Summary:

Light at first wants Rem to kill L as soon as possible, but he then decides on waiting until after he sees L tomorrow so he can think about it a bit more. He specifically instructs Rem not to kill L unless he gives the order. Light also borrows one of Misa’s cell phones so that he can communicate with her, and then he tells her to go home. Since she still wants to go on a date with him, Light shuts her up and sends her on her way by kissing her. After Misa leaves, Light admits to Ryuk that he’s not sure if L is really L and is worried that L’s death would put suspicion on him. He decides that the L he knows is the one leading the investigation, so taking him out would make everything ok. Planning to use Misa and Rem, Light declares that tomorrow is the last day of L’s life. It is on this next day that L is thinking to himself that the only people who know his identity are the Watari, the investigators, and Light. He decides to tell Light’s father Souichirou that if he dies soon, then Light must be Kira. Even though L’s suspicions of Light being Kira are low, they have no other suspects at the moment, so L has latched onto him. Mogi, the cop who’s been trailing Light, brought L some new information about Light’s dating habits, so L is ready to try something.

At school, Light is with one of his girls when he runs into L. After he dismisses the girl, Light wonders if it’s ok for L to be out in public with his life potentially in danger. L, however, says that only Light knows who he is, so if he dies, every L will know that Light is Kira. According to him, there are a group of people like him called L. Just as Light starts to think that perhaps today isn’t the right time to kill L, he suddenly hears Misa call out to him. Light panics at first, but then realizes that he’s won because Misa can see L’s real name. In fact, Misa notices that L’s name isn’t really Ryuuga Hideki, but Light stops her before she can tip off L that she knows. L surprises Light by knowing about Misa’s modeling work, though it turns out that she’s rather popular throughout the school and soon attracts a crowd. When Misa’s manager comes to take her away, Light decides that he’s got to kill L fast, so he plans to call Misa on the phone to get L’s real name. But when he does so, it is the phone in L’s pocket that starts ringing. L claims to have found it in the crowd earlier, but Light figures out that L must have stolen the phone and thus must suspect Misa to be the second Kira.

Light takes the phone back, but then L’s own cell phone starts ringing. After taking the call, L reveals that Misa has been arrested because she’s suspected to be the second Kira. They’ve already searched her room and found matching cat hair to what was on one of the videotapes. Light realizes that the plan he had of calling Misa backfired and now L suspects him even more of being Kira. With Misa bound up, blindfolded, and under surveillance in an isolation chamber, L returns to the hotel where the investigators run through all the evidence they now have connecting Misa to the second Kira, leaving no doubt that it’s her. L authorizes Watari to do whatever is necessary to get Misa to talk – even torture. He explains to Light’s father that Light is no longer allowed to come here since the signs point to Light being Kira. L thinks that Light would probably kill Misa to keep her from talking, but he also suspects that Light is worried about attracting even more attention. Indeed, at that moment, Light is at home trying to figure out what to do. One of the reasons he can’t kill Misa is because Rem will then kill him, so Light really needs to find a way to speak with Rem.

Sometime later, L finds out that Misa is talking, but what she’s saying is that she wants to die. She still claims not to know anything about the second Kira, but what L doesn’t know is that her pleas for death are actually directed at Rem. Although Misa really seems to want to die, Rem is unable to kill her and instead makes her relinquish her ownership of the Death Note. Rem then returns to Light’s home and explains that this means Misa loses everything related to Note, including her knowledge of L’s real name and Light’s identity, her Shinigami eyes, and her ability to see Shinigami. The only thing that remains is her love for Light. Rem had figured out that the best course of action for Light would be to have Misa willingly transferred over control of her Death Note to him, but the Shinigami is also ready to kill Light if he doesn’t go save Misa. Light, fortunately, has come up with a plan, and surprises Ryuk by saying that this is good-bye.

Preview:

I still find it really amazing how the author was able to turn the tables around like this so quickly. On minute we’re led to believe that Light has L’s life within his grasp, and the next minute L has captured Misa. It felt like Light got too cocky and enthusiastic about killing L that he acted a bit too quickly. Of course, it makes for a more entertaining story this way. I also thought that Misa’s tears and Rem’s moving of the lock of Misa’s hair was a nice touch since it was something that wasn’t in the manga.
As the preview hints, next week Light is going to jail.

28 Comments

  1. This has got to be the greatest episode of Death Note that I’ve seen in weeks, if not ever. I haven’t read the manga, so everything that happened in this episode came pretty much as a shock. The fact that I have to wait until next week to see the next episode has been killing me since I finished watching it last night. ::pulls out hair:: x.x;;;

    Tim
  2. I watched it and I’m not so sure about the quality of the show anymore. It just seems to be going wonky several episodes in a row now.

