C&C - Death Note - "Pursuit" [11/10]

[Neo Ultra Mike]

There's a new Death Note Availiable On The Adult Swim Fix Right Now And Will Be Shown on Adult Swim Saturday Night At Midnight. It's Episode 4 (of 37) Of the series, called "Pursuit".

SYNOPSIS:
Light - now known to the world as Kira - tests the Death Note to understand the scope of it's powers by killing off six convicts in various ways - and confirms that he can control the victim's actions before they die!

REVIEW:
I have to say for those who said episode 4 would be when things really started getting interesting were... sort of wrong. I mean this was a good episode, but it's not like it's a tremendous milestone for Death Note. It didn't have some of the more "slow" moments some episodes had. As in not as much scared chattering from the police or anything like that. Rather as if we didn't know Light was smart enough, he gets to showcase more of his intellegence in this one. First off refusing the offer of the Shinigami eyes since he wants to be a ruler of this world for a long time (of course he could die far before then but hey only Ryuk knows that for sure). Then actually noting that the conditions of the Shinigami world do have a large impact on the human world whenever they come around (and I have a feeling Ryuk having two death notes is going to be something more substantial to the plot a bit later on, this coming from just guessing anyway). Then realizing he can control the actions of someone whose about to die within a realistic scenario and uses some in-namtes for pratice. And then finally his plan on getting Ray's name: Pretending to be on a date with Saya, have some maniac come in to get they're bus, get the policemen to reveal his name as a symbol of trust, get the robber a page of the death note, have him freak out from seeing Ryuk, and then have him run out of bullets and run away... into a speeding car. Pretty clever stuff there Light. And it makes for quite an intruging episode. I'm sure L's going to gain something from this incident of knowledge though (since Light's not going to stay ahead of L forever. Make things too boring) and I doubt Ray's going to die. Yeah Light's targetting him but Ray dosen't believe Light to be Kira and it seems too obvious Light would will Ray at this point for it to happen. Not when this show offers use such interesting twists anyway.

That's it for this week. Enjoy Everyone!

[kewlmyc]

Wow, Light really is a genius. He was able to pull off that very complicated plan like it was nothing. Also, the animation in this show is superb.

4.5/5.

Also, Light is a playa.:p

[Ishtar]

I was impressed the way Light set up that whole bus scene. I thought it was awesome when the criminal actual saw and heard Ryuk before his death, which no other human besides Light has been able to do since the start of the series, so far.

[Malex]

Am I the only one who feels bad for Raye Penber? He already came to a conclusion that Light is not Kira, and now Light has Raye's name and will eventually kill him.

Well, at least Light can craft a decent plan which made me wonder. Did Light scribble the two notes on his own accord, or did the Death Note affect his judgments? I am not exactly sure since he did write that the bus hijacker would "see a phantom." Granted that the guy was a drug addict, but the idea of seeing a phantom is a little implausible unless someone made him think he sees this phantom. This gives me the idea that the Death Note made Light write down those notes, but it seemed a bit strange that Light would depend on the Death Note in that way.

I guess this is a better question on the amount of free will the people surrounding a Death Note victim has.

[Conan-san]

Regardless of who I'm rooting for , gota give Light cudos for not going the easy route.

Even if he's a deranged maniac, he's at least willing to do this full assed.

And, once again, Scott McNeil pulls in another great preformance as Kiichiro Osoreda (The bus jacker)

[Hyper Shadow X]

The whole deal that Light set up was great.

[Kitschensyngk]

Last time: Two cats in a cat-and-mouse game, and the pawns in this game of checkers.

Look into my eyes, Light...er, "with". Sorry. I meant "with".

The Spirit Realm seriously needs a bowling alley. Or a movie theater.

A chat with you and somehow death loses its sting.

Just because you live in a death world doesn't mean you shouldn't live it up now and then.

Life and death and limited mind control powers. Dang.

Why is Light being watched again?

Hope the bus isn't going less than 50 mph.

Dude, he just told you your gun won't work.

Yeek. Never saw that coming.

"Ray Penber"? That B looked like an L.

[Rolling Cloud]

Light wanting Wings...now I wanna make a fanart of that. :sweat:

Well, that was...interesting! Ryuk's creepy! *nods*

[btv]

A very solid episode. I enjoyed the manga version equally, although both sort of fail to capture the intensity of a real bus jacking, even if it was planned.

