[eggplant]

Saw Episode 11.
I'm putting my impressions of it in spoilers as the raws probably won't be available for another few hours.

Spoiler for Episode 11:

What else can I say about this episode besides Misa?
Well, bringing in Misa and Rem certainly stirs up the whole plot, bringing back the excitement that has been absent for awhile. However, this episode portrayed how clever L is, immediately pointing out that the killings were the work of a new Kira who can kill from sight alone, and deducing that this new killer is in possession of the shinigami eyes.
On the other hand, Light (with the smallest amount of screen time he gets so far), despite being elated at the emergence of a new Kira, exposes his uncertainty towards the situation, something which L already uses to his advantage by summoning him to L's base.

Misa's story on how she came into possession of the Death Note, and why she agreed to exchange half of her remaining life for the shinigami eyes will likely be explained in the subsequent stories, potentially leaving viewers who aren't familiar with the manga or movie left in the dark until then. For a teen girl, she surely knows how to disguise her voice (to the chagrin of Hirano Aya fans), although L probably took notice of any prominent charactetistics, much in the way he was able to see through the postage stamp camouflage. By the way, why did she give L 4 days to reply in the first place?

Souichirou is one tough cookie, haha. I suppose after barging his way into the TV station like that, he couldn't care about the consequences of pointing a loaded gun at a civilian.

So the Misa arc kicks in at Episode 11, less than one third of the scheduled story count. I guess then DEATH NOTE will cover Part 2 of the manga starting from Vol. 7.

Too bad next week will be a special recap episode. Hm, does this mean it will be included in the episode count, making the main plot effectively 36 episodes? (which makes sense from a DVD sales point of view). Definitely need to see and hear more Misa.