Geek Addicts - Episode 61: Discussing The Death Note Manga #1!

[00:00:00] Hey everybody, welcome to Geek Addicts.

[00:00:02] Hello and welcome to Geek Addicts, the pop culture podcast where we, I don't know, I got nothing, I got nothing. My name is Matt, with me is Bill Bybre. How you doing Bill?

[00:00:51] Oh, I'm doing alright. This week was extremely draining and yeah, we're getting close to the end of the year so, you know, the classics. You know what's funny too is I had something earlier this week because I couldn't remember whose turn it was to do the thing. And I had something earlier this week, I was like, oh, this will work. It's just a couple of weeks on now. It's just been one of those weeks that just got driven straight out of my mind. That's usually how it goes.

[00:01:21] Yeah. Unfortunately, I haven't done much anime, actually I haven't really done any anime watching this week. Um, cause I got, I got one of those jobs where it's like literally the only type of job that I get at work where like technically I could still watch something, but because it's such a temperamental type of, of, uh, job I'm working with.

[00:01:39] I choose not to just cause you know, I, I just stick to audio when I, when I do this kind of thing, but, um, I only have a few pieces left, so I will definitely be finishing it on Monday. And, uh, that should give me enough time to finish up the show that I had started last week. So yeah, they got one more checked off.

[00:02:03] Hmm. Yeah, I, um, what have I, I mean, I saw the solo leveling movie. Um, Oh, was it not good movie in quotation marks? Cause half of it was a recap. Um, Oh really? That's a, that's, uh, the second half was just a sneak peek at season two. So that is, that is so dumb.

[00:02:28] That's, that's what most anime movies are these days. It seems that is so dumb. Well, you know what? The new stuff was really good. It's just, I was going to say at least Dragon Ball One Piece doesn't do that shit. Yeah. Well, they're like old school about it. A lot of these animes now are doing like that whole recap thing. And I mean, the, the way they did it wasn't awful. I think it was more just, um, the fact that I literally watched the series like a week before.

[00:02:56] So I like had just seen all of it and I was like, well, I guess I'm seeing this again. Well, I guess that wouldn't be too bad for someone like me who watched the series once like months ago. And like, like how I mentioned before, like, I don't have a ton of memory of what happened. So like, I guess that would be useful for someone like me who watched it a while ago, but yeah, that's, that's kind of sucky for someone like you who's like literally just watched it last week.

[00:03:20] Yeah. Um, the, the new stuff was very interesting though. And it made me extremely hyped for season two. So, yeah. Um, so I did it. I did it, Bill. Okay. I think, I think I got Xander interested in JRPGs. Oh, nice.

[00:03:42] Cause, uh, well, I finally got him after a year of pestering him. I got him to start playing final fantasy seven remake because I knew that would be a good entry point for him. That's the, you know, that's the kind of game he would get into. And, uh, he got to the part where they dropped the sock, uh, dropped the plate. And, um, like I, I, like I, I put Francis to bed last night and I came down, it was, it was almost 10 o'clock and I came down and be like, Oh, I just time for bed, whatever.

[00:04:09] And, um, I come around the corner and it's like, it's still in the middle of like all the cut scenes, like right after it happened. And like, I see him like kind of curled up on the couch and like, I took one look at his face. I'm like, this kid's about to cry and I don't blame. And you know what it is too? Cause we talked about it a little bit. It was wedge. That was what pushed him over the edge because, um, cause well, Xander comes from a family who's very, uh, very attached to, to cats. They all have cats. They all love cats.

[00:04:40] And, uh, that's kind of like wedges big, like character thing is he's all about cats. And, um, and I, if I remember correctly too, like, doesn't he like run back into like the whole mess of thing? Cause he's trying to save the cats. Uh, see my, my memory of seven remake is not very good. So it's been, it's been almost a year since I played it. So it's kind of the same for me, but I'm fairly certain that was what happened. And, uh, he was, he was like literally this close to just sobbing. Yeah.

[00:05:08] Cause, cause wedge in the original game literally falls off a tower and just kind of dies off screen. Um, or was that bigs either way? I think they all pretty much die off screen in the original. Well, yeah. Cause they get crushed by the tower, the plate falling. Um, yeah. Um, but yeah, he, and he like whipped through it. Like, I'm pretty sure I had him do it on easy mode just cause like I played it on normal and I was struggling. Like to the point of like serious frustration at certain points.

[00:05:37] So I was like, just play it on easy mode, enjoy the story, you know, mess around, you know, do whatever you need to do. You know, like, like I don't want him to play it and be like frustrated. I wanted to play it and enjoy it. And I, I think I succeeded in that. Um, but, uh, as an extension of this, he has expressed interest in a few other games. Um, like he was looking at some other final fantasy games. Uh, he, he has like the same little DS chip thing that I have.

[00:06:07] And he started a file on final fantasy three. Um, three, actual three or six. Actual three. Actual three. Okay. The, the DS version. Um, and he, I think you'll be happy to hear bill. He has expressed serious interest in playing persona four. How old is Xander now? 11. No, no. 12. 12.

[00:06:37] He'll be 13 in June. He's, he's on the mature side. He might be all right. Yeah. I mean, four, four is not too like five. That would be pushing it. Cause. The first monster is in five. The first boss is literally a dick coming out of the ground. Um, yeah, four, four, four is pretty tame. I mean, there's a couple of parts where it kind of like borderlines, like adult themes, but for the most part, it's pretty tame. I got to pause real quick. I'm getting a phone call.

[00:07:10] Sorry about that. No worries. Um, but yeah, I, I think, I think Xander will be fine. Fine with that game. Um, like I said, it's not, it's not super crazy or anything. Yeah. The only thing I'm somewhat concerned about is, uh, the game does have a slow start. So it's entirely possible that he'll get bored and move on, but we'll see. There is also a few like precision F bombs thrown in there at a couple of points.

[00:07:37] But I mean, that we watched Deadpool Wolverine with him a couple of weeks ago. He's, he was always the kid who was like, like if we had a swear jar, it'd be full, you know, like, you know, I mean, I, I, I tend to be careful on other people's kids, but Xander is, he's whatever. Okay. Yeah. Full four is definitely what the form might be. All right. Yeah. And, um, yeah, he's expressed that as just a couple of things.

[00:08:05] I did also learn recently that, uh, cause, um, obviously I have Chrono trigger on my Vita, but you know, I already have like, you know, my file and everything going. I was thinking, uh, cause I learned recently that the DS version, um, obviously is pretty much just as expensive as every other version, but the Japanese version, and apparently has an English option and is a reasonable price.

[00:08:31] So I was thinking about trying to try to get a Japanese copy of, um, uh, DS Chrono trigger. Yeah. So then he got, cause he actually just found his DS, his, uh, DS light. So I was thinking if I could get that copy, then he, he'd have a copy of Chrono trigger. He could play. And that version still has like all the cut scenes and stuff, right? Uh, the DS versus the definitive version. So, okay. Yeah. So I think he'll like that. Cause it's a shorter one.

[00:09:01] It gets going pretty quick. It's, I found it to be very easy to just play without having to look up a bunch of stuff. So I think he'd enjoy that one. Yeah. That's a pretty good one. Um, like the only other RPG I can think of, like, that's a good beginner RPG is like final fantasy four. That's a very, uh, not the D not the 3d, uh, DS version. That version is like the hardest version of the game. Um, cause he actually has that version.

