is a Japanese

light novel A light novel (, Hepburn: ''raito noberu'') is a style of young adult novel primarily targeting high school and middle school students. The term "light novel" is a ''wasei-eigo'', or a Japanese term formed from words in the English languag ...

series written by Koushi Tachibana and illustrated by

Tsunako is a Japanese video game creator and illustrator who worked for Idea Factory. She has designed and illustrated characters for various games and print media. She is best known for illustrating the ''Hyperdimension Neptunia'' video game series, publ ...

Fujimi Shobo , formerly , was a Japanese publisher that specialized in light novels, manga, role-playing games and collectible card games. Founded in 1972 and reorganized three times, it was at times an independent company and at times an imprint of Kadokawa F ...

published 22 volumes from March 2011 to March 2020 under their

Fujimi Fantasia Bunko is a light novel publishing imprint affiliated with the Japanese publishing company Fujimi Shobo, a brand company of Kadokawa Corporation. It was established in 1988 and is aimed at young adult male audience. Many light novels published under th ...

imprint.

Yen Press Yen Press, LLC is an American manga and graphic novel publisher co-owned by Kadokawa Corporation and Hachette Book Group. It published ''Yen Plus'', a monthly comic anthology, between 2008 and 2013. In addition to translated material, Yen Press ...

holds the license to publish the light novel in English. Five

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

were published by

Kadokawa Shoten , formerly , is a Japanese publisher and division of Kadokawa Future Publishing based in Tokyo, Japan. It became an internal division of Kadokawa Corporation on October 1, 2013. Kadokawa publishes manga, light novels, manga anthology magazines su ...

and

in ''

Monthly Shōnen Ace is a monthly shōnen manga magazine in Japan published by Kadokawa Shoten, started in 1994. Unlike the big shōnen weeklies with circulation figures in the millions, ''Ace'' is aimed at a less mainstream audience, and has a particular emphasis on ...

'' and ''

Monthly Dragon Age is a Japanese shōnen manga magazine published by Fujimi Shobo. The magazine began as a combination between ''Monthly Comic Dragon'' and ''Monthly Dragon Junior'', two former magazines published by Fujimi Shobo. The first issue was published in ...

''. An

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

television series adaptation animated by AIC Plus+ aired between April and June 2013. A second season by

Production IMS , or Production IMS, was a Japanese animation studio established on February 14, 2013, by former staff members from AIC Spirits. Its headquarters were located in Nerima, Tokyo, Japan. Financial problems On December 20, 2017, animator Teru Miyaza ...

aired between April and June 2014. An original anime film, '' Date A Live: The Movie – Mayuri Judgement'', was released in August 2015. A spin-off light novel series, '' Date A Live Fragment: Date A Bullet'', began publication in March 2017. A third season by

J.C.Staff , is a Japanese animation studio founded in January 1986 by Tomoyuki Miyata, who previously worked at Tatsunoko Production. The studio's first release was ''Yōtōden'' in 1987. They have produced several well-known anime series, such as '' Food ...

aired between January and March 2019. A fourth season by

Geek Toys is a Japanese animation studio based in Nakano, Tokyo. Establishment The studio was founded in South Kōenji, Tokyo in October 2017 by Tamotsu Kosano, serving a subsidiary of Japanese mass media Mass media refers to a diverse array of ...

aired from April to June 2022. A fifth season has been announced.

Plot

The series begins with a strange phenomenon called a " spatial quake" devastating the center of

Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago a ...

, 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 In relation to nuclear explosions and other large bombs, ground zero (also called surface zero) is the point on the Earth's surface closest to a detonation. In the case of an explosion above the ground, ''ground zero'' is the point on the ground ...

of a spatial quake. He learns from his adoptive sister Kotori the girl is one of the "Spirits" from different dimensions who are the real cause of the spatial quakes to occur when they manifest themselves in the real world. He also learns Kotori is the commander of the airship ''Fraxinus'', crewed by the organization Ratatoskr and its parent company Asgard Electronics. Shido is recruited by Ratatoskr 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 each Spirit fall in love with him and make her kiss him. Moreover, Shido and his companions face the opposition of the AST (Anti-Spirit Team), a special unit designed to suppress the threat posed by Spirits by eliminating them, which is backed by DEM Industries, a conglomerate led by Sir Isaac Ray Pelham Westcott who intends to exploit the powers of the Spirits for his own agenda. As Shido successfully keeps sealing more and more Spirits, he gains allies to help him with his dates with other Spirits but also increases the competition among them for his attention and affection, much to his chagrin.

