You know, I feel if Light got Migi and Shinichi got the Death Note both series might have been a lot shorter.

[Maurice Watched Death Note! And doesn't have much else to say in introduction!]

Misa seems to be more canny than I (or apparently Light) was expecting. L seems to be taking this at face value, which is worrying.
-Nope, he’s considering the possibility of an extra message.

Light’s pretending to have a girlfriend! This should be hilarious. Presumably she goes to a different school, we wouldn’t know her. She totally works as a model, though, yeah, man it’s a shame you guys can’t meet her.
-“I’m 18 and I’m in university, of course I have a girlfriend.” OW MY FEELINGS.
-Still lives with his mum though. [Edit: As I post this I am also living with my mum again. Bah.]

More for the ‘Misa is more competent than she seems’ pool. Although this seems a little overplanned, in that there’s too many clues. Better to just meet in an anonymous place that has no connection to notebooks, surely?

Wow, Light is totally dominating the dynamic with the police dude. Good manipulating.
-And really good that it lets Ryuk be seen without instantly identifying Light as Kira, didn’t spot that.
-And I also didn’t twig that Misa’s earlier comment about not being able to see her own lifespan was relevant! Wow, way to outplay Light, Misa.

“The Death Note will be rendered useless if the victim’s name is misspelled four times.” Is that useless in general or just against that person? Is it ‘the victim’s name, is misspelled four times’ or ‘the victim’s name is misspelled, four times’? Hmm…

Er, wow, Misa now has kind of a huge advantage over Light. Yikes. And the police now know that Fake Kira knows who Kira is – which I’m sure will get them to pursue Fake Kira even more. And another point of suspicion towards Light from L.

And I can see where this is going… “Hey Light, is this your girlfriend?” etc. etc. (As a side note, I’m still enjoying Misa’s dizzying range of outfits.)
-Oh Misa, revealing your name when you know what the Death Note can do better than anyone? Bad plan.

Other than that though, wow, Misa is a lot more intelligent than we imagined. As she says, she thinks things through before doing them.
-Apart from wanting to help Kira, of course. And I honestly don’t think she even considered taking out some pages from the Death Note just in case. (Shows the difference in deviousness between Light and Misa, I guess.)

Dramatic hug! Light gets a Perky Female Minion™!

[Maurice Watched Death Note! And laughed his goddamn ass off, apparently.]

Why does Light need to be the first to figure out the impostor again? Is it just so they don’t get the secrets of the Death Note? Because he doesn’t know that they know there’s two Kiras, so really he shouldn’t mind… hmm. I guess he doesn’t plan to stop even once they catch Fake Kira so they’ll end up using the information anyway. OK, I get it.

Does the Death Note work using partial names? For instance, just using ‘Light’ rather than ‘Light Yagami’? Because if so Light really should have picked another name for the task force.

Wait what? If Light says there’s a second suspect he’s cleared of suspicion? Considering that if he is Kira he’s guaranteed to know, and if he isn’t he might work it out, if anything he would come to the conclusion that there wasn’t only if he was innocent. Of course, that’s taking it at face value, but then again he has no reason to lie if he’s innocent, whereas he may either ‘deduct’ the true conclusion or feign ignorance if he’s guilty. Bah. I hate that Death Note makes me a paranoid bastard like this.
-Hmm. Something seems up with L’s theorising, but whevs. Let’s enjoy the mental fireworks!
-Ooh, and Light saw that it was a test. It doesn’t seem like he thought it through enough, though…
-Oh snap, L wants Light, who is Kira, to pretend to be Kira to fool the Kira who is only pretending to be Kira! Kirakirakira. That’s a really smart move by L.

Holy crap, Misa is Sid from Toy Story. (Liking her character more, btw, although I’d be lying if I said the stockings and long T-shirt had nothing to do with it.)

I like the difference in font between the task force’s ‘fake’ Kira, the Fake Kira, and Watari. I wonder why those three in particular were chosen.

