Sep 7, 2020
Hi, I'm a professional 2D animator myself writing my first review here. There will be no spoilers in this review, feel free to read my frustrations as someone who genuinely loves this anime, and is an expert in production. I am rating this season harshly because I know how the industry works, and that this gem did not get the justice it deserved.
As someone who doesn't usually watch Harem animes, Date A Live season lll couldn't have been more pathetic and done wrong by J.C. Staff. Especially as an artist. I was very excited by the story and art direction of the first 2 seasons
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done by other studios only to be frustrated and deeply saddened by the half-hearted efforts for this potentially amazing season. But of course, due to the nature of the industry, the producers and management will always take the cheapest studio they can get for mass-production. Showing no love towards the viewers and treating fans with very little respect for rare hidden gems like Date A Live in such an already crappy anime market.
Story (6/10):
It goes without saying, that the story is automatically amazing. But that's the author, not the studio. The story alone can't carry J.C. Staff's half-assed efforts. And especially when you turn what is an amazing storywriting arc into a single half-assed final episode, you butcher what could have made the viewers cry with excitement. Instead we got some cringe ass anime main character with the typical cringe red eye, black face crap.
Not to mention, it's evident from the first episode immediately how butchered the drama aspect is. They half-heartedly attempt to create "fear" or "intense" atmosphere that it comes off as cringe or a typical anime crap. When it's predecessor seasons really nail emotions and getting the audience to feel for the characters and feel anxiety/excitement.
Art (1/10):
This was just disastrous, while sure I can admit certain important scenes they actually tried. The majority of the anime's art direction pales in comparison to their previous seasons. A lot of frames you can tell were done within a minute, no details. No perspective. The cranium in a lot of their heads were even missing.
The opening itself, was entirely just stillframes with flowing hair. They clearly showed no love to the fanbase and expected them to just be ignorant and love it anyway. But no, not to real anime lovers. But again, I understand big studios and shit pay in Japan leads to mass production and little care for the anime.
Sound (5/10):
It's a given that the voice actors from the original seasons would already be great and carrying the series along w/ the amazing storywriters. But they can't carry J.C. Staff entirely alone with that.
Character (5/10):
As you've noticed, I'm going to again, say it's a given the characters and their development are automatically going to be great due to the amazing writer. HOWEVER, animation-wise, if you've watched the other seasons, you can tell that the characters this season are animated completely out of character with their established archetypes because J.C. Staff failed to pay attention to leading their animators for correct acting choices. It's obvious they only took on the project because it was famous and for profit.
The characters this season came off more as basic stereotypes, or say emotionless characters like Origami were too active w/ their movements or their posing was way too out of character because of the lack of attention to detail from the animation team and director.
Enjoyment (3/10):
While some moments were enjoyable, due to the nature of how the adaptation made plot twists so darn obvious, I couldn't help but sit there going like well we obviously know what's coming up, but they would attempt to make the main character stupid and not foresee the obvious to take place in 10 minutes. They treated the viewers as if we were children and spoonfed too much information ruining many buildup and dramatic moments. The camera angles being mild as well during important scenes just straight up kills the excitement or buildup.
The worst part is they straight up gave us a slideshow many times on dramatic scenes, and you can't hope but wonder if as a fan, you were just blue-balled and taken for granted. Personally, I feel they treated this amazing show as just another trash income source, which is unfortunately displeasing, but another factor of the industry.
Overall (4.5/10):
Obviously I could have rated this higher, but I'm rating this based on how the studio handled the adaptation with very poor effort to please the loyalty of the fanbase. The story and voice acting being great is a given, and therefore can't offput the poor excuse of a show this season was. You also can't balance out one good scene with an entire season of trash effort expecting the fanbase to be pleased.
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That concludes my review, thank you if you've given a quick read or if you relate with my frustrations. Feel free to hit me up if our interests align. I personally love anime with real plot and effort, and wish to make my own eventually. Nowadays it's hard to find any of that due to the mass-production of trash and hiring random artists to animate, the industry is failing miserably and not doing themselves a favour in how the world views anime due to this and many factors.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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