Anime Death Note TV

[Sandy]

Episode 12 with subtitles can now be found on YouTube. It really was a great episode, it moved the plot forwards as well as revealed new details about the setting. And Misa is just a great, great character with her dual personality (on one side a cheery model, on the other side a murderous goth chick). She's black-and-white as opposed to Light's varying shades of grey.

What comes to Light, I have to admit that I'm his fan, whereas L doesn't really get my sympathies. There's just something about Light that appeals to me - maybe it's his "righteous evil" that I've mentioned before, sugarcoated with good looks. ;D

As for L, I see him as a mouse of a boy lost in grown-ups world - out-of-place and helpless. I don't hate him, he's quite intriguing as a character, but something in him just radiates the "fangirl-service cute bishi poser" -aura. :P

[Ezekiel]

[QUOTE=Sandy]
As for L, I see him as a mouse of a boy lost in grown-ups world - out-of-place and helpless. I don't hate him, he's quite intriguing as a character, but something in him just radiates the "fangirl-service cute bishi poser" -aura. :P[/QUOTE]

[SIZE=1]D: You have made a fangirl sad today, sir.

I love L because he's so mysterious and never lets people really know what's going on. Light is shown less subtly and we have an exact idea of what he wants and how he plans to get it, but L seems for more complex. Also, I loved it in episode 11 [SPOILER]where L shows a small amount of emotion by gripping his jeans really tight. That was somehow really sad, for me.[/SPOILER]

I really like Light as well, though, but Misa just gets on my nerves. I haven't seen her in the series properly yet, but from the manga I couldn't stand her from the word go. Perhaps they've changed her a little in the series.[/SIZE]

[Ikillion]

[color=#d2b43b][SIZE=1][FONT=Trebuchet MS]Eh, Episode 12 was good and all. L's[spoiler]Zomg Shinigami?!?[/spoiler] scene was funny and all but to me it seemd a bit to forced for its own good. It could be because of the picture in my mind of what L is suppose to be like, and his whole scene broke that. The only thing htat I can even think of for his scene would be that he had some kind of a tramatic expirence with a Shinigami before. But, that then leaves the case of how does one go about to have a tramautic expirence with a shinigami.

What makes me laugh alot in this series is the iron in the form of. [spoiler]I wonder what the other Kira is like, I hope S/he is cool." Yet there are less than a couple of feet away from each other.

And for those of you who have read ahead,[spoiler] Will Rem eventually give her life up for Misa in some way? I have a feeling that the foreshadowing in the whole Jealous incident that Rem will go as well. That is if Rem is a male and if she's not then...yeah[/spoiler]

PS. [spoiler]Misa's Room scares me :nervous: [/spoiler][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Dagger]

[QUOTE=Sandy]
As for L, I see him as a mouse of a boy lost in grown-ups world - out-of-place and helpless. I don't hate him, he's quite intriguing as a character, but something in him just radiates the "fangirl-service cute bishi poser" -aura. :P[/QUOTE]
Wow! It's interesting that you should say this. In the manga, many readers were shocked when his face and form were originally revealed, because instead of having typical bishounen looks like Light, he just seemed slovenly. The artist tried to make him look weird. Of course, now that people are used to his face (and he's found loads of fans anyway, haha), it doesn't have as much of an impact.

Apparently something similar happened with Ryuk--originally the artist and writer were going to make him a bishounen type, but in the end they found a grotesque character design to be more satisfying.

I think you'd like the guy in Ezekiel's avatar, but he might not even appear in the anime version. :animesigh

[QUOTE=Ikillion][color=#d2b43b][SIZE=1][FONT=Trebuchet MS]
And for those of you who have read ahead,[spoiler] Will Rem eventually give her life up for Misa in some way? I have a feeling that the foreshadowing in the whole Jealous incident that Rem will go as well. That is if Rem is a male and if she's not then...yeah[/spoiler][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/QUOTE]

Since you asked vaguely, I'll answer vaguely. (Others should watch out, as there are [b]future spoilers[/b] here-->) [spoiler]Rem is definitely female (or as close to being female as any shinigami can get... but she loves Misa anyway.[/spoiler]

~Dagger~

[demonboy]

