

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After watching “Date A Live” for the very first time, I can see the appeal of this anime series.

For one, it’s a harem anime series with action, a lot of humor and if anything, it’s a lot of fun.

In some ways, it does remind me of “Tenchi Muyou”.  Group of young ladies with special abilities, each vying for the protagonist’s attention and of course, the women at each other’s necks as they don’t get along because each really likes Shido and are jealous towards each other.

With the first season being only 12-episodes long, “Date A Live” is a series that is easy to follow.  I found the anime fascinating because there is a buildup in regards to something that happened in Shido’s life, but also the amazing power that he may have within him.

But why is Kotori and the Ratatoskr staff trying to train him and why must Shido alone, needs to seduce these spirits?

And what happened in Shido and Kotori’s past that will eventually affect them in the future?

The anime series features cool character designs but I read that each season of “Date A Live” features a different anime production staff, so hopefully the series doesn’t go through too many major design changes.

Again, this is a digital review not a Blu-ray review.  So, there are no special features such as audio commentary included in the digital version, but is include in the Blu-ray +DVD release. While the Blu-ray will receive the “Essentials” tag in 2020, unfortunately the OVA included on the first season Bluray and DVD release, is not available in the 2020 release Blu-ray release, nor is it included via digital.

I found the voice acting to be very good for the English dub and for the most part, I had a lot of fun watching this anime series.  I can’t wait to watch seasons two and three!

Overall, “Date A Live – The Complete First Season” is recommended to those who are in the mood for an entertaining series that provides many laughs, action and drama.

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