See also:
- Adorkable:
- Tohka is an endearing Fish out of Water trying her best to integrate into human society.
- As expected of an Otaku, Nia really likes gushing about manga-related things, as well as cosplay.
- Alternative Character Interpretation: "Is Kurumi Cute and Psycho or Yandere" is a question of interest to many fans. Events in 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.
- Ass Pull: The final volume suddenly reveals that Sandalphon and Nahemah have such Absurd Cutting Power that they can even cut through the fabric of spacetime. Parallel World Tenka claims that Tohka's kindness subconsciously held back her Angel's full power, but there's no excuse for Tenka herself never using this, especially when her counterpart in this world was willing to cut through the entire city just to kill Shido.
- Audience-Alienating Premise: The concept of dating powerful supernatural girls to seal their powers was seen as a turn off by most people in the west, who pegged the series as being just another silly Quirky Work. However, this is slowly starting to change as the introduction of Kurumi and Westcott took the series in a much darker and serious turn.
- Base-Breaking Character:
- Commander mode Kotori's verbal and physical abuse toward Shido is either hilarious or grating, though it gets toned down in later volumes. Support for her relationship with Shido will also vary wildly depending on how much one cares about her not being related to him.
- After her Heel–Face Turn, Miku is prominently featured as an Abhorrent Admirer to the other Spirits. Whether it is entertaining or annoying depends on the audience's perspective.
- Captain Obvious Reveal:
- Once you catch on to the Spirits' Numerical Theme Naming and learn that humans can become Spirits from Kotori's arc, it's hardly suprising when Origami becomes one too. Splitting the kanji for "zero" between Reine's given name and surname was intended to avoid this.
- Beast is Tohka. Everything from her name in the last two volumes, to similar portions of their Astral Dresses, to the focus on Shido still looking for a way for reunite with her, points us into this direction. The only surprise is that she’s Tohka from a parallel world; the Tohka who disappeared at the end of Volume 20 doesn’t reappear until the very end.
- Catharsis Factor: Elliot's offscreen fight with Wescott. We don't get to see it, but by the time we see Wescott again, he's in his base's sick bay.
- Complete Monster: Sir Isaac Ray Peram Westcott is the absolutely monstrous Director of Deus.Ex.Machina Industries. A sadomasochistic Mage who discovered his love of pain and despair when his village was slaughtered by humans, Westcott uses "revenge" against humanity as a veil to mask his true motive to simply cause destruction. Torturing and experimenting on hundreds of women and children to turn them into his enslaved "Wizards", Westcott summoned the First Spirit years ago, wiping out 150 million humans in the process, and begins hunting down every Spirit to torture and drive them insane so as to steal their Sephira Crystals. Upon obtaining a Sephira by torturing Nia for five years then forcing all the pain from those years on her at once, Westcott ups his game in slaughtering civilians—including children; sending entire fleets of his own troops on suicide missions in between maiming and killing them on a whim; and dragging entire cities into bloody conflicts. Westcott proudly proclaims every last one of his crimes as being nothing but a hobby to him, and when beaten after first trying to rewrite reality to one where he reigns supreme over a tortured humanity, Westcott tries to drag everyone, his own Dragon included, down to death with him, spending his final moments in glee at his former "friends" mourning his demise.
- Evil Is Cool:
- Inverse Form Tohka is much more dangerous than her base form, and has so far displayed the greatest destructive force of all Spirits. It says something when she obliterates the majority of the belligerents and nearly levels the city during Volume 7's climax (end of second season). With just one swing.
- One upped by Angel, and later her Inverse, Devil. Who happens to be Origami as a Spirit, and who vaporizes the Fraxinus and half the city before Shido changes the timeline.
- Isaac Westcott. Ironically, he was meant to be so despicable that people would despise him with all their hearts by introducing him as a delusional uncaring monster. Many may hate or love him but it's impossible to deny that Westcott is one of the most brilliant villains to ever grace Date A Live genre and the Light Novel genre in general. Instead of being treated like some kind of flat psychopath from the beginning like most villains coming from these types of stories are, Westcott later reveals himself to a seductive, charming, charismatic, Diabolical Mastermind and composed man who never loses his posture, even in the worst situations of life and death. Westcott is absolutely a heartless monster to be rooted against, however, while the man committed inhuman acts that almost pushed him into Hate Sink, Westcott repays it with a likable, seductive and badass personality.
- Fan Nickname: Moegami for Origami in the new timeline.
- Franchise Original Sin: Season 3's Adaptation Distillation of Volume 12 has been heavily maligned for leaving out major plot points like Material A (who becomes relevant in the very next volume) and namedropping Mio. The anime has been guilty of Adaptation Distillation from the start, particularly with leaving out several hints about Reine, but it was never so extreme as to change the flow of the story like what happened to Volume 12.
- Friendly Fandoms:
- There is a good chance that a Date A Live fan is also a High School D×D fan, both being harem light novels with a magic theme, both with a protagonist voiced by Josh Grelle. It also helps the fact that both series are from the same publisher.
