2015-01 - BD Nostalgia

Volume 3 - Edition #1

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Volume 3 - Edition #1 Uncover the History of Ant-Man It’s been a big week for Marvel’s tiniest hero, Ant-Man. A day after the official debut of the trailer for this summer’s Ant-Man film from Marvel Studios (starring Paul Rudd as Scott Lang), a new comic book series by Nick Specner and Ramon Rosana published its first issue (with Lang in the titular role, ‘natch).

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NOUVELLE D’ICI 0 4- Une foule record à l’édition de 2014

section Comics américain Nouvelles - News 08- Secret Wars Correspondence: Ultimate End 10- Silk 1 First Look 11- Convergence Leaves “Every Door Open” When It’s Over, Says DiDio 12- Marvel And ABC Announce Once Upon A Time: Out Of The Past Graphic Novel 13-Damian’s Return In Batman & Robin 14-Legion of Super-Heroes DOSSIER spécial 16-History of Ant-Man PREVIEWS OF COMICS 24-Ant-Man #1 28-Avengers #1 | No more Bullying 32-Batman Eternal #40 38-Grimm Tales of Terror #6

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13 BD Nostalgia Publication Mensuelle 5330 desmarteau, MtL, Qc. Tél.: 514-299-1593 site web: www.bdnostalgia.com email: news@bdnostalgia.com Rédacteur en chef: Sylvio Martins

interviews 42- Interview de John Byrne comic book covers 48- THE PAST 49- THE PRESENT

ANIMÉ | MANGA Nouvelles - News 50- Sgt. Frog Volume 2 covers of the month 51- Nisekoi 52- Gundam Build Fighters Try (Eps. 16) 54- 5 Things You Might Not Know About FUNimation 56- Digital Manga Launches Kickstarter to Print 42 Tezuka’s Alabaster DOSSIER spécial 58- Gundam part 3 60- La Contre-attaque de Char 64- Gundam Unicorn 68- Gundam Formula 91 INTRODUCTION 72- Death Note part 1 PREVIEW MANGA 98- Death Note #1 THE BEST 110- The Best Anime News Network

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Nouvelle d’ici Une foule record à l’édition de 2014 La sixième édition du Comiccon de Montréal s’est révélée un succès monstre.

Ce sont 51 000 visiteurs de tous les âges qui ont franchi les portes du Palais des congrès au cours du weekend dernier pour participer à ce grand rassemblement de culture populaire devenu un in-

contournable à Montréal. Il s’agit d’une augmentation de 9 000 visiteurs par rapport à l’édition de 2013. Ils sont venus déguisés en Spider-Man, en officiers de

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Starfleet, en princesses de Disney et en d’autres personnages, bravant la vague de froid soudaine pour rencontrer leurs idoles, se faire prendre en photo, assister à des conférences, dénicher des articles thématiques et avoir du plaisir entre amis ou en famille.

Un large éventail d’invités des milieux de la télévision, du cinéma et du divertissement étaient présents pour rencontrer leurs fans, dont les très populaires Patrick Stewart, Stephen Amell, Robert Englund et Norman Reedus. Le vendredi soir, Hulk Hogan est

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monté sur scène pour partager des histoires à la fois touchantes, drôles et inspirantes lors de l’événement spécial Hulk Hogan: Uncut. Puis le samedi a eu lieu l’un des évé-

nements les plus attendus du week-end, Star Trek: TNG – Engaged!, à l’occasion duquel neuf membres de la distribution de la série ont été accueillis par un petit orchestre de Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal ainsi que par Karl Urban, qui incarne Dr McCoy dans le film Star Trek de 2009. Plus tard le même soir, 100 fans d’Oliver Queen de la série Arrow ont pu concrétiser leur rêve de rencontrer Stephen Amell lors d’une rencontre privilégiée organisée en partenariat avec Z. Du côté de la salle d’exposition, plusieurs centaines d’exposants étaient présents, vendant notamment des jouets, des comic books et des objets de collection uniques.

De longues files étaient en outre formées dans la zone des autographes commanditée par Télétoon la nuit, les fans attendant avec impatience d’obtenir l’autographe de célébrités telles que Billy Boyd, Julie Benz et Emily Kinney. Les jeux vidéo se sont quant à eux révélés une attraction populaire, les fans ravis de découvrir les nouveautés de

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PlayStation et d’apprendre ce qui s’en vient président du Comiccon de Montréal. C’est du côté de WB Games et BioWare. Notons ainsi que l’édition de 2015 aura lieu du 3 au également la présence remarquée du maire 5 juillet. de Montréal, M. Denis Coderre, qui assistait à l’événement pour la première fois.

Parmi les autres faits saillants de l’événement, mentionnons la participation spéciale de membres de la distribution et du créateur de Série noire, qui ont donné une conférence et signé des autographes le samedi. Série noire est d’ailleurs sortie grande gagnante de la 29e cérémonie des prix Gémeaux hier soir, remportant 11 statuettes.

La croissance du Comiccon de Montréal est telle que l’organisation se trouve maintenant à une croisée de chemins. « Notre objectif et notre priorité sont que nos visiteurs et toutes les personnes qui nous soutiennent vivent une belle expérience. C’est pourquoi nous avons réservé la totalité du Palais des congrès l’an prochain. Nous avons toutefois dû, pour ce faire, déplacer les dates de l’événement », explique Alex La Prova, co-

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Comic News

Secret Wars Correspondence: Ultimate End In May 2015, Time Runs Out and the Secret Wars begin with the Ultimate Universe coming to an end!

original Ultimates and the X-Men. The teaser also revives the original trade dress and logo of the Ultimate Universe, which served as an instantly recognizable way of making the Ultimate Universe books standout from the pack when the imprint first launched in 2000.

The original ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN creative team of Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley reunite to shut the door on what they began 15 years ago in ULTIMATE END as part of Battleworld! Read While the teaser image seems to signal that more from the creative team plus editor Marvel’s Ultimate line will be closing up Mark Paniccia and original editor Ralph shop next year, it’s worth noting that this is Macchio below! not the first time the Ultimate Universe has been perched on that particular precipice.

Marvel Comics has released a teaser Most recently, the arrival of the 616-Uniimage for Ultimate The End #1, coming verse’s Galactus for the Cataclysm even had in summer 2015. many expected Ultimate Earth to be turned into a meal for the cosmic devourer, but the The teaser – drawn by Mark Bagley, one Utimate Universe survived, with only some of the most recognizable artists to work serious status quo changes to show for it. on the Marvel Universe thanks to his long tenure on Ultimate Spider-Man – features It’s also important to note that this is just a who’s who of surviving characters from the latest in a series of teaser images that Marvel’s Ultimate Universe, including the Marvel has released ahead of events releaFuture Foundation, and the All-New Ulti- sing in summer 2015. All of the previous mates, and the remaining members off the teasers have had some connection to a pre8

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vious Marvel event (though the latest one, Attilan Rising, is somewhat tenuous). Marvel’s previous The End line was a series of hypothetical final stories for all of their marquee characters, including the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, the X-Men, etc., all of which took place in their own, individual universes, separate from the 616. Hence, it is possible that Ultimate The End is a similarly hypothetical story about the Ultimate Universe’s hypothetical last days.

Man Logan, and Inhumans: Attilan Rising.

Many are assuming that these events have some connection to the Secret Wars mega-event that was announced at New York Comic Con, but Marvel has yet to confirm those theories.

Previous teasers from Marvel for summer 2015 include Civil War, Age of Ultron vs. Marvel Zombies, Years of Future Past, Planet Hulk, Armor Wars, House of M, The Infinity Gauntlet, Old

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Comic News

Silk 1 First Look Marvel Comics has released a preview of Silk #1, the new Spider-Man spinoff series from writer Robbie Thompson and artist Stacey Lee. The series stars Cindy Moon, a young girl who was bitten by the same radioactive spider as Peter Parker. Like Peter, she also received super powers from the bite, but, unlike Peter, she was hidden away in a bunker to protect her from Morlun and his family.

After the events of Original Sin and Spider-Verse, Cindy is out of the bunker and talking on a superhero identity of her own.

“Cindy fascinates me,” says Thompson, in 10 BD Nostalgia

an interview with Marvel.com. “She gave up 10 years of her life and the world moved on without her. What does that do to a person?”

Silk #1 goes on sale in February.

SILK #1 (DEC140837) Written by ROBBIE THOMPSON Art by STACEY LEE Cover by DAVE JOHNSON Variant Covers by STACEY LEE (DEC140838) And SKOTTIE YOUNG (DEC140839) FOC – 1/26/15, On Sale – 02/18/15

Convergence Leaves “Every Door Open” When It’s Over, Says DiDio In a new interview with Newsarama, DC Comics Co-Publisher Dan DiDio seemed to assure fans that their favorite defunct worlds from the DC multiverse won’t just be obliterated in Convergence.

Asked whether the inclusion of pre-Flashpoint characters in the upcoming, twomonth mega-event constituted an opportunity to end their stories or a new beginning that opens the door to more stories with them, DiDio said...both.

Here’s his (lengthy) answer: “ It’s a little bit of all of that. When we launched the New 52, it was a rather harsh ending to the current universe. We did the Flashpoint story, which led us into the New 52, but you never got that sense of closure, like you did with other events.

When you look at things like Crisis on Infinite Earths and Zero Hour, the characters that changed, you saw the character change occur and it sort of brought closure to certain books and characters and stories.

We never did that with the pre-Flashpoint DC Universe. And there are a lot of interesting character beats and stories that we felt were still worth revisiting. So we’re telling those stories, but we’re also presenting

characters in a way that I felt would intrigue fans.

These aren’t just leftover stories from pre-Flashpoint. These stories are as if we’re joining their lives, later down the line, to see what happened to them.

And then, more importantly, how it fits into the grander scope of things.

And ultimately, you know, we’re leaving every door open everywhere. We want to see what the reaction is, where the excitement is… because our goal is to reach as many people as possible. So the more people who get excited about ideas, the more that we’ll go back and see whether or not there’s this viable option on how to really capture whatever interest they’re showing in those characters”.

There’s been a lot of fan speculation that the series, which comes thirty years after DC eradicated its multiverse with Crisis on Infinite Earths, could restore the original, unlimited multiverse for the first time since the ‘80s, complete with new worlds that have been created since for stories like Kingdom Come and even The New 52. What DiDio says doesn’t explicitly support that theory... but it certainly seems like a plausible read of what he had to say.

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Comic News Marvel And ABC Announce Once Upon A Time: Out Of The Past Graphic Novel After releasing multiple teaser images, Once Upon a Time: Out of the Past goes Marvel and ABC have announced a new on sale April 1.

Once Upon a Time graphic novel. Once Upon a Time: Out of the Past will release in bookstores and comic shops on April 1.

Once Upon a Time: Out of the Past will dive into the origins of several of the characters from the ABC series, including the beginnings of Rumplestiltskin’s and Belle’s romance, going back to when Belle was just a servant in Rumplestiltskin’s castle.

The graphic novel will also travel to the Enchanted Forest, where Evil Queen, Regina, wrestles with her demons, and to Wonderland, to see why Jefferson, the Mad Hatter, locked away his hat.

The graphic novel will feature writing by Kalinda Vasquez and Corinna Bechko, and art by Janet Lee, Pascal Campion, Venessa Del Rey, and Betsy Peterschmidt, with a cover by Stacey Lee. 12 BD Nostalgia

Damian’s Return In Batman & Robin Over at The AV Club, DC Comics has debuted their preview of next week’s Batman and Robin #38, featuring the return of the (now-super-powered) Damian Wayne. The issue, on the stands Wednesday, comes from the longtime Batman and Robin creative team of writer Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason and Mick Gray.

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Comic News

The question is pretty simple: in spite of numerous different approaches, some of the most talented writers and artists in the industry eager to work on it and even a go ‘round with Geoff Johns, the man who managed to make fans excited about Hawkman and Aquaman, the Legion of Super-Heroes can’t seem to find its footing in the marketplace.

The most recent title was cancelled almost a year and a half ago, and since then there’s been no Legion presence in the DC Universe. Justice League 3000, the title that seemed to be taking the place of the Legion, did not (as some expected) pick up threads or characters from that title and has, in fact, since been revealed to be set in a different world of DC’s multiverse altogether.

So...what’s wrong with the Legion of Super-Heroes?

Actually, nothing. I contend it’s all about readers’ habits and expectations.

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Back before the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Legion of Super-Heroes was a massive hit for DC. The universe-wide reboot left a deep gash in the continuity of a title set a thousand years in the future, including the retroactive extraction of Superboy not only from the team but from any story ever told.

When people talk about the problems that Legion faces as a title, those changes and the decades of continuity snarls and embarrassing retcons that have followed Crisis are often cited as prime suspects in the decline of the title’s relevance, but I think it goes deeper than that.

Following Secret Wars and Crisis on Infinite Earths in the mid-’80s, fans had their first taste of the kind of event mania that has swept the industry ever since. The concept of the interconnected universe, once a fun way to team your heroes up with a minimum of plot exposition, was now an end unto itself, and in the years since, there is a disturbing trend of readers caring more

about what’s “important” than what’s good.

It’s the same trend that sees sales plummet when a comic is solicited as “final issue,” because so many fans just assume whatever resolution the writer gives the characters will be undone by somebody else down the line anyway. Or that sees massive upticks in sales around event-driven issues. As the shared universe has become almost a character people follow, titles that have no connection, or a tangential one, to the big events and characters in the shared universe often struggle.

There is no criticism, whether it comes from critics or fans, that aggravates me more than this one. The notion that a comic doesn’t “matter” because it doesn’t play into some larger master plan, and so therefore it isn’t worth buying, is exactly how you end up with an industry dominated by mediocre “event” comics that fans claim to loathe but then buy in the hundreds of thousands.

It’s doubly aggravating with the Legion because more often than not, attempts to make the team “matter” to the larger DC Universe have been failures. Stories like Zero Hour: A Crisis in Time and Final Crisis have tried to use universe-shaping events in the present to reshape the Legion’s future in the hopes that a tie-in to those big events and the new status quo that rolls out of them would intrigue readers. Instead, they’ve tended to alienate existing readers without creating much in terms of a long-term upside for the team.

This is where I’m walking a fine line; most people have contended that the quality of the changes is what drags the Legion down, or the editorially-mandated nature of the changes. I’d contend that the biggest problem is the feeling that changes in the present need to be reflected a thousand years in the future at all.

There’s really very little to indicate that any Crisis-level event that the heroes of the DC Universe survive didn’t already happen prior to the launch of the Legion of Super-Heroes. For years, there was a sense that there was some mystery as to just what happened in between the 20th and 30th Centuries, with “incomplete historical records” and the occasional Great Disaster obscuring the relationship between the two...and it worked fine. It’s really the notion that the Legion has to interact somehow with events taking place ten centuries before them, that creates chaos.

What it really needs -- and what’s hardest to give it -- is a solid status quo, and preferably one that defers to the needs of the franchise over the needs of the universe. It certainly helps to have Superboy, which is its own can of worms.

But that’s a whole other discussion. There are any number of properties that are far better served by sticking to the basics, rather than trying to find out just how elastic they can be before they snap. Firestorm demonstrated this very ably in the New 52 relaunch, when a number of top-tier creators had some very creative ideas and ultimately turned out a book that nobody wanted to read. The final few issues, when the book went back to basics, it was getting much warmer reviews but it was too late to stop the bleeding.

The bottom line is this: it’s tempting to ask, after so many missteps, failed relaunches and cancellations just what’s wrong with the Legion of Super-Heroes.

The answer: There’s nothing wrong with the Legion of Super-Heroes that isn’t put there by people trying to improve it.

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History of Ant-Man

Uncover the History of Ant-Man It’s been a big week for Marvel’s tiniest hero, Ant-Man. A day after the official debut of the trailer for this summer’s Ant-Man film from Marvel Studios (starring Paul Rudd as Scott Lang), a new comic book series by Nick Specner and Ramon Rosana published its first issue (with Lang in the titular role, ‘natch).

