WHY, JUST WHY? || PHYSICS EDUCATOR watches DEATH NOTE 1x07 - BLIND REACT-ANALYSIS 

I think you overlooked a crucial detail from the last episode. The policeman at reception explicitly confirmed to her that Light is Soichiro Yagami's son, who's leading the investigation. and additionally, that light has already helped solve two cases and is closely involved with the police. To her, Light isn't just a random teenager claiming to be a ☑ detective; he has credible connections and a proven track record.

Naomi is in a horrible place, having lost her fiance on a case that she was willing to help him on. Not only did the receptionist give Light a warm welcome, but naomi heard them talking about how Light has solved cases in the past. The two of them take a walk, and naomi notices that Light has a lot in common with L, the person that she believes to have ghe best chance at katching kira. Couple this vulnerable position and Light's resemblence of L, along with Light already being established as someone that is highly charismatic and great with women, as seen with the girl that he was in the bus with and the two girls that leaned into his direction when he picked up the notebook, it makes complete sense that she would give her real name. In her eyes, Light is the only person that can give her what she wants, and it caused her to make a mistake.

Them meeting was 100% convenience, but the rest not so much. I don't think she is dumb, because of the following reasons: Police confirmed who he was and that he helped them. He knew a lot about the case. Father is in the force and on the case. The chance he is Kira is unbelievably small. He zoned in to her one weakness, wanting to find Kira herself, and maybe a smaller one: her thrusting L. All this made it more reasonable that he worked on the case, than somehow him being Kira. Could she have been more careful? Sure, but throwing her change away to get into the force, finding Kira herself, and working with L again, made the scale 95 to 5% (if even) and the 5% with him being Kira. I don't even think she ever thought he could have been Kira, but was just careful in general, and he chipped her down from there. We all start with the knowledge that he is 100% Kira, but if you walked in on him, with all the things you have seen. You would also believe he worked with L, his father, and the police.

This is the episode that really just shatters any sort of argument that Light is doing this for the betterment of humanity. He revels in the defeat of this poor woman. It's not enough to just kill her, he has to let her know in the final moments that she's about to die at the hands of person who murdered her fiancee, then he goes on to taunt her as she walks to her death.

He got her id, because he previously said that to be allowed into the task force, you need: personal identification, a recommendation from a task force member, and approval from L. Later on, he tried to act reluctant for her joining (because it's dangerous) to gain her trust. That made her desperate to join. He personally asked for the id then, and she gave it away. It's all emotional manipulation really, and logic really doesn't work for that.

This isn’t a spoiler but Naomi could have absolutely tanked Light in a physical fight, it’s revealed in a spinoff prequel book about her time solving a case with L that she knows capoeira, and totally beats up the main antagonist even unarmed. Btw the reason Naomi is willing to trust Light is likely because she heard the receptionist at the police station last episode talk about how light already helped solve a case And L is 24 years old, he’s been solving cases since he was a little kid tho

How Light's expression changes when he sees his victims die tells you one thing about him now: he's not just killing for a cause, he enjoys killing for that cause. What a psycho!

The ability to kill through su¡cide was explained by author. I can’t cite the exact wording, but it was something like "everyone had thought about it at least for a moment in their life, it’s like something natural, theoretically any person can come down to committing it"

You may have missed it, but Light told Naomi that to get in the task force you needed a recommendation letter from a task force member, approval from L, and _valid identification._ So Light didn't just ask for the ID out of the blue, and indeed it would be pretty bizarre for her to just accept that without questioning his authority. Instead, Light laid the ground work for the true manipulation to take place later on. Side note, Light basically did a masterclass on psychological manipulation in this episode. He quickly identified Naomi's goal, and passionately asked for her to join the task force (which he knew she we greatly desire). He then decides to back peddle, "realizing" that he took it too far and that she "shouldn't risk her life for something like this". Light saying this only served to agitate Naomi, because from her point of view this is everything she could've wanted. If this man was telling the truth, she would get resources, intelligent peers, a place to share her ideas, and her former mentor L. Besides, what's the chance that the passionate son of the police chief is Kira? In this moment, Light grabbed her by her desperation and placed her into the palm of his hand. In this moment, Ryuk saw Naomi's lifespan dramatically decrease so he started to laugh manically. So when Light finally "gave in" and started the procedure with asking for her ID (something he clearly stated he had to do beforehand) Naomi was not about to let the opportunity slip twice. She did whatever she thought was necessary, and that was it. Again major props to Light for making every piece of his story make sense. Naomi: "Why were the task force not at headquarters?" Light: "They're an elite investigative group that wouldn't risk their identities at all costs." Naomi: "Well, how do you know this?" Light: “I'm a member of the task force. They took me in because of my investigative experience." Naomi: “Oh, I guess that makes sense because that receptionist said this person is the son of the police chief, and I overheard them talking about a case Light solved.” And with the constant flattery and complements from light, Naomi's fate was sealed. This was a true masterclass from Light manipulating someone already in a vulnerable position. Overall, Naomi isn't an idiot. She's a talented detective going through a traumatic loss, so she lets her guard down. She wants someone to confide in, someone to replace the void that Raye Penber left behind. Why not this talented child who's quick to give her praise? Absolutely brilliant writing.

