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Date A Live

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Status:
Chap. Read: / 146
Vol. Read: / 22
Your Score:
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Alternative Titles

Japanese: γƒ‡γƒΌγƒˆγƒ»γ‚’γƒ»γƒ©γ‚€γƒ–
English: Date A Live
More titles

Information

Volumes: 22
Chapters: 146
Status: Finished
Published: Mar 19, 2011 to Mar 19, 2020
Genres: Fantasy Fantasy, Romance Romance, Sci-Fi Sci-Fi
Themes: Harem Harem, School School, Urban Fantasy Urban Fantasy
Serialization: None
Authors: Tachibana, Koushi (Story), Tsunako (Art)

Statistics

Score: 8.241 (scored by 66496,649 users)
1 indicates a weighted score.
Ranked: #4632
2 based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.
Popularity: #1072
Members: 20,829
Favorites: 1,911

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Resources

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Wikipedia
8.24
Ranked #463Popularity #1072Members 20,829
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Volumes: /22
Chapters: /146

Synopsis

Three decades ago, more than a hundred million people fell victim to an unprecedented disaster that came to be known as a "spatial quake." Ever since then, humanity has built countermeasures to mitigate the damage from future catastrophes such as instantaneous evacuation methods and immediate rebuilding of any architectural damage.

At present, 16-year-old Shidou Itsuka lives alone with his sister, Kotori. One day, he gets caught in a spatial quake despite preemptive warnings. Miraculously surviving the blast, he meets a mysterious girl in its wake, who he soon comes to know as a "Spirit"β€”supernatural beings who are the cause behind these spatial quakes. Coincidentally, he learns of the "Anti-Spirit Team," a specialized military unit tasked with destroying these Spirits with brute force.

As if these revelations were not shocking enough, Shidou finds himself recruited into working for Ratatoskr, an organization dedicated to peacefully reducing the threat brought by Spiritsβ€”with his sister as its commander! As the new weapon of Ratatoskr, Shidou must nullify the Spirits' powers to prevent them from causing more havoc. His line of attack: go on dates with them, sealing the deal with a passionate kiss.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Background

Date A Live has been published in English by Yen Press under the Yen On imprint since March 23, 2021.

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Characters


Reviews

Oct 2, 2021
Recommended
Date a Live has no complete reviews so here you go

Story 10
The story starts of pretty goofy, the MC Itsuka Shidou meets spirits and seals their powers so they can live in society by making them fall in love with him then kissing them. The story blends in some nice foreshadowing which contributes to the story from volume 10 onwards which was a nice surprise from something I didn't expect. The story is probably at the best from volume 16 onwards not to say that there aren't some great books before 16 for example 10 was really good. Volume 13 was probably the weakest feeling ... like a filler book until the end.

Art 10
Just like most light novels the art is phenomenal, it also progressively gets better as well, at least the non-colored ones while the colored ones always looked top tier. Character design is some of the best there is, every female character looks interesting or appealing although the male designs are on the plain side (although it does make sense).

Characters 9
This is one of the better harem cast out there, you like sister but not really sister Date a Live has it or maybe Kuudere Date a Live also has that. It pretty much has all the stereotypical waifus. Why is this not a 10? simple, some of the cast aren't memorable and developed until the very last 2 volumes, which there is nothing wrong with that but the weaker characters needed to be developed a lot quicker to make me care for them throughout the big moments when there is suppose to be tension. The main villains where pretty good with the Spirit of Origin being amazing and Westcott being a pretty decent villain sadly he is pretty generic. The main character is fine until he gets a lot of development in the latter books which made him also a pretty good MC much better than half of the MCs you see in LNs now. Best character is Kurumi, no surprise she is interesting from the get go constantly appearing as a double edge sword which I really enjoyed.

Enjoyment 10
Although the second half was a lot more dark and serious then the first half, I loved them both halves equally as much. The fun dates that the spirits and Shidou would go one where always something I look forward to. In the second half I always was interested to see how the arc would end and what characters would survive or die. The waifus also had a factor in my 10/10 score.

Overall 10
Date a Live was a roller coaster of emotions from fun jokes to the tear jerking moments in the second half. Date a Live is worth the read if you can get into it, don't let the plot make you think this is some generic harem story.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Mar 21, 2022
Recommended
I started watching anime when I was a kid, I first saw Naruto and started watching him and guess what? Yes, I got bored and quit. Then I found an anime site and it was a total treasure for me and this series came across. It was still a current anime and it was new. I got too hot with their characters and started watching. I look forward to new episodes every week. I don't know how I watched this anime when I was 13. I'm 20 now and it has become my favorite book and anime series.

I don't think I can finish this series ... with high praise. Most people probably think of this series as 'ah harem okey'. But when you enter his world, it's different in my opinion. The anime was great, but the books were even better. I have read all the volumes.

