Date A Live - 09

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Date A Live really steps up its game in this episode.

Perhaps what’s most unsettling about the beginning of this episode is the fact that Mana seems to enjoy killing Kurumi as much as Kurumi enjoys killing other people.  She claims it’s simply because it’s the only way to protect the world from Kurumi, but when she’s fighting Kurumi she’s smiling.  Seems to me like she’s taking a little bit too much pleasure in her work.

Once again, Date A Live draws me back in with a serious conversation between characters.  When Tohka reassures Shido by explaining that she would probably be exactly like Kurumi if he hadn’t saved her, it’s obvious that her explanation is saving him, in a way.  Her speech helps Shido resolve to save her like he did the other Spirits.  But the question is, does Kurumi want to be saved?  It doesn’t really seem like it.

We start getting some background information on both Mana and Kotori in this episode, as well.  Kotori seems to think that the organization Mana works for is evil (and, honestly, I don’t think she’s far off).  It is revealed that Mana’s body has been engineered by magic, but that has drastically shortened her life expectancy.  Evil corporation?  Sounds about right to me.

Some interesting questions arise from this episode, especially after Kurumi raises the barrier around the school.  We get an explanation for why Shido isn’t affected by the sleep-inducing qualities of the barrier, but why is Origami unaffected?  Why is Kurumi so determined to get Shido to renounce his promise to save her?  Why does being saved scare her so much?

At the very least, we find out why she eats people: to replenish her Angel’s power (or, basically, her life force).  However, there’s a flaw to her logic.  She wouldn’t have to replenish her Angel’s power if she didn’t use it so often.  Most of the time, she employs this power in order to eat people, so…honestly, her logic is really flawed.

I don’t even know what to say about the battle with Kurumi and the others in this episode except that it’s awesome and thrilling and suspenseful!  And at the end, it is finally revealed that Kotori is a Spirit (as if we weren’t all expecting this already, with how much she knows about them and about Shido’s ability to save them), and a pretty badass one by the looks of it!  For once, I’m actually looking forward to the next episode of Date A Live!