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 dedicated section. So you don't have to worry about being spoiled reading this bar that section - which will 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).

I do want to mention that the way the season ends is not quite how the LN does. The final episode cuts out and skips past a critical moment that directly causes and leads into the final arc/final 3 light novels. Which means, as it stands, it is TECHNICALLY an anime original ending. And while there are people who will adamantly fight for either side, technically original ending is the accurate way to define the ending of DAL 5...

Although I'm gonna be real with you: this fight is not worth getting worked up for. Because while it is "technically" an original ending, it would not be hard for them at all to rectify this and still have another season. As all they'd have to do is start the next season with slightly going back a couple of minutes into the final episode and add that moment in. Which if they do, the loose end will be wrapped up.

But there's no guarantee of this, especially after the news of the animation studio's financial troubles reaching the public...

Update: Brief tangent to adressing the Geek Toys Bankruptcy claims/controversy:

This section was initially added a few months after writing this review, due to the wild and unproven accusations as well as conspiracies that were flying around following the conclusion of the anime in 2024. It served as a means of putting out what was fact and was not confirmed at the time to help put out the fires that were going on in the community. Now, it has now been updated with the information that is now available in 2025. Through the use of public records and proper translations, we have a clear picture of what has happened to the animation studio behind the last 2 seasons of DAL.

In 2023 (a year before the anime began airing) Geek Toys officially announced it was merging back into its parent company, Geek Pictures, citing financial issues as the reason. They kept the team working on Date a Live 5 in operation, but all other projects were shut down and outsourced to other studios. In short: they ran out of money and went defunct. Which is why Geek Toys' final anime, Headhunted to Another World, was relegated into a co-production between themselves and Comptown. But even then, they were barely scraping by. Comptown is just a small outsourcing studio, and Geek Toys was in full decline. They were so financially strapped for cash to produce it that Jumondou was also brought in, turning it into a tri-production. Geek Toys was, literally, running on fumes at the end. Which unquestionable attributed towards the animation quality problems of this season (more on that in a bit).

Where the chaos in the EN community comes from was (unsurprisingly) Twitter. A user made a poor translation of the merger announcement which claimed they declared bankruptcy instead of merging back with their parent company. And that piece of misinformation spread like wildfire. While the wording seems benign, there is a big difference between a studio going defunct through a merger vs bankruptcy.

Geek Pictures (the parent company of Geek Toys that it merged back into) is not gone and they still do have anime production listed under their list of services to this day. That being said, they have not made or announced the production of any anime projects following Date a Live 5. Heck, Geek Toys' own website still doesn't even list Headhunted to Another World under their titles - as they stopped updating their website in July when the merger finalized and all operations seemingly ceased (Headhunted aired the following January).

Long story short: they are (technically) not gone, but are in no position to make another season of Date a Live anytime soon - if ever, given that the rights to the show were, allegedly, returned to Kadokawa in exchange for more funding admist season 5's production chaos. Which if true, means the ball now is entirely in Kadokawa's court and out of Geek Toys hands; meaning Geek Toys may never get a say in it ever again.

As bleak as all of that sounds, it doesn't necessarily spell the end for the DAL anime. Because in April of 2025 we got this surprising, official announcement...

I'm certainly glad that there is another animation project in development for Date a Live. But we'll have to wait to see what it is exactly. Could be a 6th season, a movie, or a batch of OVAs to close out the story. Without spoiling anything: Given what the remaining content of the series is, a traditional season seems less likely - but still doable. Leaving all 3 possibilities on the table. But the most pressing and relevant question is: which studio will be responsible for it? Because frankly, it's probably not gonna be Geek Toys.
End of update

Now If this is the last we get from DAL as a anime it's not a dealbreaker. The ending is still quite a good - honestly great in a vacuum (when not compared to its source material) properly climatic and incredibly emotional ending as is. I genuinely cried watching it, despite knowing what was coming.
But in spite of it's best efforts to tie things up, as it stands it doesn't feel... fully resolved. The anime has several plot holes afloat, multiple big questions unanswered, subplots unresolved, and just a general feel of being unfinished. You could argue thats the point, since you could still make minor adjustments/recton and have 1 more season. But since the odds of that are looking slim as of this time, we have to assess the piece in front of us as it as: a (currently) anime original ending.

