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Impressions:

Before anything else, let me explain to you what Light is doing, as some of you think he is being stupid and arrogant with his new toy. Let me assure you, he is NOT. If you watch the anime more carefully, you should be able to understand what he is trying to do. Light’s goal is for the police and L to turn on each other. To do this, he changes the way he kills immediately after finding out from his dad’s computer. This is to make L suspect that Kira is one of the police or at least related to them in some way. Sooner or later, the police will find out L is investigating them and then there’ll be mistrust amongst them. In the first episode, if people paid attention, L clearly stated he needed assistance from the police; he cannot capture Kira alone. Light knows this too of course, he’s not stupid. Anyone would know that a single man cannot capture someone like Light. L works behind a computer for a reason ya know! Therefore, causing unrest in the police and L is a perfect strategy that someone like the genius Light is sure to come up with. This doesn’t mean his plan will go perfectly to plan, but I’m just saying everything is according to his plan right now, and I am saying this from a non-manga reader’s p.o.v., as you don’t need to read the manga to figure that out.

Episode 3 covers the end of chapter four of the manga as well as chapter 5, with the same cliff-hanger; what will Light’s decision be regarding the Shinigami eyes deal? Well, if you think about it, it’s actually pretty obvious what he’ll do, but if you don’t know and really want to find out, read this section of the manga. Anyway, the anime is being very faithful to the manga and I’m glad it’s following it very carefully. Death Note is one of those stories where you can’t skip out on details. I liked the scene where the Japanese police official was revealed to be Light’s dad; it’s an interesting revelation that reveals why Light is so confident he can defeat the police. The music also gave a nice feel to the moment, increasing tension and mystery. Also, many of the later important characters are seen this episode (ok, not many, but one or two). Next episode should cover both chapter 6 and 7 as they are one event. We get to see more of Light’s witty thinking, and some more of L of course. I wonder if non-manga readers have decided who to root for now. As always, I’m a Light fan and always will be *muahaha*…)

I don’t like Ryuk very much because he remains an unimportant character for most of the story. Right now, his only purpose is to be thick headed to give Light a reason to explain all his master plans aloud to inform the viewers. While this is a necessity, giving Ryuk a more important role at the moment would increase the show’s overall enjoyment by a fair bit. There are some viewers out there expecting to see Bleach death gods when they hear the word Shinigami…guess they’ll be in for a bit of a disappointment. I know a friend who dropped the manga because he thought the Shinigami were stupid (namely, Blizzard from http://snowflake.animeblogger.net/). About the pace; I’m perfectly happy with the speed it’s going at. Some people might say ‘OMG only 5 chapters in 3 episodes!? Naruto would’ve covered a dozen by now!’ or something like that…Well, Death Note is very detailed. I don’t think it is a shounen anime because of this. Death Note also plays on our emotions, such as getting viewers to pick Light or L. Naruto is mainly action, and action goes quickly when animated. The reason Death Note is only on chapter 5 is because most of it is talking and explaining things. I personally think the anime is going rather fast…

I love how people are saying Light really isn’t that smart because he gave away so many details and whatnot, but let’s not forget Light is the smartest kid in Japan and the son of a policeman/detective (heh, I wrote the first paragraph after this one so some things are probably repeated). He’s really planning something devious. Don’t believe me? Even L believes Light is planning something and revealing all this helpful hints to him is part of his scheme. Pfft, maybe Light wants L to find him quicker so he(Light) can get rid of him(L) quicker. By the way, I did say maybe; I’m not giving anything away. It was really bad when Alafista OTAKU dropped a huge spoiler on his blog without warning at all…Anyway, some more on the episode; the quality dropped. I don’t really like noticing these animation fluctuations but I can’t help it. It wasn’t a significant drop so it’s ok. I also read on Memento that there will be 37 episodes to the series. I don’t know where he got that from but if it’s true, then the anime will DEFINITELY only cover the first half of the manga, or they might make an alternate ending, but I am certain the producers won’t be able to come up with anything as good as the real ending of the first half. Btw, the second half sucks really badly and I don’t care that much if it isn’t animated.

Plot Outline:

- The Japanese police investigate the Kira case
- L determines that Kira is likely to be a student as the times of killings fit accordingly to a student’s lifestyle
- It is revealed that the chief/vice-chief -or whatever he is- of the Japanese police is the father of Light
- Light’s confidence comes from his ability to hack into his dad’s computer
- Doing so allows him to keep up to date with police activity
- Light realises the police suspect a student and decides to experiment with his Death Note
- Light begins killing criminals on the hour as setting time of death is one of the DS’s features
- This causes L to suspect the police of being Kira or leaking info to him

- Meanwhile, a few officers resign as they don’t want to be killed by Kira
- When Light is returning home from school, Ryuk informs him that he is being followed
- At home, Ryuk explains to Light about differences between Shinigami and humans with Death Notes
- The most important thing he says is a deal that can be done between a Shinigami and his human host
- The deal is to trade the Shinigami’s eyes, which can see the lifespan and name of anyone, for half of Light’s remaining lifespan
- And…what will Light do?

Preview:

Next episode – #4
Light strikes out…can’t wait!

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