Death Note

Death Note is frustrating.

About fifteen to eighteen episodes in, I was about ready to believe that the show deserved its ranking at #1 as this site's "Most Popular Anime", and I was more than willing to list it on my favorite anime list...but then something happened. That spark Death Note had, that hook, that energy it drew me in with started to decay, and by episode 37 I was left an emotional wreck, trying to place the exact moment where the show lost me and how it did.

First off, it's important to address the consistently great aspects. From an audio and visual perspective, ... the show has aged tremendously well. For an anime made about twelve years ago, the visuals are still powerful and have the energy and weight of a well-directed Hollywood movie, and the haunting, powerful musical score highlights and helps sell the show's most intense scenes. The same ten or so tracks are played all the time, but they're so well made that I can overlook the repetition.

Now onto the meat of the show. From the start, the show establishes a strong theme of Good vs. Evil, Justice vs. Justice, and the psychological warfare between Light and L, the posterboys of the anime, lead to some of the most intense and well-executed action scenes in anime history; even though a single punch is never thrown (initially, at least). That clash of ideals was easily the most compelling aspect of the show, which is why it's such a damn shame that it became increasingly muddied and hard to interpret as the series limped on.

That conflict between the two characters was pushed further and further into the background as more ridiculous and generic plotlines, be it a battle with a boring evil organization or a less-interesting L clone, took over the foreground. For spoiler reasons I won't go into detail with the latter, but Near is nowhere near (ha) as interesting a replacement, even though he fulfills the same thematic purpose.

The first dozen or so episodes had a simple, yet effective series of events that could have led into a satisfying 24ish episode series, with a memorable cast of characters and a story that's easy to follow. Instead, we got an anime that started out brilliantly and ended up nosediving into wasted concepts, random character introductions for the sake of contrived plot twists, plot holes large enough to drive a bus through, and a story so needlessly convoluted that it almost turns into a parody of itself towards the end.

It's heartbreaking. I wanted to love Death Note, I really did, and if the first and second arc were listed as separate entries on MAL I would make sure the gap in the score between them is large, but I can't in good conscience rate the final product a high score just because that initial batch of episodes was so strong.

6/10

PS: Don't care what anyone says, I love the second OP. It's a headbanger and accurately reflects how much of a clusterf*ck the show becomes.

Death Note; It is a decent series at best, starting with the fact that most of the characters are irrelevant, I wish they had focused more when Light has to leave the Death Notes, since he began to have direct contact with L, so he could there having further explored the morality of the characters and speaking of morality, the fact that there is no typical model of religion is a problem, since Light obtains the default reason for being a world where nobody goes to heaven and hell, going to the which is the psychological games I did not like, since it is usually ... like a scientific method, you are always following a line, and it begins to be more difficult than they can be plausible due to the extension of these, it is something of consensus and well known that Death Note in its second half is bad, for example that Light begins to make stupid mistakes such as asking for cameras to be removed or for him to take notebooks from work instead of simply buying ones, since his plans were already foreseeing that they would fail like waiting for his father to kill Mello with the Death Note, etc.

Spanish Version:

Death Note; es una serie a lo mucho decente, comenzando con que la mayoría de los personajes son irrelevantes, me gustaría que se hubieran enfocado más cuando Light tiene que dejar las Death Notes, ya que empezó a tener contacto directo con L por lo que ahí se pudo haber explorado más la moralidad de los personajes y hablando de moralidad, el que no exista un modelo típico de religión es un problema, ya que Light obtiene la razón por defecto al ser un mundo donde nadie va al cielo y al infierno, pasando a lo que es los juegos psicológicos no me gustaron, ya que suele ser como un método científico, siempre estás siguiendo una línea y se empieza a ser más difícil el que puedan ser plausibles por la extensión de estas, es algo de consenso general y bien sabido que Death Note en su segunda mitad es mala, por poner de ejemplo que Light empieza a cometer errores estúpidos como el pedir que quiten cámaras o que este tome libretas del trabajo en vez de comprar unas simplemente, el que sus planes ya eran de prever que iban a fallar como el esperar que su padre matara a Mello con la Death Note, etc.

Ending is one of the worse endings I've seen. Near, L, and Mellow are all annoying, especially Near. The endings are all plain. Only the first opening is half decent. I've listened to ear rape with better audio and visuals then the second opening. After episode 30ish the story drops off. Shoulda ended it there, everything after that seems to be like sucky second season. Watch something worth while, this is only good if you have nothing better to watch. As for the good part. The story is really good for the first half. You want to keep watching. And when you skip the horrible ... music it has you get through episodes quickly. Light is a pretty cool MC, L is ok. But Mikami is by far the best character, only one who shows true emotion with reasoning behind it.

