English Dub Review: Date A Live “The Seventh Spirit”

Date a trope.

Overview (Spoilers Below!)

Season three kicks off with some recap: thirty years ago, a group of sci-fi lifeforms called Spirits caused a massive “spatial quake” that destroyed much of the world.

Now the boy Shido is surrounded by female Spirits cheering him on to eat their bubbling, neon stew. Although he’s terrified, the stew turns out surprisingly good. The Spirit idol Miku (no, not that Miku) bursts into the room, announcing that it’s her birthday and she wants a kiss from each of them. Outside, Origami lurks in the bushes. Miku tries the stew and burns her lips, claiming that Shido needs to kiss them better. All the other girls insist that their lips need attention too. The doorbell rings—it’s Origami with her own horrifying stew.

Suddenly, an alarm sounds. Shido walks through an abandoned theme park, searching for a new, witchlike Spirit. Through a headpiece, Kotori delivers dialogue options to Shido, and a group votes on the right choice. The Spirit Natsumi begs Shido for compliments. AST fighters fly in, shooting missiles at Natsumi and Shido, but she protects them with silly magic. Natsumi sneezes, causing her form to shift for a moment; because Shido saw, she vows to kill him, flying off in a huff.

When Shido arrives at school, his classmates scold him for his lewd behavior towards them. Origami grabs Shido’s hand and thrusts it onto her bare breast, begging him to sleep with her. The Yamais claim that Shido assaulted them too—as does his teacher, and even a male student. Escaping into the hallway, Shido sees his doppelgänger. It’s Natsumi, here to ruin his good name; she plans to kill him and take over as Shido.

Origami and Tohka burst in, but both Shidos claim to be the real one. Both girls instantly know that Natsumi is the fake, and Natsumi flies away again, enraged. Back at the house, Kotori scolds Shido because he’ll need to raise Natsumi’s “happiness level” before he can seal away her power. Natsumi has mailed Shido pictures of all his friends; he must figure out which one she’s impersonating before she kills them all.

Our Take

The tonal whiplash here is astounding. Aliens set off a catastrophic earthquake and mass destruction across Earth—but oh, now they’re bad at cooking but really earnest about it, how cute!

To quote Rimuru Tempest a la That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, “Don’t tell me this is gonna be that overused trope. The one where the seemingly skilled hot woman turns out to suck at cooking.” And tired it is indeed. This sequence basically recreates the scene from the Slime anime word-for-word, and it’s not like that concept was particularly entertaining or original to begin with. What a boring way to begin the season.

This episode wildly vacillates between two distinct modes: the intriguing plotline about Shido trying to locate Spirits and sway them over to his side by increasing their happiness meter (I’m thinking something like a grown-up, romantic version of Lilo & Stitch the Series), and the idiotic and unoriginal fanservice that’s frankly difficult to force myself to watch.

I mean, an actual line of dialogue from a potential love interest is, “All I want from each of you is a great big kissy-wissy.” When Kotori flies in from the sky to take out Miku, the animation slows down to ensure we get a nice good look at her upper thigh under her skirt. It’s chock-full of overused tropes, and the characters aren’t even well-established. To compare this show to another harem romp, although The Master of Ragnorak and Blesser of Einherjar is vapid and nonsensical, it at least boasts a cast of distinct characters who are each likable in their own way. What makes each of these Spirits a uniquely viable girlfriend for Shido? I don’t know, because they’re all so nondescript.

On the other hand, when Shido wanders the amusement park, the animation is impressive. The sunset colors everything in gorgeous reds and yellows, and Natsumi’s magic—as well as the theme park setting—is childlike and entertaining. This sequence incorporates dating sim staples seamlessly into the story is funny and inventive ways, and it makes for a compelling premise. And if the characters haven’t been able to showcase their personalities yet, I appreciate that they all have likable and unique character designs—Natsumi’s purple and green ensemble is fun, and I like the distinctive hairstyles of Kyouhei and Reine. The proposed plot of episode 24, where Shido will have to determine which of his friends is really Natsumi in disguise, doesn’t sound half bad.

It’s frankly impressive how fast this show shifts between quirky and cringy. Origami and Tohka’s ability to identify Shido based on the exact speed of his blinks and tilt of his hips? That’s hilarious, but one minute earlier, Origami opened her blouse and shoved Shido’s hand onto her breast, in their classroom in full view of everyone, including the teacher. I don’t know if anyone actually enjoys scenes like this, but I certainly do not.

There’s no opening song this season, which is a little disappointing, and the ending song is surprisingly serious, with the credits imposed over a black background instead of fun animation. Right up until the end, it really does seem like this show can’t decide whether it wants to be a semi-serious sci-fi story or a softcore harem porno. For all our sakes, I hope this season begins to lean towards the former.