Death Note 17
February 11th, 2007 by Shirukii
L seems amazingly calm given the proximity of Misa’s foot to his crotch
Hmm, I didn’t particularly like this episode of Death Note. Not that there was anything horribly wrong in terms of character, plot or animation (though it’s been sliding downhill lately) it’s just that compared to the past couple episodes, it just wasn’t as good. The previous episodes really had me guessing as to what was going on, yet episode 17 was extremely predictable. Also, I don’t like non-kira Light, it may just be my imagination but his powers of reasoning and deduction have taken a huge fall, which the intelligence of L and Light is what defines this anime for me.
Episode Rating: 8/10
The episode starts out with Rem hovering over the new owner of his (her?) death note. This explains how the murders continued even with Light and Misa in confinement. The new owner appears to be a person of high standing within a strong financial company, Rem promises that he can use the death note anyway he wants after Light’s plan to clear himself and Misa of suspicion.
Back to the main story, Light, his father and Misa have now been in confinement for 50 days. The murders have been continuing for quite some time, yet L continues to hide this fact from Light, trying to force a confession from him. The other members of the kira investigation force finally say that enough is enough, that the present situation is proof that neither Misa nor Light is a kira, and that L is just unable to admit his deductions were wrong.
With that, L calls Light’s father to tell him his conclusions on the case and how to proceed from here. A few days later Light and Misa are taken out of solitary confinement and handed over to Light’s father. They’re then told that L has concluded that Light and Misa are indeed the kiras and will be executed at an undisclosed location.
However, instead of taking them to the execution location, Light’s dad stops them under the bridge, here he plans on killing Light and then himself, as he thinks this is better than an official execution. After a dramatic lead up and firing of the gun, it’s revealed that the whole thing was an act being set up by L. His reasoning was that if Light were really Kira, he’d probably be willing to kill his own father to save his own life. Additionally, if Misa were the second Kira, who possesses the power to kill with sight, she would certainly kill Light’s father in order to save Light’s life.
And with that, L’s suspicion of the two dies down a little. But he’s still not completely convinced, as he plans on making Light work with him 24/7 and keep Misa under constant surveillance. Misa’s not very happy since this cuts into the time she can go on dates with Light, but Light is thankful for at least this.
And so with that, the investigation team finalizes plans to move into their new headquarters, a 22 story building financially backed by L which would allow the expansion of the investigation team as well as stop their hotel hopping system.
The episode ends off with a brief introduction of the committee to whom the new kira (who received Rem’s death note) belongs to. Their purpose is to decide how to use kira’s powers to further their company, presumably by killing off their competitors. I believe this is the point where most people say the manga starts to suck, I hope it’s not as bad as it’s reputed.
Thoughts
Well, as I said, I wasn’t very impressed by this episode, given the lead up. The entire ordeal was just too unbelievable and illogical to accept. The moves that Light and L are making are becoming less and less logic based and calculated. It used to be that before they made a move they calculated all possibilities in order to minimize flaws and maximize effect, but now they’re just throwing it together as they go along, this is not the Death Note I grew to love T_T
Take for example L’s little car play, it was totally obvious that the whole thing was an act. After showing so much love for his son, enough to join him in solitary confinement for a month and a half, Light’s dad would never be able to bring himself to kill him. He had even previously stated that his love for his son would sway his decisions regarding the kira case. So for L to trust him with transporting Light and Misa just wouldn’t happen, and furthermore, rather than kill Light, his father would more than likely release him instead.
Brief intermission for a screenie of normally clothed Misa (infinitely better than gothic lolita style Misa)
As for Light…I just don’t get it. Did his intelligence get wiped along with his murderous ways? His ability to reason has flown out the window. Whereas previously he would have, without a doubt, been able to reason through the situation and realize that his father would never send him to his death without irrefutable evidence and therefore conclude that the whole thing is an act. I understand that he’s probably scared and confused, having been imprisoned for such a long time…but the Light that has been depicted all along would be able to keep it together even under such conditions.
As for Misa…well, I’ll let her off easy since she wasn’t exactly brilliant to begin with. And with the incentive of having to protect her and Light’s identities secret gone, it’s understandable that she would revert back to her normal preppy, and rather dim, self. Although I will say that her unnatural love towards Light is a little crazy. It made sense when she was the second kira, since she knew that Light was the one who judged her parent’s murderer in place of the judicial system. But to be in captivity that long and still think about your boyfriend of, like, two weeks is a little unbelievable.
Well, I suppose that’s enough complaining. It wasn’t a bad episode by any means, but it’s definitely below the expectations that Death Note has built up until now. I may read the manga when the anime finishes, so hopefully mediocre episodes such as this serve to further my enjoyment of the manga version.
