Dead Account 1×02, 1×03 and 1×04 Review

Certain animation issues aside, Dead Account season 1 episodes 2, 3, and 4 did a nice job of explaining more about the paranormal world while reminding the audience just how dangerous it could be.

After being made a potential student at the Miden Academy at the end of the premiere, episode 2 focused on allowing Soji to get accustomed to life as an exorcist while surrounded by a colorful cast of students, with Soji’s mentor being a guy named Azaki. I appreciated the lore about how exorcists had existed for centuries. However, with advances in technology and people spending most of their time on smartphones, it made sense for traditional exorcists to get with the times if they wanted to defeat ghosts haunting the digital world. So, Psychokinesis transformed into Cyberkinesis.

Humans with a certain type of spiritual pressure were capable of tapping into their Cyberkinesis. However, instead of using traditional charms or symbols to exorcise ghosts, they had to summon their Cyberkinesis from their smartphones. Again, it made sense in the show’s lore because even exorcists used smartphones, thus forming a spiritual bond similar to traditional exorcists creating such bonds with charms, weapons, talismans, etc.

Even after listening to a whole lot of information, I couldn’t help but laugh at Soji still wanting to peace out from the Miden Academy. He was not interested in becoming an exorcist at all. Soji wanted to go back to having a normal life and trying to keep his promise to his deceased sister Akari about making healthier choices. Also, considering his emotional state during the premiere, Soji needed more time to deal with the loss of his sister. He literally just fought his sister’s ghost last night. That boy needed space!

However, action-anime is gonna action-anime. So, to keep Soji inside Miden Academy, Azaki dropped the bomb about how Akari was targeted by a ghost and didn’t die a natural death. I mean, talk about emotional blackmail. Even though Azaki kept to a comedic demeanour, you can tell he’s quite strategic and knows how to complete certain objectives. Right now, Azaki needed Soji to stay. That’s why he appealed to Soji’s need for revenge.

Not only that, but Azaki decided to withhold information about the ghost from Soji unless he’s able to defeat Kasubata in battle. I found myself side-eyeing Azaki hard. But also, I kind of respect him. The dude’s not playing around.

I have to say I was surprised by how Kasubata vs Soji panned out. Being the protagonist, I was expecting Soji to win because the plot demanded it. However, even though Soji used his Blue Flame Cyberkinesis, his raw strength wasn’t strong enough to best someone as experienced as Kasubata. Again, it was all part of Azaki’s plan to encourage Soji to remain in the academy to grow strong enough to avenge Akari.

As for Soji’s Blue Flames, the academy’s staff and students were aware of them. Apparently, the power was called Demon Flames, and a majority of the people around Soji were not ready to accept someone with such a dangerous ability.

Episode 3, titled ‘Cyberkinesis Output Test’, was about testing Soji’s Blue Flames. It was basically a training session, with Soji being given the ultimatum to prove himself worthy of being a student at the academy. He had to defeat 100 pseudo-ghost accounts to pass the test. Soji had a week to prepare.

As someone who had been keeping an eye on the Ghost Account fandom, I can see why the third episode caused a lot of disappointment. The way the creative team handled Soji fighting the training accounts was downright bad due to the scenes visualized by still images instead of actual animated movement. I understand wanting to save money. But come on! Such decisions can do a lot of harm when it comes to attracting fans for a new anime.

Fortunately, episode 4 made up for the poor visuals, which I’ll get to in a bit.

I was quite surprised when the villainous Sad Boy K was shown at the beginning of the third episode. That mysterious ghost account also used Demon Flames and was responsible for killing numerous exorcists. According to Azaki, Sad Boy K had targeted Akari. Frankly, I was expecting the reveal about Akari’s killer to be kept a under wraps for a bit longer. But I appreciate the plot moving forward.

The Demon Flames were considered extremely dangerous because they could suck a person’s life force with a single touch. It’s one of the reasons the staff and students didn’t want Soji around. Nobody wanted to be accidently killed by him. They also weren’t fans of Soji being enrolled as a student while having the same ability that was responsible for killing a bunch of their own.

As for the Cyberkinesis lore, due to being attached to smartphones, a person’s energy levels were linked to the device’s battery. I can understand certain fans rolling their eyes at such a development, but hey! I was okay with it because it linked everything together. Part of Soji’s training was to calculate how to keep using his Cyberkinesis without quickly exhausting himself. It reminded me of the Chakra training from Naruto. Also, items or tattoos showcasing energy levels are nothing new in such anime. So, I think we should cut Dead Account some slack for deciding to use smartphones for such reasons.

Kasubata and Soji’s dynamic continued to develop, with Kasubata realizing how to keep Soji focused during battle. Turns out, Soji needed to feel the same emotional fire he used to when making Flamebaiter videos. Being in the zone helped Soji become a lot more efficient at using Cyberkinesis. Kasubata understood that because (similar to Soji) he also had an attack-type Cyberkinesis.

Episode 4 was definitely one of my favorite chapters yet because it was about Kasubata, Soji, and Urusugawa demonstrating their teamwork. Of course, that wasn’t going to be easy considering Kasubata and Urusugawa had experience working together, while Soji was not only new, but his Blue Flames could kill his teammates.

Urusugawa’s Cyberkinesis manifested as a pistol (with a bunch of eyeballs) that shot a goo-like substance to restrain ghosts. Due to Cyberkinesis being linked to a person’s digital personality, Urusugawa’s Cyberkinesis was explained by how she was basically a clingy fangirl when it came to a particular boy band, especially the boy band guitarist named Yami. I was quite surprised to see that side of her personality, considering she was very vocal about her annoyance towards Kasubata and Soji’s antics in the previous episodes.

But nopes, it’s a pot calling the kettle black situation, with Urusugawa also being as unhinged as Kasubata and Soji. Missing the boy band’s livestream and not being able to be the first to comment was enough to bring her back to consciousness and resume fighting, even with a broken arm.

The title of the episode being ‘The Worst Trio Possible’ clicked for me when I saw how the three young exorcists operated together to defeat a dangerous ghost account who thought of human beings as dolls she could play with and tear apart. A lot of times, the girl in a three-person team (with two boys) is depicted as a stickler for the rules. So, it was refreshing to see Urusugawa making even Soji and Kasubata worried about what she might do next.

A major development involved the nature of Soji’s Blue Flames. Kasubata theorized that due to everything following the concept of Yin and Yang, Soji’s Blue Flames could only be harmful to ghosts due to Soji being a human with Sad Boy K being Soji’s opposite. Seeing Kasubata touch Soji’s Blue Flames, knowing he risked death even if his theory was wrong, worked to show their developing friendship as well as Kasubata’s resolve to be a good leader.

With how things ended for Kasubata and Urusugawa at the end of the episode due to Sad Boy K making an appearance, I wouldn’t be surprised if Soji’s Blue Flames were able to restore spiritual energy and heal others.

I’m very excited about Soji vs Sad Boy K coming up. Having a main villain show up so early drastically raised the stakes.

Did you watch Dead Account anime season one episodes 2, 3, and 4? What did you think of them?

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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