Waifus. Ask any anime fan in the community, and they will give you a list of them that they absolutely adore. We’re no exception to this, as we have our choice waifus as well; mine of course would be Stocking Anarchy from Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, while Aaron’s would be Hestia from Danmachi…and for some reason Kurumi Tokisaki from Date-A-Live. Speaking of which the fourth season of the series just ended, and reviews of the show (from fans) have been a bit of a toss up between ‘okay’, ‘meh’, and ‘no’. Although I’ve only watched the first two seasons and part of the third, I STILL don’t get the full story of Kurumi; how is she the most dangerous and most malevolent out of all of the spirits, and what’s with the time-traveling powers?! Well, I had to dig deep for this one, and hopefully I’ll get the answers to my questions in this little One-2-One, on Kurumi Tokisaki.

I’m late to the party on this series, but there was a point in time where there was a fair amount of cosplay of the main cast from season one of Date-A-Live at anime conventions. Basically massive ‘spacequakes’ are being caused by these ‘spirits’ and Shido is the one who has to seal them up; the first of which being Tohka. As the series went on Shido sealed these spirits by going on ‘dates’ with them, while keeping their emotions and feelings at high levels. Sure, it seemed like a walk in the park for ol’ Shido after he got the hang of it (sealing spirits and all), but when Kurumi came into the picture, everything changed…

She’s reported to be the worst spirit to ever try and seal, and is near-impossible to do so. Kurumi’s also the only spirit with a lot of blood on her hands; 10,000 pairs of hands to be exact. When it comes to female anime antagonists, there are just some things that they’re better at then male anime antagonists. (That is a hill I’m prepared to die on! XP)

Part 1 – The Worst Spirit: Who is Kurumi Tokisaki?

So, what’s Kurumi’s deal? Why is she the most deadly out of all of the spirits Shido has sealed? Why does she have sexy music playing every time she appears? (Like another Sonic character we all know.) To try and figure her out we need to go back to the time before she became a spirit. Kurumi was a human girl who came from a rich family (that’s usually how these origin stories start), but on her way home she was attacked by a monster known as a ‘Spirit’. That monster was killed by a girl wearing a dress made of light, and revealed her name to be Mio Takamiya; claiming herself to be an “ally of justice”. She told Kurumi if she wanted the same power she has, she would have to absorb the Sephira Crystal and bond with it thus turning Kurumi into a spirit.

Both Kurumi and Mio were taking on other spirits and everything seemed to be going fine, until Kurumi discovered that Mio killed her best friend; causing her to inverse (which I found out is actually a bad thing). She managed to stop herself from transforming by using her ‘4th bullet’ to reverse the inverse, but afterwards Mio came clean about her motives. She was using the Sephira Crystals to bond with humans while turning them into monsters before they kill them, in order to refine them. When it was all said and done, Mio thanked Kurumi for ‘her service’ and caused her to blackout. The rest of course, was history…

Part 2 – Personality, Skills, and Abilities

Kurumi is difficult to read, and most of the time with characters like this it’s so easy for them to manipulate others because of that. Right off the bat Kurumi dislikes humans (while Goku Black loathes them entirely) to the point of not trusting them at all, and somewhere along the line she’s also got acting chops; which plays into her difficult-to-read personality. While she may put on a cute facade from time to time, underneath is a mad woman who will disregards all human life and only sees them as ‘food’ to help restore her time. I know there’s some Goku Black x Kurumi fan fiction out there, and God help us if those two got together.

Though she has a twisted sense of justice, a majority of the people she’s killed were animal abusers and rapists. (So maybe some of her actions may have been justified…some.) Kurumi’s ultimate goal is to go back in time to kill the first spirit (Mio) and prevent spacequakes and the appearance of spirits from ever happening in the first place. Of course if she did that, she’d also wipe out Kotori and all of the other spirits that Shido helped to seal as well from existence. Kurumi does not think of herself as a great person by any means, and has shown Shido (and Phantom) that she’s the worst kind of person. However, Kurumi likes cats and is kinda embarrassed about it, so I guess she’s not all bad…but she’s pretty bad.