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. Asides from its pacing and storytelling being a bit unbalanced and I guess the debate over whether or not the ending should be considered anime-original, I have no major complaints on the story itself. 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. 8/12 episodes ranged from passable to solid. Then there's 2 legitimate cases for being the best episode not just of the season - but the entire series. But unfortunately, there are 2 who were... controversial to say the least, with many who would genuinely call them bad. And to be quite honest... I agree with almost all the negative criticism they both get. Those 2 episodes were really fumbled hard. Though for different reasons.

So lets dissect these 4: starting with the 2 'controversial' episodes and then the 2 really good ones.

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 Wars 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.

comparison to season 1

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 2 golden gooses of this season.

__Episode 8: The Moment We've Waited over a Decade to See
__

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 are some minor things you can nitpick with this episode. Like a couple of poor frames, or the track selection and placement feeling a bit off at times (like Kurumi's battle theme playing while Tohka was fighting Mio). Or in the case of the English dub, Shido saying "sixth bullet" instead of Vav (I'll talk about that more later in the sound section). But those tiny, mostly hardcore nitpicks aside: they knocked it out of the park with this one. 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 (brief tangent)...

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" BS. This season has really brought these basement dwellers outta the woodwork and I've gotten pretty fed up with this crud. So, let me address these... individuals for the last time.
Yes, we all get they're a smaller studio. We're not out here expecting Madhouse or Mappa level animation. All we wanted was simply decent and consistent animation on par in quality with the first 2 seasons - that's it. Its a very reasonable expectation that should not have been such a high bar to clear. And for anyone whose about to retort with "you're not cutting them any slack", wrong. I also already give them leeway for being a small studio. For example, the character models. Yeah, I certainly 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. Especially at the end in the last episode when it mattered the most.

But notice: I haven't complained about it in this review up to this point. Why? 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 would've been a lot more accepted, so long as they did the minimum of making sure the models they do have looked good or were animated well. But more often than not; they did not on either account. Ashcroft and Mukuro's 3D models are distractingly plastic-looking eye sores. And the animation of the other models, which do look good, are often poorly animated. Which is why many fans like myself are understandably upset with the quality.

I do 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 criticism for it. Trying to gatekeep criticism never ends well, just ask the RWBY community.
(tangent over)

Episode 12: A Finale Worth Remembering

The animation was getting rough at points, but clearly it was to save up for this last hurrah. And did it pay off?... YES. The final episode encapsulates the themes, structure and essence of Date a Live near perfectly. Self aware, dry humor? Check. Magic waifus? More than enough. Epic, visually stunning boss battle? Check. And a tearjerking ending? Yessir...

It goes out in a bang in a way we haven't seen since season 2, if not the Mayuri Judgement movie. It was absolutely amazing to see them throw it back this well and go this hard. Although it does bring me a great deal of sad realization that... we're likely never gonna get to see it again from this series, as this has been tailored to be the intended end for this anime. But if this is how Date a Live goes out, I'm happy it was with an episode of this caliber. As much as I have (and will continue to) criticize Geek Toys, at least brought it together when it mattered most this season.

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 and 12 proves they can do it - when they give genuine effort and passion towards it.

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, there's plenty to nitpick and complain about, 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.

The English dub:

I personally held off on watching the English dub this season for quite some time. Partly because I wanted to use it as an excuse to rewatch the season as a binge next round to see if it affects any of my opinions. And also because the dub was unfortunately delayed several weeks due to Hurricane Beryl hitting Texas (where the dubbing studio is located). But to be honest... the mess that was the season 4 English dub did a number on me. 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. But to tldr it: a lot of the core characters' English VA's were not readily available for the first half of the season. So there's a wild rotating carousel of VAs playing characters on the weekly. And it was noticeable to an extremely distracting degree. (Shido in particular was the biggest offender - being voiced by 3 different VAs before securing his original VA episode 7 onwards)

This following section has been added in almost half a year later as I finally got around to watching this season's dub. And the result is... I'm pretty annoyed - if not pissed off, with this season's dub. But for different reasons than season 4. Because the problem this time was not an issue of getting the cast back (pretty much everyone came back without a hitch this time around) - it was entirely due to localization.

Let's get mild nitpicks out of the way before we get to the egregious issues. The more opinionated issues rather than hardline issues

I know some people get extremely bothered by basic diologue changes and fight for pure 1-to-1 loyalty. And I'm typically not one of those people. But imo, the choice of making Shido shout "Sixth bullet" instead of "Vav" in episode 8 sounded infinitely less cool. The JP absolutely takes the W for that one.

