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ファイト／ステイナイト 
Sorry for another late review. I'm so tired lately that I am not sure how I even managed to write this. My laptop has also been giving me grief lately so I've been spending a lot of time trying to reformat it. Anyway, the writers really are trying to finish this in 7 episodes. I think after this episode, we won't see the story being shortened any longer. I think it's a good decision to cut this part of the story short as opposed to cutting the later part of the story where the tension starts to ratchet up. As a side note, the opening scene where the mobs are trying to break into the building reminds me of the film that I just saw, 28 Weeks Later. The scary thing about them is that in some country, you can actually rent a crowd to for protest/cause disturbance.
During Demagawa's invasion of Near's HQ, Light makes a phone call to Near, telling the boy that he should try to get out of the place. In response, Near tells Light that sounds like something Kira would say. Light pretends to be outraged by this accusation but Near is not convinced one bit. He asks the Japanese police who works with Light to consider the possibility that Kira is among them. This causes Aizawa to suspect Light again especially since the previous L suspected Light in the first place. Back in front of Near's HQ, the riot continues as the mob breaks into the building. Near, however, is not too concerned about this and even have the time to call those people foolish. He thinks these people are actually composed of people who do worship Kira and follows blindly, those who follow the worshippers, and people who simply want to enjoy the turmoil. Near also believes that amongst these people, there must be a few anti-Kira.
Near's staff tries to get him to leave but instead Near asks them to carry out their plan since it's been prepared for this. While the mob are busy fighting each other, they suddenly realise that there are a bunch of money scattered in the air around them. As it turns out, someone has throw away a good amount of money to distract the mob from attacking the building. True enough, their attention is quickly diverted from attacking the building to beating each other so they can get the money. Even Demagawa is not immune from greediness. Matsuda who sees everything from a monitor can't help but feeling a bit envious and wishes that he's there too. Ryuk, on the other hand, feels that human is interesting. The only person who's not happy about this is Light, who feels that his plan is ruined by Near. If this is not bad enough, Light quickly finds out that Near has sent out some police squad from within the building to deal with the situation.
As it turns out Near plans on disguising himself and his SPKs in the same police squad uniform so they can get out of the building safely, undetected by Light/Misa's attention. Light realises that if he asks Aizawa to catch anyone acting as the police squad, Aizawa will suspect him as Kira. Despite Light's best attempt to recognise Near amongst the many police squads, in the end he fails to identify any of them as Near and the SPKs. If anything, this causes Aizawa to become even more suspicious of him. Later on that day, Near contacts Light and the other Japanese police again. He once again taunts the Japanese police, asking them to contact him if one of them thinks that Kira might be amongst them. On the same night, Aizawa starts doubting Light's innocence again. At the same time, Light weighs his option up and down and eventually decide to contact Misa, ordering her to do something. Misa seems to be quite shocked upon reading Light's email.
The next day, Aizawa makes a decision to contact Near so he comes to Near's new HQ. Meanwhile, Misa deludes herself into thinking that by doing this she's going to become Light's wife. Back to Aizawa, he explains how back then Souichirou pretended that he's going to execute Light and Misa for being the first and second Kira. Back then L thought that if Light is Kira, he would have killed Souichirou right there and then. Upon hearing this Near realises that Kira made the best of bad situation by making use of the custody to make himself look innocent. Because of this, Near asks Aizawa if back then it was Light himself who hand over his freedom and offered to be in police's custody. Since he's got enough information to go on, Near thanks Aizawa for his help and hang up the phone. The SPK agents wonder if Near has got enough information and Near claims that to be the case. He believes the entire thing lies in the fact that Souichirou and Light are father/son.
Because of this, Near immediately concludes that Kira is none other than the 2nd L, Yagami Light. Meanwhile, Aizawa decides to tell Light that he just talked to Near not too long ago. Light, however, pretends that he's fine with this. Aizawa claims that he believes Light is not Kira but he suspects Misa. Because of this, he and Mogi decides to come to her house to find the note. Despite this, they pretend that they need to search her house because someone has set explosives in L's place. Unfortunately, despite their attempt, they can't find the note. Meanwhile, Demagawa introduces on his TV show, a new place to worship Kira called Kira's kingdom. When Demagawa introduces the top members of this shrine, however, a man can be seen writing their name into Death Note. Eventually even Demegawa himself is killed by the man. Upon seeing the live execution, Aizawa becomes confused since Light and Misa don't have the note. Unknown to him, Light has ordered Misa to give her note to a man called Mikami Teru.