[00:09:29] So the fun fact about, um, what makes the DS version of final fantasy four so compelling is the fact that every strategy and thing, you know, about the original game gets thrown completely on its head. Um, everything is significantly harder. Um, strategies that you knew from the original no longer work. You have to relearn everything from scratch. It, it's an interesting version of the game. What about, uh, how, where do we stand on three?

[00:09:56] Uh, no, cause that'll be the next one I play in the, in the lineup, but I have the Vita version and the DS version. So that version is, isn't like challenging in the way that four DS is, uh, that version's more just kind of, so three, three, uh, DS slash PSP, the 3d remake. Like it's three, but it's also kind of like an original take on three.

[00:10:24] Cause it's kind of different from the actual original game. Like story-wise. Not so much story-wise. It's more just like it kind of, they change some things up just to modernize it a little bit. Or are they, are they at least like positive changes for the most part or? Yeah. Um, I'd still prefer the original version just because I like that. Um, I like the old style art.

[00:10:54] And I think the, uh, the DS version feels kind of slow just cause of the 3d graphics and stuff, but. Oh wait, is the, is the Vita version? Is that, that's the PS, that would be the PSP version, wouldn't it? Yeah. Which is just the, it's just the, uh, the DS version. Okay. So either way I have the same version. Yeah. The only way to play original three is with the, uh, the pixel remasters. Right. So I'd have to be stuck playing it on a console or. Well, at least for Xander, he's got a switch so he could get those games.

[00:11:23] He could get any of those games. So yeah. I mean, the definitive way to play four is probably the PSP version. Okay. And I was trying to, I was trying to push, um, original final fantasy seven. And I think he did start a file briefly. It's, um, it's very hard to play that right after playing remake just cause it's such a different game. That's fair. Um, but I, I'm also going to try and dangle the carrot of crisis core in front of him and say, Hey, this, this is, this is a spinoff.

[00:11:53] Off of the original seven. So if you want to, if you want to play this, gotta play that. Hmm. Also, um, uh, when I come down to see you, um, I'm going to bring like my, my style. I want to basically, I want to rip your copy of, um, the, what, that movie. What the hell's it called? What? So can you rip blu-rays? Oh, it's a blu-ray shit. Yeah. It's damn it.

[00:12:22] Um, I'll have to think actually while we're here, we can stop at the retro, that retro store and see if we can find a copy of it for cheap. Oh, that'd be cool. Yeah. Potentially. Um, but, uh, yeah. Other than that though, I'm trying to think of another beginner friendly RPG. Oh, he's got a, he's got attack of the saiyans, which I actually beat this week.

[00:12:52] I don't know if that game's beginner friendly. I mean, it's not super difficult. It's not super difficult, but it does have some unforgivable moments where you're just like, damn. Yeah. I was actually really mad. Cause I was grinding. I was checking. Cause I had gotten to the point where it was like right before the Vegeta fight and I was just trying to get, cause I, I got like the, the like weird popo dragon balls. And, um, and I had gotten all of, all the dead characters back and I was trying to get

[00:13:20] Yamcha and Tien up to level with everybody else. And I had gotten like right there. It was like, Oh, I was like, I found a great grinding spot. And I was like, Hey, what's this portal? It was Broly. Oh, right. Yeah. That. Yeah. And you know, it was funny too. It didn't, it literally was just like a text box saying Kakarot. And I was like, fuck. I was like, please tell me it's going to say, Hey, do you want to go in this portal? Cause I thought like, I thought maybe it would just be like a portal that would take you to like hell or something like for like an extra grinding spot or something like that. Nope. It just jumped.

[00:13:50] It just throws you right in. There's no way to escape. You just screwed. And I lost, and there was no, uh, there was no save point by there. So I lost a good bit of grinding from that. Um, and that was when I said, fuck this. I'm just going to go fight Vegeta in the game. Cause I'll come back and grind it. Be Broly later. But I'm, I'm not doing all that again. It's so weird. The game ends on Vegeta. And you know what, you know, it was really fucked up.

[00:14:16] But like, really was just like, yeah, that figures when you go to fight Vegeta, it asks you if you want to. Yeah. That's just the portal to Broly. And it doesn't have any indication that it is Broly until you're actually in it. It's like, no, the, the like level 50 boss that, that one, it'll, it'll ask if you're sure, but the level 70 boss. Nah, that'll be a surprise. Yeah. Classic. Hmm. Um, yeah.

[00:14:46] Other than that, I, uh, I started watching a Don to Don, uh, yesterday. Uh, that show is weird. It's very weird. Well, I mean, I've, I've, I've been hearing about that series for like a while now, like long before there was even word of an anime adaptation. Um, cause there's a, there's a podcast I listened to, uh, where they, they talk about like different magas and stuff. And that's one they've been talking about for a while.

[00:15:12] So I, when I heard they were making an anime for it, I was, I was intrigued. And, uh, uh, when, when it wraps up its dub, I'll definitely gotta, definitely gotta give it a watch. Uh, next week, uh, the last episode. So. Cool. Cool. Which reminds me, I still gotta watch Oshinoko season two. Oh, that's a, that's a whiplash of a season two. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, geez. Um, yeah.

[00:15:41] Other than that though, not a whole lot. Um, just trying to get through the, uh, trying to get through the, uh, the rest of the month. Yeah. For context, I'm sure people know by now it's only, uh, mid December at the time of recording, even though this is coming out in January. Yeah. Yep. So holiday is, uh, right around the corner. That is for sure.

[00:16:09] Um, yeah. So I guess we could probably get into our topic for this episode. Yeah. Sounds good. Uh, we're doing another manga review or, well, I guess review is too, too, uh, specific a term because we're technically covering the first two volumes of, of this series. Uh, originally we were going to do the first four volumes, but, uh, uh, uh, uh, after starting to read it, I was like, yeah, this is really dense. Maybe we should, maybe we should cut it down.

[00:16:37] Shit is, shit is very dense. Yeah. Uh, in a good way, in a good way, but it is, it is definitely a lot all at once. Um, yeah. Yeah. So you said you watched Death Note, uh, a while back, right? Yeah. It's been so long that I really need to, uh, sit down and watch it again. Cause that's why I thought that reading it would be, would be good.

[00:17:02] Cause then, you know, kind of refresh your memory on the series and also kind of get, cause there is like not a ton more in the manga, but they do like kind of cut like some little things out of the anime just to make it more, um, digestible in, in anime form. Yeah. Yeah. Which is hilarious. Cause my most recent experience with Death Note is the wonderful Netflix film. So it was very, even that was a while ago. Yeah.

[00:17:31] But that, that shit sticks, sticks with you. Excuse me. That's for sure. Um, yeah. So Death Note is an interesting one to me. Like the manga itself. Um, it's newer than I thought. Um, early two thousands. Or early two thousands. 2003. Um, and it ran till 2006, 12 volumes, 13th, kind of, um, 13th volume is interesting.

