WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Date A Live III, now streaming on Crunchyroll and VRV.
Date A Live has been a wild ride. The premise of dating Spirits seems silly at first, but the anime makes up for it with beautiful designs, good comedy, and fun characters. The fantasy and sci-fi elements are also put to good use. Everything goes together to make a unique, entertaining story.
With season 4 approaching, it's important to remember everything that's come before. Several complications have arisen in Itsuka Shidō's attempts to date Spirits, especially in Season 3. Here's everything that's happened in Date A Live thus far and everything to expect in the future.
For the last 30 years, the Earth has been ravaged by powerful natural disasters called spatial quakes. These quakes are caused by the arrival of Spirits; extradimensional beings with powerful magic who take the form of teenage girls. The best way to deal with the spatial quakes is to do something about these Spirits.
There are two methods that have been used to deal with Spirits. The first method is fighting and killing them. Thus, battles are waged by the Anti Spirit Team or AST of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force using the advanced technology of Deus Ex Machina Industries. The second solution for handling Spirits is to make them go on dates with Shidō. With the guidance of the organization Ratatoskr, Shidō makes Spirits fall in love with him so he can literally seal their magic with a kiss, thus turning them into ordinary humans. It's Shidō's job to woo whatever Spirit comes his way while maintaining the happiness of the other Spirits he's won over.
By the start of Date A Live II, Shidō conquered the hearts of six Spirits in total; Yatogami Tōka codenamed Princess by the AST; Himekawa Yoshino, codenamed Hermit; Itsuka Kotori, codenamed Efreet; Kaguya and Yuzuru Yamai, known collectively as Berserk; Izayoi Miku, codenamed Diva. Each of these girls has kissed Shidō and had their magic sealed, though their powers return in times of crisis. There's also Tokisaki Kurumi (Nightmare), a particularly dangerous Spirit with control over time; despite her vested interest in Shidō, she has yet to allow him to seal her powers.
Date A Live III tasked Shidō with winning over two more Spirits. The first was Kyōno Natsumi, codenamed Witch. This mischievous Spirit saw fit to toy with Shidō after having her shameful true form exposed. In order to make her fall in love with him, Shidō first had to help her learn to love herself. The second Spirit was his classmate Tobiichi Origami. Origami was an especially complicated case. She was a member of the AST determined to find and eliminate the Spirit who killed her parents five years prior. She had mellowed out for a while but returned to her warpath in Date A Live III. This time, she was willing to do whatever it took to get her revenge, including becoming a Spirit herself and traveling back in time to confront the object of her vendetta directly.
Unfortunately, Origami's efforts to exact her revenge only made things worse. As she was fighting Phantom, whom she believed to be responsible for her parent's deaths, she inadvertently killed her own parents, thus making her own younger self swear revenge. The mental stress and negative emotions caused her to become a dangerous Inverse Spirit. With this, Shidō's mission plan changed to both sealing her powers and helping her deal with her mental trauma.
Shidō had to travel to the past the same way Origami did-- with Kurumi's help. Once there, he attempted to comfort the young, bereaved Origami. When her anger remained, Shidō tried saving her parents and preventing her rage from ever being kindled. This seemed to work for a while and even produced a much happier Origami in the present, but her lingering memories of the previous timeline turned her into an Inverse Spirit once more. This time, however, thanks to Shidō's attempt to console Origami's past self, he was finally able to reach her and seal her powers.
For all the time that Date a Live has spent on dating Spirits, there are still several plot threads that need to be tied up. Shidō needs to seal the powers of more untamed Spirits like Kurumi and Phantom, and there are likely more on the way. There are a lot of unanswered questions regarding the origins of Spirits and the true nature of Shidō's powers. As for antagonists, Ratatoskr still needs to find a way to stop the AST from harassing Spirits. Furthermore, Isaac Wescott of DEM seems to have his own machinations that involve using the Spirits' powers. These loose ends and several other things must be addressed before Date A Live can conclude. Some of these issues seem like they'll be addressed in Date A Live IV. Fans should stay tuned and be ready for an epic continuation.
