DEATH NOTE / First Impressions

Summary:

With helmets on, Light’s father Souichirou and Mogi are joined by Aizawa in heading out to Higuchi’s car and putting him in handcuffs. L then interrogates Higuchi through headphones and demands to know how he killed. When Higuchi reveals that it was through a notebook, Souichirou finds the Death Note inside Higuchi’s bag. However, Souichirou immediately starts yelling in fear because he is now able to see Rem standing nearby. Mogi goes over to help him and also touches the notebook, so he also starts screaming because of the monster. To see for himself, L asks them to bring him the notebook over to the helicopter. While this is going on, Rem thinks about how Light can gain back his memory by touching the Death Note. Over in the helicopter, L gets the notebook and is able to see the Shinigami, but more importantly, he realizes that there are more than two notebooks in existence, so it’s not over yet. He then notices that the notebook is no longer in his hands because Light has taken it. What’s more, Light is now yelling at the top of his lungs as all the memories come streaming back into his head. As soon as it’s over, Light quickly gets himself back together and starts to compare victim names in the notebook with a computer list. Privately though, he thinks that he’s won, just like he planned.

Light remembers now that before he was imprisoned, he had given Rem back Misa’s Death Note. He had Rem hand it over to Ryuk and then had Ryuk drop it so that he could pick it up again. This returned ownership to Light, meaning that nothing has changed since they just passed it around in a circle. However, Light felt that the time will come when this will be useful. For his actual plan, Light had given his own original Death Note back to Ryuk so that Ryuk could hand ownership of it to Rem. Light had then instructed Rem to find someone with a certain social position who had a strong desire for promotion. Although Rem questioned what Light was thinking, the Shinigami decided to trust that Light was trying to save Misa and flew off. The rest of Light’s plan started with him being imprisoned so that he could be under 24 hour surveillance. Almost everything that had happened had occurred just like Light predicted, but the one important thing that Light had to remember was Rem telling him that because he didn’t have ownership, his memories would only return as long as he was holding the Death Note. As a result, Light knows that he now has to kill Higuchi so that the ownership of the Death Note changes to him. He is able to remember that he has a piece of the Death Note hidden in his watch, so he uses that and his own blood to write down Higuchi’s name. Soon after Light finishes writing, Higuchi has a heart attack and dies. With a smile on his face, Light thinks to himself that the next one will be L.

In the aftermath of the incident, everyone, including Aizawa, returns to the investigation headquarters. Aizawa opens the Death Note and starts reading out the rules that Ryuk wrote for how to use it. However, there are now two additional rules on the back inside cover of the notebook, and Aizawa notices the bottom one first: “If you make this note unusable by tearing it up or burning it, all the humans who have touched the note till then will die.” These rules are actually fake ones that Light had Ryuk write in the notebook before all this happened. That bottom rule prevents the investigation team from getting rid of it and thus Light losing his memory again. As for the other fake rule, it reads: “If the person using the note fails to continuously write names of people to be killed within 13 days of each other, then the user will die.” Matsuda and Aizawa realize that this means that Light and Misa must be innocent because they were in captivity for over 50 days and are still alive. Before he’s willing to admit this, L questions Rem about if there are other notebooks in the human realm and if they all have the same rules. Rem doesn’t give a straight answer to the first part, but the Shinigami does confirm that the rules are the same. Under pressure from Matsuda and Aizawa, L finally gives in and apologizes to Light for everything up until now. Light of course acts like the case isn’t closed yet and wants to continue the investigation, but he thinks to himself that L can do nothing but believe the rules. He feels that gods make the rules and that, for L’s crime of going against the new world’s god, L will die.