Her skills and abilities as a spirit are on another level. Living up to her reputation as the ‘Worst Spirit’, Kurumi is a brutal fighter who will stop at nothing to ensure she comes out on top. She’s able to amass an army of clones at a moments notice to overwhelm her opponents; making it impossible to even land a hit on her. Kurumi is also quite the unique spirit because she possesses two Sephira Crystals which allows her to call on two ‘Angels’; one of them being Zafkiel which takes on a large clock with roman numerals with a pistol and musket that serve as the hour and minute hands respectively. Kurumi also has Time Manipulation abilities that she uses through her powers of her shadows, Reiryoku, and time itself as fuel.

The type of effect her time bullets have will depend on the number her Angel as well as her flintlock. The downside to this ability/skill is the fact that these bullets consume her time (or life force), and depending on the number of the bullet, it may consume more time than the others. Her first bullet accelerates her target’s time, and can increase her speed in battle. Her second one does the opposite and slows the enemy down, and Kurumi can save a little time this way. Her third bullet speeds up the aging process of her target. Her forth bullet restores injuries on its targets. Her fifth bullet allows Kurumi to see into the future (like Epitaph from JoJo). Kurumi’s sixth bullet sends the target’s consciousness back to their past self, which also puts the amount of time and Reiryoku into a loop.

Bullet number seven freezes the target’s time for a short time. Bullet number eight creates a clone of the target, which might explain why Kurumi has so many clones. Bullet nine allows her to share her senses with someone on a different axis of time. Bullet ten peaks into the object or target’s past, which is how Kurumi regained her memories. Bullet eleven sends the target into the future, while bullet twelve sends its target into the past. This is the bullet Kurumi wants to use on herself and has been experimenting with the most in order to go back in time and kill Mio. Kurumi is able to devour her victims through Shadow Manipulation (which she uses for quick escapes), and her ‘City of Devouring’ (which ‘devours’ the time/life force of those caught in its barrier).

Okay, that was a lot of information, so let’s get to the final verdict. >.<

Part 3 – The Legacy of the Worst Spirit

Kurumi is just as strong as the first spirit (Mio) and has struck fear into the hearts of those she encounters due to her reputation. Her sense of justice can be seen as sick and twisted from a moral prospective, but there’s a small sense of heroism inside of her – even though she doesn’t want to be called a hero. Kurumi is the kind of character who knows she is evil in her own right; much like Evangeline A.K. McDowell from the first Mahoru Sensei Negima manga, and Junko Enoshima from Danganronpa. Most of the time anime characters like this don’t appear to have any redeeming qualities whatsoever; whenever they commit mass genocide or other unforgivable crimes, but in Kurumi’s case, the only way she believes she can redeem herself is by killing the spirit that turned her into a spirit – saving millions of lives in the process.

Characters like this who believe humanity has no redeeming qualities can be quite fearsome and terrifying, and in some cases can (and will) expose humanity’s shortcomings at any moment it serves them. Anime protagonists like Shido try to tell them that not all humans are totally evil, and can redeem themselves (even her), but Kurumi and characters like her are not trying to hear it. She’s proven that if she wanted to cause worldwide destruction, she can and she will. I’ll never understand why despite her reputation of being the ‘Worst Spirit’, Date-A-Live fans find her alluring, captivating, sexy, and waifu material. Kurumi has redeemable qualities, but will not embrace them because of who she is.

Kurumi is a character that is hard to read. Its hard to understand what she’s thinking most of the time, or even why she’s the most provocative out of all of the spirits. At the end of the day, she is who she is; a malevolent spirit with a sadistic disposition and alluring charm, who hates humanity and doesn’t like being called a ‘kind person’. She will achieve specific goals that she’s set for herself and will do whatever it takes to accomplish those goals. Although her role in the series as shifted to that of an anti-heroine, Kurumi retains her sadistic and cruel nature to those that dare oppose her, or get in the way of her ultimate goal. If looks could kill, her name would be Kurumi.

That’s all we’ve got for this One-2-One, so until next post, stay nerdy! 😉