Two Reasons to Celebrate 31 August 2007

Interesting insight by Kenny Sia. Read all about it. Hints? Patriotism and conspiracy. Hey! This can make up a good conspiracy story. Kenny Sia is a conspirator.The obvious speaks for itself. I list my reasons to celebrate 31 August. Not just any 31 August but this year’s 31 August. Now for starters, I had done my explaining on my post dated 31 August 2007 - the Merdeka celebration. In fact, it is no ordinary Merdeka day. It’s Malaysia’s 50th birthday bash. Again, happy Merdeka to Malaysians! I’m not the only one feeling the excitement, by the way. The whole nation is celebrating and the grand event is the most grandeur ever. I was not there, so it’s a shame that I didn’t get to witness such event with colossal proportion. Well I’m not the only unfortunate one.

One golden celebrationNow another cause of celebration is the premiere of the director’s cut of Death Note. Fans of Death Note are in for galore as special three-hours episode (or rather a movie) entitled Death Note: Rewrite (Death Note: R in short). I’m an avid fan myself, so this episode is not to be missed. However it is uncertain for me to review this, considering that it is just the same old story with minor additional scenes. But if you are a fan, you would be watching this.

Death Note: Rewrite

Death Note Episode 36: New World (Finale)

Due to some matters in the household, I got myself occupied with it and this rendered me a late review for this final episode review of Death Note. I know that this is the most anticipated episode in this series since L’s death. My failure to review it as sooner possible was regretted. Not only this review was made late, even the review for Devil May Cry had to be delayed as well. So without further ado, I present you the review of the finale of Death Note.

Surprise! They’re not dead yet.

Continuing from the previous episode, Light had declared his victory over Near. Much to his surprise, things did not turned out as what he had planned. One minute passed on and no one died. Mikami and Light were in disbelief - even Matsuda and Ide were surprised by it. Near quickly ordered Lester and Giovanni to apprehend Mikami. They arrested Mikami and took away the notebook held by Mikami. Near checked all the names written on the notebook. The only name that was not written was Yagami Light. This added with Mikami referring to Light as “God” and his obedience to his instructions. Near then confirmed it that Light is Kira. In a desperate attempt, Light claimed the whole plan as Near’s trap to frame him, considering that it is strange that no one died after all the names were written on the notebook. If you call this pathetic, then I don’t know how to refer to coming chain of events. Besides this is also the first time Light had totally lost his cool and showed a rare side of himself - insecurity. For the first time, Light felt defeated and was desperate to find a way out from this delicate matter. Near stressed on what he had said earlier that the notebook was modified. Again Light was being desperate and called out the plan as a trap for him and he even denied knowing Mikami. Of course Mikami felt rejected by this. However Aizawa went to Light and asked him to give up. It was very obvious that Near’s plan had worked out perfectly, leaving Light defeated. And also it was proven that Light is Kira. Light himself had said before the “40th second” that “he had won” as though that he had won the fight against Near as Kira. Matsuda was the one who was heavily affected as he was in disbelief that Light is Kira. Matsuda was always convinced that Light was innocent, not until now.

Death Note Episode 36: 1.28

There will be a delay for the review of Romeo x Juliet for this week as I have not downloaded the episode yet. However I promise to play catch up with it by next week - hopefully. Also I will have to suspend the download page as most of the links are broken. I will attend to it as soon as possible. Correction. I haven’t start my summer anime viewing yet. I was mistaken Devil May Cry as a summer anime but it is actually a spring anime title. My mistake.

As we all know, next week will be the final review for Death Note (Duh! The final episode). And it also seems that next week is an important week. Let me explain myself. Next week, I will have to act as a cameraman for a certain event. Along with this is a birthday party for my cousin that I need to attend to. It is going to be a busy week next week, adding with the reviews of two episodes of Romeo x Juliet, reviews for Darker Than Black and Devil May Cry. And of course, the final episode of Death Note, which I promise to have more screenshots and overall reviews of the outgoing series. Come to think of it, it sucks to know how will the story ends because the ending is dramatic and shocking. It is wrong to say that it is shocking since the ending should be that way. By the way, I like the title of this episode.

Light vs. Near

In the wake of Takada’s death, many of the television stations were competing to replace her position as Kira’s spokesperson. Light was confident that nobody has suspected him for Takada’s death. Then Near called in, confirming their meeting on the 28th at 1 p.m. Matsuda and Ide were rather excited but unnoticed by them, Aizawa knew the situation too well as it is possible that everyone will die. At SPK, Near bid his team members good luck. Finally the appointed time has come. It was soaking with rain as Near informed the Japanese police that Amane has been released. Light confirmed this by calling her. Amane informed of well being inside a suite of Teito Hotel. Thankfully this idiot is out from the showdown. Otherwise she would likely spoils the mood. Light asked for Mogi for his password for the safebox that contains the notebook. The systems works by entering all the passwords kept by each members of the investigation team. Finally the last person to open the safebox was Aizawa and he took it out. Aizawa was the one responsible to carry the notebook and Light considered it as the best decision for Near’s sake. Inside the car on the way to the Yellow Box at Daikoku wharf, Light was confident of his plan to work out perfectly and to rule the world as Kira. Once arrived, Aizawa confirmed Near’s arrival and they made their way into the warehouse. Opening the door, the Japanese police team revealed themselves to the SPK members and Mogi with Near wearing a mask that looked like L. During this moment, the soundtrack was pretty intense and this craved me more to have the second OST album for Death Note.

