(L) Date A Live [Light Novel]

[Znail]

Originally Posted by Marly

So I don't understand why Funimation labeled this series as romcom.

It just doesn't make sense to me.

While the background story is rather serious and the spirits do pose quite immidiate dangers to people, so is it very much a romantic commedy.

[Reek of Blood]

^Funimation basically consist of people who, more often than not, don't even get what they've gotten into (aside from puny synopsis) I bet they don't even care what genre this show belongs into and simply brushed it off as "romcom" after looking at the cast (one guy + multiple girls)

[Marly]

Originally Posted by Reek of Blood

^Funimation basically consist of people who, more often than not, don't even get what they've gotten into (aside from puny synopsis) I bet they don't even care what genre this show belongs into and simply brushed it off as "romcom" after looking at the cast (one guy + multiple girls)

Yeah, this seems to be about accurate. I had my doubts, but that wouldn't be much of a surprise.

Originally Posted by Znail

While the background story is rather serious and the spirits do pose quite immidiate dangers to people, so is it very much a romantic commedy.

Excuse me, but what?

Originally Posted by kagato3

Because it is a comedy where one of the main plots revolves around romancing the Spirits?

Just because it has some comedic elements doesn't mean it's comedy. By that logic, every show ever should be categorized as *something* comedy, and that wouldn't make sense. Reading the first three volumes, I think it would be more accurate to label this as romantic drama. There was nothing comedic about Shidou trying to rescue Yoshino from getting massacred by AST (which is the main reason for the 'romance' part) and Kurumi being Kurumi.


Also, the new Compile Heart game seems to be just some variation of visual novel. A little disappointing.

[Algester]

Originally Posted by Marly

Also, the new Compile Heart game seems to be just some variation of visual novel. A little disappointing.

its no surprising why... well its already expected that it will be a VN with reaction type selections and a lot of bad ends if anything is to go by... cause were going to be playing in the shoes of Shidou... and capture them spirits (Kurumi?, Kotori, Touka, Rinne, Yoshino) and hijinks

[Iggy_Pop]

Looking at the trailer, there's Tohka cooking and Kotori getting piggyback from Shido. Somehow, I'm quite tempted to buy this.

[kagato3]

Originally Posted by Marly

Just because it has some comedic elements doesn't mean it's comedy. By that logic, every show ever should be categorized as *something* comedy, and that wouldn't make sense. Reading the first three volumes, I think it would be more accurate to label this as romantic drama. There was nothing comedic about Shidou trying to rescue Yoshino from getting massacred by AST (which is the main reason for the 'romance' part) and Kurumi being Kurumi.

I have no idea how you can deny the series is a comedy. Over 70% of all the interactions in the first 4 books are comedic in nature. Youre also overblowing the conflict between the AST andYoshino as it was closer to her massacring them. As for Kurumi she is the only non comedic character so far.

[Marly]

Originally Posted by kagato3

I have no idea how you can deny the series is a comedy. Over 70% of all the interactions in the first 4 books are comedic in nature.

I have no idea what you're talking about. The first four books have comedic elements, but they are mostly brief and almost have nothing to do with the main plot, which is much more serious. (Maybe with the exception of the part of the first volume where Tohka date happens) I also don't know how you can accurately measure the percentage of comedy in the first four volumes especially when you're just objectively incorrect about the latter statement.

Originally Posted by kagato3

Youre also overblowing the conflict between the AST andYoshino as it was closer to her massacring them. As for Kurumi she is the only non comedic character so far.

Are we reading the same book? Yoshino was docile all the way throughout- It was just AST being dicks and constantly trying to kill her. Even when she summoned her Angel, it was for defensive purposes. If a character having a slight comedic moment constitutes as a 'comedic character' for you, I don't think your opinion holds much weight.

As a clarification, Sora no Otoshimono is what I'd say constitutes as a 'romcom.'

[Znail]

Originally Posted by Marly

As a clarification, Sora no Otoshimono is what I'd say constitutes as a 'romcom.'

Romcom to me is a story that has Romance and Commedy in it. It may also have any other genre's like action, adventure, drama, sci-fi etc.

Sora no Otoshimono barely qualify as it's not really that much Romance in it. It does have Echi. but that is not the same as Romance.

[animefan36]

Wait where can I find the previews, they seem to not show it with the episode?

[XFire]

Am I the only one who has trouble seeing the AST as effective antagonists? They are almost comically unable to damage the spirits, much less defeat them. To recap....

