Anime Review: Date A Live

I have really mixed feelings about this anime... So I'll proceed with this review

A little word before I begin. Date A Live (デート・ア・ライブ Dēto A Raibu) is the anime adaption of the Japanese light novel series, Date A Live. It is directed by Keitaro Motonaga and produced by AIC PLUS+.

Well let the dating game BEGIN!

Story

Spacequakes, a mysterious phenomenon that destroys everything at the point of impact within a given radius. They are unpredictable and appear randomly. Itsuka Shido lives with his sister Kotori in a town that experiences lots of Spacequakes but has proper countermeasure to warn the population and limit the casualties. 

Here's an example of a spacequake

Oh wait wrong picture

One day Shido is (through some complicated circumstances) running to find his sister who is not in a shelter and a spacequake warning has been issued.

He doesn't find his sister but discover that those spacequakes are caused by a girl.

This girl called Princess (Hime) is standing in the middle of the spacequake impact. She is attacked by a squad called the AST who's objective is to kill these creatures called spirits.

Of course he is shocked. But he is more shocked when he discovers that his little sister Kirino.... euh I mean Kotori is actually the boss of a secret organization aiming to stop these spacequakes.

The more shocking fact is that to stop these spirits from wreaking havoc on earth the solution is actually to date them, show them that there are people who actual want her and won't deny her existence.
So yeah in the end Shido will have a harem. This gets a whole lot more interesting when the number of girls slowly grows and the attempts to sway Shidou’s heart commence.

Characters:

The characters all have some pretty unique personality to them that makes them pretty special. The main girls are all pretty interesting even though they aren’t really fleshed out that well. We have a kuudere, a yandere, a tsundere, a loli and the childish one.

Itsuka Shido, the good looking character who gets all the girls etc etc etc.... Your typical protagonist in a harem anime, very generic. Shallow, bland at best, he only serve to advance the harem. An interesting personality Shido has as described by Kotori: "onii-chan had become strangely sensitive to the despair inside people.—Mm. Something like everyone rejecting oneself—thinking that one will never be loved by anyone else. Well, basically what he had been like back then. If there was someone with such a melancholic expression, even if it was a complete stranger, he would probably go help them without a second thought."

The character that caught my interest the most is Tohka Yatogami. It’s still not quite clear how she gains the last name Yatogami. On my first impression, she resembles Saber from the Fate Series. The usage of armor, the aura she gives off and her nickname “Princess” are all very similar to Saber. She even shares the same hobby as Saber (specifically eating). It is hard to tell whether or not the author did this on purpose. Tohka is voiced by Marina Inoue (Mikazuki Yozora in Boku wa tomodachi ga sukunai)

Next is a..... uh.... how should I say it... Oh yeah a Yuno rip-off (Mirai Nikki). Kurumi Tokisaki, who is was the second character that caught my interest. She dresses like a gothic lolita which is not very common these days in the anime industry. She is depicted with a very sadist/masochist yandere tone and I must admit I kinda like it

Next is Kotori Itsuka serves as the protagonist’s beloved imouto (little sister). Technically, Kotori is Shido’s foster sister. Like any other kawaii imouto, Kotori was doomed from the beginning to become lolicon material, much like Yoshino who is also essentially a loli spirit. Other than her loli physique and her tsundere personality, there is nothing moe about her. Well there isn’t much to fit the criteria of moe anyways... Also I should mention that she is voiced by Taketatsu Ayana, some might know her other no...

Sound:

I don't have anything to say, the music is good, the opening is good but I have to talk about ending #1 and #2 Save The World and Save My Heart. They are pretty addictive and I kept listening to them for a while
Edit: The second opening was also a really good surprise and I enjoyed it a lot!

Animation and Art:

The animation and the art were really good, it is always a pleasure for the eye to watch anime with such a good quality. The level of details is really high but still not the best we can get (KyoAni does that). The animation during the combats is smooth and the quality never dropped which is very good point. Here's some image to let you judge.

Difference with the light novel:

Didn't read the novel can't say

Conclusion:

It's pretty complicated to say what I feel about this anime, it is your typical harem anime with some new stuff added that actually doesn't make it like all the other harem. I personally enjoyed watching it because I like Tohka and I would recommend that you watch it
My original score would be 8/10 but the fact that season 2 should be airing around Spring 2014 I shall rate Date A Live : 8.5/10
EDIT: Dropped the rating to 8 because season 2 was... not that good, and the animation quality was awful... 8 because The movie: Mayuri Judgement has been announced and confirmed for 2015.

