The Brilliance of Death Note's Potato Chip Scene (Yes, Really)

Death Note has the distinction of being the most popular anime of all time, at least according to my anime list, although they also think Penghu is one of the best anime of all time, so they're obviously right about everything. learn about Death Note. We voted them out for their fantastic music, dynamic, exciting direction, and a tense, well-plotted narrative about a psychological battle of wits between two intellectual titans, but before all that crap, this is what he's known for. I'll have a fry, this is one of the most quoted and referenced lines not only in the entire anime but in the entire media period.

The french fry

scene

is the top meme generated by a show that has created more than its share of names on the Internet. It is a reference point for many. When it comes to people talking about how stupid and over the top anime can be and how it's a mission, it's the biggest flaw of Netflix's Death Note movie. It is also, and I say this without a hint of irony, one of these great

scene

s. In the history of television anime, it's a showdown of epic proportions, one that can match any fight in any anime you can name, and while there doesn't seem to be much happening here, it marks a turning point for the entire series that defines everything.

Going forward, it also tells us a lot about El and Light as characters, as it's the first time they've actually interacted with each other for an extended period of time. I'll do it indirectly to understand this scene, we need some context Death Note, if you don't know, is a show about a promising and ambitious high school senior named Light Yagami who uses a magical

note

book that kills anyone whose name is on it. written into it within a very specific set of rules to punish criminals in an attempt to become the god of the new world. I told you he was ambitious, Light or Kira as he is known in the world, is pursued by a Japanese police task force led by his father, so Ichiro Yagami and a brilliant private detective known only as L inside . one day after taking the case, L managed to get Eero into the task force's search area from across the world to the Kanto region of Japan, so suffice to say he's pretty good at what he does and is quite the threat. for Kira's plans.

The French fries scene. takes place in episode 8 of the series just after the light seemingly throws the police off her trail by killing the 12 FBI agents sent to investigate Kyra, but by pulling at a few small loose ends, Elle still manages to unravel more the mystery due to This Elle has discovered that Kira is not only related to one of the members of the task force, but is part of one of the families investigated by Rey Penber, the FBI agent who died under the most suspicious circumstances and whose fiancé now... -I committed suicide shortly after, unfortunately for Kira.

She knew Nami from a previous case and knew her well enough to know that she wasn't the suicidal type because of this. L orders cameras and microphones to be installed on the lights in the family home, which immediately turn on. discovers due to the absurdly paranoid security measures he uses to protect his room - although, of course, that paranoia is clearly justified in this case - he prompts a normally neutral observer to look for the hidden cameras, pointing out that he won't be able to eat his apples if they can. see everything, but finds no blind spots with the light in a corner and apparently extremely dissatisfied with the contents of his nude magazine.

He is called to dinner and the scene itself begins right off the bat. The scene is duplicating. -Duty to establish the feminine personality of Light's younger sister, Siyou, and at the same time set up the alias that L uses when he confronts Light in the next episode. Hideki Ryuga, the star of the show he is watching, is quite brilliant as he is a background detail in this scene. and he puts us in the same position as Light in the next episode feeling like we've heard ELL's names somewhere before without being able to immediately place them. It also explains why the normally reclusive L would choose that name to confront Light, but the TV show the family is watching has even more meaning than that, first of all, the way the sound turns metallic, this shiny The transition from the house to Elle's monitors gives Elle's observations a cold and indifferent vibe compared to the warm family atmosphere of the Yagami house, this contrast in emotion is a big part of what makes this scene work. in the future.

Elle tries to provoke a reaction from the light by transmitting a message about sending 1,500 Interpol investigators to catch Kira, which doesn't faze him at all. Reacting with disinterest and calling Interpol stupid and thinking that they must be trying to provoke Kira up to this point, Elle seems like he's

really

bored, but then Light gets cocky like he wants to and takes things one step further. He says frankly, how would Kira not be surprised? see through this, this catches Elle's attention, she looks intently at the screen trying to read the expression of the lights in the low resolution footage and lets out a bemused laugh at this moment, a quiet and playful pensive guitar track plays in the background of the scene is a musical cue that is often used for scenes of intrigue in the show.

