Even similar stories can take their own path.
Even a similar story can take it's own path. Shido and Mana are amnesiac siblings living with their friend Kotori, however the past catches up to Shido when he nearly runs into a space quake, and his world changes as one girl asks... "Are you here to kill me?"
— The Story Summary
Date A Re:Live
is a Date A Live AU Harem Fan Fiction written by Tohka Yatogami.
Thirty years ago, a new type of natural disaster known as the Spacequakes begin plaguing the world, killing 75% of Humanity, and destroying many countries while mankind could do nothing but run from the chaos. In the present day, Shido and Mana Takamiya are a pair of amnesiac siblings who live in the Itsuka household, alongside their honorary sister, Kotori Itsuka.
On the first day of his High School Freshman year, Shido's entire school is forced to evacuate due to an incoming Spacequake, only for him to quickly discover that his sisters might still be waiting at the Diner they promised to visit after school, rather than taking shelter like they should be. He attempts to go rescue them, but in the process doing so, he nearly rushes into the radius of a Spacequake, and discovers that these natural disasters are caused by none other than... teenage girls!?
As the unexpected reality and truth stands before him, the journey to discovering his forgotten past begins, and his world is changed forever by one of these very girls asking him the simple question of: "Are you here to kill me?"
On April 10 2020, a reboot/rewrite by the author Date A Live: Altered Timeline was posted on Fanfiction.net.
Date A Re:Live provides examples of:
- Adaptational Badass: Lots. The author specifically states that the protagonists will be more competent, and while the antagonists will be nerfed in their overall competency, the overall badassery of their forces are actually increased, as their Wizards are even more fight-capable and they built several automaton units that could even pose a threat to Spirits.
- Adaptation Expansion: Lots. The author expands on details like mana and the Spirit Dimension, while adding in new ones and new content such as the Ethereal Form.
- This is best shown with Nia, who in canon mentions during Volume 14 that a certain event before becoming a Spirit made her lose all hope in mankind, but she never elaborates on it. In fact, it's even what caused her to become a Spirit in the first place.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Happens to several characters whose relationships with one another are vastly different than in canon.
- Tohka and Origami are good friends here whereas in canon they clearly hated each other (at least until Volume 11). Likely due to Origami's old timeline personality being Adapted Out.
- Adaptational Wimp: The antagonists, DEM in particular, are noted by the author to be hit by this to make them less "invincible" as per canon. And it shows, DEM suffers more losses here than in canon and Westcott loses his composure more often. Most of their victories have been in flashbacks, and the closest victory they've had in the present was keeping Rinne from regaining her full strength. They finally accomplish a true victory in Miku's arc, managing to outsmart all of Ratatoskr's forces and capture Shido... unfortunately, Westcott's plans with Shido backfire in the worst way.
- Adapted Out: Origami's arc comes in much earlier than canon, and doesn't involve Kurumi, Time Travel, or the Stable Time Loop at all.
- Aside from Eden itself (which exists in a different form unrelated to its canon counterpart), most of the concepts from the games like the Reset Button, Dating Sim, and Rinne's Key don't exist in the story, with the adaptions of the games happening quite differently.
- The Re:Strike arc removes a lot from the manga it's based on, as there are no Ashcroft series CR-Units, the SSS Wizards aren't antagonists due to their earlier roles during the Kurumi arc, Edgar is absent as he was killed during the Kotori arc, and Origami's involvement is excluded entirely.
- The end of the Shido Countdown arc shows that the fairy tale world created by Beelzebub has become this for Mukuro's arc.
- Westcott does not get Beelzebub, although he does create his own Beelzebub Crystal in Mukuro's arc.
- All There in the Manual: The author tries her best to explain things that are important to the story within the chapters or the start/end notes of each chapter, but can't reveal everything without dragging out the notes or forcing it into the story. As a result, a lot of this TV Tropes page has information not mentioned in the story itself, but is confirmed by the author through some tropes.
- Alternate Universe: The whole premise of the fanfic. While still following Date A Live's main setting, the story officially starts in the year of 2051, the Spacequakes are stated to have brought magic into the world, and Realizers are known to the public rather than a hidden secret (though some Realizers are kept secret by Ratatoskr and the DEM). Most of all, the Spirits and their Angels have slightly different characteristics than in canon.
