Death Note 25 - You ruin everything!
You can get an idea of how bad my connection is by how long it’s taken me to download and watch this episode. I’m only, what? Three weeks behind?
Anyway.
Since the Internet has basically turned into one big celebratory jerk-off session for Death Note, I thought I’d play Devil’s Advocate - and let out some of my own frustration - by focusing, instead, on what’s wrong with the series*, starting with the complete failure known as episode 25, “Silence.”
*Besides the OP and ED, which still make me bleed from the eyes and ears.
Some people have criticized Madhouse for making the series too dark. I’ve never had this problem. Death Note is a dark series. Light kills people because he wants to be God. Hello. This isn’t exactly puppies and kitties we’re dealing with. I’m all for some comedy to lighten the darkness once in a while, but it should be appropriate and not overwhelming. Death Note is not Bleach.
Some people have also criticized Madhouse for wavering from the manga. I have read and greatly enjoyed the manga, but I’ll try to take the series as a separate entity and not judge the two against one another. Let’s be honest, if I did that, the series doesn’t have a chance in hell, and this blog entry would stop right here.
I won’t even touch on the severe dip in animation quality. That horse is long dead.
So travesty…I mean, episode, 25 starts out with a litte bitty L and some weird churning of gears and bells ringing and kids crying. It makes the orphanage look more like a place where children go to be tortured. What’s the point? Is it supposed to be a metaphor, a look into the twisted nooks of L’s genius brain? Is it foreshadowing? A glance back on the hardships little L has had to endure over the years, culminating in his biggest headache, Light Yagami? Fate in motion? Whatever it is, it’s stupid. It can be taken out without affecting the episode, the characters, the action, anything, even the tiniest bit.
From there, the episode goes back to present day, at the Action Heroes headquarters. L is apparently having premonitions of his death, nice touch. He chats with Rem, eats some cake, teases Light about his lack of manhood. OK, this episode isn’t all bad. But wait…let’s add in a ridiculously overt metaphor. Haha! We’re clever now!
Then Misa goes home, dresses up like a crazy goth maid and…sings a song. Damn! My ears had just stopped bleeding from the OP!
Back to headquarters, “people are dying again!” Blah blah afro blah blah blah. L savagely destroys a box of panda crackers, muses to himself about how Light is probably guilty, and so on. Rem realizes the game Light is playing and the trap he’s set - pretty and smart! Actually, I don’t have a lot to whine about in this scene. Moving on.
Then Light decides to go up on the roof, in the rain, where L is standing, in the rain. Wait, I thought these guys were smart? Then L pretends he’s deaf and grins like a monkey. (I hate monkeys.) On the roof, in the rain, they chat. L says he can hear the noisy bells. Golly, I wonder what that means? My head hurts from being hit with this stupid metaphor again and again.
Then L says eveything he says is made up, so don’t believe him. Then he gets all emo mopey - and wet, because it’s raining. Light pretty much agrees that he’s full of crap most of the time and L shoots it back at him. It’s all very reminiscent of two 7th grade girls who used to be friends in that fake-nice pre-catfight stage. L mopes some more.
When they go inside, I about crapped in my pants. As Light is drying off his hair with what looks like a washcloth (seriously, no towels in this building?), L comes up and starts drying Light’s feet. Light was shocked and so was I. But it gets better (worse, actually). They add lines in like, “I’ll throw in a massage,” and “I’m not bad at it, you know,” followed by gems like “you’ll get used to it quickly,” with some gasping and grunting tossed in. Then Light feels bad and starts to dry off L’s hair, saying, “you’re still wet.”
As you can see, it all plays out like yaoi. And I’m not even a yaoi-hater - I like yaoi, I even like LxLight yaoi. But that is something separate and distinct from the series and these kind of stupid scenes have no place in Death Note.
The “reason” behind the scene is of course yet another metaphor, of Jesus and feet-washing. But just in case you were too distracted by L and Light about to start making out, they decide to make it really really blatant by cutting to a section of the building shaped like…a cross. Givemeafriggingbreak.
But it doesn’t end there, oh no!
Our star-crossed lovers head back to headquarters and it’s revealed that L has arranged for the notebook to used in a test with prisoners on death row. OK, fine. No issue from me there. I’m a huge fan of L’s dark side. I love it. It gets me hot.
And then…Light’s plan springs into action. Watari dies. L crumples to the floor, and Light makes a heroic dive to cushion his fall, wrapping his arms around him and holding him close.
Then they kiss. Oh, no, wait.
L’s last seconds of life go on and on and on and on. We revisit the torture chamber/orphanage. We get the bells. We get the swirly colors. And then we get his eyes…closing…slowly…life…extinguishing…
WAIT A GODDAMN MINUTE!
I said I would try to avoid comparing this episode to the manga, but I lied. How the hell can you justify adding in all the crap about the bells, the singing and especially the ridiculous foot washing scene and take out L’s last words?! How does that work?
I’ll tell you what: it doesn’t. Death Note, you have failed me. You have destroyed L’s final moments. I don’t even care about what happens in the rest of the episode because I’m too pissed off and disappointed to watch any further.
(Light gets Rem’s Death Note and cackles like an old lady. Otherwise, 3 minutes worth of nothing happens. And then, for an added kick in the balls, you have to watch that horrible ED.)
To conclude, am I pissed? Hell, yeah, I’m pissed. Episode 25 should have been amazing, instead I have to settle for this craptastic farewell to one of my favorite characters in any series. Do I think other fans should scream in righteous anger? Absofrigginglutely. Am I so pissed that I’m going to stop watching?
Well…no.
I actually really like the series. But episode 25 upset me in a big way, and I’m sick of seeing so many other bloggers and fans fellate Death Note (hey, check it out, a metaphor). So from now on I’ll step up and take the opposite stance, even on those occasions when I loved the episode. Am I joking when I write entries that are this hard on Death Note? Yeah.
But only a little.
Next time: Mello and Near? They suck; I’m sure the episode will, too.
