Thirty years ago, an explosion devastated East Asia, killing over 150 million people. In the present day, such “spacequakes” are now a common occurrence. One day, Shidou Itsuka races to rescue his little sister from one such spacequake. However, when he is caught in the blast, he discovers a mysterious girl who turns out to be a Spirit. These girls are responsible for the devastation when they come crashing to Earth. However, when Shidou is rescued by an anti-Spirit team, he discovers it is headed up by his little sister. Recruited in and tasked with neutralizing Spirits with extreme force, Shidou discovers he can come to a more peaceful solution – making the Spirits fall in love.

A ridiculous combination of deadly space aliens and harems, Date A Live, for many is a hilarious romp of dating to save the world. If you need more potentially deadly girls showing their weak sides, then let us help you with these anime recommendations.

For Fans of Cute Girls That Are “Special”

Heaven’s Lost Property

Since he was a child, Tomoki has always woken up in tears from a dream of an angel. Worrying for her friend, Mitsuki seeks out the obsessive sky maniac Eishirou Sugata who deems that this dream is a connection to the New World, a floating anomaly that baffles scientists. With both Tomoki and Mitsuki recruited into the New World Discovery Club, their lives are changed forever when a strange girl falls from the sky and begins to call Tomoki her master.

While Date A Live maintains a steady flow of different girls coming from the sky, in Heaven’s Lost Property, there are only a select few. However, in both shows a harem forms quickly, but unlike Tomoki, Shidou is a little more deserving of it. Of course, many members of each harem are capable of great destruction as well.

High School DxD

Average pervert Issei Hyoudou has done nothing productive with his life save for dreaming of attracting a harem. Things are looking up when a girl asks him on a date, but unfortunately she turns out to be a fallen angel and brutal kills him. However, he gets a second chance at life when a classmate (and devil) revives him to be her servant.

Angels and devils are not quite so different from the cute space aliens in Date A Live. However, while both are harem-oriented, DxD maintains a lot more lewdness in the story. It is also worth noting that while both are also full of fan service, they also manage to tell a halfway decent story.

C3

Average high school boy Yachi Haruaki was born naturally resistant to curses. That is put to the test when his father sends him a mysterious black cube. However, when he wakes up the next day, the cube has turned into a nude girl named Fear. She is the personification of the black cube, and together they must find and defeat other cursed instruments.

Both share the whole “girls from unknown origins” trope first and foremost, but they also feature these women becoming battle partners. Throughout their various trials, they become closer to each other. While C3 is less of a harem, it does have some fan service elements.

For Fans of DATE TO SAVE THE WORLD!

The World Only God Knows

Keima Katsuragi is known as the “God of Conquest,” a man that can conquer any girl’s heart, at least in his dating sim games. However, when Keima arrogantly accepts an offer to prove his dating sim supremacy, he finds himself at the mercy of a demon that forces him to woo over real life girls.

You wanna live? You better woo and date those girls! That is the premise of both series, and the main characters both have a certain aptitude of charming women. However, they also have some trials and failures that must be overcome as well. As both shows take themselves less seriously, it creates some optimum comedy.

Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches

Ryuu Yamada used to be a thug, but he wanted to change his reputation in high school. He went to a school where no one knew him, but by second year he was so bored that he became a slacker again. One day while on his way to the office, he trips and accidentally kisses a beautiful honor student. In a flash, they switch bodies and Ryuu is soon thrust into the world where a witches have their supernatural abilities awakened by kissing.

Let’s be honest, the premise of both Date A Live and Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches both sound like the series will be complete trash. Both, if done any other way, very well could have been. However, they both meld superb comedy with drama and plot in such a way that they attracted very passionate fanbases.

Sekirei

One day, completely useless college student Minato Sahashi collides with a beautiful girl named Musubi. She is a Sekirei, a powerful humanoid that descended to earth. She is fleeing from two of her own kind and suddenly kisses Minato to awaken her true power. Due to his special genes, Musubi asks Minato to stay by her side and fight in a survival game between the Sekirei. The winner gets to ascend to the higher sky, but the fate of the Earth might just hang in the balance as well.

Sekirei is less about making girls fall in love than Date A Live, but they both end up the same way. Both main characters end up with a harem of girls that love him, they just take different routes getting there. In Sekirei, it usually starts with a fight, and it can be the same in Date A Live at times. However, usually it just starts with destruction in Date A Live.

For Fans of Fan Service That Tries to Be Serious

Brynhildr in the Darkness

In an incident ten years ago, Ryouta set out with his best friend Kuroneko to find alien life, but an accident happened that left him injured and Kuroneko dead. In her memory, Ryouta continued his search until one day a new transfer student showed up named Kuroha Neko, who looks just like his dead best friend. Despite being dumb as dirt she managed to pass the transfer tests and after saving his life, he also discovers that she has supernatural abilities. Is this really his friend or something else?

While Date A Live has its serious moments, it doesn’t quite take itself as seriously as Brynhildr. However, both are proof that you can have a series with ample fan service that can still tell good stories and have its serious moments. That aside, both series also feature the main character getting close to mysterious girls that may or may not be otherworldly.

Hundred

When aliens known as Savage attack mankind, the only weapon capable of combating them is known as Hundred. After surviving a Savage attack, teenager Hayato Kisaragi is shown to have a high compatibility with this technology and invited to the Little Garden academy to hone his skills.

The major difference between these two series is that Hundred often takes itself very seriously despite actually having more ecchi than Date A Live. However, they are both about defending Earth from space aliens, and if Date A Live had taken the usual route in that plot, they might very well be the same series.

IS: Infinite Stratos

After engineering powerful exoskeleton suits called Infinite Stratos, they have become a mainstream weapon. Since only women can pilot them, they have now dominated society. However, when 15-year-old Orimura Ichika accidentally touches one, he is found to be the only known man that can become a pilot.

Both series have somewhat serious plots, but know when it is right to take time out for fan service and comedy. Because of this, both shows have adopted a fairly large fanbase. In both shows, you also have females mains that are vastly superior in power to the male mains and, though a harem, the main love interest is pretty obvious.

Did we miss any better anime recommendations for Date a Live? Let us know in the comments section below.