Death Note

To be honest, I loved the show in the beginning. I was so hooked on the battle between L and Light. However, when Misa arrived my enjoyment went downhill. That isn't to say Misa is a bad character. I actually did really like her. The problem was what her character brought plot wise. There will be some spoilers. When Misa gets caught by the police that causes Light to give up his Death Note and hers to lose his memory. This caused an arc that was so unbelievably boring that I dropped the show. I also already knew L dies because everyone loves to spoil ... that part. The main thing that made me fall in love with the show is L and Light trying to outsmart each other. When L dies there's 12 episodes left of an empty shell of a show. I believe this shouldn't have been a 37 episode anime. Ryuk was also a character I enjoyed and they don't have much of a presence in the later half of the show which is disappointing. I did love the art and music of the anime.

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 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.

Everything that i'm goint to write may be (it certainly is) subject to personal opinion and bias.

To me the show felt lackluster as a whole, be it because of the linear nature of the characters or the unexciting art style.

The premise of the whole story is an interesting one and it's exploited in a smart way ( the never ending back and forth between light and whoever it's trying to catch him is developed in a charmingly convoluted way), but the watcher never feels threatened by the possible outcome of it since there's not much room to get attached to any character: they are ... very dull and feel like one trick ponies, not even mentioning how superficial their analysis is compared to the development of the plot.

The art direction definitely isn't enlightened either since, except for a pair of original moments (chips), nothing truly leaves astonished or utterly speechless. As the plot unravels this becomes a bigger and bigger problem because of how quickly the watcher gets accustomed to the initially interesting scenes in which names are written down on the note. 1st Op, ost and sound design are pretty cool though.

Overall, definitely not a masterpiece and hyped to the point of setting the watcher's bar higher than the show can reach.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

/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.

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.

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.

Death Note is a series with a fantastic premise and production values and a mediocre-at best execution. It's one of the most obviously popular anime series of all time, and if you somehow haven't seen it, you should understand before watching that this series is NOT a "neo-noir psychological thriller". It wears the skin of such, but Death Note is fundamentally a battle shonen with the magic fist fighting swapped out with the characters engaging in increasingly contrived and elaborate plans in order to fuck with each other. It is a show that has its characterization and story details vastly limited by the demands of ... a weekly shonen series that it ultimately is and always has been. It's an enjoyable watch, but a hollow one that does not execute on its fascinating original premise.

These are the greatest factors that prevented me from enjoying this show:

1#: LIGHT YAGAMI'S CHARACTER ARC

Light fails a fundamental part of villain protagonists, in that while we're supposed to abhor their actions, they generally "likeable" in an interpersonal sense even if they're horrific human beings. Light, on the other hand, is a genuinely unlikeable character disregarding his moral dimensions. He is essentially the moralf*g rich white teacher's pet expanded into an entire main character. His excessive glorification of how fantastic his morality is and his excessive smugness are highlighted excessively by the nature of the story taking place from his perspective and sharing his thoughts, and as such, you come to just want to punch him in the face for being a dumb, whiny brat.


Light's character archetype of a shakespearean moral downfall is not a unique idea for a protagonist (see Anakin Skywalker and Walter White), but it's one that's incredibly unique for a demographic as tepid and repetitive as shonen. The problem, of course, is that it occurs entirely too fast. He goes from wanting to create a peaceful world by killing evil people to killing anyone who personally dislikes him in about 5 minutes. If a story is supposed to function like this, it should have at least a while of Light's morals slipping instead of immediately having him go psycho by episode 2. If the creators want us to believe he was always a sociopath, they shouldn't have conflicted themselves by stating that he would have been a virtuous detective that worked with L if he had not found the Death Note, and demonstrating the entirety of an arc to demonstrating how he was a good boi before he was corrupted with power. The creators clearly want us to feel that Light was a fundamentally decent person, one that had several issues that lead to his descent to evil, but one that would have matured from them and gone on to lead a virtuous life without the Death Note. However, his immediate rotation into being a deranged psycho merely makes it look like an on-switch was hit and is obviously rushed to create the main spectacle of him and L fucking over each other, which makes his character more shallow as a result.

2#: The Repulsive Misogyny

Misogny and Sexism in anime is an often-discussed topic, and one that many people have wildly divergent views on. Personally, I feel that a character being depicted with her titties bouncing everywhere with clothes covering 2% of her body is fine, good even, as long as it's applied equally between genders and the character herself is demonstrated with agency and depth and exists outside the purpose of male spectacle. It's good then, that Death Note is a show with almost no fanservice that still manages to be one of the most misogynistic mainstream entertainment products in the last 20 years.

What makes Death Note's misogyny more repulsive is that rather than simply having an all-male cast, it introduces several female characters, several of which show interesting plot developments, and treat them as objects that the plot can use at will.

One might wish to make the distinction between characters being misogynist and the story itself being misogynist. One would protest; "Light Yagami is a villain! Surely, him being misogynistic is simply meant to demonstrate his immorality!" and this might seem convincing. After all, L. seems to generally respect women outside of some jokes about him being considerably hornier than he's willing to let on, but I feel L's lack of misogyny is a result of coincidence over narrative intent. This is shown by Raye Penber, a character who we're ostensibly supposed to find heroic, going on a misogynistic rant about how his wife Naomi should stay in the kitchen and pump out babies. One is relieved when Light kills him as opposed to appalled, but the narrative validates his position by having Naomi killed off moments later, wasting a potentially interesting revenge-driven third player in the plot before she had any chance to show herself.

The sole female character given narrative prominence, then, is Misa Amane. I don't actually find Misa particularly annoying and she gives the show some humorous dimensions (which it has much more than people claim it to, given that L, Matsuda and Ryuk are both serious characters as well as gag characters), but she is an absolute waste of a character. She's introduced as a more unhinged version of Kira but she's unveiled quickly and immediately throws herself at Light instantly without any development. She fails at being a tragic Harley Quinn figure because she was murdering people for ridiculously minor slights before Light even met her because she had heard of Kira, and he openly admits that he's only really involving himself with her because she has useful skills and not because he cares about her. While this demonstrates Light's cold attitude, Misa doesn't come across as tragic at all, just evil.

Misa is also repeatedly called an idiot by the show. While she has some moments of cleverness, these are always superseded by the male cast. How cool would it have been for a genki lolita girl to actually be a complete badass that can mess with L and Light at their level? Perhaps she would realize Light's evil and turn to stop him. Nope, she's just there as a prop.

3#: Edgelord Nihilism

I think moral relativism as a concept is disgusting. While one can say there's no objective value where we derive morals, the same is true of all things, but we can still rationally and factually assert that a tree is a tree. Death Note disagrees. When Near speaks to Light, he seems to highlight more that Light was pretentious and thought he could choose between right and wrong than the fact that he slaughtered dozens of innocents. The whole series themes itself around morality being objectively non-existent and useless, and it's not thoughtful or intelligent like it makes itself out to be. It's a moral philosophy for teenage boys. There is good and bad, and "gray" is not nearly omnipresent. The greatest failure of Death Note is that it fails to convince me out of the idea that using a Death Note would be an innately bad or immoral act. The world could easily be greatly improved with it. It only convinced me the wrong person found it.