I like how jumpy Light gets when Fake Kira mentions the Eyes. Hah, it’s like Light’s trying to do a professional mastermind job and Misa is messing it up by being so perky and enthusiastic.
-Massive, glorious loss when Fake Kira mentions Shinigami. Oh man, facepalm so hard. I bet Light wishes he hadn’t teased L with all that suicide note stuff now.
-Huh. Well, that image of L falling off his chair was what I thought Y qlvat jbhyq ybbx yvxr. Qnza. V jnf cerggl fher… bu jryy. V pna erghea gb univat ab tbqqnza pyhr jura naq ubj Y jvyy qvr. And he’s onto the existence of shinigami!
--Boom, I thought the shinigami talk in the suicide notes would be mentioned again.
-And the plan to trap Fake Kira by allowing the real Kira to do stuff and also build a case against himself is on! And if Light, knowing that he can’t send an actual message because that would build evidence, stays silent, then Fake Kira might reveal more sensitive info. Yaharr, L kicks ass.

More shinigami lore, holy shit, wasn’t expecting that. So there’s a king? Not many shinigami know how to kill other shinigami? There’s a WAY to kill shinigami? This is all interesting stuff.
-WHAT. Erm. I’m calling bullshit. There’s no way that’s the actual method.
-Is that the voice of Mr. Kimura [from Azumanga Daioh]? (It wasn’t.)
-Right, so it’s not so much the love as it’s the denial of fate. The way to kill a shinigami is just to get them to extend someone’s life beyond that fated. Love has nothing to do with it. (Although I’m not sure how one would coerce a shinigami into doing anything. Withholding apples, maybe?)
-Huh, didn’t think that it was Misa. (I guess that’s why she didn’t mind cutting her lifespan in half for the Eyes.)

[Maurice Watched Death Note! Oh, excuse me. Maurice Watched DEATH. And once again tried to claim he knew things all along when he'd clearly written down that he didn't!]

Hm, looking less likely that the tapes were sent by anyone other than Light. (And confirmation that this is not a game of L’s.)

A news anchor. Surely killing this diabolical villain will help bring Light’s perfect world into being. Just think, he could have shown us a puppy expo, and then where would we be!

So Light (or whoever is sending the tapes, although it’s looking pretty likely that it’s him) is trying to make this a big open social issue now? From what I remember he already had a cult following.

Oh dear. The police dude’s dead now, as well. (And now Kira is a cop killer. I’m no strategist, but having the police force angry at you probably isn’t a good plan.)

I do like how L’s questioning his assumptions even though we know them to be right. I guess he just needs to sort out whether Kira is only now dropping a limit, if he in fact knows the task force’s names, or if police dude was killed some other way. (I think it might be significant that we haven’t heard from Light yet this episode…)

Damn, Light’s dad’s badass. (And maintains correct trigger discipline too.)

I’m actually leaning towards this being some kind of gas attack. Maybe.

Epic phone switching! L makes everything cool.

I wonder, if Light’s dad exits the building from the front unharmed, would L consider that weak evidence for Light’s guilt? Because Light wouldn’t want to hurt his dad?

Or L can organise this totally badass show of solidarity from the police. That’s pretty cool, this whole sequence kicked ass.

Boom, thought it was someone other than Light! Although I’d forgotten about the Shinigami Eyes. Wow, this could give L a headache.
-Or L could figure it all out immediately. Daayum.
-And he’s playing his usual games with Light. No doubt Light will suspect them to be hunting the fake (based on the evidence they’re using?) but it’ll mean more I KNOW YOU KNOW I KNOW stuff. Yay.

AW SHIT SON. Yeah, little does Misa suspect that rather than Kira being kind his immediate reaction was ‘nope, you can go ahead and die now, I want more flirting with L’. (The first voice acting I’m not a huge fan of. Maybe it’ll grow on me? I do like Misa’s adorably bonkers character so far.)

[Maurice Watched Death Note! And for once in his goddamn life admitted he wasn't smart enough to understand something.]

Ah. Tennis. Genius. (Probably?) L’s face still cracks me up.

British? Then why do you have an American accent, Dub L? No-one comments on his ethnicity in Japan, so maybe he’s Japanese-British. I guess his story is possible…
-Yeah, nothing in that story helps at all. (It’s amazing how little any story helps when literally anything could be a lie.)

Hah, I love how Ryuk dodges the tennis ball. Excellent.

Commissioner Gordon looks a little unshaven there. I do like this anime’s attention to detail.

What the shit is going through these two guys’ heads while playing, haha. It’s a just a game, relax! (I thought Light was a better actor than this? Surely he could just imagine what he’d do if he were simply Light.) Although I do like how simply L can get Light flustered.
-Like when he cuts the bullshit and just says straight out that he suspects Light is Kira. (Still love his slouch.)

40%? Uh. OK, L. (What?) Does he have his case notes written on his knees or something?

