I wondered if Ryohgo Narita’s next title would have three exclamation points. After Baccano!, a gang warfare story set in the late Prohibition era of America, he gave us the supernatural gang warfare tale of Durarara!!. Sadly, Dead Mount Death Play, a reverse isekai gang warfare story, does not have those three exclamation points I had hoped for.
Perhaps he can be forgiven because his latest anime adaptation started as a manga instead of a series of light novels. The manga, beginning in October 2017, was simultaneously released in Japanese and English. Young Gangan carried chapters in Japanese as Yen Press published trade paperbacks in the US. Now Crunchyroll will stream the adaptation for the spring anime season, starting in April. Dead Mount Death Play’s official website recently published a Main Visual before the first broadcast date.
A Reincarnated Necromancer Seeks a Slow Life in Another World
The premise of Dead Mount Death Play is isekai with a twist. Starting in a fantasy world filled with magic and steel weapons, an evil, menacing necromancer faces his end. His heroic archnemesis has him cornered. But at the moment of the necromancer’s defeat, the foul undead summoner unsealed his last spell. Instead of bringing corpses back to undead life, the necromancer used a resurrection spell on himself! But the lifesaving spell sent his soul to another world and another body. A teenage boy in Japan woke up to new terrifying memories. The necromancer sees a chance to live a more relaxed life. That’s if you call working for an assassination squad to make money “relaxing.”
The Bloody, Sexy, Magical Cast and Crew of Dead Mount Death Play
I expected finely detailed violence and voluptuous females after I saw that Narita had teamed up with Shinta Fujimoto for the Dead Mount Death Play manga. Fujimoto illustrated the Baccano! manga adaptation, so their pairing was apt. The video trailer from production studio GEEKTOYS did not disappoint. The studio recently animated the fourth season of Date A Live, so GEEKTOYS had experience with sexy girls doling out copious amounts of bloody mayhem. Veteran director Manabu Ono brings his Sword Art Online background to the anime. And character designer Hisashi Abe (Psycho-Pass movies) will turn the manga characters into video stars.
The fantasy world setting of the necromancer’s past looks fluid and dark. When the undead summoner reincarnates into teenager Polka Shinoyama, the modern world of Japan still reflects that darkness. A new, slow life never had a chance because it started in a dark alley with a sliced throat. Can he still find a peaceful existence inside a dead boy? Let’s meet the characters who will help and hinder him.
- Polka Shinoyama. Voice actor — Yuki Sakakihara (Robota from Lycoris Recoil). He’s sixteen years old and has an undead soul reincarnated into him. He has the Evil Eye.
- Misaki Sakiyama. Voice actor — Inori Minase (Hestia from DanMachi). Feared as the “assassin’s assassin,” she befriends Polka after an unfortunate set of circumstances. She wears red half-rim glasses and has big boobs!
- Takumi Kuruya. Voice actor — Yuuma Uchida (Onija from SSSS.DYNAZENON). The tech-based information trader of Polka’s group. He plays with the internet and drones.
- Tsubaki Iwanome. Voice actor — Takuya Eguchi (Souei from Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken and Loid Forger from Spy x Family). A policeman in Shinjuku who handles occult cases. He has his eye on a suspicious fortuneteller.
- Kouzaburou Arase. Voice actor — Nobuhiko Okamoto (Katsuki Bakugou from My Hero Academia). A former yakuza turned policeman, he works with Iwanome in the same department.
- Lisa Kuraki. Voice actor — Atsumi Tanezaki (Rio Futaba from Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai and Anya Forger from Spy x Family). She’s a bartender, information broker, and hitman agent in Polka’s neighborhood. She wears a half-pair of glasses and has a heavier rack than Misaki!
[Image sources from Official Dead Mount Death Play Website]
Will you be watching Dead Mount Death Play? Do you have time for one more isekai in your anime schedule? Do women with big boobs and glasses help make the deal sweeter? Would you like a well-endowed live-in zombie girlfriend? Let us know in the comments or online on Twitter or Facebook.
If red glasses and tight sweaters are in your wheelhouse, consider picking up a copy of Kinshi no Ane.