- Apocalypse How:
- The devastation caused by the Spacequakes should have been a Class-2 due to causing humanity's population to drop from 8 billion to 2 billion, destroying many countries, and nearly taking out all of Europe. Fortunately, it was reduced to a Class-1 due to the rapid advances in technology, especially the Realizers, that the DEM created by using the mana that Spacequakes leave behind.
- The Spirit Dimension is hit with a Class X-4 by Westcott and is completely destroyed, the chain reaction causes its remaining power to flood into Rinne and makes her cause the initial wave of Spacequakes. The Rinne arc reveals he used the Spirit Dimension's nature as an energy world and fired a weapon that caused it to destroy itself by clashing with an opposite energy wavelength. Its later revealed it wasn't as fully destroyed as once thought, and has actually fused into Earth.
- Before Choronzon is successfully stopped, he causes a Class-0 by completely destroying the remnants of Europe with his Chaotic Divergence attack, Reine states they only managed to evacuate 75-90% of the population by the time this happens.
- Artificial Intelligence: Maria and Marina are this for Ratatoskr and the DEM respectively, at least until the Ars Install arc and the latter's defection to Ratatoskr.
- Ascended Extra: Many characters who the anime's first episode implied would be important to the story or are secondary characters in canon have a much bigger spotlight here.
- Mana is with Shido from the start, and quickly becomes one of the strongest members of the AST shortly after.
- Shido's classmates Hiroto, Ai, Mai and Mii are all members of Ratatoskr, as is their teacher Tamae.
- Some nameless one-shot or background characters are given names, more common appearances and larger roles.
- Minerva, Cecile, Ashley and Leonora from Date AST Strike all appear with larger roles.
- DEM members like Jessica, James Paddington and the Arbitel crew are this, as is the Arbitel which is the Fraxinus' Evil Counterpart.
- Saya Yamada, Kurumi's best friend who only gets mentioned in her Volume 16's prologue and flashbacks, not only ends up being vital to the entirety of Kotori's arc, but has a major role in Kurumi's arc.
- All of the video game exclusive Spirits and Mayuri are given bigger roles, especially Rinne and Rio who are the fanfic's versions of the First Spirit and Phantom respectively.
- Author Appeal: Author Tohka Yatogami admits her favorite kinds of Fanservice involve large breasts and long hair. That's reflected very often in this fanfic, where many of the girls gain an increase in these attributes over the course of the story.
- Babies Ever After: The last chapter reveals Hiroto and Ai have a 6 year old daughter, while the final scene of the story shows Tohka giving birth to the twins Shinji, and Reine.
- Background Magic Field: The First Spacequake is stated to have brought this upon the world, resulting in the birth of children with mana powers. These powers manifest in the form of stronger physical skills, and allows one to wield a CR-Unit. Its later revealed this is because the Spirit Dimension fused with Earth after Westcott's attempt to destroy it.
- Balanced Harem: Specifically stated to downplay his trope since Tohka will have the slight lead in comparison to the others, but not big enough of one to make it a Supporting Harem.
- Big Bad: Unlike canon, Isaac Westcott's status as this, as well as Ellen Mira Mathers and Artemisia Bell Ashcroft's status as Co-Dragons are established from the first arc. Now, one can also add Jessica Bailey to the list of Dragons.
- Broken Masquerade:
- For Shido, as the entire story begins when he meets Tohka, revealing to him what the cause of Spacequakes are. He doesn't get the full story until the end of the Tohka arc where Ratatoskr reveals it to him, Tohka, Mana and Kotori.
- Most of Ratatoskr's members are this, having joined for discovering the truth via the DEM's actions.
- Bullying a Dragon: Downplayed. Both the AST and DEM are now quite capable of threatening Spirits, although they are still in a serious trouble when a Spirit decides to get serious.
- Central Theme: Each arc in the first three seasons, as stated by the author, has a specific emotion as the theme. The following emotions have been linked to the following story arcs.