    Otherwise, it’s a nice continuation of the story I suppose.

    Shippoyasha
  3. In the manga, L is a big pervert. And I mean, a real big pervert. The real reason why he had cameras installed in bathrooms and uses his hands to touch girls up and dress them up in weird outfits

    mikeon
  4. Mutio, the manga is great (imho Death Note works better as a manga than anime, because of the heavy dialogue) – but it might be a bit boring if you know whats happening already (happened to me with the anime), the best would be to watch/read both at the same time maybe XD
    Also the german edition is well done (the cover looks better than US one ;D )

    Minikui
  5. @koneli

    Wat makes Light “evil” because he killed people who commited crimes. Isn’t that the same thing as what the goverment does? Its called “Capital Punishment”…wat takes the goverment years to do, it takes him about a minute. >

    Kurosaki Ichigo
  6. was it just me or did the restraints look like it was running up misa’s crotch like crazy… that was the first thing that caught my eyes when i was watching that scene
    man… the torture that wouldve been ~_~. misa’s scene brought a few tears to my eyes =/

  7. @kurosaki ichigo
    some people think capital punishment is wrong too
    but that’s really the brilliance of this anime/manga. whether light is evil or not is
    debatable.
    Show Spoiler ▼

    as for me, i think light has the right idea, but is using the wrong method to approach it.

    koneli
  8. Personally, I think Light turned from just self-righteous to straight up evil when he killed Penbar, the other FBI agents, and Naomi just to protect his own identity. Criminals, I could understand, but law enforcement agents?

    That said, this episode again had me questioning L’s methods as well. First he asked Chief Yagami to plant cameras and bugs throughout his house and place his own family under surveillance. Now, he has Misa arrested and placed into a Hannibal Lecter-style prison gurney without much conclusive evidence to back up his hunches in the first place (the fact the police found the tapes at her apartment after the face is suspect; why would any normal judge grant a warrant to search it in the first place?). L seems to be delving deeper and deeper into Homeland Security style tactics (violating rights of privacy and Misa’s civil rights, illegal search and seizure) all in the name of pursuing Kira and bringing him to justice, all the while trampling on the rights of others.

    I see L abusing his authority just as Light is abusing his power. I liked this episode simply because it highlighted how far L would go to apprehend Kira, and by doing so, can be as seen as evil as Light in his methods as well. The show doesn’t have black and white, but many shades of gray.

    Finally, all I have to say about Misa is that while I felt somewhat sorry for her, she’s a friggin’ idiot, and after having made such a decent effort to be careful, too. If she had been patient and stayed away from Light like he told her to, she’d never had gotten herself arrested and put Light in danger as well. If anything, she could have just used her schoolgirl disguise again and kept tabs on Light and observed L’s true name from a safe distance, and L would have been dead and she’d have Light all to herself. But then, that’d make for a really short series, heh.

    Ryuma
  9. @Ryuma

    I agree with you for the most part. This episode showed that L is just as ruthless as Light. In Misa’s defense, I don’t think it would have been a good idea fo her to use the school girl outfit at the college either since she was more than likely caught on the cameras in Aoyama (sp?) where she first found who Kira was. Using the outfit again would have been even more suspicious. Though I do agree that she should have stayed her distance altogether.

    Anhlin
  10. It seems she was deprived of water and food, given nutrients. She was left in a standing position, with her weight on her feet, however her restraints didn’t allow much head movement, or allow her body to “Slack” forward or the ropes would pull at her crotch. One would assume based on the fact she had no leggings on that she was stripped as well.

    She was basically sleep deprived. There’s no way she could sleep in that position, not to mention she was probably fed caffeine, forced to stay awake by Watari, and basically only given nutrients and fluids through IV and injection. She would not die, but stomach pains, exhaustion, headaches and other ailments would occur. I’m surprised honestly she didn’t pass out of dehydration, although since they ‘skipped’ days in the anime, in reality she probably did many times unless the torturer was skilled in keeping her levels just perfect.

    This is just based on her physical restraints and what they showed on the screen. No physical markings on the legs or face means she wasn’t neccesarily beaten, but nothing is shown of the body. Small doses of suffocation, heaven knows what else could have been done. Although I suspect it was merely deprivation that was the main medicine here.

    …and yes, I’m sick. This episode was incredible.

    Ace
  11. This was such an intense episode. The funniest scene was when Misa’s cell phone went off, and L just held it up for effect, yet when they showed his face, he seemed to be enjoying the ringtone. That and the whole bit where he accidentally brushed against Misa’s rear when he lifted the phone. Unexpected humor in a serious episode.

    Yuri Rocks

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