[quote name='Ikillion][color=#d2b43b][SIZE=1][FONT=Trebuchet MS]And for those of you who have read ahead,[spoiler] Will Rem eventually give her life up for Misa in some way? I have a feeling that the foreshadowing in the whole Jealous incident that Rem will go as well. That is if Rem is a male and if she's not then...yeah[/spoiler][/FONT][/SIZE'][/COLOR][/quote]
Okay, since Dagger kindly answered with a vague reply, I'll offer a more specific one, but [b]beware, people who do not want to be massively spoiled should not read ahead[/b]........ [spoiler]While it seems that shinigami don't have a gender, and can't reproduce, Rem can be seen as having much more feminine traits than most shinigami.[/spoiler] ZOMG MORE INTENSE SPOILERS AHEAD--------- [spoiler]Light takes advantage of this, because Rem develops a sort of motherly bond with Misa, and eventually gets it so that either Misa gets captured and possibly executed as the second Kira, or L dies.[/spoiler] SERIOUSLY, SPOILERS HERE, BIG ONES--------- [spoiler]So within a certain amount of time, Rem chooses to protect Misa and writes down as many of the names that are unknown, and in the way of Misa's protection in the time that it takes for her to weaken to the point of crumbling, which it seems was only L and Watari.[/spoiler]

[inactive]

Episode 12 was a great episode. Very interesting to see [spoiler]Light interacting with the "Kira Team"[/spoiler], and to hear his reactions on everything.

Yup, that had to be the most dramatic [spoiler]fall-out-of-a-chair-at-the-mention-of-Shinigami[/spoiler] stunt I've ever seen. Ha ha, L. What a drama queen. Priceless. :bellylol:

Misa, while very interesting, I find myself strangling in my mind. I just find her extremely annoying. Entertaining, yet annoying... Does that make sense? It's quite interesting to see the contrast between the gothic Misa and the model Misa. But I think I'd have a nervous breakdown if I had to spend the night in that room of hers.

The story about [spoiler]Jealous[/spoiler] was actually surprisingly touching. In my opinion they've done a great job of introducing Misa into the series.

As for L, I love how weird looking he is! Tee, hee... What a guy, eh?

[Sandy]

[QUOTE=medafunk]
As for L, I love how weird looking he is! Tee, hee... What a guy, eh?[/QUOTE]
Does [I]this[/I] prove my theory about L being a fangirl-service character, Dagger? ;P

I admit that Light fits the bishounen-stereotype in [I]appearance[/I] better, but then again, his looks don't stand out in the world of anime at all. Normal face, medium-sized eyes, brown short hair... Isn't every other anime protagonist like that? And I'm not even going to his personality.

My point is, L is different and he's cutesy, and he poses which Light does not do, so L's the one bound to make fangirls giddy. Despite those ghastly eyes.

[Dagger]

Before I launch into my reply, here's a little something just for fun.

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/DaggerIX1/light_ryuk_kasvoswappi.jpg[/IMG]

[quote name='Sandy']Isn't every other anime protagonist like that? And I'm not even going to his personality.[/quote]
That's exactly what I'm saying. If they wanted L to automatically be a fangirl-bait character, they would've given him conventional good looks like Light. I don't know how many times I've seen Light fans essentially excuse his behavior because he's hot and does villainous things with style. You see Light-esque faces in countless anime and manga because they're guaranteed to bring in fans.

Lelouch, the main character of Code Geass, has a few key similarities to Light in terms of personality and his role in his series. He, too, has the typical clean, sharp bishounen face and devious expressions, and--no surprise here--he's become a massively popular character. Even though L is very well-liked among DN characters, though, there haven't been any serious attempts to duplicate his popularity in other anime or manga. It's because the DN manga-ka did something so singular and unexpected with his character design and demeanor that rip-offs would be way too obvious.

I never meant to suggest that L doesn't have fangirls [I]now[/I]; in the live-action movies, his role was so popular that he's getting his own spin-off film. But his appeal is unconventional, especially for a purportedly "good" character. To draw what might be a clearer analogy, Misa (bless her little heart) is fanboy bait through and through. Her perkiness, her gothloli taste in clothing, etc., are all traits known to make fanboys feel warm and fuzzy inside. Now, if she were an androgynous, antisocial, subdued, intellectual--come up with your own combination of unexpected traits for a shounen manga heroine--type of character, then her popularity would be more akin to L's, in that it would be somewhat surprising.

Another thing to consider is that eccentricity is a hallmark of literary detectives. Sherlock Holmes, famed for his precise methods, is a cocaine addict. Hercule Poirot is a short, plump, egotistical Belgian with a mustache the size of a ferret. Miss Marple is a sweet, fluffy, elderly lady with a mind like a steel trap. Or, for a more modern example, look at Monk (from the eponymous TV show). His salient trait is his OCD-derived obsession with cleanliness.

