DEATH NOTE / First Impressions

Summary:

Based on what’s happened so far, Near suspects that Kira and the Japanese investigation are working together and that Kira is actually the second L. As Kira’s hold over the world grows, a television program called Kingdom of Kira starts airing on Sakura Television hosted by Demegawa who claims to be Kira’s spokesman. More importantly, the American president announces that the United States is accepting Kira and will no longer oppose him. This does not mean that they think Kira is righteous, but with war and crime gone, they won’t try to catch Kira anymore. Aizawa can’t believe what he hears from the press conference, but Matsuda then reveals that he does not feel that Kira is completely evil. To Aizawa’s surprise, Light supports this idea by saying that Kira understands his own actions are evil, but Kira’s chosen justice is to sacrifice himself to change the world. Light feels that if Kira is caught, he is evil, but if Kira controls the world, he is righteous.

Near is not very happy with this new development, and things get even more complicated when Mello forces one of the SPK agents to lead him to their headquarters. After letting Mello in and getting his men to lower their guns, Near reminds everyone that their goal is to capture Kira, so they have nothing to gain from killing Mello. The reason Mello is here is because he wants the photograph of himself back from Near, but even after Near hands it over, Mello says that he doesn’t intend to work together. Still, Mello does decide to reveal that the Death Note is a Shinigami’s notebook which can allow the owner to see a Shinigami and that there are fake rules inside the notebook. It is remains a competition, however, between Near and Mello to see which one of them can reach Kira first. After Mello leaves, Near thinks about Mello’s fake rules remark and soon concludes that it must be the 13 days one.

Near then calls up Light to explain that he caught Mello, but Mello got away. Light doesn’t think that Mello got away, but rather was rather let go. Changing the subject to the Shinigami that Mello had mentioned, Near gets Light to admit that there are indeed Shinigami. Near then explains that he thinks there are fake rules and asks Light what rule he thinks is fake. Light chooses the 13 days rule, and then directly asks Ryuk if there are fake rules. Ryuk answers that there are not, and this exchange causes Near to realize that Light has a Shinigami beside him. With this, the other members of the Japanese investigation team realize that if the 13 days rule is fake, then Light’s earlier captivity has no meaning anymore. Matsuda, however, points out that Souichirou had confirmed that Light didn’t possess a notebook. In any case, Near wants to test the 13 days rule by personally writing Mello’s name into the Death Note. If Near dies 13 days after that, Kira will win, but Near doesn’t care.

Light decides to get everyone else’s opinion before accepting or rejecting Near’s offer. Since they are against using the Death Note, Near addresses the team directly and asks anyone who thinks that Kira is the second L to contact him. Feeling that he has to kill Near, Light secretly contacts the President of the United States as Kira and asks for the breakup of the SPK. Aizawa meanwhile starts to suspect Light again, and Ide advises that he do what he thinks he should do. Light overhears Ide giving his support to Aizawa, but he doesn’t confront either of them. Matsuda then bursts into the room to announce that something big is going on. It seems that Demegawa is leading a mob against the hideout of an evil organization – the SPK – that’s trying to capture Kira. In addition, Misa is watching the cameras for Near to try to escape so that she can see his name and write it in the Death Note. Light then contacts Near and suggests that this could be Mello’s doing or else SPK has a system that allows ordinary people to find it. A furious Near, however, doesn’t buy anything Light says.

Preview:

After last week’s frenetic rush through a volume’s worth of manga, this week’s episode, not surprisingly, slows down the pace a bit. It roughly follows the manga, but the order has been rearranged a bit and some of the story has been skipped over (the entire Mogi and Mello part). Overall, I liked the first half of the episode a lot more because it had a touching scene with Light’s mother grieving and a very stylistically cool scene between Near and Mello. The second half was heavy on the Kira vs. Near intrigue, but it wasn’t as interesting to watch.
Next week should be the introduction of a new character who’s briefly hinted at in the preview. I wonder who’s going to voice him…

25 Comments

  4. animeaddict: do you mean the blonde or the person with the coat… that blonde must be female due to the breasts which i have no idea who it is. I think the person with the coat is the female is that women that her husband died in episode 5 or something?

    GStrike-
    Reply

  5. Wow they are just moving through chapters here.

    For those who want to know the situation

    Show Spoiler ▼

    Avisch
    Reply

  9. wow, the anime’s already to the part where Light is L?!? its moving alot faster then i thought, it took aages for the manga to get up to that part. but anyway DEATHNOTE ROX!

    gracie
    Reply

  10. phew.. glad that they had slowed down the pace a little bit. it will be better if this kind of pace will continue as the show goes on. 🙂 Show Spoiler ▼

    Near is so cool! 🙂

    whitey-chan
    Reply

  12. LoL, even thought I stopped watching

    Show Spoiler ▼

    Kannie
    Reply

  13. This episode was fuck awesome, even better than last week’s in my opinion, and the pace is as close to the middle of L’s arc as it can get. So when does Death Note go down the drain with all you fanboys? I want a reason to give this an 8.X instead of all the 9’s and 10’s this show’s been receiving at anidb and animenfo.

    pakxenon
    Reply

  14. OK, a few questions:
    – When did Near find out about all of the rules written in [Ryuks’ old] Death note? Did Mellow tell him? Or maybe it was all part of L’s final computer transmission. Perhaps the Japanese police told him of all the rules (in a previous episode, and I’ve just forgotten).
    – Am I correct to assume that when Near offered to write Melos’ name in the Death note he was asking the Japanese Kira police task force to lend him theirs?
    – Was there a time skip between this episode and the last? Melo certainly looks older (though Near, not so much)
    – During the add break scene (the death note rules) it stated that if a persons’ name is spelt incorrectly (and unintentionally) four times, then he cannot be killed by the Deathnote. I recall the first episode of deathnote having Light spell that random thugs name about 10 or so times. I suppose he could have gotten it correct within the first four tries.

    Thanks,
    -Fabs

    Fabs
    Reply

  18. 2Fabs
    because he didn’t do it on purpose and at last he wrote the name right after all^_^
    as we can see in next episode ide will call near and they will found out about kira X__X

    buta_hill
    Reply

  22. I’m confused. I thought the Japanese police gave their death note back to the shinigami so they don’t even have one officially. So why would they even need to think about it since they don’t have it anymore?

    sealouse
    Reply

  23. These phone numbers belong to a 14 year old boy who likes to post other peoples phone numbers all over the net. Little does he know he is about to get a taste of his own medicine. Prank call these numbers. Don’t use your phone unless you want your number showed up on Caller ID. You can Text the number with a fake AIM account. Have fun messing with this little prick of a bastard who thinks he can get away with bad things. Well justice is here and its hitting you in the face kid.
    6463236741
    9175288720

    Jack Killer
    Reply

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