Dead Account 1×05 Review: “The Anachronistic Exorcist”

Dead Account anime season 1 episode 5, titled ‘The Anachronistic Exorcist’, gave us Sad Boy K vs Soji, and a hint at what the deadly ghost might be planning.

With how the previous episode ended on a cliffhanger involving Sad Boy K making an appearance and immediately KO’ing Kasubata and Urusugawa, I was quite excited to see the ghost’s blue flames clash with Soji’s blue fire. And while I was expecting a longer battle between the two, I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with how the creative team decided to handle such a confrontation.

Soji and his teammates had just managed to defeat a mid-level ghost together. Urusugawa also required medical attention. The trio was running low on their Cyberkinesis battery. So, I knew Soji wouldn’t be able to solo Sad Boy K. However, considering how certain anime narratives tend to go, protagonists do experience a sudden boost of power after getting all up in their emotions during a losing battle. With Sad Boy K being responsible for murdering Akari, Soji finding immense power from within wasn’t outside the realm of possibility. We even got a moment where an exhausted Soji tried forcing his body to move to avenge his sister’s killer. I was expecting him to tap into some hidden power source to scare away Sad Boy K, or at least make him amused enough to retreat while looking forward to a rematch down the line.

But nopes. Soji was in no state to move his body, let alone unleash another Cyberkinesis attack against such a foe. And I thank the creative team for sticking to such a decision. It helped raise the stakes and also made Soji realize how much stronger he needed to grow as an exorcist.

Another thing that surprised me was Soji being harmed by Sad Boy K’s flames. I thought that, because they shared similar powers, they might be immune to each other’s attacks. However, Sad Boy K was able to injure our lead. Soji was also capable of harming the ghost account, but he couldn’t even manage a scratch due to being exhausted and, simply put, not strong enough to go up against such an opponent… yet.

Initially, I thought Sad Boy K would allow Soji to live because he had some kind of plan related to Soji’s Cyberkinesis. It wouldn’t be the first time a villain let a protagonist keep breathing due to some evil scheme, usually involving corrupting the young hero. But even that didn’t go as expected. Sad Boy K was all about killing Soji and reviving him as a ghost.

According to Sad Boy K, the stronger the ties to the physical world, the better the chances for a human to remian thetered and return as a ghost. Akari managed to come back as a ghost due to her connection with Soji. And, from what I could understand, Soji would return due to the bonds with his classmates as well as still wanting to avenge Akari.

I could be wrong, but Sad Boy K’s current plan seemed to involve finding a way to bring back or, as he put it, “resurrect” as many dead humans as ghost accounts as possible. He wanted the dead still tied to the physical world to roam freely as they did before. His goal was to create a ghost city in the physical realm. That’s why he didn’t take kindly to excorists deleting ghost accounts. He also found Soji to be ungrateful after he had helped Akari come back to the land of the living, and Soji proceeded to help her truly pass on.

Sad Boy K social media account continued to gain followers, leading to an urban legend that whoever followed the account would die soon. His account was all about people sharing their troubles with him. And I think he might be selecting his targets to kill and “resurrect” from his followers. The account couldn’t be deleted because, as far as the Admins were concerned, the account itself wasn’t posting anything that went against the guidelines.

With Soji, Urusugawa, and Kasubata on the verge of dying, Azaki stepped in at the last moment to protect his students. It was cool to see Azaki’s fighting style, which didn’t involve Cyberkinesis. It’s explained by a now-awakened Kasubata that older exorcists like Azaki weren’t the best at grasping the technique of using smartphones to access their Cyberkinesis. Instead, they had a device that channeled their spiritual power/Psychokinesis to produce something resembling Cyberkinesis. So, while their spiritual energy wasn’t connected to the charge left on their smartphones, the drawback was that the device they used could only materialize a portion of their actual power. Essentially meaning that Azaki could only unleash around 10% of his total Psychokinesis.

It’s one of the reasons that Miden Academy was created. The older generation wanted to train a new generation of exorcists who would be proficient in using Cyberkinesis to face the ever-growing threat of ghost accounts.

I liked the lore-specific explanation about the difference between the old and new crop of exorcists. However, I would like to say that many older people in the real world are quite good at using smartphones and other pieces of technology. So, insinuating that not a single older excorsit could get a grasp on Cyberkinesis didn’t make sense to me. That’s why I’m hoping to see an aged excrosit using Cyberkinesis to pop up soon down the line.

Heck! Azaki isn’t even that old to be acting like he didn’t understand smartphones. He looks to be in his late 30s, at the most. I wouldn’t be surprised if we get to see him gaining access to a device that allows him to transform more of his spiritual power, or he finally unleashes his Cyberkinesis as the series continues.

Anyway, it’s a good thing that Azaki’s OP. He had managed to defeat a calamity-level demon by himself during his prime, earning him the title of Living Legend amongst the exorcists. Also, his around 10% of power was enough to face off against Sad Boy K, even though, to be fair, the opponent was also running out of battery life.

Being partial to water-based attacks, I really enjoyed Azaki unleashing moves that incorporated water and koi. His ability appeared to be an effective counter capable of “extinguishing” the blue flames. In contrast to the young leads, Azaki’s skills were visually pleasing.

With everybody safe, the second half of the episode introduced us to Nurse Kochi. Her Cyberkinesis allowed her to “heal” physical injuries as if she were touching up selfies. She couldn’t treat diseases and internal ailments. However, Kochi was skilled to treat a range of injuries, including Urusugawa’s broken arm as if it were as good as new, as long as she had the spiritual power to do so.

Having been treated, I couldn’t help but laugh at how the trio found a way to still train themselves to get stronger even when 3% battery life meant they shouldn’t access their Cyberkinssis. The trio decided to train their muscles by hitting the gym!

I love it when a team of characters shares a single braincell, including the girl (who are often depicted as the level-headed ones).

Easily being defeated by Sad Boy K and seeing Azaki in action had encouraged the trio to become stronger, something Azaki had hoped for when he took Soji as his new student.

As for the behind-the-scenes stuff, a meeting with Principal Yabami involved the teachers wondering why Soji was being targeted by Sad Boy K. A mid-level ghost account as well as Sad Boy K showing up during a mission that was supposed to be easy, raised questions about it being some kind of nefarious plan to get Soji killed. Instructor Korekiyo Nanzo wasn’t being the most discreet when he brought up how they should murder and burn Soji (a proper cleansing) to ensure he couldn’t be turned into a ghost account.

Even though Azaki stood up for Soji and got the teachers to agree to treating Soji as an actual student, I think certain people (that could include Nanzo) will try to kill Soji again. Drama!

Did you watch Dead Account anime season 1 episode 5? What did you think of it?

Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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