Ant-Man is actually one of Marvel’s oldest heroes, with a number of different characters playing the part over the years, most notably Hank Pym (the original), Lang and Eric O’Grady. Since there’s so much buzz about Ant-Man these days, we thought we’d spotlight eight key moments in the character’s history, covering all of his personas and iterations.

1. Tales to Astonish #27 The first appearance of Henry Hank Pym is actually presented as just anoBD Nostalgia 17

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ther monster/horror story (the norm for Tales to Astonish during this era) with an overzealoous scientist that doesn’t consider the consequences of his miracle invention (in this case, how his shrinking formula would make him highly vulnerable to a potentially fatal ant attack).

Just in case the reader wasn’t convinced that Tales #27 was designed to be a donein-one story, the comic ends with Pym dumping his miracle potion down the drain so that no one is tempted to use it again.

But obviously Stan Lee and Jack Kirby saw potential in Pym and the tiny-verse or we would have never gotten...

(just in case he felt daring enough to be one with the ants again). And as a means to prepare himself for his transformation, Pym develops a special helmet that allows him to communicate with ants (similar to how they use their antennae) while also creating a special mesh suit that will protect him against insect bites.

As was often the case with early Silver Age stories, in this comic, Pym gets to flex his tiny superhero muscles against evil Communists. When a couple of «pinko» thugs attempt to steal an anti-radiaiton formula from Pym, he takes his new costume and officially becomes Ant-Man for the very first time in order to save the day.

2. Tales to Astonish #35 Dubbed «The Return of the Ant-Man,» Going forward, Tales to Astonish would Lee and Kirby bring back Pym and de- continue to track Pym’s adventures as both Ant-Man and some of his other superhero personas.

cide to transform Tales to Astonish from a monster/scifi book into its newest superhero series. Despite dumping his formula at the end of his first appearance, Pym obviously keeps some in storage

3. Tales to Astonish #44 This comic marks the first appearance of Janet van Dyne, aka the Wasp, indisputably the most important supporting character in the history of Ant-Man comics, and one of the all-time great industry heroines to boot. In fact, Wasp’s introduction was considered such a big deal, Marvel actually went ahead and doubled the size of this story, giving Pym more than 20 pages for the first time.

Wasp would co-headline Tales to Astonish going forward and was also one of the founding members of the Avengers when that superteam was launched by Marvel in 1963 (she even suggests the name «Avengers»). However, here, she is introduced as a sidekick and potential love interest to Pym, who also bears a striking resemblance to the scientist’s late wife (whose tragic death we also learn about in this issue). Janet adapts to being a dimunitive superhero rather quickly, and together with Pym. the duo defeat the green blob of a villain Pilai, an alien from the planet Kosmos.

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Scott Lang. Lang had actually debuted a month earlier in an issue of The Avengers as an employee of Stark Industries, but in this two-part Marvel Premiere story, readers get a more fleshed out origin, including his sketchy past as a felon, and his

4. Marvel Premiere #47-48 Flash forward more than a decade later to 1979 and the dynamic creative team of David Michelinie, John Byrne and Bob Layton introduce to the world the second Ant-Man (and the star of the current co- very close relationship with his daughter mic book series and this summer’s film), Cassie (who would later join the Young 20 BD Nostalgia

Avengers).

Lang is immediately introduced as a tragic hero of sorts who breaks into Pym’s home and steals his Ant-Man equipment as a means to rescuing a doctor who could save Cassie’s life. As a result of the complex reasoning behind Lang’s dubious actions, Pym absolves him of his crimes, formally ushering in the next era of Ant-Man. It’s not like Pym – who operated more frequently as Giant-Man or Yellowjacket – needed the Ant-Man costume and gadgetry anyway.

5. Avengers #194-196 Less than a year after first being introduced, Lang immediately proves his worth to Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, assisting the Avengers in rescuing the Wasp from the evil Taskmaster (who made his first appea-

wered rather effortlessly by the Taskmaster (who reveals that he has the uncanny power of photographic reflexes). And even when the full-sized Avengers come to the rescue, Taskmaster overpowers them until he runs into the cyborg Jocasta who he is unfamiliar with, and thus, unable to physically mimic.

6. Avengers (vol. 3) #62 As part of the Geoff Johns/Gary Frank run on Avengers in the early 2000s, Lang, who has long been supporting the group and its members in an unofficial capacity, is formally invited to join Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

The impetus behind Lang’s membership is his bitter child custody battle with his ex-wife who is remarrying. Lang’s ex claims because of his gallavanting with the Avengers, he doesn’t have the time or sense of paternal responsibility to care for their daughter, Cassie. When a judge agrees, Lang decides the best way to emotionally cope with this devastation is to throw himself into his superhero work 24/7. The comic ends on an interesting note when Lang is confronted by fellow Avenger Jack of Hearts regarding his no muss/no fuss initiation into the group. In later issues, the two would have a somewhat complicated relationship, highlighted when Jack committed suicide by first grabbing a man who had abducted Cassie and flying into space before detonating, and then later appearing in a zombiefied form during «Avengers Disassembled» and killing Lang.

7. The Irredeemable Ant-Man Readers who prefer their superheroes to be unlikeable jerks who lack all social graces should run out and get their hands on the short-lived 12-issue run of The Irredeemable Ant-Man by Robert Kirkman rance in this storyline), as well as formally (of The Walking Dead fame) and Phil Hesteaming up with Pym (Yellowjacket) for ter. This series, which published between 2006-07, introduces a third Ant-Man, the first time ever.

Unfortunately, the tiny trio are overpo- Eric O’Grady, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who BD Nostalgia

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naged to convince Tony Stark that everything he did with Pym’s technology was on the up and up) and he also teamed with Pym as part of the three-part Ant-Man and the Wasp series. The character was seemingly killed during a 2012 issue of Secret Avengers, but was quickly replaced with a The series has earned praised from rea- life model decoy. ders and critics for its acerbic wit, though you really have to be forgiving of a protagonist who does such despicable things as tell his dead buddy’s girlfriend that his friend had been cheating on her (before shacking up with her himself and accidentally impregnating her). stumbles upon a new Ant-Man costume being developed by Pym for S.H.I.E.L.D. use. O’Grady steals the costume from its prospective owner, and proceeds to use it to pick up girls and to do a little bit of crimefighting when the mood strikes.

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entrevue

Interview de John Byrne Il y a des jours où on est content de se lever le matin. Imaginez : recevoir les réponses d’une interview de l’auteur qui vous a fait aimer le comics et rêver toute votre jeunesse avec des aventures fantastiques ! Il est le plus grand auteur des X-men ( bon, je suis peut-être pas très objectif sur ce coup là !), il a travaillé sur les 4 Fantastiques avec l’un des plus long ’run’ après Lee/Kirby, le ’touche à tout’ des super-héros ( après tout, il est difficile de trouver un héros qu’il n’a pas dessiné). Je veux évidemment nommer John Byrne. Et pour fêter ça, ne ratez pas notre retrospective consacrée à l’artiste !

des comics aujourd’hui ?

J’ai découvert les comics de super-héros américains lorsque j’étais enfant en Angleterre. Tout a commencé avec la série TV « Adventures of Superman » avec George Reeves. Peu après que je commençais à regarder cette série, j’ai trouvé, dans un magasin pas loin d’où je vivais, un « Annuals » hardcover en noir et blanc qui ré-imprimait des comics américains. Après ça, j’ai trouvé une réedition australienne appelée « Super Comics » avec une histoire de Superboy - ce pourquoi je l’ai achetée - plus une aventure de Johnny Quick, et une histoire de Batman. J’ai souvent dit que c’est cette « Comment avez-vous découvert le co- rencontre » avec Batman qui m’a changé en mic-book ? Quel était votre comic préfé- fan « à vie ». Batman devint immédiatement ré étant plus jeune ? Et lisez-vous encore un de mes principaux personnages préfé42 BD Nostalgia

rés, avec Superman puis, un peu plus tard, Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman et le reste des personnages DC. Malheureusement, je ne lis plus beaucoup de comics aujourd’hui, hormis les « Essential » de Marvel et les « Archives » de DC.

fut publiée dans un « Giant Size Dracula », en couleur et encrée par Rudy Nebres (à tel point qu’on ne reconnaissait plus mon travail). Donc, ROG Stories fut publié en premier, et Charlton Comics peut se vanter d’avoir publié le premier les travaux de ce mec là ... John Byrne.

Quels souvenirs gardez-vous de votre premier travail dans le monde du comic ? C’est une histoire compliquée !

J’ai réalisé mon premier travail professionnel environ une semaine avant mon 21ème anniversaire, en 1971. C’était pour un tabloïd mensuel appelé « The Monster Times », et ils m’avaient acheté plusieurs histoires courtes (2 pages) que je leur avais fait . A peu près au même moment, je suis allé à New York pour montrer mon travail à Marvel et DC, et aucun d’entre-eux n’était intéressé. Alors je suis rentré chez moi (à Calgary, au Canada), et au Art College. Mais j’ai continué à proposer mes dessins à diverses publications, comme « Epoch » et « CPL », et c’est ainsi que je suis arrivé sur ROG-2000. Nick Cuti, qui était (à zapper) scénariste et éditeur à Charlton Comics à l’époque (1974) remarqua mon travail et m’offrit de bosser sur « E-Man » pour ROG Stories. En même temps, Tony Isabella, éditeur chez Marvel, me demanda une courte histoire d’horreur pour être publiée dans un magazine noir et blanc que Marvel sortait à l’époque. Techniquement, Tony m’avait passé cette commande, aussi petite fut-elle, avant que Nick me demande de bosser pour ROG Stories, donc cela aurait dû être mon Votre travail sur les Fantastic Four est premier travail publié, mais Marvel retarda très inspiré des pulps américains des antellement la sortie de mon histoire (« Dark nées 30 ?

Asylum » écrite par David Anthony Kraft) La plupart des mes idées sur les Fantastic que le magazine fut annulé, et l’histoire Four proviennent directement du travail de BD Nostalgia 43

entrevue Stan Lee et Jack Kirby, mêlé à beaucoup de science-fiction (Isaac Asimov, Edmond Hamilton, Frank Herbert, Robert Silverberg, Larry Niven, etc...). J’ai lu pas mal de SF depuis que j’ai découvert « Star Trek » à l’âge de 16 ans.

Lorsque vous avez travaillé sur les FF, vous avez changé votre style d’encrage aux alentours du numéro 280. Quelles étaient les raisons de ce choix ?

Je ne suis jamais satisfait de mon propre encrage. Je me souviens d’une blague dans She-Hulk au sujet de votre encrage. Et j’ai remarqué qu’à cette époque vous utilisiez beaucoup de petites hachures, dans Namor ou OMAC par exemple.

Je ne pense pas que je sois la meilleure personne pour encrer mes dessins, mais je produis un tel volume de travail qu’il est souvent difficile de trouver quelqu’un capable de me suivre. Les meilleurs encreurs ne restent souvent que sur quelques numéros (Terry Austin étant la remarquable exception, bien sûr). Je parle souvent de mon encrage comme « le meilleur reste à venir ! » (comme il est dit dans le film Hot Shots 2).

petite ville américaine est propulsée à des milliards d’années dans le futur par une attaque nucléaire), mais elle me fit découvrir le concept de voyage dans le temps d’une autre manière que la mode du « un jour après l’autre », et je fus immédiatement fasciné. Certaines de mes histoires préférées ont pour thème le voyage dans le temps dont celle de HG Wells bien sûr que j’ai lu dans Classics Illustrated quand j’étais gosse - et c’est un thème que j’explore avec plaisir dans mes propres histoires. La meilleure chose avec ce genre d’aventures, c’est qu’il n’y a pas de règles, et l’on peut en faire quelque chose de différent à chaque fois.

Durant votre carrière, vous avez travaillé sur beaucoup de personnages Marvel. Etait-ce votre choix ou celui de l’éditeur ? Peut-être vouliez-vous être le Jack Kirby de votre génération ? Vous utilisez souvent des stéréotypes de Kirby.

On m’a souvent appelé le Jack Kirby de ma génération, et bien que j’en sois flatté, je pense que ceux qui m’appellent ainsi ne comprennent pas complètement ce que Kirby a apporté à l’industrie. Si l’on compare, je suis une souris face à un éléphant.

Et c’est largement grâce aux débouchés Générations, Superman, Lost Géné- extraordinaires du travail de Kirby (et de rations, et même Next Men : vous écri- Stan Lee, bien sûr, en grande partie) que je vez souvent au sujet de la “temporalité” peux revenir encore et toujours sur les per(Next men ou Generations). D’où vous sonnages qu’il a créés et défini. Comme je le dis souvent, j’adore me divertir avec les vient cette envie ?

Vous étiez fan de la Machine à Remon- jouets qui m’amusaient tant lorsque j’étais ter le Temps d’HG Wells lorsque vous enfant. étiez enfant ?

Que voudriez-vous dire aux personnes Mon roman de science-fiction favori est qui pensent que votre style est “old« City at World’s End » par Edmond Ha- school » ? milton. C’est une histoire de voyage dans Qu’ils ont raison ! le temps dans le sens le plus large (une 44 BD Nostalgia

Dans la nouvelle génération d’artistes, y en a-t-il qui attirent votre attention ?

J’ai du mal à déterminer quand une « génération » commence et termine. John Romita Jr est-il d’une génération différente de la mienne ou de Frank Miller ? J’ai beaucoup aimé ces 20 dernières années les travaux des frères Kubert, Adam Hughes, Marc Silvestri, Mike Mignola, Paul Chadwick et une poignée d’autres.

parties pour l’aider. J’étais d’accord, même si je savais que je ne pourrais pas encrer moi-même mes dessins, à cause des autres projets en cours sur ma table à dessins. De plus, DC est passé au lettrage par ordinateur donc je savais que je n’aurais pas à lettrer le

Beaucoup de super-héros révèlent en ce moment leurs identités secrètes (Iron Man, Captain America, Daredevil). Ne craignez-vous pas que le comic-book perde son essence ?

L’identité secrète est l’élément central de la plupart des histoires de super-héros. Mais, au-delà, être un HEROS est aussi l’élément central des histoires de super-héros ! Les personnes qui pensent que révéler les identités secrètes soit une bonne idée n’ont souvent pas compris ce deuxième point !

Que pensez-vous de l’industrie du comics aux USA ? Croyez-vous que le comics est encore en situation de crise ?

Si mourir est une situation critique alors... oui !

Quels sont vos nouveaux projets ?

J’ai entendu dire que vous allez travailler avec Chris Claremont pour DC Comics.

Pouvez-vous nous en dire un peu plus sur comic. Du coup, Mike et moi avons discuté ce projet ? de ma façon de faire « dans le style vieux Marvel », où l’on commence par l’intrigue Mike Carlin était coordinateur des éditeurs générale, puis les dessins, pour ensuite faire chez DC Comics puis est redevenu « simple les dialogues. Nous nous demandions si ne » éditeur, et il s’est retrouvé avec un pro- pas travailler à partir de mon propre script jet intitulé « The Justice League of Ame- influencerait mon dessin, puisque cela fairica ». Le comic n’allait pas sortir dans les sait 10 ans que je travaillais comme cela. délais prévus, et Mike m’a appelé pour me Ensuite, Mike me demanda si j’étais d’acdemander si je pouvais sortir un arc en 6 cord pour que Claremont fasse le script fiBD Nostalgia 45

entrevue nal. « Byrne et Claremont à nouveau réunis ! », c’était un joli coup pour un des premiers livres de Mike en tant que « nouvel » éditeur, donc j’ai accepté.

Avez-vous encore quelques idées personnelles que vous aimeriez développer en creator owned ?

Beaucoup. En fait, l’année prochaine je produirai « You Go, Ghoul ! », une série humoristique sur des versions féminines de

proliféraient à cette époque. Nous avions juré de ne pas annoncer de titre qui ne serait pas prêt à être publié. Nous avions juré de sortir les titres à temps. Et il n’a fallu que quelques mois pour nous rendre compte que c’était impossible, surtout à cause d’un des membres du groupe d’origine. Frank Miller et moi-même avons renoncé à Legend au même moment, et nous sommes partis.