[00:18:02] Yeah. Well, I mean, that's like, um, uh, what's that? Um, that's by family, like a case closed or something or yeah, whatever that was. Secret files. Secret files. Yeah. It's just bios and shit, like little, little extra blurbs, things like that. It's little fluff. And, and just like, um, the spy family one, the volume 13 is like bigger and sticks out like a sword thumb in any collection. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:18:33] Unless you get the black editions. Yeah. In which case it's smaller and sticks out in a different way. Yeah. Or you get the all in one and you're just having a bad time. Then you're just upset all over. Then you're like, this sucks. It's like, this is so hard to read. Yeah. Um, which is, which is ironic because that 13th volume is called how to read. Yeah. How to read page one. Don't buy the old one. Um, so yeah.

[00:19:02] What were your first impressions of, uh, the first couple of volumes? So it's a very interesting one to me because it's another case of, um, the more I read manga, the more you'll run into like, so I shouldn't be too surprised. Cause I mean, we literally had this with Pokemon, but like, I always find it fascinating when it's a manga where there's an artist, there's an artist and a writer, um, and they both are separate.

[00:19:29] So one, uh, not one piece, death note was, uh, written by Sugumi Oba. I believe that's how you pronounce it. And it's illustrated by Hachi Obata. Yeah. Um, very unique art style. Very, uh, it's got a very, like, it's like soft, but angular at the same time. Kind of.

[00:19:58] He loves drawing hair. He does. He also loves drawing butts. I feel like that's a very consistent thing with a lot of manga artists. Well, he liked drawing that one character's butt that, uh, you see, um, towards the end of volume two. Um. Oh, um, Naomi Misura. Yeah. The, the girl in the biker jacket jeans. He liked drawing her butt a lot. Yeah. Um.

[00:20:29] Yeah. We haven't even gotten, we haven't even gotten to the, the real fan servicey character. I know. I was like, I was laughing cause I'm like going through it. Cause we've had a weird, like the, all the, the manga that we've covered, ironically, dragon balls, but the least fan servicey, which is kind of saying something in a way. But, um, um, we've had a weird like thing of like all these mangas have been oddly fan servicey at points. Like, like Yu-Gi-Oh was thirsty as fuck for some reason. Oh, extremely.

[00:20:55] Uh, the Pokemon anime was, was like almost uncomfortably like fan servicey at times. And this one is kind of tame so far. Like the most fan servicey character we've seen so far is a lady in jeans. So. Yeah. That's for sure. Um, yeah, I like the art style though. I will say death note is definitely not a beginner friendly manga, which is actually kind of funny

[00:21:24] because with the exception of Naruto death note is the first manga I started to collect. Actually those, those two volumes I gave you, I bought those when I was in middle school. Oh really? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I bought them at a, yeah. At borders. Yeah. It was a board. Actually there was a fun fact. There was a borders like tag in one of them still. And I was like, oh, that's funny. Yeah. Like that. Those are old volumes. Um, and well, well, uh, well thumbed through.

[00:21:54] I can say that much. Um, yeah, I will say like very wordy, um, the, the, the writing style. Um, it's really interesting going from like Dragon Ball Super to Yu-Gi-Oh to death note. It's like we progressively get wordier and wordier. Um, it's actually almost on par with Pokemon of all things, which is really ironic considering Pokemon is like supposed to be a kid's manga. Yeah, that's for sure.

[00:22:19] But I mean, like Pokemon, like obviously like it has its, um, its actiony stuff, but it is like the, the manga at least is very story driven in a lot of ways. So it makes sense. There would be a lot of dialogue. Um, whereas like, I mean, Yu-Gi-Oh had a lot of that stuff too, but it also leaned real heavy into like a lot of the different like art, um, like the, like stage setting, you know, with like, um, you know, like the surrounding and everything like that.

[00:22:48] Like, and also how, um, kind of grounded the art style is in death note. I really liked that too, where it's like, it's very much a modern, like urban setting, you know? Yeah. Also at one thing I found interesting is like, it is a very detailed, uh, manga, which makes sense considering it's a separate team.

[00:23:16] Like, um, the writer can focus on the writing and the artist could focus on the art. So it's like, they probably are able to get away with some more complicated stuff because the, the page layouts are very busy. Yeah. Funny enough, you'll notice a very, uh, distinct similarity between the, the art in death note and the art in Bakugan of all things, because it's the same artist. Yeah. Like if you look at like some, some like, uh, manga covers of Bakugan and just look at the hair and you know, it's the same guy.

[00:23:47] Bakugan. I haven't thought of that in fucking forever. It's still around. You'd be surprised. I'd imagine. I can imagine. Um, so how do you want to approach this? Cause it's not exactly the easiest to break down. I think. Yeah. Like I said, I said at the top, it's a very dense series. It's a lot going on. Um, I guess we could start with just like the, how like the first chapter kind of like introduces everything.

[00:24:16] One thing I noticed is that, um, different from the anime, cause in the anime, it kind of showed the whole process of him, like getting the death note, testing it out. Um, like kind of going through his whole little inner monologue about like, should I do this? Is it, is it the right thing to do? Um, and then ultimately, you know, committing himself to, you know, the whole thing.

[00:24:44] Uh, whereas in the manga, it, um, he gets the death note and he's just like, yeah, whatever. And then it jumps straight to Ryuk, um, showing up in his room and then he shows him the death note. And it's like, like tons of names in it already. And then it kind of backtracks and shows him going through that whole process. Yeah. I found it interesting too. Like light is such a, doesn't give a shit character at first.

[00:25:14] Like, like he just doesn't care. He's like, eh, no book, whatever. Yeah. And one thing I'll notice is like, especially like reading this first chapter and, and even like some of those, uh, chapters later on, um, pay attention to the way like his facial expressions are because at the beginning, you know, he kind of has like the classic, like more rounded round eyed anime character. Like, like you can tell, like, you know, he, he may have his own ideas about how certain

[00:25:41] things should be, but he's still very much an innocent kid, you know? Like he, you know, he may not, he may have some darkness in him, which becomes very apparent very quickly. Um, but I mean, we all do, you know, but you can tell from the beginning, like he's, he's just a regular kid. He's very smart, but he's just a regular kid. But as the series goes on, you'll notice more and more like that darkness seeping through. And that's one of those things about this series that I absolutely love because it blurs

[00:26:11] the line, the very, very fine line between good intention and evil action. Yeah. I noticed that it has a very gray overall feeling to it. For sure. Yeah. Um, also I found it very interesting, like, cause I was used, I forgotten about the, a lot of things from this, uh, from the anime. Um, I forgot that they kind of like wrote his family out of, um, the Netflix movie for

[00:26:41] the most part. Yeah. It was just him and his dad. And his dad was just like a beat cop pretty much in the, in the movie. But in this, he's like, he's like the cop. Yeah. Of, of like the whole, the whole shebang. He's got, he's like the, the cop. And then his mom and sister couldn't be any different from him personality wise. Mm. For sure.

[00:27:04] Um, so I, I also, I noticed that, um, we don't really start to get an idea of what the cast is going to look like until towards the end of volume two. Yeah. I could not tell who was supposed to be a significant, significant character, like going for the first volume anyways. Like other than, uh, other than light. I mean, are you, and I'm assuming his family are at least somewhat significant. Mostly his dad, but yes.

[00:27:34] Like I assume there's some stuff with his family as well, but it's mostly his dad. Yeah. Cause, um, we really only barely get introduced to L in volume one. Mm. And it's mostly through a computer. Yeah. Um, and L is almost an entirely different character in the manga than he was in that Netflix movie. That's for sure. Hmm. Mm.

