Date A Live - 07

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I admit I was putting off this post after the last episode of Date A Live went crazy with a town attacking the AST and creating ridiculous and ecchi situations.  But this episode was actually pretty great.

This episode of Date A Live begins with an introduction of a new AST member who can best virtually every other member one-on-one and has apparently killed a Spirit.  What will this mean for Shido and the Spirits he’s trying to save?  Well, apparently Takamiya Mana is related to Shido (she does have the same hair and eye color as him).  This surprises Origami, though, so can we really be sure she’s Shido’s sister without some sort of proof?  They have different surnames, which is a bit fishy…

Another new character introduced in this episode is Tokisaki Kurumi, who immediately introduces herself to Shido’s class as a Spirit.  She’s apparently a very dangerous (and evil, if we believe Mana) Spirit with a long list of kills.  Aside from all of this, she’s very interested in Shido romantically (or so she says).  Of course, when she apparently eats three random guys who put the moves on her, one has to assume that she has something else in mind for Shido other than simply dating him.

Well, look at that.  Shido was adopted.  That would have been something nice to know a lot freaking earlier than episode 7, right?  It turns out both Shido and Mana have amnesia, only remembering the past couple of years.  Cue sibling rivalry (or sister rivalry?) between Mana and Kotori, who spend a good couple of minutes arguing about who is closer to Shido.  When Kotori mentions that blood-related siblings can’t marry each other, though, I start to get suspicious about just who and what she is.  If we take this statement as a Freudian slip, can we assume she’s interested in marrying Shido?  Even for adopted-siblings, that’s a strange ambition to have.

And suddenly, Date A Live decides to get really dark.  The Spirit Nightmare, a.k.a. Tokisaki Kurumi, is pretty terrifying compared to Tohka and Yoshino.  I suppose it’s about time we get a member of the harem who’s a yandere, but man, she’s freaky.  She’s either as immortal as Shido seems to be or can create doubles of herself or has some other power similar to that, which will make her more difficult to defeat.  And the fact that she eats people, and is interested in devouring Shido, is horrifying in and of itself.  And let’s not even get started on the creepy disembodied hands coming out of the ground.

Is the Spirit Mana killed in the past Nightmare?  If so, is that why she told Origami that the Spirit she killed was a strange case to be considered differently than other Spirits?  Obviously, we know Mana can kill Nightmare, as it happens in this episode.

Clearly, the introduction of this new Spirit is leading to a new turn for Date A Live.  I’m glad I’ve stuck with this anime this long, because the now clearly multilayered facets of the show are proving to be much more interesting than the dull harem I was expecting after the first few episodes (and the route the last episode seemed to be going down).  I definitely can’t wait for the next episode to see what’s going to happen with freaky new Nightmare!