Death Note

Warning: Spoilers

I wanted to like this. I really did. And I did for about the first 10-15 episodes. Death Note is probably the most popular anime ever, and when I read the summary, I could see why. After viewing 27 episodes and reading a summary of the subsequent 10, however, that opinion has changed a little bit.

First, a review of the things I DID like:

A) The Concept. Notebook that kills whoever has his name written into it, death gods that love apples, and two genius teens: one a student with a god complex, and the other a highly famous detective with a strong sense ... of justice and a wide variety of quirks. Who wouldn't want to watch this?

B) Protagonist/Antagonist Switch. Stories where the protagonist is the bad guy and the good guy is the antagonist are more in-depth. It makes you think more about whose side you should be on as opposed to the normal setup, where it's obvious that you should be behind the protagonist.

C) L. He's a great character, period. I love how the creators made him a quirky, unattractive genius instead of an attractive, pretty boy genius (*cough* Yagami Light! *cough*). This makes his likability depend on his personality and mannerisms instead of his looks. This so defies any male protagonist guidelines in general, and I love when authors have the brain capacity to create a likable character without making them look like they belong on the front of a magazine.

Now for the things I DID NOT like:

A) The Plot Randomness. After the first 10-15 episodes or so (and especially after 26), the plot seemed to have this "made up on the spot" feel to it, as if the author made the story up as he went along instead of mapping it out before he started writing it. Stories like that tend to tell me that the author is either overconfident or too lazy to plan it out beforehand. While this story had a few plot twists, none of them were really that twisty (except for the unpleasant one I'm about to mention in point B), considering that I wasn't really surprised by any of them and that I was thoroughly bored by episode 18. So if you like spur-of-the-moment plot development, this is the show for you.

B) They Killed L. Seriously. Many of you are probably saying, "It's good that the author was willing to kill off the main good guy. It's a great plot twist, and you don't see many stories where that happens, so it's creative." I do agree that it's a good plot twist, but IT'S L. The creators are quoted as saying that L is "the smartest character in the series," but yet, he gets outsmarted and dies. Not to mention that in the episodes leading up to this, Light wasn't exactly getting the upper hand. In fact, somewhere right before the middle of the show, Light seemed to start drifting away from his previously praised intelligence. L was so close to connecting all the pieces, when BAM! And why did he die?

Because no one seems to realize that Light's girlfriend is the most annoying creature to inhabit the universe.

I mean, really. Two death gods fall in love with her, Matsuda idolizes her, Light's sister loves her, and everyone else acts as if there isn't a little pest buzzing around the room. Honestly, how can you not make her want to shut up? I hated her 30 seconds after she first showed up. She's not even necessary to the story, to be perfectly honest, and it would probably be 10 times better without her. But still, L dies because of a shinigami's misguided love for her.

And then they try to replace him with children, one of which is an obvious ripoff of L himself (dark circles under the eyes, crouching position, black eyes, calm demeanor, etc.). And they don't even offer something like a clever he's-still-a-genius-because-he-planned-his-death solution, which would have made sense considering how smart he's supposed to be. The authors also made L's death out to be unimportant. No one grieves for him or gives him a funeral. Everyone's just like, "L's dead, we need a replacement." Instead they just killed him off and pretended that nothing major just happened.




Overall, it was a great concept with a great start that spiraled into a bunch of random not-so-well-thought-out plothole coverups. I can see why most people like it, but it got way too boring and unoriginal to me.

Finally, I would like to say that this is my opinion. Everyone has them, so I'm sorry if mine is unsatisfactory to you, but I'm just sharing why I think a very popular show is a bit overrated.

I might be the only living anime fan that hasn’t enjoyed Death Note. The reason really is because it seemed to be gimmicky to me. It doesn’t mean this series is in any way bad, no not at all, it just isn’t my cup of tea as they say. After about half the series I began to feel less and less like finishing, counting the number of episodes I had left to watch. To be honest it is a quality series with many and more good features, themes, characters and ideas, but it just didn’t mesh with me.

The writing ... in the series is its strongest points and the voice it uses to tell the story in each episode is very strong, I suppose the real problem I had was with the supporting characters, I just didn’t find any of them really entertaining. The plot was good and can keep you on your toes. The series also keeps up a good pace throughout. Would I watch it again? No. Does that mean you shouldn’t watch it? No, if you enjoy decent anime with horror/supernatural themes with a splash drama then you’ll be truly happy with Death Note, so sayth Lord Nyarlathotep.

I'm one of the few people who would never say this is one of the best animes of all times and here is why:

Although the plot of Death Note seems to be very interesting to me, I really belive it is painfully developed all over the anime.

For me was pretty cool when the two main characters was presented has rivals (Light and L): I belived it would be really interesting to see which of them will defeat the other and how. However, all I could get watching it was fucking stupid monologues in which Light and L where ridiculously guessing each other thougts.

Here it's an ... example of a joke I found on a spanish web (Inciclopedia) of an hypothetical battle of "Rock-paper-scissors" between Light and L:

(YAGAMI LIGHT THINKING): "The most logical to do would be play rock; L must know this, because of what he would probably play paper, and to defeat him I must play scissors. But: what if he discovered my plan? If that's what it is, to beating my paper he would play scissors, and therefore I should keep playing rock. But maybe he tought that I would think this way, so I must play paper..."

This is a fun example of what I belive is pretty much all you can find on Death Note. Really: this is what this anime is about. At the beginning is "ok", but then it just gets dummer and dummer, and in my case finished in the desire of killing the screenplayer.

For the other hand, before watching Death Note you need to consider that you'd probably never expect to find what you will in the second half of the anime. And I'm not saying it in a good way: on the contrary, from my point of view the second half of Death Note is a big peace of crap. It is as if the writer had died, and a complete asshole had replaced it.

About the characters I would say, although there are a lot of them, only a few has their own personality, and by the way, a non very deep one. In the particular case of the only important female character, Misa, I need to say she is hatefully annoying and do not have a will for her own: the only thing she does is adoring Light Yagami because he is hot, in other words: she is as shallow as she can be.

Another thing: I have to admit I like L wiredness, but I hated when among the story more "wired" characters appear: for me they were just mediocre imitations. Don't make me talk about the guy that was always eating the beginning of a chocolate bar (you would never see him eating a whole bar: I belive he makes one bite, throw away the bar, open a new one, makes another bite, and so on).

Finally I have to admit I enjoyed the music and also the animation: they were really good... but that's not enough to make Death Note a a good anime.

So: this anime sucks, and the only think I really love about it is the way some people make fun of it. If you want to watch it... go on, probably you will like it because most people does. However, if you watch it and you hate it, have for sure you will make fun of it forever and ever.

P.D.: yeah, the characters are hot, especially if you're a girl, or a gay guy.

"Ever get the feeling of being cheated" because that's what I get about "Death Note".

