Death Note 26+27
April 18th, 2007 by Shirukii
It’s the return of everyone’s favourite sport, EXTREME WRITING!
I can’t say I’m liking the new direction that Death Note is heading in. My theory about L being alive has obviously been proven wrong, however I was right in assuming that he has appointed his own successor. Only time will tell whether Near will be able to fill the emptiness left in the wake of L’s death, but with the interference of Melo, it’s much like what happened when Misa was acting independently as the second Kira. Interaction and mind games between three parties is just too difficult given the complex nature of the series.
Episode Ratings: 7/10 & 8/10
Following L’s death, the investigation team is left at a loss as to what to do now. But Light turns on his acting and pushes forward with the investigation, recovering the data lost from Watari’s purge. With L gone, the team proposes Light take his place, as L once said himself. Light had planned to do so all along, and non nonchalantly agrees.
With L gone and no one left to stand in his way, Light goes on a killing spree. Everyone that knew of L’s death, Light’s succession or was ever in direct contact with the investigation team was killed. Many of these people were criminals anyways, so I assume Light had no moral objection to the killings anyways.
Then there’s a time skip of about 5 years, it is now 2012, Light is 23 years old and has officially joined the Japanese police force. The rate of Kira related murders has increased significantly and the voices of the Kira supporters are beginning to drown out the rest of the world, Light’s new world order is beginning the take shape.
However…
L left Light a little surprise. Being absolutely certain that Light is Kira, L wasn’t about to leave him in such a position of power in the aftermath of his death. His true successor would be either Melo (blondie) or Near (whitey). Being much too emotional, Melo concedes and says that Near, who is much more logical in his methods, succeed L. This decision is made before the time skip.
And so, things are suddenly set into motion once again. Yagami-san gets a call in the middle of one of the team’s meetings revealing that the Police Director has been kidnapped and the kidnappers are demanding the death note in exchange for his safety. Light is bewildered by this move, as no one except the investigation team was supposed to know about the existence of the death note.
It turns out the kidnapper is none other than Melo, who has become jaded by jealousy over the past four years. Unable to accept the fact that it was Near who succeeded L and not him, he is now moving on his own to acquire the two death notes and “beat” Near.
Near isn’t exactly lofting around either though, he has created an investigation team of his own, dubbed the SPK (Special Provision for KIRA) comprised mainly of FBI and CIA agents. Around the same time the director was kidnapped, he sent an agent to the Japanese police force demanding they hand over the death note and leave the Kira investigation up to them. This leads to them learning that the director has been kidnapped and leads Near to believe that it is Melo who is behind it. Sharp kid.
Afraid that the director may give up information about Kira and the investigation team, Light kills him. Both Near and Melo immediately deduce that it must have been Kira that was responsible for his death. Melo uses this fact to his advantage and targets the Yagami family, kidnapping Sayu and demanding the death note in exchange. Near reasons that the director’s death probably means that Kira has ties to the Japanese Kira investigation team.
Not about to stand idly by and watch his daughter get killed, Yagami-san goes to make the trade, rushing in blindly without the time to formulate a plan.
At this time, Light decides to call the FBI agent who contacted the team and so he learns about the SPK. Much to his surprise, their leader, Near, who dubs himself ‘N’ knows that the real L is dead and that Light is only his self appointed successor. Light is now scared speechless, not only has his sister been kidnapped, but a task force beyond his control is investigating Kira, and the leader gives off an aura that is frighteningly similar to L.
Thoughts
Ugh, Death Note summaries are such a pain to do, there’s so much detail.
Anyways, I digress. As I said, I’m not too happy with the new direction that Death Note has taken. Not so much the unfolding of events, I’m not bitter that my theory of L being alive was wrong, although that would have been awesome. But it’s the new successors that leave more to be desired, specifically Melo.
The problem with Melo is that he acts on emotion and is the most unpredictable out of the three. I’m sure this is what the writers were going for when they wrote up his character, but he feels so out of place relative to the other characters. Death Note is an series based on logic, reasoning and wits, to throw in a character that uses these tools in such a rash and unpredictable manner destroys the balance. The main reason why Death Note is so interesting is because of the great care taken in planning your moves and trying to predict those of your nemesis. But Melo doesn’t do that, as illustrated by his spontaneous kidnappings, his style of action is reactive instead of proactive.
Melo also comes off as trying to emulate L, rather than become something greater. He doesn’t have a sense of justice, nor a desire to catch Kira, he just wants to beat Near. He’s even gone as far as imitating L in his eating habits.
Near, on the other hand, seems like a much better character. Although he emulates L in many of his mannerisms as well, it doesn’t seem as forced as Melo’s attempts. As Melo admits, Near is much more methodical and logical in his actions. Over the past four years he made direct contact with the president and managed to establish a Kira force made up of FBI and CIA agents, arguably the most elite investigators in the world.
