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Tensions were high among the fanbase going into Season 5. Season 4 did fix a lot of the problems left by J.C Staff, but Geek Toys also brought along a new set of different problems that upset many DAL fans arguably more. The reception was overall positive, but even among the fans who enjoyed it there was concern for how the next season would be adapted. So how did Date a Live fare this time? The answer... mixed.

Buckle up because you are in for a LONG one. I am very attached to Date a Live and have a lot to say.
There will not be any ... hard spoilers, except in the characters section. So you don't have to worry about being spoiled reading this bar that section, which was also have a 2nd warning as a reminder.

Now lets get this breakdown started.


Story:
We're finally here: the height of DAL'S story. This section of the novels that the anime covers this season is regarded as the series' selling point. When you read reviews for the DAL light novel people praise TF out of the direction the series goes in the late game. And even among the negative reviews from people who completed the series, the common theme you see is "the series is a slog until volume 16, but from that point it becomes genuinely interesting". We're at that stages fellas, buckle up.

The war with DEM truly begins and its pure chaos. Shido has his long awaited showdown with Isaac Westcott, Origami squares off with Artemisia Ashcroft, Ellen Mather finally engages Elliot Woodman, Reine's betrayal is realized, and the true boss of the entire series spawns: The Spirit of Origin, Mio Takamiya. Her reign of carnage begins and well... quite a few bodies are left behind in her wake.
The story is a chaotic tragedy that hinges on the complicated backstory of Shido, which is finally revealed this season. The fate of everything depends on what he does with that information and how he will go about trying to stop Mio.

This season covers volumes 17-19 of the novels, which is a surprising slow-down in adaptation pacing given the series' average across the first 4 season was 4 volumes a season. But I'm not complaining - this is just what the doctor ordered. It seems like they learned their lesson from their previous seasons, and especially season 4 where one of the big complaints is how rushed the Mukuro's arc was and felt. It was and still doesn't feel good even on rewatch.

They gave this season far more breathing room to adapt everything essential to the story. Not every detail or scene made it in, but far less was trimmed and unlike the previous seasons - nothing felt overly rushed, in regards to the plot and storytelling. And just the right time too: because this arc... needs and deserves all the attention she gets. I don't want to go any further into details about the story, because quite frankly its extremely intriguing and the selling point of the anime. You don't spoil it for yourself looking it up, you need to experience it for yourself.

There's only a few negative things I can say about the story. The biggest one is the noticeable change in pacing and in form of storytelling this season: The majority of this season is very scattershot. It constantly cuts between different parties every episode which makes it a bit of pain to follow at times and really breaks the immersion of several key scenes. In its defense, it is loyal to the LNs which were also written in an even more disjointed manner. So they are doing their best to stay true to the source material while trying to make it not as difficult to follow (which I think they did a good job with). It also fits into the chaotic nature of a war, so I give them credit for staying true to the theme and trying something different with a (mostly) positive result. It wasn't always perfect, but they did a good job.

There's an episode dedicated to introducing a backstory and including a worldbuilding element that some people complain about being "unnecessary" and just thrown in for no reason, but that isn't the case and for details I'll explain in the characters section for specifically Karen and Ellen why (although fair warning, there will spoilers).

Also the way the season ends is not quite how the LN does. If they do plan to continue with the series and give us the grand conclusion, then the final few pieces will be wrapped up nicely. But as it stands right now, there is still some plot holes afloat with the anime specifically due to it. It's a fine ending as is, but it's definitely not as polished as the novels. I hope to get to see it adapted. But if this the end for DAL as a series, it's not a dealbreaker.

Story section conclusion:
As far as the story goes: it is fantastic. A bit scattershot at times but it was kept almost entirely intact from the source material and remains fantastic. Unlike season 4, Never was I bored while watching this season. It's a major step up over the previous entry whose middle section was just a ho-hum to get through. I have no major complaints on the story, it remains one of DALs strongest elements - if not THE strongest element this season specifically.

I wish the rest of the qualities could've been on par with the story, especially the animation. Which... oh man, where do I start?..


Animation/Art:
Alright, fun time's over. Because as good as the story is, it can't always make up for bad visuals. Now we gotta face the sad reality that it is, unfortunately, Geek Toys animating this series again. And you know what that means? CGI-a-Live is back. Last season it was unfortunate but wasn't as much of a constant problem because there was only 2 episodes where CG came into play due to season 4's lesser focus on action. Whereas this season it is an unavoidable constant. There is so much action throughout this season that it was inevitable that it was gonna be a consistent problem.

Again I want to make the same reminder I gave in my review of season 4 two years ago - I'm not CGI-phobic, but it needs to be supporting the animation instead intruding on it and being an eyesore instead. It should be an asset, not a detriment. And Geek Toys CG is exactly the latter the majority of the time. It's 1 thing when CG is being used on background elements and/or inhuman creatures; They're rarely centerstage, have solid reasoning to be CG and thus aren't as much of or are simply an acceptable eyesore. It's another entirely when the CG models are human and main characters who are the center of attention and the main focus. The margin for error becomes much higher and Geek Toys is a studio that has proven time and time again that they do not know what they're doing with their CG elements. Not just in DAL, but their other works too.

But I will say this: while most of the CG may be ugly, at least the majority of it is in non-critical moments or short shots that doesn't distract the viewer too much. There's a lot to nitpick across each episode, but the majority of them were not "ruined" by it. It did not derail the majority of episodes. 10/12 episodes ranged from passable to even 1 genuinely good case. But 2 were... controversial to say the least. Though for different reasons, so lets dissect these 2 - and then the 1 standout good episode.

The details I will be divulging will not have any critical spoilers, so you can read through them without issue.