I'm also not a fan of Barret Nash's voice for Mio. She has a voice thats really well suited for Reine, but when she turns on her Mio impression it just doesn't sound... right. I get why they stuck with her for it, because Mio and Reine are the same entity and all. And the original JP VA didn't switch off for the role. But Aya Endo nails it as both characters - arguably even moreso as Mio in a lot of fans opinions. Whereas Nash really only felt good as 1. It's not egregious, but I'm put off by it enough to mention it.

Now for irritating territory.

We start to see a real issue with the dub screwing with the lines to the point where it muddles the tone and meaning.
For example, there's a moment where Shido reveals something important to a Kurumi clone. And that information can't be directly told to the main Kurumi. In the original JP diologue, Kurumi says she has to form a plan to sneakily imply to her other self without tipping something else off. While in the English dub, the diologue is changed to "yea I can tell her no problem". 2 very different implications - going from using her cunning in one version, to just a BS plot convenience in the other. It annoyed me pretty heavily on rewatch.

The dub this season also went out its way to censor/remove a lot of the otaku language/references that Nia uses. Even removing that joke about being NTR'd be her own angel, which is a travesty.

The Elephant in the Room

Now if it was just that, I could live with it - and this section would probably not exist. But unfortunately, it went further than that. It fell victim to to the thing that has gotten rapidly more common and problematic as a result of western self-proclaimed activists (especially on the leftist side of the spectrum) getting more involved with anime localization and production: pushing and inserting a political agenda over a faithful adaptation.

Mild but unimportant spoiler for episode 2: there's a scene where the girls are sitting around playing a chainword game centering around errotic-sounding words. Kaguya gets embarrassed and says "Chupacabra" (the latin-american cryptid). Which fits the bill since its name makes the chu- sound, and is a creature known for well... sucking, fluids. And then conversation pivots over whether or not this word fits the bill for what their playing.

You know what the English dub does?... replaces it with a joke about MF-ing, Henry Kissinger, being erotic...

Ah yes, just what anime fans love the most: forcing American politics down our throats. Take a short-lived poltical meme that popular at the time because notorious politician Henry Kissinger had recently died when the dub started rolling out and leave it as an unwanted stain that already dates and ages this anime badly - because "Kiss" just happened to be a part of his name... the cringe is unbearable.
Setting aside the questions and implications that arise from this, such as why a random group of Japanese girls would know so much about Henry Kissinger? - Why was it so important to replace a joke that everyone understood with this? The Chupacabra line was a crafted, layered joke that still makes sense in English even when translated directly. So it wasn't a case of a line that needed to be localized. The only reason there is: is soley because the people in charge of the dub wanted to force in an unnecessary, leftist-american topical political joke that dates this anime and already has aged like milk. Genuinely indefensible.

And the ironic part? The Kissinger joke ended up not even landing well with its target audience on the left either. As the chupacabra line was a suprisingly liked joke that the latin-america DAL community in particular appreciated. I saw - and still do occasionally see posts made commending that joke specifically because they liked how well it fit linguistically between their 2 languages and cultures.

So to sum up this disaster: in the name of forcing in a "woke" political joke; the dub studio inadvertently commited white-washing by intentionally removing a well made Latin-America/Japanese cross-culture reference - for a joke about a dead white guy. Pissing off both sides of the political spectrum, leaving nobody happy... What an 'achievement' by Crunchyroll dub team.

Redeeming Qualities?
But there is still is some value in the dub. Namely due to the efforts and talents of 2 particular voice actors: Alexis Tipton and Michelle Rojas. Both of them absolutely KILLED it as Kurumi and Tohka respectively.
Alexis Tipton's interpretation and performance of the character holds up on its own so well that a fair number of people perfer the dub just for her alone; which speaks for itself. Look no further than the "my honey" clip that went viral in the anime community for several weeks - and has been circulating in both languages. She continued to excel in her role this season, and aside from some of the localization issues I mentioned earlier have 0 issues with her performance.