A

Almost forgot it was on tonight, it's a good thing I saw it on the net first, even if the quality wasn't as good.

[Lightning Tiger]

yo, in the ending credits song, when light throws the apple in the air(ryuk catches it) and everything turns red it gets awesome.

[Obi]

So why would he kill Ray Penber now that Ray doesn't suspect him? Wouldn't that just make him more suspicious, since Ray is surely going to report the bus incident back?

[Megaman X]

Man I am not sure if I should call Light crazy or awesome. Yet what I dont get is why he is doing all of this is in the first place. I understand that he wants a world with no evil and he is the god of it but.. what made him like this in the first place?? O_o

But man Light is smart getting the whole bus scene to happen just with the Death note.

9/10 I am starting to like this series more and more after each episode

[purplehairedwonder]

Am I the only one who feels bad for Raye Penber? He already came to a conclusion that Light is not Kira, and now Light has Raye's name and will eventually kill him.That was my first thought, too. It's so tragic for Raye =/

Anyway, another solid episode. I love watching Light's plans unfold so effortlessly. The way his mind works is fascinating. Deranged, but fascinating.

[TnAdct1]

So why would he kill Ray Penber now that Ray doesn't suspect him? Wouldn't that just make him more suspicious, since Ray is surely going to report the bus incident back? One thing to keep in mind: there's more than just one FBI agent doing investigation work for L. Just because Ray doesn't suspect Light now doesn't mean he's completely out of the way when it comes to the FBI tailing him. Hence, Light needs to come up with a plan to bump off not only Ray, but also the other FBI agents involved in this investigation. You'll see what I'm talking about next week.

[Vallen Valiant]

Man I am not sure if I should call Light crazy or awesome. Yet what I dont get is why he is doing all of this is in the first place. I understand that he wants a world with no evil and he is the god of it but.. what made him like this in the first place?? O_o

But man Light is smart getting the whole bus scene to happen just with the Death note.

9/10 I am starting to like this series more and more after each episode
Light is the son of a Cop. That's where his sense of Justice came from.

Light is also a genius who is breezing through life with ease. That's where his arrogance came from. It also generated boredom.

Finally, Light was given great power without the rite of passage in learning what it means to weld such power (i.e. He is too young). That's where his megalomania came from.

[PickHut]

Wow, Light is turning into quite the evil genius here. That plan was pretty complicated and really risky. He would have been screwed if one little thng didn't go his way during the bus incident. Lucky no one else got shot on the bus, though, I doubt he would care and put the blame on the criminal. Nice episode that got pretty tense towards the end.

[Master Moron]

So why would he kill Ray Penber now that Ray doesn't suspect him? Wouldn't that just make him more suspicious, since Ray is surely going to report the bus incident back?

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Though, actually, it's possible that Light won't kill Ray, and instead threaten him to keep him silent. Of course, from the preview, it sounds like he's planning on killing all of the investigators working on his case.

When the hijacker first came on the bus, I thought maybe Light set up the hijacker's death as a train crash, so everyone on the bus except for Light died. I'm not even sure that the Death Note can kill collaterally, though. That would be an interesting experiment though. Write that someone dies in an airplane crash, and see if other people die in the crash as well.

[bigdeath]

Wow, Light is a pimp. Hes got quite the cutie.

I wonder how Light will kill the FBI man. Its ironic the hes called "Light" of all names. :shrug:

[silvanoir]

Am I the only one who feels bad for Raye Penber? He already came to a conclusion that Light is not Kira, and now Light has Raye's name and will eventually kill him.

I feel bad for Ray too.

This is why I can't root for Light/Kira... because he doesn't just want to kill criminals, he also wants to kil honest policemen/FBI/investigators, etc, who stand in his way... it makes me a little scared to wonder what he'd do if his dad found out.

[New Noise™]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels bad for Raye Pender. As someone already said above, wouldn't killing him only make Light more of a suspect? I mean, honestly, if he's killed, then the police's number one suspect would obviously become Light.

Light's such a creep. Bringing a girl into a dangerous incident like that? Wow, what a nutjob. Ryuk's just as bad, as he always encourages him to do bad things.