Episode 3: Attack of the (CG) Clones
I lowkey wish it was in episode 2 to help solidify this bad Star War joke, but no matter. I'm stuck with this as unfortunately so were we all with this mess of an episode

Episode 3 opens with the very start of the war, and what do we get for the opening moments? A poor shot of static airships with simple dots around them indicating a fight, and then a flurry of mass-teleporting puppets appearing on the screen of all the spirits which then proceed to clunkily fling themselves forward into the battle. Their bodies, movements and facial expressions wooden and stiff. And that's just how the episode is for the most part. Artemesia vs Origami is not great to watch. Origami's model is fine and looks good, but Artemsia ruins the fight because she looks so plastic. Her stiff long hair and features make it look like Origami is fighting a Barbie doll. Pretty much every CG element in this episode is awful, to the point where it is not an exaggeration to call it comparable to Ex-Arm... f*cking Ex-Arm. And people did, this episode sparked outrage among DAL fans and sent morale spiraling.

While I was among one of said fans who also made that comparison, I don't think I'd 100% stand by it now, in regards to the entire episode. It has a lot of visual issues with some genuine "Ex-Arm" level quality moments, like all the ones I laid out. But upon rewatch (because I watched this specific episode 4, yes, 4 times just to dissect its elements) its not completely terrible. Shido's "date" with Nibelcole was well done and looked good. Origami looked fantastic in action (it's unfortunately just bogged down by the fact her opponent is a Barbie doll). The other spirits looked alright (besides their battlefield entrance). Ellen looked good flying into action and Elliot's grand entrance was also nice. And of course, the final moments of the episode is a shocking reveal that sets up what is to come with the rest of the season.

The 1 other thing that kinda works to the benefit of the bad CG is Kurumi and Nibelcole's commentary and banter. While it was in the novels, the situational irony is way too well placed. It feels so self-aware and on brand for Date a Live. People tend to forget that DAL is a psuedo-parody at it core, so this might've been a fun way for them making light in a rough situation the animators clearly were in here.

This episode is also salvaged by the fact the following week we got one of the most impactful, well-made, and arguably one of the best episode in the entire DAL series. It was the most perfectly timed rebound one could ask for that helped people overlook/forget how terrible the previous week was. Which is also, ironically enough, a similar saving grace the other controversial episode has.

Episode 7: How to Fumble your Boss Fight

This episode is a really divisive, mixed bag. Half of the episode is genuinely amazing, but the other half is unbelievably awful. The parts involving Fraxinus, Origami, Tohka, and especially Kotori are amazing (except that one filler bit involving Kannazuki and middle school girls). The racing airship visuals are incredible and the final scene aboard Fraxinus genuinely almost brought me to tears. Rare Geek Toys visual W.

But then we get to Shido vs Westcott, a fight that has been anticipated for years and was building up for 2 episodes straight. But instead we get blue balled by the writers. Who decide that between the end of episode 5, where they tease the showdown to come next episode, they insert a rushed backstory episode for half the episode and then cut away to the spirits fight against Mio. Both of which are pretty good, but... they kill the momentum of this fight.

Then we get to the fight itself, which... was just disappointment. There was exactly 3 actions taken throughout this fight and was a stiff, lifeless and just... mundane. How do you screw up a confrontation this impactful with years of anticipation and episodes of build up this badly?

The most notable thing about this fight is that it is the first time I've been disappointed by Geek Toys 2D elements. One of the selling points of Geek Toys taking over and the reasoning people use to offset help offset people's feeling of the bad CG they use is that the 2D elements look pretty consistently great. This... is the first time they really dropped the ball. When Shido pull out Sandalphon and reenacts Tohka's scene of slicing the throne and summoning Halvanhelev... it looks awful, cheap and just goofy instead of epic.

I get Geek Toys has really made it a point that they want to recreate scenes from previous seasons in their own art style for flashbacks and such instead of inserting clips in from previous seasons, and prior to this I hadn't had a problem with it. But man... for this scene they absolutely should've just re-used the visuals from the previous seasons for it. What they made looks so cartoonish, washed out in color, and bad. Shido swinging it also looked hilariously off. The iconic Kamehameha reference and finisher was very well done (that's not a real spoiler, you've seen Shido do it before in season 3), but it does not make up for the rest of this lackluster fight.

Now all that being said, I want to remind you that these 2 episodes were the exceptions; the 2 truly mixed/bad episodes amongst the pack that attempt to drag down an otherwise fairly passable season animation-wise. While Geek Toys animation is not stellar, besides these 2 episodes its not used in a way that it becomes a hinderance. But after all that trashing, its time to talk about the 1 miracle of this season.

Episode 8: A True Miracle
I almost couldn't believe it. Geek Toys made actually good looking CG for a fight scene? And it mixes well with the 2D elements? And it looks... AMAZING? WTf!? I almost can't believe Geek Toys made this. Where the heck has this quality been?

Episode 8 was by far the episode most fans were anticipating and concerned about. This episode houses what is arguably the highest climax or most iconic moment of the entire series. We were very anxious to see how Geek Toys would deliver it. And somehow... they managed it. Geek Toys delivered a genuine W of an episode that is on the par with how impactful and amazing it is in the novels.

Sure there is some very minor things you can nitpick with this episode, like a couple of poor shots or the track selection and placement feeling a bit off at times. But those tiny non-essential issues aside, they knocked it out of the park. Episode 8 is among the best, if not a candidate for THE best episode in the entire Date a Live series. It is a Godsend and miracle that it came out of Geek Toys.

On the topic of Geek Toys...

