REVIEW: ‘Dead Mount Death Play’ Season 1 Builds An Intriguing Story

The Corpse God was a powerful necromancer, hunted down by a legendary hero till he was cornered. But before the death blow could fall, the necromancer used reincarnation magic to flee his world, hoping to find peace in a new one. Now, awakening in the recently deceased body of a young man named Polka, he will have to adapt to living in our world in Dead Mount Death Play produced by Geek Toys.

From the moment The Corpse God stepped through his portal and possessed Polka, the show has been nearly one pleasant surprise after another. It manages to do many things while not getting overly fixated on the isekai nature of its story. While Polka’s journey from another world is critical to the plot, there is far more going on in Dead Mount Death Play than just a cross-world trip.

The biggest element that this series has going for it is its story. What begins as a simple escape from one world to the next slowly evolves over this season’s 12 episodes to become something far more intriguing. How random Polka’s arrival is here, if anyone else may have made the trip before him, and the struggles of the groups he comes into contact with in our world all become blended as each plot line grows with the season. It’s one of those amazing mysteries where the more that comes to light, the more things feel hidden. This obfuscation of facts continues until the final moments, leaving some potential big reveals for the series when it returns for season two.

The other thing that makes Dead Mount Death Play a strong watch is its varied and colorful cast. The personalities that Polka encounters as he strives to acclimate to our world each bring their unique energy to the show. From Misaki, a teen assassin and bubbling pot perky energy, to Tsubaki, an officer whose focus is un unexplainable crimes who gets drawn into Polka’s world due to a skeleton sighting the necromancer causes, every character has strong moments that cement them in the story and are given lots of opportunities to play their characters off each other splendidly.

But while the larger cast performs wonderfully to build the story and its various plots up, at the center stands Polka, the wheel that the plot turns on, and as big a mystery as any the story presents. From the moment we are introduced to the Corpse God, we are shown a presentation of Polka that isn’t the truth. As the episodes pass, Dead Mount Death Play brings more and more of its key character for the audience to witness. But even as so much of what is revealed begins to point the viewer’s opinion in a new direction for the character, there is always an inkling that this isn’t the truth either. That Polka is something more and less than it has led on.

While the story and characters of Dead Mount Death Play often shine, the show does fumble with them a few times. This is particularly true when the show tries to work sex and nudity into the narrative. While shows can use these elements to great effect in their narratives, this series shoves them in poorly, causing them to be more of an obstruction to the story it tells than anything else. The worst comes during a huge character moment midway through the season. The person in question delivers a big reveal about their feelings towards an event they were part of earlier in the show. Rather than capturing the character’s emotion or even the look of acknowledgment from the one witnessing the confession, we get a close-up of the pair’s breasts pressed against each other as this moving moment takes place in the shower. The visuals add nothing here. Only serve to distract from an important moment in the story.

While the visuals implement the series’ adult themes poorly, the visuals throughout the rest of the show are handled wonderfully. While not a heavy action show, when the bullets, knives, or magic does start flying. How powerful Polka is when he cuts loose is always striking, especially compared to how reserved his demeanor usually is. Every action sequence is a blast to see.

Dead Mount Death Play delivers a memorable cast of characters that bring the opening act of an intriguing fantasy tale to life. I can’t wait to pick back up when the series returns this October.

Dead Mount Death Play is streaming now on Crunchyroll.