Yagami Raito(Light) is your average high school student who just happens to hate the world (the reason, just because), one day he finds the death note a strange notebook that apparently can be used to kill people with just knowin their name, taking it as seriuosly as a chain letter he tries to prove the "functioning" of the book by writting in it the name of a criminal who saw in the news, short after that the criminal died of a heart faliure, surprised by that fact he tires the book ... again with a street gang member and again tha man died this time the cause of death that raito chooses is crashing with a car, after a "extremely" quick deppresion for taking the lives of another humang being he decides to bring judgement into al the sinners in the world.
after a month and with more than 100 victims of the "note" the international police starts supecting that the deaths of the criminals are the work of a serial killer with that the world's most famous detective (does that not sound like a cliché to you) "L" decide to take over the case, at the mean time Raito gets the visit of "Ryuk" the shinigami who owns the book, and thet's the begining of a the game of the cat and mouse betwen L and Raito

I'm not saying the story is not interesting it is really enyoyable at least in the beginning but the mayor problem with the series it's how the story is developed into a lame and predictable (Yes, I said Predictable) cop drama.
it appears to me that the main iterest of the author was delivering a great amount of plot twists, in an intent for making it unpredictable but this ends in a big faliure especially in the second part of the series, insteadof taking his time developing L's investigation he just pump it up with a great amout of tecnological gatgets and other stuff you must heve seen in most of hollywood spy movies (and that's not a good thing), due to this non stop bombarding of bombastic action the mental battle of our main charcters just seems a little too unrealistic and some of the conclusions of our "great" team of detectives appear to be just taken out of nowhere

I find most laughable when people label this series as "psycological" when there's no such thing as character developmet, if you don't believe me then tell me from when does Raito's hate for the world come he's the son of the chief of the police departament and he leads an easy life as a student and does not have a worry in the world, just as L, and most of the characters, stays in the shadow with no background or a true reason for their actions.

In the end the creator of Death Note tried too hard to make something new and unpredictable and end with something we could see in one of the countless and stereotyped detective series and movies that you could see everywhere. if you're looking for a well paced series with realistic characters and events and a police investigation that makes sense you probbably don't want to see this, by the other hand if you're looking for some mindless fun this might do the trick

Overview:

Death Note is one of the most popular anime ever to air on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block. It is obviously an anime that most otaku and even non-otaku are familiar with, but if you aren't I will give you some examples of the things this show did great and some things it could have improved on.

Warning: minor spoilers. I mention a character dies, but I don't say which one.

Story: 6/10

The story starts out with a very interesting premise about a brilliant student named Light Yagami that one day finds a mysterious book. The book called the Death Note allows you to write ... the name of any person along with a time and cause of death, and if you know what the person looks like than they will die in exactly this way at that time. This book was dropped by a shinigami, which is a minor god of death in Japanese mythology somewhat like the Western figure of the Grim Reaper. This shinigami named Ryuk, dropped the Death Not simply because he got bored and wanted to see what a human would do with the powers of a God. Unsurprisingly, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Light starts out with an almost admirable goal of cleaning up the world by killing all the "bad people". However, his definition of bad begins to shift towards anyone and everyone that opposes him as God of a new world crafted according to his ideology. In order to keep killing, Light must engage in a cat and mouse game with the brilliant detective L. Lawliet. This starts out somewhat like Crime and Punishment with Raskolnikov's game of cat and mouse game with Porfiry Petrovich following the murder of a "worthless" old woman that Raskolnikov believed he made the world better by murdering. However, this isn't a redemption tale where Light realizes his crimes and attempts to atone. Light is an evil psychopath who abuses power to the fullest and doesn't give a shit who he needs to kill in order to keep that power. Light's personality profile is similar to that of your average egomaniac, paranoid, sociopathic dictator. What bothers me is that it seems a bit of a stretch that Japan's brightest student could think that all problems can be solved by killing "bad people". That is the world view of a naive moron that doesn't understand the complexity of global issues. The problems of overpopulation, pollution, famine, disease, poverty, and most other problems can't be solved by killing a few bad people. Imagine I kill a brutal dictator in Africa like Kabila that rules the Democratic Republic of Congo. Would that make the Congo into a paradise? No! It would create a power vacuum and civil strife that will probably be replaced with another dictator. If I kill the replacement it will rinse and repeat. The Congo has all of the aforementioned structural problems that can't be solved with a simple murder or two. The second problem with Death Note's story is that it goes on for far too long. The manga was only 12 volumes and it really didn't need 37 episodes. This causes it to drag at times and I especially wasn't happy with the 2nd half. My last grudge with Death Note is something that was at least corrected in the movie. If your show or movie is almost entirely dependent on one beloved character to carry it on his back, don't fucking kill off that character half way through! Death Note suffers from the Full Metal Jacket syndrome, where it slides in the 2nd half at least in part because literally everyone's favorite character is dead.

Characters: 6/10

The main lead is Light, who starts out like the Punisher, Dexter, and all those Texan justice characters that kill bad guys and we root for them. I really appreciate that Death Note does not condone this simplistic, apish cultural trend and actually shows Light to be an absolute bastard. Just because a sociopath kills bad guys doesn't mean he is a good guy or that we should root for him! We in the US rooted for Bin Laden and his ilk when he was killing Soviets and called him a freedom fighter and hero of liberty. In fact he was a despicable psychopath who just happened to be killing people we didn't like. This is no guarantee that the sociopathic killer is going to continue killing only bad guys, because you know...they're a fucking sociopath and have no concept of right and wrong. A rabid dog that just happens to maul and kill a rapist is still a rabid dog and should be put down rather than rewarded or praised. What astounds me is that some viewers still root for Light even though the show goes to every length to show that you are not supposed to. They even give him red eyes and a blood curdling evil laugh out of Austin Powers for God's sake! The best character by far is L, who is in the running with Lisbeth Salender as the greatest Asperger's afflicted detective in fiction. L is hysterical and simply adorable. When your main character is Joseph Stalin put in the body of a Japanese pop star, you need someone more amiable to keep people watching. Unfortunately, the rest of the cast kind of sucks and there isn't enough L. Special shout out to Misa, who is the suckiest of sucky. She is the Jar Jar Binks of Death Note. I have the FEVER! and the only cure...is more L Lawliet!

Art: 9/10

The art is really top notch in this series. It had a huge budget and even though it has been a few years since it came out, it still looks just as good today.


Music: 8/10

The soundtrack is quite good. I didn't really care for that death growl opening and thought it was a tad silly, but besides that thumbs up!

Enjoyment: 5/10

I really enjoyed the first part of the series and thought it really had the potential to be great. However, as the series wore on I began to grow tired of it and wanted it to simply end already. I can't really give it high marks for enjoyment when I spend the last 15 or so episodes looking at Light and screaming, "Just fucking DIE already!"


Overall: 6/10

Although I see the appeal and understand why people love this series, it isn't one of my personal favorites. It has a few flaws that made it somewhat lackluster for me personally. That doesn't mean its bad by any means or that you shouldn't watch it! It is in fact quite good and I highly recommend checking it out if you have been living under a rock and haven't seen it yet.

Death Note has a very strong beginning. The story is very thrilling and interesting, since it is a pretty untypical one you might never have seen before.
Art, sound and characterdesign were outstanding good, especially because of the serious atmosphere it created throughout the first part of the anime.

It definitely would have come out as one of the best anime I've ever seen if it would have gone on this way. But it did not. Actually almost the whole anime changes after about 1/3 of the anime (more clearly you coukl say that the whole atmosphere dies there), what I found really disappointing and made me ... stop watching it.