- With Tsunako as the novel's artist, anyone discussing this series is bound to discuss the Neptunia series. And to the lesser extent, Fairy Fencer F.
- Season 4's adaptation of Volume 16, in which Shido and Kurumi compete to make each other confess their feelings first, attracted viewers of Kaguya-sama's concurrent Season 3, which has a similar competition between the male lead and a black-haired red-eyed girl as the main plot.
- Germans Love David Hasselhoff: It's more popular than A Certain Magical Index and the Fate series in China, to the point that a mobile phone game is being made there.
- Growing the Beard: Not that the series wasn't entertaining beforehand, but the introductions of Kurumi and DEM are what made Date A Live stand on its own.
- Hilarious in Hindsight: In Volume 5, Tohka tries to pass herself off as a boy so she can stick with Shido during the field trip, which Origami sabotages by suggesting Shido start dressing like a girl to rebalance things. The very next volume actually has Shido crossdressing to get close to the misandric Miku.
- I Am Not Shazam: A weird case here; the title of Volume 7 has led some fans to think that the Spirit on the cover is Miku and that something happened to her, when it's actually Tohka's Superpowered Evil Side. Also inverted by other fans who recognise the Spirit, but get the title wrong as a result.
- I Knew It!: A lot people correctly guessed that Reine Murasame and Phantom were the same person before Volume 16 confirmed it because they were both voiced by Aya Endo.
- Some other people reached the same conclusion for different reasons: the series follows Numerical Theme Naming, and Reine has the kanji for "zero" in can be formed by rearranging the two kanji in her name.
- Inferred Holocaust: The military forces of Deus.Ex.Machina Industries and the frequent torture and termination of its own officers according to Isaac Westcott's will.
- Just Here for Godzilla:
- Some fans admit that they're only interested thanks to Tsunako's designs. That, or Kurumi.
- As for several Yuri fans, they're more interested on Miku.
- Les Yay: 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, until its very own Knight of Cerebus appears and turns it into the darkest work set in the verse to date.
- Also with Natsumi and Yoshino, to the point that the former once blurted out that she wanted to marry her.
- Love to Hate: An interesting case with Minerva Liddell. She was created as a Hate Sink, being a villain so despicable that the audience would feel nothing but contempt for her, and she does the job very well. Still, while audiences despise her for her actions and personality, many still admire how well she was written to fill the role, as well as for being a perfect example of an aversion of the Double Standard of women being portrayed more sympathetically than men, especially in regards to sexual crimes.
- Magnificent Bastard: "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 Sadistic Choice 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.
- Memetic Loser: Nia is the Second Spirit with the Great Big Book of Everything as an Angel, but is unfortunately known for mostly losing it by the time she becomes an ally (though she can still somewhat interfere with its Demon King counterpart), and only gets it back during the Final Battle after Kurumi takes the exact same ability from Westcott anyway, in addition to already owning Zafkiel. Despite its borderline omniscience and future description making for a Story-Breaker Power, she's more often ridiculed for her pitiful direct combat abilities. It certainly doesn't help that the Fraxinus EX's AI MARIA is constantly mocking her for these and many other reasons.
- Memetic Molester:
- Memetic Mutation:
- Mikimoto saying "Mahal kita." (Tagalog for "I love you.") People posting comments on forums talk about it a lot.
- After the reveal of The Detective Is Already Dead, people wasted no time in comparing the protagonist's appearance to Origami's. Some even made jokes that the pictures they took of her were from Date A Live's (at the time of writing) upcoming 4th season.
- Moe:
- Yoshino. Especially when she starts crying when something happens to Yoshinon
. Ai, Mai and Mii's reactions to Yoshino sums it up nicely.Mii: She's so cute it's almost gross! - Kotori when she's wearing her white ribbons. Her black ribbons, on the other hand...
- Tohka's endearing, innocent, child-like personality and utter sincerity about everything can come off as just plain adorkable.
- Origami in the new timeline, where she's not traumatized by her parents' deaths at the hands of a Spirit (actually her future self).
- Yoshino. Especially when she starts crying when something happens to Yoshinon
- Moral Event Horizon:
- Isaac Westcott took a flying leap past it when he summoned the First Spirit, causing her to create the First Spacequake, taking over 150,000,000 lives, and his remorse was nonexistent.
- Ellen Mathers crossed this by brutally stabbing Shido in front of Tohka, leading her to cross the Despair Event Horizon and transform into the Inverse Form her boss tries to harness.
- Quirky Work: Humanity is faced with a new kind of natural disaster, caused by the random appearances of Spirits with incredible power. Instead of fighting them (as it doesn't work), the only way to permanently solve the issue is to send a man to date them using Dating Sim mechanics.
- The Scrappy: Ai, Mai and Mii — but especially Mii. Their only purpose so far has been an unfunny Running Gag where they interpret Shido's (and sometimes other people's) actions in the worst way possible, and fans find Mii's constant "gross" (changed to "That's so lame" in the FUNimation dub) — her only line — to be incredibly grating and unfair to Shido.
