English Dub Review: Date A Live “Can You Find Me?”

Food, glorious food!

Overview (Spoilers Below!)

At the London DEM headquarters, Roger Murdoch screams at Isaac Westcott for his recent military interference in Japan. Although the board unanimously votes to fire Isaac, the chairman declares that they unanimously allowed him to stay. Suddenly Roger’s arm has been amputated, blood spraying everywhere. Isaac promises to return the company to its own devices—after he’s done with the Spirits in Japan.

Shido, Kotori, and Reine consider Natsumi’s threat. Reine believes that Natsumi is capable of murder, but Shido wants to trust her. In order to determine which one is really Natsumi, Shido will be dating each of the twelve suspects.

First, Shido goes out with Tohka. She seems like herself, but Shido is worried when Tohka doesn’t seem excited about lunch and fills only half her plate at a buffet. She admits that she saw on TV that guys can be turned off when girls eat more than them, but Shido assures her that he prefers girls with big appetites. Tohka proceeds to eat out the whole buffet, and Shido is sure it’s her.

Later, Yoshino arrives at Shido’s house in a witch costume, pretending to be trick-or-treating. Shido serves her pancakes, and she wants to share them with him; Shido thinks she’s real. An offscreen date with Tonomachi yields similar results. Going for a nighttime walk with Yuzuru, Shido remarks how odd it is to see her without Kaguya. Yuzuru asks which one of them he prefers, but Shido refuses to answer. Yuzuru explains that she’d be fine with either answer, but she’s annoyed by his cowardice. She wants him to tell Kaguya that he prefers Kaguya. Yuzuru accidentally confesses love to Shido and runs off.

Back at home, Shido says that he can’t be sure that any of them aren’t Natsumi. When midnight strikes, Natsumi decides to take her first victim. Early the next morning, Kaguya bangs on Shido’s door—Yuzuru is gone. Through security camera footage, Reine confirms that Natsumi’s angel abducted Yuzuru. Shido begins his date with Kotori.

Our Take

I hate harem shows. Loathe them with a passion. And yet… I really enjoyed this episode of Date a Live?

It’s a great way to introduce new viewers to each Spirit, and it’s mostly devoid of cliché, misogynistic tropes. Sure, “Can You Find Me?” isn’t going to win a literary prize anytime soon, but it’s great fun to watch Shido grow closer with each quirky character against the backdrop of a high-stakes mystery. My main complaint about the last episode—that there’s not very much differentiating the Spirits from each other and allowing us to see them as individual characters—is certainly mollified here. Each date—and each girl—has her own unique charm.

The Tohka date certainly made me laugh—is it even possible to eat out an entire buffet? Even better, the scene promotes body positivity, a surprisingly progressive twist for a show about serial dating. It’s so rewarding to watch Shido tell Tohka that it’s okay for girls to eat a lot, to see her face light up as she realizes she’s allowed to eat what makes her happy. Plus, it’s pretty funny to watch the control room’s criticism of Shido’s efforts. “Wow, what an incredible lie,” one man deadpans. Another agrees, “It’s so bad it almost has to be real.” The sarcastic-as-hell voice acting in this moment really drives home the punchline. Unfortunately, though, I’m still not sure I quite understand why Shido suspected Tohka the first time before she failed to get excited about food. Once the two arrive at the buffet, the scene gels perfectly, but the dialogue outside in the courtyard is stilted and unbelievable.

Yoshino’s date is certainly adorable, but her witch Halloween costume feels a little spot-on if she’s not going to turn out to be Natsumi (Will she turn out to be Natsumi? I guess my money is on her, if anyone. Watch this space!). It’s lovely to see Yoshino, too, light up at the idea of eating delicious food with Shido—what a food-loving episode this is! At the same time, I’m a little uncomfortable with Yoshino’s childlike appearance and mannerisms. Shido is sixteen, and the idea of him dating a young child isn’t nearly as cute or sexy as this show seems to think it is.

I’m disappointed, too, that we didn’t get to see Shido’s date with Tonomachi. The framing of it as a “date” is a little weird—if the show doesn’t want us to see this scene and is going to go out of its way to assure us nothing gay was going on, then why include it at all? There’s nothing wrong with having a straight main character who only pursues straight romance. But this “Haha did you think it was gonna be gay? Guess what, it’s not!” attitude is just annoying.

The Yuzuru date is perhaps my favorite of all. There’s so much media out there that glorifies toxic, deceptive relationships, but Yuzuru and Shido’s evening together is refreshingly honest. Yuzuru has no problem with calling Shido out for his moral cowardice, but she displays no jealousy. She wants him to choose the girl that makes him happiest, to have the gall to be truthful with her, to go for what he wants. She talks straight with him—even going so far as to admit she loves him—and can’t understand why he won’t do the same. Incidentally, Yuzuru also has a really lovable verbal quirk, beginning all her sentences with one-word notes on her emotions or descriptions of what she’s about to say. And then, right after the show gets me invested Yuzuru as a character, Natsumi takes her away. Is Yuzuru really dead? Dammit, I don’t want to wait a week to find out!

A few other things about this episode don’t quite work. Why do all of these London businessmen speak with American accents? Why does everyone in the board meeting look like a real person except for Isaac, the one obvious anime character in the room? Why does the scene suddenly turn into a gore fest in the middle of a cutesy dating show?

The animation isn’t always great, and the acting is uneven. Alex Organ is wonderfully creepy as Isaac and Brittney Karbowski is charming as Yuzuru. On the other hand, Michelle Rojas (Tohka)’s phrasing is sometimes a little stilted, Josh Grelle (Shido)’s emotional reactions aren’t always quite believable.

I also don’t understand the premise that Shido is dating all of these girls at once and somehow none of them know—or at least don’t care—about the others. How is Kotori supposed to go out with Shido knowing full well she’s his fifth date in 24 hours? It’s a funny and enjoyable scenario, but certainly not a realistic one.

That being said, I’m pleasantly surprised at how I enjoyed “Can You Find Me?” Here’s hoping that in next week’s episode, there’s even more fun to be found.