I’m glad to see the story has gotten a better with the introduction of the Hayasaka twins. Although much about them still remains a mystery, it is likely most of it will be revealed in an episode or two. I am now convinced the LXE is meant to look like a joke. Besides the awkward names of the villains, they also display their own signature poses when it was hardly necessary or expected. As low-brow as the comedy may have been, I found myself enjoying some of those moments. We get a little information regarding Kazuki and Mahiro’s parents. It may not be important to the story, but it was something I’ve been wondering since pretty much the beginning of the series. All in all I thought this was one of the better episodes thus far.

I had anticipated this episode to be the conclusion of this case since all the previous files have been 3 episodes long. So for the time being this file will be at least 4 episodes long. It’s quite possible it will wrap up in the next episode because I don’t see them dragging this story on for more than another episode. This was a worthwhile episode in my opinion because of the character development in it. We may have a better understanding of Kazuya after this episode, but it also brings up new questions about him. As for this case, Ubusuna-sensei seems even more suspicious than the previous episode. I’m now pretty positive she is the culprit after watching the events in this episode.

Just when Light thought he was in the clear, L stepped it up and made things much more interesting. If I remember correctly, this would be the first time we get to see Light truly angry. The battle between the two have officially risen to a whole new level with this episode. This can be seen as a new arc in the story since things will quickly change with Light and L trying to outwit the other in such close proximity. More and more we’re seeing the effects of the immense power in Light’s hands. They do a great job with the art in capturing all the facial and body expressions that add so much more depth to every episode. This may not have been the most dramatic episode, but it really sets up this new development nicely.

This arc begins a story that plays an important part in the series as a whole. Linali reveals a little bit about her past during a seemingly trivial scene. It’s something to take note of until later in the series. I found the plot itself for this arc to be entertaining. It will progressively better from here on out in my opinion. Soon we’ll learn just exactly who Road and the others really are. Looking at the events in this episode one could make some guesses, but it’s unlikely they could pinpoint their identity exactly. This story should last at least another two episodes. I’m pretty confident that I will have no trouble enjoying the rest of this arc if they stick close to the manga.

Here we have the coveted swimsuit and beach episode that is an expected scenario for this type of series. At first it was nice to see Tsukasa finally get some to spend some time with Riku away from all the usual distractions. Of course that could only last so long until they run into incidents that prevent them from continuing their fun. Being a Tsukasa fan, the events made things more disappointing rather than satisfying. Riku is as clueless as ever which doesn’t help the situation whatsoever. Although on the whole I wish they could have done a better job with this episode, there were some parts I did enjoy. The end of the episode did help reconfirm Tsukasa’s feelings for Riku. Since her feeling hasn’t wavered since the beginning, I’m inclined to root for her until the end.

They’re really on a roll this season. There hasn’t been a single episode where I ended up fairly disappointed with the story. The story turned out to have lots of twists which I found to be really entertaining. Needless to say it was once again a completely unique story for the series. Since there was no new plot development relevant to the recurring characters, I’m going to stop expecting it anytime soon. As long as they’re able to keep coming up with good episodes it won’t be a big deal to me until later on in the series. I said previously that the endings tended to be darker for this season. This episode can be taken as an exception. Depending on how you look at it, it can be seen as somewhat of a “happy” ending. On the other hand it can also be viewed as depressing. It’s still one of the better episodes this season regardless of how you interpret it.

Once again we get another intense episode. Although the plot doesn’t advance too much, there were some key events which will drastically impact the episodes to come. C.C.’s role was almost negligible in this episode. I’m curious to find out just who she is talking to. It’s likely that once we do find out it will be critical to the story. There was some background information regarding Cornelia that helped make sense of things. Without question the best part of the episode was when Zero announces the formation of “Kuro no Kishidan”, or the “Black Knight Group”. It’s almost guaranteed that he will soon have a large following. I’m not exactly a big fan of their uniform upon first impression. It reminds me of Akito’s outfit from the “Martian Successor Nadesico” movie except nowhere near as cool.

I was expecting them to move forward with the plot in this episode. There was a bit of progress, but overall we’re not much further than the previous episode. Although we are now one step closer to finding out the origin of Tokiko’s scar. From the brief flashback we saw, it looked like something pretty traumatic happened in her past. I am interested in learning more about her background. We don’t get to see the details of Kazuki’s training with Captain Bravo, but with the way regular shounen series work we can expect him to be a lot stronger in the near future. This episode wasn’t a complete waste of time for me. On the other hand, I thought there were lots of things they could have improved upon. My biggest problem with this episode was how they neglected to show much of the fight scene.

I’m starting to feel sorry for Masako. This is the second time she has gotten physically injured on the job. At least this time we know it’s not an accident. We find out the cause of all the incidents that have been occuring to certain students within the school. Although they don’t specifically point out who the person behind all these curses are, it seems like Ubusuna-sensei is the most suspicious. I’ll just have to wait until the next episode to find out who really is behind all of this. This file is interesting, but I don’t find it as entertaining as the previous file. I’m still waiting for Ayako to step up to the plate and make a difference. I don’t want her to end up being the only person who isn’t able to do what they’re supposed to.

With the list of Kira suspects narrowed down to specific families, L is getting closer and closer to pinpointing Kira’s identity. Since both L and Light are so clever it’s really hard to gauge who’s currently outwitting the other. Of course, that’s one of the biggest appeals of the series. I kind of regret the fact that I finished the manga before watching the series. If I didn’t know what was going to happen next I could enjoy the plot twists much more. As Light and L continue to try and outsmart one another the series is just going to get better. The art was once again top notch. It goes without saying that I thoroughly enjoyed this episode. There hasn’t been a single episode I disliked. I don’t think there will be any episodes I won’t like until possibly the end of the series.