[myopius]

Good thread. Since I'm used to it, I'll keep up the trend of elaborate spoiler labels when I initiate discussion of a topic and when I respond to topics which have already been precedented to exist in spoilers.

For those who want to analyze the pacing of the series and speculate on what it will cover, I can try to keep an updated list of which episodes correspond to which chapters. Along with that, I'll repost the entire section of text I wrote for an earlier post at http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost...0&postcount=24 about this issue.

Spoiler for Episodes vs. chapters:

Episode 1 - Chapter 1 (which was 2x the ordinary # of pages)
Episode 2 & 3 - Chapter 2, 3, 4, 5
Episode 4 - Chapter 6, 7
Episode 5 - Chapter 8, 9, 10
Episode 6 - Chapter 11, 12
Episode 7 - Chapter 13, 14
Episode 8 - Chapter 15, 16, 17
Episode 9 - Chapter 18, 19
Episode 10 - Chapter 20, 21, 22

So it's clearly about two episodes per chapter. Usually the scene split is where one chapter ends and the next one starts. At this rate, it will end around chapter 74, which is

Spoiler for Manga, what chapters the arcs correspond to:

15 chapters after the end of the first arc, and 34 chapters before the end of the second arc (and the whole series). There are three choices: 1) they could pad it out to fit in 37 episodes, as they have clearly shown they can do, 2) perhaps just extend it and have a different end, or 3) completely trim down or abbreviate the second arc. Given that these episodes have already clearly been heavily padded, I suspect they'll just continue to trend of padding episodes; they'll be able to do it even better when more has happened that they can pad it with. Or maybe, and I don't know if this is how anime works, they will be able to extend the series before they have to plan it to end, and so they'll be able to fit in all the material.

On the subject of the anime,

Spoiler for Art & characterization of Light:

As those who've read the manga know, the art style for Light changes a lot. At the start he seems to have an innocent, clean-cut appearance, and time passes with him as Kira his eyes narrow and locks of hair cross down over his face. When

Spoiler for Chapter 35's plot twist:

Light loses his memory after forfeiting the note, he reverts to his initial appearance in terms of art, and

Spoiler for How he's characterized over subsequent chapters:

wins over the trust of L with his upstanding behavior, and even has much higher moral standards than L. "Even if it's to catch Kira, I can't trample on people's good will like that."

But instead of drawing that shift in appearance, the anime has pretty much just shown the evil Light's face since the beginning. That is, his eyes aren't capable of that springy, determined youth, just indifference or malice. And since this recent episode 6 with Raye's fiance,

Spoiler for Episode 6:

judging from people's reactions as well as my own, It's become clear that the anime fails to accurately characterize him, in voice, face, and appearance, as someone who can be trusted.

Spoiler for Near the end of the first arc, circa chapter 57:

Because of this, I anticipate that they may have difficulty establishing credibility for L's actions in allowing Light to go free. It's my personal opinion, and the opinion of a few others, that because L wanted to believe in Light due to L having come to consider Light a true friend, he chose to ignore his better judgment and allow Light to go free. Yet, somehow I don't know if those who have only watched the manga will see this, which saddens me.