Puisque nous possédons conjointement la licence, c’était la fin du label.

Les X-Men sont très populaires en France depuis que nous avons découvert vos travaux. En êtes-vous particulièrement fier ?

J’ai une grande affection pour mon travail sur « Uncanny X-Men », et ce fut très amusant de travailler sur « X-Men : The Hidden Years » jusqu’à ce que le « nouveau Régime » chez M****l l’annule sans aucune raison (ou plutôt pour une raison qu’ils ne veulent monstres sacrés (Frankenstein, Dracula et la pas avancer, qu’importe).

Momie) travaillant comme détectives privés. Le premier arc de 4 épisodes pourrait Finalement, de quel travail êtes-vous le plus fier ? sortir au printemps. « Batman and Captain America » Rog 2000 et Doomsday +1. Ferez-vous Si un éditeur français vous proposait une séquelle un jour ou l’autre ? de travailler sur un grand format de 46 Je pense faire apparaître ROG dans ’You pages, seriez-vous intéressé ? ConnaisGo, Ghoul ! », dans une histoire intitulée sez-vous les artistes et la production « Qui veut sauver la peau de Roger Le Ro- française ? bot ? ». « Doomsday +1 » a été créé par Je peux travailler sur n’importe quel format Charlton, pas par moi, donc je n’ai pas de qui permette de raconter une bonne histoire ! Actuellement, je dessine un projet sur Suprojet pour ce personnage. perman écrit par John Cleese - et c’est un 93 Legend chez Dark Horse. Le label est-il pages ! Je connais beaucoup d’artistes français ou européens. Je les admire beaucoup. définitivement arrêté ? Et pourquoi ?

Une triste histoire en vérité. Au début nous Etes-vous déjà venu en France ? Et étions tous d’accord pour que Legend soit qu’est-ce qui vous a le plus étonné ? différent des autres nouveaux labels qui 46 BD Nostalgia

Je suis venu en France au début des années 90. C’est difficile de dire ce qui m’a le plus étonné - bien que je garde un excellent souvenir de la GASTRONOMIE ! Visiter le Louvre et me retrouver un bref instant tout seul avec Mona Lisa était un grand moment.

Je ne suis malheureusement pas monté sur la Tour Eiffel. Peut-être la prochaine fois.

Est-il exact que vous avez doublé le personnage de Captain America dans un dessin-animé ou un film ? Nous avions lu un article à ce sujet dans un Marvel Age.

j’ai dit oui. Deux des comics adaptés étaient des numéros de « Captain America », et j’y ai prêté ma voix à Franklin Roosevelt et au Crâne Rouge ! Je ne crois pas que les cassettes furent aussi distribuées que Marvel l’avait espéré.

Une question traditionnelle sur France-Comics : quelle question n’auriez-vous pas voulu qu’on vous pose ? Et quelle aurait été la réponse ?

Je n’aime pas les questions où la réponse est inclue, un truc genre « Vous n’avez plus travaillé avec Bob Wiacek parce que vous n’aimiez pas sa manière d’encrer vos dessins ? » au lieu de dire simplement « Pourquoi ne travaillez-vous plus avec Bob Wiacek ? ».

Pas tout-à-fait. Il y a 20 ans Marvel réalisa un série d’adaptations sur cassette audio de certains de ses comics. Puisqu’il savait que j’avais un certain talent pour le doublage et l’imitation, Jim Salicrup (en charge du projet) m’a demandé si j’aimerais faire Merci Monsieur Byrne pour votre genune des voix. Ca paraissait amusant, donc tillesse et votre disponibilité.

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comic book covers

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Anime/Manga - News

Sgt. Frog Volume 2

Sgt. Frog is a manga series by Mine Yoshizaki. It was later serialized into an anime TV series directed by Junichi Sato. Both the anime and manga are comedies that follow the attempts of a platoon of frog-like alien invaders to conquer Earth. Sergeant Keroro, the titular character, is the leader of the platoon, but is at the mercy of a human family of three after he is captured while trying to hide in one of the family member’s bedrooms. In both the manga and anime, Keroro is forced to do meaningless chores and errands for the family after his army abandons his platoon on Earth.

The platoon has many failed attempts at taking over Earth. It’s the dawn of a new school year for Fuyuki Hinata. As if the stress of starting junior high wasn’t enough, he must also deal with Sgt. Keroro, the froglike alien with apocalyptic intentions freeloading in his attic.

But if Fuyuki though the sergeant was a handful, wait until he gets a load of his subordinates!

covers of the month

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Nisekoi

Nisekoi, released in English as Nisekoi: audiences in the United States, Canada, False Love, is a Japanese romantic come- South America and South Africa. A second dy manga series written and illustrated by season has been announced for April 2015.

Naoshi Komi. Nisekoi was first published as a one-shot manga in Shueisha’s seasonal Jump NEXT! magazine before being serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump. Since November 26, 2012, Nisekoi has been published in English in Viz Media’s digital magazine, Weekly Shonen Jump. As of December 2014 the series has been compiled in 15 tankōbon volumes in Japan, and is also being released in English in digital and print volumes by Viz Media. The manga has inspired a novel series, titled Nisekoi: Urabana, written by Hajime Tanaka and published by Shueisha. There have been two volumes published, on June 4 and December 28, 2013.

In May 2013, it was announced that an anime adaptation of Nisekoi had been greenlit. The anime is directed by Akiyuki Shinbo at Shaft, and began airing from January 11, 2014. Aniplex USA has licensed the series for streaming in North America. Daisuki, Crunchyroll, and Hulu have provided simulcast streams with English subtitles for BD Nostalgia

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Anime/Manga - News

Gundam Build Fighters Try What an episode of Gundam Build Fighters Try! It’s as if somebody listened to my pleas last week and made an episode that was all about the awesome robot battles. This week was fun enough standalone, but became downright genius when you consider the way it hearkens back to the age-old debate of which direction the Gundam franchise should follow.

(Eps. 16)

along with the more familiar child audience for robot shows.

In the 30-odd years since, Gundam has wavered back and forth between the science fiction realism that first made it a classic, and more popular outrageous robot designs as shown in Gaogaigar, Mazinger Z, and Voltron. More than any other, G-Gundam strays from the typical Gundam military The Gundam franchise is known for crea- realism formula. Gundam Build Fighters ting what’s known as the “real robot genre.” and Gundam Build Fighters Try have toed In the ‘70s, while other shows were depic- the line by using Gunpla from all eras of the ting outrageous “super robots” that did mar- franchise, but haven’t really addressed the tial arts and announced their special moves diverging schools of Gundam realism and like super sentai characters, Gundam ima- fantasy until now. gined what mecha would look like if utilized for militaristic might. Gundam’s lin- You can tell plenty of the budget went gering question: “What if giant robots were into animating Gundam Tryon 3. The bird, a tool of war?” made it attractive to adults manta-ray, and liger (bred for their magical 52 BD Nostalgia

contenders in the tournament. There was an embarrassment of riches in this episode’s Gunpla bloodbath. I’d be remiss not to mention Shia, who is up to the challenge of taking on an entire team by herself. Shia’s ethereal Gunpla is inspired by the Gundam 00 models used by Celestial Being. Lady Kawaguchi calls Shia a “prima,” which might mean “prima donna,” given Shia’s light Yuuma reacts with confusion. “Why the step and graceful battling style. She is in complex transformation? It must be bad the habit of wearing theatrical black gloves for structural strength.” Our glasses charac- and taking a bow, with the air of a real perter simply can’t figure out a logical reason former. I suspect there’s a lot we still don’t why Minato Sakai would have built his Gunpla this way. After all, Yuuma’s Gunpla is based off of Zeta, one of the early models of the “real robot genre.” Every part is there for a reason.

Of course, Minato shoots back that Yuuma doesn’t know about Shia, with her mysterious elfin “understand originality.” Minato’s Shingyo grins and sly confidence.

School of Gunpla building puts creativity first. “Gunpla is freedom!” as Meijin Kawa- One more crazy theory: what if Sei and guchi says. By pitting Minato and Yuuma China are in space right now? It is the fuagainst one another, the series contrasts the ture after all, as evinced by Yuuma’s crazy two major schools of giant robot design. It’s cell phone display (and the whole battling a brilliant and exciting way to review the future-tech plastic robots thing). China says she’s cheering her little brother on from far pros and cons of each type. away, and at that moment, Yuuma looks The Gundam franchise has so many me- up to the stars. Could it be? Gundam Build cha to choose from that one of my favorites, Fighters brought up the idea of a magical Gundam Spiegel, was used as cannon fod- space kingdom where Plavsky Particles der. I can’t believe they built a team of nin- come from and that has to come back soon, ja Gunpla and didn’t make its fighters main right? Fantasy robot shows, indeed. powers, obviously) are independent mechas that merge together into a vividly colored and flamboyantly decorated super robot. It’s telling that the audience didn’t know how to react to such a fantastically unrealistic robot. Tryon is a breed apart from the “real robot” norm. It looks more like Gaogaigar, which also has a lion torso, than a Gundam.

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Anime/Manga - News

5 Things You Might Not Know About FUNimation You may know your anime, but how familiar are you with the company that brings you that blessed form of entertainment?

Here are five interesting facts about FUNimation that you’ve probably never heard, as well as some info on the newest changes and updates to FUNimation.com!

1) One of the first shows released by FUNimation wasn’t even anime. It was Chuck E. Cheese in the Galaxy 5000.

Chris Sabat voiced the role of Mr. Munch, and FUNimation founder Gen Fukunaga had a cameo as a policeman.

Speaking of places to get your game on, FUNimation just released a new PS3 app last month. Anime fans can now watch thousands of anime episodes on their PS3 consoles. Also coming early this year will be a more feature-rich version for both the PS3 and the brand new PS4 app!

Blu-rays at conventions, the only products available for sale were Fruits Basket hats.

Even though you couldn’t put them in a DVD player, the high demand for hats proved a point: fans were eager to buy cool stuff.

While you once had to wait for conventions to get your anime swag, you can now shop directly from FUNimation.com anytime or anyplace. 2015 is shaping up to be a banner year for exclusive premium box sets, bundled DVD/Blu-ray combo sets, anime t-shirts, and other merchandise, so 2) Before FUNimation sold DVDs and take a spin around the FUNimation Shop

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and add something new to your wardrobe or collection!

3) Back in the early 2000s, FUNimation teamed up with Score Entertainment to launch a cross-country tour in a HumFullmetal Alchemist is known for both its amazing English dub cast and incredible original Japanese cast. This brings to mind the great debate: sub versus dub. Traditionally, subs have had a leg up because they’re available earlier, but FUNimation has changed that once and for all with exclusive FUNimer to promote the Dragon Ball Z Col- mation Broadcast Dubs! This revolutionary development allows fans to watch dubbed lectible Card Game. versions of simulcast episodes while the Hummers make great off-road vehicles, series is still broadcasting in Japan. Stay but there are just certain places they can’t tuned for more new broadcast dubs coming go. If boundaries bum you out, sign up for this season! the FUNimation Streaming Service All-Ac5) Hidden somewhere deep within FUNicessPass to get unlimited HD dubs, subs, simulcast episodes (right after airing in Ja- mation HQ, there exists an extremely rare pan), and exclusive FUNimation Broadcast set of Dragon Balls. These precious orbs were crafted from orange onyx in a mystical Dubs (more on them in a bit).

If you just want to watch subs, to get ear- realm in South Africa. They were created as ly access to simulcasts each season, and part of The Biggest, Baddest Dragon Ball Z to mine through FUNimation’s catalog of Giveaway on Earth in 2006. Two sets were thousands of episodes—then FUNimation originally forged—one was divided among has got you covered with the new SubPass the seven lucky winners, and the other remains to this day the crown jewel of FUNifor fans of subtitled anime! mation, and the only complete set in exis4) Any time someone visits the FUNima- tence. tion office, it’s hard to miss the life-size statues of Edward and Alphonse Elric. Just as shiny as that onyx Dragon Ball These statues were originally part of the set, are the new updates FUNimation has Fullmetal Alchemist ride at Universal recently made to its website. With an enStudios Japan. FUNimation took these hanced user experience, improved video statues around to conventions nationwide player, episode queue, and updated navigawhen originally promoting the release tion—FUNimation.com is worth exploring of the Fullmetal Alchemist series. These if you haven’t been back in a while. statues now have a permanent home near For more information on the FUNimation Streaming Service, visit FUNimathe FUNimation office lobby. tion.com/subscribe.

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Anime/Manga - News

Digital Manga Launches Kickstarter to Print Tezuka’s Alabaster who insulted his appearance, he meets a mad scientist in prison who tells him of the ‘F Laser’ he invented that can turn any carbon based organism invisible. When James finishes his prison term, he finds the ‘F Laser’ and points it on himself, however the imperfect laser beam leaves him disfigured with only his skin invisible. On a vicious revenge spree, he takes the nom de guerre of Digital Manga describes the story: Once a famous athlete, now an infamous Alabaster and is joined by Ami, the grandvillain, James Block seeks revenge against daughter of the scientist who experimented all things “beautiful.” After he’s arrested on his pregnant daughter and left Ami fuland convicted for assaulting his girlfriend ly invisible. Together they pull off seveNorth American publisher Digital Manga launched a Kickstarter campaign on Wednesday to localize and publish Osamu Tezuka’s two-volume revenge suspense manga Alabaster in English. The campaign has a $29,200 goal, and will end on February 27, 2015 at 8:28 p.m. EST.

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ral heists, but Ami’s innocence may cause Alabaster’s downfall…

“I’m Alabaster...I’m sure you’ve heard what kind of man I am.”

“It is possible for you to understand my pain.”

Digital Manga successfully funded a print edition of Tezuka’s Captain Ken manga in June. Digital Manga also used Kickstarter to raise funds to reprint Tezuka’s Barbara and Swallowing the Earth manga. The English release of Barbara was nominated for an Eisner in 2013. Most recently, Digital Manga funded its release of Tezuka’s Ludwig B manga through Kickstarter.

Digital Manga’s Kickstarter campaign to publish Tezuka’s 13-volume The Threeeyed One manga and seven-volume Rainbow Parakeet manga failed to meet its US$380,000 goal last year.

Digital Manga president Hikaru Sasahara said that he originally wanted to use Kickstarter to fund 50-70 books a year, but has switched to a goal of 20-30 volumes in order to lower the cost of publishing including licensing fees, advanced royalties, labor, and other expenses.

He added that he would like to launch a new campaign for one to five books almost every month, with a week or two in between each campaign.

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Dossier SpĂŠcial:

gundam part 3

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La Contre-attaque de Char 60 BD Nostalgia

C’est au printemps 1988 (près d’un an après la fin de Gundam ZZ) que sort “Char contre-attaque” (Gyakushû no Char) dans les salles obscures nipponnes. Il s’agit ici de clôturer de façon spectaculaire la saga Gundam et son Universal Century (jusqu’à l’arrivée de

années. Il en devient en plus le dictateur charismatique, et use de sa légende de Comète Rouge pour mobiliser les foules et les exhorter à suivre son dessein. Les humains n’ont que trop souillé la Terre, elle a besoin d’un repos qui se fera sans eux... Ainsi, Char projette de bombarder la planète bleue avec des astéroïdes !

La Fédération Terrienne, elle, tente toujours de mener des négociations vaines, en laissant le front aux soins de l’unité Londo Bell (créée pour juguler les révoltes spacenoïdes), dans laquelle on retrouve Bright Noah et... Amuro Ray.

suites et de chronologies alternatives) en mettant en scène l’ultime affrontement de Char Aznable et Amuro Ray, les rivaux éternels. Yoshiyuki Tomino dirige le projet, assisté par le coup de crayon de Hiroyuki Kitazume et la partition de Shigeaki Saegusa. On note aussi la participation remarquée de Yutaka Izubuchi (RahXephon) au mecha-design. “Vous allez être témoins de la fin spectaculaire de la saga Gundam” disait la bande-annonce...