But in my opinion, the outstanding performance award as far as dub actors this season has to go to Rojas. She genuinely made Tohka sound far more animated and alive than she was in the original sub. Like the scene where Mio's tentacle came inches from killing her -- her terrified scream was so electric it actually raised the hairs on my arm. Bringing a tension to that scene that even surpased Marina Inoue's performance imo. While I wouldn't go as far as to say her performance as a whole was superior to inoue's, I will say that I think she did a fantastic job to the point where it at bare minimum matches - if not exceeds expectations. Phenominal work on her end.
If the dub has any selling point at all, in spite of its mound of issues: these 2 actresses performances would be it. Whether that makes it worth it you is up to you.

Sound conclusion:
DAL remains solid in the music and the JP voice department. It's the category that this series has always been consistent in and they didn't drop the ball and should be proud of it.
The English dub... has problems, quite a few of them this time. But as frustrated and disappointed I am with the dub, I won't doc any points from the grade of this review for it. Because at the end of the day: dubs are supplementary in nature and completely optional. There are not the source material and can be avoided. Yeah, there is still some specific gems within it, but it's not enough for me. While I still enjoy season's 1-3's dubs and will switch up back and forth depending on how I'm feeling, I'm personally never going to rewatch s4 or 5 in dub ever again after this. The problems they caused were an active detriment to my watch experience. So even though I am a dub perferentialist, I would strongly recommend you go with the subs over the dub for this season.

Characters:

I have a lot to say about many specific characters from this show, both positive and negative.

Fair warning: this will be the 1 section that has hard spoilers. If you are trying to avoid spoilers, please scroll to the Final Thoughts section to avoid them. But I want to share my full thoughts on these characters and how they impacted the season so I will not be sparing details for the sake of watch preservation here. Skip over this section if this applies to you, you've been warned.

Now for the dissections

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.

Some 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.

But the big thing a lot of people have complained about Westcott is his 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 and schadenfreude obsessed monster whose sole pleasure is watching people suffer. He just wants to kill and end lives because everything else is meaningless to him. 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 everyone to suffer before he kills everyone. He reveals that to Shido after putting on his sales pitch and then immediately 180ing, facial expresion, tone and all - and basically says "lol nah, my grandeur is just a flimsy excuse and I can't believe everyone buys it. The truth is 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. After all this time I truly expected Westcott to have some complicated backstory and motivation that hinges on spirits themselves. But nah, he's a simple man of simple tastes, and the spirits powers are just a means to that end. On one hand, it's so stupid. But on the other hand, it does fit Westcotts nature perfectly. Manipulative psychopath who wants what he wants and does what he does on almost pure whim. And enjoys setting elaborate plans that will deliberately causes others (including his allies) pain just because? Such a petty lil' b*tch.

I feel like I should hate this, but honestly: I love it. It would probably be terrible in other generic storylines, but for Date a Live? It fits this series so well. The batsh*t insane premise of extremely subverted expecations for a villain that seems setup to have very complicated and high-mind motivations given the amount of dedicated mystery, inteligence and intrigue he's brought to this series over the years. The 180 degree twist on the reveal, and overall just the general sense of self awareness is simply fantastic. Westcott is DAL taking the piss out of the generic fantasy villain tropes while still maintaining him as an intimidating, terrifying threat.

Finally, some people think that Westcott being irredeemable was bad writing. But in my opinion: it think it was necessary. Date a Live as a series is basically comprised of a bunch "redeemable" antagonists that eventually get saved. Miku, Origami, Kurumi, and Mio all fall into this category. Westcott being "saved" would've made the series a completely straight track with no deviation and given no consquences to a character who had gleefully committed numerous crimes against humanity. Quite frankly: he needed to die. I don't what we got was the most optimal ending for him (it could've been written better) but finding a reason to save him would've been cheap and even worse writing.

Many people may take issue with him, but I'll defend Westcott's character in regards to this: He is a well designed and plotted out villain in concept, origin, and motivation. But his overall execution is a bit off. But regardless of the problems, he is arguably the most layered and interesting character from this season - even more than Mio imo - and Westcott continues being one of the best part of this series.

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 him besides his wizard past, nor does he really do anything of significance as the leader of Ratataskr. I have a hard time buying 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, deflected a lone strike, then talked with Ellen in a static default idle pose before launching a single projectile which we see later causes her to fall 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. And unfortunately, this far from the only thing butchered by him - so this will not be the last I'll be talking about Motonaga and his decisions that caused a lot of damage to Date a Live in the long-term...