And unlike when Light dealt with Melo, when Near contacts Light, he comes off as a force not to be reckoned with. Unlike Melo, who at this point is just a terrorist kidnapper, Near truly acts like L’s successor, as far as causing Light to feel L’s presence. Almost as if he had been resurrected ;)
Now I see why a lot of people were saying that Death Note fans would be split at this point. I can see a lot of people liking the change of pace that Melo brings, once again shifting the balance of power in unpredictable ways. But I’m sure that many people, such as myself, don’t like the idea of Death Note becoming unpredictable. The series has always come off as a carefully calculated game of chess in my eyes, to see it lose that structure saddens me. Hopefully Melo is dispatched of as quickly as Misa was and we see another fierce bout of intellectual fencing between Light and Near.
Speaking of Misa…
First the yaoi footwashing, now this. What’s with the increase in fanservice
I also heard that Death Note was actually supposed to end with the death of L and Light’s rise as the god of the new world. However, since Death Note is serialized in a shounen magazine, they wouldn’t allow “evil” to win, and forced the mangaka to write a more neutral ending. Is this is true, then it would explain why the characters seem a little forced and unoriginal, however that doesn’t excuse tacking on a weak ending. So even if he was forced to keep writing, I hope the mangaka still has some tricks up his sleeves. More than anything, a bad ending would be the worst thing that could happen to the Death Note series.
But in any case, it should still prove interesting to see how Light deals with the situation at hand. After sitting comfortably, without resistance, for the past four years, will he be able to revive his ruthless nature and survive the simultaneous onslaught of Near and Melo? The preview for the next episode already suggests that he is quickly losing control over the situation, but if the writers decide to take Light down, he better go down with one hell of a fight.
Aside: Death Note trivia! I didn’t notice it the first time around, but in episode 26, at 9:18 during one of the fights between Light and L, Light says Uguu~ after being hit. Rather unexpected, made me lol XD
~ Shirukii ~
20 Responses to “Death Note 26+27”
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The logic is skewed, and has always been. There is no way L could have proved that Raito was Kira. In fact, there are several hard-boiled facts that disprove that Raito was Kira. How in the freakin’ world did L know? It was so funny when L was playing tennis with Raito. “Oh… He must be Kira because he’s trying so hard to win…” “The DN says that if the DN user doesn’t use it for 13 days, he die. Oh, but we’ll just ignore that fact…” That’s BS. I’m sure that the city has more than one genius too.
(Spoiler) If you watched the live action Death note movie you would have seen an alternate ending when L does actually confirm Raito was Kira. It was interesting how he found out that actually falls into place with the anime series storyline but has a special ending when L was trying to find out if the 13 day rule was true
@ prismcolor: L was totally illogical in his claim that Light was Kira, he knew there was concrete evidence to prove otherwise, but he’s been right all his life so he pursued his instincts. The tennis thing was hilarious though XD
@ AS: Yea, I actually saw the LA movie a little while ago, although it wasn’t faithful to the manga, I liked the interpretation. The acting on the other hand…=(
Ah, I don’t realy have a problem with Mello or Near themselves. I just feel like the story between each other will overshadow what DN was originally, about Light and Kira and whatnot.
I actually never knew DN was ’supposed’ to end with L’s death. It makes a lot of sense, as I’ve gathered that this new arc feels like a whole new DN. It’s not exactly bad, so far. DN feels darker to me now.
Light better pick up his game or I’m gonna kill him before anyone can catch him xD
@ Hopey: I can deal with Near, but I just can’t stand Melo’s methods.
As for DN ending after L’s death, I’m not sure if that’s fact, more like unconfirmed news from a friend XD
If Light doesn’t step it up, Near is going to trample him. I assume that L left all his research to Near and Melo, so Near must know that Light is the second L. And given the increased rate of judgment of criminals, Near shouldn’t have a problem drawing the connection. Acquiring concrete evidence however…may be a problem, with Light in such a powerful position.
X_X this would be a great continuation if it weren’t for Melo.
The new direction of Death Note is not bad at all…..
Melo’s emotional instability detracts somewhat from the tone of the series…
but I have a feeling that this aforementioned weakness will make his imminent demise/death all the more pleasurable to watch when it happens………
A “hehehe, what a chump!!!” kind of moment….One that I’m very much looking forward too! :)
Light will pick up his game for sure :)….After all, we still have 10 episodes or so to go……..
@ prismcolor+Shirukii:
IMO, the logic hasn’t been skewed to the point of being ridiculous…In a sense, L represents the opposite of Kira/Light, since they both possess the same intellectual capacity/logical mind….
At the beginning of the series, L correctly deduces that Kira is in Japan, and that he has a sense of justice (by killing criminals)…..
I think L sees/saw himself reflected in Kira….
L fights for justice through the conventional means, whereas Kira is a vigilante who invents the rules using the Death Note….