UC0093. Seulement quelques mois après être arrivé sur la colonie Sweetwater, contruite en hâte par le gouvernement fédéral afin d’accueillir des réfugiés, Char Aznable [ci-contre] restaure le mouvement Neo Zeon, défait il y a quelques

Amuro RayLe film commence in medias res avec le bombardement de l’astéroïde Fifth Luna sur Lhassa (Tibet), ville qui abrite maintenant le siège du gouvernement fédéral. Mais malgré les efforts d’Amuro, combattant à bord du ReGAZ, BD Nostalgia 61

Char et son Sazabi sont bien trop puis- voir l’humanité ignorer son discours éclaisants et rendent ses tentatives d’arrêter ré ! Face à lui se dressera Amuro Ray, son éternel rival, et opposant idéologique. En l’astéroïde inutiles. dehors de ce duo de choc, on ne retrouve Adenauer Paraya, une huile de la Fédéra- que peu d’anciens personnages, si ce n’est tion, s’envole pour la colonie Londenion Bright, et Lalaa, dont le souvenir n’en fiafin de négocier un traité de paix avec nit pas de hanter l’âme de nos deux héros.

Toutefois, de nouveaux personnages font Char Aznable en personne. leur apparition, enrichissant à leur maIl emmène sa fille, Quess, et un certain nière l’intrigue.

Hathaway Noah, le fils de Bright. Mais le dictateur prévoit tout autre chose, à com- On a ainsi droit à l’insupportable et puémencer par le rachatde l’astéroïde Axis... rile Quess, l’ambitieux Gyunei (un NewType artificiel), la ravissante Chen, et Du côté d’Anaheim Electronics, Chen d’autres protagonistes plus discrets (durée Agi supervise les dernières opérations du film oblige). Ce sont tous ces personsur le nouveau Mobile Suit d’Amuro : le nages qui joueront le dernier acte de la Nu Gundam, équipé des toutes dernières tragédie qui lie Char à Amuro. technologies...

La première chose qui vient l’esprit lorsL’humanité doit-elle être sacrifiée à la qu’on regarde ce film, c’est sa beauté graphique !

Terre ?

RahXephonToute la population terrienne menace de périr sous le coup d’un hiver En effet, tous les dessins semblent très nucléaire, punie par Char Aznable, las de travaillés, et la qualité de l’image DVD 62 BD Nostalgia

rend parfaitement justice à ce long-métrage vieux de 18 ans. La musique est aussi somptueuse, et sert à merveille la réalisation, tout aussi excellente. On pourra toutefois déplorer la complexité du scénario, ou plutôt son côté embrouillé qui pousse à voir plusieurs fois le film (ce qui est loin d’être un déplaisir) pour le saisir globalement.

mier film inédit de l’histoire de Gundam est l’apothéose des icônes de l’animation japonaise que sont les deux héros de l’Universal Century.

Les voir livrer leur dernière bataille, avec toute l’intensité dramatique qu’elle implique et à la pensée que c’est notre ultime rendez-vous avec eux donne vraiment à ce long-métrage une Mais la chose à retenir, c’est que ce pre- dimension exceptionelle !

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Gundam Unicorn 64 BD Nostalgia

En 2009, la Saga Gundam fêtait ses trente années d’existence, et pour l’évènement, Bandai organisa différents commémoratifs et produisit également des séquences animées. Parmi les annonces, l’une des plus espérées par les fans fut l’adaptation en série animée du best-seller Gundam Unicorn, roman écrit par Harutoshi Fukui qui s’est vendu à plus de 1.8 million d’exemplaires.

Gundam UC a donc été annoncée au public en avril 2009, mais on ignorait encore à l’époque le format qui serait utilisé pour exploiter cette histoire. La confirmation eu lieu au milieu de l’année, les livres seront adaptés en 6 OVA de 55 minutes chacune.

Initialement prévu à la fin de l’année 2009, le premier épisode sera retardé au printemps 2010. Gundam Unicorn fait suite au film La Contre-attaque de Char en se plaçant quelques années après... L’OVA est sortie mondialement dans 7 pays différents dont la France en Blu-ray uniquement à partir du 12 mars 2010. Cependant, l’édition française ne comptera pas plus d’un volume à cause du prix de vente élevé et par la suite de la disparition de l’éditeur Beez. La série ne sera plus disponible

qu’en version dématérialisée sur les réseaux Xbox Vidéo et Playstation Network en vidéo à la demande dans notre cas.

Peu avant la sortie de l’épisode 6, la production fit l’annonce d’un septième épisode plus long (90 minutes) pour conclure la série.

Histoire Universal Century 0001 : La colonisation spatiale commence et l’humanité entre dans une nouvelle ère. Lors de la cérémonie officielle présentée par le Premier Ministre de la Fédération sur la station orbitale Laplace inaugurant le passage au calendrier Universal Century, un mouvement terroriste sabote la structure de la colonie provoquant une explosion la détruisant.

Syam est un jeune homme faisait partie de ce groupe revendiquant leurs conditions de vie déplorables que mènent les immigrants spatiaux. Alors que le bombardement l’expulse de leur vaisseau endommagé par l’attaque, il découvre dans les ruines de Laplace un étrange artefact nommé “Boîte Laplace”. Cette fameuse boîte ne sera jamais ouverte, et son secret restera en somBD Nostalgia 65

meil avec Syam...

Universal Century 0096 : Trois années sont passées après l’ultime confrontation de Neo-Zeon dirigé par Char Aznable qui faillit faire tomber l’astéroïde Axis sur Terre. La colonie Industrial 7 est toujours en construction au point L1. Banagher Links est un jeune homme qui a grandit sans connaître son père au collège d’Anaheim Electronics, pris en charge par celui-ci après la mort de sa mère. Il est en voyage pour Industrial 7 à bord d’un vaisseau faisant office de collège mobile d’Anaheim avec les membres de sa promotion. Lors de la visite des installations de construction de la colonie, Banagher aperçoit au loin une jeune fille qui semble avoir chuté du pilier central de la Colonie. Voulant lui venir en aide, il décide de prendre un MS de maintenance pour la rattraper en vol.

Néanmoins, en sauvant Audrey Burn et en voulant l’accompagner vers son but, Banagher ne se doute pas un instant du terrible drame qui se prépare dehors et des évènements qui vont bouleverser son existence...

Aperçu Gundam Unicorn est l’adaptation d’un roman éponyme de 10 volumes dont le dernier est paru en août 2009, écrit par Harutoshi Fukui qui a déjà oeuvré sur d’autres best-seller. Le roman est d’ailleurs réédité à cette occasion. La série d’OVA a débuté le 12 mars 2010 et s’achèvera le 6 juin 2014 avec un septième et dernier épisode.

La spécificité principale de cette série est qu’elle sort en simultané dans 7 pays différents sur disque Blu-ray contenant une version originale japonaise, une anglaise, et un sous-titrage français, anglais, espagnol et chinois. Il s’agit de la deuxième série animée de Gundam à être produite en Haute-définition après Mobile Suit Gundam 00. Selon Harutoshi Fukui, le premier épisode est d’une grande fidélité au roman original, il n’y eut que très peu de passages écartés. On regrettera juste que l’introduction du passage en UC 0001 ait été un peu trop brève par rapport au récit d’origine et laisse donc des points sombres 66 BD Nostalgia

sur cet attentat.

Que dire si ce n’est que Gundam Unicorn met la barre très haute sur la qualité visuelle. En effet, le dessin est détaillé, l’animation d’une grande fluidité, les combats d’une dynamique rarement présentée dans la Saga. L’intégration de séquences ou d’éléments en 3D dans les scènes est correcte, elle saccade légèrement pour ne pas choquer entre la trop grande fluidité d’une animation 3D et la traditionnelle moins précise. Les décors sont profonds et variés, également très animés. On voit en arrière plan que la colonie est toujours en cours de construction malgré qu’elle soit habitée. La série impose un soucis du détail très élevé au niveau de l’image, que ce soit dans les décors, les personnages, ou les cockpits de Mobile Suit très riches en animations.

Le character-design de la série se base sur les travaux originaux de Yasuhiko. En effet, on retrouve dans le trait des personnages un aspect assez rétro, permettant de mieux insérer Gundam UC dans la continuité du film Char Contre-attaque et de ses trois précédentes séries. Du côté des développements, en se basant que sur un premier épisode il est assez difficile de juger les personnages. Banagher est un protagoniste déjà moins difficile à suivre que ne l’ont été Amuro Ray et Kamille Bidan.

Il est moins obtus et rebelle que ses prédécesseurs, plus dans l’esprit du personnage un peu ailleurs cherchant sa place, mêlé avec une touche d’introversion et de caractère infantile symbolisé par le Haro qu’il garde précieusement. Des éléments commencent à se mettre en place pour déjà cerner le personnage d’Audrey, même si les connaisseurs ont déjà des doutes dessus. Pour le moment les autres n’étant pas encore suffisamment développés, il est difficile de donner un avis concret.

Le mecha-design de l’OVA est très réussi, il propose une évolution des modèles que nous avons découvert notamment dans le film La Contre-attaque de Char ainsi que d’autres en provenance des Mobile Suit Variation de l’époque (comme

le Stark Jegan). Aux commandes, nous retrouvons plusieurs grands noms qui ont déjà oeuvré depuis longue date sur la Saga comme Hajime Katoki et Mika Akitaka.

L’animation des combats est très fluide, les batailles de Funnels prennent des proportions épiques et dynamiques, en rajoutant les lignes correctes des machines et le design très détaillé qui donne encore un aspect réaliste aux machines. On notera également le retour du vaisseau Nahel Argama apparu à l’origine dans Gundam ZZ. Quant au Mobile Suit éponyme, le RX-0 Unicorn, le peu qu’il apparaît dans ce premier épisode laisse à penser une machine surprenante cachant bien des secrets technologiques, voire philosophiques, et sa transformation en mode NT-D animée en 3D a un rendu impressionnant.

Enfin, nous abordons le thème de l’ambiance musicale. L’OST de Gundam UC est tout simplement magnifique. Les pistes gardent un thème principal donnant une sensation de grandeur ainsi qu’un renforcement de la dimension épique des batailles de Mobile Suit. Par inversement, il semble très effacé dans de nombreuses scènes, la réalisation visuelle suffisant à rendre la musique moins indispensable pour compléter l’ambiance de la scène ? Une idée à étudier pour les prochains épisodes afin de

savoir quelle est la réelle place des musiques dans cette série. Le générique de fin est chanté par Chiaki Kuriyama, actrice de son état qui se lance dans la chanson. Elle apporte une touche de douceur sur le méchant cliffhanger qui clôt le premier épisode de Gundam UC. Conclusion Gundam Unicorn fait partie des productions qui ont été les plus attendues des fans. Actuellement encore en cours de réalisation, on attendra d’avoir vu la série dans son intégralité pour émettre un jugement final. Pour le moment, cette OVA réalise un sans faute avec une qualité d’image quasi parfaite et un scénario prenant. Le seul point noir relevé pour le moment : uniquement disponible sur support Blu-ray, et commercialisée mondialement de la même façon que les OVA au Japon, soit des Blu-ray très chers pour une faible durée, cela peut constituer un frein à l’achat, sans parler de l’équipement nécessaire. On notera un détail amusant qui n’est certainement pas du au hasard, mais le premier volume de Gundam Unicorn est sortie exactement 22 ans après le film Char contre-attaque au cinéma Japonais (12 mars 1988/2010) !

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Sorti en mars 1991 sur les écrans de cinéma japonais, trois mois après les premiers épisodes de Gundam 0083, Gundam F-91 ne connut pas le même succès. Gundam F-91 se fixait pour but de renouveler le fandom en présentant de nouveaux héros et nouveaux antagonistes, tout en conservant le concept de base de Gundam, c’est-à-dire l’affrontement entre la Fédération terrestre et les colonies spatiales, et l’utilisation des robots géants comme machines de guerre au même titre que les avions de chasse et les chars d’assaut.

nous retrouvons Seabook Arno et sa petite soeur Reese, son amie Cecily Fairchild, et d’autres de leurs camarades. Dans la panique et les combats de Mobile Suits, beaucoup de civils perdront la vie, mais également plusieurs de leurs amis.

Durant les affrontements, Cecily se fera enlever par un pilote de Crossbone Vangard, celle-ci découvrira alors qu’elle est en fait une des héritières de la famille Ronah. De leur côté, Seabook et ses amis seront rescapés par un vaisseau de la Fédération qui transportait le Gundam F-91, un Mobile Suit développé par la mère de Histoire L’histoire de Gundam F-91 se déroule Seabook, ingénieur pour la Fédération. bien plus tard dans l’Universal Century, en UC 0123, soit trente années après la chute Aperçu de Neo-Zeon lancé par Char Aznable en C’est sur ces bases que commence UC 0093. Alors que la Fédération pensait l’histoire de Gundam F-91. A l’origine, enfin avoir le contrôle total des colonies Gundam F-91 devait être une série TV et être débarrassée des mouvements indé- d’une cinquantaine d’épisodes, hélas le pendantistes, la famille Ronah déclare re- projet fut avorté et au final seul un film en prendre les idéaux de Zeon à son compte et est ressorti. Et cela se sent dans le montage avec l’aide d’une armée privée, le Cross- de l’histoire... bone Vangard, elle lance la guerre contre la Fédération. L’action du film se déroule intro.jpgUn des reproches que l’on peut dans le groupement de colonies Side-4, faire à F-91 est que son histoire manque ravagé par la Guerre d’Un An, qui fut re- cruellement d’originalité pour la Saga Gundam. En effet, Seabook n’est pas sans nommé Frontier Side. rappeler Amuro, qui se retrouve enrôlé et Le Crossbone Vangard attaquera par amené à piloter un Mobile Suit dans des surprise la colonie Frontier 4 pour mar- conditions similaires (mis à par le fait que quer son action. Parmi les civils qui ten- Seabook est forcé de le faire), et la concepteront de s’enfuir vers d’autres Colonies tion du F-91 est issue des travaux de sa BD Nostalgia 69

mère. La famille Ronah a des grands airs de famille Zabi, sans compter les autres rapprochements qu’on peut faire encore avec certains personnages.

pas l’occasion de beaucoup développer de personnages, format film oblige, nous sommes donc principalement orientés vers l’évolution de Seabook et le fait qu’il découvre ses aptitudes spéciales de Newtype.

Tout comme Cecily apprend ses origines et se verra déchirée entre le fait de devoir servir un idéal familial, et celui de devoir combattre contre ses amis parfois. On notera une bonne introduction du personnage masqué qui a une histoire changeant un peu de l’ordinaire.

Côté narration, comme dit plus tôt, le fait que ce film soit une série TV avortée se ressent dans le dénouement de l’histoire.

Par exemple un personnage peut être brièvement introduit, il fini par déserter une raison non exposée au spectateur, puis il disparait dans les 5 minutes qui suivent.

Bref, un montage réalisé à la tronçonneuse sur l’enchainement de plans qui donnent Au niveau du Mecha-Design, là ça se gâte. l’impression que l’histoire a avancée de De nouveau designés par Kunio Okawaplusieurs jours juste en une séquence. ra, les mechas présentent des formes intéressantes et une évolution correcte par Très déroutant, il faut l’avouer. rapport à l’année durant laquelle se passe Pour repartir sur un point positif, on F-91 pour la Fédération. Le Gundam prendra en considération que le Charac- F-91 apporte un peu de fraicheur et de ter Design du film est une nouvelle fois nouveauté dans la saga avec ses formes signé de Yasuhiko Yoshikazu, qui fut moins conventionnelles. Par contre, le le designer des personnages de Mobile côté Crossbone Vangard a été moins bien Suit Gundam et Zeta Gundam. On recon- accueilli globalement... Les Mobile Suits naît d’emblée son style qui rend plus vi- ont des formes assez étranges qui choquent vant les personnages qu’il a créé pour ce pas mal par rapport à ce dont nous avons film. Au niveau des caractères, F-91 n’a toujours été habitués pour les machines du 70 BD Nostalgia

groupe antagoniste. En faisant un rapprochement, on arrive à imaginer que les MS du Crossbone Vangard sont basés sur un costume de soldat Allemand de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale.