[00:27:58] Um, yeah, it's, it's a weird cause it's like the best way to describe it is like volume one is just like a lot being thrown at you at once. Yeah. And, and there's something I want you to keep in mind as we're going through this, like, you know, every time we do an episode like this and read another chunk of the series, keep in mind that the author, like the writer for this, this series does not plan.

[00:28:25] This is all week to week coming up with it on the spot. Yeah.

[00:28:59] This is all just every week. It just as much in the dark about what's going to happen next as the reader. Yeah. Like something I found interesting too, is, um, light is a very subdued personality. Yeah. Well, I think he keeps a lot of shit bottled up. Yeah. Cause like, I always think of like in the fucking Netflix movie when he first encounters Ryuk,

[00:29:25] he fucking has that amazingly craptastic freak out in the best way possible. Yeah. Um, meanwhile, in this one, he just doesn't seem that, he doesn't seem that perturbed by it. He's just kind of like, Oh, you're following me around now, I guess. Yeah. He kind of tips over for a second and then he's like, eh, you're not going to kill me. Eh, whatever. All right, cool. I guess I'll just keep doing what I'm doing. Yeah. Ryuk is very interesting too. He's very sarcastic.

[00:29:54] He's got that very sarcastic, like, wit to him. I totally read every line of his in William Dafoe's voice though. Now. Well, that's funny. Cause I, I read him and I'm, what's his name? The guy from the anime, I'm guessing. Brian Drummond. Yeah. I read him in Brian Drummond's voice. Cause I've watched the anime so many times. And that's like the definitive voice for me. I just have that goofy ass William Dafoe, like voice going through my head. And then I'm always like, this is funny. Just cause that voice doesn't fit the weird, like punk rocker vibe he's got going on. Oh, for real.

[00:30:24] And like, I love like his little like snide comments is like his sarcastic. Like he's always like shuck, shuck, shucking all over the place. Yeah. I love too. How he's like, he's like, oh yeah, this, my book fell in the human world. So now it belongs to the human world. He's like, you can just get rid of it and it won't matter. He's like, oh, but if anyone else touches it, they'll also be able to see me. So keep that in mind. Yeah. I love how he just like slips that stuff in like every now and then it's like, oh yeah, by the way, I forgot to tell you this. Yeah.

[00:30:52] He tells him stuff that's really important at the last possible second. And then lights just kind of like, oh, that would have been nice to know. Yeah. Well, it's one of those cool things. Well, he makes it very clear from the start. Like I am not on your side. I'm just here because the Shinigami world doesn't have any TV. So I'm looking for entertainment. Like you. Yeah. He's just an internet troll. That's really all Rayyuk is. Pretty much. And I love every second of it. It's fantastic. Yeah.

[00:31:19] He's he's he's just a pure delight throughout the whole thing. I, I liked how subtle they made lights first kill in the, in the manga. Like he's kind of experimenting with it. So he sees like this scumbag on TV. That's like, I think it's like a kidnapper or something. He has like a bunch of people hostage. Um, and he just casually like writes it in the death note. And then suddenly he just kind of sees it happen. And he's like, oh, that's cool.

[00:31:49] I guess. Yeah. I just, I just killed somebody. Um, yeah. I'm trying to think how we should, uh, how we should go forward from here. Uh, I guess we, we could jump into the first like real kind of showdown between light and hell. Mm. Uh, cause that was, that's a pretty significant turning point in, in this series. Yeah. I like the second chapter. Yeah.

[00:32:18] L is interesting. Like, I'm curious because I don't remember at all. I'm curious where his character kind of goes in the manga. Mm. Yeah. I'll try not to, to, to say too much on like later stuff, but it, it, it's very apparent even just from this first encounter. Like he, he's not afraid to kind of push the, the limits of morality to, uh, to, to, to,

[00:32:48] I guess, chase justice in that sense. Uh, because he, he knows what, what Kira is doing is wrong and he is determined to, to get to the bottom of it. Um, and like, like it'll become very apparent as you go through, but someone like, like light's dad would never have done that kind of ruse where like, even though like they specifically

[00:33:13] took a criminal who was supposed to die, who was actually supposed to be executed that day during that hour. So, I mean, essentially he was just carrying out his schedule of execution, but like the way that, that, that, that was gone about, like a lot of more traditional by the books guys, like sweet true Yagami would never have done that. Whereas L is willing to, to take that, that kind of step. Yeah.

[00:33:41] And I like the whole more, the morally vague kind of like, uh, characterizations we have going on here because like, what I find fascinating is even though the main character is light, he's not really the hero. No, that's the thing. He's the villain. And that's what I love about it. But then you look at like the quote unquote, the, the, the secondary main character L who is also not really the hero.

[00:34:09] He's also kind of the more morality is very interesting. Like in this whole thing. For sure. Um, like you don't know who you're supposed to be rooting for here. Yeah. And this is where, where light like really starts to kind of show his hand in a lot of ways. Cause well, first of all, um, this is where you really first start to see like the crack

[00:34:35] start to form in like the persona that he, he gives other people. Cause, um, when he's kind of like gloating over the, the, the stand in that L had put there, um, you kind of get that idea of like, okay, so he's not purely, um, purely doing this out of a sense of duty or justice. This is, he's getting off doing this.

[00:34:59] Um, and it's also like, this is the big mistake that he makes. Like pretty much everything else he does is, is purely like, like extremely well thought out and meticulously, um, devised.

[00:35:23] Accepting L's challenge here is like, if he had just ignored it and not killed that guy, there wouldn't be a show because no one would ever catch him. We get the pure nature of the way the death note works, but because L is, is so intelligent about the way he did it. Like, like he was able to pinpoint him down to a district. Yeah. With the first, the first exchange, like that's insane. Yeah.

[00:35:52] And I, that's the thing about L that's very interesting is the fact that he seems kind of like spacey and out of it, but he's like extremely intelligent. Yeah. Um, I think there's been a lot of, uh, speculation on whether or not he's like autistic or, or has like Asperger's or something like that, which I mean, to a degree I could understand because he does have a lot of interesting, um, habits and texts and things like that, that you could associate with those kinds of, like how he, his weird tendency to sit like

[00:36:21] a fucking gremlin in every chair he's in. Yes. And that is something that won't be going away anytime soon. Yeah. I just find that amusing. He's like, it's just like, what the fuck is he doing? Yeah. Um, so they go through that whole exchange and, uh, I'm trying to think what happens next. Uh, okay. All right. So, um, this is where we start getting into the point where like, uh, you know, the task

[00:36:50] force is, is, uh, is built up. You know, you got light's dad and who's a part of it. And then you get like, there's like, I don't know, like a, uh, like a hundred, 200 people at first. There's like a lot of people in the task force and it doesn't take very long for that to get whittled down. Um, but because, you know, obviously lights dad is a part of the task force.

[00:37:16] He, he's on the same like network as his dad. So he can access his dad's files without leaving a trail. So, you know, he's basically purposefully leaving clues to try and draw L out so that he can kill him. Hmm. Um, and in doing so he's trying to arouse suspicion, uh, between, uh, L and the Japanese police that he's working with.

[00:37:46] Yeah. Cause that, that's like the most compelling thing about the, um, the death note is the fact that they, he needs their, know their full name and their, what they look like to be able to actually kill somebody. Yes. Um, because he has no idea. Cause is L even L's real? I'm assuming that's not his real name. It's ambiguous. Okay. That's what I remember. I remember being weird.