Back to Elliot: his 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 problem 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 this version of her so much. Anime Artemisia is so poorly done - she actively makes the anime worse by existing. Her backstory is basically non-existent/just doesn't matter. She's such a blank tile that she, honestly, is hardly even a character - just a plot device.

"Oh, she's being mind controlled?" How unfortunate. From watching the anime only 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 unlocks 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?!

And, of course, her CG model is the worst of every named character in this show. 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. She's an eyesore nearly every time she's on screen. They hardly, if ever, tried with her.

Artemisia is also arguably the biggest victim of the Geek Toys artstyle shift. As her character design went from being a subtle reference/homage of Vert from Hyperdimension Neptunia (who was also made by DAL's illustrator and character designer, Tsunako) to basically incomparable in the anime. A lot of people won't care about that particular issue, but its worth mentioning because when many hardcore fans are asked as to why they dislike the anime's new artstyle - she is one of the examples that gets pointed at.

Artemsia 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. So much of her backstory, build-up and even 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 will sum it up with this 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. Whereas Mukuro on the other hand is reduced to being plot device.exe and spends most of the season just opening portals so that the characters can get where ever the plot needs them to be.

There really isn't much else to say here; they generally did a better job with them here than in season 4. Not great still, after all they're still a more than overgrown group fighting for limited screentime in a season that does not have much to spare. And anyone not named Kotori, Tohka, Kurumi, or Reine/Mio has to make due with what little moments they get. But it was improvement.

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. I also like how they showed her progressive change in dynamic towards Origami with their tag team against Mio as well - showing how close they've become, gradually turning into genuine friends. While I'm disappointed that a lot of that progressive growth was cut and not adapted in the anime, it's nice to see some of it displayed on screen. 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.

Really the biggest criticism with Shido is that so much of his backstory was trimmed out from the earlier seasons that when it comes up now it feels like an a$$pull or convenient lie he tells to garner sympathy in order to woo the spirits instead of feeling like a genuine character moment/connection that it's supposed to be. Like in season 4 with the Mukuro resolution, he stops her from inverting by talking about his anxiety and irrational fears about his adopted family abandoining him... which is kinda unbelieveable since Shido never once speaks or even hints at this in the anime. Its very well noted in the novels from the very beginning, but the anime completely cut it because director Keitarou Motonaga elected to focus series on the comedic, self-aware aspect and cut a lot of characterization early on of several characters. Not just Shido either, Kurumi's motivation had to be explained in the first episode of season 2 because they "oops'd" and forgot to include it when they were supposed to in season 1. Which worked fine at the time, making DAL season 1 extremely enjoyable, unique, and good in a vacuum. But it caused a lot of damage down the road as the series progressed and those important early details that should've been introduced never were. Even the extended cut versions of seasons 1 and 2 don't fix this particular problem - because its the 1 thing they just never covered in the anime at any point. Seasons 3 you start to feel that issue setting in, but 4 particularly as well as 5 suffers greatly for this problem.

Shido is absolutely not a standout protagonist in the general comparison sense, he's in the middle of the pack all things considered which would make him incredibly forgettable in most circumstances. 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's self-awareness is fun and different, and the writing which gradually makes HIM drive the plot forward as opposed to being dragged along by it is the key that seperates him from the vast pool of throwaway harem MCs.

Even with the problems I laid out earlier regarding his character development taken into account, Shido is a definite candidate for the best harem protagonist of all time.

---

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.

You are now past: The Spoiler Zone. The rest of this review will be spoiler free, you read below this point without worry if thats your intention.

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. 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. While he and by extension the story does suffer from his backstory being neglected in the earlier seasons, he still manages to become a genuinely likeable character who has a distinct personality to him and drives the plot forward of his own accord, which is good writing (especially for a harem protagonist).

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 account. 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 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 going back to change my score of S4 a bit. Because I feel it's no longer a middle to high 7. Now it's probably on the lower end of 7's. As it's mostly 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 Elliot, Artemisia and Shido. 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 (arguable) 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. But for every problem it had another element match 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

Tldr in the likely case you just went to the bottom of the page to judge it solely based on the grade I gave it.

Pros:
-Fantastic story
-Many great characters and fantastic character designs
-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:
-Storytelling and pacing is very scattershot this season
-The CG quality is generally awful and is a frequently recurring issue
-Some characters are fumbled, including the main villain to some extent
-Incest (kinda/sorta)
-Technically an anime original ending