I know you are angry that Light killed her, but the death was not dumb, and neither was Naomi. Light was able to fool her because he presented to her a TON of information about the Kira case that were true. The probability of Light being Kira at that point was virtually zero, from her point of view - and working under L was ALL SHE WANTED so after Light proposes it she drops her guard understandably, because from her point of view, Light can not possibly be Kira, and he can offer her everything in exchange for that ID flash. Naomi couldn't have deduced Kira had intel from the police. She just doesn't have the information to do so. And Light was more than informed. He was confirmed to be the real deal by the police at the building. He had legit info from L's team. He even had the "vibe" of L. Naomi was not stupid to open up to Light. She stepped into Light's massive, far advanced chessboard with just scraps of intel about the whole situation. She was simply outmatched.

Although this scene is meant to show us Light's evil, Naomi's reactions were totally realistic and she really had no choice in the matter. She isn't a secret agent with super training, she's just an FBI investigator, and a retired one at that. She intentionally quit her job to become a wife and raise a family, so her priorities have already shifted and she is acting out of her nature as a family-oriented woman first rather than a cool-headed investigator because her motive is "avenge Raye" first and foremost, and catching Kira is just a means to that end (analogously, Light's motive is "become god of the new world" and killing criminals is just a means to an end). Nobody could have acted differently in her circumstances, nobody. It's basic human nature to want to talk about your feelings, and she has the strongest of feelings due to losing the love of her life in a place where she had already committed herself to prioritizing that above all else. No human can defeat their emotions because humans are emotional first and logical second. It's literally how our physiology evolved. From the moment she started talking to Light, there was no escape because she still had the weakness of being human, while Light was already a monster. Regarding suicide, it's a rule of the Death Note that all humans are innately capable of suicide. Additionally, Naomi betrayed her weakness there when she said she has nothing to lose, meaning she is already willing to sacrifice her life to avenge Raye's death. Regardless, Light already had a lot of test data to indicate that he should have no problems using this cause of death. Regarding the ID, Light established right away, as he was asking her to join the task force, that the basic requirements were 1) valid legal identification, 2) recommendation from another member, and 3) L's approval. All very reasonable things since a background check would be the bare minimum expectation for someone joining L's elite group. The last fact that gets overlooked easily on first watch is that Naomi has complete trust in L. Because she sees some similarity between Light and L, she is naturally predisposed to want to trust Light. Of course even then, she chooses prudence for a while, all the way up until Light gives her EXACTLY what she wants - a chance to avenge Raye by joining the task force, the task force that L, the one person she trusts, is leading. It's bait nobody in her shoes could ever refuse because even if you recognize there is a small risk in the back of your mind, for a person who is already resolved to give up their own life to achieve their goals, the risk seems small compared to the reward. This scene/episode is really great and should be rewatched multiple times in dub and sub because there is a ton of analysis you can do to really understand the characters as well as the themes the author is trying to convey.

Ryuk started laughing at the end when the screen turned red because, at that moment, Ryuk saw her lifespan change in an instant because she was going to get killed by Light after he manipulated her. Ryuk knew that in that instant, Light won.

The death note is only gonna default if what is written is physically impossible, like being on the other side of the planet in 40 seconds or you write the name of someone you don't know - if it would be physically possible for you to self delete, you will by any means available, and if he writes a place you will get there by any means available if there is a way for you to do so.

If Light ending Naomi was simply a necessary evil he had to reluctantly do to stay alive and continue his goal of a _"better world",_ it would kind of acceptable in the worse way, but the fact that Light did so with so much glee and even mocked her in the last few seconds before the DN's power took over, erases any remaining doubt for many viewers that Light is the villain.

Light is established - and this is even more prominent in the original manga - as not only a ladies man, but an insanely charismatic young man, almost mesmerizingly so. He is a nearly perfect actor who pretty much never lets his true self show, and is able to emanate a warm, welcoming aura on command. He is very skilled at making himself seem meek and honest. To us the viewer/reader this isn't obvious because we see all these internal thought shots, showing us what's behind the mask, but to someone that doesn't know there is a mask, it's very easy to believe

The death note can make someone do anything leading up to their death that they would normally do within their personality, and according to the death note, all humans are able to commit suicide, without exception

Initially people may give Light the benefit of the doubt. I'd argue that that's the fun of it: if you just take an absolutist stance immediately then you never get to experience the beautiful discomfort of seeing how far down the slippery slope you'd go. When Light eliminates the FBI agents, that's also understandable, since it's a matter of self-preservation. No matter how much of his flaws one was willing to overlook or rationalize earlier, however, this is the breaking point. This episode completes the "Dark Tetrad" by showcasing his sadism: the eagerness to inflict unnecessary suffering for its own sake.