Hrm. Some shenanigans is going on here. At this point I’m going to admit that I’m not smart enough to work out what L’s trying to do, unless it’s just to keep needling Light for the fun of it (which, to be fair, I can get behind). So only Kira would know that it’s a fake, maybe, unless L thinks Light could deduce that (or should be able to deduce that) anyway based on… fuck, something. So if Light calls it a fake, he’s not Kira since Kira would want to give the impression he didn’t know it wasn’t a fake… this is getting into levels here.
-Or it’s just L trolling Light after all.
-Or L then goes on to establish that Light actually is a really good detective, and should have figured it out. Is that what’s going on with him praising Light over the other detectives?

“About 3% now.” Haha, brilliant.
-“Make that 7%.” Especially since L just told Light he was going to introduce him to the task force. (Or have him help the investigation and the task force is the most efficient way to do that.)
--Boom, L noticed that too!

OH. SHIT.
-If this is a genuine heart attack (due to stress – see the unshaven bit earlier) Kira has no plausible deniability, and Light… well, technically he always has an alibi but this time even more so, not to mention that the prior improbability of him killing his own father is much lower than someone else being Kira. Goddamn Light is lucky, if it’s genuine. (If it isn’t, fuck you, Light.)
-I guess it depends on whether it’s fatal or not. If it isn’t, L might distract himself wondering if this is some new game of Kira’s or if it’s genuine, or if Light’s dad can resist the effect somehow. Hmm. Let’s see what happens!
-Right, non-fatal then. Let L’s theorising begin! (Also, called it about the stress.)
-Light’s mind, blown. OMG, the totally competent guy with pictures of the suicide notes and who knows loads of stuff about the Kira case is L, or at least L’s proxy with the police! Whodathunkit!
-Hmm, not so sure on Light’s dad’s “You can’t get true happiness by killing people” thing. For all that I’m sceptical of Light’s ‘kill all the baddies’ project, I think it’s also a mistake to say that killing is never the best thing to do.

Light seems to be getting a bit desperate, on the surface at least. But it’s good that L didn’t take him up on his offer.

“I need pictures! Pictures of Kira-Man! Kira: Threat or Menace!”
-So I wonder if Light really did send those tapes and message, or if it’s some play by L?

[Maurice Watched Death Note! And is really having trouble remembering the actual episodes beyond what I wrote down months ago! And, um, might not be around past episode 15 because I never finished the series and don't have reactions pre-written. Maybe I'll get enough time to watch along with you guys? I dunno.]

Light’s newest scheme seems like it’ll take a lot of memory power to pull off. Well, I suppose he’s never lacked for mental faculties. Also note how these minor criminals are just being used as a means to an end. Anything is justifiable as long as it stops him getting caught. He’s hardly helping the world much (if at all) by killing these low-level punks. Chalk it up to his hypocrisy.

I actually really like L’s voice acting while he reasons things out about Kira. He sounds like an audiobook. (I really don’t know why people don’t like dubs.) I still agree with his assessment of Kira’s personality.

I wonder if the cameras/recording equipment can catch anything of Ryuk? Like, EVP or tape distortion? It’d be an interesting idea, but I suppose it won’t be part of the show. What I imagine Ryuk’s doing is basically projecting an image and sound through the Death Note to those who have touched it, which happens to coincide with Ryuk’s consciousness – his body’s not actually present or making any sound whatsoever, it’s just that Light thinks he’s there and for all purposes he is. This is how he phases through things and is imperceptible to others. But then where do the apples go?

I find it interesting that (at least in the dub) Light uses euphemisms like ‘eliminate’ or ‘get rid of’ when he’s talking about murdering L. Does he do this for criminals as well? I need to keep an ear out for how he refers to it.

Oh man, L is taking the exam too? Still my favourite character.

Wait, Light’s just suddenly in university now? Okay.
-Hahah, I love how L is eyeballing Light. So did L actually go so far as to enter the university, under a pop idol’s name no less?
-I disagree, Kyouko has excellent taste. L ftw.
-It’s fantastic how L never ever sits properly in a chair. He’s like Gollum crossed with Sherlock Holmes.
-Just bluntly comes out and says that he’s L, with that ridiculous look on his face. Brilliant!
-“Don’t act surprised!” Well, considering that you’ve been monologuing for about a minute, you’ve stiffened up, and your hair has turned red, I’d say L might have already figured out something’s up.