Dans le domaine de la réalisation général, on notera que Gundam F-91 est un film globalement très bien conçu, il se permet d’avoir quelques scènes 3-D pour les Colonies qui sont assez bien faites. L’animation est très fluide et l’action se rend bien.

Un bon point à ce niveau-là !

Musicalement parlant, ce film propose un OST assez discret mais très frais et diversifié. Le sentiment général à l’écoute des musiques est qu’on a une certaine oppres-

sion constante, ceci concordant avec l’ambiance du film post attaque de colonie et des évènements qui en découlent. Une très bonne mention au thème principal chanté du film, Eternal Wind de Moriguchi Hiroko, une chanson anthologique de la Saga Gundam ! On se rappelle de la voix de cette dernière dans le deuxième générique de Zeta Gundam qui a lancé la carrière de cette jeune chanteuse de l’époque.

Conclusion Gundam F-91 est un film qui apporte des idées sympathiques pour un UC lointain, et met en place de nouvelles idées et de nouveaux concepts technologiques.

Dommage que son histoire soit assez classique, et que son déroulement soit très rapide, mais il reste un film de bonne qualité qui se laisse regarder sans demander son reste. Certes il n’est pas aussi culte, mais pour l’un des rares films originaux de Gundam (entendez pas là : n’est pas un résumé d’une série), il n’en reste pas moins intéressant à regarder. Celui-ci est disponible en France dans une édition DVD sorti en 2005.

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Volume One: Boredom Chapter 1: Boredom The story starts out in the realm of the shinigami where the death god Ryuk is off to find the Death Note that he dropped in the human world. The shinigami realm is boring for Ryuk, and he is desperate for some excitement. Light Yagami, age 17, is at school, also bored out of his mind, when he notices a strange notebook lying in the middle of the street. The text is written in English, but he figures out that it’s some notebook of death with specific rules.

“The human whose name is written in this note shall die” “This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person’s face in their mind when writing his/her name.

Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.”

“If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the person’s name, it will happen.”

“If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack.”

“After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.”

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Light immediately dismisses the notebook as a stupid prank. Five days pass. Light is seen typing at his computer and taking out the Death Note when the shinigami Ryuk startles Light by suddenly appearing. Even though Light is at first shocked at seeing a real shinigami in his room, he composes himself and shows Ryuk the vast amount of names that he has written in a span of five days. The amused Ryuk tells Light that since he was the one that picked up the Death Note, the notebook now belongs to him. Ryuk also tells Light that if he gives the Death Note to another human, all memories that he has with the Death Note will be erased. In addition, Light is the only one that can see Ryuk and that death gods must follow the owners of their Death Notes until their owners die. Ryuk tells Light that he will be the one that will write his name in the Death Note and that users of the Death Note can neither go to heaven or to hell. dnpic3 In a flashback sequence, Light explains how he came to use the power of the notebook.

When he saw a news broadcast of a man in Shinjuku who was taking eight people hostage in a nursery school, they broadcasted his name and a mugshot of the suspect.

Curious, Light writes his name down on the notebook and waits forty seconds. After forty seconds, the news broadcasts says that the man has died of a heart attack.

He decides to test it again later by getting an immediate result. He goes out on the street and sees a man in a motorcycle who tells a woman his name before he begins to harass her. Light writes down his name and “traffic accident” on the Death Note, and the man dies when a bus runs him over in his motorcycle. It’s all the proof Light needs. Although at first Light feels horrified about the fact that he’s killed two people, he admits that the world “is a rotten mess” and needs to be cleaned up.

He decides to use the Death Note to kill all of the world’s criminals by giving them heart attacks and make the world into a better place where he will reign as ruler.

Chapter 2: L The Interpol meeting continues with the representatives talking about the mass assassinations of criminals.

They all agree that they need the help of “L” in order to find the murderer. L is the world’s top detective who has solved thousands of case but has never revealed his name or what he looks like. A shadowed figure in a coat named Watari steps on the Interpol meeting floor and reveals that L has already been working on this case. Watari opens a laptop with a screen revealing an L, and the voice of L tells them that he needs full police cooperation in order to solve this case. Meanwhile, Light browses through several web sites dedicated to the person who is killing the world’s criminals in order to save the world. He sees it as justification that this is what the world BD Nostalgia 75

wants. The web sites call this being “Kira”, and Light assumes the name.

Suddenly, Light is interrupted by a broadcast made by Interpol on T.V. A man named Lind L. Tailor appears on T.V. and claims that he is L. He directly talks to Kira and calls him evil for being the world’s biggest mass murderer. Believing that he is righteous, Light loses his temper and writes the name “Lind L. Tailor” on the Death Note. After 40 seconds, the man on the television dies of a heart attack. While Light is celebrating his victory, a giant L is shown on the television screen. A voice, mortified by the fact that Kira can kill without getting close to his victims, reveals that he is in fact that real L and challenges Kira to kill him. After seeing that Kira can’t kill him, he reveals to Light that, even though it was announced that this was being broadcast globally, it was actually being only broadcast in the Kanto region around Tokyo. L deduces that Kira is in Japan.

He vows that he will catch Kira, and Light accepts the challenge.

Chapter 3: Family When Light’s younger sister, Sayu, barges in to his room unannounced, Ryuk reminds Light of another rule: “The human who touches the Death note can recognize the image and voice of its original owner, a god of death, even if the human is not the owner of the note.”

Meanwhile, L is wondering why Kira couldn’t kill him and deduces that Kira needs to know the victim’s face before he can kill them. L listens to the investigative report being made by the investigators from the Japanese police. The report states that the majority of the deaths occur between 4 p.m. and 2 a.m., Japan time on weekdays while during the weekends, the deaths were scattered between 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. L orders that they investigate how the victims were reported in the Japanese media, namely if the reports included pictures or footage of the victims.

Back home, Light finishes tutoring his sister and goes downstairs for dinner when his father comes home. His father is Soichiro Yagami, the chief detective of the Japanese National Police Agency who was at the briefing with L. Ryuk finally realizes why Light is so relaxed; he can use his father’s position as an advantage. During dinner, Soichiro mentions to his family that they suspect that Kira is a student. Light excuses himself from the dinner table and goes to his room. He confirms with Ryuk if it’s true that he can specify the specific times of death.

Three days later, at the investigation headquarters, the investigators find out that 23 victims died the before; each victim died exactly one hour apart from each other. Some detectives mention that this disproves the theory that Kira is a student, but L quickly dispels that. He tells them that this is a direct challenge from Kira who wanted to show them that not only does he have a way to obtain information about criminals but also that he can set the time of death to whenever he wants. The chapter ends with Light and Ryuk in the ruins of an abandoned house. Light mentions that he has about 50 criminals in reserve for experimentation and that he is planning a hiding place where he can hide the Death Note.

Chapter 4: Current L sits in his hotel room and wonders how Kira knew about his assumptions that he was 76 BD Nostalgia

a student. He deduces that Kira has someway of obtaining information that only the task force knows. L decides to communicate with the FBI director.

Light and Ryuk are then at a department store where Light is shopping for supplies to construct a hiding place for the Death Note. He also suspects that L has become suspicious of the National Police Agency and that he will soon begin to investigate its members, including his father, Soichiro. Light also reveals to Ryuk that he can hack into his father’s computer without leaving a trail.

Meanwhile, members of the investigation are resigning because they are afraid Kira will kill them. L watches this incident from his hotel room and is finally sure that Kira needs to know what they’re victims look like in order to murder them.

Light reveals to Ryuk his new Death Note hiding place in a secret compartment under his drawer. If anyone tries to forcefully open the bottom, the drawer will catch on fire and destroy the notebook.

At the end of the chapter, L asks the director of the FBI to send his agents to investigate each person investigating the Kira case in the NPA. Chapter 5: Eyeballs As Light walks home from school, Ryuk tells him that he is neither on his side or L’s side. However, Ryuk feels like he should tell Light that during the last couple of days there has been a man following him. Even though initially Light is surprised, he still thinks that the FBI investigator knows nothing of his identity. Still, Light is determined to find out his name without looking too suspicious.

Ryuk then tells Light the purpose of the Death Note. A shinigami gets extra life from killing humans in his Death Note, which is why a shinigami can live for many years and cannot be killed in any other way. However, shinigami are apathetic when it comes to the human world, and they sometimes forget to write down names for centuries. Then, Ryuk explains to Light that the shinigami have eyes that allow them to see any human’s real name and life span over their head. In addition, a shinigami can make a deal with the owner of the Death Note to receive the “shinigami eyes” in exchange for half of that human’s lifespan. Ryuk mentions that he can see Light’s lifespan, but isn’t going to tell him how many years he has left because he is neither on his or L’s side. Ryuk offers to make a deal with Light for the “shinigami eyes.”

Chapter 6: Manipulation Light refuses the deal for the “shinigami eyes” stating that he needs to live in order to rule over his utopian world. He asks Ryuk if there is anything else he should know about the Death Note, and Ryuk says probably not.

Suddenly, Light has an idea about how to find out the FBI agent’s name. He decides to use his stock criminals in order to find out how specific the details of death need to be.

At the NPA headquarters, Soichiro gets a call that six more prisoners have been killed, but three of them did something different from the rest. All three cases died of a heart attack. However, one victim drew a picture of a five pointed star inside a circle before he died. Another victim left a suicide note. The last victim managed to escape from the BD Nostalgia 77

prison and collapsed in a public bathroom. Watari sends this information to L, and L wonders if Kira can control the specific time of death, can he also control the victim’s actions before they die? L quickly deduces that Kira may be using these criminals as guinea pigs and instructs the police to tell the media that the victims died of cardiac arrest and nothing else. Light, however, reads the data off his father’s computer and knows that he succeeded in his experiments.

Meanwhile, L wonders what exactly Kira is planning to do next and while examining the suicide note finds out that the first words of each line contains the message “L, do you know…”

Chapter 7: Target Light meets the girl in a bus stop and makes sure that the FBI agent is tailing him.

The FBI agent is convinced that he can stop his investigation of Light Yagami after that day. He follows Light and his date into a bus and sits behind them. Then, the criminal that he is using for his plan enters the bus. He hijacks the bus threatening to shoot anyone who tries to stop him. Making sure the FBI agent is watching, Light then passes a note to his scared date telling her that he will try to attack the hijacker. The FBI agent tells him in a low voice not to do it because it’s too dangerous and that he will take care of it. Light asks the man to give him proof that he is not the hijacker’s accomplice. Even though the agent is taken aback by this request, he has no reason to suspect Light and gives him his ID card. He finds out that this man is from the FBI, and his name is Raye Penber. Light tells Penber that he trust him now but has no idea why the FBI is on board a bus.

Then, Light “accidentally” drops a piece of paper. The hijacker notices this and picks up the piece of paper. Unbeknownst to him, the paper was a piece of the Death Note, and soon, he can see Ryuk standing at the back of the bus. The hijacker begins to shoot at Ryuk and in a panic, runs off the bus and is run over by a car. He dies. The events happen exactly as Light wrote in the Death Note.

Volume 2: Confluence Chapter 8: Woman After the incident from the last chapter, Raye Penber realizes that he might be in trouble so he makes Light promise not to tell anyone about him meeting an FBI agent.

Light realizes that it’s best that the police not know that he and Penber were in contact since it would probably get back to L. Penber goes back to his hotel room where his fiancée is waiting for him. An exhausted Penber explains to her about the bus jacking incident. His fiancée wonders if it’s a coincidence that he happens to be in a bus with the suspect that he was tailing, and suddenly a criminal dies. Penber tells her that even though she may be a former FBI agent, he doesn’t want her involved.

Back in Light’s house, Ryuk asks him if he’s going to write Penber’s name down in the Death Note. Light tells him that it would look too suspicious if he does so immediately after they met. In addition, he wants Penber to show him the names and faces of every FBI agent sent to investigate the NPA. L receives word that another victim has left a suicide note. This time, the note makes 78 BD Nostalgia

out the message “gods of death” L puts both suicide notes together as, “L, Do you know gods of death…”

One week later, NPA headquarters receives the news that several FBI agents in Japan have died of heart attacks. The FBI director calls L telling him that he cannot get in contact with the 12 agents he sent to Japan, and he deduces that Kira has killed them.

L asks the director if there was anyone who knew the names and faces of all 12 agents, and the director tells him that there was a request for a file with the face and names of the rest of the agents from multiple agents. The director sent it to the first four who requested the file assuming that the agents decided to work together. L deduces that if Kira can control a victim’s actions before they die, he could have probably made the FBI agents send each other the files before they were killed. The FBI agent tells him that he is terminating the FBI’s Kira investigation in Japan and that he will tell the NPA that the FBI was investigating them at L’s request.

The members of the NPA are angry at L for placing them under surveillance of the FBI and are even less distrustful of him. They are also shaken up by the fact that Kira is not afraid to kill anyone that got in his way. Again, L receives word that yet another victim has left a suicide note. L puts all three suicide notes together, and to his frustration, it reveals the message, “L, Do you know gods of death love apples?” Angered, L is determined to find clues in the deaths of the FBI agents.

Chapter 9: Slots L ponders that if Kira can control a victim’s actions before their deaths, he must have come into contact with the FBI agent who first received the file. At dinner, Soichiro formally tells his family that he is in charge of the Kira investigation in Japan. Even though some of his task force has quit from fear of what Kira could do to him, he vows that he will continue his investigation and stand up to evil. Light tells his father that he is proud of him and that if anything should happen to his father, he will make sure Kira gets the death penalty. Ryuk amusingly remarks on Light’s acting skills.

In a flashback, a day earlier, Light is dressed in a beanie cap and hooded sweat-shirt and is walking in the underground Shinjuku station with Ryuk. He reveals to Ryuk that he has been performing a couple of experiments and has found out that if you write the cause and details of death in advance and then, write a name in front of it later, the person dies that way. Light sees Ray Penber and approaches from behind him. Flipping his hood farther down his eyes, he follows him and tells him, «If you turn around... I will kill you. Light reveals to Penber that he is Kira and proves it by telling him that a coffee shop employee will die within two minutes. When he drops dead, Light tells Penber that he was a rapist that did not go to jail because of insufficient evidence.

Penber tells Light that he believes him. However, Light threatens Penber by telling him that he is holding someone he loves dearly hostage. Penber thinks this is his fiancée so he tells Light that he will do whatever he wants as long as she remains unharmed.

Light gives him a large file containing a transceiver along with several large envelopes.

He orders Penber to put on the earphones and get on a train. He warns him that he is still watching him from afar so he better not try to defy him.

While Penber sits nervously on the train, Light asks him to call a lower rank FBI officer and request that he send the names and faces of all agents working on this mission.

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Penber does so, and the officer tells him that he should get that information from the director. Light instructs Penber to tell the officer that there was a glitch in the e-mail attachment that he received from the director, and it was better if he received the file through someone else’s computer. Light then tells Penber to open the large envelopes, and take out a ball point pen and five smaller envelopes inside. All five envelopes are sealed with the exception of opens slots on the front of them. He instructs Penber to look at the photograph of every FBI agent from the file he received and write down their names in each slot. After he is done, Light tells him to put the envelopes back into the large envelope which he should place on the overhead rack. He orders Penber to remain on the train for thirty additional minutes, and then get off the train. When he does, he collapses and dies from a heart attack in front of Light Yagami who is standing back in the train grinning devilishly.

Meanwhile, L is still investigating the order which the FBI agents received the file.

However, Light reveals that the times of death and order they receive the file were completely randomized.

Chapter 10: Confluence Ray Penber’s fiancée is forming her own investigation over Penber’s death. She is convinced that Kira was among the passengers of the hijacked bus. Meanwhile, Soichiro gives his men the choice to leave the dangerous Kira investigation without judgment. Only five men from the task force remain. L, through a computer, decides to reveal himself to the remaining task force. He tells the team to meet him in a hotel room where they will move the investigator headquarters. In the meantime, a nervous Light obsesses as to whether he left any clues for L to figure out.

