New World (episode)

New World (新世界, Shinsekai) is the thirty-seventh and final episode of the Death Note anime series.

Synopsis
The last episode continues immediately after the previous one. Light Yagami and Teru Mikami are both shocked that no one has died after 40 seconds have passed, with the latter questioning "God" as to why. It is then that Near reveals that the pages in Mikami's notebook had been replaced by fake pages created by the SPK, with information from Mello serving as the catalyst. The notebook is confiscated, and as Light's name is the only one not written, Light is exposed as Kira.

Terrified, Light first tries to claim the entire scene is a set-up. As everyone present heard him declare his victory just before the 40-second mark, no one on either the task force or the SPK accepts this claim. Out of options, Light confesses to being Kira and attempts to acquit himself by justifying his use of the notebook. When that fails, he tries to convince Near that the notebook the task force brought with them is a fake, creating a distraction so he can write Near's real name on a piece of the Death Note hidden in his watch. Furious, betrayed, and angered by Light's apathy toward his father's death, Matsuda shoots Light several times, leaving him badly injured and completely cornered.

Moments later, Mikami stabs himself with his pen, and he quickly bleeds to death. His suicide creates a diversion, allowing an injured Light to take advantage of the commotion and escape the Yellowbox Warehouse. Near suggests that the task force does not go after Light, as it is unlikely he has other hidden scraps from the notebook and his wounds will probably stop him soon, but Aizawa decides to go after him anyway.

As Light runs away, he hallucinates passing a younger version of himself without the notebook. Ryuk, from atop a tower, reminds Light of his promise from the beginning: that he would be the one to write Light's name in his notebook. Ryuk understands that he would be bored waiting for Light to die in prison and admits that their years together were interesting. When Light, possibly out of exhaustion, decides to hide in another warehouse, Ryuk writes Light's name down.

In the ending, the fate of all remaining Kiras are shown. Mikami's corpse is left alone in the warehouse. Misa Amane, dressed in her maid attire, goes back to the old Task Force building by rail-car and jumps off the roof. And Light dies of cardiac arrest halfway up a flight of stairs, seeing a figure of L looming over him.

Critical reception
Tom S. Pepirium of IGN wrote, "New World really works best when watched immediately after 1.28. The final two chapters really work better as one. Overall though, it was a deeply satisfying ending." He states that "Matsuda shooting Light is maybe THE stand up and cheer 'holy sh*t' moment of the series." The site gave the episode a perfect score of 10 and provided a final retrospective on the series: "This was the greatest anime there has ever been. This was the greatest anime dub there has ever been. And I will seriously miss tuning in every week."

Anime America included Death Note as number 4 in its "Top 10 WTF Endings in Anime." The ending is criticized for Light acting inconsistently with his actions prior to the finale and noting that Near's simple replacement of the real notebook would have been highly unlikely to succeed in light of Light having overcome far better plans to catch him over the course of the series. The review concluded that the creator must have wanted Light to fail in the end but couldn't come up with a good way to do it and as a result, the bad ending ruined the franchise.

Trivia

 * During the credits scene, Misa Amane is shown standing on a rooftop, behind the safety rail. According to Death Note A Animation Official Analysis Guide, her fate is left to the viewer's interpretation.
 * In the manga, Light's death takes place in the same warehouse where he is exposed as Kira. That is because Mikami does not commit suicide in the manga.
 * Chapter 108 of the manga, Finis, was not adapted in this episode. However, the last shot of a crescent moon, which was featured in said chapter, was included. The moon, according to Ohba, is a play on Light's name, which is written as "月" (or moon).
 * When the episode was first released on DVD in Japan, the scene where Light is able to escape because of Mikami's suicide was slightly altered. An extensive blur was placed and more "shaking" was added for effect. The DVD version of the scene would be used for the dub and the rewrite.
 * This and the previous episode are the only two to be rated TV-MA.