Publication

''Date A Live'' began as a

series written by Koushi Tachibana with illustrations by

. The first volume was published on March 19, 2011 under

's ''

''. Twenty-two volumes have been released in Japan. During their panel at the 2020 Crunchyroll Expo,

announced that they have licensed the light novel.

Media

Manga

The series received a total of five

adaptions, all of which were published by

and

in ''

'' and ''

''.

Anime

The anime adaptation was 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 JOMX-DTV, branded as Tokyo MX (officially stylized as TOKYO MX), is an independent television station in Tokyo, Japan, owned by the . It is the only television station that exclusively serves the city. It competes with Nippon TV, TV Asahi, NH ...

on April 6, 2013. The final episode was streamed on Niconico on June 16 and aired on Tokyo MX on June 22. The opening theme is titled sung by sweet ARMS, a vocal group consisting of

Iori Nomizu is a Japanese actress, voice actress and singer who provides voices for anime television series and video games. In anime shows, she voiced Yoshino Himekawa in ''Date A Live'', Nymph in '' Heaven's Lost Property'', Rinko Kuzaki in ''Omamori ...

Misuzu Togashi is a Japanese actress, voice-actress, and singer affiliated with Ken Production. She is known for Minakami Mai in ''Nichijou'', Amano Yukiteru in '' Mirai-Nikki'', and Tobiichi Origami in the ''Date A Live''-series. Filmography Anime OVA / S ...

Kaori Sadohara is a Japanese voice actress and singer. One of her most notable roles was Chocolat in '' Noucome''. Filmography Anime *'' Upotte!!'' – Sig *'' Noucome'' – Chocolat *''Amagi Brilliant Park'' – Chiba *''Date A Live'' � ...

, 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 , all three by Nomizu. Following the TV broadcast of the final episode of the first season, a second season was announced, which was set to air in 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 was held by

. An unaired episode was bundled with the third volume of the ''Date A Live Encore'' short story collection was released on December 9, 2014. The first and second season have been licensed by

Funimation Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializes ...

for streaming and home video release in North America and by

Madman Entertainment Madman Entertainment Pty. Ltd., also known as Madman Films, is an Australian distribution and rights management company headquartered in East Melbourne, Victoria, specialising in feature films, documentaries and television series across theatr ...

in Australia. In his Twitter account, Tachibana announced ''Date A Live'' would get a third new anime series. Animation production was held by

, with the cast and staff reprising their respective roles from the previous seasons. The series aired from January 11 to March 29, 2019. The opening theme is sung by sweet ARMS titled "I Swear", and the ending theme is sung by

Erii Yamazaki is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Chiba Prefecture, Japan, affiliated with Horipro is a large Japanese talent agency. History It was founded in 1960 as Hori Productions (ホリプロダクション ''Hori Purodakushon'') and ch ...

titled "Last Promise". The third season ran for 12 episodes.

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Sony through a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex. The service primarily distributes films and tel ...

simulcast the third season, while Funimation produced a

simuldub Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializes ...

. In Australia and New Zealand, AnimeLab simulcast the third season. On September 17, 2019, a new anime project was announced. It was later announced to be an anime adaptation of the '' Date A Live Fragment: Date A Bullet'' spin-off novels. Tachibana announced via his Twitter account that apart from the spin-off adaptation, the main series would get a new anime as well. On March 16, 2020, it was announced that the series would get a fourth season. The season is produced by

and was scheduled to premiere in October 2021, but was delayed to 2022 for "various reasons". Jun Nakagawa directed the fourth season, with

Fumihiko Shimo Fumihiko (written: or ) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese academic and engineer *, Japanese architect *, Japanese basketball player *, Japanese lexicographer, linguist, and historian *, Japanese ...

writing the series' scripts, Naoto Nakamura designing the characters, and Go Sakabe returning to compose the series' music. It aired from April 8 to June 24, 2022. The opening theme is sung by

Miyu Tomita is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Saitama Prefecture who is signed to Amuse. After aspiring to become a voice actress while studying in elementary school, she participated in two voice acting auditions in 2014, winning one of them. So ...

titled "OveR" and the ending theme is sung by sweet ARMS titled "S.O.S". Following Sony's acquisition of Crunchyroll, the series was moved from Funimation to Crunchyroll. On April 21, 2022, Crunchyroll announced that the season would receive an English dub, which premiered the following day. After the conclusion of the fourth season, a fifth season was announced.

