Everybody watching this anime, or maybe even reading the manga will naturally think that even though Lights intends to do the world away of criminals, does he have a right to take the life of another person regardless of the severity of their actions? Thinking about it, if you had the same kind of power, would you do the same? Do something different? Or try nothing at all? In addition to this, it’s not just Light that you will find yourself at odds with, but L will even stoop to some lows that will make him the poster boy for the Patriot Act. So even though L is on the side of the authorities, his methods at times doesn’t make him any better than Light when it comes to exceeding moral boundaries in the name of justice. While with Light being progressively preachy and power hungry, he will manipulate people and treat them as expendable that will make him detestable to viewers. At times, I felt the rivalry between Light and L went beyond who was right or wrong, but was more of a clash of who has the bigger ego, in which it has its own kind of entertaining value and really gets you immersed to the characters.
The relationships between the characters and how they interact and relate to each other is another trait I love about Death Note. Even though L and Light are mortal enemies, the series excellently presents that they are the only people that they can relate to. And I also enjoy the moments where Ryuk can be a foil to Light. Even though Ryuk only sees Light’s attempt at conquest as cheap entertainment, there are times he will question his motives and exhibits he is disturbed by his behavior. And it’s hard to really imagine a Shinigami of Ryuk’s laid back attitude to really have the moral high ground when he only sees it as fun, but you can’t help but see he has a point.
But moving on, the pacing is very fast and a lot happens throughout a majority of the show, but I think some things rush are a bit too much for the sake of convenience, especially approaching the end. But I’m pretty sure most people prefer fast over slow.
The designs are very faithful to the manga so I can’t really complain. First thing I really like to talk about is the use of colors: due to the nature of this anime; not only is the presentation dark, it still exhibits very excellent resolution where you can see a good majority of the surrounding environment, and it greatly emphasizes the atmosphere and mood. The quality of the coloring makes the experience very significant to environmental and character details in which they all fit, and yet still stand out at a point where you can see virtually everything. What I also enjoy from this series is when certain characters such as Light and L are high lighted in blue and red when they are internally thinking. It easily conveys who is the aggressor, and who is on the defensive, and also shows who is calm and collected, and who is hot headed. Granted these use of colors are obvious with the meaning, the way it’s highlighted around the hair and skin tones really brings the presentation more directly immersing and charismatic. I also love the scene with Near and Light when they are on the phone and it also shows the viewers of those characters in an imaginary elevator at a construction site. It did feel very random, but I thought it really added a sweet sense of the intensity to that moment in the series.
One thing I strongly believe is that bringing out a sense of intensity is what keeps people hooked on Death Note. I believe what further defines that trait in this series were the angles, movements and pacing when Light was writing in the death note in the initial episodes, and you just gotta love it when Mikami does it. The speed and angles along with the music appropriately emphasizes the divinity that the notebook has, and brings a cinematic feel to it in which only the magic of animation can pull off. Some(of those) scenes involving writing in the death note will be over the top, but I think it’s one of those moments where you have to accept the approach, even if over the top and exaggeration of certain scenes aren’t your thing. Especially in the episode where he opens up a bag of chips and eats it, and that scene alone since then has changed my outlook at potato chips for the rest of my life. I had no idea potato chips could be that dramatic and epic. I simultaneously found it humorous and entertaining, which makes that scene iconic.
I would like to open this part of the review by saying I enjoy the dub, and think it’s great. I’ll admit I was skeptical about Brad Swaile playing Light at first. I’m used to hearing him playing generically nicer and regular characters like Youta from Video Girl Ai, Quatre from Gundam Wing, or Amuro from Gundam. And I’ll admit that he does a good job of playing cynical characters like Mousse from Ranma, but I wasn’t sure if he was going to make that work with Light. I came to accept him as Light, though I personally think he could have been better as L based on my previous exposure to the actor over my years of watching anime. But I’ll acknowledge he made that potato chip scene, while it felt wasn’t that emphatically dramatic in the Japanese version. I believe Allesandro Juliani was pretty good as L, but I think he sounded a bit too formal and not really childish enough to make the character feel complete. But with the intention that the character was raised in England, I feel the English portrayal brings it out in its own way where you can interpret the character in that way.
I’ll also say that I was taken by surprise that Yamaguchi Kappei, the voice of Ranma and Inuyasha, was L in the JPN version. Despite playing loud mouth and rowdy characters, he really did well coming across as calm, quiet and intellectual and I thought that the pitch of his voice gave him those child-like qualities he has, and it gives him a different kind of charisma to why his character is unique. Brian Drummond as Ryuk really had a voice that went well with the grin and really made him sound cool, but I think he kind of lacked this bizarre friendly charm that I felt he has in the Japanese version which I think makes him appealing.
I also think that both Japanese and English voices of Misa were perfect in their own way. Haruhi fans will rejoice that Hirano Aya plays her in the Japanese version - and she will sound pretty recognizable to you, and I think the voice does a great job of representing her bubbly personality, as does Shannon Chan-Kent’s portrayal. If anything, I think Shannon Chan-Kent could make a great Misa in a Hollywood live action Death Note movie, along with the actors who played Light, L, and Watari.
The last portrayal I want to get into is Mikami’s. In the Japanese version, he is played by Matsukaze Masaya, the voice of Hazuki Ryo, the main character from one of my favorite games of all time, Shenmue. While in the English version, he is played by Kirby Mirrow, the voice of Trowa Barton from Gundam Wing, Van from Escaflowne, Cyclops in X-Men Evolution, and Miroku from Inuyasha. I think they approached the characters stylistically different in their own ways, but I think the portrayals in both versions work that really do represent the character. If I were to define the portrayal of the character by his introduction alone by saying delete or sakujo, or whatever word you want to use - I say in the Japanese version, I get the impression that Mikami is more apathetic, while in the English, I though he sounded more aggressive, but I think that both portrayals bring out the sadist in him.
The music is accurately orchestrated to suit the dark and cerebral atmosphere of this series and is 110% in your face, and I get that impression with Hirano Yoshihisa's music all the time, especially in the current installment of the Hajime no Ippo anime series. It really immerses you into the scene and keeps your eyes glued to your screen. The tempo and instruments perfectly fits the imagery at the right moment. A lot of the songs used really made me think of Verdis Requiem, the opening to Battle Royale, so I had a very strong feeling that I was to be disturbed but yet amazed by what was going on in the anime. The opening theme called the World by Nightmare couldn’t have been a better choice. It’s dark, but yet extreme and energetic and perfectly flows with the presented imagery that really just grabs your attention by your balls and makes you curious about this anime, that’s how excellent it is.
At some capacity, I feel Death Note along with a huge majority of Madhouse’s and Shounen Jump’s products deserves a good portion of the praise it has gotten, and I’ll explain what I mean by “good portion,” and that relates to the ending. Death Note is one of the very few anime I’ve seen in which I already read the entire manga before hand. What has made the Death Note anime very controversial in some circles of the fan base is its ending. I can’t elaborate on it due to spoiler reasons, but if you’ve read the manga AND watched the anime, you know what I’m talking about, and I side with the manga readers on this issue, and that’s all I can say about it without getting into spoilers. And if it weren’t for this change in the ending, I would have probably given this series a perfect 10/10 overall. But anyway, that's my review of Death Note.