Light already said that he needed an ID for her to join the task force beforehand, she had just believed him from before so when he brought it up again later it didn’t seem weird

He said to join the investigation team they needed an id certification and L's approval, thats why he later asked her for her id

A writing strategy used here was to write light into cliffhangers, release that chapter and think how he gets out of them in the next chapter. That strategy, as seen here, is kinda hit and miss.

12:01 Those cops on the case mostly *aren't* colleagues of his father. They either subordinates or people from all over the dept who took the opportunity to work on this case. He probably never met most of them before. And how often does a police chief detectives to him home to meet the family? He'd be inviting other high ranking police executives. 22:39 A lot of the "mistakes" she is making you're spotting because you have info she doesn't. She doesn't know Kira is probably a student. She doesn't know that Kira has had access to the files on this investigation. If she did, she's *run* from somebody claiming to be the chiefs son. ALSO, she's willing to risk her life to catch Kira. Based on what she knows, there's a vanishingly small chance that some random person she met at the police station is Kira. If he's not Kira, she gets on the case and helps catch him If he is Kira, well she caught that one-in-a-million shot in the head. Makes sense to take the chance. 23:55 She should only show her ID to L. And how is she ever going to meet L? Here she is with someone who says he can set up that meeting!

This episode (as a moody/angsty teenager) is when i completely wanted light to lose. Nothing could save him in my eyes at that point. Naomi is was just too much too soon.

And he chose the one method of killing that would make one investigate even more... permanently missing person. Suicide in her appartment would have likely given away less as loss of afiance would be an excuse. Heck, if he can write "such a way that her body will never get found" he can write "such a way that it will be taken as triggered by raye penbers loss" to make sure any suicide notes imply that.

I think it's so funny that you comment on her being so guillable in such a tragic, emotional state while you yourself miss important pieces of information despite pausing, because you're getting so emotional about the situation XD Loss, anger, fear, and yes, even hope cloud the mind and make you miss important pieces of the puzzle. If everyone was able to act like unfeeling robots when it's important to do so, there would be no detective stories at all, since they're all based on the mistakes made by the killer and the people around them. I've gotta say, though, immediately going to victim blaming and throwing misoginistic insults is really creepy on your part. Maybe I misjudged you 😕

Ultimately, it's not a terrible idea to give away your ID if you really believe Light's on the task force. So it just comes down to this: do you believe Light's on the task force? From her perspective, Light is well respected by the police receptionist. Speaks intelligently in a way that reminds her of L. Made some good inferences on the Task Force structure, leading more credibility to his lie. The only point that really works against him is his age. She does not have police intel, so she doesn't know that Kira is a student. All she knows is that Kira can kill by heart attacks, can control death, is close enough to use the bus-route where Raye tailed, and can even kill with ways other than heart attacks. But she doesn't know Raye was tailing Light or where Light even lives. Even if she thought it was strange to not allow visitors to report information to the police, she assumes this decision was made intentionally by L, and it would be hard for her to disagree with a decision made by L.

5:50 it's like L said last episode. She is trying to catch Kira. Kira tries to kill evil people, so she is indirectly protecting evil people, so she is an evil person. She should be purged.

Rofl the rage is sweet. It’s more emotional manipulation than logic in place.

One of the later rules that never comes up explains that all humans once they reach a certain age understand the concept they can die and therefore understand suicide. That makes suicide a valid cause of death.

"Why would he need her ID" He stated to her that the requisite conditions to join the force were to have something that acts as an ID, a personal suggestion from someone on the force, and then L's permission. That's why.

cut my girl a break 😭😂 she’s probably in the darkest part of her life, and Light specifically manipulated her with the one thing he knew she wanted 😭 of course, showing her ID right there wasn’t smart, but all she wanted to do was catch Kira, and that clouded her judgement 🥲 Light is actually the worst, you’re right 😂

I used to think this was such a reach for Light, because like you, I thought, "How could anyone fall for that?" But I think the little things, like Light being recognized at the station, the receptionist mentioning the cases Light helped with... and Light accidentally playing into the recognition as an FBI agent that Naomi was lacking from her fiance, I don't mind this turnout as much anymore even if a tad forced Naomi had more evidence that light was an upstanding person who genuinely wanted to solve the case as opposed to the off chance that he might have been Kira Suicide was also something she was able to do I think because she was already suffering from the grief of her loss, followed by Light's reveal that caused her to lose all hope

24:14 I'm not sure I saw the particular scene in this reaction, but he does mention at some point "All you need to do to join the taskforce is a recommendation from a current task force member.. and *cough* some valid form of ID, but anyway, I'll be happy to recommend you!" so when he asks to see the ID, he has already established beforehand that she will need to show an ID in order to join the task force. It's not just a random question.

I think if she was further along in the grieving process, she wouldn't be as emotionally driven and have more focus on her training as an agent, but as she is now these events make sense, to a degree.