[00:38:16] Um, uh, there is speculation about it. Uh, the live action movie says that he like says his name at one point, but it's not, I don't think it was ever really confirmed whether that was his actual name or not. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cause, um, I remember like, uh, in the live action movie where you makes that whole joke about, oh, if you could put my name in there, but no one's ever gotten it. Right. Yeah. And the manga very quickly.

[00:38:45] It's just like, yeah, no, you just can't like, there is a way to kill Shinigami, but, uh, stabbing them, shooting them, writing the name of the death note, none of that works. So that's just automatically out, out the door. Now also there's no like, oh, you're going to raise a name. And if it, you do it before, or you burn a page before, uh, before the death is carried out, then I can't know that that's not a thing. Yeah. It's just once it, once a name is in there, it's set in stone. It's going to happen. Yeah.

[00:39:14] None of this like twilight esque bullshit that was in the Netflix movie for real. Like Netflix changed a lot of the way, like the rules worked. And I wasn't like, honestly, like changing up the way the story works and stuff, like, you know, that's whatever, um, changing up the characters, personalities, stuff like that, that was criminal, I think. But one of the biggest things that they did was change the way the death note works and

[00:39:39] that, that alone like kind of screws the whole, the whole scope of the story. Um, I mean, that whole movie is fucking glorious though, for all the wrong reasons. Oh, for sure. For sure. Um, so yeah, it's, uh, so, so he's like kind of like laying, laying breadcrumbs to try and lure L out, but also at the same time creating a hostile work environment between him and the police.

[00:40:07] So L ultimately is like, okay, so Kira obviously has access to our information. So that means that he has to be either a part of the task force or related to them somehow to be able to access the information. Um, so he ends up, uh, hiring, uh, or calling up the FBI and having them send out agents to

[00:40:40] investigate and you'll have to call attention to it. If I, if I skip anything by accident, but, um, and I love the, the whole, the way that LB, uh, L, the way light becomes aware of it is how you just like, yeah. So, um, I, I just want to like reiterate that I am not on your side and I'm not on L's side. I really don't care which way this week, which way this whole thing goes.

[00:41:05] I just like watching it, but this dude's following you. And since I'm behind you, I feel like he's following me and it's bugging the shit out of me. So do something about it. Yeah. Where you sent higher personality is like, he's like, this is cinema, but, um, he's like, but it annoys me. So do something about it. This is inconveniencing me. So I'm going to need you to do something about that. Yeah. He's like, I'm not here to help you, but this annoys me. So do something please.

[00:41:37] It was really, really funny how that, how that played out. And then he, um, he goes into this whole spiel about Shinigami eyes, which is a, is a, apparently ancient deal that exists between Shinigami and humans where, um, you could be granted the eyes of Shinigami for half of your lifespan. And if you do that, then you can see everybody's true name and, uh, the day that they'll die

[00:42:06] floating above their head. If you have them to which light says, fuck you. Yeah. Yep. Um, pretty much. So the, another thing I found, there's a lot of plot threads in the first two volumes that I was like, Oh, I don't remember this at all. Um, like lights, whole little like date he goes on.

[00:42:36] Oh, the, the whole bus jacking thing. Yeah. Yeah. Cause that's, that's how he ultimately gets the guy's name. Um, so basically he like, he, he found a criminal that he thought would like put the bill or whatever. And he wrote down this elaborate thing where, uh, basically he, he said, cause he can control people to a degree by writing their name in the death note.

[00:43:01] Like he can control their actions before death, as long as it's within reason for something they would do. Um, so he gets this, this drug addict criminal guy to, uh, hijack a bus that he took a date on. And basically the whole like concept of it was he tricked the, like the guy who was following him. Like he did like this whole ruse or whatever, basically being like, Oh, I'm going to jump

[00:43:30] the guy. Um, while he was writing notes to it, to his date there. And, you know, obviously the FBI guy's like, no, don't do that. Like I, you know, I, worst comes to worst. I can take care of him. Don't worry. And, um, like it's like, well, how do I know that you're not, uh, an associate of his, how do I know you're not an accomplice? So that was how he tricked him into showing him the ID.

[00:43:56] But then he, he tosses a piece of the death note, which he wrote, like, like plans for the day on, like, you know, like regular, like date plans. And, um, like previous basically tricks the hijacker into picking it up. And because he touched a piece of the death note, he can now see Ryu. He freaks out, runs out of the bus, gets hit by a car. Yeah. Yeah. That was a, that was a scene where I was like, Ooh, that would have been interesting.

[00:44:25] Mm-hmm. Um, he does that a lot with the whole, like writing in like pieces of the death note thing in this I've noticed. Oh, he's not going to stop anytime soon either. Like having like little pieces like that hidden around and stuff like that. Like it's a very interesting, um, interesting way that he uses it to, to play into, into his plans. Well, I was a little confused at first because at first I thought he was just writing on other

[00:44:53] pieces of paper and then sticking them in the death note. But then I was like, Oh no, that is the dead note. He's just taking pieces of it. Hmm. And they don't, I don't think they ever like actually say it outright, but, um, the death note never runs out of pages. Like it just kind of like refills itself. Magic. Yes. I mean, literally. Um, so yeah, like they go through that whole thing. Huh? Yeah. Yeah. Did that, the girl he goes on the date with have any significance or was she just a pawn? Just a pawn.

[00:45:23] Okay. I mean, he literally says like, I, this is just the first girl I'm going to call if, if she's busy or doesn't want to go out and we're going to call someone else. Like she just happened to be the first one to say yes. Cause I was like, Oh, it's, there's a girl. And I'm like, Oh, she's not important in the slightest. Okay. Hmm. Um, so, so yeah, that whole bit happens. Let me actually get a little bit of the FBI guy, Ray Penbert. Uh, we can kind of go back to his apartment or his hotel room.

[00:45:52] And that was where we first meet, uh, his fiance. And, uh, like she used to be an FBI agent. And this is one scene that like, like even way back when I watched this, it was kind of like, Ooh, where he's just like, he's like, look, I know you used to be an FBI agent. You were great. You were so smart. You were so good at your job, but we're getting married and you're going to be a stay home mom. So just stay out of it. Essentially.

[00:46:21] They're American though. Or at least he is. Written by Jeff, written, but in Japan because well, also, also 2003. Um, yeah. Yeah. That's like, wow. Some classic misogyny right there. And I'm like, yeah, that's nice. Even when I watched that way back in the two thousands, that's still, it still didn't age well. And it was, it was only a few years old at that point. So. Yeah. I love how he's supposed to be American too.

[00:46:51] And then it's like, he's so very anime that I'm like, yeah, I ain't buying it. Yeah. Um, so that was, that happens. Like you can tell right away, like she's suspicious of like the way like things went down, like the whole like bus jacking incident. Like he mentions he had to show his ID to somebody and everything. And she's instantly suspicious. Like this can't be a coincidence. This has to be related to Kira somehow.

[00:47:21] And of course she's right on the money, but nobody believes her. Yeah. Um, yeah, she was an interesting character. Like I found her, uh, I found her to be very compelling. Um, for sure. Probably led more into like the old what happens later to be more, more meaningful. I should say. Yeah.