Anyways, this was the last episode I have seen that was in Japanese, so from now on, I won't have a clue what's going on. I'm really excited to see what's going to happen next. :)

[Mighty_Bojingo]

There's something i dont understand here. Light claims to be doing this to make the world a better place, to free the world from evil and criminals. But if that were true, then why did he kill the guy whom Light thought was "L" to begin with during that news event? I mean, Light didnt know that was a criminal, he thought it was an investigator working with the police. If Light truly believed in his motives, he would have let L talk like that and not bother to kill him because L isnt a threat to the world like criminals is. This just contradicts Light's own ideas.

Anyway, I think that Light is more Evil then Good. Which is interesting, because most shows out there have main characters who are good. Its definately interesting to have a main character who's evil.

[johnny139]

At first it wasn't so creepy - but for some reason, I just realized how frightening the idea of Ryuk being around all the time is. In your room, talking to you, watching you sleep with his massive, never-blinking eyes and a wide maw of razor sharp teeth...

*shivers*

[blitzkrieg]

There's something i dont understand here. Light claims to be doing this to make the world a better place, to free the world from evil and criminals. But if that were true, then why did he kill the guy whom Light thought was "L" to begin with during that news event? I mean, Light didnt know that was a criminal, he thought it was an investigator working with the police. If Light truly believed in his motives, he would have let L talk like that and not bother to kill him because L isnt a threat to the world like criminals is. This just contradicts Light's own ideas.

L is a threat to Light's plans, hence L is a threat to the world since L finding and capturing Light would stand in his way of making a better world.

[Naruguy94]

Yet another great episode of Death Note. Light is a genius for coming up with that plan. I wonder how it will all end.

[XOMiss_Samantha]

kukuku Light is a bastard. Now killing a criminal is one thing, but now he wants to kill Ray who has done no wrong. tsk tsk. Thats breaking some rules some where.
I feel bad for the girl too. She was used by Light just so he could look 'normal'. Bad Light. Bad. You get no brownie points.


I was watching Black Lagoon right before this aired, and have come to the conclusion that Light is the younger more rebellious Rock. *nods* I didn't really notice how he changed the way he sounds to fit somebody who is in high school. *claps*

[Master Moron]

I feel bad for Ray too.

This is why I can't root for Light/Kira... because he doesn't just want to kill criminals, he also wants to kil honest policemen/FBI/investigators, etc, who stand in his way... it makes me a little scared to wonder what he'd do if his dad found out.

He already mentioned in an earlier episode that if his family found the deathnote he'd have to kill them.

[Dark Moridin]

Well, another good episode. It isn't often that we see the main character experimenting with their new found powers to see what the extent of them are. Most of the time, the character seems to already know how to use the powers as the moments come upon them. But there is something in the back of my mind that is a tad confusing. Didn't Ryuk just say last episode (and maybe more than just the once) that he isn't going to help Light one way or the other? If that is the case, why did he participate in the bus experiment. Yeah, he was only a bystander, but if he wasn't helping, couldn't he have just stood (or floated) there and not do anything? instead he goes along and helps freak the guy out more with his little performance.

Other than that, I am one of the few who think that Mr. FBI (I forget his name, although that was the point of this experiment) isn't going to die, at least, not anytime soon. I think this was more of a way to find a way around whatever obstical may come his way. Not only that, but Light is more than intelligent enough to know that if Mr. FBI buys the farm while investigating him, he red flags himself to 'L'.

Hopefully we get an episode that features 'L' like this one featured Light. While I like the play of one off the other, this episode seemed a little 'light' on the conflict of mental powers (pardon the pun). I don't know about everyone else, but I like seeing 'L' try to catch up to Light. As Light, to me, is ahead of the game, watching 'L' try to figure out and catch Light seems to be the major draw for me.

[Wolfie~Giri]

Great episode. I always thought it was too risky to allow the guy to see/hear Ryuk before he died. (He could have spilled everything to him about the Death Note and Light being Kira.) But I guess, since Light can control almost all of his victims' actions before they die, he must have already known about something like that... Yeah, I'm underestimating a psychotic genius. :p

Also, I second with everybody that Ryuk is scary, but only when they do a close up on those big olive eyes of his. I mean, if he didn't have those I'd be able to look at the screen without flinching. /:

[NAGATO]

Am I the only one who feels bad for Raye Penber? He already came to a conclusion that Light is not Kira, and now Light has Raye's name and will eventually kill him.

