Death Note: Volume 3

Introduction

You couldn't get more Death Note into the UK if you tried. The manga is out here; this anime is well on the way to completion, with Special Edition figurines if you know where to purchase. The first movie was released in a delicious 2-disc set, and later this year, the sequel and prequel movies will also be released. All that is left are the computer games, the bed sheets, and the novelty ice-lollies and Death Note overload will be complete. Of course when it comes to finding a cheap A4 notepad with a couple hundred sheets of lined paper, the stationery shops and supermarkets have nothing, nothing except boutique pads with around 40 sheets for £5, scented with the anal secretions of a Caribbean Musk Ox or something. At least I have the third instalment of Death Note to distract me from my ongoing neurotic breakdown.

Ryuk is a Shinigami, a Death God. The Shinigami exist to shepherd souls across to the other side, and where convenient give them a helping hand. This is done by means of the Death Note, a book in which the Shinigami write the name of the soon to be deceased, and an optional cause of death, and that prediction duly come to pass. But Ryuk is bored. Light Yagami is a high school student; actually he is an exemplary high school student, fiercely intelligent and regularly scoring the highest grades in Japan. The world could be his oyster, except that with nothing to challenge him, he is bored. That's until the day that the Death Note 'accidentally' falls into his school grounds. Initially sceptical of a prank, or a sick joke, he's about to dismiss it from his mind, but curiosity urges him to pick it up, and try it out. He stunned when it actually works. Soon he has a plan to clean up the criminal, the sick and depraved, and remove them from the world, crafting his ideal society, a society over which he will have the power of a god. But for the authorities, murder is murder, and a sudden rash of unexplained deaths among criminals surely must be connected. The enigmatic L comes to Japan to hunt the ruthless vigilante now come to be known as 'Kira', and he gathers a small group of determined investigators to help, among them Light's own policeman father, Inspector Souichiro Yagami. Soon it is Light who is being hunted.


But in the previous volume, everything changed. Light came face to face with L, and their battle of wits intensified as L actually let Light into the heart of the investigation to keep a better eye on him. At the same time, a second Kira appeared, a lot more haphazard and careless in her modus operandi, and therefore easier to track down. Misa Amane has a thing for the original Kira, who she believes wrought vengeance on the killer of her parents where the police failed. When she finds out that Light is Kira, it's love at first sight. But not for Light, who realises that the likelihood of him being caught has just increased exponentially. He has just one chance to eliminate L, but it's a race against time as L is on the verge of building a case against him. It looks like it's all over when Light and Misa are arrested, but Light has one final trick up his sleeve. One of the many rules of the Death Note is, that if an owner renounces ownership of the Death Note, then he will lose all memory of the actions he committed using it, or indeed anything at all to do with it, or the Shinigami that accompanies it. Days into the interrogation, both Misa and Light's personalities change. Has Light given up all ambition towards Godhood?

The third volume of Death Note from Manga Entertainment has eight more episodes spread across two discs, along with some extra features.


Disc 1

17. Execution
L is confused. 50 days have passed with Light and Misa in confinement, and the likelihood of either of them being Kira has diminished greatly, especially as unknown to either of them, the killings have resumed. Even L can't countenance holding them indefinitely, so he devises one final test, for which he recruits Light's father. Freed, or so it seems, the fact is that the suspicion hasn't entirely lifted from Light. Misa goes back to her life as a model, albeit one who is under constant surveillance, while Light and L will be joined at the hip, almost literally. It makes Misa's hope for a date with Light practically impossible.

18. Ally
With no memory of the Death Note or Ryuk, Light can't understand why he's being kept under suspicion, yet he's determined to work with L to clear his name. But as the killing spree continues, the investigation comes up against unforeseen trouble. Kira is now threatening politicians, and that heat has come down the line to the police, who now call off their investigation. The police who are working with L have a stark choice, resign from the police, or quit the case. But two months of analysis has paid off. Light has spotted a pattern emerging in the killings. In amongst all the usual criminals and scum, there are a select number of unexplained deaths which benefit one corporation, Yotsuba. Kira is now working for monetary gain! They need someone to infiltrate Yotsuba's headquarters, and L recruits an unlikely pair, master thief Wedy, and slick conman Aiber.


19. Matsuda
Matsuda is tired of being the deadweight of the team, his skills have thus far been put to use as Misa's manager, and making coffee for L. He wants to contribute, only he does so by sneaking into Yotsuba's HQ and having a good snoop around. Then he gets caught. All of L's intricate plans wasted, he now has to devise a way of extracting Matsuda from peril. Meanwhile, the board of Yotsuba have decided to do away with their greatest threat, L. They've hired the world's second greatest detective Eraldo Coil to uncover the identity of the world's greatest.