I'd still recommend this anime, even tough it died for me at the end of the first part, because it's still something you should have seen, also some people might even love the anime even though the story twists THAT hard.

Look, I am not a regular viewer of anime. For all I know, I'm probably missing something that I would not otherwise if I viewed anime as regularly as you. Still, Death Note was an interesting experience that made me realise that following the culture surrounding it is a good way of losing whatever sense of taste I have apparently cultivated.

Death Note is not a bad show. Its just a show that is too clever for its own good. Actually, "clever" makes it sound like a backhanded compliment- "paranoid" would suit it better. Paranoia swirls around in the mind of its protagonist, Yagami Light, ... telling him that someone might always suspect him, a teenager, of murdering people despite the means of the murders being untraceable- there was no real way the law would have caught up to him until he decided to take public requests. But he insists that he may be caught. So he builds an elaborate invention to destroy a goofy-looking notebook with rules written in a foreign language in case someone in his house or outside tries to reach for it. Egging him on is the Spirit of Death Ryuk, who acts both to applaud the pointless complexity of Yagami's thinking and to be an audience POV character, because, even if you don't understand what's happening, Ryuk affirms how the whole thing could only come from the mind of a supremely intelligent person so that you too applaud at what's happening on the screen. I followed this logic too, until I realised that such thinking is characteristic of paranoid individuals- the last thing they need is encouragement.

Then there is L- the weirdo who's strange behaviour makes everybody uncomfortable, except for his butler Watery. No wait, its "Watari" or something. Anyway, he apparently comes from money and has a cult going in the background to make sure his "legacy" survives with M and N, in case something happens to him. Of course, something does, and how this happens is so convoluted that only people who have seen the show can begin to fathom. Regardless, Ryuk is there to prevent anyone from calling out the bucket-sized plot-hole as well as the horse-sized good luck necessary for such a plan to work and induce exhilaration at the completely artificial solution to Yagami's equally Byzantine problem, because of course another Spirit of Death would fall in love with one of the worst characters I've ever seen in anime, no matter how little I have seen of it.

Maybe that's the point. This show is not about two geniuses fighting each other over their own ideas of justice- its about how the biggest geniuses in the world are paranoid people, and giving them Death Notes is like throwing petrol on a raging fire. Unfortunately, the original author had a lot of petrol to spare, as is visible in the problem called Misa Amane.

The aforementioned "worst character", Misa is the kind of baggage an intrepid traveller is offended when asked to carry. Not only is she shallow and stupid, but her committing suicide was one of the best things that happened at the end of the show. While Yagami treats her like the pointless piece of garbage she is, it just reflects what a terrible view this show has of female characters. Why couldn't L have been a woman? Or anyone in the "anti-Kira" gang? Or "Near" or "Mello" (what amazing names)? At the very least, the show wouldn't have appeared to be contemptuous of women then.

The pointless use of logic to substitute for characters shows how much storytelling has changed. No need for emotional development, just throw the closest approximation of intelligence that the writer believes he has on the screen. However, do not be fooled into thinking that this is actually intelligence, because the writing leaves a lot unsaid about the failures in intelligence made by the characters: How, for instance, does Yagami justify murdering people who weren't given a fair trial? What if he killed people who were wrongly convicted? He didn't have access to the evidence that those actually investigating crimes did, right? And even if he did, where did he gather them for criminals from outside Tokyo, let alone Japan? In short, Yagami's juvenile sense of justice remains unquestioned by his actions or his emotions. Both the Death Note and Ryuk prevent him from seeing anything other than what he does and the audience feels compelled to accept him because Ryuk will tell you how impressive all of this is supposed to be.

But then comes the second season. I liked it far more than the painfully manipulative first season, because it was trying to discuss the consequences of Yagami's actions, with religions popping up around Kira and the anti-Kira gang realising what a big mistake they had made by trusting Yagami. That is precisely why I could tolerate Near and Mello- they came from a bigger world, not to be easily placed within the conflict of insulated geniuses who kept fighting among and decided the "fate of the world" for themselves. Yes, even Near, who is almost an L clone, except that he has a close friend in Mello. There was nothing I liked more than Yagami breaking down because that was the only time I heard the voice acting of Mamoru Miyano come to life in this show. I won't say that the second season justifies the first season, with the introduction of new Death Notes for no discernable reason other than to increase the list of characters, but I do feel that there was far more that was redeemed in this season.

I still maintain that Death Note was not worth my time, but I am kind of okay with it existing. I nearly forgot about it and I am sure that, now I have written this here, I will forget about it within a few more months. I understand that reading this may likely incense you into writing some really mean comments. If you are going to insult my intelligence, please do: I found out that I am really insecure about it and I need as much of your salt as you can spare in order to get over it. At least that way, this show wouldn't have been a waste.

If you like psychological thrillers then i suggest you go watch a James Patterson movie.
Death Note did not cut it for me, the endless (and sometimes random) mind fight between L and Light gets tedious a few episodes in which slows down the plot considerably.
The Sherlock Holmes logic of the characters reduced to intricate details like the colour of a chair (or something) which leads to a massive, yet not massive, clue to the identity of L or Light repeats itself several times always ending in a stalemate and some cliffhangers which i said to myself "Here we go again".
The character designs are ... good however and the soundtrack does create a supernatural environment in which to enjoy the mind games between the two characters.
Overall, not the best anime series in my opinion for thrills, kills, and spills.

Let's get right to the point.

Death Note is an Anime that many love as well as hate. I'm one of those people who hate Death Note because of it's potential to become a masterpiece but fell flat on it's face.

I'm disappointed in Death Note because at first it was just simply amazing and cunning. Light the Main character was doing risky things at all turns and I never knew what would happen next. It had me on the edge of my seat with a bag of popcorn and full attention. The Opening and Ending was simply amazing as well. Everything seemed to be going good ... until about half way in. The story started to just become horrible in my opinion and things didn't seem to make sense. I won't spoil anything but to me it seemed as though the writers got lazy and stopped caring.

I honestly should have just dropped Death Note at that point but I kept watching for some reason. Maybe hoping it got better but it never did. It just kept getting worse and worse.

Even as of 2015, Death note is by far the most disappointed I've EVER been with an Anime and for that I still hate it.

Better make sure you're wearing a seat belt, because this piece of knowledge may rock your world: I've never actually watched the Death Note anime all the way through before. I know, how dare I! It's still the most popular anime on MAL, remains one of the most popular anime in today's culture, and is continuing to get more interpretations than the Bible - which is kind of fitting given how many people today still worship the notebook's rules. Hell, I even championed it as one of those anime every newcomer to this medium should watch in order to get a feel for it - ... although I should point out that I also recommend Aria as well and I still have no interest in watching that show myself. The point is, Death Note has been one of those immortal anime every person should at least get an opinion on from the very moment it finished. You don't have to like it, but saying you never saw it is like saying you've never seen Evangelion at this point in time.

