Death Note episodes 1–8
I loved the anime Death Note. I don’t think it was my first anime. It’s definitely the one I analyzed the most, though. I noticed so much that I know a time when L was wrong. But more on that later. This is the type of thing where I’m gonna go episode by episode. And I notice a lot in each episode, so it’s gonna be one blog per episode. This should go without saying, but spoilers ahead. With that aside, let’s talk about the first episode. I want to start by saying I love how Ryuk was introduced. The fact that Light screamed, fell off his chair, and needed the support chair to stand back up, and yet still had the balls to say “I’m not surprised.” That being said, when you look into that part deeper, it makes a lot of sense. Light said that he knew Ryuk was coming, knew that he might lose his soul the moment he got there. Light knew and was ready to give up his soul, even to fix the world just a little. Although he knew it was coming, it doesn’t mean he was ready for it in that very moment. He expected Ryuk to come, but when he did, Light was not ready to give up his soul. That’s why he screamed, not just because Ryuk is freaky, but because he wasn’t done fixing the world yet. That’s also the reason Light kept talking to Ryuk; he wanted to see if they could come to a consensus without him losing his soul. Fortunately, that’s not the way shinigami work. That was the first thing I noticed about the first episode. Another thing is that Light kept saying no one should believe in the Death Note working. I agree with that, but you also don’t need to believe in it; you just need to let curiosity kill the cat. That’s why he said, “The Death Note makes humans want to try it at least once.” He knew that from experience, when he wrote his first name. Thirdly, I want to talk about Light’s method of “punishing evildoers.” he says that the most evil people will be punished with a heart attack, and the less guilty ones will die of accidental deaths. If he actually went through with that many accidental deaths, then I’m worried he doesn’t just believe in punishing evildoers. An accidental death using the Death Note normally means an innocent civilian is involved. For example, when he hit that pervert on a motorcycle with a truck, he wasn’t able to pick who was driving the truck. Chances are, they were an ordinary civilian. Now, their life has been ruined because they were forced to crash into that pervert and kill him. Whoever was driving would’ve been put away for a very long time for something they didn’t even technically do. This means for every guilty person Light killed with an accidental death, an innocent person went to jail for. It’s even worse if one of those was a kid. He‘s not just punishing criminals, he’s punishing hundreds of ordinary people. That’s not a God of justice, that is a mass murderer who doesn’t care whose life he impacts. However, I will say I kind of agree when Light said: “When you actually start looking around, it makes you wonder if you’d be doing society a favor by getting rid of all these people.” I think we all have a point in our lives where we wonder that, it’s just human nature. Lastly, I want to bring up the silhouette that crosses Light’s path on the way home from school when he first picks up the notebook. I figured there had to be a reason that person had been blacked out compared to everyone else in the background; he was the only black silhouette that crossed Light’s path that day. During my first time watching the very last episode, I figured that person had to be Light’s future self walking by his old self when he’s hallucinating. Then I noticed that the dark figure is still there even when his future self walks past his old self. So it couldn’t have been his future self. I had two other thoughts: either that was Ryuk, or that was L. Clearly, it wasn’t Ryuk, because he was very adamant about staying in the shinigami realm for exactly 5 days before checking what he had caused. That means it was L. That means L walked past Light the very first day he ever had the Death Note. In other words, if L had just paid a little more attention that day, this whole show could’ve been avoided, along with all the meaningless death it brought. It’s an interesting idea. Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for the first episode. I plan to do the second episode in two days. Let me know if there’s anything I missed for this episode, or if there’s anything you want me to bring up in the next one. You’ll just have to wait and see which episode I found L goes wrong in.