I think the main thing that you missed here is that Naomi is basically a nobody here (she's literally not an FBI agent anymore), her self worth is even mocked at the last episode when Raye Penber told her to not mess around with the investigation because she's not a part of them anymore. In comparison, Light is someone that has a high chance of working with L considering that he is the son of chief of himself. It was indeed an extremely saddening episode but it's not haphazardly written. It's pretty believable that she has high chance of falling for it especially when Light here is the epitome of L's likeness which she had history with.

His face in the thumbnails are getting crazier 😂😂

9:40 It would connect him to the bus accident directly, then Raye Penber, then Light.

I'm not going to argue Light isn't the villain of the story, I absolutely think he is, but I also think the story gets a lot less interesting if we assume he is just an inherently evil person. I think taking him at his word that he intends to make the world a better place makes the story more about corruption of noble goals and how far a person can go when they believe their cause is just. Killing the FBI agents, and especially here with Naomi, really shows how far off the rails he's gone; to him they are a threat to his vision of this "utopian" world where no evil people are allowed to exist, and that justifies stopping them using all the power he has available, aka murder. And also sometimes he is just a little shit who likes to flaunt how cool and smart he is because he's a teenager.

Oh i guess, its cause... "It's because im Kira" Fuxking love this part so much

23:34 He wouldn’t want to be recommending someone just to find out they’re lying about their qualifications, that’s a bad look for him.

From another point of view, if what is required of a criminal is a sneaky acting ability, Laito is surely a top-class criminal.

Everyone likes to think that they are smart enough to avoid being swindled, but there are salesmen and con artists out there (some may argue theyre the same thing) that can get just about anyone to lower their guard. Its easy to say she was being stupid, but maybe you're discou ting how charismatic Light is. Or, maybe the author just made the character do something stupid. 😕

23:40 put yourself in "task force" Light's shoes. And then The girls. Imagine what she would expect from Light. According to him, he is a trusted member of the Kira task force. He thinks he just found a great new potential member that he wants to present to L. L is a well know respected detective whose name demands respect. It is only natural for her to expect Light to want to confirm her identity BEFORE presenting her to L, so as to not risk looking like a fool in front of the worlds best detective, who trusted this highschooler with a place on the task force! Its her empathy for 'Light, the highschool taskforce member', that leads to her understanding of lights request, and readiness to accept his request. Him asking for an ID aligns with what she would expect Light to do, if he were infact on the task force. Thus her empathy is her downfall.

9:20 the whole reason the bus jacking is not on L's radar is the assumption that Kira only kills with a heart attack.

The information "Ray penbar met Kira" is critical because Ray Penbar only investigated 2 people

Remember when watching things, we have ALL of the information..so to speak. When wondering why a character would do something instead of something else, especially when you believe they shouldn't have or 'wouldn't have' done something, using pure logic of the facts from an outside point of view doesn't work out. You have to also use the information you have thus far to get into the heads of the characters in the scene to truly understand why they're doing what they're doing it. THEN we can decide if something was dumb or not after the fact :D Like for this we kind of know that Ms. Maki, while a skilled FBI agent, is currently incredibly depressed and dealing with some big grief. While she was careful at first, Light managed to whittle down her defenses with his past of solving cases for the police, being the son of the chief, agreeing with her theories, and then the lies of working with L and wanting to bring her onto the team. And on Lights side we can kinda just confirm that he's a real jerk who is sick and needs that attention, gloating that he's Kira just as her 40 seconds counts down and what not.

6:37 Oh no. If he writes down "X commits suicide" X would commit suicide in the best manner he/she prefer, and also in the best manner that's "avaible" at the moment the Death Note starts to work. His immaginaiton on how the person will commite suicide counts for nothing.

People who think he is right about his ideology or his methods are insane xD There is no justifying it imo

One thing I never heard mention anywhere as to why she was so eager to join the police force is, that she was told off by her fiancée that she’s not an agent anymore when she tried to involve herself into the reasoning about the bus situation

曇天 (pron. 'donten') it means 'overcast'.

I think Light established that the death note can't implant information into a person's head that they wouldn't naturally have, e.g. if he writes "draw L's face on the wall and then die of a heart attack," they'll just die of a heart attack because there's no way they can know what L's face looks like. So when making someone unalive themself, it's probably best to be vague and leave it up to the individual to figure out how to do it themselves. As an extreme example, writing that they die by mixing up a batch of "poisonous gas x" might not work if they don't know how to make it.

Light is kind of like a more intelligent version of Floch: Believes that killing any amount of people is okay as long as it's for creating utopia, believes himself to be capable of making better decisions than anyone else and that he should be on top, has more charisma than he really should, has red hair in some lighting conditions but more of a light brown in others, is pretty close to a monstrous being that perceives time differently from humans

Light is a master of acting and psychological manipulation. Even more so than other genius characters in Death Note until the end including L. In terms of intelligence he lose to some other character, but his psychological manipulation and charisma is second to none.

