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Do Tohka and Shido End Up Together in Date A Live?


Do Tohka and Shido End Up Together in Date A Live: A blushing Tohka
Credit: J.C.Staff

A harem anime is where a male character is surrounded by girls, most or all of which have a romantic tie with the lead. There's usually one girl of each personality, which is why most fans are divided according to which pairings they ship. If you're among the fans asking whether Tohka and Shido end up together in Date A Live, we might just have the answer!

Date A Live is one of the most successful anime of the genre, and though its avid watchers each have a love team that they support, the show has a clear front-running couple, as most other harem anime do.

The Shido x Tohka pairing is Date A Live's favorite. But since it's a harem anime at heart, fans still can't be sure Shido and Tohka are, in fact, endgame, despite obvious favoring of the original novel's and anime's creators.

Note: If you aren't too big on spoilers, I think you'd better skip on this article for now.

Read this instead: The Best Anime Waifus of All Time

Does Shido Love Tohka?

Do Tohka and Shido End Up Together in Date A Live?: Tohka smiling at a Shido gone berserk
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First, let's set our MC's feelings straight.

Date A Live's running plot has to do with Shido repeatedly gaining girls' trust and eventually their affections in order to save the world. Since he gets romantically linked to every Spirit that he meets, there remains a cloud over his true feelings.

So, does Shido love Tohka? Absolutely.

Date A Live IV (Season 4) is expected to finally shift the focus on their relationship... or at least until after Shido has finished sealing the remaining Spirits.

But even in previous seasons, there have been clues clearly pointing to Tohka being the girl Shido cares for the most—risking his life to save her, and coming to his senses after going berserk from the Spirits sealed within him only after sharing a moment with her, among others.

And that's on top of the two being the key couple in the anime's opening and closing sequences.

Read: The Best Anime Opening Songs

Do Tohka and Shido End Up Together?

Do Tohka and Shido End Up Together in Date A Live?: Shido and Tohka leaning in for a kiss
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This is where Shido-Tohka shippers get to celebrate. Let me just say from the get-go, the two don't really "end up together" in that they end up getting into an exclusive relationship, but they do get to the point of confessing their love for each other.

This development is bittersweet, as it happens out of necessity after Tohka is revealed to be disappearing soon.

Tohka does vanish after a final date with Shido and circumstances I'd rather you read for yourself, and for a time, Shido is visibly incomplete without her.

You might enjoy: The Best School Romance Anime You Should Watch

Do Shido and Tohka Get Married?

Do Tohka and Shido End Up Together in Date A Live?: Shido and Tohka covered in confetti
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The Date A Live light novel doesn't take us as far as Shido's marrying Tohka or any of the girls, for that matter. What we are blessed with instead is their reuniting a year after Tohka's vanishing.

Now, this is where things get a bit confusing. The main light novel's ending hints at a sad ending where Tohka's memories have somehow disappeared.

This ending has earned the ire of the series' fans, and rightfully so, but they'd do well to know that whatever unfavorable assumptions they have about Shido and Tohka's relationship are proven wrong in Encore 10, the last volume in the Encore series that ran alongside the main storyline.

Good-to-read: Light Novel Vs Manga: What's the Difference?

The finale is ultimately open-ended, probably to appease fans of the show's other couples, but going by what we know so far, I think it's safe to assume that Shido will choose Tohka over everyone and will probably end up marrying her.

Who truly knows, though? It's a harem anime after all!

If you enjoyed Date A Live for its romantic elements, then you might enjoy our list of the best pure romance anime.

For more articles like this, take a look at our Anime page.