Theatrical film

An animated theatrical film was announced via the official

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

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 film will be titled as '' Date A Live: The Movie – Mayuri Judgement'' and premiered on August 22, 2015, 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 . During the events of "Tohka's Birthday" on 10 April,

Sora Amamiya is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Tokyo, Japan. She is affiliated with the talent agency Music Ray'n. After passing an audition held by Music Ray'n, she made her voice acting debut in 2012. She played her first main role as Kaori Fuji ...

was confirmed to be voicing Mayuri.

Video games

A video game named produced by

Compile Heart is a Japanese video game developer founded on June 2, 2006 as a subsidiary of Idea Factory. The company was formerly managed by Compile's former executive Masamitsu "Moo" Niitani, most well known as the creator of the ''Madou Monogatari'' and ''Pu ...

and

Sting Entertainment is a Japanese video game developer, game development studio. Some of their titles include ''Treasure Hunter G'', ''Evolution: The World of Sacred Device'', and the Dept. Heaven, ''Dept. Heaven'' series of games. Its active properties currently ...

released on June 27, 2013 for the

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

. A promotional video was shown at

Anime Contents Expo The also known as ACE was one of the largest anime trade fairs in the world, held annually in Japan. The first event was held in 2012. The event was held at Makuhari Messe, a convention and exhibition center in Tokyo Bay, in late March. In 2014 it ...

2013. The game features a new original character named , voiced by

Kana Hanazawa is a Japanese actress, voice actress and singer. A prolific voice performer in anime, she has amassed several film and television credits since her debut in 1990. She won the Seiyu Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2015, and won the Newtype ...

. A

PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita, or Vita) is a handheld video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, and in North America, Europe, and other international territo ...

version of the game was released in on July 30, 2015, and features new characters and scenarios. Another video game, titled , was released in June 26, 2014 for the

, featuring another new character named , voiced by

Suzuko Mimori is a Japanese actress and singer. She is represented by HiBiKi Cast. She voiced Umi Sonoda in ''Love Live!'', Hikari Kagura in ''Revue Starlight'' and Asumi Fuurin / Cure Earth in ''Healin' Good Pretty Cure''. Her nickname is Mimorin. Biography ...

. A new installment for both past games, named produced by

and

was released on July 30, 2015 for the

. It is a de facto sequel with new characters and new scenarios. The game features the Yamai Sisters, Miku Izayoi, Rinne Sonogami, Maria Arusu, as well as Marina Arusu, and a new original character named , voiced by

Ayane Sakura is a Japanese voice actress. She is affiliated with Aoni Production. Her roles included Natsumi Koshigaya in ''Non Non Biyori'', Secre Swallowtail in '' Black Clover'', Ochaco Uraraka in ''My Hero Academia'', Tsubaki Sawabe in ''Your Lie in April ...

. A promotional video was shown at the events of Date A Fes II. An English version of ''Date A Live: Rio Reincarnation'' has been released on

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

and

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

platforms on July 23, 2019. The PlayStation 4 version was censored, which caused criticism. A fourth video game produced again by Compile Heart, titled , was scheduled to be released on July 18, 2019 for the

, in Japan. In addition to the standard addition, which will cost 7,776 yen at retail and yen via download, a 9,936 yen limited edition is also planned. The limited edition includes a Tsunako-designed box, special books (Koushi Tachibana-written short story, etc.), and a drama CD. Due to various reasons, the release date has been pushed back to September 24, 2020. A free-to-play mobile game titled ''Date A Live: Spirit Pledge'' was released in China on September 21, 2018 for Android and

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

. A beta test of a global version started on July 26, 2020.

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 , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...

charts. The PS3 game ''Date A Live: Rinne Utopia'' sold 23,340 physical retail copies within the first week of release in Japan. By October 2015, the series as a whole had sold over four million copies. On June 12, 2015, the Chinese Ministry of Culture listed ''Date A Live II'' among 38 anime and manga titles banned in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

References

External links

*
Date A Live
at

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