English Dub Review: Date A Live “Crossroads”

Hot crossroads.

Overview (Spoilers Below!)

When Origami was a child, she walked home from school one day to find her neighborhood on fire. After light from the sky exploded her parents, she vowed to someday get revenge.

Shido wakes up with his hand on Natsumi’s boob (oh god). Kotori scolds Shido for this “debauchery” while the transformed Natsumi flirtatiously teases Kotori. At school, Okamine-sensei tells the class that Origami is transferring to a new school in England. Natsumi has tea with Yoshino, who offers to show her around the city. Natsumi was certain Yoshino had come to get revenge and is stunned by her kindness. Shido goes to Origami’s apartment, but no one answers the door. He breaks in to find the place completely deserted, all furniture gone. Suddenly, someone chloroforms him!

Kotori is just settling down to lunch when Reine calls, announcing that she can’t find Shido. Shido awakens, tied up and handcuffed on a DEM ship. Origami appears from the shadows, roughly forcing a bottle of water down his throat. She explains that she joined DEM but kidnapped Shido separately, of her own volition. Instead of merely being angry at the Spirit who killed her parents, Origami now wants to destroy all Spirits. Isaac tells Ellen that he’s chill with leaving Origami to her own devices.

Tohka, Kaguya, and Yuzuru walk home together and run into Miku, who is bored because Shido isn’t home. The girls resolve to find him. The spatial quake alarm sounds and citizens run for cover. Origami appears in front of the Spirits, claiming she set off the false alarm. Origami transforms and attacks them with her battle armor, and the Spirits fight back. Kotori watches from Fraxinus, which is also under attack by airship Goetia. Ellen calls her to deliver a violent message for Elliot. Kotori offers her crew the chance to run before the battle, but they all stand their ground.

Fraxinus fires on Goetia, which dodges easily. Goetia bombards Fraxinus with blasts of its own. In captivity, Shido screams for help.

Our Take

Although this is an action-packed episode on paper, the actual viewing experience isn’t all that exciting. Instead of actually witnessing battles, it’s mostly people threatening to fight each other, a setup episode to the extreme. Origami has had a dramatic change of heart, but it’s unclear from this episode what exactly changed her mind—it almost seems like DEM has brainwashed her, but we don’t get to see any evidence of that.

Natsumi, disappointingly, seemed to have gone through a lot of character development, but she’s now still making the same mistakes as when we first met her. After two whole episodes dedicated to how Natsumi needs to accept her true form and not rely on transformation for self-confidence, we open on her transforming in the most over-the-top and unnecessary situation possible. I don’t care if she’s technically “aged-up” when she’s transformed—watching this kid be sexualized is still hella weird. Her boobs bounce in the most unrealistic and fetishy way when Shido draws back his hand, and the whole scene is not only gross but also undermines Natsumi’s development considerably.

To be fair, though, it is realistic that Natsumi’s paranoia wouldn’t go away completely overnight. It makes sense that she’s suspicious of Yoshino and then shocked and overjoyed when Yoshino wants to be friends because she’s a little lonely. And it’s super cute to watch Natsumi squeal, “I’ve gotta marry this girl!” Might we see a romance bloom betwixt them? Romantic or platonic, I hope Date A Live sticks with this relationship. Hopefully, the sweet Yoshino gradually can teach Natsumi that not everyone is out to get her, that she doesn’t have to be sexy to deserve respect. If there’s no payoff, what’s the point of her arc at all?

The voice acting in this episode could be better. Josh Grelle’s over-the-top screams aren’t really believable, especially when he’s belting out his lines in class, in full hearing range of all the other students. But it is true that we leave him in a pretty dire situation. I’m not totally sure how Origami was able to hijack that ship and orchestrate Shido’s kidnapping all on his own, but hopefully, someone will come to his rescue soon, or all may be lost for our serial dating hero.

It’s unclear how much danger Origami really poses to the Spirits, but considering their battle is four-on-one, it doesn’t seem like victory will be that difficult for them. In general, I like this show’s message of redemption through acceptance and reintegration into society, but the dramatic plotlines could use a little more emotional development to get viewers invested. At the moment, I feel like I’m watching a battle without very high stakes at all.