In regards to criticizing Geek Toys work:
I've seen and had enough with the people telling folks that you aren't allowed to criticize Geek Toys animation solely off the fact that they're a smaller studio or you're "not a real fan". This season has really brought these basement dwellers outta the woodwork and I've gotten pretty fed up with this crud. Yes, we all get they're a smaller studio. We never expected it to be Mappa level animation. All we wanted was just decent animation on par with the first 2 seasons - that's it. That wasn't a high bar of expectations. I also already give them leeway for being a small studio. For example, I don't like the fact the we lost the spirits hybrid armor outfit that we've had for the first 3 seasons because Geek Toys can only afford to make 1 model for each character. It negatively impacts the anime and definitely hinders my enjoyment quite a bit. But notice I haven't complained about it. Because I get it, they don't have the time or investment to make and animate all these different models. And thats a fine excuse that we can live with, so long as they do the minimum of making sure the models they do have look good. But more often than not they didn't, which is why many fans like myself are upset with the quality.

I can give them room for grace in some areas on account for being a smaller studio, but that absolutely does not give them a free card to for being immune to all of it. Trying to gatekeep criticism never ends well, just ask the RWBY community.

Animation/art conclusion:
Geek Toys does continue to struggle with in the visual department. The CG as a whole is not great and they do slip up with the 2D in some crucial scenes as well. But for the most part, its not bad enough to be intrusive for the majority of episodes. The 2 I mentioned are exceptions, they are truly bad in the visual department and are solely salvaged by the strength of the story. And while I still don't hold Geek Toys in high esteem, I give them credit for at least trying to learn how to make better visuals (for the most part). Bar the mentioned 2 they don't fall back into the trappings made in season 4 and they definitely are improving. Slowly and not nearly quick enough progress to be happy with it, but they are making progress. I lamented in the past how Geek Toys is "incapable" of making good animation. And while I still hold a strong sentiment that they are not capable of being consistent, Episode 8 proves they can do it - if they try hard enough.

I'm not thrilled with what we got in the visual department, but it wasn't unpassable. Once you get over the hump that is episode 3 the CG becomes a lot more bearable and not that hard to adjust to. It certainly could've been much better, but it also could've been worse. I think I've said more than enough about the visuals, moving on.


Sound:

Music continues to be one of Date a Live's strong suites. The tracks have always been amazing, and the few new ones we got this season continue to add to collection. The remastered ending music is so beautifully epic, tense and awesome - the perfect track to lead into each new episode - and as it turns out, the final climax too.

While taste in music is subjective, in my opinion - Paradoxes was a phenomenal OP that fits the core of DAL and this season especially. Do I still miss Sweet ARMs on the OPs? Oh yes, I still think all 3 of their OPs are better than Miyu Tomita's. But again, taste in music is subjective so take my word with a grain of salt.

We at least had Sweet ARMs on the ED, and it was also a fitting song. Probably DALs best ED, but tbf most of DALs ED's are not that good imo - so the bar isn't as high or as contentious as rating the OPs.

This season does suffer a bit of "final season syndrome" where they get a bit carried away stuffing a bunch of old tracks into the season to try and recapture nostalgia despite whether they fit the occasion or not. It does impact and hurt few scenes. But for every 1 they did wrong they get at least 2-3 right.

Voice acting:
The JP cast was on point, as usual. Aya Endou absolutely killed it as Mio. Not really much to say about this, I have 0 problems with the voice cast.

English dub:

I have not seen any of the English this season, yet. Partly because I want and will use it as an excuse to rewatch the season as a binge next round to see if it affects any of my opinions, but also... the mess that was the season 4 English dub did a number on me, and I was not eager to have any feelings about what I was watching ruined by another botched job again (for anyone out of the loop or needs reminding can read through the sound section of my S4 review from 2 years ago here).

I haven't heard anyone complaining about the dub this season, so I'm going to assume no news=good news and we aren't suffering from the same problems as last season. But even if it is, it's not going to hurt what I grade this season. Even prior to season 4 DAL was not a show defined by its dub.
Come back to this review/section in 2-3 weeks and I'll have something to say about it, but it won't be a factor that changes my grade unless its exceptionally good.

Sound conclusion:
DAL remains solid in the music and voice department. Not really much else to say, it's the 1 category that this series is consistent in (bar the S4 English dub). They didn't drop the ball and should be proud of it.


Characters:

I have to say about specific characters, both positive and negative.

Fair warning: this will be the 1 section that has hard spoilers. If you are worried or trying to avoid spoilers, please scroll to the Final Thoughts section. But I want to share my thoughts on these characters and how they impacted the season. You've been warned.

----------Spoiler Wall-------------

Westcott:

I have mixed feelings on Westcott this season. He had such a high ceiling and potential as a villain, but I don't think he ever truly lived up to it. His final boss fight at the end is intense and awesome, but after the underwhelming and more disappointing personal showdown between him and Shido that was by far more anticipated and built up I can't help but feel like I was scammed.

Yes Geek Toys' lacking visuals contributed to it, as I mentioned earlier when I broke down this episode. But the other, bigger problem was the pacing. The scattershot nature of this season really hurts what was supposed to be this big, climatic fight. Having his duel get ready to start, but then to be interrupted by a half episode cutaway of his backstory - just to then cut away to the other spirits vs Mio till the end of the episode. Then the next episode we have more of Mio vs the spirits, comedic relief aboard Fraxinus with Kotori and Kannazuki, back into the action of Mio vs the spirits, only to THEN - get back to Shido vs Westcott. And of course that fight is an absolute joke that composes of only 3 actions happening before Shido ends it. It feels so robbed of momentum on top of being amplified by the fight's short length that I feel scammed. Your big bad boss encounter that was being hyped up for seasons should feel hefty and impactful; not like a boxing match where the fight is over after 3 punches.

People have complained about Beelzebub being a stupid power for Westcott, but I do like that he has it. It fixes one of the common problems with any story that utilizes time travel - a logical reason why the hero cannot just keep going back in time until he wins. Beelzebub gives Westcott knowledge of any changes that happens between different realities which makes him a continuously evolving threat. Every time Shido might jump back in time to reset gives Westcott more information and greater means to win. I think its great. Yes he could've utilized it more and better, but I will defend Beelzebub's existence. Its powers suite Westcott's nature and help give the story more urgency. While also providing an out to 1 of the common trappings and plot holes that crop up with so many time travel centric plot lines.