Spoiler for Tohka:

1. Tohka half-heartedly fights them, holding a huge advantage without trying
2. When the Origami accidentally kill Shidou, Tohka nearly kills the entire squad.... with the shock-waves coming off her back swing
3. Origami herself can't even dodge, she survives because the sword pressure throws her out of the way of the actual blade

Spoiler for Yoshino:

1. She ignores them because she's afraid to hurt them
2. She's the lowest ranking spirit and she nearly massacres them
3. A territory is representative of an individuals strength. Yoshino freezes the AST territories by existing in Angel form

Spoiler for Kurumi:

1. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA*cough*
2. She is the only spirit to die.... over and over again to break down a particulary strong AST member to fight boredom
3. She walks right into the school and the AST can't do anything

Those are the only three I know, since I haven't read further translations, but from what I can tell the AST exist to show how necessary Shidou is, since there is no way in hell the humans could fight an angry spirit.

[Flying Dagger]

There are different levels of romance. The romance shared by the spirits and Shidou is similar to the one shared between tomoki and his angeloids. I honestly don't think Shidou has a romantic connection towards any of the Spirits yet.

//Wishful thinking:
I think it would be interesting if Shidou does find someone to be truly romantically attached to, but due to his "job" he is unable to commit (and resistances from Ratatoskr also forbid him to fall in love). Tension among spirits will also raise to a dangerous level... /sigh due to the haremic nature of the series I doubt we will see something like that any time soon.

Originally Posted by kagato3

I have no idea how you can deny the series is a comedy. Over 70% of all the interactions in the first 4 books are comedic in nature. Youre also overblowing the conflict between the AST andYoshino as it was closer to her massacring them. As for Kurumi she is the only non comedic character so far.

How is Kurumi the only non comedic character when her introductory scenes rivals Origami's .

On AST/antagonist:

Spoiler:

(only read up to vol5 atm)
I don't think they are bad to begin with (to take on a antagonist role). When you have spirits wit the capability of destroying the world roaming around and making them "lost" is a valid solution (esp when Shidou's abilities are still unknown to the world). Remember, success is not determined by extermination but by causing them to "lost".

The Round (people behind Ratatoskr) are a lot more fishy, same with the guys @ DEM. I wouldn't be surprised if they are somewhat related: using research on sealed spirits to create more powerful weapons.

I also doubt the world will let someone like Shidou walk around acquiring the power of spirits. I feel sooner or later they will use him as their pawn: and that's when they start to reveal all the leashes they have secretly tied Shidou up with.

[Marly]

Originally Posted by XFire

Am I the only one who has trouble seeing the AST as effective antagonists? They are almost comically unable to damage the spirits, much less defeat them. To recap....

I honestly just see AST as world-building fodder. I won't be surprised if they become competent later on, though.

Originally Posted by Flying Dagger

There are different levels of romance. The romance shared by the spirits and Shidou is similar to the one shared between tomoki and his angeloids. I honestly don't think Shidou has a romantic connection towards any of the Spirits yet.

I think it would be interesting if Shidou does find someone to be truly romantically attached to, but due to his "job" he is unable to commit (and resistances from Ratatoskr also forbid him to fall in love). Tension among spirits will also raise to a dangerous level... /sigh due to the haremic nature of the series I doubt we will see something like that any time soon.

I think the closest to a romantic connection Shidou has is with Origami, and that's just one sided and played mostly for jokes. I personally don't consider this as harem because the sealed Spirits don't really think of Shidou as a lover, (other than maybe Tohka) but more as a close friend and someone that they legitimately trust.

[Flying Dagger]

Yoshino and Kotori will disagree if you exclude them from the race

Spoiler for kotori volume:

in fact before I even started on the Kotori story, I knew Shidou could probably have sealed her without the usual date. At the end it is proven that her affection rate has been maxed out all along.

Most memory line is when she told Mana that blood related siblings can't get married.

imo this series (and other harem stories) suffer from the "need" to introduce a new heroine every so often and they take the attention away from past heroines. Judging from the world tree diagram we are just around half way there. Haven't read v7 yet, maybe Tohka will get more development in that - I can't to build a liking towards Tohka after having finished the first 4 volumes.

Personally I would like to see an all out race between Kurumi and Origami, but that might give the novel an 18+ rating rather quickly -_-;.

[Marly]

Originally Posted by Flying Dagger

Yoshino and Kotori will disagree if you exclude them from the race

Kotori, maybe. Where did the Yoshino thing come from?

Originally Posted by Flying Dagger

imo this series (and other harem stories) suffer from the "need" to introduce a new heroine every so often and they take the attention away from past heroines. Judging from the world tree diagram we are just around half way there. Haven't read v7 yet, maybe Tohka will get more development in that - I can't to build a liking towards Tohka after having finished the first 4 volumes.