Light’s sister is taking a potato chip! And eating it!

Hah, Light’s rage at being able to do jack shit is fantastic.

Wait, so you can only kill someone whose name is written in the Death Note? No matter what? So even if a guy killed himself by unleashing an incredibly virulent disease in a crowded area, miraculously no-one would be hurt? Hmm. Has Light actually tested that?

Light’s utterly stupid face when he full-on laughs cracks me up.

Ah, so he can say that he wants to kill L.

I suppose - I guess the camera technology isn't/wasn't advanced enough to pick up just what LIght was writing. Because seeing him him compiling long lists of the names of criminals (or, excuse me, 'criminals') who later die would be, well, incredibly suspicious!

[Maurice Watched Death Note! And finally witnessed the fabled potato chip scene!]

L is on the case regarding Ray Penber. I like that everyone there looks absolutely exhausted (except L, who has huge bags under his eyes anyway). What type of ice cream are they eating? It looks like mint or pistachio – either way it’s more evidence that L is a bit odd.

Love L’s police dude impersonation. (I’m going to have to reread the BB murder case again, aren’t I? Actually, do I still have it? Hrm.) So Naomi Misora’s definitely dead then? Fuck. I guess this means I’ll have to find a new second-favourite character. And L’s pool of suspects narrows even further.

Heh. Ryuk just got burned. (Do female shinigami even exist?)

Commissioner Gordon might just be that new second-favourite character. Dude’s got dedication to agree to surveillance of his own family. He must really trust his family, or else he’s willing to accept the consequences if one of them turns out to be Kira. Either way, he’s a good dude.

Light already suspects something? That’s... kind of irritating. I get that he’s competent but come on. But, I guess there wouldn’t be much of a story if he was caught the very next day. Curses.
-Fair enough, I guess he earned it. (I wonder why it annoys me so much? I never have this problem when Dexter evades justice.)
-Lol, Ryuk has to stop eating apples. (I also noticed this problem straight away, wahey!)

Well, I was going to say that it was kind of dumb for Light to have teased L with the apple information… except that now he’s got a motivated shinigami looking for blind spots in his house. (But how is Ryuk going to get the apples into those blind spots? He can’t do it himself obviously, and Light can’t just put apples in a random place for no reason. He could pretend to eat them himself, except that it’d be noticeable that he always chooses blind spots to eat his apples.)
-Spider-Ryuk, Spider-Ryuk, looks wherever a spider looks…
-You know, it’s kind of unrealistic for a 17-year-old to just look at dirty magazines, while unobserved in his room. Unless he really is reading it for the articles. I guess we can thank TV censors for something, at least, that would be really uncomfortable. [Edit: maybe he's ace? It didn't occur before, but we haven't seen any kind of romance from Light so far naq hc gb rcvfbqr svsgrra abg jvgu Zvfn rvgure so maybe?]
-Ooh, does L suspect Light in particular now? This could make things interesting. Also, was that announcement just for those two families, or on both the channels they were watching? I assume the first one, since otherwise Kira could simply have seen it by chance.

Wait, is this the potato chip scene?

“He didn’t have any qualms about putting a death row inmate in his place”. No, sorry, you don’t get to feel angry on behalf of the person that you, personally, killed. It doesn’t work that way.

Writing has never been so awesome! (Also lol at Ryuk in the background.)

Weeeey, it IS the potato chip scene! Wonderful. (How does he know the camera can’t see him looking at the news thingy inside the bag, though? It doesn’t seem like the kind of thing you’d do naturally. And if he’s still writing in the Death Note wouldn’t the cameras pick that up if there’s so many of them? The desk seems a silly spot to miss surveillance of.

Kira’s going after purse snatchers and white-collar criminals now? Check out his grand vision, everybody.
-A-hah, L thinks it’s suspicious as well.

[Maurice Watched Death Note! And was right about something! AND REALLY WISHED HE WASN'T]

Asking if anyone else knows about a brilliant theory as to who a hidden enemy is, or if you’ve told anyone else your suspicions = one great big red warning flag. Or at least it should be.
-Fair play to Light, though, this is ballsy as fuck. I didn’t realise he manipulated ‘Maki’ into telling him the spelling as well until just now.
-I also like how Light is brown haired, but when he’s being Kira? GINGER ALL UP IN HERE.
-Ryuk is laughing because he knows (through shinigami eyes) that ‘Maki’ lied about her name. Nice.
-^ Con-fucking-firmed! I like getting some things right.
-I enjoy Light’s utter panic at the situation he’s in. I don’t enjoy the direction his thoughts are taking.