On the surface, this is a harmless comment, but if Light is Kira, it's exactly the kind of thing he would say if he knew the Cameras are focusing on him and he wants to make fun. Elle, the gears are now turning as Elle builds a light profile in her head and compares it to her perception of Kira and what they know how far the light reaches to get her

chip

s from the one cabinet that is obviously meant to be animated, her sister pushes. She is amused by him because it is an indication that it is strange that she is eating fries so late.

She brushes it off with a reasonable explanation, but it's a clue to us in the audience that this is abnormal and therefore notable. It's also maybe a little hint for Elle. Looking into the cupboard gave him more clues that

chip

s are important, not only do the chips he takes taste different than what the rest of the family normally eats, but they are also stuffed in the back out of the closet, clearly he didn't want to. he eats them before reaching them the cut from the cabinet door closing to the light closing the door to his room is quite brilliant as it creates a logical connection in our minds between the actions and negates the need to show it by going up the stairs and closing his door, this is a strong edit as the light enters the room, we see Rios lying on the bed shaking from exhaustion, which is a great little moment of character development when Rios says I guess you'll get higher that they God telling us that looking for this one small room may be the hardest thing you have ever worked on in your entire life, this adds a bit of levity to what would otherwise be a dry exposition scene that lays down the rules of the confrontation between L and Kira, their silly and exaggerated expressions of pain also work in this sense. the way Light talks to him without actually speaking to him is also pretty clever after pretending to study for a moment.

L opens the bag of chips and in the most over-the-top, over-the-top way imaginable then looks inside it to see something hidden. Deep down, I mean, he's probably opening it normally, but the fast camerawork and editing turns the mundane action into one of the most dynamic explosive moves in the history of animation. Dynamic camera movement like this is a signature stylistic flourish for director Tetsuro Araki, who also worked on High School of the Dead Guilty Crown and Attack on Titan and this is some of his best work as of right now, the scene actually increases in intensity, the light begins to laugh maniacally as bass, heavy dramatic music accompanied by a damn gospel choir plays in the background means to us as an audience that it became real as the music increases, White slowly reveals details of his plan, he needs to make sure that while he's being watched, some criminals he can't know are killed to give him an alibi. he continues studying but we see him looking out of the corner of his eye instead of looking directly at the paper.

This close-up of his eyes serves two purposes: first, it gives us a very raw and intense image of how cold and driven he is at this moment totally focused on what he needs to do, but it also creates a bit of incongruity in the next shot. shot, we see the light from a screen reflected in his eyes quite clearly, but cutting away reveals that his computer and television are turned off, creating intrigue. which pays off once what's in the bag is revealed and man, do they ever go all out to get to this? The camera moves dramatically, jumping from crazy wide shots to overly intense close-ups of his pen as he furiously scribbles his movements on our onion skin. creating a trail that makes everything feel like it's moving in slow motion and emphasizes the importance of certain actions.

When we finally approach the stock market, we see that the light has a portable television and a piece of the

death

note

taped to it. sticky inside, a pretty clever plan for pulling off a few kills while Elle watches, though one with a fatal flaw that we'll get to in a second light monologues to himself about the

brilliance

of his own plan that led to that infamous line. I'll have a fry since this is The story that's happening enters into Apple's recall in the most unnecessary and hilariously over-the-top way possible, giving the scene a certain comedic slant.

