DEATH NOTE / First Impressions

Summary:
The investigation team is talking about what to do with the likely death of Misora Naomi, with L saying that they should make it sound unrelated to the Kira case. Watari suddenly comes in and alerts them to something happening on the Sakura TV station. It seems that the broadcasters are reporting about some video tapes with themselves as Kira’s hostages. They received four tapes, and the first one foretold of the deaths of two criminals who did indeed die. Kira’s instructions told them to broadcast the second tape at 5:59PM, which they then proceed to do. The tape features a white background with the words “Kira” written and has a masked voice explaining that if this is being aired at the right time, the viewers can change the channel to Taiyou TV to find the news anchor dead at exactly 6PM. The detectives flip the channel and see that this is indeed what is happening. Back on Sakura TV, Kira announces the death of another commentator who denied his existence on another channel, and that person dies too. Under L’s orders to stop the broadcast, the detectives try to contact the station, but are unsuccessful. One of them, Ukita, decides to go there personally to stop it.
The videotaped Kira continues on, saying that he doesn’t want to kill innocent people. He claims to hate evil and love justice, and he declares that the police are not his enemy. Kira wants to create a world without evil, and that can be done easily if everyone is involved. As long as they don’t try to catch him, innocent people don’t have to die. In fact, they can disagree with him as long as they don’t do it in public – he wants the people to wait a little while so that the world can become a place that everyone can accept. Light’s father is watching all this from his hospital room, but his wife turns off the broadcast until he convinces her to turn it back on because he’s on the Kira investigation team. Meanwhile, Ukita has arrived at the station and is attempting to get inside when he suddenly gets a heart attack. He falls down before he can press his belt buckle, but one of the TVs that L has set up suddenly starts reporting about a fallen man in front of the Sakura TV station. An angry Aizawa heads for the door to go there too, but L stops him and urges him to calm down. L reasons that anyone who goes there will be dealt the same fate, though Aizawa remembers out that Kira needs a name to kill. When Matsuda takes this to mean that their real names have been exposed to Kira, L thinks it is possible, but then Kira would have killed them all.
L now believes that there is a possibility that Kira can kill by only seeing a face. From what happened, he thinks that Kira must either be in the TV station or be somewhere nearby where he can observe the people going in the station. Aizawa still wants to act and points out how L had been willing to risk his life to arrest Kira. L, however, knows that there is a big difference between risking their and allowing their lives to be taken away so easily. Aizawa finally calms down after he notices how tightly L is clutching his own leg because he can’t do anything in this situation. On the television, the video finally concludes with Kira saying that the police have four days to decide whether or not to cooperate with him. He has prepared both a Yes video and a No video in anticipation of their potential responses. By this time, Light’s father has left the hospital and is crashing through the front lobby of the Sakura TV station in a police van. Coming out with his head cloaked underneath his coat, he asks the security guard where the studio broadcasting the tapes is. He then heads there and demands the tapes by threatening the director’s life.
When another police car pulls up outside the station, L’s group realizes that there are other policemen who want to stop this too. L gets the vice-director Kitamura on the phone and tells him that someone on the police force has acted on their own. Kitamura sees the two policemen who just pulled up both fall over and die as soon as they got out of the car, so he agrees to help L. At the same time, Watari gets a call from Light’s father and passes the phone to L. He reports that he has the tapes, but now the problem becomes how he’s going to get out of the station. L arranges something with Kitamura and tells Light’s father to go out the main entrance in five minutes. A short while later, Light’s father emerges to find the entire place surrounded by police troops armed with shields to protect him and themselves. With buses and curtains put in place to ensure that no one can see the entrance, Light’s father is able to safely drive off in the waiting car. One of the announcers on a different TV station sees this as the police taking a fighting stance against Kira and believes that this is the right stance for a constitutional nation to take. He even announces his own name in defiance of Kira.
When Light’s father returns to the hotel and hands over the tapes, L notices that the postmark is from Osaka, but he knows that that doesn’t mean anything given Kira’s supposed powers of controlling people. He hands over the stuff to Aizawa for a forensics investigation, and plans on reviewing copies of the tape himself. By the next morning, L has finished going through them and explains that the station was to broadcast the third video if the police said “Yes” and the fourth one if they said “No.” The Yes video detailed the conditions of the cooperation, including the demand that the police report more on criminals and also that L and the leaders of the police announce on TV that they are working with Kira. By doing this, Kira would find out the faces of L and the others so that he could insure himself against a move by the police. As for the No video, it’s phrased differently, but it’s basically the same thing. L gives the go ahead for Sakura TV to air the No video, and so everyone gets to hear Kira’s response. This time, Kira demands either the life of Light’s father or L as a sacrifice for not cooperating for a peaceful world, and he gives them another four days to decide who.
Having watched everything unfold on TV, Light is in his room laughing and thinking about how the gods are on his side. In this case, he knows the god must be a Shinigami who came to the human world, and this Shinigami’s Death Note must be being used by someone who supports Kira. What’s more, Light has figured out that this person possesses the Shinigami Eyes, making him a superior Kira. He believes that by leaving the situation alone, L will likely die. On the other hand, he can’t allow this person to hurt Kira’s dignity, and there’s also the chance that the fake is caught and the Death Note exposed. The ideal thing for Light to do now would be to help the investigation so that he can see the moves of both L and the fake Kira. It is sometime later that Light’s father returns to the hotel to report that every nation wants the real L to appear on TV. L thinks that this is the correct decision, but isn’t happy with it because he doesn’t want to be killed by someone taking advantage of the Kira situation. He explains that this Kira has a high chance of being a fake – a second Kira.
This conclusion comes from the fact that the two criminals Kira killed in the first video to prove who he was to the TV station employees were a pair reported about only in a woman’s weekly magazine and on a variety show. The real Kira wouldn’t have done it with such small fry, and this fake Kira must have been going after criminals the real Kira wouldn’t have killed before the tape got there. L is over 70% sure about the second Kira because his way of doing things isn’t like the real Kira who would avoid killing innocents. He thinks that if they can catch one of the Kiras, they can get hints to help them catch the other one. For this, L asks Light’s father to ask Light for help. Light’s father wonders if this means that all suspicion on his son has been cleared, but L refutes that and notes how it’s more about Light’s deductive abilities. That being said, L does want to keep all of this fake Kira stuff concealed from Light. As for the fake Kira – who is actually female – she’s walking through the streets being followed by her Shinigami. When asked if it’s ok that she doesn’t use the Death Note more for her own sake, the girl – named Misa – believes that she is using it for herself by supporting Kira and finding out what kind of person he is. Misa sent all that stuff to the TV station to get Kira’s attention so that she can meet and talk with him. She thinks that Kira must be interested in her, though her Shinigami warns the dangers of this game because she may get killed. Misa, however, believes that it’s ok because Kira would certainly be kind to a pure girl. And should that happen, Misa knows that her eyes make her stronger.