Death note was a really great, solid, and entertaining show for its exciting premice and great character relationships. Unfortunately, two of the three most interesting supporting characters dies (one dies too early in the show, the other had to die so I guess I can't complain), and the third kind of stays important but kind of gets written off. Episodes 1-25 are great. It declines in quality a little but its seriously great stuff. After that its ehhh. So if you don't mind definitely give it a watch, but if you do mind then I'm not too sure.

Ok, now I am trying to submit the ... review but this website says I need more information. Good story, good art style, good characters up until the interesting ones get replaced by boring police, its realistic enough for suspension of disbelief, and I already said if you'll like it or not.

Death Note is pretty good and has such an interesting story, indeed. BUT... here's a few reasons why it's not that great.

1) it's really sexist. I noticed how only the male characters are "awesome" (like Light and L) and all the female characters are either there just because (like Light's mom and sister) or are there just to be submissive over men (like Misa and Takada).

Not only that, but countless characters say sexist shit as well: the detective on early episodes saying that once his fiancé has kids she won't have to work anymore, some rapist guys saying that because a woman was wearing a ... skirt she was "asking for it", Light's dad saying that HE WON'T LET his daughter marry a policeman and that she HAS TO marry someone else, etc etc.

No, but really: Misa's entire character only exists just so she can be """""useful"""" to Light. And then Takada, who is reintroduced to us as a strong female character who is successful at her job, is reduced to a Misa 2.0 as soon as Light gets to talk to her.

No women in this anime are relevant. No women in this anime are important. And some of you may think "oh, that's just how japan's culture is!" but... really. Really.

2) The second arc of the anime is HOOORRRIIIBBLLLEEE. When a certain event happens to a certain character, it all just goes downhill.

We're introduced to Near and Mello, which are the poor man's version of L, and they just... they're not L. Near is the one that comes closest to what L is, but Mello????? WHAT WAS HIS PURPOSE???? WHY DID HE EVEN EXIST???? HELL IF I KNOW

I hated these characters, I hated that the anime kept losing its essence ever since that plot happened, I hated the plot, I hated how it only got more sexist as the episodes gone by, I HATED IT. I kept watching out of stubbornness, not because I was actually enjoying it.

The last 3 episodes are good, but that doesn't erase the two facts stated above. Nor does it change my mind.

I think that if they hadn't [spoiler about that character], things would've ended better. It would still be a sexist show, true, but at least the second arc wouldn't have been so bad.

Or: if the story had ended when that spoiler happened. It would have been an interesting ending, it would have spared us from the mess that part 2 was, it would have given the audience a different kind of message (not "better" than the one we actually got, just a different one).

So. Is it an interesting watch? it is, can't deny that. I enjoyed some parts of the show. But it isn't "the best anime ever", as I've seen many people call it. I guess it depends on how much you're willing to ignore certain things.

Where do I begin with Death Note? I loved the manga (for the most part). The series was a brilliantly thought out game of cat and mouse with dark undertones. It was like watching/reading a twisted mental chess game between L and Light. Oh...L and Light. As a girl who loves Death Note, most people would assume I'd go all girly over the fanservice given in the anime series. The scene on the roof in the rain where Light seems all concerned for L's health and even helps him dry off on the staircase...I wanted to puke. It was despicable.
Also despicable was the change ... in the very end of the series.

SPOILERS AHEAD*

Manga: Light dies like a worm begging for his life until the very end.
Anime: Light dies beautifully on a staircase in the warm sun, having barely begged Ryuk to save him.

It was awful! I sadistically laughed in the end of the manga when I saw our hero-turned-villian turn into a whiny little baby and then die, broken and betrayed by Ryuk. I didn't fully hate the anime, other than these two points it followed the manga as well as it could. Nonetheless, I wouldn't watch it again.

For the most praised and adored anime, it really isn't anything special.

Sure it's got the story, Sure it's got plot and twist and turns...

but it's slow, and boring...

This anime put me to sleep numerous times when trying to watch it, and when I finished it, I was not amazed. It was not amazing.

Not worthy of the praise of the most ADORED anime ever made...

... It's got story, don't get me wrong... I like the shinigami Ryuk the most out of anyone but it's really not "exciting" It's a psychological anime, most of them are boring.

I wouldn't dare suggest this to any of my friends, I don't want to put people to sleep.