[00:47:46] Um, which actually at one point she mentioned that when she was an FBI agent, she actually worked on a case with Elle back in the States. There is a light novel telling that story. Hmm. And, uh, I, I have it. It's, it's actually a very good read. It's, it's short. You get through it very quickly. So if you're interested, maybe at some point we could cover that as well, but probably after

[00:48:11] this is done, but yeah, it'll be a while, but, um, but yeah, I still think it's, it's worth a read for sure. Um, so then we get into how he takes care of Ray Penber and the rest of the FBI agents actually, uh, cause he, he waits a little while. He gives us some time to let him investigate some other people.

[00:48:37] Um, and at this point he doesn't, he has no idea how many FBI agents there actually are. He's estimating that there's at least 50 when in actuality there's only 12. Yeah. Um, which really whittles down the options quite a bit on being out to him. So, uh, basically he, he writes Ray Penber's name in the notebook with like, you know, once

[00:49:03] again, he has this whole complicated spiel that he does where he actually meets him at the train station. Uh, he goes up behind him and is like, Hey, don't turn around. Uh, look at that guy over there. Boom. He's dead. I'm Kira do as I say, or I'll kill everybody here. Cause obviously nobody knows how the death note works. They just know he can kill people from a distance. So it's, um, you know, as far as he's concerned, it's a very legitimate threat.

[00:49:30] You know, he tricks him into thinking that he knows all of his loved ones and all the other shit. So he gets him to board the train with envelopes, which I'm sure by now everybody knows what's in those envelopes and, you know, basically tricks him into writing down the names of all the other FBI agents and they all pretty much die like at the same time. Yeah. That was like such a, I was like, wow. That was like really the point where I'm like, yeah, light's not a hero at all.

[00:50:00] Like, yeah. Yeah. Like it becomes very clear, very fast that he will take out anybody who gets in his way, regardless of how moral they are. I was like the whole time I'm just sitting here going like, like, who are we rooting for again? I mean, at one point, even as early as like maybe early volume two, he like blatantly says like, look, if I'm not careful, I might have to kill my family. Like he doesn't even say like, oh, what if something happens? No, he's just straight up.

[00:50:29] Like if I have to, I will. And like, I mean, he's a piece of shit, but I mean, that's dedication. You know, it's dedication. Yeah. It's like, damn. Like that's basically all you can really say is just damn. Yeah. Like no hesitation. He's just like, no, it's just, if it comes to it, I'll do it. You know?

[00:50:58] And like I said, like this happens fast. This is all within like a couple of weeks of him getting it. Maybe like maybe a month, you know? And like, let's just like compare what we've seen of this out, this light so far to what we saw in the Netflix movie. Very different. The Netflix movie. He just makes out with the what's her name the entire time. Yeah. Mia.

[00:51:29] Yeah. Not, not. Is her name Miska or whatever? Misa. Misa. Yeah. Yeah. Not Misa. Basically. Yeah. Twilight Misa. Yeah. That's the best. Yeah. Pretty much. She does look like she could be in Twilight. That whole movie feels very Twilight to me. Yeah, for sure. So yeah, the, it goes through that whole thing.

[00:51:55] And this is the point, like once all the FBI agents die, this is the point where all the Japanese police, the task force become aware that Ella has been looking into them. And obviously by this point, like they, they, they look at the point. I've learned enough about like what, what's going on with Kira and, and what happened with the FBI agents. Like everyone's quitting the task force now. It's like, no, we don't want to die. We don't want our family to die. Our names are right out there.

[00:52:24] Anybody can look us up. Like, no, we're done. Yeah. They're basically the classic. Well, fuck this. I'm over. Exactly. Uh, and ultimately by the end of it, there's what? Six people left. Yeah. Not a lot. And there's, there's your cast of characters that those six, they are the ones who will be around. Yeah.

[00:52:53] Um, I'm trying to remember all their names. Um, how is, we got daddy Yagami, right? Uh, this Matsuda, the lovable idiot. Yep. We got Mogi, the, the, the big burly one. Um, Ukita with his like weird hairstyle.

[00:53:16] Um, and, um, Aizawa who's kind of like, uh, he's kind of like the family man of the group. Which, you know, you don't really learn about that until a little bit later, but he, you know, he's, uh, he's, he's definitely kind of like the, I don't even know how I would describe him. I can't really go into it without spoiling stuff, but he's, he's a good character. I'll tell you, I'll say that much. Yeah.

[00:53:46] I kind of like got the impression from them. I, I kind of like got that impression. I was like, okay, these are going to be a significant. Oh, and there was one more. I forget his name because he immediately is like, yeah, I don't like the way I'll do it does things. So I'm out. Yeah. Pretty much. As soon as they, they realized like he was just waiting for the numbers to get whittled down to like the, the really determined ones. Um,

[00:54:15] but we will see him later. So we'll just keep that tucked away for later. Um, and this is the point where I was like, okay, now that I've got, got everybody whittled down to the most determined, the most, um, you know, the, the bravest of the bunch, I guess, uh, I am going to reveal myself to you and we are going to work directly in person. Yeah. Uh, which is a big deal because he's never done that before.

[00:54:44] Even like, you know, pre all this crazy supernatural killing shit. He, he never showed his face. Uh, and I, I love the way he's like the way that reveal goes down. Cause it's immediately apparent that he's kind of just a fucking weirdo. Yeah. Yeah. That's like the best way of putting him.

[00:55:14] Mm. Mm. But like at the same time, he's like incredibly practical and incredibly, um, thorough with everything he does. Mm. Uh, immediately everybody walks into the hotel room and he just goes, Hey, I'm Al. And everyone's like, Oh yeah. My name's this. My name's that. My name's this. And he's just like, man, you're dead. It's like, if I'm Kira, you're dead. Don't just give out your name like that. Like, yeah. Be smart. Yeah.

[00:55:44] Reasonable. Reasonable. Well, considering, considering how the world is works at this point. Yeah. Probably not the smartest thing to just throw out there. Mm. And, uh, I, I did notice by this point, this is like by the point where we kind of whittled down everybody, cause you kind of saw these characters earlier, but they weren't very well defined, like either artistically or character wise. Now that they've got the characters whittled down to this core group, like now, like you're

[00:56:14] starting to see more detail in the way they're drawn, like more distinct characteristics for each of them. Yeah. It's starting to see a lot more, um, a lot more expression and emotion in the way they're drawn in certain scenes. Yeah. Um, so what happened next? Uh, this would be the point where, um, they basically, I was like bringing them up to speed

[00:56:43] with everything that he's kind of figured out up to this point. Um, and, uh, light is sent by his mother to bring his dad a change of clothes. And this is where he, he meets up with Naomi. Yes. Uh, where they, they bump into each other at the police station.

[00:57:07] Uh, and you know, almost immediately he's like, she knows something like something's going on here. Like, I, this doesn't feel right. I mean, she does. She is kind of not inconspicuous in the slightest. So no, it's just pretty obvious, but I mean, she's also sitting there like, no, I need to talk to the Kira task force. Like she's kind of being super in the open about it, you know?

[00:57:34] And, and, uh, to, to be fair, uh, if, if she was able to get any sort of message to Elle, and really what she should have done, because she has a history with Elle. All she had to do is just be, leave a message saying, um, you know, leaving some sort of, cause Elle's fucking smart as shit.