I also noticed some people have complained about Westcott's motivation being stupid, generic and boring. And I mean; it kinda is and isn't. Lemme explain:
It's revealed that he's pretty much a nihilistic monster that just wants to kill and watch people suffer because its the 1 thing that gives him joy. The motivation he pretends to use is that he wants to create a new world soley for true wizards like him and Ellen as revenge for burning down their village. But in actuality, he revels in the death of his village. He just wants to kill everyone and admits there isn't a grand reason for his motivation beyond that. He reveals that to Shido after putting on his sales pitch and basically says "my grandeur is just a flimsy excuse and everyone buys it. I just want to kill people because I like it". Is it basic and simple? Yea, there's not much more to it which is certainly unexpected. But on the other hand, it does fit Westcotts nature perfectly. Manipulative psychopath who wants what he wants and does what he does without anyone who'd stop him. It fits this series well, given his character traits and a reminder that DAL at its center is a psuedo-parody of harem that continues to be self-aware and takes the piss out of many trope in the genre. Westcott's speech is very self-aware of said villain tropes and plays with it well. Some many people may take issue with it, but I'll defend Westcott's character in regards to this. He is a well designed and written villain in concept, origin, and motivation. But his overall execution is off.

Elliot Woodman:

I'm sorry, but Elliot is just so underdeveloped in the anime. He's given no screentime to do anything over the seasons. We barely learn or know anything about besides his wizard past and he's not really doing anything of significance as the leader of Ratataskr. I also don't truly buy the whole romantic affection he supposedly has towards Mio. We only get to see them interact with each other once, and the only other time they're on screen together is when Mio spawns and he's just blushing lightly. There's no thoughts, words or other context clues that would strengthen or indicate why Elliot would feel such strong attachment to Mio in any way. Their brief and only interaction is kinda interesting, but that alone that doesn't provide anything. It still feels like a convenient, shallow plot device instead of a genuine build up.

Also "world's strongest wizard" my a$$. You know what great "action" he did during the battle this season? He came out, did a barrel roll, deflect a lone strike and then talked with Ellen in a static default idle before launching a single projectile. And then later we see she fallen to the ground defeated. And then he makes a Rengoku pose and dies on his knees... and all of these short actions take course over the span of 3... episodes... Really?! That's what we get to see from the "World's strongest wizard"? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

But I grant that its not Geek Toys fault that Elliot was this underdeveloped. The fault mostly lies with Keitarou Motonaga - the director of DAL seasons 1-3, who got fired after season 3. He didn't prioritize DAL being a long-running anime who'd make it to this point so he didn't bother giving Elliot the attention he needed.

Elliot's failure as a character is the product of a slow, trickling buildup of missed opportunities across the seasons that was cast aside in favor of the short term vision. But now that we've reached the endgame, all we've got left here is a shallow skeleton of a character that he was supposed to be. Truly unfortunate.

Ellen/Karen:

I truly don't have much to say about either tbqh. Ellen's role continues to become more insignificant with each passing season, which is unfortunate. And Karen, like Elliot, doesn't get any true devlopment beyond the basics. She's just a close friend of his who is passionately in love with him and will follow him everywhere. She's just a far more passive version and equivalent of Ellen, much like how Elliot is to Issac.

Though the reason I want to talk about these 2 is mostly because I couldn't organically fit this into the story section without spoilers and have spent long enough talking about Westcott and Elliot. I wanna address the whole "Wizard" subplot that came up this season. A lot of people have criticized it for being an a$$pull and making no-sense. But even as an anime only, I get it and I like it. DEM created the magic-powered realizers using actual magic under the guise/combination of science and then gradually introduced it to the world until it become normalized and nobody suspected a thing about its origins. It think its genuinely interesting and kinda wish that they worked with this more. But tbf the season was already tight as it is. And if they went overboard it could've turned into the Irregular at Magic High School where they overexplain all their science/magic tech for no reason, so I'm fine with it as is.

Artemisia Ashcroft:

I hate her, I hate her so much. She actively makes the anime worse by existing. Her CG model is the worst of every named character in this show and she's an eyesore nearly every time she's on screen. Like I said in the animation section, she's a plastic Barbie doll who looks like child is just picking her up and bashing her around most of the time. They hardly, if ever, tried with her.

Her backstory is basically non-existent/just doesn't matter. She has no character in the anime. Oh, she's being mind controlled? How unfortunate, I can hardly tell since we've never seen how she is without the mind control influencing her. They could've given us a brief moment where we get to see her memories pour back after Mukuro unlock her mind, but no - she's just used as a plot device and simple roadblock for 1 episode. After that she's irrelevant. They also seem to forget to free her in the other timeline too, so her plot line remains unresolved. She doesn't even appear in the credits scene, so WHAT WAS THE POINT OF HER EXISTANCE?!

Artemisia Ashcroft (in the anime) makes me so angry. She was alluded to and built up as this important character just to do nothing with her. The DEM villainess we got for just half of season 2, Jessica Bailey, was more developed and a better character than her. I've been told so much of her backstory and antics with Ellen were cut and you can feel it. They left nothing for her. If you're a fan of Artemisia Ashcroft from the novels I truly feel sorry you. The anime screwed you all over.

