The series begins with a strange phenomenon called a "spatial quake" devastating the center of Eurasia, resulting in at least 150 million casualties.

In the present, Shido Itsuka, a seemingly ordinary high school student, comes across a mysterious girl at the ground zero of a spatial quake.

He also learns Kotori is the commander of the airship Fraxinus, crewed by the organization Ratatoskr and its parent company Asgard Electronics.

Shido is recruited by Ratatoskr to make use of his mysterious ability to seal the Spirits' powers thus stopping them from being a threat to mankind.

Moreover, Shido and his companions face the opposition of the AST (Anti-Spirit Team), a special unit designed to suppress the threat posed by Spirits by eliminating them, which is backed by DEM (Deus Ex Machina) Industries, a conglomerate led by Sir Isaac Ray Pelham Westcott who intends to exploit the powers of the Spirits for his own agenda.

Date A Live began as a light novel series written by Koushi Tachibana with illustrations by Tsunako.

The opening theme is titled "Date A Live" (デート・ア・ライブ, Dēto A Raibu) sung by sweet ARMS, a vocal group consisting of Iori Nomizu, Misuzu Togashi, Kaori Sadohara, and Misato.

[10] An unaired episode was bundled with the third volume of the Date A Live Encore short story collection was released on December 9, 2014.

[11] The first and second season have been licensed by Funimation for streaming and home video release in North America and by Madman Entertainment in Australia.

[15] Animation production was held by J.C.Staff, with the cast and staff reprising their respective roles from the previous seasons.

A new installment for both past games, named Date A Live Twin Edition: Rio Reincarnation (デート・ア・ライブ Twin Edition 凜緒リンカーネイション, Dēto A Raibu Tsuin Edishon Rio Rinkāneishon) produced by Compile Heart and Sting Entertainment was released on July 30, 2015, for the PlayStation Vita.

An English version of Date A Live: Rio Reincarnation has been released on PlayStation 4 and Steam platforms on July 23, 2019.

[46] The limited edition of the game includes a Tsunako-designed box, special books (Koushi Tachibana-written short story, etc.

[47][48] A free-to-play mobile game titled Date A Live: Spirit Pledge was released in China on September 21, 2018, for Android and iOS.

[52] The PS3 game Date A Live: Rinne Utopia sold 23,340 physical retail copies within the first week of release in Japan.

[54] On June 12, 2015, the Chinese Ministry of Culture listed Date A Live II among 38 anime and manga titles banned in China.