Now there are a couple of reasons why I never got far into the anime. One was that I religiously read the manga as it was getting released in the States and ended up not enjoying it after Volume 3 or 4, yet finished it anyways. Two was I checked out the Adult Swim dub and thought it was so good that I didn't want to watch the show in its original language, but that was back in 2009-10 when Netflix only had the Japanese version and English dub files were hard to find because every streaming site (especially Youtube) that used it was getting sued for all they were worth. By the time Death Note's dub hit the platform containing the world's best TV, I wasn't really interested in seeing it anymore, especially since the anime is for the most part faithful to what I've already read. However, with the show getting taken off at the end of this month and the nagging feeling that there was a noticeable hole in my fandom resume, I burned through the thing with more desperation than Bruce Willis in every Die Hard movie ever.

Now normally I'd describe the plot to you guys, but I think at this point that's like explaining to people that Lord of the Rings is about a bunch of travellers walking to a volcano in order to destroy a ring belonging to the evil Sauron, so I'm just going to focus on what still matters about the show by current-day standards. Fans who have not seen Death Note in a while will be pleased to hear that the visuals are still good, although the style definitely shows its age at times, especially when you compare it to Araki's more recent anime like Guilty Crown or Attack on Titan. The English dub is still as awesome as it ever was, with Brad Swaille making the "potato chip" line sound epic whilst still being stupid. And yes, L is still as sexy as you remember him, fangirls. Even when he ends up a corpse, you'll still find reasons to swoon all over him.

It's worth remembering before I go on that Death Note is a Shonen Jump anime and like all things from Shonen Jump, it starts off mildly intriguing. The concept of a notebook that can kill by following specific rules that are almost untraceable by the police is something that'll appeal to most teenage boys, and Light himself is the opposite of most Shonen Jump protagonists like Naruto or Luffy in that he's a smart dude who has no qualms with killing if it means achieving his dream. He started doing this shit not because of some complicated backstory that can take up more than half a standard manga volume, but because he found his life as an overachieving Asian dull (which is a real thing that happens, as shown in a few studies you can find somewhere out there as well as Justin Lin's Better Luck Tomorrow). It quickly becomes clear you're not supposed to sympathize with Light when he starts killing off cops and soon-to-be-married couples just because they get in the way of his "criminal sentencing", but he was still interesting in a "becoming the kind of person he kills everyday" sort of way, especially when paired off against L, an obsessive weirdo who pursues justice relentelessly even if his means are a little questionable but never to the level that Light's are.

The problem with Shonen Jump stuff though, even in something as relatively short as Death Note, is that there's only so long they can coast on the goodwill brought about by their interesting starts before they have to start introducing something new to keep things from getting stale. And unfortunately, they seem to be under the illusion that more characters, more concepts, and more energy equals more story, when in reality it's just piling in more plot than the story can contain. You see, I know a lot of people say Death Note became shit after L died (and it did fall apart faster than any form of apology that comes out of Donald Trump's fucking mouth, don't get me wrong), but I got tired of the series way before that point back when I was in highschool, and that was during a time when I genuinely looked forward to the newest episode of Hayate the Combat Butler. More specifically around the time, Misa appeared.

Yeah yeah, I know. Death Note is sexist. The author sucks at writing women. That really smart female detective was killed off really stupidly, and that's not even getting into what happens with Light's "girlfriends". Yadda yadda yadda. But more than that, what I didn't like about the manga (and the show) after her appearance was how unnecessarily convoluted the mind games between Light and L became. It felt like the writers were just coming up with more and more absurd scenarios just to get a decent length out of the thing, and the appeal of the Death Note lessened when they started making it more available to the cast. You know how Dragonball Z draws out its fight scenes so that a character only throws a punch about three times per episode (at max)? Death Note's mind games are basically a non-violent (sort of) version of that, and as much as I like Araki, I've mentioned before in regards to Planetarian that energy without momentum isn't going to keep my attention for more than five seconds.

On top of that, I found Light's treatment of Misa to be too unlikable to find him interesting anymore. It really became clear at that point that he was just a serial killer and whilst that might have been fine if the series wrapped up one or two episodes later after that turning point, it went on for another twenty-four. Twenty-four episodes I was struggling to pay attention to because all I was seeing was empty energy the likes of which people complained about in Kill la Kill's last arc, so I ended up leaving the show on and reading One Piece manga all the way through the memory loss arc and anything involving Near & Mello, only to pay attention again at the final episode, which I'll admit was an improvement on the manga's finale in that it ended right when the show was at its strongest, and I liked the religious bent given to Light's eventual fate.

However, I still stand by my opinion that Death Note remains as one of the essential anime every newcomer to this medium should watch, even through my tedious grind. It's one of the best entries into Shonen Jump stuff you'll ever see (apart from Fist of the North Star) as well as an over-the-top anime that'll appeal to Western sensibilities the most so as to ease you into what the East considers entertaining, along with just, y'know, looking good. And for better or worse, this is likely the best adaptation of the manga you're ever going to get given how godawful the movies, TV drama, and inevitably the American Netflix adaptation are. Not sure where you're going to watch it now that it's getting taken off of the legal streaming circuit, but that's your guys' problem. All I can do is continue to keep this franchise alive by talking about it for better or worse.

Lion Tamers, I got a whole lot of stuff to say about "Death Note".

Unfortunately, for the folks who actually liked this anime, I disliked it to the point of dropping it at episode 8. I realize this is usually a no-no; but there is no way I'm going to sit through drivel for 15 hours, after hating it for 3 hours already.

First I want to talk about the stuff that was actually quite good.

The dialog is written well, and performed above average.
And the artwork is above average.
Most of the characters did not disturb me too much, including the character named L Lawliet. While many didn't ... like many of the characters; for me, most of the characters were something all too rare.

True to themselves.

Next I want to unload on this thing about some minor problems and then get to why I really, really, really; learned to dislike the whole idea from an early point of the anime.

First, all of the music's awful. I like a nice tune. If the song has lyrics; I appreciate them sang with some knowledge of that art. None of that is in evidence.

Next, while the dialog is very important to the creation and the development of the story; most of the time it takes up the same space as the background narration in a 1940's crime drama. Yuch!


Now I want to talk about the main reason for why I hate this thing. Light Yagami, makes a lot of mistakes. Not only of the logical and rational kind; but he even lies to himself.

1). Does he not abuse his 'Death Note'?
2). Does he not kill innocent people, in direct contradiction of his own stated principles?
3). Does he not kill innocents in order to throw suspicion away from himself?
4). Does he not turn the whole adventure away from his own stated goals of being a God on Earth, by delivering an ethically wholesome world; into a contest that ultimately makes of himself the very monster he decries?

These few are just the beginnings of this numbskull's hideous lack of deductive reasoning skills. How anyone can consider this fellow anything but the dumbest 'smart guy' in the room is beyond my ability to fathom.

He can be forgiven for the initial attempt to find him by "L", and that was to broadcast a news story that only got transmitted in Light's own city.

But killing the FBI agent Raye Penber after Light actually finds out the Raye has ended his own investigation and is going to close the case without pointing fingers at Light, is bluntly inexcusable. An incredible blunder, which would be and is, the cause of another 5 episodes at least, in order for Light to figure out how to salve the minds of at least a dozen people, and steer their concentration in another direction. The tragedy here is that if Light left Penber alone, half of the story would have not been necessary, and "L" would have been left with nowhere to go.

