Date A Live Movie: Mayuri Judgment

REVIEW
*May contain spoilers*

Story: 7.5/10
I was really hyped for this movie, being a date a live fan, but this movie gave me the impression: " thats it?" It wasnt really much, just shido going on dates again and the appearance of mayuri. She literally talked for only about 5 minutes before she basicallly dissapears.Before she appeared at the ending you can only get glimpses of her. IMO i was dissapointed in this movie. Action was really good though.

Sound: 9/10
Very good soundtrack, loved how they used season 1 opening song again, was fantastic during the action scenes.

Characters: 6/10
Seriously, if a movie is about a person, make sure ... they have enough screen time
P.S kurumi doesnt have much screen time in this movie :(

Overall: 8/10
Was overall a great movie as a harem fan, but story was pretty down the drain. Still a must watch for date a live fans!

When it comes to anime movies, content within them is usually something of an issue. Due to constrained time windows, anime movies have to be able to eloquently tell a story in full if they want to be successful. Likewise, when it comes to movies that are based off of series' that are well known, keeping the theme and feel of that series while also telling a story also comes off as part of the list of issues that has to be taken into consideration. (Then there're those recap movies, and we are not going to talk about those ones.) So, ... an original story for the Date a Live series, is Mayuri Judgment.

Story: Back in the world of DAL, we are thrusted back to Tenguu City, the place where our main protagonist of the DAL series, Shidou is given yet another dilemma regarding Spirits, otherworldly spirits that bear the power of angels and, through the magic of harem anime, can only be sealed and defeated peacefully with the power of a kiss. Now, with the looming threat of a gigantic sphere in the sky looming over the city in a crater he calls home, he must once again go on a date with all of the girls that he has previously conquered in order to avert the ball of energy that rises high in the sky. (Trust me, it makes a lot more sense in the movie than it does here.)

Like its parent story, Mayuri Judgment has what I can only describe as the same story basis as the rest of the series up to this point (Meaning, seasons 1 and 2, or everything up to Miku Truth, if you're reading the LN.) which is a lot of dates. Hey, it ain't called Date a Live for nothing. As the movie is practically all dates for the entire hour and twelve minutes that this movie is, the movie comes equipped with its own doubled edged sword.

Since the entire series is basically just dates with the main girls of the series, anything that really has anything to do with Mayuri, the title spirit of this particular movie, is really next to nothing. And that's really the biggest kicker. Because the movie is set up in a way where her importance only really comes in later, anything that has to do with her really has no weight on the movie as a whole. You don't really get much if any quality time with her and it really kicks the idea of having a movie based around her, even if the explanation given does make sense in context to the series.

On the flipside, since the show focuses on the dates with six of the main girls in the series, a lot of character refreshment or moments really shine through. With each date, the personality of each girl featured shines through and gives each of them a little bit of time devoted to them. Each date is reflective of each girl's personality complete with their own individual quirks and is honestly just a nice refresher for getting back into the series. Plus, you get a really nice fight scene at the end with all of those wonderful, wonderful character designs.

In the end, DAL Mayuri Judgment is a double edged blade to itself. It doesn't feature the title girl of the series all that much within its entire runtime, leading to a rather rushed and somewhat cliched end. Yet, even so, what we do get is return characterization, showing us most of the girls one by one on who they are, what their quirks are, and what this series has to offer.

Overview:
+ Refresher to the series
+ Dedicated moments for the majority of the returning cast
- Barely features or devotes time to the title character
- Rushed and unsatisfactory end

Characters: Honestly, there really isn't much to say about the characters. All but Mayuri are returning cast members so there really isn't much to say about them. As I have stated before, most of the 'harem members' of the series (i.e. Tohka, Kaguya, Yuzuru, Miku, Kotori, and Yoshino) have devoted time to them since they all go on a date with Shidou individually.

And then we have the real kicker, Mayuri. Mayuri herself is someone who appears 17 times in the movie before saying her first goddamn line. (I counted; I know this to be true.) There really isn't much to her character than to be a plot device. There isn't much characterization about her (if any) and just feels flat. There honestly isn't much to say about her simply because everyone only meets her for about 10-20 minutes at what is basically the end of the whole movie, and that's during the epic fight scene.

Overview:
+ Return of the old cast in good form
+ Focused moments for the girls of the series
- Zero characterization on the title character

Art: Like its previous iterations, Mayuri Judgment was produced by Production IMS. Coming with that studio comes along the beautiful artwork for the Date a Live series. Complete with all of the beautiful and well designed Astral Dresses and well produced art, Date a Live never ceases to bring forth consistent quality and visuals.

In addition, for this movie in particular, IMS created a CGI monstrosity known as Cherubim, and, despite my usage of the word 'monstrosity', it's actually rather nicely made. Despite being made from CG, Cherubim fits with what is going on with the scenes that it's in and showcases just how stunning this series can look when it wants to. (Oh yeah, and Tohka gets a new design, and it's really nice.)

Overview:
+ Good, consistent art
+ CGI thing looks and fits well with what is going on

Sound: When it comes to DAL, the soundtrack is an aesthetic that really shines for the series. With previous seasons having songs sung by bands like Sweet Arms in addition to really nicely composed battle music, Mayuri Judgment brings a good chunk of those tracks back during sections of the movie.