L, with his food fixation and his poses, fits perfectly into this pattern--but you'd be hard-pressed to find a similar detective anywhere else in anime/manga. I guess the closest you might get is Conan Edogawa, who happens to be a teenager trapped in a child's body, but in every other respect (including how he acts and thinks), he's totally normally for an anime detective. Kindaichi (Kindaichi Case Files), Ayumu (Spiral), Kyu & company (Detective Academy Q) are all clean-cut, socially acceptable, ordinary-seeming young men. Even the recent Poirot & Marple anime "sanitized" Agatha Christie's classic characters by ironing out their eccentricities.

If DN's creators had just wanted to make sure that L would gain a fanbase comparable to that of Light, then they would have patterned him after the detectives found in established, highly successful detective manga (Spiral, Conan, Kindaichi and Q all fall squarely into this category). But they didn't play it safe--and boy, am I ever glad for that. Anime could use more characters that break out of the expected norm. Heck, the other day I was looking at the cover of my copy of FFXII and was rather disturbed to realize that virtually all of the playable characters have the same coloring. They could all be siblings or something. Creepy.

Generally speaking, you don't create iconic characters by going with the established bishounen (or whatever) norm. L ended up becoming a popular and memorable character because DN's creators took risks with him, not because they sat around trying to design a character that would rope in as many fangirls as possible.

~Dagger~

[bellpickle]

[SIZE=1]I agree that the creators took a risk with L's character design, but I think they definitely had fangirls in mind when creating some of his personality quirks. Most of his eccentrities, from his eating habits to his decidedly cutesy sitting pose to his weirdly adorable facial expressions, are all things that appeal primarily to girls and make him loveable, despite him having "psycho eyes." That's what separates L from the weirdo detective who regularly defrosts his refrigerator--the fact that his quirks make him more cute than strange.

Add the fact that he's on the "good" side, and he makes a great alternative for the girls who think Light is too big of a jerk to fangirl over.[/SIZE]

[Dagger]

[quote name='bellpickle][SIZE=1']I agree that the creators took a risk with L's character design, but I think they definitely had fangirls in mind when creating some of his personality quirks. Most of his eccentrities, from his eating habits to his decidedly cutesy sitting pose to his weirdly adorable facial expressions, are all things that appeal primarily to girls and make him loveable, despite him having "psycho eyes." Add the fact that he's on the "good" side, and he makes a great alternative for the girls who think Light is too big of a jerk to fangirl over.[/SIZE][/quote]
The cute-icizing of L kind of started to creep in after the fact, though, didn't it? Then again, the grin he delivers with "seigi wa kanarazu katsu" comes pretty early on, so maybe my memory is just haywire. By the time you get to the [spoiler]handcuffs,[/spoiler] it's obvious that fanservice of [i]some[/i] sort or another is going on, of course... :p

I said that other series haven't tried to create L-clones, but that was a little thoughtless, as the introduction of [spoiler]Near and Mello[/spoiler] was an obvious attempt on the part of DN's creators to continue capitalizing on L's popularity. It worked to a certain extent, but there was also a sizeable backlash, [spoiler]especially in the case of poor Near. By the end, they succeeded in differentiating him from L, but it was a pretty bumpy road.[/spoiler]

The main point of distinction, I think, is that whereas they knew exactly what they were doing with [spoiler]Near and Mello and had them demonstrating key characteristics & oddities from the first chapter in which they came in,[/spoiler] L's portrayal didn't quite settle down until a while after his face was revealed. It's as if they were still feeling out L's weird traits (beyond his appearance), which became more pronounced as the series goes on.

~Dagger~

[Ezekiel]

[SIZE=1][QUOTE=Dagger]Before I launch into my reply, here's a little something just for fun.

I never meant to suggest that L doesn't have fangirls [I]now[/I]; in the live-action movies, his role was so popular that he's getting his own spin-off film.

~Dagger~[/QUOTE]

My brain just imploded. After watching the first DN movie and falling in love with L's character for the trillionth time, this makes me very happy.

Also, that picture is terrifying.


Just thought I'd add my two cents in, as an L fangirl. I adore him not because of the way he looks but because of his personality, intelligence and actions. I think the creators were probably keeping that in mind when they designed him. I mean, just look at [B]Rock Lee[/B] from Naruto--he has some of the craziest fangirls I've ever come across. He's by far [I]my[/I] favourite boy from the series.

I love Light as well, even though he just keeps on giving me reasons to dislike him. I think it's good that Takeshi Obata didn't give him stereotypical bishounen features from anime (long hair, pretty eyes, slim hands etc) but gave him looks that you would expect a real, attractive guy would have.

