W. T. F!?

The new OP caught me off guard, I sat there for two minutes in a state of shock as my brain tried to process it. Some parts reminded me of those odd James Bond movie openers, but with ballistic death metal instead of a melodic jazz theme, it was weird. In any case, on to the actual episode…

Episode Rating: 9.5/10

Jumping back into the action, the investigation team continues to monitor the Yotsuba group with the cameras that Wedy installed. They are shocked as the special committee makes no attempt at subtlety as they decide who to kill and when. All killings are done with profit in mind and the conversation directly implicates one of the group as Kira.

Thinking that they’ve caught them red handed, Light and his dad suggest the immediate arrest of the Yotsuba group’s special death committee. However, L declines, saying that until the plans that have been laid out actually occur, there’s no meaning in arresting them. Meaning that until the planned deaths actually happen, they will not make their move.

This sends the investigation into an uproar, unable to comprehend how L can have such little regard for human life. He explains that it is not that he does not respect human life, but to act now would be meaningless, the sacrifice of the victims will not be in vain.

But Light and his dad are still unable to compromise their morals, so Light steps up. Under the guise of L he randomly calls one of the committee members, Reiji, tells him that he has heard their plans and offers them a deal: delay the killings for a month in order to give them time to catch Kira. This deal has three possible results; if L defeats Kira, the entire group except for Kira will be pardoned. If Kira defeats L, then business as usual will continue with their greatest obstacle out of the way. Finally, if Reiji tells the committee of their phone call, they will all be arrested and charged. Reiji is left with no choice, he agrees to L’s deal and negotiates the delay for the killings.

Impressed with the outcome, L commends Light for his quick thought and execution of his plan. He is so impressed that he asks Light to succeed him as L, should he himself be killed. Initially flattered, Light quickly realizes that his offer is another test. The reasoning is that if Light were to accept the deal, it would put him in a position of control over global law enforcement, an ideal situation to ensure the execution of Kira’s plan as well as his survival. L is amazed at how perfectly Light unraveled his train of thought, but does not accept Light’s innocence based on his deduction and revelation of his offer of succession. So Light punches him…again.

L’s actions of late and the investigation team’s unfavourable response to them finally breaks the team apart. L stands by his methods and refuses to cooperate with the rest of the team who want to rush in and arrest the committee with a severe lack of concrete evidence.

L, and Light, attached via handcuffs, head up to Misa’s room. Here L asks for her cooperation, he wants to send her into the Yotsuba group as a mole. Having already been introduced through Matsuda’s proposal for a promo, Misa will go to the committee and tell them that she may know L. The resultant questioning will be used against the Yotsuba group, presumably to identify Kira.

Light opposes the plan, which he thinks is too dangerous to involve Misa in. Misa is happy that he is concerned for her, but loves him so much that she is willing to risk her life to make him happy, ie. by catching Kira. Unable to resist, he falls into L’s hands and agrees to work together with him and Misa instead of with the rest of the investigation team.

Thoughts

Best episode of the Yostuba group arc, by far. Although this episode wasn’t very revealing in terms of plot, there was a fair bit of character development.

L reminds us once again how ruthless his methods and train of thought are. His plan to let the planned victims die before taking action is an indication of how little compassion he has for other human beings and that, in the end, catching criminals is like a game of chess to him. Furthermore, he continues to suspect Light as the true Kira even after he proves himself seemingly innocent from time to time. But however ruthless and cold hearted his plans and methods, they are impeccable in terms of logic; he is right to assume that arresting the committee without evidence is meaningless, and his gut feeling that Light is truly Kira is also correct.

Light was absolutely amazing this episode, previously I had scoffed at him because his intelligence and reasoning abilities had seemingly left him along with the death note. But this episode proved me wrong, his ability to think and act quickly and coherently was displayed in his call to Reiji in which he succeeded in delaying the killings AND getting an inside informant. Also, he managed to follow L’s train of thought and pass his little test. Although I still marginally prefer Light when he was Kira, non-Kira Light is beginning to grow on me.

Oh Misa, how you have fallen. As I’ve said before, Misa was never my favourite character, but stripped of her Kira powers, she’s become the female equivalent of Kanon’s Kitagawa (minus the dependability). Much like Light prior to this episode, Misa has lost her ability to think coherently, she’s annoying, is animated with the utmost QUALITY and a plot inconsistency. Her relationship with Light still makes no sense, with the original spark of him being Kira gone, there’s seemingly no explanation for her love.

Let’s hope she is slightly more useful in the episodes to come. And if not, well, she’s voiced by Hirano Aya, so consolation fandom is obligatory.

As for Reiji, is he the replacement Kira? I kind of forgot what happened in the first few episodes of this arc, mainly because they were crappy compared to the previous arc. He did say that Kira would kill him if he found out he was working with L, under the assumption that he’s speaking of the true Kira, that would mean that he is the substitute, ne?

As you can see, I’m not really paying attention to the plot of this arc. And readers of the manga have assured me that from here on it gets worse before it gets better. But then again, Death Note’s awesomeness lies in the constant battle between L and Light, not the resulting side plots, so as long as they continue to battle it out, I’ll continue to watch.

I was right! Poor Hatori =(

Aside: With this post, the post ratio between me and Soda is 3:1 XD Despite his relative lack of posts, I assure you, he’s still alive. In addition to school, he has a massive anime backlog, between chipping away at that and doing the majority of the coding for this blog, he finds little time to post…

…ok I lied, he’s just lazy XD

~ Shirukii ~