Let’s talk about the second episode of Death Note. It would be better if you read my analysis of the first episode before you touch this one. This should go without saying, but spoilers ahead. With that out of the way, I believe the second episode really helps grow the story. I agree with Ryuk when he says, “Humans are so interesting.” Not only is that a huge compliment, but it’s also very true. Given a little bit of power, we humans can be very interesting. My first thought during this episode was when L was first brought on to this investigation. he imediately figures Kira has an ESP-like power, when my first thought would be an untraceable poison that causes heart attacks. Although I know L went down that path before anything else. Also, his confrontation proves that it can be done from far away and without planning beforehand, from there we know it needs to be ESP. My second thought was that I would’ve thought about Kira being connected to the criminal justice system before there was a leak in the next episode. It just makes sense that someone who is killing criminals is either someone closely related to the justice system or someone who was personally betrayed by the justice system. That’s the only reason I can think of to believe that the justice system is wrong in its way of punishing criminals. You either need to have heard it too much that you believe every criminal should be punished to the full extent, or you’ve been directly betrayed by it, and therefore, you’ve made your own rules. That’s what causes this: “Childish sense of right and wrong,” as L says it. next when L challenges Kira to kill him, I immediately knew what he was testing. He wanted to see if Kira could kill him. If Kira could kill L without knowing anything about then there was no point continuing in this game. L picks cases “that he’s personally interested in,” because he needs to feel a sense of control. He needed to know he was in control during that confrontation, and that Kira wasn’t just toying with him and could kill him at any point. It’s the same thing with Light. They’re so similar, and I love it. Light went crazy with panic during that confrontation because he wasn’t in control, L was in control, and was learning more about Light by the second. Light was exposed, and he couldn’t control what about him was exposed. That’s what made him go ballistic. The one thing these two don’t have in common lies in what they each believe is “Evil.” Light believes it’s just anyone who displeases him or goes against his ideals or the justice system he’s become so familiar with, and that’s what confuses me. As I said in the last analysis, Light destroyed the lives of so many innocent people when he got them roped up in the accidental deaths of his true victims. If he truly meant it when he said, “I protect the innocent and those who fear evil,” then he wouldn’t be impacting innocent people’s lives with such major consequences for things they had nothing to do with. He is not genuine justice. That’s the difference between him and L. L actually knows what he’s doing when he’s protecting the innocent. He shows it in the way he tries to stop Kira. Kira may think he’s doing the right thing in his sick and twisted mind, but he’s just making people believe his ideals should be the law by instilling fear. instilling fear and coercing people into following him, “That’s his brand of justice.” he’s been given a little too much power, and he’s gone mad. That’s what I found in the second episode.
Let’s talk about the 3rd episode of Death Note. It would be helpful to read the analyses I did on the first 2 episodes before this one. This should go without saying, but spoilers ahead. With that out of the way, let’s get into it. I first want to bring up the part during the police report where they said: “There were an additional 21 people who called in claiming to be Kira.” I understood why someone would claim something like that. As Light said, he is “the God of this new world.” It holds a lot of power and influence to actually be Kira. It symbolizes a God and makes people believe they can rely on you. However, if the people knew that Kira was also behind all the accidental deaths that put innocent people in jail, they would no longer think so highly of him. Next, I want to touch on Matsuda’s comment about Kira reducing violent crime. He’s not wrong about that. That’s the main reason Light believes he’s doing the right thing: he’s getting results, and he’s succeeding in reducing crime. He believes he’s reducing the suffering of kind and honest people. And that is true for the most part, except for the accidental deaths. Other than that, he’s not wrong that he’s making the world a safer place. Next, I want to talk about the detectives who wanted to quit, so they weren’t killed. I understand the desire to put your life and needs ahead of others, I really do. Although “I can also understand the other side.” I can see why Light’s dad says, “Half of the department runs away with their tails between their legs.” I can think of those people as cowards, or as saviors of their needs and the people close to them. It makes a lot of sense to me from both angles. I also believe that this is one of those episodes where we see some true emotion from Light. He’s genuinely afraid when he knows there’s someone following him, and that L might be onto him. Yes, he planned for L to find out, but that was so the police would help him find L. He did not predict that L would be willing to go to such lengths as suspecting the people he’s working with. Light tries to talk about his ‘stalker’ calmly, but I can tell he’s starting to crack. Either way, he doesn’t show that much true emotion. He’s afraid for a mere moment before he focuses on what to do next because of this. Nothing is a setback for Light; there is always a method to whatever comes his way. That’s why I agree that he doesn’t need the shinigami eyes. He’s powerful enough without them. And he wants the idea of Kira to far outlive him. To do that, he needs to live pretty long (like a God) to at least get this ‘worship of Kira’ up and running. The shinigami eyes are an interesting idea, though. That’s all I’ve got for this episode. Keep reading to find out which episode L went wrong in.