Preview:

Well, I love that scene where it seems like the entire police force turns out to help Light’s father leave the TV station without being seen. It was done quite well in the anime, thanks in large part to the strong soundtrack. For once I was cheering for the real good guys.
Of course, the big highlight of the episode was the appearance of Misa, aka. the second/fake Kira. Hirano Aya used a rather playful sounding voice for her. Rem, on the other hand, isn’t quite what I expected. Scratch that – I originally thought that Rem would have a raspier voice, but then I remembered that Rem is supposed to be female. It just took a little getting used to. In any case, Misa’s appearance has both L and Kira plotting to use her to their advantage. Kira thinks that she can bring down L or help him with her eyes, whereas L seems to be taking Light onto the team with every intention of testing what Light knows about Kira, fake or otherwise. And with Misa’s infatuation with Kira, things are going to get quite interesting…
Next week, however, is going to be a recap, so we’ll have to wait until December 26th for the next new episode. After that, they’re taking another week off – no Death Note January 2nd – and are returning with episode 13 on January 9th, 2007.

41 Comments

  2. I always liked this chapter, because it’s one of the few where you don’t know what the other side is thinking until later. Soichiro looks cool in the scenes here (and according to the author, he’s the only one who was truly juste).

    Avisch
    Reply

  6. u’re making me wanna introduce this to my bros too hahah.. coz they’re around the same age as your’s… but they started watching at about the time i did… although they lost interest quick enough…

    psychohare
    Reply

  8. Well, the fated day came and now I’ll have a migraine by tommorow morning. I didn’t know what I was expecting for Rem’s voice but I guess this will work, I’ll have to listen to it more to see. I don’t think I have to say anything about our other new character since I know I’ll be talking about it with Aya fanboys for the rest of the week.

    Likkun
    Reply

  15. i think Rem’s VA did an excellent job. I couldn’t imagine a better voice for her.
    Hirano-sama, you’re just too awesome. Can’t wait to hear her saying those loving phrases to Light *_*.

    Next week’s episode is: “Koigokoro” (“Love”… i think), can’t wait to watch it!

    Yagami Iori
    Reply

  17. subarashi! although i have already read the entire manga series… and the earlier episodes of the anime was making me a bit bored… i finally feel that this anime is getting exciting, for me at least!
    but why? i thought about this for a sec… the answer is obvious… MISA-chan!
    i was right in predicting that she would use an intermediate voice, similar to the one in Haruhi!
    Cheers! Death Note is not boring anymore!

    psychohare
    Reply

  18. Yagami Iori at 7:53 pm on December 12th, 2006
    i think Rem’s VA did an excellent job. I couldn’t imagine a better voice for her.
    Hirano-sama, you’re just too awesome. Can’t wait to hear her saying those loving phrases to Light *_*.

