Death Note

[LoverDemon]

 

[adult swim] might not have the rights to the series anymore, but that luckily for you Death Note fans out there, there are legal was of still watching and catching it and that's what this thread will be used for.

This thread is for watching, discussing, reviewing or maybe even asking questions about he episode.

This thread will be open for discussion for an entire week, after that week a thread for the second episode will be made and so on and so forth.

Note: The episode posted in this thread will be of the subbed, since there is no legal way of actually viewing the dubbed other than buying the DVD's. Please refrain from linking to any sites in this thread for legal streaming sites, if you do, you are in violation of the TOS, which could result in banning of your account.

[lupinfan83]

I love when Light is tricked by L. If Light wasn't so smug he would of made it alot harder for L to find where he was.

[SpikesMrsSpooky]

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lupinfan83 wrote:
I love when Light is tricked by L. If Light wasn't so smug he would of made it alot harder for L to find where he was.

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Light was very young.  I don't care how brilliant he was, he did not know who he was dealing with.  He did learn quickly that L is not someone to be underestimated, didn't he? 

And that WAS a brilliant trap that L laid for him.  Who WOULDN'T go for it?  He thought it would be more impressive to kill that person on the air than to make a note of the name then do it later (that would have thrown L off the trail for sure).

[FairyTailMage]

I didn't know Hulu had Death Note. I gotta remember to watch and join in on the discussions

[lupinfan83]

As long as you don't mind subs.

[FairyTailMage]

It's subbed???

[SpikesMrsSpooky]

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FairyTailMage wrote:
It's subbed???

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Yeah, Japanese soundtrack with subtitles.  That's how I always watch it.

If you have Netflix and want to stream it from there, it's always dubbed.   That's an option.

[Bad_Witch]

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lupinfan83 wrote:
I love when Light is tricked by L. If Light wasn't so smug he would of made it alot harder for L to find where he was.

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I always considered Light equal parts smug and impulsive in this ep. He was sure he was right, but never stopped to consider if it was too easy. It was a hard lesson for him to learn...but one I think he learned well.

[lupinfan83]

I don't think he ever learned his lesson. Telling Near "Looks like I win", that cost him too!

[Meilag32]

Well, people like Light tend to have a prideful streak (not unwarranted though, mind you) that can sometimes backfire.  Like I've said before, I would have killed Lind L Tailor in the same way as well as telling Near that I won.  Even knowing the bad things that happened to Light would not deter me from doing the same thing.  It basically comes down to us wanting them to know that it was us that got them in the end.  Light was able to successfully do it with L, by smiling as he held a dying L.  I guess some things about a person you can't change.  Just like I know that a lot of people will choose to save innocents that someone might have put in harms way rather than catching that certain someone.  So stuff like this evens out. 

[Bad_Witch]

That had more to do with equal parts arrogance and the fact the Near was never on L's level. I was refering more to how Light dealt with L himself. He knows he slipped here and made sure to plan that he wouldn't slip again.

[lupinfan83]

According to Light, Near wasn't on L's level. I think the fact that Near considered a supernatural approach to his investigation puts him almost at the same level as L. I say almost because even Near said he would have lost if it wasn't for Mello's sacrifice.

[Meilag32]

No, it just means that Near had a head-start that L never had.  Near was aware, almost from the get-go, that Shinigami and a supernatural notebook existed.  It took L almost his entire time just to figure out that such supposedly impossible things existed. 

Near started his investigation with a lot of what L had to uncover on his own.  Light was right.  If it had been Near who preceded L, Near would have fallen absurdly quickly.  Only by building upon what L had done and by Mello's actions was he able to outsmart Light.  L, on the other hand, if given all the head-starts that Near had, would have solved the case much sooner and without outside help. 

[SpikesMrsSpooky]

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Meilag32 wrote:

No, it just means that Near had a head-start that L never had.  Near was aware, almost from the get-go, that Shinigami and a supernatural notebook existed.  It took L almost his entire time just to figure out that such supposedly impossible things existed. 

Near started his investigation with a lot of what L had to uncover on his own.  Light was right.  If it had been Near who preceded L, Near would have fallen absurdly quickly.  Only by building upon what L had done and by Mello's actions was he able to outsmart Light.  L, on the other hand, if given all the head-starts that Near had, would have solved the case much sooner and without outside help. 

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I agree.  Near had L's work and the results of his work to build upon.  If he had the time, he would have maybe been able to set up a similar situation that Near did and would have caught him. 

L I think was hobbled because he was too close to Kira, having him working with the investigation, and the team being as small as it was.  Near had the advantage of L's ground work and being remote with his own team that did not involve Light/Kira at all.