Not only that, but he senses that Kira is competitive based on the fact that he sends messages to the Japanese media challenging L…..
L is competitive too…..otherwise, he wouldn’t have choosen the career of being a super-slueth……..
These two bits of data, coupled with the fact that Ray Penbar (FBI agent responsible for Light) acted suspiciously before he died……… the jump isn’t that difficult to make……
In ep. 25……..
Since Kira and L are two sides of the same coin, L realizes that the 13 day rule might be a hoax, since he himself might think of setting up a similar scheme to forward one of his plans……
the only thing that kept L from making the complete connection that Light=Kira is that he considered the Death Note as property of the gods, and therefore unalterable…..which proved to be his undoing :(
I totally agree with you on the whole tennis scene :)….that was wicked cool! :)….One of the best moments in the series for sure!!!!!
Sorry for the mammoth post lol……
and so ends the Kyoto arc.
Actually, what happened was that the author wanted to have Death Note in two arcs and he knew that in order to end the first arc, something had to have happen to wrap up the L arc and killing him was the easiest option. The author said that in one of the interviews, which might be in Death Note 13 How to Read.
As for Mello, I think most Death Note fans had the same reaction when he first appeared, something along the lines of “WTF HE’S CREEPY AND EMOTIONAL.” I am sad to say that Mello actually has a large role in Death Note and is not even NEAR as admissible as Misa is. However, I am glad to say that his character is a LOT more tolerable and likable after he gets his character development. Not to mention, he also proves down the line that he is rather intelligent despite his… rashness.
where do u think light went when he died?
…. near has no eyebrows!!! T_T
at least none tht i can see… xD
EEEEK! Near!
Everyone knows Light an L belong together. AHaha!
kiero dir ke esto es una mierda una mierda cagado por un caballo porq mierda no hacen cosas buena EJ:”LA MIERDA”piensan ke el mu es de mierda pero la mierda la cagan los giles yo no cago mierda yo cago moneditas de $1 utds son una mierda les gusta mirar mierda mangas de soretes de mierda vayan a pedir mierda mangas de mierda pero mierda ee pero la puta mierda…..CAARA DE MIERDA
aguante near:near es el mas kpo kira es el + kpito del todo el anime es el re gatito ii caga mierda es una mierda pero mierda mierda mierda mierda mierda mierda mierda….
AGUANTE ESTE ANIMEQ ES DUMBO MIREN POR LA TELE ES UNA MASA MANGAS DE POKEMONES CARA DE FIAMBRE AGUANTE DUMBO VIEJITA NO ES ASESINO ES UN CAGO DE RISA ES TODO PETARDAS TODO CONCHAS PICHOS CULOS NEGROS II A SUS VIEJA LE GUSTA LA PIJA DE LOS BRAZILERO DE MIERDA ESO CARA DE PIJA CARA DE CHUPETINES DE BREA CARA DE BREA PUTos CULEADOS DE MIERDA CARA DE PIJA LE COJO A SUS VIEJA PUTOS MARICONES CARA DE CHILO CARA DE MORTADELA CARA DE MIPALO….culo puto
I have a chapter of I’m suppose it’s a doushinji… got it from a forum, cant remember where but it’s so well done I believe it could be original, after reading the mangaka wanted Light to become shinigami King in ur review I have to say that’s the way this “fake” chapter is like. SO I wonder… u sure they never got it published?
i hated that it seemed that near and mello were treated like l’s pawns because they should have been given more story and backround. Ryuuku’s pestering also stopped, he became a wallpaper, no lines except with the other shinigami and the last part when Show ▼
I hate that “L” had to die! >__
I disagree with you on some parts… and yeah, I’m late to comment XD But I found this by accident, I’m watching the episodes right now. (I read the manga years ago, but only had watched the anime until before L’s death… now this week, I’ve picked it up again)
Personally, I feel Mello’s more interesting that Near, but that’s maybe because I know how it’ll turn out in the end and you didn’t know it when you wrote that review, since you obviously didn’t read the manga. Mello’s only habit that reminds of L is eating chocolate, but Near’s much more similar to L in the way he acts/speaks. Mello is needed as a balance, because the biggest difference between L and Near is that L was ready to take action and Near doesn’t want to get himself into danger. Since Mello’s so reckless, it was finally him and his actions that made it possible for Near to do his investigations properly. Mello’s more or less the sacrifice that was needed for Near to be successful, but I like him better, because I feel he’s a completely different character than L, unlike Near.
BTW, although I think the footwashing was great %D , it was most likely meant symbolic. Also, you can’t really compare Misa’s appearance to that scene, because that’s exactly what happened in the manga (speaking of Misa now) and not just an additional scene for the anime.
According to “How to Read” the writer of Death Note planned to end the series at the Yellow Box Warehouse for a long time; he had considered letting L defeat Kira, though…