20. Makeshift
They've got surveillance in the Yotsuba building, and are uninvited guests to all the board's secret meetings, but L and his team are divided on what to do next. L wants to wait, until there is enough evidence to accurately identify Kira, but that means allowing more deaths to occur. Light and his father are opposed to this, the death of innocents cannot be countenanced, and they would rather the whole board be arrested. L reminds them that there is no guarantee that Kira is even on the board. When they overhear them planning the next spate of deaths, Light acts fast and gives one of the board members a private phone call, pretending to be L.


Disc 2

21. Performance
L's plan is to use Misa to infiltrate the board and find out who Kira is. Light's against it, but Misa wants to be with Light (albeit with L chained to them as a fifth wheel), so she will do whatever it takes. L sees that information is leaked implying that Misa knows his true identity, and pretty soon she's facing an interview for a role in Yotsuba's latest advertising campaign, which quickly turns into an interrogation. With the prospect that Misa may be the second Kira, the new Kira is keen on possessing her and her Shinigami Eyes, and making his power absolute. He is on the board, and he's being guided by the shinigami Rem. But when Rem sees her cherished Misa in danger, she acts. Suddenly Misa, who had no memory of her previous actions as the second Kira, is confronted by a horrific figure from the next world.

22. Guidance
Misa has her memory back, and she knows that Light is the original Kira, even though Light himself doesn't. Now she has to work out a plan that will restore Light's memory without alerting L, and retrieve the Death Notes and get rid of Yotsuba's Kira. It's a tall order, especially as L now knows which member of Yotsuba's board is Kira, and he's already figured out a way of capturing him, and learning just how he commits his murders. To draw him out, they'll need Matsuda to risk his life on prime time television.


23. Frenzy
Yotsuba's Kira is on the move, looking to kill Matsuda before he can reveal his identity. While L and the other watch on surveillance video, they refrain from moving in, as arresting him isn't enough. They need to find out how he kills from a distance. L is stunned to see the investigation move in a wholly unexpected direction when Kira starts talking to an invisible passenger. Who else is in the car? Could it be a Shinigami? Kira is intent on finding out Matsuda's identity, but L has arranged it so that he will be frustrated at every turn. Then all of a sudden, Kira changes his mind and heads straight for the studio at top speed. When a traffic cop stops him, it appears as if the cop dies after Kira just looked at him. The rules have just changed, and it looks as if this Kira has now got the powers that the second Kira had. The chase begins.

24. Revival
Yotsuba's Kira is cornered, but before they can deal with him, L needs to know just what is going on. They find the Death Note on his person, and are stunned when, by touching it, they are confronted by Rem, the Shinigami. But when Light touches it, everything changes. His memories come flooding back, but it looks as if it may be all over for him. The police have the Death Note, and the third Kira in custody, they know about the Shinigami, and with the rules clearly written in the Death Note, it may not be long before they figure out what has been going on. But it turns out that Light has been planning for the long term.

Picture

Death Note gets a 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer that is typical of modern anime. It's clear and sharp enough, with only the barest of NTSC-PAL transfer signs worth mentioning. For a series that is some 37 episodes in length, you would expect a few corners to be cut and money be saved when it come to the animation. Not in the case of Death Note though, as the animation courtesy of Madhouse Studios is top notch. The character and world designs are excellent, and the level of detail and fluidity of motion speaks to a high investment in the animation. The look of the show suits the story well, with the Shinigami realm a suitably dark and creepy otherworld, while the city gets a cold impersonal feel, with everything in pastels and understated. As you would expect from a show with such dark themes, there's plenty use of shadows and moody lighting. It makes for a rewarding viewing experience.

Sound

You have a choice of DD 2.0 English and Japanese, with optional translated subtitles and a signs track. You won't get any complaints from me when it comes to the English dub, which is cast very well. All the voices suit their characters, and the performances live up to the hype surrounding the anime. Of course my preference as always is for the original language track, and there were no problems here either. There are new themes from episode 20 onwards in this set, although by giving into temptation and going for the full Death Metal treatment, they've made me wear out my skip button a little more quickly. The incidental music on the other hand is really quite notable, taking a leaf from Danny Elfman when it comes to spooky and quirky, and certainly suits the bizarre Ryuk character down to a T.

Extras

This time around, Zavvi offer you a choice of figurines, Ryuk or Misa with your Death Note volume 3. If you want both, you'll have to shell out twice. If you buy from anywhere else, you get nothing but the discs.

The extras are spread across both discs.

Disc 1

The English Voice Actor Interview and Recording Session lasts 11 minutes and Chris Britton (Souichiro), Vincent Tong (Matsuda), and Trevor Devall (Aizawa) speak about their respective characters, and the show.