Since she’s been cleared of wrongdoing, Misa has to leave the investigation center and has a tearful farewell with Light. He uses the opportunity to tell her to dig something up at a certain place. Following his instructions, Misa goes out to the forest and recovers the other Death Note. She regains back her memories after touching it and then finds a note inside from Light. In it, he asks her to write L’s real name in the Death Note since she had seen it with her Shinigami eyes when she first met L at Light’s school. The problem is that Misa doesn’t remember the name anymore since she was seeing hundreds of names and life-spans every day back then. Fortunately, Ryuk then arrives, and after Misa feeds him an apple, she asks to do the Shinigami eyes deal again. Turning serious, Ryuk asks if she understands that another deal would half her already halved life. Since Misa feels that it can’t be helped since she can’t remember, Ryuk goes through with the trade. Misa and Ryuk return to the investigation headquarters sometime later, and Rem immediately notices that Misa’s lifespan has been halved again. When Light goes out to see her, Misa touches his hand with a piece of the Death Note just like he had told her to in the letter. This allows Light to see Ryuk again, and he comments on how it’s been a long time since they’ve seen each other. Misa then reveals that she did the Shinigami eyes trade again, so Light acts like he’s concerned about her life and tells her that he wants to live with her a long time in their ideal world. He also suggests that they create a new world together that has no crime and only kind people, all while he’s got a smile on his face.

Preview:

Light getting his memories back means that we get to see a lot more of his evil looks, mainly courtesy of his eyes. Actually, there were quite a few cool looking shots because of glowing eyes in this episode. Anyway, they covered much more than I thought they would with four chapters worth in this episode. Although a lot of dialogue was skipped (including the entire scene where L questions Rem about the Shinigami eyes), moving at this pace ensures that next week will be big. The preview didn’t even show any spoilerish clips for next week – just structures in the rain outside. Perhaps the only hints are that L says sayonara (goodbye) at the end of the preview and that next week’s episode is called chinmoku (silence).

42 Comments

  11. 🙁 I guess the time has come. On one side, I’m happy b/c I get to see after it, which I haven’t read in the manga, but on the other, one of my faves is gone and I haven’t heard a lot of great things about the second half of the series.

    DaveJS
    Reply

  20. NOOO! The caps seem to be suggest that this is when Light moves to off L. Oh well, I never got far enough in the manga to actually read about Near and Melo, so I’m guessing they’re gonna come in within the next couple of episodes.

    Yuri Rocks
    Reply

  26. Question for those who have read the manga (I haven’t but I know enough to know what’s coming up). I notice that Light makes a note of facing away from the camera when he tells MisaMisa to go reclaim her Note. However, later, when she returns, neither one of them make any effort to hide what they’re saying, even though the’re saying some pretty incriminating things, and we in fact see L watching them talk over the monitor (intently enough to be able to read lips). Was this the same in the manga, or is it the first hint that things might not happen how we expect them to next episode?

    quigonkenny
    Reply

  28. cyw1988 your spoiler tag was wrong ^^ now everybofy knows what’ll happen after you kno ho gets bye-bye, at least you didn’t say who did it and in which circumstances ^^U
    I only hope
    Show Spoiler ▼

    RickaZ
    Reply

  29. I am one of the few that isn’t thrilled that Light has regained his memories. Killing is still killing, and he was so cruel and manipulative to threaten Misa’s life if she didn’t obey, and now with this episode use the note to tell her that he will love her forever if she remembers L’s name. From what I’ve heard, Melo inherits some of L’s ruthlessness in catching criminals, so he should be fun matching up with Light

    Yuri Rocks
    Reply

  33. considering that the manga b/w Light loss of Death Note to L’s death was pretty unbearable to read in the manga, I found it quite easy to watch the series in the anime. They have done a very good job in cutting out irrelvant parts, now onto Naruto Shippuden which inculdes more irrevlaent parts…..

    N2
    Reply

  35. can someone please explain the scene where Light passes both notebooks around?!
    Whats the significance of Misas notebook (now lights) getting passed around in the circle?!?! watched it lots of times but i still dont quite understand it 🙁

    Drumstick
    Reply

  37. I am not 100% certain. However, I will try my best to explain several questions. However, there is a HIGH risk for sspoilers, so if you want to see my answers, you’ll have to click the nice link. n_n

    Sono-san,
    Light is the “secret name” for Raito (which sounds very much like “light”). Raito had to have a secret name when he joined up with the police and the detective. L is this detective. He is the one with the dark blue-ish hair. To shorten things, Raito changed his name to Light so that he would be able to hide his name from Kira. The funny thing is, he (himself), is none other than the killer, Kira.
    Light is L, right? No. They are, to be more specific, enemies in this cat/mouse chase. Although…the cat becomes the mouse….^^;;
    The orange hair guy is Kira. Yes. This is most certainly true.