Personally I would like to see an all out race between Kurumi and Origami, but that might give the novel an 18+ rating rather quickly -_-;.

Well, that sort of is the point, though I would appreciate it if the author could change up the formula a bit and not turn this into a "monster of the week" format. (and he did with volume 7, I guess)

Also, Kurumi being included in the "harem" is probably one of the best ways to turn this series into complete garbage because that would be a terrible writing. Quite ironic that you show disdain for the harem genre while at the same time, 'liking' it for that to happen.

[Flying Dagger]

Yoshino's affect towards Shidou is made even more obvious in her short story. I think one of the underlying rule for the sealing to work is for the heroine to have (romantic) affection towards Shidou to begin with, so all captured spirits should have a certain degree of affection towards him to begin with (thus it cannot be some "friendly" "playful" kiss).

//

Just because it is a harem story does not mean the main "pairs" (I think two major heroine candidates contesting would be fine) have to have their relationship in a stalemate position. After the first 4.5 volumes I have finished I don't see how Shidou's relation with any of the heroines progress at all beyond their initial interaction.

Take another popular harem series, Highschool DxD, for example, there can still be degrees of relationship progression between the main couple while the harem continue to interact with the protagonist.

Since so far no real "main heroines" have been established in the series (Tohka and Origami (and in a way, Kotori) are recurring ones, but does not mean they are any closer to Shidou than before), the author still have room to "grow" actual mutual relationships between Shidou and one of the heroines.

[Marly]

Originally Posted by Flying Dagger

I think one of the underlying rule for the sealing to work is for the heroine to have (romantic) affection towards Shidou to begin with

Where did you get this from? As far as I'm concerned, a random female character can reach the same level of 'affection' as Shidou has reached. Just because something is affectionate doesn't necessarily mean it has to be romantic.

Originally Posted by Flying Dagger

Just because it is a harem story does not mean the main "pairs" (I think two major heroine candidates contesting would be fine) have to have their relationship in a stalemate position. After the first 4.5 volumes I have finished I don't see how Shidou's relation with any of the heroines progress at all beyond their initial interaction.

Take another popular harem series, Highschool DxD, for example, there can still be degrees of relationship progression between the main couple while the harem continue to interact with the protagonist.

Since so far no real "main heroines" have been established in the series (Tohka and Origami (and in a way, Kotori) are recurring ones, but does not mean they are any closer to Shidou than before), the author still have room to "grow" actual mutual relationships between Shidou and one of the heroines.

I don't get what you're even talking about here. No one said anything about Shidou's relation with the heroines being in stalemate. I'm also pretty sure that it's quite obvious that Tohka is the established main 'heroine' at this point.

No, but really- What are you talking about now? What does this have anything to do with what I said about introducing a new character every volume?

[81Z27]

Originally Posted by Marly

Where did you get this from? As far as I'm concerned, a random female character can reach the same level of 'affection' as Shidou has reached. Just because something is affectionate doesn't necessarily mean it has to be romantic.

Did you miss the part in Volume 1 where Kotori told Shidou to make the spirits fall in love with him?

[kagato3]

Originally Posted by Marly

I have no idea what you're talking about. The first four books have comedic elements, but they are mostly brief and almost have nothing to do with the main plot, which is much more serious. (Maybe with the exception of the part of the first volume where Tohka date happens) I also don't know how you can accurately measure the percentage of comedy in the first four volumes especially when you're just objectively incorrect about the latter statement.

you mean the main plot that a guy saves the world by dateing girls while getting dating advice from his little sister and a group of misfits in dateing sim form? So do you also not think that TWGOK, Highschool DxD, and Hataraku Maou-sama are comedies? Given everywhere I've looked (even the Japanesee sites and half of them state it as a Romcom) identifies the series as a comedy I'm truely starting to think you are trolling.

Are we reading the same book? Yoshino was docile all the way throughout- It was just AST being dicks and constantly trying to kill her. Even when she summoned her Angel, it was for defensive purposes. If a character having a slight comedic moment constitutes as a 'comedic character' for you, I don't think your opinion holds much weight.

Yes they are trying to kill her, with weapons that to her amount to spitballs. Her just freaking out because she was stressed wiped out half the AST and as you said she wasn't even atacking.

Unless they are the girl of the book they are played for comedy and even if they are the girl of the book about half of their screen time is played for comedy.

Originally Posted by Flying Dagger

How is Kurumi the only non comedic character when her introductory scenes rivals Origami's .