Mio:

Now for a pleasant change of pace, a character I loved! Mio is a true yandere, the last piece of the harem puzzle this show was missing. While Mukuro kinda acted like one during her arc, she definitely isn't a true yandere. Mio is. Her character motivation is completely obsessive, in true yandere fashion, but is absolutely not generic. The fact she went as far to try and give birth to her lover to reincarnate him is insane. The episode where it becomes clear what happened is one of the biggest "oh sh*t" moments I've ever felt. It's absurd, creepy, and yet feels entirely in line with her character. Everything about Mio is mysterious, intriguing, and fantastic. It kept me on the edge of my seating wanting to know about this absolutely insane spirit.

There is 3 complaints/plot holes I have regarding Mio.
The first is the whole Sephira crystal refinement stick. Like, nobody's gonna address the monsters that appeared in season 4 that Kurumi was tasked with killing? When did Mio realize that on top of splitting her power she needed to "refine" this crystals too? Did Ratataskr or DEM never notice these monsters? It just doesn't make sense. I gotta feeling a LN reader can probably answer that question for me, but the anime sure as heck can't.
The 2nd is that I personally think the anime should've did what the novels did and start alluding earlier on that Reine was Phantom/Mio so that her betrayal and realization by the Fraxinus crew would've had more build up, impact and meaning. They cut so many key hints that the novel dropped for its reader, leaving only a few loose pieces from season 1 and Mayuri Judgement being the only time she ever gave any indication of being tied to the deeper plot.
Lastly... the whole incest debate. It's a messy, complicated rabbit hole that I don't feel like trying to break down and instead can simply sum up with the "Well yes, but actually no." meme.

Other than that I really like Mio. She was the perfect final boss for this series that feels both fitting and planned out.

The spirits:

I'm just gonna lump them all in here because they don't really get much development, besides getting turned into donuts throughout the season... cough.

Anyways, they're all the same characters. They do collective share roughly same amount of screentime this season, except for Tohka and Kurumi obviously. But this time they were actively a part of the plot and doing more than just being background characters. Nia particularly gets more time, probably as an apology for how little she got outside her arc during S4. I love her antics and her commentary gives me so much joy. There really isn't much else to say here, they did a better job with them than in season 4.

Tohka:

As expected of the main girl, Tohka continues to get special treatment. I do appreciate how they build off the idea/revelation that Nia explained from the previous season to explain why Tohka is so special compared to the other spirits - and that idea is further confirmed by Mio herself. Tohka's conversation with her other self/Tenka is interesting yet cute and her sacrifice in the same episode hits hard. She doesn't really do much after that, but given that this wasn't really intended to be her true climax as a character that shouldn't be surprising. Will we ever get to see that someday? Hopefully, but not guaranteed. But even in the case that she doesn't, Tohka serves her purpose and is still the 2nd/3rd best spirit in terms of development (since Mio is now in the mix.

But you already know who the best is...

Kurumi:

Once again, Kurumi is the star that steals the entire show. Until the final episode she is the most captivating thing whenever she's on screen doing anything. I love how in this season we really get to see her guile at work. How she was able to make an emergency continency on the fly to save Shido from Mio. How she was able to come up with a way to warn herself with Shido's information without tipping off Mio and coming up with a plan to escape death. And I love her combined spirit armor with Raziel, it aesthetically looks amazing. It is quite telling that she is the only spirit Shido kisses, besides Tohka, of his own free will after sealing her. I truly do wish that it was her that ended up with him in the end. But unfortunately, we all know who does/will.

She continues to be a great character that never disappoints whenever she's on screen (unless you count the CG clones from episode 3, but that's not the bad CG element most people are upset about).

Shido:

Finally, we get to Shido; playboy extraordinaire. I really loved Shido's development these past 3 seasons. In season 1 he's mostly a generic harem protag with generic development, but even then he has a very distinct, snarky and sarcastic personality with a self-awareness unlike any other harem character out there. And beginning with the season 2 with the Yamai sisters arc we get to see him beginning to move the plot forward by own accord. Then in season 3 with the Origami arc, Shido really come into his own. He went from being a pushover to being THE primary driver of the plot whose actions directly effect everyone else and the story. He is the catalyst of the series. He's not just being dragged around by Kotori and crew anymore, nor by "convenient" random events you see constantly in other harems just as an excuse to make things happen. And that continues to evolve and really comes to a peak this season. I truly do like him as a character now.

Some people do criticize him for being a wimp or crybaby and to that I have mixed opinions on. I mean yeah, he has the usual harem-protag trope of being overly evasive of anything sexual. That's pretty generic and par for the course, not much to say or disagree on that. However for the other, if you're complaining that he's crying during the darkest part of the story where he's lost all of his friends and an absolute monster of a yandere is trying to convince him that wiping his memories of it all will be a good thing - bruh, no. I'd be upset if he wasn't crying, that's the most realistic reaction there could be.

Shido is absolutely not a standout protagonist in the general comparison sense, he's in the upper edge of the middle of the pack all things considered. But amongst harem protagonists, a genre known for its protagonists being the most basic, bland, predictable, virtually indistinct and practically disposable characters in all of anime - he is exceptional. Date a Live would not even work anywhere near as well, if at all, with your average harem protagonist. Shido drives the plot forward with his own sense of purpose and has a distinct personality that I love and could go on about. Shido is a definite candidate for the best harem protagonist of all time.

--------End of Spoilers--------

That's all the characters I have any strong opinions on enough to talk about. Anyone else not mentioned I could answer if you wanted to ask me, but I don't feel like going through the entire roster of DAL and extended this review into an even longer essay than it already. Some things aren't worth dying for.

Characters conclusion:
I have some strong opinions on many of the characters. Many positive and many negative. Westcott is a mixed bag in his execution as a villain. Elliot is poorly developed and feels like he doesn't contributes as anywhere near as much as he should towards the story, as are both Karen and Ellen. Artemisia was better off not existing. The spirit are handled better this season in terms of attention and actively being part of the plot. Mio is a fantastic final boss. Tohka and especially Kurumi are still this series golden children. And Shido has finally come into his own as his own character.


