Death Note ep.12

December 27, 2006 | 33 Comments

If you're waiting for D.Gray-man, I'm afraid I won't be able to do it today. I've been working two jobs in the past few weeks so I can go overseas again next year. The result of this is that I have less time to blog. Today along with Friday, happens to be the busiest day in the week. Because of this I can only choose one series to cover. Having said that, I'll try to blog D.Gray-man tomorrow when I have more time. Anyway, this is an awesome episode which shows that an anime adaptation can still be creative despite following the manga's storyline closely. The black and white/red/blue montage involving Misa and Jealous is simply awesome. The scene in question looks as if it's lifted out of film noir and given minimal color to emphasise a particular character/object (Schindler's List did something similar).

The episode begins with Light receiving a phone call from his father, telling him that he's been invited to join the investigation team. Light realises that this would allow him to know everything that is going on with the investigation as well as finding more information about the fake Kira. When Light arrives at the apartment, he finds out about everyone's fake name. Since his father's fake name is 'Asahi', Light asks L to call him Asahi Light. L immediately assigns Light to watch the tapes that they got from the TV station. As Light watches the tapes, his father remembers how the night before, L decided to involve Light in their investigation but asked them not to inform him about a second Kira. The others don't know why they need Light in the first place but L argued that he wanted to get Light's opinion about the tapes. He believes that Light will probably reach the same conclusion about the 2nd Kira once he's seen the video.

The guys think that it's a foregone conclusion that the victims were different from the usual victims but L pointed out that that's there's more to it. He believes that unlike the normal Kira, who needs a name and a face, this 2nd Kira can kill just by seeing a person's face alone. L also wants to see Light's reaction to the video. If Light tells him that there's 2nd Kira, then he'll be cleared of suspicion. The reason behind this is because the real Kira wants to kill him so L believed Kira would have used this opportunity. In the present time, Light is unhappy upon seeing the video because he feels that fake Kira ruins his image. He also thinks it's weird that no one tries to explain the video. At first Light plans not to say anything important about the video but when L asks for his opinion, he changes his mind and tells the guy that there might be more than one person with Kira's power. This statement shocks Souichirou who wonders what Light means.

Light tells everyone that the one who sent the tape is quite likely not the same Kira that they know. First, Kira wouldn't kill petty criminals and Kira also needs the victim's name and face to kill. He claims it's strange that the detective and policement died as soon as they showed their faces. L immediately praises Light and admits that they too also suspect the existence of 2nd Kira. Upon hearing this Light wonders if L was testing him but L denies this. He explains that he was the only one who came up with the 2nd Kira theory so he needed someone to back him up. L then tells everyone that they first need to stop the 2nd Kira since this Kira is not very smart and probably idolises the 1st Kira. He thinks the 2nd Kira will respond to a fake message from Kira. Much to Light's surprise, L asks him to pretend to be the real Kira. Because L wants to broadcast the message in the evening news, he needs Light to work on the draft immediately.

Ryuk giggles upon hearing this while Light is clearly unhappy about the task. Despite this, Light produced the message anyway. L doesn't mind about the message except for the line which tells the 2nd Kira that he doesn't mind if 2nd Kira kills L. Light simply laugh it off and claims that he thought Kira would have wanted to make sure that L died. But it's just a joke so L can remove it if he wants to. That evening, a TV station broadcasts the message which basically states that the person writing the message this time around is the real Kira and the one who sent the tape a few days ago was just an impersonator. Kira will forgive the imitator if the person is on his side. However, he also doesn't want the imitator to kill innocents because it'll destroy his reputation. If the 2nd Kira is really on his side, then the person must not act arbitrarily. Inside her room, Amane Misa becomes excited upon hearing this and decides to reply by looking for a video.

A few days later, the detectives receive reply from the 2nd Kira. The fake Kira thanks the real one for replying and promises to do everything that the real Kira wants. Light is frustrated upon hearing this because he thinks if this fake Kira really wants to help Kira, then the person should have forced L to appear on TV and killed the guy. As if that's not bad enough, the fake Kira also tells everyone that altough she believes the real Kira doesn't have the eyes, she won't kill Kira no matter what. Needless to say, Light is dumbfounded that this Kira would blabbed about Shinigami eyes on a recording intended to be aired on TV. The worst part, however, is when this Kira mentions that they should meet and confirm each other's identity using their Shinigami. L is shocked to hear this because he now realises that Shinigami probably exists. Light immediately attempts some damage control by claiming that they can't trust someone who talk nonsense about Shinigami.