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Let’s talk about the 4th episode of Death Note. It will be way better if you read my analyses on the episodes before this, prior to reading this one. This should go without saying, but spoilers ahead. With that out of the way, let’s begin. I loved this episode. I do have to ask, though, when Light turned down the shinigami eye deal, Ryuk gasped. Why did he act surprised if later, when Light said, “I figured you of all people should know I wouldn’t take this deal,” Ryuk acted as if it was completely expected? That kind of triggered me. I also wanted to discuss when Ryuk said that Light doesn’t suck up to him. I think this topic goes back and forth. Sometimes you can tell Light feels superior and won’t suck up to him, but there are times when Light is genuinely scared of him. So I don’t know how I feel about this topic. I also wanted to bring up when Ryuk says, “You’re becoming a much more impressive shinigami.” The way he talks about the shinigami realm, it really sounds like a torture chamber. The shinigami are forced to live with no release of Death and nothing to keep boredom from consuming them entirely. Unless they meet a human, as Light said, “The shinigami realm is extremely significant” to humans. They’re important because they can change the tide of the human world by accident. That’s why Ryuk wonders if they have a purpose, because he just met a human. Next, I am very impressed by L’s ability to keep things on the down low. I know he’s smart, but still. When Light was testing the limits of the Death Note, L told the police to make sure it wasn’t leaked to the public, even though he knew Kira would find out anyway because he’s on the inside. I’m starting to believe this show is very contradictory of itself. Before Light talked about the results of his ‘little test,’ he says, “These results are just as I expected.” When later on he says, “I honestly expected this one to work, but it didn’t end up happening. Next, when Light calls the note, he made a “Meaningless message,” he doesn’t mean in general. He means in relation to L. That message was meant as a distraction so L wouldn’t realize that this test really meant he had discovered his stalker. He wanted the note to draw his attention while he took care of the rest. I find it cool to think about what Light meant when he said, “I have a few people in mind.” He needed it to look like a natural date to his stalker, meaning that group of people was specifically girls who liked him and weren’t afraid to hide it. They would act like it was a date because they believed it was. He also needed someone who would trust his smarts wholeheartedly when he suspected Raye of being an accomplice. He needed another person on his side to get Raye to give up his name. There was also a lot behind Light writing, “I’m gonna grab the gun out of his hand,” which grabbed Raye’s attention to the point where he felt like he had to step in, even though Light wasn’t serious. I think I’ve made it clear how premeditated this was, but there’s more. Yes, it was cold, but there was another reason Light wore gloves that day. He didn’t want to get his fingerprints on Raye’s ID. He also had a reason behind his choice of victim. He needed someone considered ‘dangerous’ so no one would dare to cross him. He also needed it to be a drug addict, so no one would think twice when he “hallucinated.” Also, I think I know the reason behind six minutes and forty seconds being needed for a complex death in the Death Note. In simple terms, the Death Note needs that much time to determine whether or not the death goes against any of its rules. meaning that when Light wrote down Osoreda’s death, the death note thought him seeing a “Horrific phantom” was totally within the realm of possibility. The Death Note pre-planned his death the way it was written. meaning Osoreda was just going to act like he saw something horrifying, and yet it stayed the same, and no one batted an eye when Light caused him to see the horrifying creature. meaning the deaths in the Death Note can be influenced to go the right way by a third party, even if they’re planned out ahead of time in said Death Note. It’s confusing, but it works. I know I’ve brought it up a lot, but it’s relevant in this episode, so I need to remind you that this was an accidental death. The driver who crashed into Osoreda may get praised for it in the media, but he’s also going to prison for a long, long time, for something he wasn’t even remotely the cause of. Lastly, there’s one more controversial thing in this episode: when Light says, “The Death Note never fails.” He just proved that wrong over and over again in this episode. He said, “Even the Death Note can’t do the impossible” because he meant it. I no longer think it should be considered ‘shocking’ when Light contradicts himself. He does it all the time. But that’s all I’ve got for this episode.
Let’s talk about the 5th episode of Death Note. It’ll make more sense if you read my other analyses before this one. This should go without saying, but spoilers ahead. With that out of the way, let’s get into it. First, I want to talk about Naomi. I love her as a strong and smart woman. I feel like we don’t get enough of those. I love that she used to be an FBI agent and is smarter than her fiancé. That’s just a side note, though. I also want to touch on Light’s “Experiments.” He explains what the first one revealed. There’s also a hidden one that he figured out a while ago. When he told Raye to write down the name of his boss, he didn’t say to picture his face. It is only required to think of the face, so the Death Note knows which person with that name to kill. Logically, you don’t need to envision the face as long as you know which person you’re thinking of. That’s why Light was specific about the way he brought his boss, making sure he thought of him and knew whose name he was writing. Next, I want to touch on when Light tells Raye to “Choose someone,” from the people around him, for Light to kill as more proof. Obviously, he was just using this as a scare tactic, but if Raye took him up on that, he would’ve called Light’s bluff. Light couldn’t have just killed anyone he saw; he needed a name. He needed to be 100% sure Raye wouldn’t take him up on it to do this. He thought this through (like he always does). From there, I want to talk about when Raye asks, “How do you know about her?” Yes, Light says he’s been investigating him, and that’s how he knows, but again, this is just a scare tactic. Light didn’t