    Next week’s episode is: “Koigokoro” (”Love”… i think), can’t wait to watch it!
    ——————–
    i think so too! i think Rem’s VA was pretty good, kinda suits Misa in a way…
    im not Japanese, nor do i understand the Japanese language well, but using my Chinese to interpret next week’s title: 恋心 (since Chinese characters are widely used in Japanese as well) 恋= love (sorta, this word can be used differently) and 心= heart
    so i guess 恋心= heart in love
    LOL i know i suck.. i really do…

    psychohare
    Reply

  20. @ psychohare

    nah, it’s ok. let’s no think about it too much…恋心…koi+kokoro: koigokoro 😛
    “Love”, that’s it. Besides, who cares about titles?… we’re gonna see lovely Misa-chan on the spot next week… that’s what really matters 😀

    Yagami Iori
    Reply

  28. Im tempted to read death note manga to get ahead after like… two weeks worth of no eps? haha… but im not sure x.X;; can’t wait till this is subbed! c’mon sunday come faster! or… subbers, sub faster! :O

    Furuba
    Reply

  30. u cant say misa didnt play a good role on being 2nd kira…
    first, she aint a genius, shes a “normal” person with no superior cognitive analytical ability
    2ndly, Show Spoiler ▼

    psychohare
    Reply

  31. bleh, since there’s no new DN until Jan 2nd.. i’ll just have to make do with Blue Dragon (if u havent heard, this is the new manga by Obata Takeshi, artists for our favorite DN!)
    and catch up with some other new animes… and read even more manga ^^

    psychohare
    Reply

  32. @kurotsuki: I wonder why people like her, if it’s not because of her looks (and now because of her seiyuu) =P I find her behavior to be really annoying … but well, some people like annoying characters XD

    Minikui
    Reply

  34. ya pretty interested in Misa ^^ Finally a female role, this anime is great and very smart but it needed a female suport character around just to keep things interesting. ^^

    Looks like this girl isnt going to waste time in going after I, I havent read the manga but my guess is this is how Light gets I, this girls a wild card per say because she has the shingumi eyes and can easily see I’s name. ^^

    Personally if I where this girl I would kill both of them cause there too smart and it would annoy me. but this girl is obsessed with Light(Kira) so I is probley screwed lol. ^^

    chaosdemon06
    Reply

  36. Oh my god u guys are obssesed with Misa. Even I didnt read the manga. Its just Misa not Hirano Aya. Just her voice. Her voice is making u guys that nuts? O.o But yah, interesting that its a girl xD. Rem is kinda cool too I dunno why.

    Well well, this episode makes me so excited. All the police and all. The father of Light was very impressive. L also, I didnt know that L would find that fast. I was surprised. XD One of the best episode so far.

    AznSoulBoy
    Reply

  38. This was a really tense and well done episode! Things have just gotten really interesting with a new player in the death note game. The idea of a 2nd Kira, a copycat killer, is very interesting, and the response of Chief Yagami and the entire Japanese police force presented the most exciting scenes.

    Misa’s entrance definitely throws a bit of unpredictability into the mix. Granted she’s the polar opposite of both L and Light in their personalities and possessing seemingly average intelligence (ok, I personally think her appearance and VA make her look and sound like a teeny bopper, bubble-brained airhead, lol), I really hope there’s more to Misa than being just a Kira/Light groupie with a disturbing stalker complex and self esteem issues.

    The fact that she’s willing to kill innocent people on a whim (Light killed the FBI agents and Naomi strictly to protect his own identity, and ok, he may have enjoyed it while doing it, but he didn’t target random police officers and news reporters) just to satisfy her creepy fixation on the real Kira and seems to have made the Shinigami eye exchange with Rem makes Misa very dangerous at least. My guess is Misa doesn’t value her own life like Light does his seeing how she has the eyes.

    Ryuma
    Reply

  39. I know it! They’re speeding the pace with the manga material.

    With this episode, Volume 3 was finished, until chapter 25. If they keep this pace, maybe we have chance to see the all manga animated. Until episode 8 they where animated 2 chapters of the manga per episode; maybe because there was more action. I read the manga until chapter 88 and then read the last chapter (108); I’m an idiot, I know.

    Damn it! I hate those recap episodes, I don’t found any sense in them. If someone wants to catch up with the series, go to their website and read the summary for every chapter; is the same damn thing. The only question here is; they include these recaps on the DVDs? If they do, what a shame

    Well, at least a bunch of series finish this week. I’m more than ready to keep with the long ones and waiting for the winter 2007 season.

    Syaoran Li
    Reply

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