Date a Live is a nice mix of ecchi,harem,comedy,romance and action.It manages to balance those elements quite well with good character development and somewhat interesting story.Unfortunately,there isn't much character development,but there is the spinoff encore which gives more of that.Each of the spirits have some psychological issues which caused them to become targets to become spirits in the first place.Shidos job is to seal their powers by making them fall in love,some cases are easier,some are harder,but he manages to do it.Shido basically serves as emotional support towards all the spirits and provides them with a normal life.Of course there are some antagonist here and there,one being a spirit which he has to seal(Kurumi).Isaac is a cliche type of antagonist who wants to kill everyone,then there are more complex antagonists like Kurumi whos goal you know but don't know why she is doing what she is doing until her backstory gets revealed.Then there is also a character reveal in vol 18,a character which got teased throughout the series couple of times,the character responsible for DAL happening in the first place.I shall spoiler tag if you didnt arrive there yourself.
Spoiler, click to viewclick to hide
Mio Takamiya,the first spirit,goddamn,I love her.The way they implemented her out of nowhere and managed to give her such a significant backstory,they make you feel for her a lot.Suffering for 30 years,recreating your loved one,subcounsionsly to kill you,thats some deep shit.You really felt sorry for her and were glad when she finally passed away.That beach scene with Reine,Mio,Shinji and Shido was good,the last scene with Mio seing Shinji is also beautiful,absolutely amazing.I hope she got reunited with Shinji.DAL also has good character design,the Astral Dresses look beautiful.The angels are interesting as well,each with their own design and powers that all represent something,be it time,space,sound,ice,fire,whatever.Each of the spirits backstory is something bad,there are only a few exceptions where Phantom was at fault for ruining their lives,but mostly it was thanks to Phantom that the spirits managed to continue living.Problem is,the powers were a way to vent their problems,not to solve them.So thats why Ratatoskr and Shido are the "good guys",they protect the spirits and give them a normal life.At the end of the trip,you are left with tons of emotions,especially with the final scene of vol 22,that is just proof of how effective the story and characters were to get you to feel something.
So,to wrap this up,should you read dal?
Yes,absolutely.It provides a good character driven narative with characters you care about and see that they grow thoughout the series.It combines elements well,it can be exciting action at one point,cheezy comedy at another,romantic date at another point,or it can absolutely squeeze out a few tears from you.
Anyways,this is my review,first time doing a review so quite amaturistic.
__Hope you will enjoy reading DAL!
Much love!__
