History YMMV / DateALive

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Compared to a lot of the other Spirits' {{Dark And Troubled Past}}s, [[spoiler:Mukuro's comes off as a bit melodramatic. She's supposed to be viewed as an unfortunate orphan just [[IJustWantToBeLoved desperate to secure any loved ones she can get lest she end up alone again]], which allowed Shido to empathize with her, but can come off as a selfish brat who couldn't handle Shido, or her already loving adoptive family, just not making her the center of attention all the time (beginning with her overblown reaction to her adoptive sister agreeing with her friend's innocent suggestion to trim Mukuro's long hair). Her family rejecting her after she became a Spirit is also entirely her fault for basically cutting them off from the rest of the world and expecting a positive response, and she not only does the same thing to Shido, but even tries to ''wipe out all life on Earth'' so nobody can get between them.]]

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Compared to a lot of the other Spirits' {{Dark And Troubled Past}}s, [[spoiler:Mukuro's comes off as a bit melodramatic. She's supposed to be viewed as an unfortunate orphan just [[IJustWantToBeLoved desperate to secure any loved ones she can get lest she end up alone again]], which allowed Shido to empathize with her, but can come off as a selfish brat who couldn't handle her already loving adoptive family just not making her the center of attention all the time (beginning with her overblown reaction to her adoptive sister agreeing with her friend's innocent suggestion to trim her long hair). Her family rejecting her after she became a Spirit is also entirely her fault for basically cutting them off from the rest of the world and expecting a positive response.]]

** Yoshino. ''[[UpToEleven Especially]]'' when she [[http://funnymama.com/post/170069 starts crying when something happens to Yoshinon]]. [[ThoseTwoGuys Ai, Mai and Mii's]] [[http://funnymama.com/post/179147 reactions]] to Yoshino sums it up nicely.

* NarmCharm: You wouldn't expect a series about an ordinary guy dating superpowered girls to save the world to be filled with interesting characters, poignant pathos, engaging narrative and excellent music, but there you have it.

* {{Narm}}: Shido receiving instructions through his ear-intercom can be hard to take seriously when it should be incredibly obvious to the person opposite Shido that he is talking to someone on the other end of the ear-piece. Especially when they are just standing around doing nothing as Shido reacts to the ear-intercom. It could also double as NarmCharm due to the moment when Shido takes off the earpiece and decides to be honest with his partner. It clarifies the moment that he wants to earn their affections through sincerity and kindness, rather than the outrageous things the Ratatoskr team gets him to say.

** Pre-HeelFaceTurn, Miku is a glamorous girl-loving EvilDiva with BastardGirlfriend undertones.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Compared to a lot of the other Spirits' {{Dark And Troubled Past}}s, [[spoiler:Mukuro's comes off as a bit melodramatic. She's supposed to be viewed as an unfortunate orphan just [[IJustWantToBeLoved desperate to secure any loved ones she can get lest she end up alone again]], which allowed Shido to empathize with her, but can come off as a selfish brat who couldn't handle her already loving adoptive family just not making her the center of attention all the time (beginning with her overblown reaction to her adoptive sister agreeing with her friend's innocent suggestion to trim her RapunzelHair). Her family rejecting her after she became a Spirit is also entirely her fault for basically cutting them off from the rest of the world and expecting a positive response.]]

* SeasonalRot:
** The second anime season usually gets called out for this due to the rushed pacing of the Miku / Dark Tohka arc. The [[http://i.imgur.com/DIL5XIk.png animation]] wasn't exactly top-notch at this point either.
** The third season gets even more flak for its often subpar art and animation, and pacing issues reaching a nadir in the Volume 12 adaptation getting squeezed entirely into the final episode and leaving out major plot points for the future.

* FriendlyFandoms: There is a good chance that a ''Date A Live'' fan is also a ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDXD'' fan, both being harem light novels with a magic theme, both with a protaganist voiced by Creator/JoshGrelle. It also helps the fact that both series are from the same publisher and suffered from SeasonalRot on their third seasons thanks to multiple changes in the adaptation.

* SeasonalRot:
** The second anime season usually gets called out for this due to the rushed pacing of the Miku / Dark Tohka arc. The [[http://i.imgur.com/DIL5XIk.png animation]] wasn't exactly top-notch at this point either.
** The third season gets even more flak for its often subpar art and animation, and pacing issues reaching a nadir in the Volume 12 adaptation getting squeezed entirely into the final episode and leaving out major plot points for the future.
** So far a SubvertedTrope with the fourth season, which sports some of the best animation in the series to date and appears to be fixing certain issues with the Volume 12 adaptation.