Chapter 11: One

The investigation team finally meets L, and they are surprised by the weird, disheveled appearance of the world’s greatest detective. L tells the team to sit down and for security reasons, call him “Ryuzaki” from now on. L shares with the investigation team his thoughts on the Kira case. He knows that Kira somehow kills his victim without contact and that Kira only needs the name of a person and their face to perform this task.

Matsuda suggests that they omit crime coverage from being shown on television, but L counters the idea by pointing out that Kira is childish and hates to lose a challenge. If they omit crime coverage from the television, Kira would stoop to killing civilians. In order to psyche Kira out, L suggest that they create a fake news report revealing that the U.S. was sending 1,500 investigators to hunt for Kira. L notes that Kira is working alone and somehow has access to task force information. L has deduced that Kira was being investigated by one of the twelve FBI agents, and Kira felt threatened enough to test his powers to see if he can control people’s actions before they died.

This was five days after the FBI agents arrived in Japan so Kira was being investigated during the first five days. The investigation will begin investigating the people who were being shadowed during the first five days.

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Chapter 12: God Light volunteers to take some clothes to his father at the NPA task force office. He takes a piece of the Death Note with him just in case. At the headquarters, Light runs into Ray Penber’s fiancée who insists on meeting someone from the Kira task force. In order to find out what’s going on and gain the woman’s trust, Light offers to put Ray Penber’s fiancée in touch with his father, the head of the Kira task force. However, Soichiro is not answering his phone, so he left a message. Light offers to let her talk to his father when he calls him back. Penber’s fiancée is grateful, but Light is still anxious to find out what exactly she knows. Light smoothly moves the conversation away from the NPA security cameras. He asks her name, and she replies, “Shoko Maki.” Ryuk chuckles to himself.

When Light gains her trust by telling her that he suspects that Kira can control people’s actions before they die, Maki reveals her thoughts on Kira. She tells him that she thinks Kira can kill his victims using means other than heart attacks. She also tells him that she thinks her fiancée who was killed by Kira came into contact with him shortly before he died. She deduces that Kira was in the hijacked bus with Ray Penber, and Kira used her fiancée to kill the other FBI agents. She knows this because she remembered her fiancée telling her that he showed someone his ID during the hijacking. Light is shocked that she has figured it all out, but is thankful that he stopped her from telling the police.

Chapter 13: Countdown Light decides to eliminate Ray Penber’s fiancée immediately before she tells anyone her suspicions. He starts by agreeing whole-heartedly with Maki’s suspicions and asking her the date and time of the bus jacking.

Light whips out a piece of paper from his pocket, which turns out to be the Death Note. He pretends write down the information, but he is really writing down Shoko Maki’s name and cause of death as “suicide, starting at 1:15 p.m”. Light notices Ryuk once again chuckling to himself. Light talks to her until 1:15 p.m., but nothing happens.

It finally hits Light. The name is an alias!

Ray Penber’s fiancée decides to go back to headquarters, and Light is determined to stop her and find out her real name. In a moment of frustration, he says that she is a woman and he will use force if he has to. (ft. vol. 2 pg. 125) Ryuk once again offers to trade the shinigami eyes for half of his life span, but Light refuses.

When L is finished investigating the task force, Watari, L’s shadowed assistant in coat, finally reveals himself to be an old man in a top hat. Watari brings each of the investigators fake IDs to use from now on.

Light figures that he has five minutes to figure Maki’s real name before she reaches the NPA building.

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Chapter 14: Temptation In addition to fake IDs, which they are not allowed pull out inside the NPA, Watari gives the Kira investigation transmitter belts that contacts Watari’s cell phone. L also instructs to always have someone in the NPA task force office. In desperation, Light calls out to her and tells her that it’s impossible for her to talk to any of the task force members because they’re trying to keep their identities secret. Then, he lies to her by saying that he is part of the Kira investigation task force. Even though he is still in high school, he was recruited by L after so many other detective quit in fear for their lives.

She is relieved and tells Light that talking to him was as good as talking to L. She says that she completely trusts L completely because she once worked with him as an FBI agent. Then, Maki tells him that she can trust Light too because she feels that he and L are similar somehow. Thrilled, Light asks her to join the Kira investigation and show her some identification. She shows her Japanese driver’s license, and pretends to write down the specifics of her time in the FBI on a piece of paper. In reality, he writes down “Naomi Misora”, her real name, in the Death Note, and her cause of death as “suicide, starting at 1: 25 p.m.” When Naomi Misora asks the reason as to why he keeps looking at his watch, he answers, “I am Kira.” At 1: 25 p.m., Misora turns to leave saying that she has something she needs to do.

Chapter 15: Phone Call Ukita, an NPA task force member, is at the NPA offices where he is being bombarded by phone calls from people who swear they are Kira. Meanwhile, L is watching the video surveillance of some of the FBI agents the moment they died. While L is watching footage of Ray Penber, L notices that the agent stayed on the train for an hour and a half after he received the file before dying. Suddenly, L notices that Penber had an envelope when he entered the train, but didn’t have one when he exited the train.

They deduce that Penber must have left the envelope on the train. They also notice him looking back at someone in the train as he was dying. L orders that they investigate Ray Penber’s case further. Light has been writing names in the Death Note all night. He is scheduling their deaths a few weeks in advanced just in case something was to happen to him. It will look suspicious if L realizes that the deaths of criminals stop when Light is in the hospital. Light notices that no new information has popped up in his father’s computer, which means that there have been some major changes at the NPA. Light hides a piece of scrap from the Death Note in his wallet. Ukita, from the NPA office, then calls L and tells him that he is on the line with a person who has interesting information about the Kira case. It is Naomi Misora’s mother who tells L that her daughter was Ray Penber’s fiancée. She tells him that after Penber’s death, Misora decided to take the investigation into her own hands, but she hasn’t returned her phone calls in days. L remembers working with Misora and thinks it’s strange that she would commit suicide over her fiancée’s death. This is enough evidence for L to narrow down his investigation to the people that Ray Penber was shadowing. L decides to take drastic measures and set up listening devices and cameras in the homes, even though that’s illegal in Japan of the two NPA personnel that Penber was investigating. There were only two families that Penber was investigating: the family of Deputy Director General Kitamura and the family of Detective Superintendent Soichiro Yagami.

Chapter 16: Headstand A shocked Soichiro Yagami asks what the probability of Kira is being in one of those families, and L answers five percent. Even though Soichiro believes this is out of line, 82 BD Nostalgia

he unwillingly allows L to thoroughly examine every inch of his house for the sake of the investigation. L wants the bugs and cameras to be placed for seven days.

Light goes back home from school and notices no one is home. He goes upstairs while L and Soichiro watch him through the surveillance cameras. Light enters his room and lies on his bed. Ryuk, meanwhile, is desperately trying to get his attention, but Light is ignoring him. Light puts on his coat and goes outside. He checks for bugs in the jacket before speaking to the frustrated Ryuk. Light tells Ryuk that he feels that there are bugs and cameras in his room because he checked his bedroom door handle. Whenever he leaves his room, Light always lowers the handle a little bit. When he comes back, if the door handle is still in the same position, everything is safe. However, the door handle is all the way up, which means that there was someone in that room. Light gives Ryuk instructions to check for cameras in his room while he plays the part of Light Yagami, serious student and son of Soichiro Yagami.

Volume Three: Hard Run Chapter 17: Trash Light is reading a sexy magazine spread in his room in front of the camera. L divulges to Soichiro that it’s almost as if Light was simply playing the part of a normal 17-year old. Soichiro is still frustrated that his son has been placed under suspicion. Ryuk finds cameras all around the room. Meanwhile, Light has to figure out what to do. If he sees new perpetrators on T.V., and they die, he will still be under suspicion. If he doesn’t turn on the T.V. and criminals stop dying, he will still be under suspicion as well. Light figures that he needs to find someway of gaining information on criminals and killing them, but without turning on the T.V. or looking them up on the Internet. Light goes downstairs to eat dinner where his family is watching T.V. Director Kitamura’s family is also watching T.V. L tells Watari to run the fake special bulletin saying that 1,500 detectives have been sent to Japan to hunt down Kira. Light figures L did this on purpose to see his reaction. Upon hearing the report, Light tells his family that he thinks that this bulletin is fake because Interpol would never be so stupid as to publicly announce a secret investigation. Light says that this was probably done to put pressure on Kira. L smiles and tells Soichiro that his son is very intelligent. After dinner, Light goes back to his room with a bag of potato chips. Ryuk tells Light of the location of each camera in his room. Light then sets up the potato chips to open up facing a blind spot among the cameras. Earlier that day, he put a tiny T.V. into the potato chip bag where he could see it. He pretends to do homework problems with his right hand while reaching into the potato chip bag with his left and writing down the names of criminals he sees on T.V. When he’s done, he throws away the potato chip bag.

Immediately afterwards, Watari enters and tells L that two minor criminals that were reported on the 9’o clock news that night have died of heart attacks. Watari notes that the wife of Deputy Director Kitamura and her daughter watched the reports while the Yagami family was watching a drama at that time. Soichiro exclaims that this is enough proof to end any suspicion on his family, but L remarks that the Yagami family’s behavior was a little too clean for comfort.

Chapter 18: Gaze Light watches the news report and sees the results. To his dismay, he only killed BD Nostalgia 83

two minor criminals because the text was small, and the sound was off. Light figures that L might still suspect him if only minor criminals are killed when he is not getting any news. He decides to openly watch T.V. in front of the cameras, and discretely kill minor criminals. This way, minor criminals are killed when he either watching or not watching T.V. He will also remember the face and names of major criminals that he could kill outside. Two days later, L tells the investigation force that he has found no suspicious activity in both houses under investigation. He allows the cameras and bugs to be taken down. However, L remarks that it doesn’t clear all of the suspicions because if Kira was among the families, he simply hasn’t made any mistakes yet. L wonders how someone could commit murder in front of the camera without exhibiting any normal human reaction. He reasons that if Kira was among them, he can kill people without batting eye and judge sinners like some sort of God. However, L concludes, “This isn’t divine judgment. It’s the work of some childish killer who’s playing at divine retribution.” L decides that the best thing to do would be to get him to confess that he is Kira and carry out a murder in front of him. And he knows exactly how to do it. Ryuk tells him that the cameras are gone, but Light doesn’t respond because he suspects the bugs are still there. Light wonders if his father is working closely with L on this investigation and if there was any way to use his father to get rid of L. The day of the university entrance exams has arrived, and Light goes to take them at the prestigious To-Oh University. He is inside the facility taking his exams when a test proctor tells person two desks behind him to “sit properly.” Light looks behind him and sees an odd, disheveled guy sitting with his legs on his desk. It is L. Chapter 19: Humiliation At the To-Oh University Entrance Ceremony, Light is the freshman representative for the incoming freshman class because he scored a perfect score on his test. This year, however, there is another freshman representative named Hideki Ryuga, who also scored a perfect score on the test. They must both deliver the freshman address at the freshman ceremony. The students at the ceremony note that Hideki Ryuga has the same name as a famous singer, and his odd, disheveled appearance is quite different from the pop idol’s. Light wonders who this bizarre character from the testing site is.

After the address, Ryuga tells Light that he knows that he is the son of Soichiro Yagami, the Detective Superintendent of the NPA, and that he has shown great interest in the Kira case. He tells him that he has something of great importance to tell him. Ryuga then says, “I am L.” Although he is shocked and unsure of what to believe, Light tries to compose himself and shake his hand while L asks Light to help his team solve the Kira case. Even though there is a less than five percent chance that Light is not Kira, L still believes that Light is the most suspicious because he is too perfect. He hopes that a meeting between the two will pressure Kira. To his dismay, Light quickly figures out his plan. Even if he’s not the real L, he can’t kill him. Because he revealed himself as L to Light, if he dies, he is immediately under suspicion. Light realizes that L used the name Hideki Ryuga on purpose because it was the name of a famous pop idol. If the real Hideki Ryuga dies, Light is once again under immediate suspicion. Light wonders if this guy who is allegedly L believes that he is Kira. After the ceremony, Light goes back to his room and breaks down in anger. He seethes at the fact that L devised a way to shield himself by revealing that he was L and attacking him at the same time by getting closer. However, Light quickly realizes that Ryuga has no proof that Light is Kira.

He is determined to make friends with Ryuga and then, when the time’s right, kill him.

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Chapter 20: First Move At To-Oh University, L challenges Light to a friendly game of tennis. Light wonders if L is planning to analyze him by observing the way he plays tennis.

Meanwhile, L believes that this is just a simple tennis match, however he can’t rule out the fact that Kira hates losing. L tries a cheap first move and tells Light, “He who moves first always wins.” Even though Light is now determined to win this match, he wonders if it’ll make him seem like Kira if he’s adamant about winning. However, he notes that losing the match would make L think that Light was trying too hard to lose the match so that he wouldn’t be suspected as Kira. A crowd gathers around the intense tennis match. They both think about their next moves. Light plans to have L tell him as much about the Kira investigation as possible so that he could decrease the risk of blurting out things only the real Kira would know. L plans to bring Light closer to him so that he could thoroughly investigate him. Light wins the tennis match and invites L to get some drinks. L, however, reveals to Light that he suspects that he may be Kira.

Chapter 21: Duplicity L elaborates by telling Light that his suspicion is only one percent as of now. For Light, that’s still dangerous. Soichiro Yagami meets with an angry Deputy Director Kitamura who is becoming frustrated with the increasing secrecy surrounding L and the Kira investigation. He is especially mad at the fact that someone came up to his daughter and revealed that he was L. Kitamura asks him if his daughter is a suspect, and Yagami admits this. However, he also sadly notes that the real suspect might be his son, Light. At a coffee shop, Light tells L that he wants to make sure is completely free of suspicion. L asks him if he could test his reasoning skills. Light is confident that he will not slip up as Kira because he knows exactly what’s been reported on the news and what has not. Then, L shows Light a list of twelve FBI agent who were murdered

by Kira, with the order in which they received the file, and the order in which they died.

Light sees through this trick and asks L what the exact file they received was. L also hands Light three notes written by prisoners before they were killed by Kira. Light notices that the notes have print numbers printed on the back are purposely out of order, and if he deduces that there’s a hidden message saying “L, do you know gods of death love apples?”, he will be a suspect. Light tells L that there is indeed a hidden message for L in the notes, but rather than saying the phrase that makes the most sense, “L, do you know gods of death love apples?”, if you take into account the printed numbers on the back, it actually says “L, do you know love apples? Gods of death.” However, L tells him that he is incorrect because there’s actually a fourth note, which Light realizes is fake, and the message says, “L do you know love apples? Gods of death have read hands.” L tells Light that he just decided that there were only three notes and didn’t think of the possibility of another one.

L asks Light what he would do if he was L and face-to-face with someone suspected of being Kira. Light answers that he would ask him questions only the real Kira would know. L comments that Light is very intelligent, but that his suspicion of him is now up BD Nostalgia 85

to three percent. Nevertheless, in order to keep him close and further investigate him, L invites Light to join the Kira investigation. However, Light refuses because he has still not been convinced that Ryuga is truly L. Suddenly, both L and Light receive a call telling them that Soichiro Yagami has collapsed from a heart attack.

Chapter 22: Misfortune At the hospital, an upset Light asks if this was the work of Kira. However, Soichiro thinks that it was just a normal heart attack caused by too much stress. After Soichiro confirms to Light that Ryuga is the real L, L tells the bed-ridden Soichiro that his suspicions about his son have increased. Then, L continues to ask Light about what he thinks of the case. Light says that he thinks that Kira must be an affluent child, and L is impressed because he was thinking the exact same thing. As L and Light leave the hospital, Soichiro tells them that he doesn’t think that Kira himself evil, but having the power of killing people is what made him evil.

