Not surprisingly this was yet another solid episode that keeps you entertained all the way through. Lots of major developments in this episode. Without reading the manga it may be near impossible for people to predict all these twists in the series. This is also the first episode where we get to see Misa who is voiced by none other than Hirano Aya. Many people will recognize her as the seiyuu for Haruhi in “Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu” or Lumiere from “Kiddy Grade”. I liked Misa in the manga, so hopefully they will do her justice in the anime as well. Although I may just be needlessly worrying considering the level of quality the series has maintained thus far.

The anime I have been watching this week haven’t been overwhelmingly great this week. Luckily I can always count on this series to provide an exceptional episode. For the majority of this episode it didn’t feel like the story was moving all that much. The final scene, however, adds some needed twist to a seemingly slow-paced episode. Something I found really entertaining in this episode was the fact you could never really say whether L or Light was outwitting the other. One moment it seems Light is ahead, but the next moment L seems to have gotten the upper hand. They have little trouble keeping us entertained from beginning to end. With the turn of events in this episode things can only get better from here on out.

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.

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.

I thought this was the best episode since episode 2. There wasn’t a dull moment from start to finish once again. Previous to this episode, we haven’t seen Light this worried about his cover being blown. The facial expressions in this episode were really impressive. When Light was finally able to get what he wanted, the look on Naomi’s face was perfect. You could easily feel the impact due to that one moment. That scene was nothing less than intense. Things are going to pick up quickly starting from the next episode if I remember the events from the manga correctly. This is one series where I can watch episode after episode with high expectations and never come out disappointed.

The more I watch the series the more I think Yamaguchi Kappei is the ideal seiyuu for the role. This episode is the first time we get to see L’s face in the story. There’s no question that his deduction is really impressive. Being able to string together all the small clues to reach his current position is no easy task. I had forgotten how close Naomi had gotten to finding Kira. I guess it was only natural considering she had more information than anyone else. Although I remember how this situation played out, I don’t remember the events preceding it. Things have cooled down relative to the previous episode’s intensity, but this was still an attention-grabbing episode. It builds up really nicely to the next episode, which should be even more exciting.

You can always count on “DEATH NOTE” to provide quality entertainment. Whether or not Light’s actions are correct or not is up for debate. However, his decisions in this episode make it much more difficult for people to defend his cause. I thought the entire scene between Light and Ray was great. We could really see how much confidence Light had in his plans through his lack of hesitation and a complete control over the situation. Due to more and more people falling victim to Kira, the investigation team winds up losing everyone but the core group of personnel. With L about to reveal his identity to the investigation team, things are going to become much more exciting. Unlike some of the other series this season, the story’s moving pretty quickly to keep us entertained from beginning to end.

I’m glad most of this episode appeared fresh to me. I had forgotten about the details Light uses to fulfill his objectives in this episode. I also had no memory of this Yui character. Although that probably just means that she didn’t play much of a role after this episode for her to leave any lasting impression. We get to see just how much detail can be put in the note to set up a person’s death. They already give us a clue that things are going to get much more complex with the mention of a second notebook. L didn’t have a large part in this episode, but we can see that he’s catching on quickly with the limited amount of information he has available to him. There’s really not much else to say about this episode besides the fact that I thoroughly enjoyed it.

It has been a while since I’ve read the manga so I’m starting to notice I have forgotten some things. This is one of the few times I’m glad I don’t remember everything since I’ll be able to enjoy the series a bit more. L has progressed quite a bit in figuring out Kira’s identity since the last episode. Light has so much confidence in himself that he hasn’t shown the slightest sign of hesitance. The more background information we get, the more we can come to appreciate just how impressive both L and Light are. The story is moving along quickly, but not too quickly that we get left behind wondering what’s happening. I’m really looking forward to seeing all the twists to come in this epic cat and mouse game.

Light’s actions have sparked international attention; resulting in the world referring to him as Kira. This episode officially begins the intense cat and mouse game between L and Kira. I was kind of skeptical when I found out that Yamaguchi Kappei was to be the voice of L. After watching this episode however, I think it works well. It was quite fitting to use the seiyuu for Kudo Shinichi from “Detective Conan”. We get to see some of the other prominent characters of the series in this episode. I can’t think of anything I had an issue with. The art was top notch from beginning to end. Without question the best part of this episode was during the whole Lind L. Tailor incident. Even though everything was taken right out of the manga, it still gave me chills just from watching it in anime form.