Dead Account 1×11 and 1×12 Review: “The A-B Alliance” and “After the Thaw”

Dead Account anime season 1 episodes 11, titled ‘The A-B Alliance’, and episode 12, titled ‘The Hot Springs Town After the Thaw’, concluded the first chapter while opening the doors to further developments.

Even though I have been enjoying watching the Dead Account anime, I have to say that it would have benefited from a shorter episode order; if not 10 episodes, then nothing more than 11 episodes. I say this because it was quite apparent that the writers didn’t have much to work with, because it had been decided to end the first season at a particular point in the narrative. And to fill the current episode count, some of the fights between the students were dragged out, not via exciting action choreography, but with numerous (and somewhat repetitive) flashbacks.

Kasubata vs Wagari was a big culprit. Yes, I liked learning more about Kasubata’s past and his disdain toward Flamebaiters due to how he was one himself. I also appreciated seeing what brought Kasubata and Hasumi back to Miden Academy. However, again, due to the information being shared through flashbacks, a whole lot of it could have been told faster instead of simply dragging out scenes to meet the episode’s runtime.

The major battle during the final two episodes involved the incredibly vain Ashina. The way the narrative revealed how Sad Boy K had managed to make Ashina into a Dead Account took me by surprise. When the instructors sensed a mysterious Dead Account popping up inside the test site, I thought Sad Boy K was going to make an appearance, looking for a rematch with Soji, or at least, he would be sending one of his henchmen to mess with the students. But nopes. The call was coming from inside the house, as they say. Ashina willingly gave himself to Sad Boy K, resulting in Ashina’s death and then “resurrection” as a Ghost Account during the test.

Due to Sad Boy K targeting social media users who wanted to find someone who could relate to them, Ashina being the one to fall for Sad Boy K’s tactics made sense to me. Ashina was obsessed with sharing his beauty with everyone in the world. However, he wasn’t a fan of social media banning his accounts due to posting NSFW content. I mean, he could have started an OnlyFans account, but that might not exist in this anime’s reality.

Ashina was so adamant about achieving his goal that when Sad Boy K made contact, Ashina kept it secret from his classmates for months. Ugh!

His conversations with Sad Boy K also reminded me of the current controversy over AI chatbots, with the chatbots essentially serving as “Yes Men” and possibly encouraging users to make grave decisions. Dead Account can be considered quite timely. That’s why it’s a shame that the writing isn’t the best, and the animation quality leaves a lot to be desired.

With Class 1A realizing they needed to team up with Team 1B to not only defeat Ashina but also to escape the icy prison he had created around the test site, the finale was about everybody figuring out a way to use their Cyberkinesis together. The stakes were raised due to everyone running low on stamina and risking being frozen to death.

Emoto’s sound barrier being capable of keeping the cold out, while also blocking Ashina’s attacks, was a welcome surprise. Emoto’s not had a lot to do in the anime, but he’s proven himself to be very useful. I also enjoyed learning about Emoto’s relationship with Azaki. Unlike Azaki’s teacher/student dynamic with the rest of Class 1B, he shared a more adoptive father/son dynamic with Emoto, having taken kid Emoto under his wing years ago. Wanting to be good enough to make someone as OP as Azaki proud of him was an understandable motive for Emoto to have. It’s always difficult to live under a parent’s shadow.

However, knowing Emoto, I doubt he will ever achieve his goal when it comes to surpassing Azaki’s power levels. That’s why I can see Azaki stating he’s proud of Emoto for the young man he’s become. Emoto putting in the necessary work to deal with the childhood trauma his biological parents put him through was praiseworthy enough. Also, knowing Azaki, I think he’s very proud of Emoto already.

Ashina vs Classes 1A and 1B allowed almost everybody to play a role in defeating a serious threat. The first attack was about cutting off Ashina’s wings, which he had been using to unleash attacks as well as a shield. Wagari creating a low-powered energy slash from his sword so Kasubata could use it to jump higher was a nice touch. Urusugawa kept Ashina in position for Soji to go in for the final hit.

I had been wondering about whether Kasuba’s Cyberkinesis could copy the abilities of other exorcists. So, it was good to see my question answered when she copied Ikko Owada’s Cyberbeasts. I know the way Kasuba’s Cyberkinesis worked was cringe, but, in a sense, I would be okay with certain other exorcists allowing her to become obsessed with them (and quickly lose interest later) just so she could expand her roster of copied abilities.

Haijima deciding to take control of Ashina’s giant ice sculpture so she could control it like a doll made for a comedic moment. I mean, I can’t fault her. Similar to Haijima, I also thought controlling the sculpture would have been possible.

With Ashina being defeated and unable to recover while struggling on the ground, of course, Sad Boy K showed his true colors. There was no way he would have appeared to rescue Ashina. Instead of answering Ashina’s pleas, Sad Boy K hastened the student’s demise. Yay to Wagari for putting Ashina out of his misery. It was a very emotionally heavy thing for Wagari to do, but it served as yet another example of how dangerous the world of exorcists was. Death could come for anyone in their line of work. No wonder the teachers had a tradition of making students celebrate a peer’s death instead of falling deeper into despair.

As of writing this review, there’s no official news about Dead Account anime getting a second season. I have fingers crossed that we get one. And I hope the creative team refines the storytelling and improves the animation quality during battle sequences. There’s still a lot of story left with Class 1A becoming “friends” with Class 1B, and Sad Boy K being shown with a team of interesting-looking minions I would like to learn more about.

Did you watch Dead Account anime season 1 episodes 11 and 12? What did you think of them? Are you excited about a possible second installment?

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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