I guess even if you've deduced that Kira uses a magic-like killing method, and needs some personal information to kill...it's still too hard to believe. It's just too absurd that you'd be killed if you reveal your name. Takes an extraordinary detective like L to have that kind of faith in your own deduction.

22:14 I've watched this anime so many times and it only just clicked to me that Ryuk wasn't just laughing because Light finally got his 'aha got ya' moment. But if you think about it, basing by their dialogue alone, it's a bit early for a celebratory maniac laughter but Ryuk laughed like that because Naomi saying "I have nothing to lose" wasn't just lip service but a true resignation of her life. Ryuk saw her lifespan got cut short in real time before her name is even written in the death note. Chills man, chills 🤯

This is the episode I always point to when people ask me to show them what makes Death Note so good as a series. It's exactly the sort of thing this show is good at portraying. The thing to remember about Naomi here is that while she is intelligent and cautious, there's a few factors to remember at play here that would cause her to make this mistake. First and foremost, she's emotionally unstable due to the loss of her fiance and is still grieving. It's part of the reason why she does take the bait when he tries to claim she shouldn't be getting involved and she gives such a strong reaction. She doesn't just want justice, but vengeance. Second, the point of her making a comment about Light reminding her of L is not just a throw away line. She's worked with him previously, and L left a HUGE impact on her in that case. Third, even if she was a former FBI agent and has some habits that haven't completely left her, she still hasn't been actively investigating for over 6 months. That's quite a bit of time for some of her skills to deteriorate. And finally, if you are acting under the assumption she does believe that Light is who he claims to be (a detective working on the task force), him checking her ID is actually not that odd conceptually. After all, from his perspective she could be Kira trying to infiltrate, and checking an ID is typically a standard part of applying to work for a business. There is also the implication that he might be getting her information as part of the process to do a background check on her. Not to mention in Japan there is a common cultural practice to hand each other business cards when introducing yourself, to the point that it is as common there as shaking hands is in America. It's not that much of a stretch for him to ask to see her ID. If she were in a more stable emotional state she likely would not have made that mistake, but that's sort of the point, she's desperate is is running just as much off of "vibes" as she is logic. Additionally, thematically this episode serves to illustrate an important point of the entire manga/anime: a single mistake can cost any of them everything in a game as high stakes as the story portrays.

This episode always gets me because as a woman the way Light just kept tailing her would have made me so uncomfortable and even more on edge. The fact that she’s also a former FBI agent likely would make her 10x more cautious especially considering the fact she’s potentially holding a vital detail that could solve the Kira case. I get the fact that it’s confirmed by the receptionist that Light’s dad works on the force and that he’s also helped with investigations (building that ethos), but the fact that she first didn’t ask for some form of verification to prove Light was on fact on the task force just irks me! Like girl you were so close! It’s hard to believe that this situation played out the way it did and it’s even more sad when you find out the author purposefully had to write out her character because she was too smart and her information was too important to the case that she had to die. It really does suck because I think she would have been a great addition to the show 🙃

The whole exchange between Light and Naomi was pure stupidity. The only reason she came to all those conclusions is because her fiance said he was put in a situation where he HAD TO expose his identity to someone. So she should be super extra protective of her own identity no matter what anyone says, even if she actually met L himself, she isn't supposed to give him her identity. And she was introduced as this sharp intelligent ex-FBI agent.. Now I'm supposed to believe she was emotionally manipulated to give up her real name? No... I would've said this was dumb writing, but I actually have another explanation that I cannot tell now as it would be a spoiler.. I'm interested to hear your thoughts about future events.

One of the reasons why she trusted him at the end, is Ray (her husband) told her, that she's no longer an FBI agent, just a regular woman and shouldn't get into the cases anymore (despite her wanting to help with the Kira case), while Light said that she's not just a woman, but she has the abilities because she was an FBI agent and still can be useful, thus way he "understood and supported her" while her husband didn't.

Great reaction, as usual. I can't wait to watch your next DN reactions. And to explain why Naomi so easily went along with Light’s brilliant ruse, one has to consider her emotional state: On the one hand, she was desperate to catch Kira, and Light was telling her that she would not only help catch him, but that she would be part of the task force formed exclusively to catch him. Basically he was telling her what she wanted most in the world at that moment. On the other hand, the excuse of asking her for her ID is plausible from her point of view: - Light has no proof that Naomi worked for L in the past other than her word and she has apparently already given a false identity at the reception of the police headquarters (although without ruling out the possibility that she had previously called by phone, using her real name and her status as Ray Penber's fiancée to collaborate in the investigation, perhaps believing that if L happened to find out about her presence in Kira case, he would want to join her in the task force), and since L and his task force are protected from the outside, the only way for someone to communicate her presence to L would be for someone from the task force to inform him about her. - From her point of view, Naomi could figure that if she refused to hand over her ID for corroboration, he might finally rescind his nice offer and perhaps think she was a lunatic or a journalist looking to butt into the investigation (after all, there were plenty of calls claiming to have witnessed Kira or to be Kira himself). - Furthermore, she knew from confirmation from the police officers she spoke to and observed in the reception area of ​​police headquarters that he was the son of an important detective in the police force, so important that he had apparently been given the management of the Kira case. Therefore, he considered Light to be completely trustworthy. In other words, Light played his cards very well and she took the bait because despite how strong and intelligent she was, she was not in her best mood, which blinded her so much that she fell victim to the Death Note.

