“Tropes” has become a bit of a dirty word over the course of the last decade or so, for a variety of different reasons, but I’m here to present you with the not-terribly hot take that tropes exist for a reason, and that, when handled well, can enhance rather than detract from a creative work.
This particularly came to mind towards the end of last week, when I elected to finally pull down Date A Live: Rio Reincarnation from my shelf and make a start on it as one of my “things I’m playing that are not my current Big Game” titles to enjoy in the week.
As a visual novel, it’s something that can be enjoyed with minimal “effort”, and, as I’ve discussed in a few places before, it’s also ideally suited for things like reading in bed, accompanying mealtime or just generally zoning out in front of.
For the unfamiliar, Date A Live: Rio Reincarnation is a PlayStation 4 release that collects together three Date A Live visual novels — Rinne Utopia, Arusu Install and Rio Reincarnation — that were previously Japan-exclusive prior to this package getting localised. The Date A Live anime and light novels — of which there are many in the latter case — have come west, but prior to Rio Reincarnation, we’d seen no Date A Live games over here.
I knew nothing about Date A Live going into it other than the fact it features art and character designs by Tsunako, the wonderful artist behind the Neptunia and Fairy Fencer F series, and that it erred a little more on the “sexy” side of things than some of her other work. As such, when I jumped head-first into Rinne Utopia, the first of the three visual novels included in the Rio Reincarnation pack, I was immediately hit with a massive lore dump that very quickly (and mildly bewilderingly) brought me up to speed with that which had, supposedly, come before.
(I subsequently learned that there is also a “Digest” sequence that is a little less lore-dumpy, but counter-intuitively this is listed in the game’s main menu under the third of the three visual novels, not the first one, so it’s no surprise I didn’t immediately find it. As I type this, I haven’t been through it yet, but from what I understand, it does a decent job of bringing one’s knowledge of the series in line with where it needs to be in order to truly enjoy the three visual novels in this package.)
(EDIT: The reason the Digest is under the third visual novel is because it also summarises the first two visual novels as well as the light novels and anime series that came prior. Thus it can be seen as a spoiler for Rinne Utopia and Arusu Install, so I’ll hold off for now.)
The gist of things is this. The participant player-protagonist-narrator is a high school student named Shido, whose little sister is actually the commanding officer of a powerful spacefaring vessel known as the Fraxinus, which in turn is part of an organisation known as Ratatoskr, who have tasked themselves with guarding and supporting the beings known as Spirits, who occasionally appear in our dimension accompanied by a potentially devastating “spacequake” and who are potentially very dangerous indeed — unless one either 1) kills them or 2) makes one of them fall in love with you and receives a kiss from them.
As we join the story, Shido is already acquainted with two Spirits: Tohka, who is a traditional Japanese beauty in terms of appearance, and Yoshino, a rather meek little girl who finds comfort in expressing herself through her puppet Yoshinon. He’s also acquainted with a girl named Origami, who is supposedly part of an anti-Spirit paramilitary organisation, but who also, at some point prior to the events of Rinne Utopia beginning to unfold, got into a big old fight with Shido’s sister and is currently awaiting some form of discipline from the organisation in question.
We learn that Shido has a responsibility: to “stabilise” the spirits’ emotions by taking them on dates and ensure that they don’t “go rogue” and inadvertently unleash their full power, which will inevitably lead to death and destruction on a massive scale. As the story progresses, it’s deemed appropriate that Shido also approach Origami and attempt to keep an eye on her, too, because she’s something of an enigma.
If all this sounds terribly complicated, it sort of is, but it also sort of doesn’t matter. Because so far Date A Live, or more specifically Rinne Utopia, has been more about day-to-day slice-of-life funtimes, with the whole “spirit” thing forming more of an unusual backdrop to the whole experience than anything else. Tohka is just a ditzy girl who doesn’t really understand things; Yoshino is an adorable young girl with a pretty hat; Origami is textbook kuudere and exceedingly yet understatedly sexual when given the slightest opportunity. Origami is my favourite.
All of the characters — including the additional characters such as Shido’s sister, who is a tsundere imouto, and the titular Rinne, who is a childhood friend with “something mysterious” about her — are absolutely fine examples of some classic Japanese popular media tropes, and unlike a lot of other works, Date A Live isn’t specifically trying to do anything “clever” with them. It’s not trying to subvert one’s expectations, it’s not trying to use tropes to comment on anything in particular — it’s just acknowledging that these tropes are popular for a reason, and thus why wouldn’t you want to hang out with some of the best examples of some of the most popular galge tropes out there?
Because there’s something inordinately charming about Date A Live. It’s well-written, with snappy, witty dialogue and scenes that never outstay their welcome. It’s playfully sexual without going over-the-top into lecherousness. The pushing of the series’ “big plot” aspects somewhat into the background of things makes the experience more accessible to newcomers but also adds a bit of an air of mystery to proceedings, which is very appealing. And it just has a pleasingly fun atmosphere to it all; it’s one of those pieces of work where you can tell everyone involved had a good time putting it together.
At the time of writing, I’m much too early into Rinne Utopia to provide any sort of analysis of where the story is going or even to get too far into the details of characterisation, but it is safe to say that I’m having a good time so far, even starting from absolutely zero knowledge of Date A Live. Shido is a good protagonist, the main heroines are all very appealing in their own way, and the secondary characters are all lots of fun to be around.
That’s all I ask from a visual novel, really. So I’m very much looking forward to seeing where things go from here.
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“I’m here to present you with the not-terribly hot take that tropes exist for a reason, and that, when handled well, can enhance rather than detract from a creative work.”
Exactly. It’s a shame that just the very term trope has a negative connotation in the eyes of many today. Just about every work or character throughout fiction is made up of one or multiple tropes in some form, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with that. Frankly, much of the time that a writer tries to be subversive – particularly with modern Hollywood films – the results are often far worse than if they were just played straight (and arguably, a subversion is still a sub-category of a trope).
I had seen a few clips from the various Date A Live anime series before I played Rio Reincarnation, but I was basically starting from scratch, too. I thought they did a great job with the game. The only real weakness was that it combined so many disparate parts – not just the three visual novels but everything else included with Rio Reincarnation. But now, having seen most of the anime episodes, Rio Reincarnation is still one of the high points of the localized Date A Live universe for me. I wish they would localize the next visual novel.