know about Naomi until Raye slipped up. From then on, Light acted like he knew her, to use her as a hostage. Raye made a mistake and paid the price. But Light slipped up when he called her his “Girlfriend,” as opposed to “fiancée.” I also want to talk about Light’s way of killing all the agents. He’s smart enough to know their deaths should have been at random times so one didn’t stand out from the other. He should’ve known that, but apparently, he didn’t because he created an order for the deaths. They died “After they got the file,” but also they died in the order that Raye wrote their names. and Light made Raye’s death stand out. He told Raye to “Wait 30 minutes, so no one would notice the envelope he left behind.” That also means Raye died over half an hour after the other agents. His death stood out significantly. Yes, I know that L isn’t told the order of the deaths or any info like that. But that is just the show’s way of covering up Light’s mistake. I want to go to the part when one of the investigators said, “So much for his sense of justice, he’s a murderer.” There’s a reason it zoomed in on L during that line. L relates to that. He believes he was responsible for Lind L. Taylor’s death in episode 2. He believes that despite his sense of justice, he murdered someone. And I agree that he was in part responsible, but he’s also giving it more weight than it needs. That guy was a criminal who was gonna die that day anyway; L just made it more public and a little sooner. L believes he’s way more guilty than he actually is. In another sense, I want to bring up when Light promises his father, “I will find Kira,” if he hurts you. At first, I believed this. I thought Light would know he was too far gone if he did something to his dad, and he would write his own name down. I believed Light’s ideals were that strong. I realize now that I was horribly mistaken. Light would put his own life above his father’s, even if he hurt his father. That’s who Light is. Lastly, I want to talk about when L said he would make his “First public appearance.” I thought he meant literally public, like on live television. What I didn’t realize is that he’s never introduced himself as L. Meaning even that little display for those 5 investigators seemed public to him. It felt like a public appearance because he had never exposed himself once. But that’s all I’ve got for this episode.
Let’s talk about the 6th episode of Death Note. It’ll make more sense if you read my other analysis before this one. This should go without saying, but spoilers ahead. With that out of the way, let’s get into it. Firstly, I want to bring up when L says, “I am also childish, and I hate to lose.” I thought that was very honest and probably a hard thing to admit. He doesn’t appreciate being considered similar to Kira. It also made it hard for him to admit, “I have lost the battle.” He hates to lose, but he will admit when he’s lost. I also want to talk about Aizawa’s question, “How do you know Kira works alone?” L doesn’t know, but Kira is too childish, immature, and cocky to work alongside someone. His personality doesn’t work in a partnership. I also noticed that L said Light waited “8 days so the FBI could investigate other leads.” Light was very adamant about only waiting “A week.” The extra day L counted was the day of the busjacking. And yet Naomi says, “8 days after that bus was hijacked, he died.” I understand the error here, and I’m not angry about it. I just wanted to point it out. Since I just brought up Naomi, I also want to touch on her choice of alias. I feel like there had to be a reason behind it. Maybe she used to know someone with that name or something. But that’s all I’ve got for this episode.
Let’s talk about the 7th episode of Death Note. It’ll make more sense if you read my other analysis before this one. As always, spoilers ahead. With that out of the way, I want to bring up the colors. I know a bunch of people have explained why Light is red and why L is blue and stuff. There is meaning to the colors. This was pretty much the first episode where the colors are so abrupt. I know the colors’ main meaning, but I also believe there’s another reason behind Light’s color. I’ve heard many people question whether Light is supposed to be the bad guy or not. He’s not only the main character, but also his beliefs are the basic idea of this show. It’s hard to question him or think he’s evil when he’s so normalized. That’s why he’s red, so you know he’s the bad guy. His red is the symbol of his evil deeds. Next is just a funny thing I want to bring up. Watari’s name is not that far off from Watson, and he’s also the assistant of a genius detective. From there, I want to touch on Light’s need for control again. It is made very apparent in this episode when Naomi is making him panic. He’s panicking and can’t focus or think straight because he’s not in control. Additionally, I want to bring up when Light says, “5 minutes left until she reaches the station.” Yes, he’s panicking, but he’s so smart that I believe he was using her walking pace to calculate the time it would take her to get to the station. Next, I want to talk about when Naomi says, “You remind me of L.” Light and L are similar, and I bet Light’s thought about it before, but it was never said directly to his face. And just like L hates being compared to Kira, I don’t think Light was too pleased with this. I also believe there was a reason for when Light turned around and walked a little away from Naomi. Not only did he need to hide his smirk, but he also wanted to make sure Naomi would turn towards and reach out in return. He wanted her to initiate the continuation of their conversation, instead of him forcefully taking control. Relating back to the colors, I find it really cool that once we know Naomi’s done for, the whole screen turns red, and Ryuk starts manically laughing. I also want to talk about when Light talks to Naomi while she’s being controlled by the Death Note. I could tell he was just toying with her; he wanted to see how far gone she was. I also wonder how Naomi carried out the death that was written for her. Clearly, she succeeded because no one found her body, but how did she do that? I have two thoughts: she got lost in the ocean after drowning herself, or she set fire to her body in a way that there was nothing left. Either is plausible; I don’t think she hung herself. I think the noose she walked up to was just symbolic of that moment, and nothing more. Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for this episode.