- Tohka Return - Happiness
- Origami Unchained - Sadness
- Yoshino Duality - Fear
- Kotori Possessed - Anger
- Kurumi Fallacy - Despair
- Rinne Utopia - Loneliness
- Date AST Re:Strike - Jealousy
- Natsumi Inverse/Refresh - Doubt
- Yamai Clash - Desire
- Nia Test - Curiosity
- Miku Fantasia - Suffering
- Choronzon Havoc – Hope
- Ars Install – Trust
- Rio Reincarnation - Love
- Shido Countdown - Anxiety
- Nia Storybook - Hatred
- Mukuro Space - Apathy
- Mukuro Quasar - Passion
- Sephira Fury - Courage
- Mayuri Judgment - Relaxation
- Mio Salvation - All of the above
- Epilogue - None
- Code Name: In addition to the canon code names, the author adds more for the Inverse form of each Spirit. Tohka is "Sovereign," Origami is "Devil," Yoshino is "Marionette," Kotori is "Phoenix," Kurumi is "Paradox," Natsumi is "Sorceress," the Yamai sisters are "Pandemonium," Miku is "Siren," Nia is "Prophet" and Mukuro is "Supernova." Later on, new Inverse code names are revealed for the extracanonical Spirits when they gain Inverse Forms. Rinne is "Tyrant,", Rio is "Serpent," Maria is "Antinomy," Marina is "Infection," and Mayuri is "Grigori."
- Among the extracanonical Spirits, Rio is "Phantom", and Mayuri is "Watcher". Rinne keeps her canon code name, while Maria and Marina don't have one because they're simply A.I.s based on Spirits. Later on, Maria and Marina gain the codenames of Synthesis and Matrix respectively.
- In the second to last chapter of Choronzon Havoc, the author adds even more due to the introduction of the Ethereal Form. Tohka is "Monarch," Origami is "Seraph," Yoshino is "Yuki-Onna," Kotori is "Hearth," Kurumi is "Dream," Natsumi is "Magician," the Yamai sisters are "Tempest," Miku is "Idol," Nia is "Bishop", and Mukuro is "Nebula."
- The Sephira Fury arc revealed that Shido has gained the code name of "Harbinger" due to becoming a full Spirit, while Mana inherits her old CR-Unit's name through the code name "Murakumo" for the same reason.
- Cycle of Revenge: Even more prominent than in canon, as this fic explores the possibility of a Spirit meeting another Spirit during their lives of being hunted. Additionally, this is the dynamic of Tohka and Origami early on: Tohka met Inverse Origami prior to the series, and realizing they were both Spirits, was hoping she found a friend and ally. Unfortunately, the unstable Origami attacked Tohka instead, causing to fall into despair and Inverting in the process. The two Inverse Spirits then spent their next encounters trying to kill each other.
- Darker and Edgier: The author actually states that the Spacequakes nearly brought Humanity to extinction because there was no way to avoid one for years, and the prologue chapter has Shido meet Tohka... in her Inverse Form. That alone sets the mood for the entire setting.
- The final arcs of each Season tend to be this way. Season 1 has the Rinne arc, Season 2 has the Choronzon arc, while Season 3 had the Mukuro and Mio arcs.
- Darkest Hour: A literal example in the Mio arc. Westcott's final attack on the world causes the sky to turn purple (later dark red) and crack, with Mio eventually saying that they only have one hour before the world is destroyed.
- A Day in the Limelight: The Date AST Re:Strike arc is this, focusing on Mana and the AST dealing with the problem rather than Shido and the Spirits who had become ill due to the overflow of the spirit power they experienced in the Rinne arc.
- Season 2 is this for Tohka, as the author states she and Shido swap their protagonist and deuteragonist roles as Tohka undergoes some Character Development. By the time of the Ars Install arc, they’ve switched back.
- Shido Countdown can be seen as this for Mana as well, as she has her 15th birthday and at the cost of losing the Murakumo, gains her full Spirit power potential and learns to use the Spirit Ascension herself.
- Mio Salvation is this for Mio, as its her first and last battle.
- Deceased Parents Are the Best: Origami's parents are still accidentally killed by her during the Great Fire 5 years ago, although later its revealed Metatron did it, and only due to the Inversion taint’s influence. This is later subverted, where the robot Chinami actually caused Metatron to fire against its will, as Origami's parents were already on the DEM's hitlist.
- Shido and Mana's father, Seigo Takamiya, died in his attempts to rescue them and Tohka from the DEM, as well as gaining the power to seal spirits to pass onto his son.
- Tohka's parents were also killed trying to protect them from DEM kidnappers. Luckily, the Ars Install arc subverts this with the reveal the DEM just kidnapped them and put them into cold-sleep stasis.
- Despair Event Horizon: Crossing this is what triggers a Spirit's Inversion.
