English Dub Review: Dead Account “The A-B Alliance”

Overview (Spoilers Below):
Soji’s options continue to narrow as he faces a former fallen comrade.

Our Take:
As if the occasional cold weather recently is enough to spoil our spring break vibes.  With the self-absorbed Ashina being transformed into a dead account, thanks to Sad Boy K, both classes are forced to cooperate to take down their former classmate.  What we got is the final battle of the season, which becomes more than just a competition; it’s a battle for survival against Ashina’s ice powers and his obsession with his beauty.  Of course, just like the previous episodes, it’s not without a couple more flashbacks that further explore each character’s background, a usual narrative device necessary for developing its cyber exorcists.  In this case, its flashbacks highlight Ashina’s obsession with himself and fear of mortality, leading him to be despised by his own classmates, which Sad Boy K used to manipulate him.
However, the one character worthy of this plot device, at least in this episode, is Emoto, who’s been having a rough time with his self-esteem throughout the past few episodes.  It turns out that he came from an abusive household where his parents would rather hurl insults at each other than acknowledge their own child.  Personally, Emoto somehow resembles me, as I couldn’t handle loud noises but would rather listen to music or, in my case, watch movies to calm me down.  Given the hardships he went through during this competition, I’m happy Emoto managed to finally overcome his low self-esteem amid the battle against Ashina.  Execution-wise, it may not hit all the emotional beats it’s representing in the action and dub performances, but it provides a suitable beginning of this exorcist alliance against the cold-hearted dead account.