I guess she just came off too creepy for me. Yes she had her funny moments but there seemed to me always some sinister undertones in what she was doing.

[Marly]

Originally Posted by 81Z27

Did you miss the part in Volume 1 where Kotori told Shidou to make the spirits fall in love with him?

I love chocolates too. I love my pets, and my friends too. No, really- What are you trying to say here? Did you never have a friend of opposite gender that you loved as a friend, but didn't necessarily consider that friend as a 'boy/girlfriend/lover' or something?

Originally Posted by kagato3

you mean the main plot that a guy saves the world by dateing girls while getting dating advice from his little sister and a group of misfits in dateing sim form? So do you also not think that TWGOK, Highschool DxD, and Hataraku Maou-sama are comedies? Given everywhere I've looked (even the Japanesee sites and half of them state it as a Romcom) identifies the series as a comedy I'm truely starting to think you are trolling.

So you're now saying this is a comedy because the method in which the protagonist utilizes to save people/Spirits from suffering/dying is different from a typical shounen? Are you joking? A show like Hataraku Maou-sama is obviously comedy- There is certainly a serious issue at hand, but the main plot revolves around Maou having to live with his underling while enduring wacky everyday life events, not him having to save people from certain death. Don't bring up Strawman. And I also don't see how just because some "Japanesee" sites listed something as romcom necessarily constitutes the show as romcom. It's just about as accurate as Funimation labeling this show as 'romcom.'

Originally Posted by kagato3

Yes they are trying to kill her, with weapons that to her amount to spitballs. Her just freaking out because she was stressed wiped out half the AST and as you said she wasn't even atacking.

I don't think you're reading half the posts you're making. Just earlier you said I was overblowing the conflict and that it was her massacring the AST, and now you're conceding to my point that she wasn't the one attacking. No, seriously- You're being quite incomprehensible.

I mean, look at your own post here:

Spoiler:

Originally Posted by kagato3

Youre also overblowing the conflict between the AST andYoshino as it was closer to her massacring them. As for Kurumi she is the only non comedic character so far.

Originally Posted by kagato3

Unless they are the girl of the book they are played for comedy and even if they are the girl of the book about half of their screen time is played for comedy.

I personally thought in the second volume, Yoshino constantly being chased by AST and her showing how detached she was from the society was COMEDIC. In fact, I also loved the part when she lost her doll and went out of control due to the psychological torment she was having because she didn't have something to channel her split personality to cheer herself up with. Tohka destroying the ground was pretty hilarious too because that accidental kissing scene of Shidou and Yoshino was just so wacky! Silly Tohka. I also loved the part Kurumi killed those kids, and those delinquents, and... No, seriously. I don't think you've read the light novels. At all. In fact, I won't be surprised if you were one of those people that just look at the pretty pictures, read the brief summaries and called it a day.

[Flying Dagger]

Originally Posted by Marly

Where did you get this from? As far as I'm concerned, a random female character can reach the same level of 'affection' as Shidou has reached. Just because something is affectionate doesn't necessarily mean it has to be romantic.

I think it has to be an affection greater than that shared between good friends or family. If only a "friend" level amount of affection is required, a lot of problem and embarrassment can be avoided. In addition, Shidou's relationship with sealed spirits so far usually start off in the "friend" zone by default: as the first human to really try to communicate and understand their trouble.

Originally Posted by Marly

I don't get what you're even talking about here. No one said anything about Shidou's relation with the heroines being in stalemate. I'm also pretty sure that it's quite obvious that Tohka is the established main 'heroine' at this point.

No, but really- What are you talking about now? What does this have anything to do with what I said about introducing a new character every volume?

One of the reason, imo, of why Shidou's relationship with the heroines are in a stalemate (or rather, barely progressed at all, I guess I choice a terrible word) is because of the "new heroine of the volume" format.

What I wrote can be read as such:
As for end of v5 (what I have read so far), even though Tohka and Origami does have more interaction with Shidou than others, I still do not feel they have gone through enough with each other for Shidou to truly develop feelings towards.

Thus the "main couple" seat in my eyes is still up for grab. I will not be surprised if Shidou becomes romantically attached to a 3rd person, but tries to maintain a partner (in spirit capture) relationship with Tohka (this I explained in an earlier post why I thought would make things interesting).

//

I think the root of the recent discussion on this page lies in how we define terms such as "love" (ie: fall in love can simply be "become good friends" for some)/symbol of the date and kiss (ie: does the spirit need romantic feelings towards Shidou for the sealing to work?), what is comedy and what is not.