In addition, the movie introduces a new, original ED song for the credits called 'Invisible Date' sung by Sweet Arms. Similar to the other OP/ED tracks of the series, this track bears in resemblance to them by having a majestic and overall nice tone to the song that is what I consider to be very memorable. (And that's not just because I have listened to the song several dozen times.)

Overview:
+ Return of tracks from the series
+ New track that holds up the standard for music in this series

Personal Enjoyment: Alright, Date a Live is a series I really, really, really, really, really, really like. Really. It's a series that combines some of my favorite genres in anime complete with an intriguing story and nice aesthetics. I could go on and on, so to shorten it, I like this series a lot, and seeing a movie for it, an original one might I add at the end of the second season made me squeal. (Not really, but yeah...kinda.)

Did I like this movie?

Yep. I enjoyed it. The rushed end didn't bother me cause stuff like that is standard fare for this series (still not forgiving the 10 episode runtime of season 2) and honestly, because it's just more of Date a Live, I can't not say that I despised it. Because the movie was basically just Date a Live in a nutshell, there really isn't much criticism based off of my personal feelings simply because that is what the series is about.

What didn't I like about this movie?

The biggest gripe is Mayuri. You introduce a new character that's in the title of the movie, is supposed to play a main part in the movie, and it listed as a main character. And ya don't use her. See anything wrong here?

Would I recommend this movie?

Honestly, if you're as big as a DAL fan as I am and don't really give two shits about the flaws, then what are you still doing here reading this? GO! GO YOU FOOLS! On the other hand, if you're someone who has watched DAL and isn't as gung-ho about the series, then watch it if you want to. As mentioned before, it's basically DAL, it's got the same plotline, same characters, and is really just a refresher for the series before season 3. (Which at the time of this review, I hope happens.) So really, this movie is just to service the fans of the show. But when has that ever really been a bad thing, eh?

From the very first episode in Season 1, Date A Live was definitely unique in its set-up. Using dates to save spirits from their misery is certainly a concept that you do not see often in the romance genre (except maybe The World God Only Knows? Just maybe?) and this was initially executed in a very interesting way. Where Date A Live goes wrong, however, is that, instead of coming up with something new, the writers choose to recycle the same generic formula once, twice, and now thrice.

“Formula? What the heck are you talking about? What formula is this?” you may ask. Nothing wrong ... with asking a totally legitimate question. And to answer: well, let us boil down exactly what happened in the past two seasons. Whenever a problem comes up in the form of a new character, tensions among various characters, or some kind of event, how do the characters resolve it? That’s right, a date. Something as simple as two people spending time together as a way to seal up the worst of the worst.

Does this happen once again in Mayuri Judgment? Certainly. But having Shidou go on six dates for the first 45 minutes of the movie was really unnecessary and dragged the plot on and on. Nothing spectacular come out of these dates, and we learned nothing new about the characters that we did not already know.

As for the climax itself, talk about messy, messy, messy. One thing that I kept asking was what the heck is the big-ball-of-doom doing there? The relationship between that and Mayuri’s presence is constantly hinted at during the “climax” battle, but it’s never fully explained and thus we end up taking it at face value.

Moving onto the characters themselves, there really isn’t any development at all. In the first and second seasons, dates were used as a way to forge and deepen the relationships between Shidou and the rest of the main characters. Since they are all now close friends, these dates don’t hold the same kind of meaning anymore, hence the little character development. Don’t get me wrong – the characters are definitely interesting – it’s just that they don’t really change at all.

One new character does come into the mix: Mayuri. But she’s just there with really no purpose for most of the movie – stalking around in the background, following the main characters around, with some hints here and there. When it’s finally her time to shine, she transitions into the plot inconsistently and poorly. In one moment, nobody but Shidou can see her, but all of a sudden in the next second everybody else can. All of this crammed into literally the last 20 to 30 minutes of the movie.

The only one character I was extremely disappointed with was Origami. She was completely a throwaway character in the movie who butts in randomly to challenge Tohka (as if we’ve never seen this happen in the previous seasons), and then removes herself from the picture once that is over. The movie could have just done well without her (although I’m sure the fans wouldn’t have liked that).

Sound and art are of high quality. The animation is by Production IMS so it is definitely high quality. The voice acting is also done well. I personally really like how Shidou changes his voice when he switches into his female counterpart. My only major issue is that sometimes the 3D graphics looked a little odd and incompatible with the bright, well-illuminated background, but otherwise from that, no complaints on that front.

So is this movie worth your time? Well if you’re reading this review and thinking about it, you’ve probably already enjoyed the first two seasons well enough so go right ahead. From a critical standpoint, however, I was pretty disappointed. Date A Live: Mayuri Judgment did not put itself ahead of the pack.

Overall Grade: D+

Author's Disclaimer: Please remember, this is my own personal opinion. I critique anime primarily on how the story is executed and how well-rounded the characters are. This review is not meant to target any other review but was intended to provide a more holistic analysis.