Death Note - S1E5 - Tactics

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.

This episode begins right where episode 4 left off: the bus hijacker is a bloody pulp in the street. The FBI agent, Raye Penber, asks Light to keep his secret and Light agrees. He doesn’t want anyone to know that Penber was investigating him. His plan was all about getting Penber’s name and he accomplished that.

Penber heads home to his fiancé who was also an FBI agent, but now she’s just a little woman at home, waiting to be married and have babies. Insert serious side-eye here. When his fiancé points out that the bus hijacker’s death is super odd and that it might have something to do with his Kira investigation, Penber roughly reminds her that thinking about such things is no longer her place. She promised to give it all up and he only agreed to have her come along to Japan because she did so.

A week later, Light approaches Penber in a busy subway station. He remains behind him and instructs the agent not to turn around. He introduces himself as Kira and proves it by killing a janitor who also just happened to be a sex offender. Penber thinks to himself that the voice sounds familiar, but he can’t place it.

Really, dude? Cause you just spoke to him!

Anyway, satisfied that he has Penber’s attention and cooperation, he manipulates Penber into writing down all the names of the FBI agents in Japan working on the Kira case. The names were written on a page from the Death Note. As Penber exits the train car, he has a heart attack and the last thing he sees is Light Yagami’s smiling face as the doors to the train car close. Light has managed to kill Penber, and all the other 12 FBI agents on the case.

The police are understandably annoyed that L had FBI agents in town without telling them. Also, so much for Kira only killing criminals. Chief Yagami stands firm in his commitment to find Kira and tells the other cops they can bounce if they want to. That leaves him with five officers. When he tells them that they will continue to work with L and must trust him, another detective exits dwindling them down to five total.

Light is feeling really good about himself, but once again, he managed to get rid of an obstacle, but gain another. Remember that ex-FBI fiancé? Yeah, well she’s not too happy with her man’s heart attack and figures that Kira had to be on the bus when the hijacker was killed. She deduces that he must live close to the route. She’s on the case.

Light has another criminal leave a note for L: “L, do you know? Gods of death love apples.”

Observations and Conversations:

• Call me naive, but I was shocked that Light would still kill Penber, even after learning that his “stalker” was an FBI agent AND had discounted him as Kira. Was he really still a threat? Also, it doesn’t follow his code. I have a feeling Kali thinks I should have seen this coming.
• This episode was criminally light on Ryuk. I don’t like that.

Nina

Kali