Date A Live

Plot

The series begins with a strange phenomenon called a "spatial quake" devastating the center of Eurasia, resulting in at least 150 million casualties. For the next 30 years, smaller spatial quakes plague the world on an irregular basis. In the present, Shido Itsuka, a seemingly ordinary high school student comes across a mysterious girl at the ground zero of a spatial quake. He learns from his adoptive sister Kotori that the girl is one of the "Spirits" from different dimensions who are the real cause of the spatial quakes that occur when they manifest themselves in the real world. He also learns that Kotori is the commander of the airship Fraxinus, crewed by the organization Ratatoskr, and is recruited to make use of his mysterious ability to seal the Spirits' powers thus stopping them from being a threat to mankind. However, there is a catch: to seal a Spirit's power, he must make her fall in love with him and make her kiss him. Shido's intelligent classmate, Origami Tobiichi, is a sergeant of the AST (Anti-Spirit Team), a special unit designed to suppress the threat posed by Spirits. As Shido successfully keeps sealing more and more Spirits, he gains allies to help him with his dates with other Spirits. Shido also increases the competition among them for his attention and affection, much to his chagrin.

Light novels

Date A Live was originally released as a light novel. It is a light novel series written by Kōshi Tachibana with illustrations by Tsunako. The first volume was published on March 19, 2011 under Fujimi Shobo's Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Fifteen volumes have been released in Japan

Manga

A manga adaption of Date A Live with illustrations by Ringo began on April 16 of 2012. Due to Ringo having health problems, the manga was cancelled after 6 chapters. The adaptation ended covering only a part of Shido's first date with Tohka.

A new manga adaptation began serialisation in the January 2014 issue of Shōnen Ace, this time with illustrations done by Sekihiko Inui. It was recently announced that the third volume of the manga will be the last. The third volume will be shipped by Kadokawa throughout Japan this winter.

Anime

The anime adaptation is directed by Keitaro Motonaga and produced by AIC PLUS+. The series was streamed in lower quality on Niconico, with each episode available a week before its TV premiere. The first episode was streamed on March 31 and aired on Tokyo MX on April 6, 2013. The final, 12th episode was streamed on Niconico on June 16 and aired on Tokyo MX on June 22.

The opening theme is titled "Date A Live" (デート・ア・ライブ, Dēto A Raibu) sung by sweet ARMS, a vocal group consisting Iori Nomizu, Misuzu Togashi, Kaori Sadohara, and Misato. The series makes use of four ending themes: "Hatsukoi Winding Road", by Kayoko Tsumita, Risako Murai and Midori Tsukimiya; "Save The World", "Save My Heart" and "Strawberry Rain" (ストロベリーレイン), all three by Iori Nomizu.

Following the TV broadcast of the final episode of the first season, a second season is set for April 2014. The opening theme is sung by sweet ARMS titled "Trust in You" and the ending theme is sung by Kaori Sadohara titled "Day to Story". The animation production will be held by Production IMS. An unaired episode will be bundled with the third volume of the Date A Live Encore short story collection to be released on December 9, 2014.

The anime has been licensed by Funimation for streaming and home video release in North America and by Madman Entertainment for home video release in Australia.

Film

An animated theatrical film was announced via the official Twitter account of the television series as the airing of the second television season concluded.

On the event of "Date A Live II", the staff unveiled that the movie will be titled as Date a Live The Movie: Mayuri Judgement (劇場版 デート ア ライブ 万由里ジャッジメント, Gekijōban Dēto A Raibu: Mayuri Jajjimento) and will premiere in August 22, with an original story supervised by the original light novel author, Koushi Tachibana. Nobunaga Shimazaki, the voice actor of Shido Itsuka, introduced a silhouette of the new title character, named Mayuri (万由里, Mayuri). During the events of "Tohka's Birthday" on 10 April, Sora Amamiya was confirmed to be voicing Mayuri.

Video games

A video game named Date A Live: Rinne Utopia (デート・ア・ライブ　凜祢ユートピア, Dēto A Raibu Rinne Yūtopia) produced by Compile Heart and Sting Entertainment released on June 27, 2013 for the PlayStation 3. A promotional video was shown at Anime Contents Expo 2013. The game features a new original character named Rinne Sonogami (園神 凜祢, Sonogami Rinne), voiced by Kana Hanazawa. A PlayStation Vita version of the game was released in Summer 2015, and features new characters and scenarios.

Another video game titled Date A Live: Ars Install (或守インストール) was also announced and features another new character named Maria Ars (或守 鞠亜, Arusu Maria), voiced by Suzuko Mimori. The game was released on June 26, 2014. Famitsu gave the Ars Install game a review score of 30/40.

A new installment for both PlayStation 3 games, named Date A Live Twin Edition: Rio Reincarnation (デート・ア・ライブ Twin Edition 凜緒リンカーネイション, Dēto A Raibu Tsuin Edishon Rio Rinkāneishon) produced by Compile Heart and Sting Entertainment was released on July 30, 2015 for the PlayStation Vita. It is a de facto sequel with new characters and new scenarios. The game will features the Yamai Sisters, Miku Izayoi, Rinne Sonogami, Maria Ars, as well as Marina Ars, and a new original character named Rio (凜緒, Rio), voiced by Ayane Sakura. A promotional video was shown at the events of Date A Fes II.

Reception

The first volume of the first anime season placed eighth place amongst Blu-ray sales in Japan during its debut week within the Oricon charts. The PS3 game Date A Live: Rinne Utopia sold 23,340 physical retail copies within the first week of release in Japan. Until October 2015, the series reached a total of 4 million copies sold.