- Deus ex Machina: Aside from being the full name of Westcott's company, this trope pops up on many occasions.
- Diabolus ex Machina: Just like how a Deus ex Machina occasionally pops up, this trope does the same. Usually just to prevent the arc from ending too soon or to aid Shido's efforts in proving himself to the Spirit he's currently trying to save.
- Divided We Fall: Lampshaded by Prime Minister Hikari during the first half of the epilogue, believing that if they stay this way, they risk the birth of someone else like Westcott causing another incident that risks what remains of Humanity. Luckily, this claim, along with the other world leaders recalling everything Westcott actions had done, is enough that they agree to finally avert this, and start paving a path to a united world.
- Fish out of Water: This is now the case for most of the Spirits, not just Tohka. The only ones who avert this so far are Origami, Kotori and Kurumi.
- Rinne takes it up a notch since she originally wasn't human in any form until the end of the Rinne arc. Even by the time of Season 3, she's still a bit clueless with a few things, such as not knowing what a fairy tale is.
- From Bad to Worse: Westcott captures Shido during Miku's arc, and soon uses hallucinogens on him to make him see an illusion of Tohka's death in an attempt to make him Inverse the powers of Rinne within him. He succeeds... but unfortunately, all of the Spirit power inside him undergoes inversion instead of just Rinne's, creating the Demon King Choronzon which threatens to destroy the world, nearly killing Westcott in the process.
- After everyone manages to undo Shido's meltdown, Nia ends up having a Heroic BSoD as she remembers an unpleasant memory and forces herself into an Inversion, trapping them in a storybook world using Beelzebub's Ashufiriya on them.
- After unlocking Mukuro's emotions, everyone is sure that the worst in trying to seal Mukuro's powers is over. However, after finishing her first date with Shido, she asks him to not get close to any other girls... Shido can't accept that condition. The follow day, everyone minus Mana and the Spirits have forgotten who Shido is, making it clear that sealing Mukuro hasn't become any easier... and then after Mukuro begins an Inversion, we learn it did something else, causing all of the Spirits to Inverse with her!
- Hope Springs Eternal: The Ethereal Forms, which are the opposite to the Inverse Forms, being born from hope and while harder to manifest, much more powerful than them. The one downside is they're much harder to enter, and until the Sephira Fury arc, no one knew how to access them.
- Insistent Terminology: Similar to the anime, the story is divided into multiple "Seasons", all of which focus on a different Story Arc.
- The arcs focused on the extracanonical Spirits, as well as two for the AST, and Mio, are called "Movies" by their chapter titles.
- By Season 3, the mana used by Spirits is called "Reiryoku", while the mana used by Humans is called "Maryoku" to differentiate them. When used by an Inverse Spirit, Reirokyu is defined as "Darl Reiryoku, and "Light Reiryoku" when used by an Ethereal Spirit.
- Rinne is the First Spirit because she was the first to be officially marked as appearing, while Mio is the Spirit of Origin because she was the progenitor of the entire species.
- In Spite of a Nail: Zig-zagged. While the story does have several changes, certain events generally happen in the same manner, such as how Shido meets each of the Spirits that aren't the game exclusives, Mayuri, and Mio.
- Instant Armor: The CR-Units used by the AST and DEM work like this, being personalized to a single owner and even having an ID lock so said owner is the only one that can use it. The Date AST Re:Strike arc shows that if the owner allows it, another wizard can gain temporary access to their CR-Unit, as shown by Artemisia's Spirit letting Mana use her Bahamut to defeat Minerva.
- Irony: DEM is short for Deus.Ex.Machina Industries, and more often than not, these are exactly what ruins one of Westcott's plans.
- Westcott thinks the Inverse Forms are the Spirits' true power... then the Ethereal Forms are revealed to be even stronger, and be born of the very things he hates.
- Knight of Cerebus: The moment we get to know Origami's backstory and motivation, the story becomes much darker, starting from the 2nd arc and slowly progressing the further the story gets.
- Lampshade Hanging: Hiroto does this with Westcott's strongest automaton, the “Deus”, over its name, size and being called at the last moment, making it a literal Deus Ex Machina. Westcott realizes this right after its mentioned to his embarrassment, and the annoyance of Marina (who's piloting it) who even states her disappointment on how badly he flopped with the name.