Impression:
Okay, at this point the plot twist feels more like repetition than anything interesting. I mean it makes sense that Light will ask Misa to let go of the note once again but at this point, it's just not interesting anymore. Mikami Teru seems like a charismatic character but unfortunately he's reduced to no more than Light's puppet in this story. Speaking of puppet, it never ceases to amaze me that Misa never realise that Light is just using her. I wonder if she actually knows about this but goes along with it anyway since it means she can get close to Light. In other note, I like the way Near escape Light's attempt to trap him. Having said that, I am not sure if I like the idea of throwing money to the public in order to distract their attention. It's just too over-the-top and I never understand where Near got all of those money from. I thought he's supposed to be an orphan and I don't think working with FBI and CIA means that you get paid like oil baron.
Preview
On next week's episode: The return of Kiyomi Takada.
"Having said that, I am not sure if I like the idea of throwing money to the public in order to distract their attention. It's just too over-the-top and I never understand where Near got all of those money from."
Didn't he mention to use the heritage L left him? I suspect that that money was that heritage. After all, if L had enough money to build a skyscraper, he also had enough money to pull off a stunt like that.
"I don't think working with FBI and CIA means that you get paid like oil baron."
Maybe not but it should be sufficient to crash a plane into a skyscraper and tear it down.
I wonder if the anime will explore Mikami's backstory? He's really the only character in DN who got a whole chapter devoted to it (even though I would've liked to see more about the main characters' pasts). Eh, prolly not. Oh, well.
BTW, where in the world is Matt in this episode? ;;_;; I realize he's not THAT important, and they could probably work around his involvement with Mello and have Mello pull off the chapter 98/99 stunt without him . . . but still! I really hope Madhouse didn't cut an entire (awesome) character! *weep*
The anime is heading to the part of the story that i haven't read in the manga yet so i'm getting excited now! Anyway at this stage i feel like i'm somehow supporting Light. Near is just being so smug!
And also how does Near manage to take his huge amount of toys from place to place?
"Near is just being so smug!"
Haha, smugger than a guy who aims to be "God of the new world?" XD
HAHAHA I WAS WAITING FOR MIKAMI!
HE'S FINALLY IN THE ANIME!! ^^ YAaaY
Wow, Mikami looks so hot in the anime! Thanks for the screenshots!
At first i think mikami teru will be the same as light in which "clever guy"
but in the end...... he's just Light puppet
i'm glad Demegawa died he's so annoying
Boring! I don’ like the idea of adding more unnecessary characters to the story. If the author ran outta ways to put Lightto in trouble and then get him out of it, then I think he/she should've ended up the story earlier. I’m sure some of you agree!
Mikami's way of killing is so epic. I mean, who else jumps around that much to write down someone's name in a notebook? xD
@Kidd - Mikami is far from unnecessary. Actually, he's one of the most important character of the second arc.
Gah, I hated the way Mikami writes down the names in the anime. I agree with Totali, "who else jumps around that much to write down someone's name in a notebook?"
Who cares if it's some kind of metaphor, it's still ridiculous. -.- Saying "eliminate" is enough for me.
yup.
Ohba was seriously out of ideas when writing this.
In fact, in my opinion, she was out of ideas ever since L died.
"Thank god obata gave us mikami: (contemporary fangirls' walking dream) to salvage the plot."
Actually, the majorly boring part is almost over. When Takada shows up, things will become (marginally) more interesting. Then, in the final final episode, it's gonna get super-cool again.
*for the impression part*
didn't near say all that cash was L's inheritance? i do understand that L might have inherited probably half a billion dollars from his parents maybe (i think he's rich if he has italian, french, japanese, etc. blood...the author said he was multi-national) and hey maybe from watari too. what i don't get is why is it in cash and with the SPK instead of the bank?
and yeah i think misa knows she is being used, she already acknowledged that when they first met. she said she didn't mind as long as they were together...so by using her light's actually doing her a favor...hey, as long as she's happy but i still hate her.
and does this mean matt will not be included in the show? that's too bad...