Despite Death Note's solid main cast of characters, great soundtrack, strong visual symbolism, strong thematic ideas and at times clever plot points, I still do not enjoy it. My problem lies with how much exposition and dialogue plays integral roles in developing the narrative, crushing the pacing and storytelling in the process. The problem magnifies when not every part of this series is as clever and intricate as it attempts to express. Intelligence and calculation are the pillars of this series and when the cracks show, the rest falls apart. The characters are supposed to be geniuses but the flaws in their logic leave less ... of an impression on characters and as such the narrative suffers too. Mix these problems with the aforementioned pacing and storytelling issue and you get a lackluster final product that wastes a lot of time. Death Note had a lot of potential and good material to work with and how unfortunate it is to see it fail to cross the boundary into good territory.

Subgenre:
Non-fight fight anime/Detective thriller (lots and lots of mindgames).
Target Audience:
Edgy dudes, Detective/political thriller enthusiasts.
Content Warning:
Depressing shit, lots of Murder, and pretty serious Sexism. Overall, some characters in this show can be real pieces of shit, and its whole moral outlook is pretty bleak, so skip this one if you don't have the stomach for it.

TLDR:
Go for it if you can handle the nihilistic outlook, absolutely worth it. The mindgames are super enjoyable, and actually intelligent for the most part. Extremely entertaining, well-directed, fast-paced show, with quite a few powerful feels moments, and a fantastic ending. 37 episodes fly so fast, it feels like a 12ep ... seasonal anime. There's a reason it's the most popular anime ever made.

Mood/Vibes:
Moody, Edgy, Mildly depressing, yet also kinda Badass.
Setting:
Just worse modern day/2000-ish Japan.

Time Value:
Pretty great, pacing is swift with interesting things happening every episode all the way to the end. Long enough to run a good meaty plot, but does not outstay its welcome. Cohesive narrative better for binging, but not restrictive.

Ending/Buildup/Pacing:
Fantastic, extremely climactic, thematic and poignant. Will leave you thinking about life and shit. Many people hate on it, but they are wrong (The plot beat in the middle is the START of the ending).

Characters/Cast:
Some are legendary, like L and Light, others are just fun, like Ryuk. None of the characters are great in a vacuum, it's the kind of show where characters mostly serve as symbols. Cast dynamics and relationships are actually quite interesting here and there.

Cinematography/Action/OST:
Brilliant, some extremely powerful shots with tons of energy behind them. Flow is absolutely riveting, will make you forget 80% of the action is one dude writing shit on a notebook and another dude looking at a TV. OST is some of the best in any anime, and fits the important plot beats perfectly.

OPs/EDs:
OP1 is iconic and dramatic but not that great, OP2 is really fun but gets annoying.

Waifu factor:
5/10, not really the point of the show, plus all the sexism doesn't help. Not really any super memorable ladies in the cast.

/spoiling the ending

Ok, I get it people love this show.

To people like the show because of the 36 episode saga that tells the intricate story of Light Yagami, I really love these 36 episodes and these episodes include my favorite arc of a non-shounen archetype and if you want a review of anything aside from the end, this is not for you.

The ending seems like a sick joke to someone who committed time to understand the story and sympathizing with the characters, which the show masterfully introduces, progresses, and overall proves what other shorter shows should strive for. Why would you build up the perfect ... criminal, god even to tear him down? Light's intellect as a character seems to be uncanny and well... godlike. His ability to predict opposing moves, seemingly random occurrences, and how the world will operate including the American government at one point. We can never hope to have a person on earth come close to matching this intellect, let alone a second person in the form of the original L. The thought of him losing is very discouraging to someone who did watch the show but the reasoning behind L's successors "beating" him is the biggest slap in the face I have ever seen. Maybe I'm thinking of Light too highly but it would make sense for Light to figure out the fact that there are two different parties after him and that neither could've achieved what they did in the ways that they did without the help of the other.

As I said, maybe I've thought too much of Light Yagami, but with how much the show demonstrates his prowess, intelligence, problem-solving skills, and almost psychic-like ability to predict, you would think he could counteract the power of teamwork.

There was a potential to build Light to be the perfect criminal/Godlike entity but like most things, children ruined it.

While the premise of Death Note is intriguing, the anime fails to meaningfully explore it. The series relies heavily on the narrative to be well written, and unfortunately, it is plagued with inconsistencies and an over-reliance on coincidence. With more thought put into it, the anime could have been significantly improved. The animation leaves much to be desired but is consistent throughout the series. The character designs are not particularly captivating, but they do blend in well with the setting. The slow pace of the series is further hindered by characters often overthinking and arriving at obvious conclusions. However, the music throughout the series is ... a standout, effectively elevating dramatic scenes. Death Note falls short of expectations and is rather average.

