Category: Finished Series: Mystery/Suspense

Short Synopsis: Finally, we get to see a part of Ryuzaki’s background. Good: The first plot twist was awesome. The background was awesome. Bad: The background could have been more, certain parts could have been cut out of your resident bishie-anime, too bad I saw the second plot twist coming. Good: Still, the results of that plot twist were awesome as well. Overall Enjoyment Value: 8.5/10 Oh boy. I had a hunch about what was going to happen in this episode, but I never saw Light’s plan coming. Instead of the easy way around, make Misa meet L, and write down his name afterwards, which would obviously place Misa yet again on the place of a major suspect. Instead, he uses Misa in order to place Rem in an inescapable plan. He makes Misa kill people again. Because of this, it’s evident that the Death Note has to be researched yet again. Once L finds out that the rules are fake by testing it on actual prisoners, Misa will become a major suspect yet again, and will definitely face the death punishment with all the charges found against her. The genius plan: the only way to save Misa from being killed: Rem killing Ryuzaki, and taking her own life with her. She can’t take Light with her in the process, as this would bring great sadness to Misa, who apparently does have a short life-span. She has NO choice but to kill Ryuzaki, and sacrifice herself for it! Not only does this not place any suspects on neither Light nor Misa, it also removes the pesky problem of Rem, preventing Light to kill or harm Misa. Still, she probably would have been smarter to kill off Light right ahead. After all, I doubt that Misa will survive long. Then again, she does prove him useful with her eyes and all. He’ll probably decide to keep her, and kill her off when he really needs to. Also, Ryuzaki’s background definitely was interesting, albeit a bit vague and short. L hints that he’s never told the truth to anyone he knew before. We hear some bells, we see a couple of kids playing and crying and we see Watari stand with a young Ryuzaki right next to him. This probably means that L lost his parents at young age, and then got put in the care of Watari. Watari then probably taught him how to think like a detective. Also, the wet-bishie-towel-scene may have been a bit too much. Still, the underlying thought was quite interesting, as we see L struggling with his own morals. Obviously, the only way to really find out about the Death Note is to try it out. This means nothing other than to kill somebody with it. Not only does this mean a to go to the same depths as Kira, it also means big trouble for Rem, so she kills both Watari and L off before they have the chance. The fact remains that this final thing was predictable, but it still was great to see it! Also, Light is now not only Kira, he’s also head of the research, in charge of tracking down Kira. One thing I’d love him to do is look at Rem’s Death Note, and look at Ryuzaki’s real name. I’ve been dying to know what it actually was, and I do hope that the next episode will tell a bit more about Ryuzaki’s background. The guys we’ve been seeing in the OP will probably arrive also in a couple of episodes as well. Sounds promising!]]>

Short Synopsis: Higuchi dies, while Light’s plan gets revealed. Good: With this episode, my faith in Death Note is entirely restored again. Bad: What? No fingerprint analysis? Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10 Holy god, this episode clearly proved the point I’ve been making for episodes: evil Light is awesome. I can’t believe how awesomely evil he was, ever since he got his note back. His plan also was pure brilliance. I can’t believe he believed in this enough to actually risk this. But then again, if your life is at stake you start to behave strangely. I hated the Yotsuba-arc because of the horribly dull good Light, but with this I can finally enjoy Death Note again to its fullest. And it’s a more ingenious when you start to think about it. It took me a while to figure out that Light first made Ryuk write some fake rules in Light’s Death note. Light then gave up the ownership of the Death Note he got from Misa to Rem, making Rem the owner. Rem then gave this Death Note to Ryuk, making Ryuk the owner. Ryuk then dropped it yet again, so that Light could pick it up. His own Death Note then transferred to Rem, making Rem the owner. Because of this, when the police would find Higuchi’s Death Note, they’d find a list of the people who were killed by Light, instead of Misa’s actions. This would probably make the policemen less wary about the existence of the second note, though it seems that L has seen beyond that. Light would then use the Death Note, owned by Ryuk, Misa’s original Death Note in order to bring back Misa’s memories. He buried it, gave Ryuk some instructions, and then he later gave up his ownership. My only problem: how come Light’s fingerprints haven’t been found on the Death Note? Or do they actually disappear after a number of days? And how about handwriting analysis? Still, I loved how Light used Misa in this episode. This just shows the incredible confidence he has in himself. Before, he was a bit wary about using her, but now it seems that she’s doomed to accompany him (otherwise Rem will kill him) he’s probably planning to get her full support, and make full use of her eyes. That was so evil. And of course, seeing Ryuk back was awesome. 🙂 In terms of Misa’s life-span, it’s interesting to wonder how much she’s got left. If I’m not mistaken, she now has a quarter of the lifespan of an average shinigami. Aren’t those supposed to live very long? Still, judging by Rem’s and Ryuk’s reaction, she doesn’t have much time left. I wonder how much it is actually. It can’t be too short either, otherwise Rem would never have allowed her to make the eye-deal for the first time.]]>

Short Synopsis: The climax of the Yotsuba-arc. Good: Finally the Yotsuba-arc is over. Bad: The second half of the previous episode was better; A deus ex machina? Death Note, I thought you knew better. Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10 Those who have been reading my blog know that I’ve been annoyed with the Yotsuba-arc. It was basically one huge joke, in comparison to the Misa-arc and the Naomi-arc. Still, I’m glad it’s over, and I’m glad that it actually managed to end well. The past episode and this one have been excellent, but they once again show that Death Note is a shounen-anime, where the pattern of good and bad episodes is almost predictable. SPOILER for the manga up ahead. Beware! What will happen next could be very interesting, in theory. Still, I’ve got a problem with it: the fanbase of the manga. It seems that after Higuchi got caught, the manga featured a huge plot twist. The problem with this is that the people who read the manga found this twist so amazing, that they kept dropping way too obvious and unsubtle hints about it. It’s almost impossible not to get spoiled by the fact that [SPOILER]L is about to die[/spoiler]. It’s just like the fact that I won’t be able to really enjoy Starwars and Final Fantasy VII, due to the fact that their plot twists also have become famous. The anime now has to deliver something really good in order to make up for this. Anyway, about the episode, it definitely was good, but the previous episode, as mentioned above, was better. Nothing much changed with Higuchi. He just was trying to find ways to kill Matsuda, and the huge change from calm to desperate in the previous episode never really found its equal. The police-cars at the climax also came from nowhere, what were the creators thinking of putting a deus ex machina at that point?]]>