Add to that the events that transpired that apparently needed to happen in order to get the proof that was needed, and you have someone who wasn't quite at L's level, but with the groundwork already laid and Mello's help was able to bring Kira down.

This is the first episode that made me scream - L had one enormous pair and oh BOY he was not afraid to use them. LOL.

[lupinfan83]

I think L's biggest weakness was that he was too logical. The first time the word Shinagami was brought up he should of had someone do research on their mythology. Even if a that time the chances of the murders were connected to a god of death might have seemed like .01%

[SpikesMrsSpooky]

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lupinfan83 wrote:
I think L's biggest weakness was that he was too logical. The first time the word Shinagami was brought up he should of had someone do research on their mythology. Even if a that time the chances of the murders were connected to a god of death might have seemed like .01%

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Really good point!  I haven't tried resaerching this though, but if he HAD researched shinigami, would he have found anything pointing to a notebook?  He was very intent on finding the method that Kira was using to kill people.  THAT had to be discovered, plus the connection between the face and the name (which was becoming apparent).  That was the whole reason for putting Matsuda's life on the line in that Shakura TV broadcast, was to find out how the killings were accomplished.

Now if there is a tradition of shimigami writing names in a notebook, then yeah, he fumbled the ball.

[Bad_Witch]

It wasn't just Light. Near was subpar. He never was, and could never be, on L's level.

Consider a supernatural approach? With all the information Near had available to him? Don't make me laugh. Near would have been a complete failure if he hadn't considered a supernatural approach. Hell, Mello handed it to him. Mello had a notebook, met a Shinigami, and told Near. Plus Near had every reason to suspect even before then. His "victory" was handed to him by better men.

[SpikesMrsSpooky]

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Bad_Witch wrote:

It wasn't just Light. Near was subpar. He never was, and could never be, on L's level.

Consider a supernatural approach? With all the information Near had available to him? Don't make me laugh. Near would have been a complete failure if he hadn't considered a supernatural approach. Hell, Mello handed it to him. Mello had a notebook, met a Shinigami, and told Near. Plus Near had every reason to suspect even before then. His "victory" was handed to him by better men.

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I have to agree.

Near had so much handed to him where L had to figure things out based on what he saw and his own intuition.  Near even said himself that alone he couldn't match L, but with Mello, the two of them were worthy to stand with him. Near thought that with himself and Mello they could "surpass" L because they defeated the enemy who defeated L.  I had to laugh at that.  All L needed was more time.  He would have approached things differently and more directly, but his life was cut short before he could get the evidence he needed.

Personally, I would LOVE to see how things would have gone down had L lived to solve the case himself.

And note to Near - Mello's dead!  The two of them could match or "surpass" L, but he doesn't have Mello any more, which puts him behind L going forward.  Oops.

I'm wondering if the story had something to say about dealing with problems with intellect vs emotion vs combination of the two.   L admitted he was emotional in episode 15, Wager.  He said that this hadn't happened before, that (and I'm paraphrasing) he was getting emotional about the case.  I have no idea if it was intended by Ohba san when he wrote it or if it just turned out that way, but there seems to be a question or theme in the show about reason over emotion when solving problems.   Some characters were very emotional and impulsive (Yagami Soichiro, Matsuda Touta, Amane Misa, Mello) and those who worked by reason (Near, and I'm sure others I haven' categorized yet) and those who used a balance of emotion and reason (L and I think Light).

[lupinfan83]

I thought Near knew about shinagamis from his own investigation? Didn't he say that he heard it from a police oficer at te scene the night they captured Kyosuke Higuchi?

[SpikesMrsSpooky]

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lupinfan83 wrote:
I thought Near knew about shinagamis from his own investigation? Didn't he say that he heard it from a police oficer at te scene the night they captured Kyosuke Higuchi?

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He had to start his own investigation, but you're right - he did have access to people who knew much more at that point than L did when he started the investigation.   Near was still standing on L's shoulders.

[Bad_Witch]

Yes, he did, but one has to wonder how much Near understood. It never goes into great detail about how Near got his information, just tidbits about his own investigation that lead him to the same conclusions as L.

I for one doubt the term "Shingami" would have been used by the cop. Very few people touched the notebook, and those that did shouted about a monster. At that time they didn't know what to call the thing standing in front of them. The most the cop could have told Near woudl be that. He would have been unable to described what the creature looked like. Plus, if Near was any sort of detective, he should have weighted the "evidence" provided by the cop heavily. At best, it was circumstancial, and the best Near should have deducted was that something very strange happened that night.

Real prove would have come from Mello, who actually got a notebook. But again, even Mello's investigation methods for why he would conclude there even was a notebook are shady.

Man the second half really had some shitty writing.