Light, once again, confronts L about his suspicions that he is Kira. L tells him that he is confident that the truth will come out, whether he is Kira or not. After L leaves, Light tells Ryuk, in regard to what Soichiro said earlier, that he has never considered gaining the power of the Death Note a misfortune. Ryuk answers by telling him of another shinigami rule: Humans haunted by shinigami have nothing but misfortune. Light simply answers that Ryuk is about to see an exception to the rule.

Chapter 23: Hard Run The Kira investigation task force is discussing with L the connection between Kira and Naomi Misora’s disappearance when Watari tells them to turn on the TV On the channel Sakura TV, a man tells the viewers that Kira sent them a tape to show on their TV station at exactly 5:59 p.m., and for the safety of their workers, they have no choice but to air it. The screen shows handwritten letters spelling out “Kira” recorded amateurishly on a home video camera. L notes that it looks childish. A garbled voice tells them that he is Kira and that he will prove it by having a famous news anchor from another channel die at 6 p.m. They turn the channel and see that the news anchor has collapse. When they turn back to Sakura TV, he says that he will kill other commentators who have proclaimed Kira to be “evil”.

The task force is determined to stop the killings by stopping Sakura TV from airing the videotape. Investigator Ukita gets in his car and goes to the Sakura TV station to personally stop this. The voice of Kira explains that he does not want to kill innocent people. He hates evil and wants justice. His goal is to change the world into one free of crime. Ukita arrives at the station, and instantly collapses from a heart attack. The investigation task force sees this and is willing to go down to the station. However, L stops them, telling them that they will be killed if they do so. He deduces that, somehow, Kira can now kill people by only looking at their face.

Meanwhile, a recovering Soichiro gets up from his hospital bed and drives a huge police van into the TV station.

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Chapter 24: Shield As Soichiro crashes the van into Sakura TV, the Kira in the videotape asks the police to cooperate with him in building his crime-free utopia. He has sent two additionally tapes to Sakura TV, one to show if the police say yes, and one to show if the police say no.

Meanwhile, Soichiro, with his head partially covered by his coat, goes to where the tape was being broadcast and confronts the director. He demands that they stop the tape and hand in all of the evidence to the police.

L calls Deputy Director Kitamura and asks him to use the police force to stop the broadcast of the tape before more officers decide to go down to the station and die

by Kira’s hand. Soichiro calls L and tells him that he was the one in the armored van, and he has obtained all of the Kira tapes. L instructs him to wait for five minutes inside of the studios and then walk out of the station. Soichiro does so, and a police force with their shields covering their faces escorts him out of harm’s way.

Soichiro gives the investigation team the packages with the tapes. The envelope is sent to the forensic lab for DNA samples. Meanwhile, L watches the video tape that they were to broadcast if the police were to say yes. Kira says in that tape that not only should the police continue showing the faces and names of criminals, but should also make the top NPA officials along with L appear on TV. In the tape that they were to show if the police said no, Kira threatens that he will either take the life of the Director-General of the NPA or the life of L. If the police is to sacrifice L, they should make him appear on TV for a ten minute period.

Chapter 25: Fool An amused Light has been watching the ordeal on TV and comments that there must be a second Death Note owner. Coupled with the fact that police officers were killed as they walked into the Sakura TV station, Light believes that this person has traded half of their life for the shinigami eyes. Light is trying to see if he can take advantage of the situation that the fake Kira has created. However, he is bothered by the fact that the fake Kira has tarnished the image of the real Kira by threatening to kill police officers.

Light decides to join the Kira investigation in order to keep an eye on both L and the fake Kira. If the fake Kira messes up, he will make sure to catch him before L does and get his Death Note.

At the investigation headquarters, L decides to show himself on TV, but he is curious as to how he will convince Kira that he is the real L. L says that he doesn’t want to die, either, especially at the hands of a pale imitation of Kira. He has deduced that this Kira is fake because the victims that he decided to kill were only minor criminal, unlike the hard-core criminals that Kira usually kills. Kira also never kills innocent police officers like the way the fake Kira just did. The way the video was put together was also too sloppy to have come from the real Kira. L suggest that they are in a race to find the second Kira before the real Kira does. L asks Soichiro to invite Light to work with them in catching the second Kira. However, he doesn’t want him to reveal to Light that this BD Nostalgia 87

second Kira is a fake. Meanwhile, in the streets of Tokyo, a blond girl named “Misa” walks around with her shinigami determined to meet the real Kira.

Volume Four: Love Chapter 26: Reversal At the investigation headquarters, L elaborates on his plan further. He doesn’t want to reveal to Light the possibility that this might be a fake Kira because he wants to test him. Light is very clever and if he was truly Kira, L deduces that he would not reveal the existence of a second Kira until after L is dead. However, if he does point out that this might be the work of a fake Kira, Light will be mostly cleared from suspicion.

Light goes to the Kira investigation headquarters, and L shows Light the evidence gathered from the tapes. Light watches the tape and decides to let things take their course by not revealing that this may be a second Kira.

However, Light quickly realizes that this was a trap set up by L. He tells L that this may have been the work of a second Kira with even greater powers by the first. As Soichiro breathes a sigh of relief, L tells Light that they were thinking the exact same thing and that he wants him to help with the investigation by playing the part of the real Kira. A stunned Light writes a message from the real Kira to the second Kira that they will broadcast on TV. Misa is eagerly watching television at her apartment when the news station announces that they must broadcast a video tape from another person claiming that he is the real Kira. The “real Kira” says that even though he is pleased that there are people willing to help him with his goals, he wants the fake Kira to discontinue the killing of innocent people or else he’ll pass judgment on the imposter.

Misa sends Kira a response. The investigation task force watches it as soon as Sakura TV receives it. The second Kira proclaims that she will do as Kira pleases. Light is disappointed that the second Kira continue forcing L to show his face on TV. Then, the second Kira says that she wants to meet the real Kira and that she doesn’t think that he has “the eyes” and that they can show their shinigami to each other. L and the investigation team are puzzled by these terms. Light finds it stupid that the second Kira would reveal something like that on TV. Chapter 27: Love L is confused as to why the second Kira would mention shinigami to the real Kira.

Light tells him that he must mean in a literal sense, and the word must have a special meaning between them. L deduces that the second Kira must not be acting according to the real Kira’s plans because he failed to force L to appear on TV. The second Kira’s goal was just to meet Kira. Therefore, L plans to not respond to the second Kira’s message and let the real Kira handle this situation. He thinks that eventually, the second Kira will start revealing important information about the nature of their powers, 88 BD Nostalgia

and it will force the real Kira to actually respond.

Meanwhile, Misa asks her shinigami Rem about the origins of her Death Note. Rem reveals to her an important shinigami rule: The way to kill a shinigami is to make them fall in love with a woman.

Rem tells Misa the story of Gelus who fell in love with Misa and saved her from getting killed by a crazed stalker by writing down the name of the killer in his Death Note, thus killing him before he killed her. Since Gelus was in love with Misa and shinigami only exist to shorten life, not extend it, he died and turned to dust. Rem picked up his Death Note and gave it to Misa.

Misa begins to get anxious because Kira has not responded to her message. She decides to send another one.

Meanwhile, Light brainstorms as to how he can control the second Kira without L finding out about it. He gets a call from his father who tells him that the second Kira has sent Sakura TV her diary. Soichiro points out a critical entry in the diary: 30th—We confirmed our Shinigami at the Giants game at the Tokyo Dome Light, however, is more interested in these entries.

22nd—My friend and I showed off our notebooks in Aoyama.

23rd—I ran into HIM in the cafeteria. He was eating pork cut.

Chapter 28: Judgment At Misa’s apartment, Rem discuses with her about another shinigami rule: A human with the shinigami eyes cannot see the remaining lifespan of other Death Note owners, including him/herself.

Rem also tells her that a shinigami is not allowed to tell Death Note owners how much life they have left. Back at the headquarters, L and Light are discussing the second Kira’s diary. Light decides not to tell L about the “notebook” entry while the investigation team zeroes in on the “30th” entry. They decide to broadcast the diary on television and cancel the Giants game at the Tokyo Dome that day so that the police can investigate.

However, L realizes that the second Kira may not be that stupid, and he might have hidden other messages for Kira in the diary. Among them, L points to the entry where second Kira mentions a notebook in each of the locations mentioned in the diary, including Aoyama. He wants cameras installed in the streets of Aoyama, and police officers dressed as citizens looking out for any suspicious behavior. Light volunteers to go to Aoyama. L wonders that if Light was Kira, he volunteered in order to find the second Kira before the police.

Also, L orders his investigation team to strengthen security and destroy all photos of themselves, in case Kira and the second Kira ever do join forces. If Kira realizes that the second Kira has the ability to kill people just by looking at them, the real Kira might gain this power. Matsuda, who is accompanying Light to Aoyama, gets a call from L BD Nostalgia 89

who orders him to secretly keep an eye on Light.

When Light arrives home, Light asks Ryuk if shinigami are allowed to interact with each other in the human world. Ryuk answers that there’s no rule against it, but personally, he feels like shinigami shouldn’t tell humans about other Death Note owners.

It’s May 22nd, and Matsuda hanging out with Light who is talking to a group of his friends in Aoyama. Light passes by a restaurant where Misa is sitting in disguise. With her shinigami eyes, she sees Light’s name, but no lifespan. She has finally found Kira.

However, she decides to go home and do research.

Chapter 29: Weapon Misa is amazed that Kira is so young and good-looking. She looks up his address.

On May 25th, the Kira investigation task force is meeting with L and Light. They note that they discovered no unusual behavior on the 22nd in Aoyama and the 24th in Shibuya. Light wonders if he should go to the Tokyo Dome like the diary says to meet the second Kira since he obviously didn’t see her in Aoyama.

Suddenly, Watari sends the group a message sent by the second Kira that was postmarked on the 23rd. The second Kira says in the video that he has found Kira. Light is confused because he didn’t see anyone with a notebook at Aoyama. L has deduced that the second Kira found Kira on the 22nd in Aoyama, when Light was there. L orders the police to air a message offering immunity for the second Kira in exchange for information on the real Kira. Shocked at hearing this message, Misa decides to visit the real Kira. Misa introduces herself to Light as Misa Amane and then lets him touch her notebook. Light sees the shinigami Rem. Light has finally found the second Kira.

Light leads her up to her room, telling her mother that she’s his girlfriend. Then, Light asks her how she knew he was Kira. Misa explains to him about the fact that people with shinigami eyes can’t see another Death Note owner’s lifespan. Misa offers to be Light’s “eyes” if he can make her his girlfriend. Misa tells Light that she has been careful covering her tracks using disguises and letting other people put their fingertips all over the packages in which she sent the tapes. Light is being cautious because she has the power to kill him. However, Misa offers to give Light her notebook so that he can make sure she won’t kill him, and she can gain his trust. Misa tells him that she doesn’t mind if he uses her and kills her if she becomes a burden. She tells Light that Kira is like a god to her because he killed the criminals that killed her parents. She will do anything for Light. Light agrees to let her help him because he could use her as a valuable weapon… to kill L. Afterwards, though, he plans to dispose of her.

Chapter 30: Bomb Misa asks Light if she could see his shinigami. Light makes her touch a piece of his Death Note, and Misa meets Ryuk.

All night, L has been going over the security camera tapes from Aoyama. He tells the team that Light is now the prime suspect in this case, and he is checking to see if they catch Light or the second Kira acting suspicious.

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Misa tells Light the rule about shinigami being killed because they fell in love with a human. Misa then explains the extent of the power of her shinigami eyes. Then, Light asks her send a final tape to Sakura TV as the second Kira saying that she has decided not to meet the real Kira but will help Kira’s cause by killing the criminals that Kira hasn’t killed yet. He tells Misa that if she’s ever caught, she should never mention anything about the notebooks and the shinigami to the police. He explains that Light is already under heavy suspicion over being Kira and can’t really risk bringing Misa over to where L is. Light explains to her that he must go on dates with other girls in order to curtail more suspicion. Misa, who has proclaimed that she has fallen in love with Light, refuses to go along with it. Light threatens to kill her if she doesn’t obey, but Rem counters by saying that if he kills Misa, Rem will kill Light.

Chapter 31: Easy After Misa leaves, Light realizes that Misa is a celebrity in Japan with her face plastered all over the Internet. Light bemoans the fact that Misa has now become less of an advantage and more of a burden.

When Light arrives at the headquarters the next day, the team is watching the final tape sent by the second Kira. Upon watching this, L deduces that the second Kira and the real Kira have joined forces. He refers to the fact that the second Kira changed his mind so suddenly about meeting Kira and has also started advocating Kira’s goals, as if he was ordered to by the real Kira. L also notes that he believes that it’s less likely that Light is Kira because if Light was Kira, he would order the second Kira to threaten L into revealing himself on TV. Light answers by saying that if he was Kira, he wouldn’t do that because he knows that L would find some way to not appear on TV. L acknowledges that he hopes Light isn’t Kira because Light may be his first friend ever. Because L sensed a connection between Kira and the second Kira, Light decides that seeing Misa is now even more dangerous. Misa, however, shows up once again unannounced in the street, and Light takes her to his house. Light asks Rem if she cares for Misa, and if she will do anything to make her happy. When she answers yes, he asks if she could kill L because it will make Light happy, and Misa is only happy when Light is happy. Rem agrees because L means nothing to her.

Chapter 32: Gamble Light instructs Rem not to kill L until he tells her to do it. Misa gives Light one of her phones so that he can easily contact her during emergencies. After Misa leaves, Light decides to kill L the next day before he decides to go into hiding or cut off Light’s access to him. L is examining DNA evidence from the second Kira’s packages. He curtly tells Soichiro that if he dies in the next few days, then his son is Kira. L deduces that if Kira and the second Kira have indeed joined force, and Light is Kira, then he is in trouble. One of the task force detectives, Mogi, has been shadowing Light for the last couple of days, and he noticed that Misa visited Light. He told L. Light is walking around the University campus with his current “girlfriend”, Kiyomi Takada, when he finds L sitting on a bench. L tells Light that he told investigators that they should assume that Light is Kira if L is killed over the next couple of days. Light begins to back out of his plan to kill L that day.

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Suddenly, Misa appears behind Light and tells him that she couldn’t wait to see him.

Light is horrified at Misa’s stupidity. However, when L introduces himself to Misa, he realizes that this is the most amazing thing that could ever happen. Misa has now seen L’s real name! She can tell him his name and he can kill him now.

However, Light notices that L smiled when he saw him and Misa interacting. He wonders if L has figured out that Misa is the second Kira. However, L just tells her that he is a big fan of Misa. Soon, Misa is surrounded by a crowd of people who are curious to see a real-life celebrity. Suddenly, L touches Misa’s rear. When confronted by Misa, he vows to catch the rude culprit. Misa is, then, escorted away by her agent who tells her that she needs to go back to the studio right away. L also turns around to leave. Light quickly gets out the phone Misa gave him and starts to call Misa so that she could tell him his name.

Chapter 33: Removal Light dials Misa’s number, and a phone in L’s pockets starts to ring. Thrilled, L picks up Misa’s phone and answers. Light watches in disbelief. He realizes that earlier L had stolen Misa’s phone from her bag while she was distracted by the crowd. Light asks for Misa’s phone back. Then, L’s own phone rings. After he hangs up, L tells Light that Misa Amane has been arrested on suspicion of being the second Kira. The arrest will be kept a secret from the public. Light is now wondering how long Misa will hold out without spilling the secret. He may have to kill her.

Misa is being held in an isolated room where she is completely tied to a metal board. She has not been given any food or water because she refuses to give investigators any information. The investigation team is shocked at L’s methods of getting a confession out of the second Kira. In addition, L has officially concluded that Light is now the prime suspect in the Kira case.

He tells Soichiro that his son will soon be interrogated.

Light wonders how he can stop Misa from talking. He fears Rem will kill him if he tries to kill Misa. After three days, the investigators hear Misa talking where she is being detained. After three days without water, she has reached her limit. She begs, “Kill me! Hurry up and kill me.” L asks her if she’s acknowledging that she is the second Kira, and Misa answers that she knows nothing and would rather be dead. Rem, who is standing by her in the holding center, refuses to kill her.