- When Tohka learns from Elliot and Karen that Westcott and Ellen are married despite not sharing a last name, she wonders if that means Ellen is Marina's mother. Cue Ellen suddenly sneezing and Marina referring to her as such to the latter's annoyance in the next scene.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: The fanfic assumes you're aware of characters and content beyond the anime up to Volume 16 of the novels, especially in regards to Origami's eventual transformation into a Spirit.
- Lighter and Softer: The Mayuri Judgment arc is this, with most of its focus being on Shido having a date with his harem, and without any involvement from the DEM getting in their way. Then comes the final scene...
- Living Weapon: While only implied in canon, here the Angels are shown to be alive, and able to communicate and even act on their own will to protect the Spirits who own them, while their bonded Spirits develop new forms and abilities for them as they grow together. After quelling her Inverse half's rage, Inverse Tohka integrates into Sandalphon's will.
- Mana: Expanded upon in this fic. Mana is what empowers the Spirits and the first wave of Spacequakes leaves an abundance of it around the world. Some humans with mana inside of them are born due to this, allowing them to use the magic-like tech known as Realizers. In the Choronzon arc, its revealed that it's actually the remains of Spirit Dimension fused into Earth, and that the danger Choronzon brings in being able to destroy Earth comes from making it run rampant.
- In Season 3, the events of the Choronzon arc allow greater study of mana, and causes mana used by Spirits to be labeled "Reiryoku" and those used by humans as "Maryoku."
- Mecha-Mooks: The author expands on the Bandersnatch units from canon by making them just one of the many automatons that the DEM employs in capturing spirits. The known mass production models currently known are...
- Bandersnatch - The most common type of automaton, the only special thing about them is their ability to be used in any terrain and their high numbers due to being the easiest to make. They're eventually upgraded into the Einherjars.
- Cheshire - Cat-like Automatons made for stealth, employing invisible realizers to hide themselves and sneak up on the enemy.
- Alice - Automatons with the design of a maiden in a dress that focus on defending rather than attacking, employing Ashcroft Beta devices to generate powerful barriers. They only have any form of offense in the form of small blasters. They're eventually upgraded into the Medusa.
- Jabberwocky - Reptile-like automatons that are four to five times the size of other models, but require all four of their limbs to move despite being bipedal due to their immense weight. They are heavily armored and powerful, but are quite slow. They are eventually upgraded into the Drakes.
- Centaur - Equine based units with four legs and two arms, they're focused on moving at high speeds that are incredibly fast and hard to spot even by the naked eye of a Spirit.
- Myrmidon - Ant based units that swarm an enemy and lock their movements by locking themselves onto their body, their armor is weak and they have no offense or defense, making them the weakest and easiest automatons to destroy.
- Minotaur - Ox like automatons that are strong like the Jabberwockies, but trade armor for speed, with Tohka noting they're much easier to destroy. They focus on slash attacks and can get on all fours to charge, the latter being dangerous for close combat fighters.
- Tarasque - A large turtle automaton that's slow and made for pure defense, they're around the same size as a Jabberwocky, and their armor is much harder to cut through than a Jabberwocky's is.
- Einherjar - An upgraded model of the Bandersnatch that's bigger in size, has different colored and better armor, and is powered by a pair of Ashcroft Alpha, Beta and Gamma devices. The can be on any terrain, and make their hands become spear-like swords, fire blasts from their hands and form territory barriers all in one.
- Drake - The upgraded model of the Jabberwocky. It can move on two legs and has the power to fly. It also possesses long range attacks to counter those who try using long range against the Jabberwocky units.
- Medusa - The upgraded model of the Alice. It can create multiple territories at once and focus them into one spot if needed. It's also noted that those within the barrier can't hear sound from outside, as proven when Inverse Miku's song didn't control any of the AST or DEM Wizards.
- Serket - Small bug based units that are only meant for spying.
- Mood Whiplash: Even more prominent than the original novel.
- The Shido Countdown arc ends this way due to Nia forcing herself to Inverse and trapping everyone with the world made by her Ashufiriya, making the happy conclusion instantly take a turn for the worse.
- The heartful reunion between Mukuro and Mildred is ruined by Chinami trying to attack the group, and then followed by her Robotic Reveal.
- The Mayuri arc's final scene, which immediately leads to the final battle of the Mio arc.