Moreover, Light had a terrific opportunity he didn't even use (and couldn't after killing Penber); and that was to use the Internet and look up the official website for the FBI; and then take note of the pictures and names of the top 5 people that run the place; and then execute them. The FBI would have withdrawn from the case within hours, yanked all their personnel without warning; and left "L" wondering what the hell happened. Since most of those people probably were not nice people anyway, Light could have held on to his moral authority awhile longer. He became his own worst monster, by his own definition; because he would rather take up the contest with "L". Contesting with "L" was so much more fun, lives became so secondary.

Not a great reason to lose one's own conscience.

I am sick of thinking about "Death Note", and I want the World to know why I dislike it so much. It is NOT a bad show, as a piece of entertainment. But I cannot stomach a stupid idiot being presented by the show itself, and by other viewers; as some kind of great thinker.

He's not a smart guy. The viewers are much smarter than Light Yagami. All of you are.

I give this thing a solid 6. If the art/sound was below par, Death Note would have received a 'never-before-used' 3 from me.

Many anime fans consider Death Note to be one of the best anime of all time. I am not one of those fans. I feel that while Death Note is a good show, it has some very glaring issues. I have no problem with the people who love this show, but I am simply going to cast my opinion into the mix. I will try not to spoil the show too much, but I will have to divulge a few plot points of varying importance to get my point across. These spoilers will mainly occur within the story and character ... sections of this review.



Story (Potential Spoilers):

For the 3 of you who don't know Death Note's story, Death Note takes place in the present day. One day, a high schooler named Light Yagami finds a notebook on the ground called the Death Note. This book allows the user to kill any person by just writing the person's name down. There are other rules and stipulations, like having to know the person's face, but that is the gist of it. After using this book a couple of times, the owner of the book, a shinigami named Ryuk, meets up with Light for an exposition dump. Armed with his notebook, Light goes on to rid Japan and the rest of the world from crime. Light becomes known as Kira, and becomes know all throughout the world for killing criminals. Eventually, the mass killings attract the attention of a world class detective named L. L decides that he is going to catch Kira, no matter the cost. The show ends up becoming a game of cat and mouse between L and Light, where you are never really sure who the cat and who the mouse is.

After reading this synopsis, you're probably thinking, "This show looks pretty good, what is so bad about it?" And you're right, if this was the entire show it would be pretty amazing. IF it was the entire show. At the halfway point of the show, Light gets his memory of being Kira wiped. He then teams up with L to beat a new Kira. Most of the drama and intelligence from the first half disappears during this arc, and is more lighthearted and funny. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but it is a bit big of a tone shift. If I wanted to watch a lighthearted and funny series, I would go and watch something like that. But for a show to go from a darker show to a much lighter one is a bit jarring. Eventually, Light does regain his memories and we are treated to a very satisfying conclusion. Or it would have been if it was the conclusion.

L eventually gets replaced with a new character called Near. Near attempts to capture Kira as well, but his battle against Light is just not as entertaining. Near just comes across as annoying, and is nowhere as To cut to the chase, the third arc that ends off the series isn't very good. The series tries to go back to the drama and intelligence the first arc had, but fails miserably. There isn't much to like in this part. The ending of this arc and the entire show is a cop out very underwhelming. The losing party in the ending loses not because the other party outsmarts the other, but because the plot demands it.

In conclusion, this show's plot starts off really well and deteriorates over time. The first arc is really good, with a ton of intelligence and drama. These qualities are lost over time, and lead to an unsatisfactory conclusion. The story gets a 6/10.



Art:

The art in this series is alright. It has a nice, muted color pallet. The character designs are pretty good, especially L's. The art commands a suprising amount of realism, and adds to the atmosphere of the show. The art was not the focus of this series, and it didn't need to be. The art gets a 6/10.

Sound:

The music in this series is pretty good. The openings are both excellent, even if the second one is quite silly. The background music is also very good, with L's theme in particular standing out. The background tracks added a lot to the thoughts and inner dialogues of both L and Light. The sound gets a 7/10.



Characters (Potential Spoilers):

One problem I have with Death Note is the lackluster characters. L is the only one who has actual depth and develops throughout the series. I will be describing each of the important characters and giving my opinions on them.

Light: My biggest problem with Light is that he has only two real qualities, he is smart, he is egotistical, and he is evil. Throughout the entire series, we see his intelligence in his battle against L and Near. We also see how evil he is, as he evades capture even if he has to kill people. He also always brags about how he is a god and how smart he is. Other than that, he has nothing. You could say he has compassion since he kills criminals, but he more does it to make himself feel like a god. He even says that he is trying to make a world where he is a god. His motivations never change. Light may be entertaining to watch, but he lacks much depth.

Ryuk: Ryuk is the shinigami who owns Light's notebook, and he says he dropped it in the human world just have some fun. Ryuk likes to have fun, and does not care what happens as a result. He is often used for comic relief, but can be sinister at times when his apathy of others is shown. Ryuk was a pretty decent character.


Misa Misa: Misa is a model who gets a Death Note as well, and uses it to help Light. Her entire character is that she is an airhead who just wants to help Light. Many people find her to be incredibly annoying. I didn't mind her, but she wasn't interesting to watch. She basically is pretty bad all around.

Rem: Rem is the shinigami who gave the second Death Note to Misa Misa. Rem is a pretty lifeless character, however, she is hellbent on protecting Misa. Rem would do anything to help Misa, and her entire character is based upon that.

Near: Near comes into to replace L in the hunt for Kira. Near main goal is to surpass L and show how smart he is. and he is indeed a cool, calculating, and intelligent person. However, that is basically his entire character. He shows no other real traits throughout his time. he also is not as entertaining as L is. I was never super engrossed when Near was thinking and solving problems, or at least not as engrossed as I was with L's thinking. Overall, Near is pretty shallow and not very entertaining.

Mello: Mello is Near's... brother? I don't know. The two of them grew up together. Mello grew up in the shadow of Near, and basically insanely obsessed with surpassing Near and capturing Kira before him. Mello eventually kinda works with Near, but not really. Mello just didn't really have a lot to him.

Soichiro Yagami: Light's father and one of the police officers working with L to capture Kira. Soichiro is a bit more fleshed out, as he sanctimoniously wants to capture Kira but doesn't want to find out that his son is Kira. He is very devoted to his work, and puts all his effort into catching Kira. He's an alright character.

Matsuda: Matsuda is one of the police officers looking to capture Kira, and basically serves as the comic relief. He has a little development at the end when he is angry that Light is Kira. There is not much as else to say.

Aizawa: Aizawa is one of the police officers looking to capture Kira. We find out that he has a family. He wants to capture Kira, but he doesn't want to leave his family alone if Kira kills him. This leads him to leaving the Kira Investigation Team for a while before coming back. He is probably the only member of the police force to suspect Light of being Kira. Aizawa is a decent character.

L: I saved the best for last. L is by far the best character. He is extremely intelligent, and it always entertaining to hear his deductions. However, he also has his quirks. Unlike Near, who is always cold and lifeless, L knows how to have some fun. He also experiences the most development as a character. He ends up becoming friends with Light when they work together, and ends up not wanting to find out that Light is Kira. However, it is heartbreaking when Light doesn't feel the same way. L basically saves the show from complete mediocrity.