So Watari is Alfred to L’s Batman? World’s Greatest Detective indeed…
-New and shiny fake IDs! A reasonable precaution.

I think ‘Maki’ suspects that Light is Kira. Maybe Ray told her who he was following after all? Although he didn’t seem to want her anywhere near the case.
-Light’s still following her! Didn’t she tell him off once already?

Okay, that was one whopper of a lie. Brilliant. Oscar-winning performance right there. On the other hand, ‘Maki’ is probably too sharp to buy it, or at least won’t just give up there. (And how is Light planning to spin this into learning her real name?)
-Hah. She definitely suspects something. Definitely second-favourite character, and she’s catching up to L. (Though I still don’t know her name!)
-Hmm, I wonder if Light will accidentally stall ‘Maki’ long enough for Aizawa to get to the station, so that ‘Maki’ can then talk to him (and prove Light a liar).
-Oh dear. ‘FBI agent, worked on case involving L two years ago, quit FBI three months ago’ is a lot easier to get a name for than ‘anonymous woman’. Assuming she isn’t lying like she did about her name, but it seems plausible based on what we know so far.
-Wow, and the ridiculous, incredible lies just keep coming. It’s a good thing ‘Maki’’s off balance and can’t get away from Light to think things through – once she starts investigating properly that story must have a lot of holes, and pretty much all of it is based only on Light’s testimony.
-OH. SHIT. So damn close! (Wait, is this another fake name? GOD I HOPE SO.)
-FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

(Maurice Watched Death Note! Naq jnf npghnyyl evtug nobhg fbzrguvat! As always, it's my mind-spew written down while watching the episode.)

So, Police Chump, what did you think L would be like? And the police know even more about the Death Note’s (apparent) limitations. And it’s believable detective stuff, too.

L takes his coffee like mine. Also the bags under his eyes are similar. I’m guessing ‘Ryuzaki’ is just another layer of protection? Why bother?

I immediately got that he didn’t hesitate to kill whom he thought was L. I didn’t notice that he confined himself to Japan after he was confirmed to be there, though. (To be fair we almost never see outside of Japan in anime, so it didn’t register that that might be important in any way.) And, wow, L’s analysis of Kira’s thought process is dead on.

Light identifies his incriminating factor, the bus incident. (I also hadn’t twigged that killing all the agents would prevent L from guessing Kira’s identity that easily. I feel silly for assuming that was what was going on.) And, oh shit son, Penbles’ fiancée is already investigating that! Huehuehuehuehue. Light also seems to be following L’s reasoning, and anticipating where his actions will be scrutinised the most.

L now has a very narrow pool of suspects indeed. And a team of motivated detectives to help out (and divert attention?). And… a plan.

I did notice that as far as the police/L know, Kira can only do heart attacks. (Just saying, I still think the circumstances-altering is way more useful than just killing, and this is partly why, although to be fair Light had to use the basic vanilla function a lot to get that deniability.) And now Penbles’ fiancée has guessed that, wahey! (Second favourite character, and I’ll really have to learn her name at some point.)

Dammit, Light, you lucky fuck. Stumbled into an important piece of information, and knows that someone else is onto him. I guess luck is an important factor on both sides, but I really wanted Penbles’ fiancée to move around unknown for a little more. Light pulls it back a bit by being the most manipulative slimy fuck to interfere.

OK, her name is Maki. Unfortunately it looks like she’ll be dead before long. *Sigh*, well played, Light. I wonder why everyone isn’t more careful about giving out their names in general at this point? And volunteering information that she’s worked out like it’s a free-for-all of facts! I guess it’s more reasonable than it seems since we do know
Light is Kira and for all Maki knows he’s just the police chief’s son, but still. And then “I don’t think anyone else knows this yet”. Yep, she’s doomed.
-Which is a shame since she’s really very competent. That’s a pretty good deduction, made for all the right reasons, and then she just goes and spills all of the goddamn beans to exactly the wrong person.
-In fact, this doesn’t add up, she was way too careful when investigating to carelessly give out her name, especially when she knows exactly – better than anyone – what Kira can do. I think she gave out a fake name. Which is good because she won’t die. But bad because I still don’t know her name. Dammit.
-There isn’t anyone called Maki in the cast list.