Death Note - S1E4 - Pursuit
Otaku vs Notaku features a person obsessed with anime and manga (15-year-old Kali) and a Notaku (a word we made up for a person who doesn’t watch anime – Kali’s mom, Project Fandom founder, Nina) watching and discussing an anime series. Their first project is Death Note. They take turns reviewing each episode.
After Ryuk offers to give him the power of the shinigami eyes for the price of only half of his life span, Light immediately refuses, stating that he wants to be the God of his new world for as long as possible. He jokingly states that it’d be nice to have wings instead, so he could roam around the world and watch over everybody.
Looking over the rules of the notebook again, Light starts to wonder how far he can go in controlling the victims he kills. As a test, he selects 6 criminals. He makes one draw a pentagram on the wall with his own blood, another write a specific letter that has no meaning at all, and another escaped from his jail cell and ran all the way to the bathroom before dying.
For the other three, Light tried to make them do the impossible. One was supposed to die in front of the Eiffel Tower, but it’s physically impossible to travel from Japan to France in only one hour. Another was supposed to draw a picture of L’s face, but seeing as how nobody knew what L looked like, he simply died of a heart attack. The last one was told to write down, “I know that L is suspicious of the Japanese police.” When this did not work, it proved to Light that the Death Note cannot make people write what they do not know, or it could be something that is possible for them to come up with on their own.
Having gathered this information, Light finally decides on a way to get rid of his stalker, or at the very least, find out his name. He calls up a girl, asking her on a date and already knowing that she would say yes to the ever popular Light Yagami.
Later that day, he meets up with his date and steps onto a bus, taking note that his stalker is still following him. Ryuk asks what the point in all of this is, and Light tells him to stay patient and just watch.
Meanwhile, the man following Light comes to the conclusion that he’s most likely not Kira. He decides to do one more day of investigation, and follows after Light onto the bus, taking a seat behind him and his date.
After a few stops, a man steps on the bus and pulls out a gun. He orders the driver to call the office of their destination, Space Land, and takes the phone from him, making his demands to have them bring all of their money.
Seeing his “date” is scared, Light shows her a note, stating that he’ll attempt to take the gun from the man. Light’s stalker, sitting just behind Light and being able to read the note over his shoulder, states that’s a stupid idea and that he’ll handle everything.
Light questions him, asking if he should even trust him since it is pretty common to have an accomplice sit in the back during a bus jacking. Having no choice, his stalker shows Light his ID, showing that he’s from the FBI and that his name is Raye Penber.
Finally having attained what he wanted, Light agrees with Raye’s plan. However, before they could even do anything, Light “accidentally” drops a piece of paper, and makes a big show of trying to pick it up. This catches the hijacker’s attention and he angrily snatches the note away, scoffing and throwing it back at Light when he realizes it’s only plans for a date.
He makes his way back to the front of the bus, but then he sees a shadow and is prompted to turn around. He then sees Ryuk standing there casually in all of his shinigami glory. Freaked out by this sudden monster’s presence, he starts screaming and shooting at the god of death, despite his efforts being worthless as the bullets go straight through him.
Ryuk then finally realizes what Light’s plan was as Raye hurries to grab his gun and apprehend the criminal. The hijacker quickly tells the driver to stop the bus and he stumbles off, landing on the ground. A few seconds later, before he can move, he gets hit and killed by an oncoming car.
The rest of the passengers in the bus are stunned and sit in silence as the reality of what just happened sinks in, and Light smiles to himself, aiming to kill Raye Penber next.
Observations and Conversations:
- My mom really doesn’t like the fact that Light plans on killing Raye, especially since he literally just decided that Light is not Kira. I tried explaining to her that Light is just Light and we don’t really know how his mind works. She now wishes he’ll get caught.
- She still really loves Ryuk.
- No, really, the fact that she doesn’t like Light’s way of thinking is literally all we talked about.
Nina
Kali