This anime is all about a notebook which fell from the sky and Light Yagami picks it up.

This notebook is known as "Death Note" for whoever's name is written on it, the person will die with sudden death. It will be ineffective on people who are 200 year above age.

I first watched death note in the live-action movie.

We are introduced to Light Yagami, a brilliant genius who made good use of the death note to destroy evil. He used his name "Kira" to cover up his identity just like Lelouch used his name "Zero" to cover up his identity too.

L, the charater and my ... favorite in this series, a genius like Light, he is a detective who solves almost difficult cases in the world. L wanted to get to know Light so that he could understand the relationship between Kira and Light. L is stoic, calm and collected just like Yakumo Tskamoto from School Rumble.

Ryuk is like this guy who talks like a grandpa.

The annoying brat, Misa Amane, who is useless and always has a clingy personality. She always relies on Light in everything she do even though she is smart.

The art is not so dull but this anime is about a detective story of hunting the serial killer. In fact, like Detective Conan and the bone Collector.

If Light made use of the death note for good, then that's ok. However, if he is using the death note for his satisfaction and glory then that's terrible. They say that killing is not a way to solve everything and in fact people may change from bad to good. We wouldn't know.

To me, the characters even though they are likable except for Misa, they still didn't leave enough impression to me.

I always grade based on the plot and characters. I also wanted Light Yagami to really learn how to understand people's feelings rather than seeking for glory.

Misa Amane pulled down the grade for me because of her useless and annoying personality. She keeps saying her name twice.

The music was not so engaging. To me, the story was all right. Nothing let for me to say.

But overall, I would say this anime is all right. 6/10

All I hear about this show is good things, people absolutely rave over this show and say its the best anime they have ever seen. Maybe I just have poor taste or whatever. I had very little enjoyment watching this show. Every little thing either L or Light did would be followed up by the other one going "ha, but I knew you were going to do that, so I'm going to do this" and then the other would go "I figured you would do that, so I'm going to do these 4 things and there's nothing you can do." and then the other one ... goes "Well that would have worked, but-" you get the picture, it got really repetitive and boring after like the 5th time Light found out a way around L. I don't know maybe I need to watch it again, and I probably will someday, but for now, I really don't like this show.

Sometimes more than having any legit gripes, you'll be unable to get into something just because it's "after your time." I just don't get the appeal of Death Note, it's like anime for the Hot Topic/nu-metal crowd. Really bad metalcore music, angst angst angst, a general goth pseudo-creepy vibe, and characters who seem to have more obvious quirks than personality. (Imagine all the awkward middle-schoolers who probably tried to imitate that tired looking guy's weird mannerisms and try not to retch.)

I'll give this at least a 5 because I'm sure there's probably a decent plot in this somewhere if you're not instantly offput by ... everything about it like I am.

No spoilers, or summaries in this review, just an opinion-based, general discussion.

I'm sorry, but this anime is so overrated. After all of the hype people were giving me about it, I was expecting a lot more...substance. Honestly, it started getting weird for me from episode 9 on. After that it just felt like a period where I was watching a completely different anime from what I had started with and there was so much fluff that I couldn't see through it! I feel like no depth was added to the story which is sad because it had so much potential. Instead I watched a bunch ... of psychos stuck in the twilight zone. 'Nuff said.

Overall, this could've been a great story, but it failed to be one.

As you can tell I didn't completely hate this show. I actually really wanted to love it and up until a fixed point, this could have been in my top 10 easy.

The art I gave a 7, it's solid nothing to complain about here really. It just wasn't over the top enough to be more than good.

Sound was fine, I enjoyed all the music and the sound quality in both sub and dub was fine so 7 here as well.

Story: I gave this a 5.The plot in itself is fine and interesting but the way they go about it after the first 20 episodes or ... so lacks the intensity and chemistry for obvious reasons once you get to that point.

Characters: This is one of my biggest issues with this series and there will be slight spoilers in here so I will try and not use names but still get the point across. The main antagonist for the series for the majority of the series that will have you hooked and on the edge of your seat was the highlight outside of the protagonist. The way it was written and the character himself was almost to good and could have caused the series to end in a different manor but with his replacement after the first bit the show takes a sharp nose dive into the dumpster. The replacement is a poor wanna be of first bit who has no real chemistry built or even attempting to be built. He is literally an emotionless clone. Most of the other characters serve their purpose well enough I guess some of it is rather boring and generic and the replacement of the starting Antagonist really halted all momentum for this series and caused negative marks among a bit portion of the fan base. I know for me and almost every person I have spoken to about this series really ended for them after the first antagonist was no longer part of the show even though we watched/read the rest.