- Myth Arc: The story starts off as just an alternate retelling of Date A Live, but slowly becomes more when the Kurumi Fallacy arc reveals how Westcott is connected to everything, which Season 3 reveals to be the result of a war between Heaven and Hell that never truly ended. The events of Season 2 also build up for the eventual battle against the DEM, and the Devil, in the Mio arc.
- Mythology Gag:
- To the series itself. The author uploaded the entire Tohka arc on April 10th 2017, where the date happened on a Monday, the very same date and day of the week when Shido met Tohka in-universe as a birthday gift of sorts to the latter. This is mentioned in the end notes for Chapter 3.
- The original light novels get one starting from Season 2. Copying the trend Volume 6 & 7 started by connecting certain arcs through not resetting certain arcs' chapter numbers when they end.
- One to the Date A Party manga in the Shido Countdown arc, where Kurumi gets drunk from drinking cola. Origami gets drunk like in canon, but through a mix of fizz and caffeine, which is apparently intoxicating to Spirit physiology.
- Shido and Tohka naming their son Shinji is one to Volume 18, where its revealed this was Shido's former name.
- Not as You Know Them: The Spirits have slight, but significant changes in their characteristics, and sometimes their appearances and personalities. Moreover, some characters have very different, but realistic, backstories and (by-extension) personalities. This is also going to be inevitable for the extracanonical characters (Rinne, Maria, Marina, Rio and Mayuri) who all exist in a different form in the story.
- Nothing Is the Same Anymore: The first half of the Epilogue marks that all remaining deaths are final, the Ratatoskr Classroom having plans to become a new facility in Raizen High, the AST disbanding (with the SSS crying over possible separation because of it), hints that Hiroto and Ai might get together, Tamae getting engaged to Kannazuki, the students who were with Ratatoskr all graduating early as a reward for saving the world, and finally... Shido proposing to ALL the girls in his harem.
- Parental Abandonment: Averted with the Itsuka's (they actually work for Asgard Electronics, part of Ratatoskr, but due to their jobs are rarely home as a result) and Rinne, seeing as an aspect of her remains in Shido. By the end of the Rinne arc, she's finally back for good.
- Randomly Gifted: After the Spacequakes' global destruction left mana across the globe, some children began being born with mana inside their bodies that gave them enhanced physical ability and higher survivability than normal humans. Having this is a requirement for using a Wiring Suit and CR-Unit as they use one's own mana as a power source. Its later revealed those born with them are in a sense, reincarnations of Spirits, minus those who gained them from the original Spacequake.
- Those in the vicinity of the original Spacequake, especially those who were part of the project to open a gate to the Spirit Dimension, end up getting hit with this. Aside from the shared halting of cellular aging (minus some exceptions, such as Tohka), the range extends from barely as shown with Reine and Elliot who lack mana cores and were given additional changes that barely or didn't benefit them (Reine can't sleep anymore), mildly as shown with Karen and Ellen with additional changes that were more acceptable (Ellen's immune to certain spirit abilities, like Miku's voice), and extremely as shown with Tohka who's no different than a human born with a mana core, gained her plum purple hair, and gained extremely beneficial changes (a superhuman level physiology and the ability to safely consume inorganic matter).
- Real Life Writes the Plot: Volume 16, and the volumes released after it, have caused the author to add/change things to the story due to revelations or new concepts introduced in them.
- Volume 16 inspired the author to add Sawa (called Saya in story due to her name's unconfirmed translation at the time) as a major part of Kotori's arc, which was originally going to be part of Season 2, so it could properly connect to the events of Kurumi's arc.
- Volume 17 caused Mio Takamiya to become part of the story, due to fitting perfectly with The Reveal of the Sephira Fury arc.
- Volume 18 influenced how the story would end, and what Mio's true powers would manifest as during the events of the second to last arc.
- Running Gag: After sealing Tohka and realizing what happens to the clothing once he seals a Spirit, Shido always tries to have a coat on hand to cover up a Spirit after sealing them. There's only been two instances he was without one.
- Mana's A-Cup Angst, but only when Spirits or family members are involved, made especially worse by Rinne saying she might not grow any bigger than she is now. Thankfully, during her 15th birthday during the Shido Countdown arc, she's finally blossomed.
- Prior to officially joining the harem, nearly everyone teased Mio over having feelings for Shido.
- Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism: Despite the Darker and Edgier premise, the story still retains the overall idealistic premise of the original. The Ethereal Forms even represent this as they are stronger than their Inverse Form counterparts.
- Spirit Advisor: An aspect of Rinne Sonogami, the First Spirit, exists within Shido's psyche, capable of telepathically speaking with himself and others around him. She has a slight amnesiac problem, but does everything she can to help Shido. As of the Rinne arc's end, she's regained her physical form, but keeps her adviser role.
- Nia is revealed to be this in a more literal sense, as she's a Spirit and taught Miku how to use and control her powers.
- Story Arc: The story is divided into three seasons that each focus on a different theme, but all connect to the overall story.
- Season 1 focuses on Shido learning of the truth behind the world, and the reason behind why he and Mana can't remember their pasts.
- Season 2 focuses on Tohka going through some Character Development after she begins doubting herself, which becomes important when Shido becomes a prisoner to the Big Bad of the last arc.
- Season 3 focuses on ending the story by answering all the remaining mysteries as Ratatoskr saves the last Spirits, eventually leading to the reveal that the Spirit Dimension's original name was Heaven, and the main villain of the story is none other than the Devil, who's been inside Westcott all along.
- Superpowered Evil Side: The Inverse Forms, which a Spirit only enters when they reached the point of emotional despair, are treated like this as per canon. However, it is now Downplayed because Spirits still maintain a semblance of their thoughts, enough that they can recognize their allies and friends, and don't become a mindless killing machine. They do have their negative thoughts and feelings amplified, however, resulting in very unstable behavior.
- Season 2 reveals that the Inverse Forms are like this because it's the combined negative emotions in the souls of all the Spirits who were killed when the Spirit Dimension was ripped asunder and then trapped within the Sephira Crystals, Westcott only formed the taint by having his evil infect them when Rinne released them from her body.
- Surprise Multiple Birth: At the end of the series, Shido, who was married to Tohka, thought she was just having one child. However, it turned out she was having two children.
- Time Skip: A small one happens between the Sephira Fury, and Mayuri Judgment arcs. The author states this is so it could happen in Spring, where most of the canon date ideas could happen.
- The second half of the Epilogue takes place 9 years after the end of the Mio arc, where it's now 2061.
- The Unmasqued World: As of the end of the Choronzon arc, the entire world has become aware of the Spirits and the DEM's true nature. Accepting the former into their world and having Ratatoskr take over all former DEM associated facilities after Westcott's main group disappear into Choronzon's black hole.
- Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: Averted, unlike the original. The story is considerably darker and has more serious themes here.
- Void Between the Worlds: Or in this case, a void where a world once was. Westcott and his group are revealed to have ended up in the void that was once the Spirit Dimension before he destroyed it during the Ars Install arc, and he plans to set up his new HQ in it. It gets an official name courtesy of Westcott, the "Inverse Void", during the Shido Countdown arc. The end of Mio's arc has the former Angels' souls destroy it, signified by a bright flash.
- Wham Episode: The reveal that Kurumi's been an Unwitting Pawn for Westcott and that she's innocent of every bad thing we've seen her do because Westcott manipulated, influenced and even lied to her without her ever realizing it. All by simply having her be the experiment of the Material A project.
- The entire Choronzon arc is this, and all the massive destruction he brings, ending with the DEM's lies exposed to the world, the continent of Europe completely destroyed, and the Arbitel being sucked into a black hole.
- More like a Wham Arc in this case, but the Sephira Fury arc reveals all of the final mysteries of the series, including that of the Spirit Dimension's origins, the destroyed home Westcott came from, and reveals the secrets behind many more characters.
- Wham Line: Nia reveals her disguise's appearance and name are more than random choices when she states this shocking revelation at the Shido Countdown arc's end."I must finally avenge her, show this world it's punishment, for what it did... for taking Souji Hasegawa away from me!"
- Wham Shot: In a flashback during the Yoshino arc, we see Kotori's reaction to becoming a Spirit, and during a fight with Kurumi... her eyes suddenly turn blue and her voice changes. Kotori's arc shows just how significant these blue eyes are.
- Tohka noticing the crystalline edge on Sandalphon's edge glowing permanently, as she discovers from it that it's the sign she's using her full power, meaning she had been fighting in a weakened state for the first ten story arcs.
- The reveal of Tohka's Ethereal Form.
- Mana using Kotori's power through the Spirit Ascension.