The Death Note itself pretty much breaks your Free Will and compels them to actually do something.

Man I just love your channel, Idk why but It gives me that feeling of showing a anime I love to a dear friend

I remember one of the main complaints in the Fandom was about how dumb the female characters are written. Some of the weaker or unbelievably dumb parts have to do with female characters making dumb or irrational desitions

I'm so happy to see you react to this. This is one of the best episodes of the whole series. The whole series is like a inter-dimensional game of chess against a psychopath. This show isn't really like Breaking Bad. There's no real transformation. Light is a bad guy from the start. He was always bored, he just didn't have any way to effect mass change until the Death Note (almost literally) fell into his lap. He was a ticking time bomb.

I'm pretty sure I heard that the writer had to intentionally give Light plot armor here because there wasn't any way out of it. And here's my take on it. I think that a convenient way to continue the plot is not always a bad thing. However, it definitely was in this case. It wouldn't necessarily be a bad idea to have some convenient or "coincidental" way to kill her, as by doing so, the writer shows the reader that, "Hey, by the way, Light would have definitely been caught by now. Just so you know." In fact, it's been done well before. I'm not a big lover of movies or TV usually (I'm a reader), but I watched a YT video recently that cited a good example of "Deus Ex Machina" used perfectly well. In a movie about aliens, the name of which I don't remember, they end the movie after the climax when human disease just conveniently kills off aliens. But this is after the humans were basically just going to lose the war anyways. This means that the writer is saying, "By the way, there's no way humanity would survive this crap." And I really don't mind that. In fact, I think that's a rather smart, albeit on-the-nose, way to do this. But I feel like in this case, the author was caught in the middle between that and finding some way to believably salvage the continuity. You never ever want the worst of both worlds while making media. I'm not sure how I would write this scene, but I feel like I was constantly reminded this episode that the writer of Death Note had no idea what to do to continue the story, so he just gave up. Just wanted to provide a bit of a nuanced take to this :) I don't agree with people who defend this episode and try and justify all the creative decisions, but I also don't agree with those who say "Deus Ex Machina therefore bad."

We're in the know, but Light is super charismatic, brings up established info and manipulates the conversation to where he wants to. A master emotional and intellectual manipulator coupled with a grieving detective doing all in her power to find the culprit? Yes, she was too smart for her own good and was eliminated asap. Forgot if my Netflix had the subs for the text of her death or if it was explained later, but it said something along these lines: She'll go and hang herself at a place and in a way that her body cannot be found/will be extremely difficult to find. So the moment he wrote that the countdown began, and told her right at the moment when the instructions kicked in. This dude's a psychopath, but one so smart that it's entertaining to watch, always waiting for his downfall, kinda wanting him to outsmart everyone with his elaborate schemes.

What a waste of a character it only lasted 3 episodes...

I think I'm willing to give Naomi some leeway on her errors from a human perspective. I've gone back and forth from "Light's just that good" to "this makes no sense" to "her fiance just died." I've read a story about a guy whose wife was killed in a school shooting who literally died of a broken heart upon returning from her memorial service. I think it's fair to say that she made mistakes that she would not have made at the top of her game as an FBI agent in perfect fighting shape. I've also read some comments that her saying "after Ray died I didn't know what I would do" was low-key suggesting she was going to hit up the self-checkout counter. She may have even partially blamed herself for letting Ray talk her out of pulling the thread she was on regarding the bus-jacking incident. All of that would have contributed to her emotional state. Now, does that make for a satisfying story point where Light wins the exchange by outsmarting his...extremely distracted and emotionally compromised opponent, when she was presented as a severe threat to his plans? That, I can't really say.

Light clearly helped a case of murder with the police before and the receptionist in the last episode vouched that for him to her. and he's the son of CHIEF of the police. it would be best if you put yourself in her shoes.

Light Said to join the task force it required identification a recommendation and Ls permission

What he writes is that she will commit suicide in a way where her body would not be found.

IIRC they only revealed that Kira needed a name to kill in the episode before, where the JP police said that criminals name that were mistakenly broadcasted didn''t die. We don't know if L told the FBI about this info nor did Ray told her fiancee about this. Naomi only knew that Kira needed to know the face, and ASSUMED he can kill not only with heart attacks. Under these assumptions, she is at a great disadvantage, plus you can see from the episode with her fiancee that she clearly does want to try to solve the case. You can't really approach death note in a hindsight. The highlight of this episode is how Light used all the informations, his credibility and the fact that Naomi was in grieving and that he found out that Naomi had an adoration for L or wanting to help solve the case to turn it on her and get her name. Were the coincidences, sure. But you can’t say "without these coincidences" well the author laid out the groundwork on which Kira had to work on.

