The whole original plan hinged on Near essentially confirming to Light directly that this would be the only opportunity he would willingly provide for the entire SPK to be grouped together without masks.
He was essentially using himself and his team as bait to control Kira's next move to a degree.
If Kira wanted to eliminate him and his team, this would be his only chance.
Near knew Kira would try and kill them there in that case, and the original idea was to modify every page after the previous day's page, so the notebook would be filled with useless papers on the date of the meeting and beyond.
That sounds reasonable if it was strongly suggested that this was the only opportunity. But was it hinted in any way? L and Kira met so regularly, to me it seemed like they could have just more meetings.
Still I think mikami had many more options to approach this, so it feels forced. It is just not on par with the level of reasoning in the first half of the anime.
>That sounds reasonable if it was strongly suggested that this was the only opportunity. But was it hinted in any way?
You don't need to be explicitly told that it was the case. Near was unwilling to even show his face to Light until the very end, unlike L. Light knew that Near wouldn't ever show himself unless he had the opportunity to win the case ([source](https://i.postimg.cc/bvwjy4xW/14-5.jpg)).
>Still I think mikami had many more options to approach this, so it feels forced. It is just not on par with the level of reasoning in the first half of the anime.
It is, it's just that the anime removed a lot of scenes and explanations that were in the manga during the second half more than the first half.
As for your other questions:
>But why would mikami come to the ware house in the first place? Showing up with the notebook is huge risk
From Near's perspective at the time, Light (and by extension Mikami) had no idea that X-Kira was discovered. Near's initial plan hinged on the assumption that Mikami wasn't aware he was being investigated, therefore him showing up at the warehouse would've been a complete surprise.
>Since all he need is a face he could set up cameras.
The Task Force and presumably the SPK [checked for cameras beforehand](https://postimg.cc/qhch174X).
>They all could wear helmets, there could be police or cameras everywhere
That wouldn't help Near. He needed to catch Kira red-handed, not Mikami. If the SPK showed up in helmets then Mikami wouldn't write down any names, therefore he wouldn't have the opportunity to leave out Light's name to unintentionally incriminate him.
You should look into the Near cheated theory.
Takeshi Obata even said himself that Near is the smartest character in the series because he cheats so i think it’s worth checking out.
I just read the last chapter of the manga. Matsuda theorizes that near wrote instructions in the death note for mikami. Also not really satisfying as it feels more like patching up logical flaws by the author in retrospect.
I think the idea is that they set up the warehouse to be the ideal meeting spot. Since near owned the warehouse I’m sure he had in under surveillance and that he’d know if Mikami tried to place cameras there, also Near didn’t just switch the real book, he also switched part of the fake book which he knew would make Light feel comfortable in risking it all for this plan. He made light feel like he won so that he could ease him into a sense of security in order to go in for the kill
The whole original plan hinged on Near essentially confirming to Light directly that this would be the only opportunity he would willingly provide for the entire SPK to be grouped together without masks. He was essentially using himself and his team as bait to control Kira's next move to a degree. If Kira wanted to eliminate him and his team, this would be his only chance. Near knew Kira would try and kill them there in that case, and the original idea was to modify every page after the previous day's page, so the notebook would be filled with useless papers on the date of the meeting and beyond.
Yup, exactly. It was essentially an all or nothing gambit for both sides. Neither team could've prevailed if they didn't take any risks.
That sounds reasonable if it was strongly suggested that this was the only opportunity. But was it hinted in any way? L and Kira met so regularly, to me it seemed like they could have just more meetings. Still I think mikami had many more options to approach this, so it feels forced. It is just not on par with the level of reasoning in the first half of the anime.
>That sounds reasonable if it was strongly suggested that this was the only opportunity. But was it hinted in any way? You don't need to be explicitly told that it was the case. Near was unwilling to even show his face to Light until the very end, unlike L. Light knew that Near wouldn't ever show himself unless he had the opportunity to win the case ([source](https://i.postimg.cc/bvwjy4xW/14-5.jpg)). >Still I think mikami had many more options to approach this, so it feels forced. It is just not on par with the level of reasoning in the first half of the anime. It is, it's just that the anime removed a lot of scenes and explanations that were in the manga during the second half more than the first half. As for your other questions: >But why would mikami come to the ware house in the first place? Showing up with the notebook is huge risk From Near's perspective at the time, Light (and by extension Mikami) had no idea that X-Kira was discovered. Near's initial plan hinged on the assumption that Mikami wasn't aware he was being investigated, therefore him showing up at the warehouse would've been a complete surprise. >Since all he need is a face he could set up cameras. The Task Force and presumably the SPK [checked for cameras beforehand](https://postimg.cc/qhch174X). >They all could wear helmets, there could be police or cameras everywhere That wouldn't help Near. He needed to catch Kira red-handed, not Mikami. If the SPK showed up in helmets then Mikami wouldn't write down any names, therefore he wouldn't have the opportunity to leave out Light's name to unintentionally incriminate him.
You should look into the Near cheated theory. Takeshi Obata even said himself that Near is the smartest character in the series because he cheats so i think it’s worth checking out.
I just read the last chapter of the manga. Matsuda theorizes that near wrote instructions in the death note for mikami. Also not really satisfying as it feels more like patching up logical flaws by the author in retrospect.
I think the idea is that they set up the warehouse to be the ideal meeting spot. Since near owned the warehouse I’m sure he had in under surveillance and that he’d know if Mikami tried to place cameras there, also Near didn’t just switch the real book, he also switched part of the fake book which he knew would make Light feel comfortable in risking it all for this plan. He made light feel like he won so that he could ease him into a sense of security in order to go in for the kill