The commentary on episode 17 sees Karl Willems joined by Chris Britton (Souichiro Yagami). It starts off as one of those 'state the obvious' commentaries, but as time passes there is some interesting information to pick up. It's a pretty subdued track though

The Production Art Gallery contains 10 images.


Disc 2

The English Voice Actor Interview and Recording Session features Colleen Wheeler (Rem) and Andrew Kavadas (Higuchi). This lasts 8 minutes and covers similar ground to the featurette on the previous disc.

The commentary on this disc accompanies episode 23, and sees voice actor Andrew Kavadas joining Karl Willems. I didn't enjoy this track as much as the previous one, it's a little dull, a little light-hearted, and not really too relevant.

The Production Art Gallery contains 10 images, and there are trailers on this disc for Bleach, Buso Renkin, Mar, and the Naruto movie.

Conclusion

Memory loss would be a great alibi. Commit a crime, smack yourself in the head with a mallet, and then tell the police that you have no memory of the incident. Of course that doesn't work in the real world (unless you're a US president), and you'll be behind bars before the echo from the judge's gavel dies away. But Death Note isn't in the real world, and it's best to just accept some of its conceits and convoluted circumlocutions of logic at face value. After all, that's pretty much the charm of the series, the complex battle of wits that rages between Light and L. In the real world, I have a hard enough time parsing a sentence with more than two negatives in.


At the end of volume 2, it looked like game over for Light and Misa, as they were captured by L and the investigative team, and subject to a trying interrogation. Except that they gave up ownership of their respective Death Notes, and wound up losing all memory of them, the Shinigami, and the murders they committed. So as we begin volume 3, L has three innocent people in custody, suspending their human rights for as long as it takes to get to the truth, a truth that no one possesses any more. I say three people, as Souichiro Yagami joins his son in captivity, feeling morally obliged to share in his fate as long as there is a chance that he is guilty. Then the killings start again, and it becomes clear to us that there is a new Kira in town. To L and the others, it seems that the original Kira has just got back from a vacation. Even still, his innate suspicion of Light keeps L persisting in his harassment of him and Misa. That suspicion persists even when they are eventually released as innocent, resulting in Light and L being handcuffed together from then on.


This is my favourite part of the first Death Note arc, as all of a sudden we have a protagonist. Since Light picked up the Death Note, he's been descending into abject villainy, as he plots, schemes, and connives his way to his new world order. Misa, cute and bubbly as she is, is also pretty ruthless when it comes to ridding the world of those she deems unfit. But all of a sudden, those two characters vanish, and we're left with an up and coming pop idol, who is hopelessly in love with an intelligent and honourable college boy. They've been falsely imprisoned, subject to interrogation that borders on torture, and accused of the most heinous of crimes. You'd expect them to try and get away from this nightmare, if L even considered letting them go, but Light has been wronged, falsely accused, and is still under suspicion, and he's determined to clear his name and find the true Kira. Typically Misa is determined to be there for the one she loves, so she sticks around as well.


The change in story and characters is also a little welcome, given the unrelenting darkness and moral ambiguity of the story so far. We get to have a lot more fun with the characters, there are more light-hearted moments, and it almost feels like an odd rom-com at times, with L an unwanted appendage in Misa's pursuit of Light. There is a price to be paid, and that is the absence of the Shinigami for the duration of these episodes, especially Ryuk. While his absence is felt, the episodes work well regardless. It also helps that we get some truly black-hearted villains this time, with the board of Yotsuba using Kira's powers for strictly monetary gain and self-aggrandizement. It's an interesting dynamic among them as well, with one of their number Kira, but no one knowing exactly who it is. It's a combination of fear and avarice that motivates 7 of the 8, and the 8th isn't telling. The change also alters the character dynamic, makes it a little simpler, as now Light and L are working as a team to find Kira among Yotsuba, and quite an interesting friendship develops between the two.


Perhaps the most intriguing development is that as Light investigates Kira and his history of murder, he's unknowingly investigating himself, and the irony becomes clear when he has to place himself in Kira's shoes to predict his next move. But the whole point of this exercise is that Light, evil Light that is, would never give up his dreams of world domination so easily, and as the story progresses in these 8 episodes, it becomes clear that Light truly has planned for the long term, and the accuracy with which he has predicted his foes' actions, has manoeuvred them into dancing to his tune, is uncanny. We leave the set at a tantalising point. It looks as if the writing is on the wall for L and the investigation, but we have to wait until volume 4 to see just how it will pan out.


Volume 3 of Death Note is probably the best yet, the twists and turns the story takes are absolutely gripping, while these episodes give, if only fleetingly, some sympathetic characters to invest in. It's really only a question of whether you want a Misa doll to play with or a Ryuk…