Overall, the characters get a 5/10. While L is a joy, the other characters don't compare as well.


Enjoyment:

The first arc I found very enjoyable. Light and L's mind games were extremely fun to watch. It becomes less enjoyable when Light and L begin to work together and the show gets lighter. At that point, the show becomes more focused on comedy. In the final arc, any semblance of enjoyment I had was snuffed out. The show tried to emulate the first arc but could not compare.


Conclusion:

Death Note started off great, but worsens as time goes on. The characters and stories vary in quality, with the story and characters of the third arc being dreadful. The music and art do their job well, but are nt masterpieces. Overall, Death Note gets a 6/10.

Discussion:

I'll start off by saying Death Note is among the most exciting television to watch. The confrontations between the characters are absolutely exhilarating. Even by their very first confrontation in the second episode, you can see that the two lead characters, Yagami Light and "L", are genius, devious, and at least partially insane. Yagami Light, who works under the public alias "Kira" to punish criminals with the Death Note, and "L", a world-renowned detective who has solved several cases previously deemed impossible, close in on each others true identities at an even pace throughout the series - a race that means death to the loser. ... The competition keeps you on the edge of your seat in anticipation of the next time they clash. It is a battle between genii with absolute ideals and the determination to realize them. The winner determines the fate of the world and neither will back down until the other is dead. As a psychological thriller, there is nothing that tops Death Note - it is a 37 episode duel that will completely blow your mind.

And that's where I get to my main complaint for the show: that it is only a 37 episode duel. As a viewer, I took little away from this show beyond "That was freaking epic." The characters were interesting in how they used their skills, knowledge, and resources to battle each other in the open world; however, very few characters compelled me to care about anything other than their elusive goals of 'changing the world'. Most problematically, the protagonist is absolutely impossible for me to empathize with. Of course, I was compelled to want Yagami Light to overcome obstacles for the sake of the show's continuation, but his lack of emotion and unsurmountable ego make him unlikeable, if not detestable. Other characters in the show besides Yagami Light, his primary opponent, and his 'love interest', seemed only to exist for the sake of furthering the plot. Although I wanted to empathize with many of the minor characters, they were never shown in scenes which did not relate ultimately to the duel between Yagami Light and L. Although the plot of the story is amazing, and it is clear that a lot of effort went into developing it, its disregard for the stories of characters besides Light and L, and the unpalatableness of the former, killed a lot of its character value.

The most interesting characters by far are the detectives working against Light. The trio headed by L, later followed by Near and Mello, are given a good deal of attention by the story. I personally found Mello to be the most interesting of the three, because unlike the other two, he appeared to be driven at least partially by emotion. His motives are not bound by his opinion on the fate of the world as much as L and Near, and his personality is more compelling because it isn't made up entirely of righteous logic. As for Near, there isn't much to say, other than that he has awesome hair. His character growth is extremely stunted by the fact that he is an inferior L - this was explicitly stated in the show. In most respects, he and L are basically the same person, except L has a more interesting relationship with the actual Kira. I honestly am not sure why it was necessary to bring Near into the show. L himself is an interesting enough character. His brilliance and creativity matches, if it doesn't exceed, Yagami Light's, and every scene with the two of them present is filled with tension. He is one of the first to become suspicious of Light, and as they begin to know each other in-person (under pseudonyms), he becomes very attached to the idea that Light is Kira. I found this interesting because it seemed to imply that L wanted Light to be the one person that could rival his intelligence, and there is definitely a rivalry appreciation between the two of them. Although L has no motives other than catching Kira, and "because it's his job" isn't a very compelling motive on its own, his interest in the case, which continuously grows with personal investment, makes his character more dynamic than anyone else in the show.

Beyond L and Mello, very few characters are compelling at all. Among them, the chief of the police force stands out thanks to his interesting relationship with Yagami Light. Though his motives throughout the entire show are somewhat confusing. Mostly it seems that he remains diligent on catching the real Kira because he doesn't want to believe they are actually Light. Matsuda is an curious character because he isn't entirely sure of how he feels about Kira's methods, but he nonetheless continues to pursue him out of duty. Matsuda is also one of the only dynamic characters. Perhaps the biggest qualm I have about characters in this show is that with the exception of Misora Naomi, there are almost no strong female characters. Misora joins the search for Kira out of personal vendetta, and I thought her arc was among the most interesting in the story. However, Death Note has a tendency to mitigate plots which are not directly related to the battle between L and Light. Although she could have been a very intriguing character, her presence is reduced to a plot device by the need to focus the story on Kira and the investigator trio.

This segues directly to my next criticism: this show is ridiculously sexist. And I don't mean in the passive anti-feminist way; it isn't that there is an absence of strong female characters, it's that major female characters are not given any motives which are not based on impulsive emotionality. The most notable female character, Misa, could have been very interesting. After Kira eliminates the criminals who murdered her parents, Misa begins to seek the actual Kira. What's off about her character is that after meeting Yagami Light, she instantly falls hopelessly in love with him. There's almost no sense to it, because Light shows no emotion at all and has nothing to offer (other than being Kira). No one can pretend to understand how love works, but I can say with certainty that it's not the way Death Note makes it out. Love at first sight is possible, but the way it's written for Misa is absurdly disempowering and unrealistic. Her earnesty is at least interesting in the contrast it sets with the rest of the show, but that's only because all most characters are nearly completely in control of their emotions. What I find most problematic is that her disposition to emotion is cast as a weakness which basically can't be helped because she's a woman. On some level, it's even set as comic relief, which bothers me further. In a show where the excitement is built off of many characters being extremely sharp and logical, why is it that the one major female character is being made fun for lacking such rational abilities? The writing is consciously sexist, and that detracts from my enjoyment of it. Misa could have been a much more intriguing character if she was given some power over her own emotions.

All of this could add up to at least a decent score for characters in the show if there was just one more element: a sympathetic protagonist. But the fact is that I have no emotional attachment to Yagami Light. Perhaps that's biased partially because of my opinion on the death penalty, and not everyone will share the exact same detachment from him as I do; however, I think it was an oversight in the writing that there was no one worth rooting for if you weren't a follower of Kira. Rooting for the investigator trio could have been made more of an option, but the show isn't told told from their perspective as often and the writing encourages you to root for Yagami Light much more frequently. However, it wouldn't be fair to say I disliked Light only because of his ideals. Personality goes beyond beliefs, and what really matters is who the person is. And Yagami Light is a complete dick. He has absolutely no regard for anyone else's emotions or life and is self-righteous to the point of self-deification. He manipulates and uses people, won't hesitate to kill anyone who poses a potential threat to him, and has no problem whatsoever lying to all of his friends and family about his identity. I won't say that he wasn't justified in taking on the burden of becoming a god for the sake of a more peaceful world, because it is definitely a sacrifice he made at least under the pretense of selflessness. However, this part of his psychology was not sufficiently explored. If he was transformed, then what was that process? I would have liked to know more about the Yagami Light from before he became Kira - although this element is not left out of the anime, the character development it could have created was not capitalized upon, and thus Light/Kira remained a shallow character throughout the series. Characters that develop megalomania can be very interesting if their transformation is believable and sympathetic, but there is an almost complete lack of an outside perspective to make this possible.