Soda tells me that this arc in the manga blows =(
~ Shirukii ~
14 Responses to “Death Note 17”
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I didn’t think the whole Yagami-san killing Light was predictable xD Or maybe I’m not that bright myself xDD Although Yagami-san loves his son very much, I find him the type to also hold the law very high in regard, too. If L had told him that Light was gulity of being Kira, Yagami-san would find it his duty to both kill his son for being Kira, and as well as himself out of shame for having Kira as his son.
And I love non-Kira Light! -clings to him like Misa-
@ Shirukii
Ya I agree that this episode wasn’t as Light-kun/”L”-centric as the earlier installments……and it did make for a less exciting time…..
However, the scene between Light+his dad is awesome…..one of the hallmarks (and potentially great ones) is good voice-acting……I was totally convinced that either Misa or Light was going to die, or at least get injured….
I’ve never read the manga so I have no clue whether this arc is going to suck or not……
in reference to the non-Kira version of Light……….I don’t like him either….he’s a wimp lol…..
but look at it this way……it will just make his return to death-god status that much sweeter :)
correction-*one of the hallmarks of a good anime*
@ Whispered: I guess I have too much faith in Light’s father, I don’t get the impression that he would ever be able to kill his own son.
And non-kira Light is great personality wise, he’s just not as intelligent as kira-Light, and for no particular reason. =( Can’t he be smart AND naively innocent at the same time T_T?
@ Kanon_fan: Yea, that Ayu kiss was totally unexpected, I think…whoa, wait a minute, this isn’t a Kanon post. XD
I totally agree with your point on voice acting being a major selling point for anime. And the act that Light’s father put on was certainly convincing.
However! It wasn’t poor acting that tipped me off, it was previous occurrences, given that he spent 50 days in solitary confinement and vowed that when he left, it would be with his son, regardless of the verdict it just doesn’t make sense that he would end it with a murder suicide.
See my response to Whispered for my view on non-Kira Light =P
But the fact that Yagami-san said that if ‘he didn’t leave with his son, he wouldn’t leave at all’ would mean that if his son was found as Kira and died, technically, if we take his words literally, so would he. Another reason why I believed he could kill his own son.
I didn’t find Light any less logical xD Under the circumstances, he definitely could lose it. -totally not non-Kira-Light fangirling- xDD
Hmm, that’s true, I guess I never considered that Yagami was being literal when he said that. I still think non-Kira Light reasons things out much less than Kira-Light, but this is probably because he doesn’t have to be on his toes 24/7.
There’s nothing wrong with Kira fangirling XD non-Kira or otherwise
This episode was crap. I’m glad you say “wasn’t as good” because I’ve looked at other blogs to try and find out whether it gets good again, and yours is the first that doesn’t say, “Wow, this episode was so dramatic and unpredictable!”
It was obvious Light wasn’t going to get shot. Light is the entire point of the series, and plus he obviously had planned out what was going to happen. A scene like that he surely considered when he asked to be imprisoned. Not to mention it was so over-the-top and plainly trying to keep people guessing that it was clear nobody was getting hurt.
Light’s powers of reasoning disappeared for no good reason (so far). I am also bothered by Light’s being locked up. L would never do that. As he said earlier, it violates human rights.
It may make sense…somehow…that Misa was put under those extreme conditions to begin with. But why was she kept that way for so long after the killing had stopped? Couldn’t they just handcuff her like Light? Inhumane, for no good reason. It was out of L’s character.
The forced melodramatics of the last few episodes culminated in this one. It was a ridiculous episode and if it stays like this, I’m giving it up and focusing on Claymore and Darker than Black.
This post is old as hell and I think you may have already seen the end of the anime, but however, I can’t stay like this knowing that some of you think the series is going to suck from now on. This moment (when non-kira Light appears and Higuchi gets the Note), is like a prove of how much fan of the anime you are, so, if you quit watching it, it’ll absolutely suck, but if you keep on watching, you’ll find out one of the best animes in the world. The end itself is thrilling, awesome, unexpected, and the ending scene is shocking. So please, don’t get bad ideas for what’s happening in the anime right now, just keep on watching, you won’t regret.
But of course (I’m sure ten other people have already said this, sorry), Light didn’t know that his father imprisoned himself, he was never told, and his father did it after Light had gone into confinement. So, it would take a lot of trust between Yagami and L, but it does seem feasable that Light’s father would believe L, and think that Light is Kira. In this way, would it be so unreasonable that he would prefer his own son dead by his own hand, than by the hand of the law? There have been countless cases like this in the past, where parents have saved their children, from slavery or starvation, from a world of death and destruction…by killing them. This can be considered the ultimate act of love, or of insanity. whichever you prefer.
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So, It isn’t unreasonable that Light’s father would try and kill Light instead of letting the government do it for him.
(rant over.)
i still love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but some are suky.
faine pozele…numai saa nu il omoare pe ala in prima poza…e prea simpatic si ar fi o risipa…
Ostree. Kocham Teen Pdcineek. xD
i still love death note!
Misa Amane je prelepa i mnogo mi se svidja Im love Misa Amane