    I hope this helps!

    ~Aino Haruka

    Drumstick-san,
    can someone please explain the scene where Light passes both notebooks around?!
    Whats the significance of Misas notebook (now lights) getting passed around in the circle?!?! watched it lots of times but i still dont quite understand it
    I will try with my own reasoning. The last time I’ve read the manga was quite some time ago, and I haven’t seen this part of the anime. Please deal with me. ^^;;

    Misa’s notebook is Light’s notebook, now. He gives this back to the shinigami owner, Rem. Rem gives the notebook to Ryuk. Now it is Ryuk’s notebook. He drops the notebook, but Light picks it up. Starting from Light’s posession, it now has ended back into Light’s posession. However, the shinigami of the notebook is different. You understand this method? I’m guessing he wants Ryuk to be the owner because with Ryuk’s personality, he won’t tell the new owner (whomever it may be) a lot of information. He knows this well because Ryuk did not tell him many details. Rem, on the other hand, told Misa every single detail ASAP. Therefore, she is untrustworthy. If the new owner does not know much except for what is written on the notebook, this can be a huge help. Seeing as to how Light wrote a few extra rules in the book, even though they were not entirely true.
    Okay. So now, Misa’s and Rem’s deathnote is now Light’s and Ryuk’s notebook. He gave his original deathnote (Ryuk’s first deathnote) back to Ryuk, to give to Rem. So now, it’s Rem’s deathnote. Light told Rem to give that deathnote to a person with a hgih authority. This also means someone easy to find. Therefore, it would be simple to find this new, “Third” Kira. When Rem’s deathbook is touched by Light, Light regains his memory. However, his original deathbook is still with Ryuk. This deathbook (let’s call this “notebook,” instead. The notebook was then buried. The notebook was planned out to be refound after the deathnote.
    The cloth is quite a mystery, but that can be explained. One who touches a page of the book will then be able to see the book’s shinigami. Light knew that he would find the deathnote before the notebook. Meaning, that would cause Light’s memory to return. However, before they return, if he saw a shinigami, the “innocent” Light would most likely panick when he sees the shinigami. This would cause even more suspicion. Thus, he had to make sure not to touch the deathnote. You see now? It was okay if he touched the notebook because he would then see Ryuk after seeing Rem (which is after gaining his memory).

    ~Aino Haruka

    Um….if I missed anything, please let me know!

    Haruka
    Reply

  39. I’m guessing he wants Ryuk to be the owner because with Ryuk’s personality, he won’t tell the new owner (whomever it may be) a lot of information. He knows this well because Ryuk did not tell him many details. Rem, on the other hand, told Misa every single detail ASAP. Therefore, she is untrustworthy. If the new owner does not know much except for what is written on the notebook, this can be a huge help. Seeing as to how Light wrote a few extra rules in the book, even though they were not entirely true.

    OK! i will now correct myself. I have watched the anime, and will now make slight adjustments. He wanted an ambiuous person with a lot of power to be the 3rd kira. he also wanted Rem to be the 3rd kira’s shinigami. therefore, light wanted the ambiguous power house to know a lot about the books, who does not think too much about the consequences, and be easy to hunt down (he is now part of the kira-catching team). However, if Ryuk was the 3rd kira’s shinigami, the process would have taken much longer because the 3rd kira would not ask as much as Light had (their IQ’s are on an entirely different level 3rd kira would not be able to logically predict into the future and plan out escape routes). Thus, Rem’s personality to tell everything became a lethal weapon for leading the 3rd kira (in this case, the scape-goat) into custody, and Light’s reunion to his memory as the 1st kira.

    Ok. I will come back here on Saturday (April 7, 2007). Please let me know if there are any other faults.

    Thank you, and I apologize for the triple post. ^^;;

    Haruka
    Reply

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