Final Thoughts: What grade does it deserve and why?

I won't waste anymore time since this review is unbelievably long as is (Jesus Christ, how did I manage to write this?) so lets just cut to the chase.

No chance is this a 10 or 9. 10 is reserved for the highest of esteemed, truly magnificent works with flaws that are very insignificant. And I think I've covered more than enough flaws to not explain further. That also knocks it out from being a 9 - if it were just the animation that was the problem this season, then you could've justified it. But its not just that, you've also got several serious issues in the character department, pacing, and a few holes in the plot courtesy of the anime-only ending (as it stands right now).

I absolutely think its story really propels it up to well past a 6 at minimum. It's far from generic and takes the series in a truly interesting direction. Not entirely unique admittedly, there's definitely shared elements to found this season and especially its climax that shows like Madoka Magica and Guilty Crown have already done. Though DAL definitely does it own thing its own way and does not feel a rip-off of either. And while the characters are flawed, they feel uniquely their own and not knock-offs of other, better characters from other series. They sure as heck aren't perfect, but besides Barbie doll Ashcroft I like every character in DAL.

Comparing it to season 4

You'd think the easiest way would be to directly compare my notes and opinions on season 5 to season 4, which I gave a 7.5 to 2 years ago. You'd then think that I'd feel more inclined to give an 8, since I did enjoy more about this season than 4. But then you have a few things that must be taken into acocunt. Season 4 had it issues in the visual department, but they weren't as consistently recurring as season 5. Season 4 did butcher its one big fight, but that fight wasn't nearly as important as the boss fight season 5 screwed up.

But although in comparison there was also much more I disliked about this season stronger than 4, giving it much lower lows - Season 5 also had far higher highs than season 4. Both in execution of the plot and production. And to be honest, despite its problems I still prefer the experience we got this season than we did in the previous season with 4. I absolutely prefer a show that can make me feel immense feelings of any kind more than a show that makes me feel nothing at all.

Season 4 wasn't a nothing experience, but it was very flat and boring at quite a few points. Several episodes were basically filler and it also has its share of production problems. I remember coming out some weeks watching 4 feeling bored, and even on rewatch I felt it too - if not a little stronger. The lows weren't quite as low as in season 5, mostly because there was not much action in 4 so we didn't have to suffer through much of Geek Toys bad CG. But that same vein, the highs never got as high as we got this season. I may have felt some strong, negative emotions watching certain episodes of season 5 - but the 1 thing I never felt was bored. To me, that's a huge difference between seasons 4 and 5.

After writing this review I'm genuinely considering editing my review of season 4 to change my score a bit, because now I feel it's no longer a middle to high 7. It would now probably be put in the lower end of 7's, as it's a 6/10 anime for the most part that gets largely carried by Nia's eccentric personality at the beginning and especially the Kurumi Refrain arc in the final few episodes.

So the question is: 7 or 8 out of 10?

Without bias I would probably give this season a high 7. But since I score only in either half or whole grades, and I'm extremely biased toward this series - I will be rounding up and giving it an 8.

Make no mistake; it's production is very messy, unpolished and flawed. And I do have a real bone to pick with the writers who really dropped the ball adapting some of the characters, especially Westcott. But damnit, the story carries this season HARD. It is genuinely fun and interesting, yet dark and captivating in the direction it goes in and had so many different ways this anime could've gone. And while they've left it at a point where the anime could end here if it wanted to, with its mostly anime original ending - it's still poised to potentially be picked back up and make that last push to finish the final 3 novels. And give this series the True Route ending we'd all want to see.

If you choose to give it a 7 I honestly wouldn't bat an eye, thats probably the more accurate score for this season tbqh given its laundry list of noteable problems. And it's also why I am putting it in the Mixed category - because of it's plethora of issues some people definitely will come out of this not feeling fully satisfied. And its okay to feel that way, the majority of the criticism this season gets is absolutely justified.

But for every problem it had another element matched it scale for scale, if not a bit more imo. And by my own admission, I am very biased towards this series. As Date a Live was - and still is - my favorite guilty pleasure series of all time. I will never forget this fantastic ride of laughs, action and suspense this series has given me all these years. As well as the tears I cried from this powerhouse of an ending.

8/10, but with a noteable caveat of being assessed mostly as a guilty pleasure type show and in comparison against almost strictly others in the harem genre (whose standards are generally the lowest of all genres in anime).

Tldr in the likely case you just went to the bottom of the page to judge it solely base on the grade I gave it. Here's the sparknotes:

Pros:
Fantastic story
Many great characters
Phenomenal music, great OP/ED and several new standout tracks
Shido evolves into a respectably good protagonist
Continues to be a fun, self-aware, psuedo-parody of harem
Genuinely fantastic new villain/final boss
Amazing climax
Kurumi Tokisaki

Cons:
Story is very scattershot this season
CG quality is generally awful
Some characters are fumbled, including the main villain to some extent
Incest (kinda/sorta)
Technically an anime original ending

A lot of pressure was on Geek Toys this season to make up for the mistake J.C Staff made that was Date a Live Season 3. And for the most part: they did a mostly passable job.

There won't be any major spoilers in this, just enough details to explain what they did good and bad here. So if you're on the fence about giving this season the time after season 3 left a bad taste in your mouth - you can read this without worry for ruining your watch experience and make a decision whether you want to dedicate time watching this from there.