Let’s talk about the 8th episode of Death Note. Obviously, it’ll make more sense if you read my other analysis first, and spoilers ahead. With that out of the way, I want to talk about when L says, “Line 5.” We know from prior parts that the investigation team isn’t big enough for a whole team of “Public information division,” as L says. But L set up code words between him and Watari for which investigators’ phone the call would be sent to. L picked the number for Matsuda because he was nearby. But clearly, Matsuda wouldn’t know how to handle that, so L picked it up. I also want to bring up how it almost seems like Light knows the surveillance is coming with how much preparation he’s doing. I know he’s smart, but I don’t genuinely believe he knew it was coming. I think he was preparing because he just made a huge movie with Naomi, and he figured they’d be onto him soon; he knew he couldn’t make any more “bold moves” that weren’t thought out. Also, I was originally confused when Light went up to his front door, found out it was locked, and asked, “No one’s home yet?” This made me think his family would’ve just left the door open if they were home. That would be extremely dangerous, especially with Kira lurking around. What I didn’t think about was that they would’ve just left it open for him and locked it once he was home. That’s still dangerous, though. Speaking of doors, I want to talk about the way Light used his door handleas a trick for anyone entering. Not specifically because there was something I noticed about it, but because I find it hilarious how Light can describe a normal door handle in such an elaborate way that it almost convinces me his door handle isn’t normal. He says, “When that door’s closed, the door handle automatically returns to a horizontal position, and it won’t go any higher than that.” The way he explains it is so complex that it made me forget my door handle does the same thing. It also confused me to think about how he did this trick. With my door handle, no matter how little you angle it down, it will immediately go back to a 90-degree angle. I understand Light’s door handle works differently; it just confused me in the moment. Next, I want to talk about Ryuk’s withdrawal symptoms. I feel like it was obvious from the start that it wasn’t her first time trying “Human apples,” but this makes it even more prominent. There’s no way Ryuk would’ve known that he gets withdrawal symptoms unless he’d had apples before and knew from experience. First off, I feel bad that he’s gone through those symptoms more than once, but also that means he’s been to the human world more than once to try them. It makes me wonder what he did on his other trips to the human world, and why he went down there those times. I also find it rude the way Light basically uses Ryuk’s boredom to make him “Find all the cameras” for Light. Light uses Ryuk’s ‘addiction’ to have him search for the cameras, when he’s using Ryuk to know where the cameras are. Next, I want to talk about when Light says, “This is the exact same trick he used last time.”He’s not wrong, if anything, that means L has to reevaluate his tricks, but also Light kinda screws up even though he knows this trick. Light exposes his intelligence and makes himself that much more suspicious to L. While it may have been the same trick, that doesn’t mean it was any less effective. From there, I want to point out when Ryuk says, “There’s nothing I hate more than explaining something twice.” This is true for a lot of characters in this show. Light doesn’t like explaining something over and over again, L doesn’t appreciate it, and now we know Ryuk doesn’t either. I also want to go over when Light is thinking of L’s decisions and says, “It’s pretty clear he doesn’t know any limits.” I know Light doesn’t know much about L at this point, but I strongly disagree with this statement. L hated stooping to Kira’s level when he used Lind.L.Taylor, and he regretted it long after he did it. L has limits, they’re just not obvious right away. Lastly, I want to talk about the part near the end where Light is ‘talking to himself.’ Ryuk says he doesn’t want to go over where the cameras are twice, and Light knows he can’t answer him with the wire taps, so he talks to himself in response to Ryuk. When Ryuk tells Light to “Listen up,” Light says, “Alright, it’s time for me to hit the books,” code telling Ryuk, “Alright, I’m listening.” He made sure Ryuk wasn’t too lonely, even though Light couldn’t directly talk to him or play video games with him. I thought that was really sweet of him. Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for this episode. Let me know if there’s anything I missed, anything you want me to bring up for the next episode, and any anime/show you want me to analyze next. Keep reading to find out which episode L goes wrong in. Thanks for reading, and see you next time.