@Taki:
Believe it or not... Mikami plays the same rol Misa played in the first part: scapegoat, and that is not an important rol, once his usefulness is over he is... well, watch what is going to happen.
@mello (& Garten):
It is, in fact, L's inheritance... but not from his parents, but mainly what he and Watari (he was an inventor) earned through their lives.
It is hinted in the novel, by Mello, that L solved over 3.500 difficult cases just think about how much money you can earn from that?
Mikami's way of killing is weird, and it is simple fanservice just like the foot rubbing scene.
And once again Garten you are right the plot feels like a repetition of the first part.
Btw, your 'That 'screwed again' look' comment made me laugh.
Now the only character I enjoy, anime-wise, is Near. The lighting always looks good with his white hair. I guess I'll go back to reading the manga and just read these reviews instead.
Mikami looks like Light in a goth wig. From the screenshots anyway.
The addition of too many characters in a manga is something manga writers should probably avoid. Death Note is like NANA in that sense; both series have so many characters with so many realistic, human faults that viewers can't appreciate most of the characters anymore. DN isn't as bad as NANA thanks to L, Near, and Mello, but luckily, the series ended at 108 chapters. I stopped reading NANA ages ago because by book 5 I hated every single one of the characters.
Where is Matt...?
I want to see him.
"Mikami's way of killing is so epic. I mean, who else jumps around that much to write down someone's name in a notebook?"
Someone who's taken too many caffeine pills.
I'm so happy Demegawa got killed, that fat idiot was so annoying!
I never read the manga (I will do it once the anime is finished), so I only know what I heard from lurking in some forums. I wanted to see, if this is worth watching it. It really, really was until ep 25. I read so many ppl cursing about the second half of the manga, but I was determined to form my own opinion.
Unfortuntely, I have o agree. The stroy qualitiy went downwards rapidedly. In fact right after Ep. 25. I adored L, but the lack of enjoyment I suffer while watching Death Note has nothing to do with his absence. I think, the story should have ended there. Better leave while you are still able to enthuse your audience!!
I can only hope, the series will get good again. I am only sticking to it to how all ends.
@Taki: Teru saying "eliminate" or whatever is more than plenty. It's almost like saying "amen" in this context.
I'm guessing all Teru's armwavey flail gestures are echoing Light's swooping and "this magic pen gives me powers of levitations!". In this case, flailing's OOC for Teru, unless they change his character a lot.
Man, I hope they don't completely razor out some of Misa's finest moments in the manga.
In the manga... Near inherited lots and lots of money from L. That's where he got his money from.
This episode is getting better and better he he he.
I think it's perfect the way they represent Mikami, though he is a Light's puppet he still has his own personality, and those judging strokes are prove of his role in the game, so it's not ridiculous, let's regard it as an epic point of the whole story and hope a good animation makes feel better the events still are coming, cause in the manga it didn't feel so hard Mikami's entrance, and on the other hand, I felt like Demegawa's actions weren't very annoying in the anime, or perhaps it is just the timing when reading one and wathing the other...
Anyway, I can't stop being surprised for how good they make it to compact all what is left in only a few ep's, when I read DN, it lost all its strength after L's death, and Near's conjectures are always like reading a cristal ball, it doesn't feel real at all. And even Light's actions are a bit ilogic at this point. Why doesn't he just kill everyone at once before anyone contact with Near?, in this case he let Aizawa go, and this event rushed all.
It really seems more a TV show where unimaginable things happen, and Near's prevision of a Mob's attack is a prove more.
But it is the manga writer's fault, not Mad House, so, I still put up with it...
"Why doesn't he just kill everyone at once before anyone contact with Near?, in this case he let Aizawa go, and this event rushed all."
Wouldn't their family's know that they're dead? Where would he put the bodies? They're only operating out of Light's own apartment. . . . I dunno. I think killing them all off at the point in time would be a horrible idea, and would lead Near right to him a lot sooner than he would otherwise. =/
Wow...interesting enough episode...It really shows that Near is smarter than Light...
I think that the money the Near threw out the building was inherited from L...apparently, he got that money from Watari who got it off of his inventions. It must be really nice to be L's successor...besides having to solve lots of difficult cases, you got so much money to play around with! XD
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