My Childhood Anime: Date A Live

I'm going to tell you how I discovered the anime that sparked my prejudice against anime, my aversion to magical girls, and the ancestor of my transformation fetish; how it became a missing piece of my childhood; and how watching it this year reconnected me with my childhood.

Date A Live came out in 2013, but I only came across it between 2015-2016. I remember it very well. I witnessed a 15-second scene between Shido and Tohka on a TV channel, and I also remember Kurumi's terrifying facial expression. I was incredibly affected. Then it faded from my memory. Until 2024.

When that anime exploded in 2024, I got to know Kurumi better and became quite a simp. After that, it disappeared again.

In January 2025, I decided to start the anime, and for some reason, I was extremely disturbed by the first episode. Kotori Itsuka, whom I thought was an innocent girl, suddenly turning out to be Commander Fraxinus, shook me to an inexplicable degree. Later, when I researched it and saw that the anime had a lot of transformation scenes, my annoyance became serious.

I developed an incredible fetish for transformation scenes, and it became a serious obsession. Then in May 2025, I said, "I need to confront that anime so my obsession can go away."

I started watching it, and a scene I saw in Season 1, Episode 3, instantly triggered a neural connection in me. The scene was incredibly familiar, and after thinking about it for a while, I realized that Date A Live was the very same anime I came across as a child.

I started to empathize with the characters, I loved them all so much and wanted to play with them all. My gooner side was gone, I didn't even care about the ecchi elements. I was only focused on the character.

My favorite spirit is Yoshino Himekawa, because she's an incredibly sweet girl. Every time I see her, I want to tickle her, stroke her head. I'd love to have her as my sister, to be honest.

Facing the anime made me feel even better. My transformation fetish completely disappeared, and I stopped hiding. Yes, before the anime I was a little shy, for no reason. It wasn't there anymore.

I'm really glad I discovered that anime. I want to play with spirits whenever I feel bad.