Matsuda (episode)

"The eight men who came here were having a meeting to determine who they get Kira to kill for them. I heard them say it clearly. There's no doubt they're behind this."

- Touta Matsuda

Matsuda (松田, Matsuda) is the nineteenth episode of the Death Note anime series.

Synopsis
Touta Matsuda feels inferior to the other members of the Task Force due to his lack of findings in the Kira case, and being stuck pretending to be Misa Amane's manager, Taro Matsui. While Misa, dressed as an angel, is filming a movie scene with Hideki Ryuga (where she refuses to do a kiss scene due to her relationship with Light), Matsuda sees Yotsuba's headquarters from the set. Hoping to make his own contribution to the case, he decides to snoop around the Yotsuba Group and do his own research, leaving Misa unattended with the crew.

At Task Force Headquarters, Light begins pondering on how he could kill by just knowing his/her name and face if he was Kira. L promptly thinks Light is spacing out, and offers him some of his own cake to appease the situation, which Light refuses. At that moment, Watari dials in and says that the world's second greatest detective has asked for L's identity to be revealed with the backing of the Yotsuba Group. However, L reveals that the first, second, and third greatest detectives are all himself, meaning that Yotsuba is planning to get the identity by themselves. The Task Force concludes that Yotsuba is affiliated with Kira.

Matsuda is able to sneak past the doorman and enters the building, After running up the first 17 floors, he overhears two men at the elevator talking about a private meeting they hold every weekend. Matsuda follows them to the 19th floor, and listening to their conversation, he overhears them talking about Kira. He prepares to leave, but before he can act, he falls through the door and is apprehended by the eight businessmen. Using the fake identity card Watari gave to him, he quickly poses as Matsui. He proposes having Misa featured in the Yotsuba commercial campaign while simultaneously contacting L via his modified belt buckle.

The businessmen's bodyguards subdue Matsuda and escort him to another room, where he keeps up his act. They decide he can't be a corporate spy, but remain suspicious, while the businessmen decide they have no choice but to kill "Matsui." L calls Matsuda on his regular phone, pretending to be his drinking buddy, and through code confirms that Matsuda is in trouble. Matsuda continues to play along, and calls Misa over to confirm she will be in a commercial. The company agrees, and to celebrate she takes them and an embarrassed Matsuda to her apartment, where an equal number of models wait to be exploited. In the middle of the resulting party, Matsuda escapes to the bathroom and properly calls L.

Worried that the Yotsuba Group may be getting suspicious of Matsuda and that the Yotsuba Kira might try something, L instructs Matsuda what he has to do next—fake his own death—even though he is safe since they don't have his actual name. Pretending to be inebriated, Matsuda stumbles back into the room, claims he will be doing a show, and does a handstand on the beam of the balcony, despite being several stories up. Purposely slipping, Matsuda falls off of the beam. A mattress had been set up by Soichiro so that it was sticking out of one of the lower balconies; acting as a ramp, it catches Matsuda and rolls him onto the floor of the balcony. Soichiro proceeds to throw a heavy bag over the balcony, creating a sickening thud. The businessmen look down and see Aiber, disguised as Matsuda, on the ground, while Wedy pretends to panic. The businessmen scatter amidst in panic; unaware that Matsuda has survived, the group is ultimately glad that he fell before Kira was forced to deal with him.

Two weeks later and with Matsui declared dead to the world, the Yotsuba Group is seen having another meeting, in which Arayoshi Hatori wants to opt out for fear that they will be caught and that he will have to pay for Kira's actions with his life. In response, the other members tell him that, having said this, he will probably end up dead in the coming day anyway. Realizing that they are right, Hatori insists that he was merely joking, though this is met with blank stares, as everyone knows that there is no taking back what was said, and that Hatori will soon be dead. Meanwhile, it is shown that the Task Force has used Matsuda's intel to have Wedy attach security cameras and wiretaps in the room described, but Soichiro quickly realizes that although there are supposed to be eight people, there are now only seven.

Trivia

 * As heard in this episode, Matsuda's ringtone is "Alumina."

Episode Guide
Matsuda Matsuda (épisode) Matsuda (jakso)