Well first lets say this, This light novel should only be read if you at least enjoyed some of Date A Live the anime. If you didn’t enjoy the anime it will be hard to read something based off of something you didn’t enjoy. Of course this review is assuming that you are a viewer of the anime and you want to see how the light novel is compared to the anime. If you are a light novel only type of guy, be sure to read this, otherwise you will be missing out.

Date A Live seems to have a silly idea in the beginning, a premise where you would have to shut down your brain to enjoy BUT there is a whole ton more to this series than first meets the eye. The author, in an interview stated that he had the main plot, antagonists and climax planned out from the beginning. Now, you may be wondering why the fuck that matters but it really does. This series has an immense quantity of foreshadowing and world building. Though the main character doesn’t develop much through out the series (one problem of the series you will have to accept), the other characters and world building are great. The world building is great because all of it was planned from the beginning and it shows. The series is a basic have fun harem UNTIL volume 10. Volume 10 shows for the first time what the series is capable of, it is capable of making things come full circle, making events from the beginning of the series make sense and contain plot twists that will blow your mind. Volumes 10-12 are extraordinary, then volumes 13-15 returns to the normal Date A Live formula where it’s “Date the Girls to save the girls”. However, Volume 15 is the last time Date A Live is about just dating a new spirit.


Now comes there part where we talk about volumes 16-22. These volumes completely break off from the Date A Live formula and are completely unique. The series takes a darker turn of seriousness, and it explains the origins of the main character and has more plot twists than it did earlier. We can say that everything before volume 16 was just build up for the next few volumes. Volumes 16-22 have a mix of tragedy, depression, and intense plot twists that were clearly planned from the beginning of the series. I know i’ve mentioned “plot twists” a lot but these really are plot twists that you wouldn’t see coming at all. Honestly, YOU should just read it. Many people will negatively critique this series before reaching the intense parts, which is understandable because a series should not take this long to actually go from mediocre to great. However, I still believe if someone wants to judge a series they should read the entire work first and this is one that fits the situation perfectly. This series is amazing, give it a read.

Btw.. Tohka best girl.