* FriendlyFandoms: There is a good chance that a ''Date A Live'' fan is also a ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDXD'' fan. It also helps the fact that both series are from the same publisher and suffered from SeasonalRot on their third seasons thanks to multiple changes in the adaptation.

* FoeYay: Westcott's relationship with Elliot is this, even up to [[spoiler:his death]] in Volume 19.
** Kurumi [[LecherousLicking finds Origami to be "delicious".]]

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Mana. [[spoiler:She lived with the First Spirit and the former incarnation of the protagonist Shido as her older brother. While Shido collecting memories of his past is an important part of the plot, she only gets to recover her memories in Volume 18, which ends with Shido changing that timeline. While she was presumably informed of her past later, there's never really much focus on her relationship with Mio or how she feels about Shido not technically being her brother. Her involvement in the conflicts is also quite sporadic, despite being one of the most skilled Wizards in the world.]]

* CatharsisFactor: After turning most of his friends and loved ones against him, and spending the entirety of Season 2 being [[InvincibleVillain almost completely untouchable,]] seeing Miku finally meet her match against [[SuperPoweredEvilSide Inverse Tohka]] was a breath of fresh air for most (especially seeing as how Tohka in that state was completely [[NoSell immunne]] to Miku's powers, and could even de-activate them), seeing as how she ends up facing [[KarmaHoudini no real comuppance after these events.]]

* FanNickname:
** Moegami for [[spoiler:Origami in the new timeline.]]
** Oppai Loli for Mukuro.

* MagnificentBitch: [[FromNobodyToNightmare "Nightmare" Kurumi Tokisaki]] was once a normal, human girl. After being turned into a Spirit and lied to by the First Spirit after killing her best friend, Kurumi resolved to undo the First Spirit's existence no matter what it took. Introduced as a mysteriously charming transfer student, Kurumi stays one step ahead of Shido Itsuka and Ratatoskr, ultimately engineering a SadisticChoice where either a spacequake destroys the city or her "City of Devouring Time" consumes Shido's entire school. After being saved from a rampaging "Efreet" by Shido, her next appearance sees her help Shido against Miku and DEM while trying to uncover Nia's location. Helping Origami go back in time to stop her parents' murder, Kurumi learns the horrible truth and uses her time powers to help Shido correct the mistake, including convincing her past self to offer aid. Against the overwhelming might of Mio Takamiya and [[Characters/DateALiveIsaacRayPeramWestcott Isaac Westcott]], Kurumi put a [[CloningGambit clone back in time]] as a contingency to impart critical knowledge to Shido in case she's killed and steals back Nia's Qlipha Crystal from Westcott to even the odds. Brimming with self-confidence to match her enigmatic nature, Kurumi was both a [[FaceHeelRevolvingDoor deadly enemy and a pivotal ally]].

* WhatAnIdiot:
** Origami again. [[SarcasmMode Oh, sure, it's a good idea to attack the commander of a rival organization with a new weapon intended for someone else (and without permission) just because you think]] [[YouKilledMyFather she killed your parents]] (which turned out to be false). Who in her SuperpoweredEvilSide state doesn't mind beating the crap out of you. People get demoted or discharged for pulling this kind of shit. It took a timely intervention by ''the managing director of the company that produced said weapon'' to prevent her discharge, [[DoWrongRight and that was only because she was actually able to use it.]] And she still got put under house arrest for 2 months.
** Shido finds himself getting tricked by Kotori into several AccidentalPervert moments with Tohka after she starts living with them, though one could have been avoided: while taking a bath, he realizes that Tohka’s just outside getting ready to jump in as well. Instead of warning her before she enters the room, he decides to just dive down as long as he can, having to resurface right in front of Tohka, who freaks out and nearly drowns him.

* [[HoYay Les Yay]]: [[SchoolgirlLesbians Miku]] aside, there's ''loads'' of this between Origami and Mikie in the AST. The two of them have an entire spinoff dedicated to this, [[spoiler:until its very own KnightOfCerebus appears and turns it into the darkest work set in the verse to date]].

* MagnificentBitch: "Nightmare" Kurumi Tokisaki was once a normal, human girl. After being turned into a Spirit and lied to by the First Spirit after killing her best friend, Kurumi resolved to undo the First Spirit's existence no matter what it took. Introduced as a mysteriously charming transfer student, Kurumi stays one step ahead of Shido Itsuka and Ratatoskr, ultimately engineering a SadisticChoice where either a spacequake destroys the city or her "City of Devouring Time" consumes Shido's entire school. After being saved from a rampaging "Efreet" by Shido, her next appearance sees her help Shido against Miku and DEM while trying to uncover Nia's location. Helping Origami go back in time to stop her parents' murder, Kurumi learns the horrible truth and uses her time powers to help Shido correct the mistake, including convincing her past self to offer aid. Against the overwhelming might of Mio Takamiya and [[Characters/DateALiveIsaacRayPeramWestcott Isaac Westcott]], Kurumi put a [[CloningGambit clone back in time]] as a contingency to impart critical knowledge to Shido in case she's killed and steals back Nia's Qlipha Crystal from Westcott to even the odds. Brimming with self-confidence to match her enigmatic nature, Kurumi was both a [[FaceHeelRevolvingDoor deadly enemy and a pivotal ally]].