As for the plot, the story moves along pretty smoothly throughout the first season. Everything is driven by the conflict between Yagami Light and L. That being said, episodes which involve Light and his opponent are extremely interesting, while those absent of such conflict were pretty bland. It would seem I'm contradicting myself, because I've complained above that minor characters do not get enough attention. The fact is that they do get attention, but only as pawns of Kira and/or L. It is these episodes, which do not involve direct conflict between the masterminds, but layered ventriloquism, that cause the show to fall into a temporary rut from time to time. There is a period of three or four episodes that I found pretty tedious towards the middle of the series. During that arc, there is literally no direct confrontation between L and Kira, only very elaborate maneuvering by both sides which isn't even explained until after the arc has passed. After this arc, the excitement again escalates, but then there is an abrupt break in the story that throws off its momentum. The second season is interesting in its own regard, but the head-to-head confrontations become less exciting. The intensity resumes for the last few episodes of the series, and the plays made by each side are absolutely thrilling. Although I disliked the taste the ending left in my mouth, the thrill factor in its conclusion is very well done.

Ultimately, what is there to learn from the story of Death Note? I can't say it has very much literary value. The one moral that stands out strong is fairly obvious, and it feels a bit like they're beating a dead horse the entire time: anyone who uses a Death Note will end up without happiness. I thought this theme was occasionally handled quite well, while at times it was just sort of left on the burner and not given any special attention. I believe the writer of the original manga said that he did not intend for there to be any themes in the text, so it doesn't surprise me that there are no other takeaways. While you can have pulp fiction be very exciting and enjoyable, a disregard for the message that a piece of art would convey can severely detract from one's appreciation of the series. I found the ending very unsettling because it was unclear what the author was trying to say with everyone's final fate. Ambiguity can be interesting if it manages to leave the viewer with several theories about the meaning of it all; however, it's downright depressing to not have any theories to go on. If you don't care about taking messages away from an anime, you should disregard this section. Death Note is extremely exciting, but all that I took away from watching it was a severe drop in my faith in humanity, and if you decide to watch the show, you'll understand why.


The Verdict:

I give my reviews out of 100 points. For this purpose I divide the final verdict into 10 categories, each allocated with 10 points. If you believe certain categories are more important to you than others, you can weight them accordingly to derive your personal review based on these observations of the show.

Plot - The plot of the show is reason you should watch it. With the exception of the occasional breaks mentioned above, it moves along its timeline very smoothly. The order in which plot points are revealed is well done, the continuity is air-tight, and every twist in the storyline is a roller coaster. The main criticisms I have are that characters will occasional act unrealistically for the sake of the plot, and the story really loses steam whenever there is a cessation of direct confrontations between the detectives and Kira. This deserves an almost perfect score of 9.

Characters - This is subject that I ended up talking about most in the paragraphs above. There are a few interesting characters in the show, and I particularly found L and Mello well-written. However, due to the perpetual disregard for characters not involved directly in the main plot, the use of many characters as devices in the plot rather than characters with human motives, blatant sexism, and lack of a sympathetic protagonist, this category earns a low score of 4.

Emotional Investment - As explained above, it is easier to become emotionally involved with those trying to catch Kira than with Yagami Light. Since the plot pushes you to support Light and his actions are often reprehensible, it is hard to become emotionally involved at all. Any salvaging of this score is thanks to the other strong characters in this show who aren't completely emotionless. This is one of Death Note's weakest categories with 2.

Action - Easily the best thing about this show. The action is exhilarating, and mind-games are incredible. Like I said, it's a 37 episode duel to the death, and it's... I think the proper term is "freaking epic". 10.

Thought Provoking - This show definitely brings into question some very interesting issues. At the very core is the concept of the death penalty. The value of retribution, revenge, and pre-emptive measures, alongside what it means to take the life of another human being, were all analyzed to a degree. However, like any themes that could have been present in the story, these questions could have been teased out a lot more than they were. I can't deny that it brings into question all sorts of dichotomous ideals, and the concept of a Death Note in and of itself is a very intriguing thought experiment. I give this category a 7.

Themes - Themes exist in Death Note more or less by happenstance, as stated by the author. The theme of 'No Rest for the Wicked' is heavily implied heavily by the nature of the Death Note. Megalomania and self-deification are obviously present, but they aren't discussed as motifs as much as plot developments. The concept of Love is used as a plot device, and the question of what it means to value someone else's happiness more than your own was briefly explored. However, the story was clearly written with the intention of being exciting, not literary. Things happen because it is necessary for the plot to be exciting, not because the author is trying to make a statement about anything. Major events in the plot feel unfulfilled because there is no purpose behind them - they're just events. This makes the otherwise fantastic story feel pointless, from a viewing perspective. Thus, I can only give this show a Themes score of 2.

Emotional Direction - This show offers a pretty good emotional roller coaster. Even if there's no reason to care about Yagami Light, there are many moments are specifically written to make you feel fear, anxiety, excitement, happiness, remorse, heartbreak, and despair. It isn't outstandingly good at it, and there are many anime that do it better. However, it deserves a solid score of 7.

Originality / Surprise Factor - The premise is fairly unique and there aren't a lot of shows that can do protagonist serial killer to the extent that Death Note does. Plot twists keep you guessing the whole time and the story seldom becomes predictable. I feel like I may be overselling it a little, but I was constantly surprised by the turns the show took. 8.

Animation - The artwork is pretty good. I didn't find any of the human characters particularly attractive, but the designs of the Shinigami and their world were very cool. The image of a human's face successfully conveyed their character, which is always important. Action scenes were very well done, of course. Reactions were done extremely well - the facial expressions could tell the story even if you were watching the show on mute. Internal narratives for Kira and L were enhanced by depictions of each side in contrasting color schemes - Kira being Red and L being blue - which helped build tension and contrast their ideals. On occasion, it seemed the animators got a little too carried away in killing someone, and the instant replay effect was used more times than necessary. The artwork is overall good, but not outstanding. 7.

Soundtrack - The background music used well to set the mood and build tension for the purposes of a scene; however, it became pretty repetitive as they used the same bgm in almost every episode. The first opening offers a nice insight to the psychology of the show, though you won't enjoy the second at all if metal/hardcore isn't your genre. The lyrics for both are relevant, and tend to say more than the dialogue ever does. I found some musical themes worth looking forward to. Others get old fast. Although the soundtrack seldom detracted from the experience, because of its repetition and simplicity, I give it a score of 6.


All things balanced, I give Death Note a cumulative score of 62. This is the percentage derived by adding up the score of each of the categories with a scalar of 1; this is of course adaptable to what you value in an anime.

Since 62 probably seems like a low score, I'll point out that I grade deconstructively, and even my favorite anime wouldn't get a perfect score. I very much enjoyed Death Note for the reasons explained above, but I will always be as critical as possible in my reviews. If you want something rich with literary value, this is not the anime for you. If you value plot, psychological thrill, and high stakes mind-games, you will probably enjoy Death Note.

