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April 11, 2013

Date A Live Episode 01

So how did I find out about this series? I don't read LN's, and I just don't hang out online like I used to, so what drew me in? The...not-so-same way it always does, I saw the 3 minute PV hit wide release and that's all she wrote.
I was sucked in completely, and I'm not going to lie, they showed Kotori's pantsu full screen in that pv (ver1.2) and I fell in love. Of course, I was also drawn to Tohka, who I can't help but fall for the armed ponytail.


Kotori's dance. It's been downsized due to its filesize, so click it for the full one

So after I saw that pv, I heard there was a manga version, and I jumped on that too. I like what I saw, and that Kotori wake up sequence was everything I was hoping it would be when animated. Making her dance was an extra step, and one of the compelling reasons why I look forward to manga adaptions is that there's a huge potential to make things 10x better when in motion compared to a still image. Words can tell a powerful story, but watching it happen is even more fun.

Contents:

  • Time well spent (AKA having a :D face more often than a :| or :< face)
  • Don't back up the truck (When the story is comprehensible for most of it's airtime)
  • Mission Complete! (when you get what is expected out of the series instead of going WTF?)
I like the girl on the left. Big bombs with an open uniform, ah she looks so dominating. Meanwhile, I think I've seen that girl on the right before...

TIME WELL SPENT: "Just like usual" :|
After the beginning sequence that explains much of the premise (and that dance), the episode starts like much of the other school-harem based series of old, we see the protag going to school, he actually has a friend (take that, Kodaka!), and he...sits next to the ice girl, Origami.
There was a sequence not long afterward of an impending spacey quake, and the city goes into lockdown. I like these kind of things, humans learning from past lessons and making their future bright, and, well, I'm Megatron, the guy who slipped by the Autobots early warning systems and vanquished their Autobot City on Earth. Transforming cities are fun to watch :P
The first half ends as the protagonist meets his maker....meets his baby maker? >_> I mean... I really would like that to happen to me someday, a girl falling from the skies, planting her cute butt on my face as my last view before I black out....no, that didn't happen in this episode, but he meets her in the midst of a pile of rubble.... gee, that doesn't even sound good.

The second half starts with the action, followed by some more explanation and then the episode ends with our protagonist's first mission. As far as introductionary episodes go, this get's a :| face from me as it wasn't edge of your seat entertainment, but it wasn't bad either, following much of what I expected after having read 6 chapters of the manga, so much of one's expectations should be determined by how much episode 02 will pull you in.

DON'T BACK UP THE TRUCK: "it's that simple"
The story isn't hard to follow. Several years ago, a large chunk of earth was wiped clean of inhabitants. It was an untimely event, causing the world to be alarmed of the existence of such things. Thus, the Rattata's I mean Ratatoskr was formed, in the hopes of containing these incidents. While they can combat these being's causing the space quakes and ultimately kill them, their commander has come across another more pacifistic solution, which is where our protagonist comes in, and hence the title of the show, Date A Live. I think so anyways, the title isn't Date A Girl, so what is the Live part about? Date a live girl? I know you can't date a dead one....>__<

MISSION COMPLETE: "but it just started..."
As an introductory episode, I can't classify this as complete, unlike Muromi-san which was about comedy with no deeper continuity, so much of your enjoyment should come in the form how much you like these particular genre's: a high school setting, cute girls at school, home and... work, a little action here and there primarily in the form of girls fighting each other, and perhaps, a nice story that wraps all this into one enjoyable package. For this series, liking just one element of it's package is not recommended, as you might feel the other packages go on for too long. I myself watch anime for the girls and the plot, so.....hey, I like a good story you know :D


Just make sure you got plenty of sleep before watching this episode. :D


Oh, I caught it before the main site changed, but you could have gotten the wallpaper here, but now you have to pay more attention when you watch the episodes to get the rest of the wallpapers that come out :(

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