I had never heard of Date A Live until Date A Live: Rio Reincarnation came across my desk. Turns out there’s a pretty comprehensive universe that the game is based on, including a light novel series spanning twenty volumes, a manga (sadly unfinished), an anime spanning three seasons, and a movie. As a casual anime watcher, I was rather surprised to find out I’d been missing a series this comprehensive for this long.
Date a Live follows the rather unorthodox exploits of one Shido Itsuka, who is a rather ordinary high school student. Earth has been ravaged by a series of ‘spacequakes’ that have killed over a hundred million people and it has been discovered that these spacequakes are caused by Spirits, young girls imbued with the essences of spirits such as Efreets and other mythological characters and unable to control their powers. Shido, by a weird quirk of fate, has the singular ability to calm the Spirits if he can make them fall in love with him. Yes, really. And that’s the basis of Date A Live. As Shido, you try to juggle dating multiple women who are actually Spirits and attempt to keep them all in love with you to seal their powers and prevent spacequakes which will destroy the planet. No pressure. Oh, and one of those Spirits is your adopted sister Kotori. On top of that, the situations Shido finds himself embroiled in become increasingly libidinous as more and more spirits are discovered and begin vying for his affections.
Date A Live: Rio Reincarnation is more than just a visual novel. It’s actually three games in one. In addition to the new Rio Reincarnation game, you’re also given Rinne Utopia (originally released in Japan on the PS3) and Arusa Install (also originally released in Japan on the PS3). Rinne Utopia takes place in between the first and second seasons of the anime and Arusa install takes place after the second season. I’m not actually sure when Rio Reincarnation takes place as I haven’t managed to finish the anime yet, but I’d wager that it’s between the second and third seasons of the show.
In terms of mechanics, Date A Live is pretty straightforward. This is a pure visual novel and one intended almost entirely for fans of the Date A Live anime. The game gives very little choice other than which girl to visit in the map portions and the occasional simple choice such as whether to look for a girl or wait for her. Date A Live is all about exposition though. This is a game that tells the story and doesn’t make any illusions about it. You’re along for the ride with very little say other than which girl the story will focus on. But it’s a comprehensive story, full of tongue-and-cheek humor, some racy moments, and some laugh-out-loud comedy. One of the best things about all the Date A Live games is that they don’t take themselves too seriously. Sure, there are tense moments, especially around the climax of certain pathways in the game, but it’s mostly a romantic comedy with a sci-fi twist to it. Shido is hilariously unsure of himself and most of the girls are charmingly naive.
Graphically, Date A Live is more of a mixed bag than I’d anticipated however. If you’re wondering why the characters look familiar, they’re drawn by the same artist as Hyperdimension Neptunia, Tsunako. Unfortunately, most of the actual action is only in your mind’s eye, as Idea Factory definitely cut some corners in animating Date A Live: Rio Reincarnation. All three titles feature a lot of the same recycled artwork, static backgrounds, and a scant handful of painted splash page style images. Mostly the characters just expand slightly in size or vibrate a bit when they interact with Shido, leaving it up to you to imagine them cuffing him over the head or sneaking up on him. It’s honestly a bit disappointing and I feel like the game would be noticeably more immersive if they’d taken a bit more time to really draw you in with the imagery presented, more like a Mages game such as Steins; Gate Elite. Sadly however, that’s not the case and you’re left with extremely lengthy story segments that don’t really present a lot of activity. This is definitely not a title to play when you’re a bit tired.
With the sheer amount of content you’re getting (and I’ve not even bothered to cover the galleries or the Digest Mode that synopsizes the story of Rio Reincarnation), it’s hard to really complain about Date A Live on the PS4. It’s an extensive trilogy of games that brings the anime to live in a fairly immersive environment. It also turns out that the anime is pretty swell too, as I had to watch it once I started playing. Realistically though, if you don’t watch the anime, you will have virtually no idea what is going on in the game and it’s almost pointless to play it.
Date A Live: Rio Reincarnation is some of the best fan service one can get. It fills in all the gaps in the anime, presents all new stories that dovetail with the show, and makes the whole thing pretty darned fun. It’s a bit tacky and ridiculous in spots, but that’s part of the charm. The PS4 version of the game is censored in a couple of scenes, but if you’re looking for hentai, this isn’t the place to come for it anyway and it honestly doesn’t matter that Sony has become somewhat of a prude compared to Nintendo and Steam.
If you need to scratch that anime itch with a light-hearted and endearing visual novel which happens to be occasionally pervy, this is where you need to be. But you should also be watching Date A Live because it’s fun and it sets up the games. But be prepared for a fantastic amount of text in between choices, as the game is here to tell three stories, and none of them are particularly short! Date A Live: Rio Reincarnation is pretty much the definition of otaku culture making its way to Western shores, and that’s not a bad thing!
This review was based on a digital copy of Date A Live: Rio Reincarnation provided by the publisher. It was played with a Sony PS4 Pro on a 55” Sony LED TV. Many Spirits were dated during the writing of this review. Date A Live: Rio Reincarnation is also available on Steam.