Death Note was literally a rollercoaster that had its railings removed midway and I fell to my literal death. This anime was so close to being one of my favorite ones but it didn't make it. For the first half of the anime, I was so dang hooked because of the Light VS L case with all the suspense as they battle with their wits and all these clever tricks and plot twists. The whole idea that Light was trying everything to cover up his identity from L who kept uncovering everything; THAT WAS THE VERY FUN PART. I loved the suspense I got to ... feel when Light killed Penber and Naomi, but that suspense was suddenly snatched away when L dies and from there, everything went downhill. Actually scratch that, I realized that the whole plot was very roundabout.

First, L's very existence was very important as he was very interesting and I really wanted to see his backstory and just dive deeper into his character, but then the story decided to cut his life short and he ends up being outsmarted by Light. The plot twist to that point was very thrilling, but it fades away after 2 new "L's" showed up----

Secondly, Near and Mello aren't interesting at all, I didn't really care about them and the suspense factor was already gone by the second half of the anime. They weren't as smart as L and their calculations aren't that shocking and you can pretty much predict it yourself. The rest of the other characters too weren't that amazing and were just added there for the sake of the story to move forward. Which brings to my third point.

Thirdly, Light's character during the second half no longer had flare and was no longer interesting. His goals as Kira were very shallow and just again, very roundabout. The entire second half was basically like the first half but without the spice of suspense. It was just so boring to have this back and forth guesses if Light is Kira, will Kira get caught, who outsmarts who, etc. The entire factor of the Shinigamis disappeared too. I missed the moments of Ryuk, who could've been pivotal, idk. The side characters too were just very boring and I just really wanted to end it, especially when I came to the end.

Lastly, I was very unsatisfied with how the whole thing ended. I hated that Light had to die since he could've avoided making all these holes in his plan you know? Throughout the show, he showed how smart he was, but in the second half, his intelligence kinda disappeared and he no longer showed me that he had more plans up his sleeve. He was a very interesting character, but his motives and actions in the show dulled over time and everything just felt rushed and repetitive (again).

HOWEVER, I could say that the OSTs in the show and the memes that came out from it were good, the animation was a 7/10 since at certain episodes, they looked funky lmao. Overall score, prolly a 7.5/10, I don't fully recommend, but watch it if you like I guess HAHAHAHA

Look, don't get me wrong. I love death note manga. It's my favorite. But the anime COMPLETLY killed it. I've always been a fan of Takeshi Obata, and i still am. His art is great and the story line remains intriguing. But the way they went about showing it is just... different... wrong. It doesn't feel right, but I can't put my finger on exactly what IT is. Not to mention that the voices just sound all wrong, even in the japanese version. The voice actors just don't sound the way that I, and most likely many other viewers, imagined it. Characters attitudes should be ... included in voice acting, but nearly every voice seems out of place in this.

Overall, it might be good if you've never read the manga, but even then, you should just read it instead. The manga is SO much better.

DRUIDS FTW!!!

An anime that over-stayed its welcome.

I was interested in Death Note when the manga was first being translated into english, and when I heard it was becoming an anime, I was excited, since I don't particularly enjoy reading manga.

The anime starts of pretty well, but it got old fast. The characters are about as interesting and well defined as anime characters get... but they don't seem to have much development in relation to the story. The interesting philosophical questions never change or are explored differently at all, as the premise is pretty limiting in that regard. As each episode went on, I felt myself feeling ... less and less inclined to finish it, until I just never watched another episode (except on the occasion I caught it on adult swim with nothing else to do).

I also think part of the problem is how contrived so many situations in this anime are. Similarly, L doesn't really click with me as a good character, he, too, seems contrived, and there just to make some of these ridiculous scenarios possible. It seems like his personality was just tacked on to try and make people think of Sherlock Holmes, but just not as interesting.

[WARNING][slight potential spoilers below, nothing to crazy]




I am definitely in the minority with my opinion/review of this show it seems but let me try to justify why i disliked this show so much.

Deathnote was an anime that could have been one of the greatest ever made yet it made incredibly poor decisions regarding key plot points (killing off certain characters) and had an ending that was extremely dissatisfying. The first season was magnificent all the way up until how it ended. The ending was horrifying as what happened should have been part of the conclusion of the series as a whole, not a first season ... imo. The events that happened (in particular a certain character being killed off) would have been acceptable if it had a bigger consequence on the plot. This particular character dying would have been acceptable if it was in conclusion of the story/show.

Moving on to season two i was very skeptical how they would keep the show together and my worst fears were realized when the new characters introduced were extremely unlikable and out of place. The conclusion to the show was the final nail in the coffin, it felt like a big 'FU' to anyone watching the show.

Overall Deathnote disappoints me so much. When i first started watching this show i was mesmerized by it but after finishing it i am disgusted by it :\

After a certain event occurs roughly halfway through the story, the anime loses all its steam. Before this event, the anime would have easily been an 8 or 9, but the story just... flops after it. Almost everyone who has watched the anime knows what I'm referring to by "this event", which just goes to show how it ruined the second half of the show. Even the first half, the "best part" of the show, would still be overhyped just by itself. Overall, I would say that while some people may like this anime, I personally wasn't one of them. It's worth a watch, but ... if you get put off by the aforementioned "event" halfway through the story, I would recommend ditching the show.

I started off really liking the anime, with the cognitive back and forth between Light and L being the highlight. The rules of the Death Note serve as a game constraint pretty much like an elaborate game of Mafia. But when Light somehow loses his advantage of being invisible from investigation and became the most likely suspect, the anime starts to lose its charm. L's infinite resources, including technology, authority (to imprison without trial and whatnot) and manpower.

The second portion (I refuse to call this a 'half' simply because of how short it and rushed it was) was a bit of a let down. ... Near and Mello were simply not as interesting and many of their feats are bullshit. They should have gotten a fresher start trying to investigate Kira but they immediately picked up from where original L left off.

Didn't like the heavy metal but to each their own.

Other characters were shallow and akin to two-dimensional beings in a three-dimensional world.

My review is plagued by the rushed second half which was more vivid due to the recency effect. Really interesting premise but the writing became lazy later on. Worth watching but not rewatching.

I'm not going to be popular with this one, but meh.

I do respect what it does, but it's not the anime for me. The main character, who we're stuck with, is annoying to be with. He's extremely paranoid and has a false moral compass. He even breaks it for the greater good. I can respect this depth, but dear God do I not want to deal with it so upfront. The smartest detective suspects the main character of killing just because I guess. No logical conclusion other than a gut feeling. Yes, please zero in on this guy ... because... Okay, sure the main character is the bad person, but dude, seriously... These are our main characters...

Plot: it's actually interesting, but I just couldn't get pass the characters. The plot is about a boy who hates bad people. He comes across a Death Note where you kill a person if you write their names down. He then decides that he wants to kill all the super bad criminals in the world. When a bunch of deaths start suspiciously happening, that prompts investigators to hire the best detective, L, to solve the case. The main detective suspects our guy, but he doesn't have proof. The main character knows that he's onto him, but he doesn't know his actual name, because L is an 'alias' used to keep himself under the radar. So the entire anime is about the main character trying to figure out his name so he can kill him via Death Note, while the detective is trying to get absolute proof that our guy is the killer.

If you like suspense anime and can get pass the personalities of the main characters, then this one is for you.