Death Note has a good start, with the possibility to become one of the best anime ever, but it only gets worse and worse as the show goes on.
The problem for the writer of the story was to find interesting challenges for a character as overpowered as Light.

He failed, sacrificing the plot consistency and logic by creating conflict who doesn't originate organically from the flow of the events but uses plot devices who undermine its credibility.
The last half was really bad with the new antagonists being s**t. I just watched, waiting for the final episode and when it comes it was a total joke.

So, Death Note. I've probably started watching this series maybe 3 or 4 different times over the years and this is the first one where I have completely seen it start to finish. And it was okay. The good that everyone draws on is with the first half of the series, which to me is before they move into their "sci-fi" headquarters and the Yotsuba arc of the show starts. Before then, there is a nice grounding in reality and feels like a better focus between Light and L as the two outwit each other while being in more easily realized settings of a high ... school, home, police station, and L and Watari existing in the shadows. It also has more Ryuk and spiritual elements which I liked and wished there would have been more of, but the role of the shinigami only diminishes as the show goes on.

After it gets into the Yotsuba arc, it basically gets too big for itself and has a harder time with these larger conspiracies looking real, so to speak. And speaking of looks, this was made in 2006 and man does it look like it. The gritty, realistic art style from this era makes everything look gray and washed out. It looks ugly and has no real punch when it tries more exotic colors and set designs. It's not a killer and like the normcore and goths and preps of the 2000s, has its own kind of almost innocent charm, like everything was shot on early digital cameras with blown out highlights, but is something that gets stale over 37 episodes when the original design wasn't great to begin with.

I was unsure of how much I really liked the show because the middle where it tries to escalate the chess game between L and Light (with the extremely dated metalcore in the second OP) was boring and hard to focus even as the show tried to make it seem like the next level between the two. I really don't remember the circumstances surrounding L's death and was more invested in the actual ending. And it was in those last few episodes that I realized what this show is most like. Death Note is like a better version of the BBC's production of Sherlock. The similarities between cultural cache among anyone who would consider themselves to be in a fandom aside, Death Note does a better job at what Sherlock struggled to do: a plot-driven show focused on the back-and-forth mental games between between basically two superheroes. L actually has a superpower with his control of the Death Note, L, Near, and Mello basically have super human perception and deductive skills, and Sherlock and Moriarty are given plot armor to do whatever Moffat and Gaddis think is cool.

So I think the show was pretty good, and Tsugumi Ohba and Tetsuro Araki definitely have their moments of good writing and directing. Looking back on it, my favorite character is probably Soichiro because he's caught in the middle and it out actually doing things and being put in these stressful situations and really laying it all on the line. The ending was nice with the orchestral music and evoking Cowboy Bebop. Unlike Sherlock it did have a satisfying ending with an actual conclusion to what went on. So it's a fun time following the plot and seeing the setpieces and should be considered instead of Sherlock.

Story is about a kid named Light who discovers a death note sent down by a god of death and begins to use it to rid the world of dangerous criminals. This then proceeds into a world renowned detective named L using his high intellect to expose and prosecute Light AKA "Kira" being his serial killer tag. Hype all the way until episode 25 then it became a chore to finish. The late introduction to certain characters made it hard to care about any of them and the ending was underwhelming. If you like detective media it'd be a must watch that most people will ... enjoy. Overall a alright show. Definitely a predictable ending which is why it's underwhelming.

(I had to rewrite this because my computer crashed half-way, so it's shorter than originally planned.)
Note: There are spoilers.
If you rated this series seven or higher, than you're either lying to yourself, haven't watched enough animes to know better, or didn't finish the show.
Yes, I have a very unpopular opinion.
Well, the first season was great, and it instantly pulled me in. I loved the first season a lot.
But the second season, like that one family member at Thanksgiving who always brags too much, ruined everything.
After a certain character died (trying to keep out the spoiler), the whole show just went down hill. ... You might as well not watch the second season- it was that bad. They took away the only enjoyable character and replaced them with a cookie cutter copy. The only differences were their hair color, age, preference of toys or food, and one of them doesn't die.
It still makes no sense how a "genius" died so stupidly without any type of proper funereal, burial at sea, or some other s**t.
I would have rated the show an eight if the second season wasn't so bad. I'm really being generous by giving it a five. If it wasn't for the first season, I would have probably given it a three.
I have so much more I could say, but it would be a lot more personal than objective than it already is.