Date a Live:This is not the date I wanted! Chapter 394 394: Afterword

Hello everyone, I am Qichang Jingxin.

Hah~ sorry, lately besides playing galgas, reading manga, watching ani, and grinding mobile gas, I've also spent a lot of ti preparing my thesis. Plus writing a novel on top of that, my body and mind are a bit exhausted.

What should I write for this afterword... I don't really have the energy to do keyword roasts. I'll just briefly talk about my feelings on writing the Mukuro arc.

A thousand words can be sumd up in one: tired.

How should I put it? Although it seems many readers were looking forward to the Mukuro arc, I actually wasn't very motivated for it. Because whether it's the main character of this arc, Mukuro, or the developnt of the story itself, neither really matched my wavelength. Of course, this is just my subjective opinion, so please don't take it too seriously.

First, the main thing is Shido's attitude toward Mukuro in this volu.

Actually, I was quite looking forward to the Mukuro arc at first. After all, Mukuro is the only Spirit in the entire series who questioned Shido's motives. Should you conquer a Spirit who has no complaints about her life and doesn't affect others? This is sothing I've always wondered about too. After all, if leaving her unsealed has no negative impact, then sealing her while DEM is lurking in the shadows might actually put her in more danger.

Under these conditions, not sealing her is actually a wise choice.

I really wanted to see what kind of thoughts and confusion Shido would fall into when facing this kind of problem, and I looked forward to the answer he would eventually reach. However, after reading the first Mukuro volu, I was a bit disappointed. Although the idea of everyone going into a fairy tale book for an adventure was very interesting, Shido's answer left speechless.

Mukuro's points were: one, she had no dissatisfaction with her life and didn't need to be sealed; and two, she doubted whether her safety could be guaranteed after being sealed.

However, Shido's answer was basically: I don't care about what you said, but I know you must have a painful past to seal your mories and drift in space, so I must save you.

Are we talking to a brick wall!? Shido, you didn't answer Mukuro's questions at all!

Because of this, the Mukuro arc made my affection for Itsuka Shido drop. Maybe because of this first impression, when I read the next volu, Mukuro Family, I kept feeling a strange sense of incongruity. It was like the characters's images were covered by a frosted glass, looking very blurry.

So when I saw Shido being forgotten by his family, my first reaction wasn't sympathy, but "he brought this on himself."

Secondly, there is the main heroine being conquered in this arc, Hoshimiya Mukuro. Originally, the first volu gave the impression of a knowledgeable, otherworldly hermit. But in the next volu, she turned into a full yandere, clingy, sweet-but-silly girl. The contrast was just too huge, leaving stunned and unable to process it while reading. Although it seems many people like Mukuro's later obedient and clingy personality, I personally prefer her previous hermit image.

And how should I put it, the past Tachibana designed for Mukuro... it is hard to describe in a few words. Maybe because I am the type who values family very much, I completely cannot understand Mukuro's actions of cutting off all of her family's relationships just to monopolize them, and then ending up isolating herself... Although I understand that the fault mostly wasn't hers, I really couldn't imrse myself in this backstory.

Also, since she was joining Shido's harem, I thought Mukuro's extrely possessive personality definitely had to be changed. It did change later on, but because there wasn't a detailed description of her psychological journey, it left feeling speechless later on, thinking, "Ah, Mukuro, why are you acting like you have a split personality again?"

Looking back and forth, the only possible turning point was Shido saying he was "willing to be her family forever" during the date. Later on, Mukuro could even laugh it off when her favorite hair was cut into a ss by Shido and the Spirits (see the original short story, later her hair was reattached using sci-fi tech). Should I say as expected of the protagonist? Just a few smooth words made Mukuro so forgiving.

Well, the last thing I want to complain about is the plot.

Let clarify, although I criticized the character personalities a lot just now, I don't have much of a problem with the plot developnt itself. In fact, starting from the Mukuro arc, the Date A Live plot started to feel much tighter and richer to . Although this ans the difficulty of modifying the story increased for as a fanfic author, it is actually an improvent for the original author.

However, perhaps because he had to stuff more content into one volu than before, I felt a bit of sloppiness in many details. For example, the tiline bug I ntioned earlier. Shido realizing he was forgotten and conquering Mukuro all happened on the sa day. But when the narrative perspective switched to Tohka's side, everyone unanimously said they were approached by a stranger (Shido) "yesterday". After checking with mbers of the translation group, I confird it was definitely a bug in the original work (though honestly, the editor should take the bla for this).

In other words, Origami and the inverted Tohka not only got their mories back, but they also traveled through ti to find yesterday's Shido (laughs).

Then there is Tohka's inversion. Honestly, I was completely dumbfounded watching that. The original work just said that after Origami left, Tohka suddenly felt a headache, grabbed her head and crouched down, and then the next scene—

Tohka inverted.

What? Why? o_O? That was my exact expression at the ti.

Wasn't the condition for inversion extre despair? In the previous volu, DEM did so many crazy things to make Nia fully invert. How co when it gets to you, Tohka, you just get a headache and invert instantly? It's not that I don't understand what Tachibana wanted to convey, but this way of handling it is too rushed, isn't it? Couldn't he have added a little bit of psychological description for Tohka?

At that ti, I really felt that, while I can't speak for the other Spirits, Tohka absolutely must stay with Shido. Otherwise, if she inverts so easily, the world will be destroyed one day.

Well, my complaints and gripes about the original work end here. Lastly, let talk a little bit about rewriting the Mukuro arc.

When the Mukuro arc ca out, I was still writing the Arusu Install ga plot. I have to say, the Mukuro arc had a huge impact on my novel's concept. Later, during the Natsumi arc, I wrote about Yutsuki training Shido in the computer world; that was actually laying the groundwork to change the conversation between Shido and Mukuro in the Mukuro arc. I even added an extra chapter at the very end of the already-finished Miku arc, where Yutsuki questions Kotori and refuses to help conquer Spirits, just to foreshadow the argunt between Shido and Yutsuki in the Mukuro arc.

But even though I thought I was fully prepared, I still ran into quite a few bottlenecks when actually writing the Mukuro arc. Mainly, the original plot was very tight, so making enough room for Yutsuki's screenti was harder than I imagined. Many scenes were deleted and rewritten several tis, and quite a few parts were just glossed over using sheer montum. In a way, I don't really have the right to complain about Tachibana (bitter smile).

Mhm, although I still have a lot I want to say, I'll stop here for now. Now that the Mukuro arc is done, I can continue preparing my graduation thesis (and then it's graduating, finding a job, and entering society. Honestly, I'm so anxious—collapses).

Next up is Kurumi's arc—although I'd like to say that, I actually still have so unfinished things I want to tell regarding the Mukuro arc. I might write them as short stories first before entering the next arc.

Alright, then this afterword should be ending about here. Thank you everyone for continuing to support "This is Not the Date I Wanted" even after it beca paid, see you next ti!

TL:next will be a long encore volu, cause before the last few arc of this series, I want to finish most of the side story first.It will be around 3-4 side story and then no more until the very end of this fanfic for last 2 side stories.