I think the story is deep. It seems really boring at first, but I think things change after you get caught up in the flow of events. Because it has a truly extraordinary story. Everything is connected and it was driving me crazy. I was wondering what's going to happen this time. It's a very interesting series and I really like it. I'm looking forward to the 4th season, let's see how they will do, I want to see my favorite character Mio as soon as possible. I want to see his connection to Shido. I think there will be a 5th season, but I'm not sure, but it looks like it. It's a good series and if you like it, I suggest you check out Date A Bulllet, it's a content by Kurumi and I think it's better. I really like Kurumi she is a crazy character.

Thank you to the author for this light novel. Extremely beautiful and effort... Thank you again.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Apr 11, 2022
Not Recommended
There are multiple ways of getting into high rankings. One would be to write an actually interesting story with captivating characters and such. Another one would be to make a long running series that is a specific kind of awful, causing anyone but hardcore completionists or those who happen to be fine with the low quality to drop it after one or two volumes. Take a guess which kind it is this time.

Date A Live is, for most of its parts, painfully boring. I'll attempt to finish this review while I still remember at least something, before the brain finishes clearing up the fragments of ... memories in attempt to heal itself. It's titles like those that give light novels the bad name of subpar literature, with writing rivalring that of Harlequin.

The novel starts as a bland and blatant self-insert harem. Starts and keeps being for majority of the content. A protagonist whose main trait is being protagonist and appearing in places where there are damsels in distress situations happening. The harem members in question are like children. Not necessary in the appearance, but regarding their mentality. Immature and easily fixated, it was the only way to write them so there would by any reasoning they would even get so heavily attached to this protagonist. They have one collective brain cell and it has decided to make getting that Shidou's dick main goal of their lives. Like baby ducklings, they have imprinted on the first named male character they met, never once thinking someone with better personality than that of the cardboard. One exception would be Kurumi. She’s frequently hailed as the peak character, but that’s not exactly true. She simply isn't a bad character, so that makes her stand out as perceived masterpiece when every other character is awful.

The story has terrible pacing, 22 volumes of it is just an absurd stretch. There are barely any stakes, as situations like β€œoh no a main character is in immediate danger” have no problem transitioning into a fanservice parade. With the exception of the closing volumes, the inserted drama also feels more of a β€œlook, something is happening in the story, please don’t throw the volume away” rather than an earnest attempt to move the plot forward. After finishing the novel, I went over some volume summaries to refresh my memory a bit. I was surprised to say it didn’t actually sound so bad. So I went back and browsed through the volumes. Yeah, in summary the story doesn’t sound half bad. However, in the actual full text, it is so drowned in useless filler and clichΓ© fanservice scenes, any potential for an interesting storyline is silenced. So definitely, Date A Live has potential, would it get into hands of a capable writer.

While the last two or so volumes actually weren’t bad, that is way too few readable volumes out of 22, so I honestly cannot recommend picking this up. Yes, the later reveals migt align with what was estabilished earlier, but that still doesn't take away the boringness of those previous volumes. If you really want to know the story, just go for the volume summaries. While that way you won’t be able to mark this as completed on MAL, it would definitely be the more enjoyable and less time-wasting way of digesting the plot of Date A Live. Do not let my sacrifice be in vain. However, should you be a fan of regular harem storylines, feel free to go for the actual volumes, you will likely enjoy those.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Recent News

New 'Date A Live' Anime Project 'Date A Live F: Last Date' Announced

Production company Kadokawa announced a new Date A Live anime project titled Date A Live F: Last Date on Friday, revealing new staff, returning cast, a teaser visual...read more

Apr 9, 8:00 PM by Vindstot | Discuss (27 comments)

Fifth Season of 'Date A Live' Announced

The 12th and final episode of the Date A Live IV television anime announced on Saturday that a fifth season is in production. The new season will air under the titl...read more

Jun 24, 2022 9:49 AM by DatRandomDude | Discuss (64 comments)


Recent Forum Discussion

Is worth to read the ln?
Laurentiu17 - May 16, 2025
2 repliesby Sket-dance »»
Feb 2, 2:35 AM
Why do people like Tokisaki Kurumi?
ZeroMajor12 - May 9, 2024
7 repliesby Zarutaku »»
Apr 16, 2025 12:31 AM
Will there be anymore Date A Live?
AceMin - May 12, 2024
20 repliesby removed-user »»
Jun 24, 2024 7:09 PM
Date A Live Volume 22 Discussion (Beware of spoilers)
WaterLord - Jul 28, 2020
15 repliesby Hashiriya_weeb87 »»
Oct 19, 2023 1:57 PM
Why does this have a higher score than the anime (no spoilers)
BigBowlNoodleBoi - Sep 19, 2021
12 repliesby icefirestone23 »»
Aug 19, 2023 7:58 AM

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