L, however, is not convinced and points out that Kira once forced his victims to mention the existence of Shinigami. He also believes that fake Kira is doing everything in her power to meet the real Kira. Light decides to use this opportunity by saying that maybe Shinigami is just a code for their ability to kill someone. Either way, L is quite content on leaving both Kira to make their own move. Since the 2nd Kira has received a reply from "Kira", the guy will be satisfied for now. At the same time, L believes that the real Kira must be paying attention to the exchange between them and the 2nd Kira. Kira would probably want to minimise contact between the 2nd Kira and the Police. In the case that the 2nd Kira doesn't get any reply from the real Kira, L believes that the 2nd Kira would start leaking out Kira's secret, forcing the real Kira to meet this 2nd one. If this happen, their chance to acquire evidence against Kira will increase.

Meanwhile, Misa has just come back home from her regular modeling session. Out of interest, she asks Rem to confirm that a Shinigami can't go around without a Death Note. When the Shinigami confirms this, she realises that Ryuk tricked the King of Shinigami to get the second Death Note that Kira is using and wonders if Rem also did the same thing. Rem, however, explains that it's not easy to trick the King. The reason she got a spare one is because she's a Shinigami who knows how to kill another Shinigami. Upon hearing this, Misa wonders if that means Rem killed another Shinigami and gave his note to her. Rem denies this and tells her that shejust ran into a Shinigami who died. Misa becomes excited to hear this and asks Rem to tell her how to kill Shinigami. Rem agrees on the condition that Misa doesn't tell this to anyone else. She then reveals that to kill a Shinigami, one must make him/her to love a human.

She then tells Misa that there was a Shinigami called Jealous who likes to watch a specific human girl. Back then Jealous was depressed, asking himself why that day will be the day that the girl will die since she looks so healthy. That night, the girl was walking alone when she's suddenly confronted by a stalker who proclaimed his love for her. In fear, the girl rejected him but that only caused him to turn homicidal. In order to prevent the guy from killing the girl, Jealous used his Death Note to kill the guy. Rem explains that the act was forbidden. Shinigami exists to shorten the lives of humans and not to lengthen it. Jealous disappeared into a pile of dust for this violation and the only thing left of him was his Death Note. Upon hearing this, Misa realises that Jealous wouldn't have died if he weren't in love with the girl. Rem confirms this, saying that Jealous died because he wanted to extend the life of the girl.

Misa then reveals that the girl who was saved back then was actually her and her saviour was Jealous. Rem confirms this and tells the girl that Jealous loved her and therefore, the Death Note that Misa is holding is now hers. Misa then goes from looking sad to looking happy to know this. She then wonders if Rem feels the same way towards her but Rem tells her to give it up since she can't kill her. Regardless, Misa is just happy because now she has more things to tell Kira. Having said that, she wonders why he hasn't replied to her request for the two of them to meet. She thinks maybe she should do something. A few days later, Light is sitting in a cafe, worrying about the fact that he can't contact the 2nd Kira. Unknown to him, Misa has also arrived at the cafe, sits not far from him, and orders a Strawberry Sundae. As Light wonders what kind of person a fake Kira could be, Misa also wonders what kind of a person Kira could be.

Impression:

I really want to like Misa. I think her character had the potential to become a femme fatale if written correctly. Unfortunately Ooba Tsugumi decided to write her as someone who doesn't think through, to say the least. Her comments about Kira not having the Shinigami's eyes is an example of this. I also can't believe that she responded immediately to that ridiculous-looking Kira logo on national television. Speaking of the logo, what the hell was Light thinking when he made that logo? I figure he probably tried to divert suspicion away from him by making the logo looks as different as the one he normally use. But I think it would have been less suspicious if he tries to draw a Kira logo which looks similar. At least something without the sparkles. Props to him though for having the ball to add the line about killing L. Similarly, I must praise L for attempting that "keep your friends close and your enemies closer" method.

As cool as that line might be, trying to keep a close watch on a suspect without revealing anything important to him will be difficult. The more they know each other, the more likely that they can find out detailed informations about each other. Moving on to other topic, I must re-emphasise the awesome nature of the black/white montage featuring Misa and Jealous. I especially like the way the animators used shadow to obscure Misa's face so that we don't know her identity until Rem reveals it to us. Matsuyama Kenichi's acting as Jealous was also good although his voice is similar to the voice he used as L in the live action version. It makes me wonder why the producers hired him as Jealous though since that role was pretty brief and any promotional value he might have is short-lived. I guess hiring him as L would have been more expensive than hiring Nakamura Shidou to repeat his live-action role as Ryuk in the anime.

Extra: "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer":

a) I make love not enemies
b) Forgive and forget?
c) Ignore the loser. Why bother being close to him/her?
d) I prefer to make his life miserable from behind the scene.
e) Yes I do....so I can push him off the cliff when the opportunity strikes.

Extra 2: Your favourite Film Noir is:

a) The Big Sleep
b) Strangers on a Train
c) The Postman Always Rings Twice
d) Touch of Evil
e) What is Film Noir?

Preview

Announcement: Episode 13 won't be on air until the 9th of January 2007 due to holiday season.

© memento 2003