- Shocking Moments: Get past the silly Excuse Plot and you'll find a story that deals with apocalyptic beings, as well as those looking to use their powers for nefarious ends, so as the series takes a dark turn, expect fans to freak out.
- Signature Scene: Shido's first encounter with a Spirit (or at least the first one he remembers) as he's confronted by the then-unnamed Tohka, who assumes that he's come to kill her. It shows up frequently in advertisements, and gets a parallel scene in Volume 21 with the arrival of Beast.
- Strawman Has a Point: Shido's first conversation with Mukuro trying to invite her down to Earth ends with him in a Heroic BSoD when he can't promise that she'll be safer sealed and under his protection than unsealed and on her own, making him doubt whether all the sealing he'd done beforehand was the right thing. While Mukuro's stance is undermined with her backstory as a love-starved orphan whose sealed memories and emotions simply make her unable to realize that she Hates Being Alone, the story repeatedly points out situations before and after that would not be so troublesome if the Spirits' powers weren't sealed.
- Tear Jerker:
- Tohka's Despair Event Horizon after witnessing Shido's death. As the two spent more time together, Tohka has begun to enjoy the everyday life of the human world. However, it later saddened her that her actions has harmed the innocent but Shido declared to stand alongside her no matter what. That was when things went to horrible when Shido jumped in to protect Tohka and was killed in the process. Having lost her true friend, Tohka returned to her previous wear and unleashed the full powers of a highly enraged Spirit who has nothing else to lose.
- In a similar vein, her breakdown while being Forced to Watch as Ellen stabs Shido and prepares to kill him. Separated by a barrier that her Sandalphon can barely scratch, all she can do is hysterically beg Westcott and Ellen to spare him out of sheer terror that she’s about to lose the most important person in her life. This ends up making her Inverse as Westcott intended.
- Mio's Heroic Sacrifice and Heel Realization in Volume 19, which leads into Tohka's disappearance and Dying Declaration of Love in the next volume.
- The second OVA turns out to be this. Remember the Kurumi clone that was killed by the original when Kurumi was first introduced? She is briefly Back from the Dead for this episode and decides to go on a date with Shidou. Throughout the episode Kurumi knows that she only has a bit of time left before the original finds her and kills her, so she makes sure that Shidou, the only person who genuinely reached out to her, won't forget her, to the point that the two are pictured in wedding attire. And so, when that time does come and this Kurumi is gone for good, it really does feel like a loss for Shidou. This clone of Kurumi really did want to live a normal life and be remembered by those she truly loved, only for her to be Killed Off for Real in the end.
- Origami finding the Awful Truth about the death of her parents. The spirit she was looking for who caused their deaths was herself. This horrible realization immediately caused her to Inverse and afterward she is dead inside. Even with all the problems she caused, Origami didn't deserve that fate.
- Natsumi's backstory in Volume 22 reveals her to have grown up with an abusive mother and a father who left them and started a new family. Once her father died (and thus the alimony payments stopped), her mother tried to kill her out of frustration. Once she became a spirit in order to survive, she turned her mother into a frog. At the end, she didn't want revenge, she just wanted her mother to love her.
- They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: A huge factor in the dislike towards Season 3 is this, with special mention to the final episode, which squished an entire book worth of material into it.
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Mana. 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, even though Mio herself has to accept that Shido will never truly be Shinji. Her involvement in the conflicts is also quite sporadic, despite being one of the most skilled Wizards in the world. The anime makes this worse by completely leaving her out of Season 3.
- Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Mukuro is intended to be an unfortunate orphan just desperate to secure any loved ones she can get lest she end up alone again, which Shido empathizes with as an adoptive member of his own family after his mother abandoned him. However, she can come off as unbelievably selfish when she defines her loneliness as her adoptive family and Shido simply interacting with anyone else, and was triggered by such minor events as her adoptive sister Asahi siding with her friends that Mukuro's hair was too long (which the anime didn't include, making Mukuro come off worse with even less reason to erase her sister's friends memories), and later Shido politely refusing to cut off the other Spirits. Furthermore, Mukuro's possessiveness gets as extreme as messing with the world's memories to cut her loved ones off from everyone except her, and even attempting to wipe out all life on Earth.
- The Un-Twist: Kotori's eyes have whitened pupils just like all Spirits (sans Kurumi) have, so it's as easy as seeing the first episode or light novel to realize she's also a Spirit.
- Vindicated by History: Date A Live wasn't well-received by westerners when its anime adaptation aired in 2013 due to its rather silly premise. But as the series went on and became Darker and Edgier, it's now being seen with more positive light compared to before.
- What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: 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 Light Novel 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.
- The Woobie: Natsumi is very much a woobie in the audience's eye because her self-confidence is so low that at one point in the anime she says she's worse than trash, and never really seems to have any confidence in her true form, thinking it ugly and thinking everyone is making fun of her behind her back, when neither is true. Her backstory just makes it worse, considering that before she became a spirit, she had to endure her mom constantly calling her ugly and refusing to feed her, while blaming her for her father leaving. Because of this, as miserable as she was at school, it was a matter of life and death going because that was the only time she would get fed.