Death Note Episode 35: Murder Intent

Death is the main highlight in the closing chapters of Death Note. Pun not intended though it seems that way. Throughout the story, a lot victims have been claimed including Light’s father, Souchirou and L. Speaking of L, his real name is still not revealed until and this remains a big mystery of the story. For this week’s episode, death is indeed the main event of the story. To be exact, three deaths. Matt who was short-lived, Mello who is Light’s nemesis and Takada who serves as a tool for Light to ensure him a definite conquer as Kira. The episode this time is thrilling as ever. Closest we can get to the episode 23 and 24 because Death Note is reliving its high speed drama and the final showdown with L. This time is yet another battle with L and L is defeated once again as Mello was brought down by Kira. However the fast pace of the episode rendered the viewers clueless of some details of the story. Questions were brought up but it remains unanswered.

Light figured everything goes according to his plan.

I must say, I really like the opening of this episode of Death Note. It is rather dramatic in that sense and possibly feeling a little at peace as the opening shows the daily activities of all the characters spanning for several days. When I referred to Memento, it is called a montage. Then a montage it is. Among the focus was being watched (by Mello), Giovanni tailing Mikami who is about to carry out the next step of Near’s plan, Mello who refuses to eat chocolate at one point (possibly by the tremendous stress of his work). As this montage continued on without dialogs, the silence was broken by Giovanni who reported of his accomplished duty as told by Near. Later Mikami scrutinized the notebook under a microscope. Then after that, Takada (Kiyomi) contacted Mikami and passed on Light’s message to him. Mikami confirmed to have received it and also mentioned “I have confirmed it.” Takada who was a little surprised, understood that message. She straightly sent a text message to Light, saying “I want to meet you again.” Actually that was an implicit message (as mentioned from the previous episode) to confirm that Mikami was “confirmed it.” It was unknown but I speculate it as that Mikami was being followed. But it could be something else. All Light needs to wait for is a call from Near for a meeting. Light was very sure to have predicted how Near will act. Meanwhile Giovanni reported in to have checked the notebook and confirmed that Mikami has written one page a day for the past three days. Other than that, Mikami has not acting suspicious. Hearing this, Near decided to commence his plans.

Death Note Episode 34: Vigilance

To my disappointment, the episode this time is a little boring - too dragging in that sense. It is possible that the animators try to delay the story further and give it all in the last episodes. Despite of the all-too-ordinary mood the episode, I am still excited whenever I am reminding myself that Death Note has only three more episodes to go. You would probably too bored or too accustomed of me for the countdown to the finale. What figures! It’s just facts anyway. There is nothing to be commenting about this episode either. The mood is on the downtrend.

Giovanni

So we have a dead guy inside the train while Giovanni was still on trail of Mikami. Giovanni has confirmed that Mikami owns the Death Note. So Near decided to approach Mikami. However Near is worried of the shinigami, fearing that it will detect Giovanni who is trailing Mikami and warn him. Nevertheless Near still gave the order to follow Mikami. Meanwhile Light and Aizawa were checking on the hotel room that they will use to have a meeting with Takada. Aizawa doubted the move to remove the cameras in the room as it caused suspicion of the possibility that Light is communicating with Takada by writings. Sensing that things had gotten out of hand, Aizawa left a fingernail mark on one of the notepads in the room. Later Kiyomi and Light met up and she told him of her meeting with Misa last night. Matsuda who listens by gotten excited by this development. Kiyomi revealed of Misa’s plan to announce her engagement with Light during the upcoming New Year Music Festival. However Kiyomi took out a written note for Light to read, conveying another message. Matsuda kept on screaming “pinch” as though he is watching a soap drama. Aizawa lost his cool and ordered Aizawa to shut his mouth.

Death Note Episode 33: Ridicule

Sorry for the late. I admit that I had been procrastinating on the reviews during the weekends. No bother there, I need my break for the weekends. For the next coming days, I may not be able to update my blog due to some works at home that made me unable to use the internet. Internet silent for a few days.

So we are down to four more episodes before Death Note wraps up as we counting down to the final episode by next month. Hopefully I get to have the episode in time before I head back to Kelantan to resume my new term. The episode this time did not thrill me enough though but I must say that the music featured is very good. The strings by Yoshihisa Hirano are absolutely superb. Another compliment also goes to Kenji Kawai who did a brilliant job for composing the music for Seirei no Moribito. Kenji Kawai is another familiar name for music composing for anime OSTs alongside with Yoshihisa Hirano and Yoko Kanno. However I did not really like what I hear from Yoko Kanno when she did the music for Darker Than Black. I really suggest that some music emulation from Ocean’s Twelve music to Darker Than Black, which probably suits the jazzy mood of that anime title. Come to think of it, the music for this episode reminds me of Ouran High School Host Club, don’t you think?

Light vs. Near

Near decided to got to Japan to continue on his investigation against Kira and asked Lester to come back to New York to accompany him to Tokyo as he never rides a plane alone before. Meanwhile the Japanese police had managed to put Misa into NHN to aid them in their investigation as well. Then Near suddenly called in to inform them about his arrival to Japan. He also acknowledged the Japanese police’s move to observe Takada Kiyomi in their investigation. Near asked them to inform Kiyomi that the SPK has come to Japan to catch Kira. To their surprise, Near also revealed the number of remaining members of SPK as he intended to taunt Kira further - he knows that Light is Kira. Upon hearing this, Light took it as a challenge for him as Kira. With both of them in Japan (I was wrong to think that the Japanese police were still in Los Angeles, my apologies), they might be able to confront each other and resolve the Kira matter once and for all. Take note that this will be Light’s final battle and obstacle that will decide whether he will reign as Kira or ended up being caught by Near. Thinking it over, Light accepted it as a fight against L all over again, this time it’s him against L’s successors - Near and Mello. That’s it, the thrill and excitement for the final conclusion for Death Note begins at this point.