English Dub Review: Date A Live IV: “Space Spirit”

Overview: Shido (Josh Grelle), Kotori (Brynn Apprill) and the rest of Ratatoskr meet a new spirit, who isolates herself, in that of Mukuro Hoshimiya (Kristen McGuire). 

Our Take: Shido and the girls’ hilariously demented teacher and her depressing midlife crisis is not only a great return for her but a perfect setup for the next spirit codenamed Zodiac. Also it leaves the bomb that Nia dropped on them that all sprits were potentially humans hanging, begging the fascinating question of who and what the other spirits are for later in the season. 

Mukuro, as her name is revealed to be, is yet another unique addition to spirits we have gotten thus far, powerset wise, with her portals as well as a key that disables the abilities of enemies, which she uses to destroy DEM space forces closing on her location with ease. She is very different in that she denies Shido’s help outright and seemingly has no interest in a human life whatsoever and devoid of any emotional attachments, giving her a stony disposition. However, that is merely scratching the surface and very much not the true picture, as is always the case with spirits, in her suffering traumatic that she is either suppressing or closed off to artificially, similar to how Nia was by DEM. Their shared hardships is an intriguing plot point that could make for a gripping backstory. 

After deciding to use her abilities against her and get to her before DEM does, Shido and the spirits get a surprise visit from the founder of Ratatoskr, as well as DEM, Elliot Baldwin Woodman. When Nia questions his motives in forming DEM as it resulted in spirits’ trauma, he talks about creating it to utilize spirits’ power but eventually realizes the deplorable nature of it after falling in love with the spirit of origin, similar to what Shido first experienced when meeting Tohka. Woodman formed Ratatoskr with Karen Mathers, Ellen’s little sister, as he couldn’t standby as other spirits were hurt. Originally only having a small cameo that teased his mysterious role, Woodman is humanized well for just doing so in the latter half of an episode in how compassionate he comes across, especially compared to Shido in their first experience with a spirit that are identical with one another. It is also cool to see another member of the Mathers family and hopefully the sibling relationship between Karen and Ellen, especially now that they are at odds with each other, will be delved into somewhere down the line. Also Shido reminding Woodman of someone related to him or that he knew, teasing a new character critical to Shido’s backstory potentially. 

With their conversation cut short by Westcott invading the base using Beelzebub he traps Shido and the gang and then turns his attention to Woodman, in pursuit of him. It will also be curious to see what kind of rapport Woodman and Westcott had back when they started DEM and how their perspectives on spirits have changed them now in the coming episodes.