[SPOILER]I'm also glad about them bringing Mello in, because really...his outfits and chocolate-licking action make me swoon every time. >_> [I]There's[/I] a character designed for the fangirls if I ever saw one.[/SPOILER][/SIZE]

[Sandy]

I get you Dagger. Creating L's character must've been a big risk, but then again, with all this manga/anime coming out in Japan, wasn't it due time that the fangirls got a quite different idol?

I can predict that there's going to be qutie a few L-mimics in upcoming manga and anime shows, even if there aren't any yet, especially if Death Note gets a wider, international fame. ;D

Also, that strip [I]is[/I] terrifying, but also terribly amusing. X)

[Andy]

[SIZE=1][COLOR=DarkRed]Well, I think they did a somewhat good thing by making L look the way he does. I mean, sometime's change is good.^^ Anyway's, Dagger, that picture just completely creeped me out. I mean, just look at Light's face, it's [I]so[/I] creepy. *shudders*[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[Guest PsYm0N]

HeY when does each ep come out.
i watched it all on utube and i want number 13 but i have failed to find out when it comes out
+ i think its gr8 i dont watch alot of anime but i <3 this

*edit* L looks gr8
hes weird and i think thats good :) they did good coz thee would not b such a ermm shock? (maybe wrong word) but its kinda what was expected tbh :) if he were normal then it woulda been less intresting

[demonboy]

Well, normally new episodes are released raw on Wednesday, and are usually subbed by Friday. It seems there was no Episode 13 this week though, so you'll have to wait until maybe next week.

[Guest PsYm0N]

hey thx

Simon

[COLOR=DarkRed][SIZE=1]PsYm0N, In the future if you are only going to thank a person for some reason or another, Instead making a new post about it, it would be better if you just edit your post to say it. ~Ikillion[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[SIZE=1][COLOR=DarkOliveGreen]oh ok sry :animeblus [/COLOR] [/SIZE]

[Dagger]

*yawns* Sloooow episode. But it's all worth it for the [spoiler]triple death-grip[/spoiler] action at the very end. Has DN's director been attending the Osamu Dezaki school of animation? One can only surmise.

Also, the Madhouse team & the Korean/outsourcing teams need to have a get-together and decide whether Misa's eyes are brown or blue. It wouldn't be out of character for her to wear colored contacts at times, I suppose, but blue just looks way wrong to me.

~Dagger~

[Syk3]

Okay, so.. it seems that Death Note has finally been licensed. Sort of, I think. lol The major fansubbing companies that I have been following - Toriyama's World, Live-eviL, [strike]and Animanda[/strike] (HINT HINT) - have removed all download links from their sites. Live-eviL thankfully provided a link to this page: [url="http://www.animeondvd.com/news/pr.php?pr_view=915"]http://www.animeondvd.com/news/pr.php?pr_view=915[/url]

The article is titled "[b]Viz Media Secures Landmark Agreement To Make Death Note Anime Series Available For Download[/b]", but after skimming it a bit I'm still confused by exactly what this entails. Essentially, VIZ is going to let you download Death Note (to rent or to own) shortly after it airs in Japan. What they don't answer, however, is where you can do this, how much it costs, and [i]how[/i] shortly after it airs that it will be available.

[quote]VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry's most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, has announced that it has licensed from Nippon Television Network Corporation (NTV) the Download to Own (DTO) and Download to Rent (DTR) rights for the United States for the smash hit DEATH NOTE anime series, currently airing in Japan.

The deal is significant because it marks the first time a well known Japanese anime property will be made legally available to domestic audiences for download to own while the title still airs on Japanese television. VIZ Media will seek to make the series available to consumers through a number of online providers in order to reach the widest audience possible.

[blah blah blah][/quote]

[Dagger]

Urgh. (<-- not a big Viz fan.)

I'd only be interested if they said they were going to produce North American DVDs while it was still airing in Japan. This will probably be too expensive (and by that I mean more expensive than TV episode downloads on iTunes) and DRM'd to death. Let's hope they approach this with a pinch of common sense and release subbed-only episodes instead of trying to rush the dub.

~Dagger~

[Meggido]

I'm not a big viz fan because whenever they license something it usually means it takes Madman 3 times as long as normal to be able to get the licensing rights here in Australia. The online release thing however could be interesting if it's done right.

[Sandy]

The 13th episode has now been subbed and can be viewed in YouTube.

I personally am glad that they decided to move things forward so drastically [spoiler]by making Misa and Light meet, otherwise the whole situation would've become too longwinded and repetitive for my taste.