[00:57:55] She could have left some sort of like, kind of message that would be somewhat cryptic to anybody else, but to him, like even just mentioning the case that they worked on or something like that. Like she could have figured out a way to, to handle that better, but obviously she was bereft, you know, her, her, her fiance had just died and she was dead set certain that, that Kira killed him.

[00:58:18] Um, and well, I mean, obviously it was, it was well known by that point, but, um, but at that point it was like, yeah, and she was, and she was, you know, she had shit down. Like she knew like all the, like a bunch of details that nobody else knew just based on the little bit of extra information that she was able to glean. Um, she's also smart enough not to give her real name. Yes. Uh, well at first, I love that whole scene though.

[00:58:48] Um, well, that's the thing is he, he plays on her grief like that. So that's one of those really fucked up like mental manipulation shit that he does a lot to people. Uh, that, that's one of the darkest scenes in this manga. Oh, for sure. And actually that, that whole bit with them walking and talking and him trying to get her name and everything. That was the first episode I saw of the anime when I was in like, I was in like middle school. And I just, I think it was at my dad's house.

[00:59:17] I was up super late and it was late night tsunami. And I just happened to flip it on. And I, I was watching, watching that whole bit where like they meet and they're going on that walk. And like, like the episode ends when she's going off to kill herself. And I was like, I need to see more of this. Cause this is fucking wild.

[00:59:36] Well, cause it's like, it, they do a really good thing of like when, uh, she gives him the fake name and L immediately, not L, um, light immediately puts it in the, um, in the death note with all of his stuff. And he's like, no, nothing happened. Ah, it must've been a fake name. Well, it's not even that is because it's cause every time her name gets brought up, whether it's like her giving her name or him writing the name. Ryuki is just laughing his fucking ass off the whole time. Like super obvious.

[01:00:06] And this is actually like the moment where it, let's say I personally was in lights shoes. I was trying to be Kira. I was trying to do the things he's doing. I wouldn't be able to keep a straight face with him chucking away behind me. I would be, I would be laughing and I wouldn't be able to fucking, I wouldn't be able to keep a straight face. This would be the point where I'd be like, Nope, I'm caught. Just take me away. Yes.

[01:00:35] Or I would, or I, or I would have caved and done the ideal because there's no way I would have made it otherwise. Yeah. Just, just give, gives the book piece of paper to someone like, you see this shit? Like. Yeah. Right. What I have to deal with. You'd want to kill people too. For real. Um, so yeah, like basically like she, she had figured out that, that Kira can tell, kill with, uh, means other than just a heart attack.

[01:01:05] And that he can control the actions of people before they die. Which at this point, everybody just thinks that it's just heart attacks. That's all it is. Of course, Elle is starting to suspect this, but he doesn't know for sure yet. Um, and obviously, as I said, she's right on the money. So, like, it's like, I gotta get rid of this bitch. She is going to fuck me hard. And not in a good way. Um. Yeah. Yeah. It's.

[01:01:34] Just that scene where he's like, oh yeah, I'm part of the task force. Like, it's all like, basically just like following around and like basically plays right into his hand to get her to show, show him her ID. Yeah. He kind of stalks her for like a little while. Cause there's a point where like they were talking. Yeah. Like there was a point where they were talking and everything else. And she was like, you know what? Like, thank you for like, you know, um, affirming what I was saying of like, you know, like I'm, I'm a lot more convinced of my own beliefs now.

[01:02:03] So I'm really determined now I'm going to go and talk to them and shit. And she's like, but like, you know, if you don't have any more business, the police station, like I'm just going to go and do this myself. So nice to meet you, but bye. And he just continues to walk behind her the whole time. This is where all the fucking ass shots are because like, while he's following her, they have to just show that the whole time. Yeah. It's just like, it's just such a weird thing. There's a, there's like an entire manga panel. That's just like as close up of her ass.

[01:02:33] So I'm just like, why? Like, but okay, sure. I'm pretty sure the anime is worse. Like it's still like, it's still not like, like Death Note is very tame in that way, in a lot of ways. At least until Misa is introduced, which even that isn't too bad. I just, I love the frame. Like I love, I love the manga, like in comic, like page layouts and framing. And it just, I always laugh when you get like something like an entire, entire panel just dedicated to ass. I'm just like the audience, the artist clearly had a, a thing for this.

[01:03:03] Right here. Yeah. Seems like a lot of manga, manga artists are butt guys. Yeah. I mean, I mean, I get it, you know, but I was gonna, I was gonna say though, like that whole part where he basically just stalks her and like follows her. And then like, the way he gets her to like, reveal her actual identity is fucking like devious. I was like, wow. Just mean. Just mean. Oh yeah.

[01:03:32] Playing on a grief like that. Yeah. And then the second she shows him, he's like, oh yeah, by the way, I'm Kira. Yeah. Like literally there's a second away from when, you know, or the, him writing the name like kicks in. Yeah. And he, he has a habit of doing that. You'll notice it because he did the same thing with Ray Penberg. Cause as soon as he, cause Ray Penberg collapsed as he was walking off the train, having a heart attack.

[01:03:58] And he's like, he turns around, he's trying to like look into the train to see, cause he knows Kira's there. And like, just standing right there. He does the whole like, oh, goodbye. You know, like, like he has to, it's not enough that he wins. He has to fucking look you in the eye and gloat when he does it. Oh, the way he does it. And it happens over and over again. Oh yeah. The way he does it to Naomi is just fucking like evil though. Cause he just like straight up, like gives her all this hope.

[01:04:28] And then like, all of a sudden he's like, oh yeah, by the way, I'm Kira. And then like the, what made that scene even darker is the fact that because her death was designated as suicide. Like she has that look of horror on her face for like a split second. Then immediately just goes stone faces. Like I have something I need to do. And then just walks off screen to never be seen again. And I'm just like, holy fuck. That scene is so haunting in the anime. Like that was honestly one of the big things that caught me when I was watching it.

[01:04:56] It's like, cause that whole scene where he does the whole, oh, it's cause I'm Kira. And then like you kind of in that scene, you see her eyes widen and like the kind of like the expression on her face. Like as her face changes and you see the dawning realization. And then all of a sudden it just shuts down. Yeah. And in the anime, there's actually a scene like as she's walking away where it kind of like shows like a, like a silhouette of like a gallows.

[01:05:26] Yeah. Like she's going to go hang her. I mean, it never actually is revealed how she kills herself in the manga, but like it's implied in the anime that she, you know, found somewhere secluded and hung herself. But yeah, she just kind of disappears and it's like, she basically is missing in action. Yeah. Which, yeah, such a missed off because she is, she was such a good character for the short time that she was there. Like she was, you know, incredibly smart, brave.

[01:05:55] If you read the novel, like you get so much more out of, out of her as a character too. Like, it's like, it just feels like she wasn't there long enough. Like she could have brought so much more. She's like a perfect example of like the trope, small role, big impact. Oh, for sure. Like that was a big turning point in, in the series.

[01:06:17] Anyways, and even though she was never able to get in contact with Elle, ultimately she still was able to kind of tip Elle off unintentionally. Because her parents, I don't know if we mentioned this, but she came with Ray in the first place because her parents live in Japan and he was going to meet her parents.

