Death Note Forum

Ooooooooh… we’re down to the DEATH NOTE nitty gritty with these penultimate episodes. Once again, there’s just so much to cover here, I’m going to have to shoot these observations at you, rapid fire!

• Mello went out like a chump and, even though he checks out in an understated way, I can’t say it’s anti-climatic because he’s already been well-established as a mediocre mastermind. Seriously… he wasn’t thorough about strip-searching Takada (whom he suspects of having the deadliest weapon on Earth) because she got bashful? The bra’s the easiest place for a woman to hide things!
• 

   This is a serious investigation and you're just playing with dolls!
  Then again, maybe the implication of all this is that graduates of the L academy (or whatever it was called) learn everything about detective work, but nothing about girls. Remember how puppy-eyed L got after Misa kissed him? The evidence is there!
• My suspicions about Light being insincere with all his pronouncements to Takada were proven right. She was just another tool for him to use. And man…what a terrible end for her.  Setting herself on fire.
• I’m getting some RESERVOIR DOGS vibes from this final confrontation in the warehouse. I think it’s fitting that this cliffhanger doesn’t hang on who’s going to be able to physically beat the other, but over who put in the right amount of “homework” in advance of this meeting. That definitely fits the tone of this whole show. It sounds like Light’s got the SPK dead to rights, but I know that Near’s has to have an ace up his sleeve. Or maybe, more appropriately, he’s got another doll in his toy box.
• 

   Ryuk even looks pretty ridiculous in live action.
  Speaking of which… as charming as he is to watch, I’m sure it would get really aggravating, really fast to actually work with Near. Here you are, trying to conduct a serious operation and this kid’s using Halloween masks and cheap rubber dolls to talk out your suspect. This is definitely something that works better in animation when it might look a little silly in live action.
• What a great irony that Light doesn’t think Near is worthy of being L’s successor. He goes through all that trouble to kill him and now he’s missing his intellectual equal!
• And what happened to Ryuk? He's shown up so infrequently here, I forget he's actually part of the show sometimes and he's the whole reason this started.

 
Watch these episodes, "Malice" and "1:28" on Hulu here and here, and read my comments on the previous episodes here.

-- Tom Pinchuk is the writer of UNIMAGINABLE for Arcana Studios and HYBRID BASTARDS! for Archaia. HYBRID BASTARDS! is available  here and UNIMAGINABLE is available here for pre-order on Amazon.com.  

Oh yeah, I forgot that Ryuk sort of becomes scarce later on in the show's run. Which is kinda a shame, because he was a good character. He's one of the more likeable characters, which is weird when you consider that he's largely responsible for everything that happens in the show.

@Gasero said:

"  You better give full analysis so that people can rant about how wrong you are in the comments. "

Haha that's probably not nearly as likely as it was with EVA. While there is always tons of speculation to be done, the show is a hell of a lot more straightforward than that lol.  
 
Also Tom, do you have another anime lined up or are you taking a break?

@sickVisionz said:

" Ahh man Tom, you thought Light had really fallen for Takada?  I agree with Mello going out like a chump.  What a waste.  They explain why in the next episode and it's even more chumpish than what happened here. 
 
@FoxxFireArt said:

" I just don't see how a person with any sense of morality could "root" for a character [like Light] "

He's the most interesting character in the series.  The whole thing is based around him.  He does the most interesting things and sets up the best traps and ploys.  Also, it's just a cartoon. 

"

I completely agree sickvisionz. This is a cartoon so its ok to root for Light because he really is an interesting character. And of coarse serial killers are bad, but Light's not real.

I completely agree with you FoxxFireArt. Adding in my own views, the notion that humanity could ever be free of our darker tendencies, or even be suppressed by the threat of death, is among one of the most childish and naive ideas I can imagine. Humans will always commit violence, steal, and murder. Nothing can stop that. For us to completely eradicate evil, as Light so foolishly suggested, would mean we would no longer be human, at least as we know our species. 
 
As much as Light strives for and boasts himself as the new "God" of his world, he will always be human and nothing more. The power he holds is not his own but that of the book, able to be passed on to any other human. The fact that he has to rely on others such as Misa, Takada, and Mikami(even through manipulation) means he could never be a "God". He sees himself as a God but he relies on and runs from the humans he thinks he could rule over. 
 
But all this is moot when you realize Light is never the king seeking to control the world, but merely the jester entertaining his majesty(weird analogy but bear with me). Ryuk has always been the one that Light must jump hoops through and him seeing himself as a god and above Ryuk never diminishes the fact that Ryuk could and would end his life once everything became calm and peaceful in Light's "new world".  Because peace is boring and Ryuk hates that.
 
That's my two cents anyway. In short, I don't like Light or anything he stands for. Yes, even eternal peace. Because I find it stupid. :P

@OnlyWonderBoy: I've got a couple options lined check for what to watch next. I'm letting you all decide, though. Check out this thread and vote.

Agree Ryuk would have turned on him in the new world.  But light didn't condem his dad to nothingness any more than a more natural death would have.  At least the way I understand that rule.
 
I also agreed with light in the beginning but then I am an American who believes in the death penalty so that makes me rather more conservative than many I suppose.