Well, at least Light can craft a decent plan which made me wonder. Did Light scribble the two notes on his own accord, or did the Death Note affect his judgments? I am not exactly sure since he did write that the bus hijacker would "see a phantom." Granted that the guy was a drug addict, but the idea of seeing a phantom is a little implausible unless someone made him think he sees this phantom. This gives me the idea that the Death Note made Light write down those notes, but it seemed a bit strange that Light would depend on the Death Note in that way.

I guess this is a better question on the amount of free will the people surrounding a Death Note victim has.
yea i know but also thats were Light made his biggest mistake by killing ray

[song cycle]

So yet another criminal dies under mysterious circumstances, which L should be able to easily peg as an action of Kira. And since L is supposed to be working with the authorities, he should be able to find out that one of the people on the bus when it happened was someone that was investigating Kira, and another person on the bus was suspected of being Kira. Knowing that, L should be able to conclude that the person being suspected has a very high chance of being Kira, and if he is not, then either someone else on the bus either IS or IS CONNECTED with Kira.

Did I miss something here? Is L so far out of the loop that he cannot put these obvious pieces together? Seems like sloppy storytelling to me ... but obviously this could play out in upcoming episodes.

[Conan-san]

Did I miss something here? Is L so far out of the loop that he cannot put these obvious pieces together? Seems like sloppy storytelling to me ... but obviously this could play out in upcoming episodes.You missed the fact that inspite the fact that L is good, he's still human in so much as he can't be at that point at that time where mr. druggie got CAR'D!ed

[blitzkrieg]

So yet another criminal dies under mysterious circumstances, which L should be able to easily peg as an action of Kira. And since L is supposed to be working with the authorities, he should be able to find out that one of the people on the bus when it happened was someone that was investigating Kira, and another person on the bus was suspected of being Kira. Knowing that, L should be able to conclude that the person being suspected has a very high chance of being Kira, and if he is not, then either someone else on the bus either IS or IS CONNECTED with Kira.

Did I miss something here? Is L so far out of the loop that he cannot put these obvious pieces together? Seems like sloppy storytelling to me ... but obviously this could play out in upcoming episodes.

What is suspicious about, "a drug addict who recently was seen holding up a bank/store/whatever attempting to do it again but starts hallucinating and as a result gets himself killed?"

Also, all the criminals that the police have been aware of have died from heart attacks. This criminal died from being run over by a bus.

Lastly the full extent of Kira's abilities to control people aren't known.

So how exactly is someone rationally suppose to get to point A to point B with that?

[Jacob T. Paschal]

In the English Manga Raye mentioned that he thought the busjacker was on PCP, but I didn't hear him mention so here.

Was this a script change on the Japanese team's behalf, or the English teams's?

[Nanashi]

So why would he kill Ray Penber now that Ray doesn't suspect him? Wouldn't that just make him more suspicious, since Ray is surely going to report the bus incident back?
Firstly, Light has no way of knowing that Raye no longer suspects him.

Secondly, people, don't be so quick to underestimate Light. He's smart enough to figure out his best course of action. He knows what he's doing! Well, usually. Give him a chance to show you what he's got, and have faith that he's not going to do something like kill Raye outside of L's headquarters with a note attached that says, "Sup, L? Here you go. From, Light Yagami. ERR, I MEAN... Kira."

But there is something in the back of my mind that is a tad confusing. Didn't Ryuk just say last episode (and maybe more than just the once) that he isn't going to help Light one way or the other? If that is the case, why did he participate in the bus experiment. Yeah, he was only a bystander, but if he wasn't helping, couldn't he have just stood (or floated) there and not do anything? instead he goes along and helps freak the guy out more with his little performance.
"Because it was fun!" would probably be Ryuk's response. But seriously, Ryuk isn't really trying to help when he's freaking the guy out. Ryuk's just creepy in general. He was pretty much just calmly walking forward while talking to himself. It's not like he was trying to be openly intimidating.

He's not gonna help Light, sure. But he's not going to do anything AGAINST Light either. He's just along for the ride.

Anyway, if he had tried to look friendly and unintimidating to the bus jacker, wouldn't that have been helping L's cause?

