Of course, when one writes about a "suspense/crime/thriller" anime it is hard not to include spoilers while getting to the meat of what makes said anime good in the first place, regardless I shall do my utmost to avoid any such spoilers.
For me, Death Note is one of the most original animes i've seen, rather than using some tired "good vs evil battle" style it is a "good vs evil battle of the minds" a tremendous clash of schemes, plans and deception. The complex story is well told using exciting, and at times frenetic dialogue between the characters, alongside the protagonist's inner thoughts and exhilirating action scenes. The characters themselves are very believable and the artists do a great job of showing the characters emotions in facial cues.
I have to say though, the highlight for me was the musical score, It tied together the great artwork, story, characters and suspense wonderfully. The music really hightens the suspense and drama you feel when watching, even now when I listen to some of favourite Death Note tracks, it brings back memories of the emotion I felt from watching the characters in their enthralling adventure.
There are only a couple of bad things I can say about Death Note: number one being that, by nature of the genre, the rewatch value is pretty low although this in kind of unavoidable in this genre and shoudln't count agaisnt it, in fact some people may see a whole different side of the story as they watch the events unfold while already knowing the conclusion. The other thing is the weird trend it has started; according to the Death Note Wikipedia entry a few school and university students have been excluded or temporarily suspended for creating immatation "Death Notes" and subsequently writing the names of teachers and fellow students in the "Death Notes" in fact, the chinese authorities have banned Death Note in major chinese cities for this reason. On the other hand, one can hardly blame the creators of Death Note for the misdemeanours of a select few people.
In conclusion, I would say Death Note has all the elements of a fantastic anime and is well worth a watch, more so if you havent seen any other anime from this "suspense/crime/thriller" genre.