Enjoy

Anime Review: Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai

So there it is, my review of an anime I recently watched Boku wa tomodachi ga sukunai (not many friends)

Despite containing lots of fanservice and being very funny, this anime will teach you the value of friendship, that having a couple of trustworthy friends is better than a thousand "fake" friends.... okay now lets get to the review shall we?

Story:

Where to begin? Ah yes I know! With our main character: Hasegawa Kodaka!
Kodaka is a transfer student, he came back to the town where he grew up with his sister to live and go to school because he didn't want to follow his dad to the US.
So this guy is considered by his classmates a delinquent because he happened to always do the wrong thing at the wrong moment (like arriving late at class the first day of school after running and looking like a zombie in front of the innocent teacher scarring her in the process)

That kind of expression

One day while waking at school he notice that a girl in his class, Mikazuki Yozora, who is in general very discrete in talking to someone and laughing happily.

He enters the room and he notice that this girl is kinda complex-ed for creating an imaginary friend and talking to him (her air friend as she likes to call him/her). After telling each other's story, Yozora gets an idea and then leaves Kodaka telling him that she will contact him later.
The next day she catches him and tell him that she got an idea to make friends: founding a club! And thus the Neighbor Club was born.
To recruit member they attach posters all over the school with a special message that only people looking for friends will notice or understand

After finishing posting those flyers, they go back to the club room and are surprised when someone knock at the door saying she wants to join. Unfortunately it is Kashiwazaki Sena, a beautiful and popular girl with only fake friends. She wants to join so she could make real friends.

Things starts to go awry because Yozora hates Sena and Sena hates Yozora. We can see their reactions when Kodaka suggested that the 3 of them can become friends!

And here the story goes on, more people will join the neighbor club to try and make friends.
It is a really interesting story so I won't spoil it. You will love it!

Characters:

Despite his looks, Kodaka is actually a calm and collected individual who is soft-spoken and kind hearted. Kodaka would have initially called Yozora and Sena by their last names if not for the two demanding him to call them by their first names instantly. Kodaka would remain calm even when provoked or angry and is the only one among his club members who is still trying to get friends. Kodaka is always depicted to be somewhat "dense" at the feelings being expressed by most female characters towards him. But in reality, Kodaka is well aware of this, but only pretends that he does not know since he doesn't want anything to change from the relationship between him and most female characters

Mikazuki Yozora: Although Yozora looks nice, her personality is far from that. She is extremely manipulative, and would often trick the people to do her bidding. She have no qualms on who her victims were and have probably tricked almost all of the Neighbor's club members (save Rika) at least once, directly or indirectly.

Kashiwazaki Sena: On the outside, Sena appears to be an ordinary high school girl but in truth, Sena is arrogant and prideful by nature and is well aware of this, even once stating that she should do that since she's that good. Sena considers herself like some sort of queen or goddess to the school and would often treat her fellow male students as servants (not that they mind). Because of her personality and her beauty, she has no female friends. Sena also believed that there are two types of girls, the ones who would be her friends and the others are all not worthy of her. Sena also does not treat the boys in her class with much respect due to them constantly oogling at her and doing whatever she told them to, as such, Sena merely sees them as her servants. However, whenever Sena's ego is shattered by someone else (mostly Yozora), she bursts in tears and flings childish insults before running away. Sena was also shocked to see that Kodaka does not act like the boys in her class (wanting to be stepped on) and hence, views Kodaka in a different light.  Her feelings have increased to the point where she says that she wouldn't mind marrying him and that she was in love with him.

Sound:

The soundtrack is awesome. It really fits the situation and you will find yourself always singing or humming them. The opening is also great as it is sung by many well known seiyuu (Kana Hanazawa among them).

What I really loved while watching the anime were the piano themes.

Here have some example

The opening theme

Ending theme

Animation:

The art is actually one of the I've ever seen. Especially when you look at the character's lips. They have something that no other anime has. The animation was almost flawless, the background was well designed and it is really enjoyable.

Playing on PSP

Difference with the light novel:

Didn't read the novel personally but I was told the anime follows the novel very well

Conclusion:

This anime is hilarious, the jokes were simple cheesy and they managed to pull them off again and again and yet you find yourself laughing hear-tidily again and again. So if you are looking for an episodic anime to watch while you are cooking or whatever or just wanna have a good laugh this is the one.

Final Grade: 9.3/10