Rem goes to Light’s house. She tells him that Misa has given up ownership of the Death Note. By losing ownership of the Death Note, Misa has given up her memories of her time with the Death Note. Then, Rem threatens to kill Light if he doesn’t save Misa. Light tells her not to worry because he has an idea.

Chapter 34: Imprisonment In a deserted forest, Light tells Rem that he relinquishes the ownership of Misa’s 92 BD Nostalgia

Death Note. He has buried the Death Note in the forest and gives Ryuk specific instructions. The second that Light says “Get rid of it” to Ryuk, Light will give up ownership of his Death Note.

Misa has once again awakened. However, she is continually referring to a stalker and asking to be let go. This puzzles the investigation team. She tells them that she assumes that she is being held hostage by a crazed stalker. It is as if she has no idea about the Kira investigation. When asked about Light, Misa acknowledges that he is her boyfriend when she had refused to do so earlier.

Then, Light enters the investigation headquarters claiming that he thinks he might be Kira. L is now convinced that Light is indeed Kira, and he is wondering what exactly he is planning. Soichiro is begging his son not to say such things, but Light answers that all of the evidence points to him, and even though he might have no consciousness of it, there’s a chance that he might be Kira. He fears that he’s losing his mind. L wonders if this is all part of Light’s plan. However, he orders that Light be restrained to the dismay of Soichiro.

Volume Five: Whiteout Chapter 35: Whiteout As Light is confined to his cell, L watches him from a camera. He wonders that if criminals start dying, then should he exonerate Light? He doesn’t rule out the possibility that this may all be part of Light’s plan. Then, a desperate Soichiro begs L to confine him along with his son. He doesn’t trust himself to be part of the investigation when his son is the prime suspect. L agrees but tells him that he will be in different cell where he will have outside contact. After seven days, no new criminals have been killed. L wonders if Light is Kira, and he is purposely trying to curtail suspicion, he would make it so that the killings continued even when he is in confinement. Then, Light subtly tells Ryuk to “get rid of it”. Ryuk disappears, and Light suddenly wonders what he is doing in a cell. Light screams at L telling him that he was wrong for wanting to be put under confinement because he now realizes that he can’t be Kira. He tells L that something was wrong with him, and he doesn’t really understand why he thought he was Kira.

Light believes that he has been framed and begs L to let him go. L tells him that he can’t do that because the killings have not stopped, and he is still under suspicion.

On the 15th day, Matsuda tells the investigation force that two week’s worth of criminals died that day. An excited Matsuda tells an overjoyed Soichiro in his cell. However, L is still convinced that Light is Kira and refuses to let Matsuda tell Light that criminals are being killed once again.

L now wonders why Light and Misa suddenly seem to have no memory of any of their previous actions.

Chapter 36: Father and Son Rem is seen with another human using the Death Note to kill criminals. After 50 days, Soichiro is still confined to his cell, refusing to come out until his son is exonerated.

Light still begs to be let go, and Misa still believes that she is being held by a stalker.

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go, and L agrees only after he gets Soichiro to help him in his plan.

Light and Misa are led to a car that is being driven by Soichiro. Light asks his father if they’re being released, but he answers that they are being executed. Light begs for his life, but Soichiro tells him that he is going to kill them both himself. Soichiro stops the car and pulls out a gun. He pulls the trigger, but it is a blank. L watches the whole incident from a camera. He deduces that because neither Light nor Misa killed Soichiro when they believed that he would kill them, this is enough to end their confinements to the relief of Soichiro. However, L is still not convinced that Light is not Kira, so he has arranged it so that he is together with Light 24 hours a day.

Chapter 37: The Eight L chains himself to Light using handcuff so that he is never far from his sight. L then asks Misa why did she go meet Light at Aoyama and how did she learn Light’s name without speaking to him. Misa answers that she doesn’t know. Then, L asks her how she would feel if Light was Kira. Misa answers that she would be happy because she respects Kira after he killed her parent’s murderers. However, Misa still denies that she is the second Kira. Still, L wants to keep Misa under surveillance so he has set up a room for her full of cameras and has set up Matsuda as her “manager.”

Then, L asks Light if he could use Misa to find out any information she knows about Kira. Light answers that he refuses to play with a woman’s emotions like that. A stunned L wonders if Light suddenly got a personality change. L shows the investigation team the new headquarters that he has set up for them. Light vows that he will help L catch Kira no matter what. Meanwhile, eight representatives from the Yotsuba company are meeting in a board room and talk about who they are going to kill today. They acknowledge that Kira was one of the eight members and that he is making them decide who they will kill that will be most beneficial to their company.

Chapter 38: Strike At the new Kira investigation headquarters, the investigation task force is watching Light and Misa on their date while L is still chained to Light. After Misa complains about her lack of privacy, L reveals that he is really depressed. He was close to catching Kira because he truly believed that Light and Misa were the two Kiras in question.

However, with recent developments, L has concluded that the powers of Kira can be passed from person to person. However, L is afraid that he is putting his life in too much danger and wants to quit.

Light stands up and punches L in the face for even thinking about giving up. Light and L keep fighting until Matsuda is forced to break up the fight.

Rem is still with the mysterious Yotsuba company member who is feverishly writing names. She suggests that he can stop writing the names of criminals because Misa has now been let go. The new Death Note owner, however, notes that a world without crime is bad for the Yotsuba company’s profits. Light notices that the Yotsuba company has experienced an unusual profit increase.

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profits for the Yotsuba company. L, however, points out that this may be a new Kira who is probably an adult seeking monetary gain, unlike the first and second Kira.

Light research pays off when he finds that three people who held important positions in the Japanese business world had died of heart attacks. After these deaths, Yotsuba’s stock soared. However, Light also notices that important people in the business world had suddenly died through other measures like accidents, suicide and cancer. L finally concludes that Kira can kill ways other than a heart attack. They all agree that the most likely theory is that Kira or someone with Kira’s powers is among the Yotsuba group.

They are determined to infiltrate the company. Meanwhile, Deputy Director Kitamura talks to Soichiro about the future of the Kira investigation. Kitamura tells him that politicians have been accepting bribes from Kira, and the police have given up the case.

He gives Soichiro a choice: the team will either stay with the NPA and stop the Kira investigation or quit the NPA to continue working with L. Soichiro tells the rest of the team about the situation and has decided that he will continue the investigation and quit the NPA. L, however, feels that the whole team should return to the NPA and promises that he will fine working on this case alone.

Chapter 40: Friends Soichiro responds to L’s request by saying that they will make the decision for themselves. Soichiro, Matsuda, and Mogi all decide to quit the NPA and continue working on the Kira investigation. Aizawa is unsure because he has a wife and daughter that he has to feed, and it’s not in his best interest to be unemployed. He sadly makes the decision that he will go back to the NPA. However, as Aizawa is leaving, Watari asks why L has not mentioned that he has made preparations to make sure every investigation team was financially secure in case they had to quit the police force. Aizawa realizes that L was testing him, and he quits the Kira investigation team in anger.

Two days later, Soichiro notices that the deaths convenient to Yotsuba are concentrated during the weekend. L decides that this is enough evidence to investigate the Yotsuba group thoroughly and calls for some back-up. He summons Aiber, a professional con artist who can convincingly blend in with any group of people and Wedy, a professional thief who can infiltrate any lock and security system in a building.

Chapter 41: Matsuda Matsuda has been working undercover as Misa Amane’s manager on a movie set that is close to the Yotsuba company building. Feeling like he has been unproductive on the case, he decides to sneak into the building and find out more information.

Back at headquarters, Light wonders why he can’t seem to remember his conversations with Ray Penber and Naomi Misora. L comments that with Light’s hacking skills, he could probably have easily had access to his father’s task force information. Light responds once again that he is not Kira, and L should concentrate in catching the new Kira. Watari calls them with the news that a member of the Yotsuba group, Masahiko Kida, has just asked Eraldo Coil to uncover L’s identity. L reveals that Eraldo Coil, the world’s 2nd greatest detective, is just another one of his aliases. L instructs Aiber to get close to Masahiko Kida and find out about his actions. He also instructs Wedy to find a way to get around the security cameras and systems at Yotsuba. Then, L tells the team that their task will be to investigate Yotsuba without letting them know that they’re BD Nostalgia 95

being investigated. Matsuda, now in the Yotsuba building, follows a group of men dressed in suits going into a meeting room. He listens intently outside the door waiting for the men to say something incriminating. Matsuda hears the words “kill him” and gets excited until the door is opened by one of the members. Watari tells the team at headquarters that he received a distress signal from Matsuda’s belt buckle coming from the Yotsuba Tokyo office.

Chapter 42: Heaven Matsuda is caught listening to the group’s conversation. However, he nervously tells them that he is Misa Amane’s manager and wanted to talk to the Yotsuba group members about Misa possibly starring in a commercial for them. One Yotsuba member instructs the others to take Matsuda to another room and hear his pitch. The Yotsuba group now wonders if Matsuda heard any of their conversation. They agree that they have no choice to kill Matsuda secretly. L decides to call Matsuda’s cell phone.

The Yotsuba group members let him answer the phone as long as they get to listen to the whole conversation. Matsuda realizes that it’s L and subtly tells him that he is being held captive alone. L decides to not take any drastic measures and let Matsuda somehow talk his way out of it.

Light calls Misa who has just finished with her movie shoot. Just then, he receives a call from a nervous Matsuda asking her to come down to the Yotsuba building with the possibility of being hired for a commercial. Misa excitedly tells Light the news, but Light tells her not to go. L, however, wants Misa to go in order to save Matsuda.

Light orders Misa to go to the Yotsuba building and gives her specific instructions on what to do once she gets there. Misa arrives at the Yotsuba building and invites all of the members to Misa’s apartment where she is having a party. The members all agree to go, along with Matsuda. During the party, Matsuda sneaks into the bathroom where he calls L and tells him that he definitely overheard Yotsuba talking about who will be Kira’s next victim. L then gives Matsuda specific instructions.

Matsuda pretends to be drunk and gets on the ledge of Misa’s balcony. He accidentally falls from Misa’s balcony and lands safely on a mattress that Soichiro and Ide are holding out from the floor below. When the group looks over the ledge, they see Matsuda’s dead body, who is really Aiber in disguise. Matsuda’s body is taken away

by L and Light, who are dressed as paramedics. In the next day’s newspaper, Matsuda is officially declared dead.

However, thanks to Matsuda’s little misadventure, they now have the identities and profiles of each of the eight Yotsuba group members who attend the meetings.

Chapter 43: Black The investigation team believes that one of the eight Yotsuba group members has Kira’s powers. However, they conclude that this Kira does not have the power to kill people by just looking at their faces because then Matsuda would not have made it out alive. This new Kira has assembled a group of seven other people to make decisions about who to kill next. They meet Fridays, and Kira commits the murders on the weekend. Masahiko Kida then receives a call from Eraldo Coil, who is really Aiber.

Kida is caught off guard because he had tried to hire Coil through an intermediary.

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Coil offers Kida to catch L for the Yotsuba group in exchange for $10 million. If they don’t hire him, he wants $2 million to keep his mouth shut. Kida calls another Yotsuba member named Ooi and tells him of the situation. The Yotsuba group meets and fears that Coil has figured out their connection to Kira. Arayoshi Hatori, another Yotsuba group member, in a panic, states that he wants to stop attending these meetings. When he is reminded that he might be killed by Kira, he quickly detracts his comment. They decide to hire Coil to catch L for them. Aiber calls L to tell him that he is getting closer to Yotsuba by agreeing to catch L for them. Wedy also calls L and tells him that the Yotsuba security system is a joke. She figures that it will be easy to plant cameras in the Yotsuba group’s meeting room.

By the following Friday, the cameras have been planted, and the investigation is watching the meeting on their screens. They notice that one of the eight members is missing.

TO BE CONTINUED IN THE NEXT EDITION

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Top 10 Best Rated (bayesian estimate) # title rating nb. votes 1 Steins;Gate (TV) 9.11 3851 2 Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (TV) 9.10 5057 3 Clannad After Story (TV) 9.08 4875 4 Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal (OAV) 8.97 6488 5 Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 (TV) 8.95 7412 6 Mushishi: The Next Chapter (TV) 8.92 247 7 Spirited Away (movie) 8.92 10090 8 (The) Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya (movie) 8.90 2542 9 Cowboy Bebop (TV) 8.90 11629 10 Princess Mononoke (movie) 8.86 9440

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Top 10 Worst Rated (bayesian esti# 4617 4616 4615 4614 4613 4612 4611 4610 4609 4608

title rating nb. votes Hametsu No Mars (OAV) 2.25 172 SD Gundam Force (TV) 2.72 492 Psychic Wars (OAV) 2.98 120 Skelter+Heaven (OAV) 3.24 41 MD Geist II - Death Force (OAV) 3.32 266 Tekken: The Motion Picture (OAV) 3.43 690 Duel Masters (TV) 3.44 619 MD Geist (OAV) 3.44 439 D.I.C.E. (TV) 3.46 146 Reign: The Conqueror (TV) 3.57 692

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Top 10 Best Rated (weighted average) # 30 31 32 33 54 56 56 59 60 61

title rating nb. votes Persona 3 the Movie #2 Midsummer Knight’s Dream 9.17 4 Steins;Gate (TV) 9.11 3851 Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (TV) 9.10 5057 Clannad After Story (TV) 9.08 4875 Mushishi: The Next Chapter (TV) 8.99 247 Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal (OAV) 8.97 6488 Gintama’ (TV 2012) 8.97 147 Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 (TV) 8.96 7412 Spirited Away (movie) 8.92 10090 (The) Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya (movie) 8.90 2542

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Top 10 Most Popular # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

title rating nb. votes Fullmetal Alchemist (TV) 8.74 13045 Death Note (TV) 8.88 12253 Cowboy Bebop (TV) 8.93 11629 Spirited Away (movie) 8.96 10090 (The) Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (TV) 8.59 9932 Princess Mononoke (movie) 8.93 9440 Elfen Lied (TV) 8.34 10087 Neon Genesis Evangelion (TV) 8.31 9805 Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion (TV) 8.87 8683 Bleach (TV) 7.97 8900 BD Nostalgia 113

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title Fullmetal Alchemist (TV) Death Note (TV) Bleach (TV) Cowboy Bebop (TV) Naruto (TV) Neon Genesis Evangelion (TV) Elfen Lied (TV) (The) Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (TV) Princess Mononoke (movie) Spirited Away (movie)

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rating 8.67 8.80 7.80 8.90 7.42 8.21 8.20 8.52 8.87 8.92

seen by 22706 20890 20175 19942 17711 17114 16291 15183 14712 14606

Top 10 Most Underrated # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

title rating Fullmetal Alchemist (TV) 8.67 Death Note (TV) 8.80 Bleach (TV) 7.80 Cowboy Bebop (TV) 8.90 Naruto (TV) 7.42 Neon Genesis Evangelion (TV) 8.21 Elfen Lied (TV) 8.20 (The) Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (TV) 8.52 Princess Mononoke (movie) 8.87 Spirited Away (movie) 8.92

seen by 22706 20890 20175 19942 17711 17114 16291 15183 14712 14606

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rating 5.38 5.46 4.60 5.29 4.66 4.19 5.03 5.56 5.39 5.42

seen by 8287 6841 3676 4567 2512 2376 2450 3461 2501 2462

Top 10 Most Diverging Opinions # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

title rating nb. votes Musashi (TV) 4.34 ±4.428 140 Sekai Meisaku Dōwa: Mori wa Ikiteiru (movie) 7.22 ±3.925 16 Manga Sekai Mukashi Banashi (TV) 7.40 ±3.875 13 Evangelion Shin Gekijō-ban: ? (movie) 7.16 ±3.538 36 Vixens (OAV) 5.37 ±3.528 22 Bosco Daibōken (TV) 7.15 ±3.455 17 Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas (OAV 2) 7.29 ±3.412 112 Bondage Game (OAV) 5.60 ±3.391 80 Ikkyū-san (TV 1975) 6.94 ±3.335 24 Apocalypse Zero (OAV) 3.96 ±3.290 162

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