I've often heard this scene talked about as an example of unintentional hilarity in anime, but I think Ryoka is dead. It's a gift that's nothing, but maybe you could convince me that the director was simply overzealous in trying to make the act of writing as exciting and serious as possible with over-the-top music and camera work, but when those elements are They play against a great lip demon. standing on his head and doing bicycle kicks for apples, it becomes clear that what we're seeing is an intentional juxtaposition - I mean, in the split-screen montage that comes at the crescendo of this action, Ryoga's flailing body is used literally to top it off, the fact that Light is taking this so seriously and that the scene presents something so silly and mundane in such a dramatic way is the joke when you want to say that in this scene you're not laughing at it, you're laughing with that, which is not to say that it can't be tense and exciting at the same time those feelings are part of the fun along with the comedy this contrast also informs us of the perspectives of the and light for light this is a dramatic scenario of life or

death

is beyond exciting and while your heart is probably racing, you can't show even an ounce of reaction to the entire tenshun 4l montage, meanwhile, it's a quiet and reflective moment, after all, you're just sitting there watching the studio of a kid on TV while his family gets ready for bed, but we can say that.

He already suspects something is wrong after all the tense music calms down as he asks Detective Yagami about his son, but it doesn't cut out completely, instead building to a slow, triumphant final chorus sing-along as Light relaxes and continues studying while he waits for a criminal to die, the music fades when Elle receives the news from Watery that two criminals have died a moment ago, which should show that he likes innocence, but only if you look exclusively at the facts as detective. Elle's true

brilliance

lies in getting inside other people's heads and finding out why they do what they do.

She is good at analyzing evidence, but every interruption she makes in Kira's investigation comes from observing the behavior of others or exploiting Kira's arrogance. This is a big mistake in terms. of evidence that would hold up in court, he gives himself a rock-solid alibi, but in doing so he causes Kira to act in a way that only makes sense if he knows the police are following him and are trying to get them off the hook. clue. trace that is consistent with the light subtly taunting L at the beginning of the scene, he corrects it later by killing more petty criminals, but the damage is already done at least unconsciously.

L is in it. He likes more obviously suspicious behavior, like putting a paper alarm on his door jamb doesn't make ELLs raise their eyebrows, that's normal teenage stuff. It would be strange if the light wasn't hiding something from his parents, the things the light does in his room that he thinks will divert suspicion by digging into a hidden stash of dirty clothes. magazines and spending all night studying without distractions don't add up. Not only is the magazine too vulgar to justify tampering with the door, but it doesn't make sense for the kind of kid who hides pornography in encyclopedia cases to study for hours on end without procrastinating.things or do anything else, add to the fact that on this particular night, Kyra changes her entire modus operandi to kill two petty thieves who happen to be on the news and it all seems too convenient for him. he creates enough doubt that the cameras can no longer be justified, but in his haste and arrogance he cements himself as Elle's number one suspect.

Light thinks he's playing checkers, but Elle is playing like Harry Potter's Wizarding Chess. This seam makes it clear at least if you're paying attention that L is much smarter than the light, of course the light ultimately outsmarts Elle in the end, but only with a combination of luck, outside help, and a direct magical light. I'd tell you it was all its own brilliance, but then Death Note is

really

good at introducing plot twists that take the story in a new direction every few episodes, but this is possibly one of the most defining ones because Tonight, Elle Decides face the light in college next.

Obviously, the main reason we remember the fries scene is because of how crazy it is, but it wouldn't have had the impact it did if it weren't so central to the overall plot and so novel as far as anime conflicts go. , embodies both intense mind games and the unconventional sense of over-the-top fun that makes Death Note a classic and deserves to be remembered as more than just mediocre, although if the comments in my last video about heroic as a third OPR, whatever you can do with memes, they can actually be the highest. form of culture that anime can aspire to, so let me know in the comments below what other anime memes you'd like me to break out on this channel and while you're there, I'd appreciate it if you'd drop by. the subscribe and notification buttons to keep me up to date on everything I do and if you want to support me even more directly, consider pledging my patreon at patreon.com, hack up my mother's basement like the good people whose names you're seeing now have done same.

If you want to see me talk about Madhouse some more, check out my roundup of their top 10 anime openings here or click here for a great video of just writing about Death Notes, incredibly fast story structure or you can click here to subscribe. to my second channel and my podcast where I will soon be talking about the fall 2017 season and if this is the last time you see me today, then I am Jeff, the professional coming out of my mom's basement.