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Compared to a lot of the other Spirits' {{Dark And Troubled Past}}s, [[spoiler:Mukuro's comes off as a bit melodramatic. She's supposed to be viewed as an unfortunate orphan just [[IJustWantToBeLoved desperate to secure any loved ones she can get lest she end up alone again]], which allowed Shido to [[NotSoDifferent empathize with her]], but can come off as a selfish brat who couldn't handle her already loving adoptive family just not making her the center of attention all the time (beginning with her overblown reaction to her adoptive sister agreeing with her friend's innocent suggestion to trim her RapunzelHair). Her family rejecting her after she became a Spirit is also entirely her fault for basically cutting them off from the rest of the world and expecting a positive response.]]

* MemeticMutation: Mikimoto saying "[[GratuitousForeignLanguage Mahal kita.]]" (Tagalog for "I love you.") People posting comments on forums talk about it a lot.

* MagnificentBitch: "Nightmare" [[Characters/DateALiveKurumiTokisaki Kurumi Tokisaki]] was once a normal, human girl. After being turned into a Spirit and lied to by the First Spirit after killing her best friend, Kurumi resolved to undo the First Spirit's existence no matter what it took. Introduced as a mysteriously charming transfer student, Kurumi stays one step ahead of [[Characters/DateALiveShidoItsuka Shido Itsuka]] and Ratatoskr, ultimately engineering a SadisticChoice where either a spacequake destroys the city or her "City of Devouring Time" consumes Shido's entire school. After being saved from a rampaging "Efreet" by Shido, her next appearance sees her help Shido against Miku and DEM while trying to uncover Nia's location. Helping [[Characters/DateALiveOrigamiTobiichi Origami]] go back in time to stop her parents' murder, Kurumi learns the horrible truth and uses her time powers to help Shido correct the mistake, including convincing her past self to offer aid. Against the overwhelming might of Mio Takamiya and [[Characters/DateALiveIsaacRayPeramWestcott Isaac Westcott]], Kurumi put a [[CloningGambit clone back in time]] as a contingency to impart critical knowledge to Shido in case she's killed and steals back Nia's Qlipha Crystal from Westcott to even the odds. Brimming with self-confidence to match her enigmatic nature, Kurumi was both a [[FaceHeelRevolvingDoor deadly enemy and a pivotal ally]].

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: "Is Kurumi CuteAndPsycho or {{Yandere}}" is a question of interest to many fans. Recent events in [[VisualNovel/DateALiveRinneUtopia spin-off material]] and the novels have suggested she might just be an exceptionally deadly ''{{Tsundere}}'', considering she's always being standoffish most of the time.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: [[ExcusePlot The ridiculous premise]] and low-key {{fanservice}} of ''Date A Live'' make it seem like a good candidate for a Shounen-oriented audience, but then we are reminded that this is a LightNovel published in a ''{{Seinen}}'' magazine. Suddenly, the appearances of the murderous Kurumi and the decadent Deus Ex Machina Industries are more than appropriate for the setting.

* MagnificentBitch: "Nightmare" [[Characters/DateALiveKurumiTokisaki Kurumi Tokisaki]] was once a normal, human girl. After being turned into a Spirit and lied to by the First Spirit after killing her best friend, Kurumi resolved to undo the First Spirit's existence no matter what it took. Introduced as a mysteriously charming transfer student, Kurumi stays one step ahead of Shido Itsuka and Ratatoskr, ultimately engineering a SadisticChoice where either a spacequake destroys the city or her "City of Devouring Time" consumes Shido's entire school. After being saved from a rampaging "Efreet" by Shido, her next appearance sees her help Shido against Miku and DEM while trying to uncover Nia's location. Helping Origami go back in time to stop her parents' murder, Kurumi learns the horrible truth and uses her time powers to help Shido correct the mistake, including convincing her past self to offer aid. Against the overwhelming might of Mio Takamiya and Isaac Westcott, Kurumi put a clone back in time as a contingency to impart critical knowledge to Shido in case she's killed and steals back Nia's Qlipha Crystal from Westcott to even the odds. Brimming with self-confidence to match her enigmatic nature, Kurumi was both a deadly enemy and a pivotal ally.