Story: We ... pick up right after the speedrun that covered the 12th light novel in the final epsiode of season 3 (no retcon episode for that, sorry for the fans who were hoping for that to be fixed. But it probably was for the best just to keep moving onward instead of wasting time backtracking). Shido goes back on his quest to help more spirits, and it pretty much follows suit on how they series has always gone. The twist in the plot starts to emerge as the first arc ends and we finally learn the intentions of the main villain, Westcott, and what he wants with the spirits after 2 seasons of knowing barely anything about his sinister plot. In the 2nd arc we get to see 2 unexpected characters return for a brief spell, some more information is slipped through, and then it ends in similar DAL fashion. The 3rd arc... is where DAL goes into overdrive: the Kurumi arc. We finally learn the story of Nightmare and how she ended up as a spirit. We learn of the final boss of series, and a twist on par with Kotori's reveal as a spirit in season 1. I won't spoil anything, but all I'll say is: DAL has approached it's Endgame, and with Season 5 now confirmed we now sit on the edge of our seats to see the final act.

While there were a fair number of distractable slice of life episodes in between all the action, this isn't far off the course that the series has been doing throughout it's runtime. It's just become more noticable now that there's a darker, more interesting theme approaching and its being interrupted by all the s.o.l shenanigans. While I understand it can be bothersome, it didn't derail it enough to be harsher about it.

Also if you still didn't get enough Love is War in your life even with it's latest season going on then you'll love this last arc in particular - you'll understand why.

Consensus: solid story that's continuing the escalation setup by last season, kept me interested despite being interrupted by a number of s.o.l episodes, and has set the stage for it's next season to be the climax of the series.

Art/Animation: The new art style divided the community to some extent. Of personal opinion, I liked the character remodels and vibrant colors that gave so much more detail and life to the cast and background art. Though I understand why other folks don't, it took a lot of familiarity away from the series and no longer matches the illustrations of the source material. And I admittedly do miss that a bit. But it was universally a step up from last season's trainwreck deviantart level style, so the general impression I've seen is that it's gotten at least a "pass" from most the fanbase.

Tho there was also the unfortunate factor of some additional censorship sewed into this season. I don't care that some of the echii was diluted down in some scenes (that was mostly expected), but the darker parts of the story were significantly changed to be less gruesome - to the point where it almost changed entire scenes and brought down the weight of the final arc (Nibelcole and Shido's room scene for example). LN readers have been very vocably upset about this particularly, and I agree with them.

But even without the artstyle debate, a far bigger problem quickly emerged. Moving to the case of contention within this season: The CGI fights. Ima keep it real with you chief: at it's best it wasn't pretty, and at it's worst... it was just awful. The rough transitioning between 3D puppets to still frame 2D action shots as they collided didn't look good. The Origami vs Inverse Tohka fight was supposed to be one of the most action packed moments of the season: it punctuated the OP of this season and from that it looked like it was gonna be great. But after waiting 8 episodes for this promised hyped up fight, we instead got... essentially 2 plastic action figures bashing into each other with only the hands of the kids holding them edited out. The space fights with Mukuro were also very ugly at times when it dipped into the CG for portions of it. The only thing thing that looked fairly good with the CGI was the airship fight between Fraxinus and Goetia.

It's no exaggeration to say the animation is worse than season 3's, but I'd even go as far and say that the CGI was so horrible it could be on par with the likes of Arifureta season 1 - that's how bad it was. And if you've seen or even vaguely know of Arifureta's reputation regarding it's animation: that should upset you immensely. To clarify, I'm not CGI-phobic - but when you utilize CGI it needs to feel as seemless and naturally a part of the production and scenes its used in, as opposed to feeling so out of place it sticks out and takes you out of the experience. And the CGI this season definitely felt the latter. Going from 2D animations to rough looking Playstation-esq block models for fights looked terrible. It is by far and away the biggest complaint about this season.

Overall, for the 2nd season running animation was by far the weakest element. Like season 3 it wasn't unpassably bad to kill the anime, but by God it was awful. The eye-capturing action that makes DAL so unique and special from other harems was butchered badly this season. The only thing saving this grade was that the 2D elements looked better than before, and they put a lot of effort into making the background and fine details look much better. But why wasn't the most important elements and action scenes given as much care? Geek Toys needs improvement here: Badly.

Sound: While it was dissapointing to have the tradition broken and not have Sweet A.R.M.S do the OP, Miyu Tomita did a pretty good job and still gave another equally banging one for this season. As far as background tracks goes, they mostly kept up with properly matching the tone of anime and it's scenes. Now we didn't get many new tracks this season, but tbf they had already been doing Date a Bullet and we heard quite a few of those throughout the Kurumi arc - so I'll give them a pass. My only dissapointment comes from not having an orchestrated version of the OP in the final episode as we've had in the 3 seasons past, but it's basically nitpicking of a hardcore fan at this point.

Voice acting remains solid, on the original japanese end. I'm not gonna factor this into the grade at all because it would be unfair and is irrelevant to anyone who doesn't watch alternative versions/dubs. But the English dub this season... is a mess.

It seems that they couldn't secure back all the original VAs when they needed to this season, so there's a pretty messy rotation of different VAs filling in for multiple characters - and its extremely noticable. Shido was voiced by 3 different VAs throughout the first 6 episodes before they manage to secure his original VA back for the 2nd half of the season, and they not that similar sounding in voice. You have whinny sounding Shido, the original Shido (who did 1 episode in the first 6), and really gruff Shido. It's absolutely bizzare. Reine has a different VA for the first 3, as well as many of the other minor characters (but they don't matter as much tbh). They didn't re-record anything with the original VAs for the blu-ray either, so we're eternally stuck with this version. Upon rewatch it really got to me and irk'd me so much that it takes you out of the experience. While I typically am a preferably dub watcher, this has hard converted me to the original sub going forward.

But back to point: disregarding the dubs problems, overall sound/music was great - still the series' best and most defining aspect.