Light was build up from already credible people while naomi already started from rock bottom and was only torn down further and further. Light also kept a balance between pulling and pushing to not seem to insistent one way. He crushed her hope of reaching anyone, pulled her interest, pushed her away saying she shouldn't be involved so now it's her that has to work and convince him otherwise.

She had everything against her, she was grieving, without the information that Kira might be a student and can control time of death, also her fiancé really hammer down the "you are no longer an FBI agent you are my fiancé", now she meets someone smart that helped police in a few investigations, son of the chief of police, it gives L's vibes, it gives her a "chance" of joining the investigation, he didn't "know" she gave him a fake name (this is a weak reason since he ask for an official ID), and even then she put up a fight against this AH. Light is by no means the smartest protagonist but he has luck and he is pretty smart but he is egocentric, I don't think he is a psychopath BUT I do believe he is a narcissist for 2 reasons, the first one is when he was dealing with having killed the biker and "taking a life" he convince himself he did the right thing but at first he was conflicted with the morality of his actions, the second one is a spoiler so I might comment this in later episodes to clarify.

You should watch the 2006 live action movies. The plot is almost the same but it deviates in someways and Naomi's character gets more relevance in an interesting way

It's easy for us to think that Light is sus, but not for other people

Well, the short answer of "why" is because he gave her hope and purpose again. And you know how we get blinded by our feelings right when it matters the most. In this case causing her defeat.

I can't verify this but in one anime forum, I read that the manga author had to get Naomi Misora killed abruptly, because he found that it's hard to write a 3rd genius character and make it still believable that they are geniuses

18:19 if someone come from that building so Light turn back to the building

I think the crucial reason on why she gave up her information is more nuanced. It wasn’t light being charismatic, or the receptionist being welcoming…though those did help tremendously. It’s Naomi’s insecurity!! In previous episodes her husband (Ray) shuts her ideas down about Kira, that’s when we learn that Naomi’s agreed to become a house wife to start a family. We find this out in the anime, why? Well, yes it’s more upsetting when they die, but it also shows how Naomi giving up everything to build a family. I do believe some of it is cultural. Women in Japan are expected to give up their careers for a family. Naomi previously she was a great FBI agent that even L Knowledges. Now with Raye gone what does she have?? She’s lost. Her complete drive becomes catching Kira, so when light starts given her praise, his admiration, it feeds her insecurity, but most importantly lights gives her a door to a possible future. Where she can make a living, distinguish herself, help with the Kira case and have revenge. She wants this to be the reality, she wants this future. That’s how light convinces her. Naomi is portrayed by the author as someone who is intelligent, so a lot of people get confused when she gives up her information. Weirdly I love how it’s done in the show, I feel like it shows she’s humans. Emotions and now it affects humans actions are always explored in Death note. Intelligent can be worthless if emotion clouds your views, yet emotions are the epitome of humans. So this interaction not only shows us how well light can read/manipulate people it also confirms how light has given up his humanity.

Light did a common manipulation tactic.First he pushed what he wanted until signs of her being sorta convinced appear. Once he sees that he then pulls back and shows hesitance. At this point the manipulated unknowingly starts pushing for what the manipulator wants on their own. This tactic Light used leaves the manipulated feel as though they came to that choice on their own and don’t see it as being led to that response. Also the manipulator usually ties the tactic to something the manipulated is emotionally tied to. Naomi is compromised emotionally, so it’s not surprising that an opportunity to work with L and desperately wanting to catch Kira would make her make a bad decision logically. To her knowledge Light is pretty much confirmed to be the Chief’s son because of the receptionist. She also knows a name and face is necessary. Note that Raye does he suspects that heart attacks aren’t the only method. She may think he’s suspicious, but I feel it’s less than a random civilian given his ties. She doesn’t know what the task force or police know, so she’s not as suspicious as they would be with their more narrow scope.

23:27 i think it makes sense. She's devistated because she just lost her husband to kira, all she wants now is too catch kira, theres a special force of only 5 members including the best detective in the world tasked with catching kira that she wants in on, fate pushes one of the "detectives" in L's team onto her, not only is this a once in a lifetime opporunity to avenge her fiance, but she also gets to work with L again, and this time, in person. Giving your personal identification to someone that exclusive in order to join this elite force while drunk with emotion is completely understandable

Now this was just sad. She was cautious at first, but then Light was reminding her more and more of L so she opened up. At the end, she hoped he might be L himself because she trusted L and he just acted so similar. Ryuk probably laughed like a maniac because he saw her lifespan changed. Also poor Ray used the Death Note pages so now he can't go to heaven nor hell.

Many can come up with explanations why characters do the things they do, but after years I've subscribed to a simpler explanation. If the police were more skeptical, Light would lose early.