I'm all on the crazy couple's side (I can't decide which one has "lost it" more, Light or Misa), I wish that together they kick L's scrawny, confused butt. ;P[/spoiler]

[inactive]

So I managed to get my hands on episode 13. Hmm... Very interesting episode. Not a whole lot happened, but it was still entertaining.

He he, Misa certainly is eager to please. I can't decide whether I think she's an idiot or not. She's just so all over the place. It seems she can do something stupid and smart at the same time. At least that's how it seemed to me.

Light's mother and sister sure seemed surprised at [spoiler]Misa's appearance[/spoiler]... Slightly awkward... :animeshy:

And wasn't that [spoiler]fake embrace[/spoiler] just the best? I suppose Light felt the need to prove what an excellent actor he is. [spoiler]"See? I can hug people really dramatically. I'll have no problems pretending to be your boyfriend."[/spoiler] Ha ha... I actually found the whole [spoiler]hugging scene[/spoiler], while well animated, rather amusing, and the [spoiler]creepy Light-smile[/spoiler] at the end was just the cerry on top. :p

[Syk3]

*tilts head* I'm finding it surprising that some of you are saying the story line was slow in this one, especially considering how the episode when [spoiler]Light kills Raye Penber's fiancee[/spoiler] was received earlier with such enthusiasm. :p Sure, it only covered two manga chapters, but with [spoiler]the second Kira sending out multiple announcements, L once again going through serious doubts of Light's innocence, and.. by God, Misa actually meeting Light and joining forces with him,[/spoiler] we have ourselves quite an advancement in the storyline once again. When I showed it to my friend yesterday, he was quick to note that this ranked in his top 5 favorites, which I mention in case some of you are reading this and have not yet seen the episode. Don't be discouraged! ~_^

[quote name='Sandy][spoiler']I'm all on the crazy couple's side (I can't decide which one has "lost it" more, Light or Misa), I wish that together they kick L's scrawny, confused butt. ;P[/spoiler][/quote] My vote is definitely for [spoiler]Light being more crazy.[/spoiler] Just look at how [spoiler]detached he is from it all, hugging Misa and promising to try to be a good boyfriend when he makes that smirk that just screams "I'm going to use you in whatever way I can to get what I want." She means absolutely nothing to him, while her goal is to be as true to her feelings as she could be.[/spoiler]

[quote name='medafunk']He he, Misa certainly is eager to please. I can't decide whether I think she's an idiot or not. She's just so all over the place. It seems she can do something stupid and smart at the same time. At least that's how it seemed to me.[/quote]She seems to get by with common sense, but it's no where near the analyzing that L and Light go to. [spoiler]Without joining up with Light, she would most definitely make mistakes and be caught rather quickly.[/spoiler]

[quote]And wasn't that [spoiler]fake embrace[/spoiler] just the best? I suppose Light felt the need to prove what an excellent actor he is. [spoiler]"See? I can hug people really dramatically. I'll have no problems pretending to be your boyfriend."[/spoiler][/QUOTE]It seems to me that if he's proving his acting ability (over and above the massive acting he's shown us already), it's done for us as the audience rather than Misa. For all Misa knows, [spoiler]his hug was sincere and he's honestly trying to be her boyfriend[/spoiler], rather than simply pretending. I think this reinforces how out of it he is in comparison to his pawns, but I suppose that gets us into the debate of whether it's the crazy person or the crazy person who follows him that's more crazy.

[Dagger]

[QUOTE=medafunk]
Light's mother and sister sure seemed surprised at [spoiler]Misa's appearance[/spoiler]... Slightly awkward... :animeshy: [/QUOTE]
They took out the best line of all: in the manga, when they watch [spoiler]Misa walk up the stairs to Light's room, Sayu mutters under her breath that she can see her panties.[/spoiler] And when I was following the 2ch thread about this episode, a good 70% of the comments were complaining about the lack of [spoiler]panty references.[/spoiler] Heh.

@Syk3: I wasn't exactly saying that the storyline was slow in an objective sense, but to me it [i]felt[/i] slow. Possibly I wasn't in the mood for DN--I don't know.

~Dagger~

[Syk3]

[quote name='Dagger]They took out the best line of all: in the manga, when they watch [spoiler']Misa walk up the stairs to Light's room, Sayu mutters under her breath that she can see her panties.[/spoiler][/quote]XD Yeah, when I read the manga after I saw the episode I thought I had missed it, but then was disappointed they left it out. :(

Anyone else wondering about the lack of a preview after the credits?

EDIT: Sandy - nah, that wasn't directed at you.