Characters: I'm not gonna pretend that DAL doesn't have the problem that most harems have as they keep growing in size of sidelining less relevant characters in favor of the ones that are the focal point of the plot - because we all know it's absolutely guilty of it. Yoshino, the Yamai's, Miku, and Natsumi were benched for the majority of the season, bar a few specific scenes where they got some crumbs for attention. And Kotori remains in the same logistics point of directing the plot she always is in (which isn't bad tho, I like Kotori's role - she just doesn't grow or change here). Some points are gonna be docked from this category inherently. That being said, this isn't a new problem for the series (or the genre in general) so you just learn to go with it and focus on the "main" returning characters to develop or take part in the plot in a notable way. Which were: Shido, Tohka, Origami, Kurumi, Reine, and the villains Westcott and Ellen.

For the new characters of note from this season: We have our 2 new spirits Nia and Mukuro, the new DEM adaptess Artemisia Ashcroft, Nibelcole, and the final boss of the series... the Origin Spirit.

Of the 2 new spirits, I liked Nia the most. She broke the mold a little bit being that she wasn't some oblivous, innocent girl that Shido easily charmed into liking him like most of the cast. She's an older women in her 20's who's confidence, lack of a filter, and awareness of exactly what Shido is trying to do put him into uncomfortable, less cliche and more interesting situations - which was very refreshing. It got a few genunine chuckles out of me and I was interested in seeing where her story goes. She does get mostly sidelined sadly after her arc ends, but that is the series for ya.

Next up is Mukuro, who falls back into the tropey nature that most of the DAL girls fall into: innocent girl that nearly immediately falls for the MC, but with another gimmick. Personally I found her very uninteresting, though I can see why some fans would like her - she is pretty much a cupcake in both looks and in personality. My distate in her could be attributed to her arc feeling... rather boring. It felt like it dragged on and on, but in reality it was being speedran so much that most of the best parts from the light novel had been cut out. Of the 5 episodes from the Mukuro arc, 1 was near completely dedicated towards info dumping on the Fraxinus organization's backstory (because that had been neglected in the prior seasons up till this point, for some reason) and another was spent on the Fairy Tale episodes that was pretty much a filler episode. 2 Light novels essentially essentially condensed into 3 episodes wasn't a great idea, as it made me feel more annoyed with Mukuro as a character than making me like her. We got all her most boring parts and lost most of the good stuff.

Artemisia takes the place of Mana and Origami as the head AST that follow's DEM's commands. There's apparently a lot more to her, but from what I've been told from light novel readers a good portion of related backstory and scenes involving her have been cut. So for the time being, she left extremely underdeveloped and she kinda drops off from the story after the halfway point. Guess if you want more information on her you'll have to read the light novel... but given that it's expected to be an estimated 2+ years as of writing this before it will get officially brought over in english - it's gonna be awhile unless you go to an unofficial translator. :/

I guess there's also Maria, the newly named Fraxinus A.I that helps the crew out. And while this isn't anime spoilers, it is a direct reference to the DAL visual novel Arusu Install. If you've played the game you know who "Maria" is. But if you haven't don't worry, it bares no weight on the anime. It's just a neat reference.

Not gonna explain who Nibelcole is as well as the Origin Spirit, doing that without spoilers would be too much giveaway. All I'll say is that Nibelcole was notably watered down in brutality in the anime, as I've seen some of translations from the light novel about some of the things she was supposed to do in a few scenes... look up at your own discretion.

Old characters:
Tohka and Origami get their time in the spotlight in the Mukuro arc, but in an unconventional way. Again, don't want to spoil - this review is intended for folks sitting on the fence after going through season 3. Westcott and Ellen's plot starts to unfold, and they get a lot more screentime.

Mana is back after being gone for the entirety of season 3, and that's nice - but she doesn't do much in the grand scheme of things here other than show up in a couple of scenes.

Reine gets more involved in the plot and we see more of her this season. And we're gonna see much more of her next season.

And Kurumi... is once again, the biggest attraction. Her arc is the reason DAL has skyrocketed to the top of almost every poll in the final weeks of the season - and for good reason. It came at the cost of Mukuro's arc being forcibly speedran so that they could have as much time as they could get to cover Kurumi Refrain, the 16th volume of the light novel. The production team clearly went all-in on Kurumi's popularity to carry the season. And while it might've made Light Novel readers upset, it clearly paid off in most anime watchers opinions.

And Shido starts becoming more aware of his purpose, starting to ponder the nature of what he's doing and why. Which doesn't really matter much in this season, but will become a big part of the next.

Section conclusion:
While many of the harem girls were pretty much sidelined to where they barely exist and Mukuro's arc might've been a bit too speedran to the point where it felt both rushed yet felt slow and boring - the ones that got focused on ranged from fair at its worst to very well written at its peak. Nia's arc, Westcott's intentions finally being revealed, Shido's internal dilemma beginning to be recognized, and especially Kurumi's backstory + development carried this season.

Overall: I can feel comfortable saying that Date A Live IV was definitively a step up from 3 in terms of it's production. While it definitely still has its issues, the end result was still roughly enjoyable as each one before it. Subjectively, DAL is one of the best harem series ever made and is still manages to be my favorite guilty pleasure anime of all time. It would take a truly awful season to change that, and thankfully this wasn't it.

We'll see if Geek Toys breaks the curse of every studio only doing 1 season of DAL before passing it along to the next. But if they do, and you happen to read this Geek Toys: I want to first say I appreciate your work towards adapting this series and picking it up from where J.C Staff abruptly dropped it. But please, Step up your CGI. Every fight made in 3D this season, bar the airship battle, was horrendous and by far the biggest thing that really held this season back.
This is a very fixable problem that I hope they recognize and put effort into fixing for next season to make a finale worth the years of build up and waiting.

Overall, Solid 7 out of 10 anime/season - with a .5 bonus for personal enjoyment/bias for the series. It would've needed to address some of it's issues listed above in the animation and character sections particularly for it to reach an 8 or higher. A definitively better showing over the previous season, but it had the potential to be so much better.