[01:06:48] But her parents hadn't heard or seen from her in, in a while after he had died. And they were obviously concerned. They called the police that got patched through to Elle. Elle was like, oh, I recognize that name. I worked with her. I understand her at a certain level. And I know she would not kill herself. She would try to catch Kira. So something must've happened here. Yeah. And that was kind of what tipped them off. Like, okay.

[01:07:16] Like he must have more power than we thought. And that was when you look back at, at the, this video footage of Ray Pembert's death. And when they see like, oh, he's kind of like look, trying to look into the train and like reaching towards it. And like, that makes me feel like Kira was on the train. So who was he, who was he investigating? And like basically led him down the path. And now he is set squarely at, it's either one of these two families.

[01:07:45] It's either the Yagabi family or this other guy's family. So at this point, we're at the end of volume two. And he's boiled it down to one of two families. And one of them is certainly correct. It's very interesting that like light is like three, like three steps ahead. But then L is like five steps ahead. Like the whole time. They're playing like 7D chess over here. Oh yeah.

[01:08:10] Well, cause like when you think about it, his, the way he, he kills off Naomi is like incredibly smart. Cause he's like grieving fiance. Obviously like if she kills herself, it would, no one would really think anything of it. Except for the fact that L is thinking like 12 steps ahead. Yeah. Well, except that he didn't count on the fact that L actually understands her personality and knows that that's not what she would do. Yeah. It's one of those, it's an interesting thing where like L is kind of like that, like wrench in all of Light's plans.

[01:08:40] Yeah. And that's the, that's the fun thing about, because they really are two sides of the same coin. Like they are both just as intelligent, just as good at deductive reasoning, but they are on opposite sides of the fence about how all this works and what, what should be done, what could be done. Yet they're both willing to do to get things done and so on.

[01:09:01] And yet they're both morally gray, like in that, like ambiguous, like area where you're like, I have no idea what, what to think of these characters. Yeah. Well, again, it's, it's, this show does a very, very good job of blurring the line between evil action and good intention. And that's one of the things that I think like draws people to this, this kind of series.

[01:09:24] Because it really shows kind of like the, like it shows the good, but it also shows like the real grittiness of human nature. And in a way that a lot of other series kind of, like a lot of other series will either downplay it and say, well, all humans are inherently good. Or it'll go completely the other way and say, well, everyone kind of sucks. But yeah, this theory does a good job of keeping that line nice and fuzzy and gray. Hmm.

[01:09:53] Which is really the way things actually are, you know, that's, that's life. And that's why I feel like the show is so, this series is so grounded in that way. Well, cause that's a really, yeah. Cause that's like a really real thing in life. Like you can't live your life like black and white because that's just not how the world is. Like the world is very gray and like some people don't want to accept the fact that everything's pretty morally gray, but it really is kind of the way a lot of people are. Yeah.

[01:10:24] For sure. But yeah, I will. Oh, and after this, when, when, uh, when basically all comes to the conclusion, like it's one of these two families, what we're going to do is we're going to set cameras and wiretaps in these houses and we're going to spy on them. Um, and when he reveals who it is and it's like, Oh shit. Like one of the, you know, like pretty much like the, the, the dad of the group of the task force is like his family's under suspicion.

[01:10:53] And ultimately he, he gives his consent. And like, there's a scene where like Matsuda is like, well, we'll think about your wife and your daughter and this and that. And he like snaps. And this is, this is one of those moments where, where I was saying like the way that, that, uh, was it Obata? The way he like draws some of these characters expressions, like this scene where, where Suichiro kind of like loses it for a second. And he's like, yeah, I fucking know.

[01:11:21] Like, I think I know more than you do, you fucking kid. But like, I need to make sure that if this is done, it's done right. And like, I need to do what's right for my family. And things aren't going to move on in a positive way until I can clear them of suspicion fully, completely with no question.

[01:11:41] You know, and, and you can tell us tearing him apart, like just in that one, like couple or one or two manga panels, like the way that, I don't know. He's really good at drawing like human expression. It's such a different character from the dad in the fucking Netflix movie who just is kind of there. For sure. For sure.

[01:12:07] Um, yeah, very, very dense to mangas though. That's for sure. Yeah. And basically the, the, the second volume ends with light essentially coming to the conclusion, like, yeah, they, they, they bugged our house. So I got to be careful about how I do things. This is also where you learn that, um, apples aren't just a tasty snack to Shinigami. Hmm.

[01:12:34] Um, they actually, uh, become highly addicted to them. That's like drugs and alcohol to, to Shinigami. And they actually go through withdrawals if they don't eat them, which is how he's able to convince Ryuk to look for the cameras and wiretaps for him. Yeah. Yeah. So that's, that's basically where we leave off is they're going to try and figure out where they all are. And, uh, we'll go from there. Yeah. Cause I remember the apple thing in the Netflix movie, which is kind of like, he just had apples every now and then.

[01:13:03] They never really mentioned it. I was like, that's weird. He would just eat apples. Right. And that was the thing about that movie is he would eat the apples, but like Ryuk is so fucking big and he's got all those sharp teeth and everything else. But he would leave so much apple behind, like, like in the manga and in the anime, he just fucking straight up pops them into his mouth like grapes. Like he doesn't give a fuck. He's the whole damn thing. Yeah. It's such a weird, that movie is a masterpiece in like every, in like all the worst ways. For real.

[01:13:33] Um, yeah, it'll, I'm interested to see where it goes. It'll probably be a bit before we get back to, uh, no, just cause we have to cycle through everything again, but. Yeah. Well, that's the thing. I like a lot of the ones that we chose to, to, to do for cycling through because at least with, um, I mean, Yu-Gi-Oh! will be the hardest. One, I think just because there's, there's more to those arcs. Like they're a little longer battle city will probably split in half just because it's so long. Yeah.

[01:14:04] But I mean, as far as dragon ball super goes, like those arcs go quick and like death note is dense. So we're probably just going to try to stick to just two volumes at a time. Yeah. That'll probably be the best. Yeah. Unless there's like better cutoff points, whether it's like, you know, a couple of chapters earlier, a couple of chapters late either way. But I think for the most part, we're going to try and stick to the two volume thing for death note. Yeah.

[01:14:31] Um, so that'll be fun, but, um, I think that's just about it for this one. So how, how are you enjoying it so far? It's very compelling. It's probably, I'm going to have to probably sit down and re go through the first two volumes again at some point just to, uh, soak it in a bit more. But that's fair. I mean, you could, I mean, the first two volumes, like they are very dense for sure.

[01:15:00] The anime boils those two volumes down to six episodes. So, I mean, you could even just watch the six episodes. You just need to like a little refresher before you read the next set. But yeah, I mean, I do want to rewatch the anime at some point, but, um, that is an option rather than actually taking the time to read the volumes over again. You know? Yeah, that's true. Um, but yeah. You could watch it just about everywhere too. Yeah. It's pretty widely available.

[01:15:27] I mean, I have the DVD set somewhere, so. Oh yeah. Oh yeah, I do too, actually. I think I left it to my buddy though. Yeah. I remember that one used to be like, you'd find it at Walmart all the time, like the full complete series set. And I'd be like, oh, that's easy enough. Maybe like $25 for the whole series. Like shit. Yeah, I'll take it. Yeah. But, um, yeah. So anyways, guys, uh, once again, thank you for joining us on Geek Addicts.

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