[shany94a]

At first it wasn't so creepy - but for some reason, I just realized how frightening the idea of Ryuk being around all the time is. In your room, talking to you, watching you sleep with his massive, never-blinking eyes and a wide maw of razor sharp teeth...

*shivers*

I don't blame the drug addict for emptying his gun and then rushing off the bus to get squashed instead of having to face Ryuk - poor dumb slob probably thought all his sins had caught up with him ... At least Ryuk had fun ...

[Mr. Ralph]

At first it wasn't so creepy - but for some reason, I just realized how frightening the idea of Ryuk being around all the time is. In your room, talking to you, watching you sleep with his massive, never-blinking eyes and a wide maw of razor sharp teeth...

*shivers*

do you think he follows light into the bathroom?:sad:

[Beefy]

I applaud Light for declining Ryuk's offer of shinigami eyes.

However, if things get desperate enough, I can see Light crawling back to get those eyes.

[Cheetatron]

Regardless of who I'm rooting for , gota give Light cudos for not going the easy route.

Even if he's a deranged maniac, he's at least willing to do this full assed.

And, once again, Scott McNeil pulls in another great preformance as Kiichiro Osoreda (The bus jacker)That was Scott Mcneil? Wow I never would have guessed

[Conan-san]

That was Scott Mcneil? Wow I never would have guessedyou couln't tell from the slight new york accent twinge he had?

[Draven]

Its definately interesting to have a main character who's evil.

I find anime kind of does that a lot, main characters who aren't quite "good guys" but never quite to this degree. Light has moments of a main-villan mindset at times, right down to that confident smirk. Which IS interesting, I agree.

But you DO bring up an interesting point. Could Light be considered evil? It's debatable certaintly, but yeah, I suppose he could. I mean, for one thing, everybody has their own version of a pefect world. So, if Light got his wish, Light's perfect world would hardly include anybody, because after all the criminals, are gone, Light will reign over that world as it's god, and who would dig that? Not many, so there THEY go, leaving only the people who share Light's ideals... and given the information on how Light feels about the Justice system, sounds like Republicans....a world full of Republicans is NOT perfect.

Also, another moment I found interesting...

When Ryuk became visible to the Bus Jacker, Ryuk COULD have killed him, couldn't he? He can interact with things in the human world, but instead was more fasinacted by the fact the Bus Jacker could now see him.

But I suppose it would look strange for the Bus Jacker to suddendly be ripped apart from the viewpoint of the other passangers, and Ryuk was in NO danger, so he didn't have to do anything anyway. But he still COULD have.

[MeggieMay]

you couln't tell from the slight new york accent twinge he had?

Except it wasn't Scott McNeil but Brian Dobson according to a poster at AnimeOnDVD http://www.animeondvd.com/forum/showtopic.php?tid/23997/tp/3/ (middle to end of the page). It's also mentioned that Scott McNeil isn't in Death Note at all. This seems to have come from a podcast that can be found here http://trevordevall.com/

[veemonjosh]

When Ryuk became visible to the Bus Jacker, Ryuk COULD have killed him, couldn't he? He can interact with things in the human world, but instead was more fasinacted by the fact the Bus Jacker could now see him.

But I suppose it would look strange for the Bus Jacker to suddendly be ripped apart from the viewpoint of the other passangers, and Ryuk was in NO danger, so he didn't have to do anything anyway. But he still COULD have.

Actually, he couldn't...

One of the major Shinigami rules says that, if a shinigami kills a human without using the Death Note, they'll be executed immediately by the Shinigami King.

Btw, this isn't a spoiler that comes up directly in the series. It's explained in one of the rules that'll probably be in a eyecatcher.

[Freedom Fighter]

So it's not in Light's best interests to take the deal, huh? Unless it offered flight, at least. But at least it gave Light the motivation to test the limits of the Death Note... and to figure out who the guy tailing him is.

And boy, what motivation it must of been, because he draws in an admirer and a greedy busjacker into the ploy. Speaking of which... man, I think that's the most gruesome portrayal of someone getting hit by a car I've ever seen.

And this FBI agent, Ray Pember? Little does he know he should be fearing for his life right now...

"Pursuit": 4/5.

[Draven]

Speaking of which... man, I think that's the most gruesome portrayal of someone getting hit by a car I've ever seen.

That wet *SPLAT* sound is what really sold it.