After numerous controversial opinions surrounded the 3rd episode of Date A Live IV anime, the Date A Live Fan Club revealed on April 23, 2022, that among the two versions of the episode which were distributed for broadcast, China’s Bilibili platform aired a low-quality, unfinished version.

“Immediately after episode 3 was released, there were many controversial opinions about the quality of this episode’s art, and the opinions expressed were so divided that people wondered if they had watched the same episode or not. Well, here’s the truth: THERE ARE ACTUALLY TWO VERSIONS OF EPISODE 3 CURRENTLY AIRING! The official raw version aired on TV in Japan, and the [unfinished] version aired on China’s Bilibili platform,” the update read.

Date A Live Fan Club admin Hermit explained that the unfinished version was the result of a distribution decision taken to keep up with the schedule of Bilibili.

They further explained that Episode 3 of Date A Live IV TV anime was not totally made by studio Geek Toys. In fact, it was outsourced to a relatively new studio Jumondou Seoul. It is to be noted that, the official release of the episode recorded more staff than the version sent by Jumondou Seoul, which suggests that Geek Toys later edited and perfected it.

“Going back to the explanation, episode 3 was assigned to a studio called Jumondou Seoul, which according to the admin’s research, this studio is relatively new, ” wrote Hermit. “Based on the difference of the credits, it seems that this studio has limited resources and although the work they make is also commendable, Geektoys decided to edit and perfect it, when the credits of the official version recorded a lot more staff.”

However, the distributed version to Bilibili was not reviewed properly and the unpolished version was submitted instead of the final version.

“The official version was completed, but the problem was in the reviewing stage of bilibili. The process is quite lengthy, and it seems that in order to keep up with the schedule, the unpolished version has [sic] to be submitted to bilibili instead of the final version,” said Hermit.

Below are some of the comparisons between the two versions- the Bilibili version on the left and the Official version on the right.

The fourth season of the Date A Live anime series, titled Date A Live IV, was produced by Geek Toys and directed by Jun Nakagawa.

The season was scheduled to premiere in October 2021, but was delayed to April 2022 for “various reasons”. Fumihiko Shimo wrote the fourth season’s scripts, with Naoto Nakamura designing the characters and Go Sakabe returning to compose the series’ music. It premiered on April 8, 2022.

The opening theme is titled “OveR” performed by Miyu Tomita, and the ending theme is titled “S.O.S” performed by sweet ARMS.

On April 21, 2022, Crunchyroll announced that the season would receive an English dub, which premiered the following day.

Source: Date A Live Fan Club on Facebook