How far would you go for justice? Would you throw away your ideals if you had the chance to “cleanse the world of evil”? What even are your views on justice and just how far would you go if you suddenly had the chance to make those thoughts come true. As it has once been said before, “Don’t judge a man when he has nothing, give him power and that’s a true test of his character.”
Death note is an anime that can be classed as a mystery, thriller type show but in actual fact it explores many more themes. It is a show that will challenge your sense of morality and will make you answer some very tricky questions as to what extent you can justify them in certain situations.
Short summary
The show starts off with a notebook that falls out of the sky and our main protagonist, Light Yagami, just happens to chance by it and picks up the notebook. This is no ordinary notebook however, as it is proclaimed within the notebook that whoever’s name is written in the notebook shall die as long as certain rules are met. This notebook is known as the “Death Note”. One other thing is this, when you pick up the death note only you can see the death god to whom the book belongs to. Ryuk is the death god aka Shinigami, that Light can see and he is one of the most sly of the Shinigami. While quirky and jumpy on the outside, he is really quite dark and uncaring, as you would expect from a Shinigami. For Ryuk the events that unfold are all really just a cure for his boredom.
Light Yagami himself is a university student and ranks amongst the best in Japan and is an aspiring police detective with a strong sense of justice, his own father being the police chief of the Japanese police. Light tests out the notebook to find out that it actually works and from this point on, he believes that he is the chosen one, the one who must cleanse the world of evil, even going as far as proclaiming himself to be god. He starts off killing smaller criminals and eventually begins to upscale his targets, at which point the killings cannot go unnoticed and this is where the main plot starts to pick up.
Someone needs to find this killer, but when he can kill using simply a notebook, it isn’t so easy and many detectives give up. There is one detective however who keeps at it, introduced simply as “L”, and the rest of the plot revolves around how Light and “L” are locked in a battle where Light tries to keep killing, while “L” has to figure out who he is. The scenarios that follow are extremely satisfying and at points awe-inspiring as both men are pitted against each other in a battle of wits and guile – often resulting in some very unexpected situations. This game of cat and mouse is enthralling, in fact calling it “cat and mouse” might give off the wrong sort off idea of how the whole finding the killer situation pans out. Put plainly when both your own father and L are after you, it adds a different dimension to the whole scenario. For most of the anime, Light and L are usually in contact and it is here that the unique twist kicks in. It’s as the saying goes, when you’re looking for something, you may look far and wide, but you will always miss the things right and front of you and this saying has some bearing on the show. Where other detectives would be left dumbfounded and unsure of themselves, L instead comes as a breath of fresh air, completely different to the typical detective and so much more quirky (with an undying love for cake). L is a man who knows to look at a situation from almost every angle and combined with his razor-sharp instincts, he is a man to be feared once he is after you.
Characters
Since the show is spread over 37 episodes, there is plenty opportunity to really flesh out each character. Death note achieves this straight of the bat, Light and L are both extremely well developed throughout the show. However on top of that, the other key characters such as Light’s father, Misaki, other members on the police task force and even the Shinigami themselves are all extremely well developed and help to mould the story as it goes along. What is really helpful however, is that each of the different characters fulfil their roles extremely well, each of them add their own twist to the story and are often instrumental in the way things pan out. There are people from all sides and all allegiances and the way they are scripted, it means there never really is a dull moment. In fact calling them side-characters feels like an injustice, in Death Note, the show really is made by the entire cast.
Music
The OP and ED are very rock heavy and involve loads of screaming. It’s mostly down to personal taste but I found them to be ok, except at certain times I found the shouting to be a bit much and as a result found myself to be skipping the OP pretty much every episode. The music that is used to enhance the scenes however is great, it does the job and does it well and that’s all there is to it. Many scenes actually tend to omit the music and focus on the sharp, witty dialogue and in a way the lack of background music works much better, helping to hold the tension in the air.
Art
For a 2006/7 anime, the art style is rather nice. The colours aren’t too in your face nor is it overly dreary-given the overhanging dark theme, they’ve balanced it just right. The characters themselves look fairly realistic for an anime and the backgrounds are always very detailed, giving you a much fuller and richer experience.
Overall Satisfaction
The show was certainly one of those which leave you completely empty at the end and wanting for more because it was just that good. It’s a classic show which will give you the “void”. The story is really what drives this show and it’s one of the best, most original shows you can find out there. It’s one thing having a good story though, and it’s something else to execute it perfectly.
Tukky 12