27:25 I want that as a sound effect

I think because of the way her husband acts about her career (dismissive) she believes she would need Light's help if she ever wants to be work on the case.

why was she stupid? she is acting on vengeance. Light has no emotional ties to what he does. He's basically a computer. L is much the same, and this is shown in how he talks about the "necessary sacrifices" taken to hopefully defeat kira. Naomi directly gets involved after the death of a loved one. Emotions can be like the opposite of logic, especially with something as serious as your fiance being murdered.

After last episode I knew this one’d be rough for you, I’m so sorry bro. We all hurt when it happened. She deserved better. 😔

27:14 No, it doesn't matter what the intentions of the person being controlled by the death note is. If he writes down the manner of their death within 6 minutes and 40 seconds of writing their name in the death note, they will die that way as long as it isn't physically impossible for them to do so.* Their nature is irrelevant. If you write down that a person will jog until he dies.. after 60 seconds they will get up and do so. It doesn't matter if the person is 300 pounds and would never jog if they were threatened with death.. if they are physically capable of doing so they are going to get up and go do it. The only cases where it doesn't work is when the person is literally incapable of doing so, (not mentally, physically) or their name has already been scheduled for death by the death note. so therefore writing down that a person with no legs will jog themselves to death, will end up with a simple heart attack. *since the death note acts within 60 seconds of writing a persons' name, it would be logical to assume that if you stop writing the cause of death for 60 seconds, the person will simply die of a heart attack.. but if you stop for 58 seconds and continue writing, I think the death will not yet happen and the cosmic forces responsible for the deaths will wait until the limit of 400 seconds has been reached, and then if you haven't written a legible possible way for the person to die by such a time then they will simply die of a heart attack.

If I remember correctly she also doesn't know that Kira is likely a student like L does but I could be wrong. With this Light is very good at manipulation and used her weakness mixed with some reverse psychology. He dangled the thing she wanted most then took it away by saying she shouldn't, With this he had already established a rule that she would need valid ID and I know you say she could just say that she would only show it to L but from her knowledge the literal only way to get to that step is through light. from her perspective the likely only way she would be able to get to L is through light as the only way she has seen L before was through the FBI and a screen.

It’s mainly cause she thinks he isn’t lying. When they met at HQ Light was introduce by staff as the Chief’s Son and solved various cases before it is not impossible to believe he is working under L especially since “Light does seem like L”. To join the Kira Task Force you need a recommendation and some personal identification which is what hooked her (Lie).

Oh the frustration I felt the first time watching this! But ofc, because we already have knowledge on who kira was. After this point I wonder, will her death lead police suspicion to light, for being seen with here at the day she died..

the writing in death note is (at least for this first 2/3 or so) phenomenally written in every single aspect except when it comes to women, in which case it takes such an insane nosedive it borders on comedy

The death note can only make you do things that are physically possible and that you would realistically do. According to the death note, however, all humans have the capacity to commit suicide under the right conditions.

No you didn't misjudged her, you just missed that she knew that Light was Soichiro's son. This is why she could believe him. She knew that he is linked to one of the member from the task force. And to be in the group, you need an ID and an approval from L. But to have an approval of L you need to ask to one of the member of the task force. She wasn't stupid. Light had all arguments to be a trustfworthy guy in this situation, and her only way to be in the task force. She fell in the trap because she thought that all the people in the task force was out of suspicion.

Hehe, calm down. She's was pretty desperate and traumatized, and the sheer probabilty of running into Kira, which so happens to be police chief Yagami son. Insane odds.

28:13 As other already said, previously Light said that, because of it's secretiveness, you need three thing to access it: 1) The recommandation of one of the detective that already work in the task force (that would be Light) 2) You of course have to prove your identity, hence showing some I.D. and 3) L's final approval. So it's normal for Light to ask her for an I.D. if she believe he's really an investigator from the task force. I'm sorry you didn't like this arc very much. I hope you will like the rest, because it keep becoming more and more interesting (and Light becomes more and more evil).

10:08 Nah, mate. It did honestly looked like a regular incident. Moreover that guy was just a punk, not a famous criminal, wasn't in jail when he died, and he wasn't a killer or a mafia member... and there were a lot of people there at the moment. It was about 19, in a street intersections with a konbini and near a station, I think. And Light was there because he finished his prep school, and was buying some magazines and something to eat. You're really overthinking here, it's almost impossibles that they will suspect of him because of the Otoharada guy.

Nothing wrong with a man taking pleasure in his work!

Я тоже считаю поведение Наоми нелогичным для обученного агента. Ей нужно выйти на L и рассказать ему то,, что она знает. Но для этого не надо называть свое имя, она может назвать имя своего жениха (L его бы знал и она знает, что Кира уже его знает) или упомянуть подробности того прошлого дела, чтобы L понял, что это именно она. Да даже если бы она не назвала никакого имени, а была свидетельницей с улицы, то все равно она могла бы сказать, что должна передать информацию и с ней бы встретился Ватари с ноутбуком или что-то подобное.

Wait, why didn't L know who Raye Penber was investigating? (Necessitating the Misora chase.) I haven't been paying attention, and this is like my 5th watch...